The two roaring beasts distanced themselves from each other for a moment, but very quickly came rushing for each other once more. Gi Zu raised up his spear from a low stance and Jize brushed it off. Jize kept on going like that and assumed a high stance, but Gi Zu read the trajectory of his attack and increased his pace.
He took his deflected spear and raised it above him, placing it along the trajectory of Jize’s descending sword. Normally, he should have been able to easily receive Jize’s blade, but instead it easily split his iron spear in two and buried itself into his shoulder. When his sword entered Gi Zu’s flesh, Jize smiled.
“Did you think I couldn’t cut iron!?”
But Gi Zu, who had lowered his hips a little, suddenly cried out and released his spirit.
“GURUUuUaAooOOO!!”
As he threw away the spear that had been cleanly cut in two, he unleashed the true nature of the Mad Dragon, the one who has heavily received the divine protection of the mad god. He ignored the blade buried into his shoulder and sent his fist toward Jize’s side.
“GU!?”
As the sound of ribs breaking resounded, Jize faltered a little. On top of that, Gi Zu bashed his head against Jize’s now lowered forehead, causing Jize to close his eyes, then Gi Zu swung his fist with all his strength. This was the same right fist that once thoroughly crushed Zu Ved. But since then, Gi Zu has evolved a class and its power was now greater than before.
It was a fist that could break the neck of a normal human. And even Jize was sent tumbling and flying 4 meters away. At the wake of the impact, the ground hollowed and clouds of dust were raised up. It was a power that could kill even goblins.
“…I thought you’d lost your mind due to pain, but it seems that this is your true nature.”
When Jize calmly appeared within the clouds of dust, everyone but the maddened Gi Zu was shocked. After throwing away the blade buried within his shoulder, Gi Zu roared in anger and once again chased after Jize.
“GURURUUuGAAAaAAa!!”
Jize wiped the blood that flowed out of his mouth and without hesitation stepped toward Gi Zu once again.
Unarmed, Jize lowered his hips and brought his left hand forward. Using that same left hand, he brushed aside Gi Zu’s fist that was swung only with power, then with all of his strength, he buried his right hand into Gi Zu
“—But!”
After hitting Gi Zu’s chin perfectly, he brought back his hands and talked himself up.
“I, who have mastered all martial arts, have no weakness!”
When the surrounding goblins saw Gi Zu falling after being hit, they could not help but be shaken.
“Bastard, how dare you do that to pops!”
From that crowd of shaken goblins appeared a proud Zu Ved, carrying a club on his shoulders.
“Save pops!”
He spurred on the goblins of the brawler faction and ran to where Gi Zu had collapsed.
“What good fortune. A one-on-one duel is the flower of the battlefield, but a battle like this is more fitting of a monster hunt—”
“—GURUuuUUOOAAA!”
But before he could even finish saying that, Bui, who had been sneaking around, suddenly appeared behind him and attacked him. That attack that was loaded with all of Bui’s strength crushed the ground, giving rise to clouds of dust and scattering fragments of stones.
“—Even the orcs came? What good fortune!”
After Jize immediately jumped out of the way, he took out his curved sword, and began cutting down the approaching goblins of the brawler faction. He was not using his sword like he did before where he aimed only for the neck. His sword now was like a storm of blades that literally crushed life.
“What good fortune! Ahh, what good fortune! This is the real pleasure of hunting monsters! KU KA KA KA KA KA!!”
Jize the One-Eyed laughed like a demon as he cut down the approaching goblins and orcs. He handled his curved sword with one hand and cut the monsters from head to crotch with a single stroke.
Then he used is other hand to push his fingers into the eyes of the orcs that approached. He threw the screaming orcs and crushed the head of the convulsing orcs underfoot.
“So this is all that orcs amount to.”
As Jize cut the monsters one after another, the circle of monsters around him had no choice but to distance itself from him.
“Damn it! That’s a real monster.”
Gi Zu clicked his tongue as he took Gi Zu and handed him to be protected by his subordinate. After that he gradually ordered everyone to step back. If Gi Zu hadn’t heard that they had to prioritize retreating beforehand, he would have definitely attacked here.
“Retreat! Retreat!”
After recovering Gi Zu, the monsters gradually retreated while keeping their distance.
The ones watching the rear was Bui who led the orcs and the demihumans who came late. Bui was dead scared of the holy knight’s strength, so he had the orcs equip themselves with heavy armor and steel shields. Although doing this slowed them down, if one looked at how it was able to reduce their casualties, it was the right choice.
The orcs pressed their shoulders against each other to eliminate any openings between them and gradually retreated. Jize tried to attack the orcs that were single-mindedly focused on defending, but the centaurs, who were furious from having their tribe members killed, interfered.
“Fire your arrows!”
The arrows of the centaurs could easily penetrate even iron. Much less the body of a human like Jize. Although his physical abilities were indeed amazing, the arrows shot by the centaur needed only a moment, on top of which, they themselves even moved quickly. Though angered, the chief, Tianos, never forgot those two strong points of his army.
They were proud of their legs that allowed them to run. And their skill in archery that allowed them to hunt was their pride.
“Don’t stop. Just focus on covering them. But if there’s an opening, kill him!”
After drawing their bows to the limit and shooting three arrows successively, they sprinted off. Naturally, this left even Jize stumped, and he had no choice but to prioritize defending himself over chasing the goblins.
