Chapter 42: Leader vs. Leader
Gunnar's group fasten their speed, but the speed of the Bald Man didn't lose to them. Gunnar was contemplating if he should stop and fight the Bald Man or if he should keep running. The Bald Man was getting closer and closer as time went by, Gunnar was losing time to think. However, when he saw the injured members were started to have difficulty running. He finally decided what to do.
"Keep running I will distract the Bald Man!" Gunnar shouted. He wanted to show the Arrows that he could be a good leader by using himself as a distraction, but the biggest reason why he did this was the desire to fight the leader of the Blood Hunters.
The Arrows didn't stop Gunnar this time because they need a distraction to safely escaped. Because they were running too fast, the Blood Hunters couldn't keep up with them, only the Bald Man was fast enough to match the Arrows' speed. That was also the reason why Gunnar wanted to fight, he was confident that he could beat the Bald Man if there were no small fry to interrupt their fight.
The Bald Man finally noticed that someone stopped to confront him, he couldn't help himself but be amused by this.
"Young man, are you sure you want to fight me alone?" The Bald Man asked with interest. "You know that you are going to die if you fight me, right?"
"HAHAHAHA! That is the funniest thing I have ever heard." Gunnar mockingly laughed at the Bald Man's words. "If someone is going to die it is you!"
After saying that, Gunnar immediately charged at the Bald Man. The leader of the Blood Hunter didn't back down and also rush at Gunnar. After they were close enough, they instantly thrust their spear at each other.
The moment the spear hit each other, both of their hand flew away. However, they didn't stop with just that, they repeated it several times before stopping.
"Ho…" The Bald Man was surprised that Gunnar could keep up with him. "you are not bad, I like you. Why do you not join the Blood Tribe, I think it is perfect for someone like you who likes fighting."
"Join the Blood Tribe? Hmp…" Asked Gunnar with contempt. "I rather die than join your filthy tribe! Stop talking and fight!"
Gunnar jumped towards the Bald Man and swing his spear downwards. The Bald Man didn't dodge and blocked the attack with his spear. The Bald Man used his strength to force Gunnar to back off, after that he use the same spear to swing in Gunnar's waist.
Because Gunnar's action was momentarily halted by the sudden force the Bald Man used, he didn't have much choice but to endure the attack. Therefore, he used the body of the spear to block the horizontal swing of the Bald Man.
However, Gunnar miscalculated something. He may be a genius when it came to fighting, but the strength of his small body was still not comparable to the adult body of the Bald Man. Gunnar couldn't fully block the full strength of his enemy and flew away.
The Bald Man smirked when he saw Gunnar couldn't handle his full strength. However, it didn't even take a second, and Gunnar already dashing toward the Bald Man again. Gunnar's strength maybe was not comparable to his enemy, but his speed and tenacity would not lose to anyone.
The Bald Man was briefly stunned by the young man's fast recovery and speed. As a consequence, his reaction was a bit too late. He tried to parry the attack with his spear, but Gunnar's spear was too fast. However, before the spear pierced his body. The Bald Man manipulated his Life Energy to cover his waist where the spear was about to hit. So, the damage it could do would be lessened.
Because Gunnar didn't cover his spear with Life Energy, for the reason that it would drain his stamina too fast. The spear only injured the Bald Man with a superficial wound. The Bald Man tried to grab Gunnar's neck after the spear hit his body, but Gunnar instantly step back when he saw the hand movement of his enemy.
"That was a bit dangerous." The Bald man said while his smile slowly disappeared. He finally realized that the young man he was fighting was dangerous, and he should take this fight seriously. "If you do not want to join my tribe then I have no choice but to kill you. Your existence is a danger to us if we let you develop more."
This time the Bald Man was the one who initiated the attack. He charged at Gunnar using all of his speed, he even covered both of his feet with Life Energy for maximum effect, leaving a foot marked on the ground. However, Gunnar was already prepared for the incoming attack.
He coated both of his hands with Life Energy intending to fight the Bald Man head-on. In just an instant the Bald Man reached Gunnar, he aimed his spear at the chest of his enemy. Still, no matter how fast the Bald Man, Gunnar's reaction was even faster.
When the tip of the spear was about to pierce his chest, he suddenly rotated his body to evade it, but that was not all. Gunnar counterattacked by using the momentum of his rotation to increase the power even more and swing his spear to the Bald Man's back.
The Bald Man was in the middle of his attack, so he had no choice but to receive the fast counterattack. Like before, he covered his back with Life Energy to minimize the damage. However, Gunnar already knew that his enemy would use his Life Energy again to protect himself.
Before Gunnar's spear hit the back of the Bald Man, he also coated his spear with Life Energy to inflict more damage to him. The Bald Man flew away and hit the tree in front of him, even though the trees in the Great Forest were really tough. It still got knocked down because of how fast the Bald Man flew away.
Gunnar didn't know what happen to his enemy because of the cloud of dust covering the place he landed. When the smoke cleared out, The Bald Man was already on his feet. His body was fully covered with Life Energy signifying that he was already in 4th Stage Energy Enveloping.
Although he looked undamaged, the trickling blood in the corner of his mouth show the sign that Gunnar's attack injured him.
"You are good," The Bald Man said while wiping the blood on his mouth. "But too bad you met me, I will now fight you with my whole strength!"
"That is good I thought that is all you can do." Gunnar mockingly said. "I was getting bored I hope you give me a good fight."
The Bald Man let go of his spear, he was more attuned to fighting in bare hands. He was only using the spear for camouflage to others, the Blood Tribe was a dangerous place. Having a trick or two was a must to survive. Therefore, the Bald Man hid his true weapon.
Gunnar was confused when he saw his enemy throwing his weapon, he furrowed his eyebrows because he thought that the Bald Man was giving up. However, before he could mock him again. The Bald Man rushed to him with even more speed than earlier.
This time Gunnar couldn't react fast enough to dodge the incoming punch. Thus, he chose to block it with his spear. The moment the fist hit the spear, Gunnar instantly felt a strong blunt impact, so strong that his body lifted off the ground.
Yet, that was not the end. The Bald Man repeatedly hit Gunnar with his fist. At first, Gunnar could block some of them, but as time went on, a few punches started to penetrate Gunnar's defense. Because of the powerful and fast attack of his enemy, Gunnar couldn't even do anything but received every attack the Bald Man throw at him.
Finally, after a few seconds, the Bald Man stopped his attack. Gunnar was infuriated that he couldn't do anything in that few seconds. The moment The Bald Man stopped, he madly thrust his spear at him countless times. However, most of Gunnar's attack was evaded or parried by the Bald Man. Only a few shallow hits landed on his body.
Gunnar became even more enraged when a lot of his attacks miss their target, he wanted to pull his spear again intending to do a big attack, but before he could, the Bald Man grabbed it. Gunnar tried to pull his weapon out of his enemy's grasp. Regardless of how much strength he put to his pull, he couldn't beat the Bald Man with strength.
The Bald Man pulled the spear so hard that even Gunnar was dragged with it, at the same time Gunnar was pulled closer to him. He used his other hand to punch Gunnar in the stomach, and because of this, Gunnar fell to the ground and curved his body like a ball showing that he was in a lot of pain.
The Bald Man raised the spear he got from Gunnar, and watch him for a while as he regretted that he was about to kill a capable hunter, then finally, he stabbed the spear at Gunnar.