Hugh's heart stopped as he looked at the man in the shadows. He turned to face him, fearing that his back would be vulnerable.
He had been using his armor to escape, so it was still in cooldown right now. He had to wait for a few more seconds until he could activate his armor.
He was relieved that the man did not attack him without any pretenses and just looked at Hugh with a tilted head. His face was still obscured by the dark night, so Hugh did not know who he was.
"Do you really have a hidden power?"
The man's voice had curiosity built into it. He genuinely wanted to know if Hugh was hiding a power, which meant that he would want to fight Hugh to find out.
Hugh planted his feet firmly in the ground as he prepared to take out his armor if the man decided to attack. He had his eyes wide open, observing the posture and physicality of the man to judge his chance on the fight.
The man had a slim figure, and he wore the school uniform. This meant that he was either not in the club during the incident, or he changed his clothes super fast. The man was either a freshman or a sophomore.
Hugh was thankful that the man was wearing his uniform. If he wore casual clothes out in the open, that meant the man was either a junior or a senior. He did not want to think about that possibility because even with his transformation, he would not stand a chance.
Seeing that Hugh did not answer his question, the man stepped forward. His face was now visible in the light, and Hugh could see his face.
Hugh did not see a familiar face in the mysterious man. He was not familiar with him, and he had not seen him in his class.
If Hugh were to describe his face, he would describe him as a plain-looking man. This guy would blend perfectly into the background without anyone noticing. He did not have any special facial features, nor did he exude strength, which made Hugh even more confused.
How was this guy able to chase him while the others were trapped inside the central area?
"Are you a friend?"
The average looking man asked Hugh a nonsensical question. Hugh furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to decipher the question that was asked.
Friend? Hugh did not even know this guy had existed before this. There was no way that the man meant friendship; there must be a hidden meaning behind those words.
The man saw Hugh struggling with the question. This gave him confirmation that Hugh does not know what he was talking about.
"You're just a student?"
"Who are you?"
Hugh did not answer the man's question and just countered with his own inquiry. Hugh was ready to trigger his armor and initiate the fight since the man looked unguarded.
Hugh had the disadvantage of limited activation time, so he had to strike first and strike hard, or else he would be beaten up like his fight with Aric.
"Me? I'm Joub, a second-year student."
Hugh did not think that Joub would tell his name so quickly. Judging from his mysterious behavior, he was definitely hiding some things.
Hugh's hearts stopped when Joub mentioned his year-level. A second-year was someone who had at least advanced to the first advancement.
In comparison, Hugh was still unadvanced while having an F-level talent. Even the A-level talent Aric was still unadvanced and an F rank.
"You, what's your name?"
Hugh did not answer Joub. He distinctly remembered his name being thrown around in the club for everybody to know. This meant that Joub was not in the club, or else he would have known Hugh's name.
"Not going to answer? That's fine. I just need to know if you truly have a hidden power."
Joub gathered his hands together and slowly separated them together as if it had a resistance band. Hugh could see Joub's body start to blur and tremble, creating a dizzying feeling.
Hugh did not activate his armor yet because he could only use it for three seconds. He needed to wait for the right moment to attack since he did not know what kind of Desire Joub had.
Joub's body split and became two bodies that mimicked each other's movements. Joub's bodies stopped trembling, and Hugh could now see his bodies clearly.
It was a perfect copy of Joub, and Hugh could not distinguish who was the original body. There were still more questions that Hugh wanted to know to come up with a game-winning plan.
He first needed to know if the other body was corporeal or just a projection. If it was corporeal, would damaging one body damage affect the other? If it were a projection, it would be easier to find which is real.
Joub's bodies went in separate directions as they walked towards Hugh. Their bodies were bent low, like a cheetah ready to pounce.
Hugh planted his feet firmly in the ground. He was not confident in dodging the attacks, but he was confident in his guarding ability using his armor.
It would be disadvantageous for Hugh to match Joub's speed because it would lead to vulnerabilities that Joub could exploit.
The two bodies of Joub were now opposite each other, with Hugh in the middle. Hugh sharpened his senses and tried to catch their movements.
The night was silent, and only the breezing wind was heard before the two bodies rushed towards Hugh. Their feet left dust in the air as they ran with their upper bodies parallel to the ground for maximum speed.
At this rate, the two bodies would attack Hugh at the same time. This was troublesome for Hugh because he could only protect one limb with armor at a time.
To counteract this disadvantage, Hugh ran towards one body to protect that attack first before the other body reached him.
Hugh was slow, courtesy of his obesity, but he could reach the left body first. He raised his fist and punched it towards the body without using his armor.
Joub did not know about Hugh's armor, so he assumed that Hugh's punch had a special power. Joub's left body dodged Hugh's punch and counterattacked with a leg sweep.
Hugh was expecting that attack, so he activated his armor. The silver and brown liquid formed his leg armor just in time as Joub's foot hit his leg and rebounded the attack.
Joub frowned as he felt like he had kicked a steel wall. He did not expect Hugh to have a strong defense.
Hugh retreated from Joub's left body and confronted the right body. This time, Hugh waited for the attack without feigning a punch. He did this so that Joub would hesitate in his actions.
Joub did not immediately attack Hugh because he knew first-hand about Hugh's defensive capabilities. He thought that if Hugh were capable in defense, then Hugh would not care about his attack and just use a counterattack.
With this hesitation, Hugh took this chance to create armor in his fist as he punched Joub. It was fast and created a small shockwave behind his fist.
Hugh aimed towards Joub's head with precision and power. He expected Joub to dodge his attack but was surprised to see that his fist had hit Joub's face.
Hugh could feel his fist hit Joub's cheekbone as he put his full power on the punch. Joub's head was forced to turn away from Hugh's punch, but something unexpected had happened.
Hugh watched as Joub's head turn 360 degrees like it was made of clay. He could see the stretch marks and the flaps in Joub's head as it completed a full rotation.
Joub stopped moving like he was dead. Then, Hugh saw Joub's hand grasp his own head and turn it in a different direction to return it into its normal state.
It was a weird feeling seeing that strange gymnastics Joub's head had done. Hugh could not see any scratch on his head, meaning that his punch did no damage to him.
Hugh retreated after his attack was unsuccessful. He only had one second left of the armor, so he would use it wisely. He decided to use it to protect himself from Joub's attacks.
"You pack quite a punch."
The two bodies spoke simultaneously, creating a weird effect on Hugh's ears. The two bodies rushed towards Hugh. This time, they did not give Hugh enough time to develop a plan to counter their movements.
The two bodies kicked towards Hugh, not giving him any place to retreat towards. Hugh had no choice but to endure one of the attacks.
One of the kicks was aimed towards his chest, and the other was aimed at his back. With the two choices, Hugh decided that his back was more important than his chest.