But for now…
He barely managed to spin out of the way as the creature came charging at him.
As he dodged, the creature was unable to stop because of it's momentum. It ended up running full speed into the wall. The force of it was enough to shake the arena, Li Jie could even feel the ground shaking under him where he was standing.
On the wall, cracks appeared like spiderwebs and spread out. Oku was stunned for a short moment, but other than that it was completely unfazed. It hadn't been hurt in the slightest. More than anything, it just looked like the Tuskgan was puzzled that it hadn't managed to catch the pesky human.
Li Jie shook his head, that thing was a monster unlike anything he had ever seen before.
Having gotten it's wits about it again, the creature spotted him and came running at him with full force once more. It really didn't have a strategy, it just kept charging at him over and over.
This time, Li Jie slid between Oku's legs. He held his sword firmly and thrusted upward, making contact right in the pelvic area. This time he was sure he would do some damage.
But as he slid out on the other side, he knew that he hadn't.
The creature hadn't made a sound, and his sword hadn't penetrated anything. How could this be, he wondered as he stood back up.
That was a vulnerable spot for almost every animal on Earth, but now his attack had done nothing at all.
"Horghh?" Oku growled, making some weird sounds. It was clear that it was looking around, wondering just how the human had disappeared.
Li Jie just stood behind it, his palm against his face. This creature was beyond dumb, he doubted it even had a shred of intelligence. But even despite that, it was managing to give him a lot of trouble.
Finally it turned around and found him. In what had become very predictable, it just started running straight at him.
Li Jie just sighed and waited till the last moment before dodging to the side.
The creature skidded to a halt a few meters after, and started howling and stomping it's feet.
Had it gotten angry? Li Jie was confused.
Disregarding Li Jie, Oku walked over to the cracked wall and started punching it. The sounds were booming in the arena. With every punch, large chunks of the wall were knocked off and fell to the ground.
Li Jie was only getting even more baffled. This was a good opportunity to attack, but he wanted to know what the creature was doing.
Besides, he only had one idea, and it wouldn't work while the creature had it's back turned.
There was also something about it that made him hesitant. Surely Oku wasn't so dumb that it had just forgotten all about him and become occupied by a wall. Right? He wasn't so sure.
However he wasn't left waiting long. Soon, the first of many large chunks of wall came flying at him.
He managed to dodge most of it, but a small chunk had split off and hit his forehead. It sliced his skin open and blood started trickling down above his right eye.
Fuck, Li Jie wiped the blood away before it could blind him
And it was just in time as another set of chunks came flying at him.
He managed to dodge them all without any injuries this time, but he couldn't keep doing this forever.
He had to close the gap, and he knew that was exactly what Oku wanted. It was tired of him running around out of it's reach. It knew that it couldn't catch Li Jie, so it was forcing him to come closer instead.
So it turned out that it did have some sort of intelligence huh. "To hell with it," He muttered and decided to just go for it.
He dodged a chunk of wall and started sprinting towards Oku. The creature's eyes immediately lit up after it saw it's plan working.
Still, it kept throwing the wall chunks. It wouldn't let him come over easily.
For Li Jie it was incredibly stressful. The chunks were coming at him at rapid speeds, it was hard to dodge all of them.
He wiped the dripping blood once more and slid beneath a meter wide chunk. He would certainly be crushed to death if he failed to dodge one of those huge ones.
At home on the couch, Kaden was feeling tensed too. Humanity's entire survival hinged on this. He had faith in Li Jie, but the odds were getting worse by the second.
In the arena, Li Jie was growing frantic. Just how strong was this being? The wall was rapidly being torn down as Oku needed more chunks to throw.
Over time, what was behind the wall had revealed itself. But it was just another thicker wall.
Nothing interesting, Li Jie remarked as he kept dodging.
Finally he was right before Oku. It had also stopped throwing chunks at him. Like Li Jie had been expecting, it's arms came swinging down the moment he was in reach.
Without fear, Li Jie just continued running at them head first.
Just as it seemed he was about to be hit, he leaped on top of one of Oku's arms, using it like a spring.
He jumped up and grasped his shortsword tightly with both hands. With all the force behind it that he could muster, he drove the shortsword towards the creature's eye.
The sword easily pierced the eye, but then it couldn't go any further.
This wasn't good. Li Jie had hoped to fell the creature in one attack, but that wasn't going to happen. He found that even though he used all of his strength, he just couldn't drive the sword far enough to pierce the creature's brain.
Immediately, Oku reacted in fury, howling and swinging it's arms.
One of the arms connected and Li Jie was sent flying off.
"Urgh!" He landed with his back first, immediately feeling all of the air rushing out of his lungs. There was a sharp pain in his back.
He wanted to rest for a while, but when he opened his eyes Oku was already charging towards him.
He bit down to ignore the pain beofre rolling to the side. As he stood up, Oku dive bombed on top of where he had just been moments before.
The pain made Li Jie wince, but he fought through it. With both hands wrapped around his sword again, he stabbed down towards Oku, aiming for it's ear.
Blood dripped into his right eye and it became hard to see. Lacking the spatial awareness, he missed his target and hit the ground instead. The sword stabbed into the ground, piercing it and getting stuck.
He had no time to pull it out as Oku's leg swept towards him. He let go as he was forced to jump out of the way.
Thankfully, the creature was stupid and didn't care for the sword.
It was still furious from having it's eye stabbed and losing part of it's vision.
Oku got up on it's feet and Li Jie started formulating a plan. He wiped his eye quickly, it helped him see a bit better.
When the creature came running at him this time, Li Jie backed up against a wall.
He waited for the perfect timing, and when he found it, he started running towards the creature.
In the final moment before collision, he ducked and slid through the creature's legs.
When he came through on the other side, he jumped straight up on his feet.
As he started running for his sword, he heard the tell tale sign of the creature crashing into the wall behind him. That would give him some time.
He reached his sword and started pulling on it. It was hard to budge, but with two hands he managed to get it free.
Now that he had his weapon back, he could try for the next step in his plan.
Meanwhile, Oku had already recovered and was coming at him again. It was like an unending onslaught, nothing could stop this tank of a beast.
But this was exactly what Li Jie wanted. Like before, he backed up against a wall.
When Oku came near, Li Jie started running towards it again.
This time, he ducked like he was about to slide again.
Oku closed off it's legs and got it's arms ready to grab him.
But Li Jie didn't slide, instead he jumped up on Oku's lowered arm. His sword thrusted forward. There was a squelch as the sword pierced the remaining eye.
And then Li Jie threw himself off to the side, leaving his sword behind without hesitation.
With his one eye, Li Jie watched as the creature ran face first into the wall. There was a loud boom again, shaking the entire arena.
And then…
Oku's body went limp, falling backwards onto the ground. After falling, the creature stopped moving completely.
In it's eye was a sword that had been buried to the hilt completely. It had pierced the brain.
Li Jie breathed out a sigh of relief, allowing himself to relax. It was over. He had used the creature's strength against it.
While Li Jie rested on the ground, everywhere on Earth, living rooms were full of celebrating people.
Kaden had jumped up, screaming in triumph. Li Jie did it! He really did it!
He felt almost beside himself with jubilation. Even the old man next to him had gotten up on his feet and started cheering.
Scenes like this were taking place all around the world.
But it was all cut off as a certain Beetle faced being appeared on the television, clearing it's throat.
"Clap. Clap. Clap," It sarcastically spoke in a monotone voice, "Seems like you're not all quite as useless as I had first believed. Congratulations on your win. But do not get complacent, this is not the end. In fact, things have only barely begun."