"The following contest is a ranking battle between the challenger, Rank 39 Hugo Bossy vs. our newcomer to the battle cage enjoying a single-win battle streak, Rank 51 Bazzy Dagod!" as Brenda Evans announced the start of the next contest to the crowd, Hugo Bossy was cracking his knuckles and performing stretching exercises. When he heard his name his arms flew into the air as he turned and waved at his fans in the crowd. Bas King, on the other hand, simply stood poised with his arms behind his back. He looked totally unaffected by the hype of the match. Brenda smiled again and said, "All right, the Referee has given the signal. Match start!"
"YEAAAHH!!!" the crowd screamed in excitement. Bas was secretly impressed by how hype they were. Mortals were so easily excited. Who knew a room with merely hundreds of people could be so loud?
"Break his legs, Boss Hugo!"
"Smile for me again Miss Brenda!"
"BIG BOSS BOSSY YOU CAN DO IT!"
"You're so hot Bazzy, my god!!"
"So what if his face is pretty? It won't matter when big Hugo snaps his spine!"
"MY GOD! He's wearing a damn mask, how can you even know what he looks like?"
"Woman's intuition."
"I bet he's ugly! Beat him up, Hugo!"
"Yeah, Hugo, go, go, go! Show him what the real Eighth Level Hunt Foundation hunters are capable of!"
"You hear that brat?" Hugo Bossy spat as he inched closer to his opponent. "They want me to break your legs, snap your spine, and show you the might of a true ranker at the eighth level of Hunt Foundation. Do not think for a moment that we are at the same Lebufoaw~!"
Before Hugo could finish whatever dribble he wanted to say, Bas King's foot had already jammed itself into his face. Hugo's spine almost snapped as the kick spun his body like the hands of a clock gone haywire before he collapsed lifelessly to the ground face first. His butt was pointed to the sky in a comedic fashion. The entire underground sewage outlet grew deathly silent.
Even Sid Evans and Sir Walther stood from their seats stunned, with their mouths agape. Brenda Evans's eyes shined with a new light. It was more than the light of intrigue and curiosity. This had become a fascination. Who was this cute boy with such strength? Due to her spiritual perception, Bazzy Dagod's mask didn't even matter. After all, it was just a regular mask, not a soul tool.
Even if Brenda attacked Hugo Bossy, she wasn't sure she could render him immobile in such a smooth and effortless fashion. It seemed this Bazzy Dagod wasn't just arrogant. He was confident in his strength.
And rightly so.
Riiiiippp~~
A foul odor filled the air as Hugo Bossy literally shat himself. Bas wasn't sure whether it was due to fear or food poison, but this battle was over.
"All right, so this one's done, yah?" Bas King called out to Brenda Evans and the referee. "So, who's next?"
"N...next...ah!" Brenda seemed to come back to her senses, as she flipped from the stairs of the VIP platform and landed inside the battle cage. She took a deep look at Bas King's eyes which gave him goosebumps. Brenda gently took his big tough hand into her soft tender palm while turning her gaze to the crowd and using her inner hunt qi to project her voice like a megaphone, "The winner of this contest...Rank 39, Bazzy Dagod!"
In his heart, Bas King was expecting the crowd to now turn on him. He was a newcomer parading around so bravely. In most scenarios, this wouldn't be accepted. He would face powerful opposition and be forced to struggle his way through it. However, things did not go as he expected. The crowd which was shocked into speechlessness suddenly erupted in applause and wild cheers!
They were even chanting his name.
"Bazzy!"
"Bazzy!"
"Bazzy!"
"Bazzy!"
Although Bas felt a little shy, he was definitely a fan of praise and worship. He felt the hunt qi around him stir in a near imperceptive way.
"Is this...faith?" Bas King was astonished. Faith was a unique power of the twilight. It helped a Pharaoh become a deity. "It seems I can still sense faith power? This opens up an entire slew of possibilities. If I can access enough faith power, I could even communicate with the Evil Dragon Sovereign himself!"
As Bas was marveling at this, Brenda Evans moved her pretty face so close to his own that Bas had to resist the urge to kiss her pouty pink lips. She took a gold credit and placed it in Bas' front pants pocket, breaking all manner of personal space laws. Bas would have to be an idiot to not realize he was being seduced, especially hearing Brenda's sultry voice as she spoke to him in a voice only he could hear, "So, little handsome Bazzy, which rank do you want to challenge next?"
Bas King inhaled the scent of this daring woman, forgetting to respond. Her pointy towers rubbed against his own chest. Bas was not upset with his open challenge being dismissed. He never expected to be able to skip the rules entirely. Now that he was already here he might as well challenge Rank 29.
Bas suddenly lowered his mask with soul power and inched his face closer, pecking Brenda on the lips and completely startling her into making a small 'yelp' and falling back a step. She stared at Bas' now masked face in astonishment. That was her first kiss!
Bas smiled in amusement. This woman was actually purer than she acted, "Who is that Craig guy? I'll choose him."
Brenda Evans glared daggers at this bold little bastard. That was her first kiss, stolen by an adolescent punk. One whom she admittedly had just been teasing. Even worse, Brenda had butterflies fluttering in her stomach! What the hell was this? She calmed her breathing and dropped back a step before replying, "He is unworthy. Why don't you challenge Rank 30?"
The crowd did not notice the ambiguous behavior of the two in the battle cage, but Craig Mack who was approaching the cage already heard Miss Evans' words and was stricken hard. Was he really that weak? Craig turned and left feeling dejected.
Meanwhile, Bas was unconcerned with what happened outside the battle cage, "Rank 30? Sounds good."
The hunter at Rank 30 was an assassin woman named Rivonia Charter. She knew an incomplete bronze class arte, but it had only been trained to the level of middle wood class. Bas King made short work of her, but she gave him her number afterward wanting him to call for a night out. Bas was dumbfounded by this but accepted the number in kind. Was love really so loosely given in the world 300 years later? Bas King thought that the queens and goddesses from his previous life were truly difficult to win the favor of, as opposed to these mortal women.
Of course, the difference in lifespans likely played a big role in this.
Underground Battle League Hunter Rank 21 was a Ninth Level Hunt Foundation hunter, but none of his attacks could even dirty Bas' clothes. In less than two minutes after the start of the match, Bas King was victorious again pushing his winning-streak up to four.
Bas now qualified for more rewards!
"Rewards! Ah, stupid me. I forgot about the rewards! That Miss Evans chick fooled me!" Bas King facepalmed his head. He let Brenda Evans talk him out of receiving good fortune. Bas still needed to upgrade his bronze token to a silver token.
With the silver token, Bas would be able to hide his strength in the mortal society with ease. Actually, Bas' number one concern in coming here was to find a suitable opponent. Thus, he was tearing through the competition hoping to get to the decent warriors sooner rather than later. However, he was missing out on many rewards as a result! In truth, Bas disdained these rewards as they were from mortal hunters from Mortalee.
That was before he heard about the unique features of the silver grade token. However, once he considered the fact that he was poor and without resources, he completely regretted his earlier arrogance. Even he disdained these items, would other mortals also disdain them?
"How foolish of me..." Bas lamented in his heart.
Actually, with only the 500 silver credits and the single gold credit he received earlier, Bas was making more than he made at both jobs for two months worth of work. Who knew that fighting in the Underground Battle League would prove to be so lucrative? Bas was definitely quitting those jobs once he returned. He would also go say his goodbyes at school once his suspension was up. Bas no longer had a reason to go to a mortal school every day. Not if he would receive gold for every match he had from now on! This was a way to both train and make money. Once his winning streak increased, this would only grow more exaggerated. The only condition was he couldn't be defeated!
Anyway, the curriculum of Bas' current school was comparable to a kindergarten in the Hunter's Society.
That's why Brenda Evans tricked him into jumping ahead again to challenge and fight. She was in charge of the family financials, so she was unwilling to watch this random genius walk away with all their credits. No one under the Top 10 was an opponent for Bazzy Dagod, she was certain of that. Plus, the bold little bastard had already pledged to reach the Top 10 today. Though no one took him seriously before, could he still back down now?
Of course, Bas never put any of these opponents in his eyes in the first place. Only the champion would be worthy, and possibly not even them.
Luckily for Bas, Marcus Bloom had promised to give Bas all of his rewards from this week if he was able to defeat Marsha Logan. This meant that whatever streaks Marcus managed to gain, and however much gold he won, it would all belong to Bas once the week ended in a couple of days! Poor Marcus, it wasn't until the end of the Bas' third match that he realized he had given away his lunch for cheap. Unfortunately, it was already too late to regret.
As Bas stood imperiously on the stage, he reconsidered his strategy. He decided to destroy the Top 20 underground rankers one by one. This way, he would earn ten more wins before exiting the stage for the day. Bas said he would achieve Rank 5th today, so he had every intention to make good on that promise. A hunter's word was his bond.
Next to him, Brenda Evans was once again there to reward this Bazzy Dagod, this time with two gold credits. This was what Bas had earned for himself through his own strength, and Brenda knew that he would earn a lot more. When she saw him this time, the naive look in his eyes was already completely gone. This stunned Brenda. The current Bazzy seemed to be a veteran hunter, ready to slaughter myriad war beasts. Brenda frowned, as she knew he was no longer riding off the high that being a celebrity fighter had brought. This little punk recovered far too quickly for her liking, but this made her even more interested in him.
'He seems so mature...better than some of these losers. Maybe he'll make it to the fifth rank after all....' Brenda couldn't help but to think this way, even though it was unprecedented.
Going from Rank 113 to Rank 5 in merely one day?
This seemed absolutely preposterous to anyone who heard it.
After all, warriors could only stay on the stage for up to ten fights straight before having to vacate. After that, it would be someone else turn to battle. The only way to return to the stage would be to challenge the new competitors. No one would believe it was possible to raise up to the Top 5 from the outer ranks in ten matches.
Until today, that is.
"Okay, Bazzy Dagod...you currently have a four-win-streak. You can fight six more times. Will you continue to challenge?"
Bas King glanced at the beautiful woman and smirked mischievously. Brenda suddenly had a bad premonition. Her heart bled as she realized another undefeated hunter would rise today. And with his fame, so would increase his fortune. If he didn't have the strength or back up, then he would definitely be robbed by the hunters watching in secret. However, that wasn't what Brenda feared the most. This brat was going to make it harder for her to reach her quota this week! She would have to get more guests and open more betting circles.
"Let's see," Bas King pretended to be pondering hard on his decision, which was already made. Brenda looked hopeful before Bas' next words hit her like a bucket of cold water being poured all over her, "I'll challenge for Rank 20!"