August's body paused midair for a second before gravity took over and fell down onto the arena floor.
"Ow." August grunted.
Although his chin was dislocated from the guildmaster's fiery punch, August had come out unscatched from the first exchange.
He didn't even feel hurt from Marklein's punch thanks to his pain reduction skill.
'Phew, I thought I was a goner there. Ah, my jaw is dislocated. Oh well then, that's one less place the human will punch me later.' August thought to himself.
Marklein's eyebrow rose at the sight of this.
'Hm, I'm pretty sure I did not hold back when I punched the kid…How is he still standing? With a dislocated jaw at that??' Marklein was surprised.
He didn't think that the frail looking boy was actually tougher than a rock.
He believed that if he didn't break all of August's bones, August would continue to fight till his last breath.
Marklein couldn't help but approve August's toughness within his heart. 'Not bad, adventurers need to be tough in order to complete quests.'
"Not bad, kid. You managed to stop my chain attack by sacrificing your chin to counter attack me. Not bad at all. But that's it, you don't have any strong suits besides being tougher than the average human. I'll be crippling you with the next set of punches now." Marklein looked at August and commented.
August, on the other hand, remained silent.
He was thinking up a plan to beat the guildmaster with his set of skills, mainly his burning reduction and pain reduction skills.
Truth be told, if Sion hadn't bestowed him with these skills, August would have died within the first exchange with Guildmaster Marklein, ending his dream of becoming a Celestial within the first few months of his reincarnation.
But just as he was about to have an idea, Guildmaster Marklein had burst into flames, exuding extreme heat to his surroundings.
This was Guildmaster Marklein's martial technique, Flame Body.
With his body encased in extremely hot fire qi, not only were his five senses heightened, his fire type martial arts deals more damage to his opponents.
Furthermore, his opponents will get a 2nd to 3rd degree burn if they try to counter attack, making Marklein superior in close combat.
The guildmaster smashed his fist together as he took on a stance.
Within the second August blinked, Marklein had disappeared from his original position and reappeared in front of August with his left fist flying straight for August's face.
August on the other hand, only looked on at Marklein with a calm expression. This expression of his confused Marklein greatly.
'Why isn't he blocking my punch? Even if my Flame Body applies burning to you, you should still block it! Oi, block my punch! You're going to die if you don't! Shit! He really isn't going to block my punch?! I…I can't stop my fist–' At least ten trains full of thoughts rushed into Marklien's brain at that moment, dulling his senses in the process.
But it was also at this moment that August had come to an understanding with himself.
August had the burning reduction skill as well as the pain reduction skill, he didn't need to care about the guildmaster's Flame Body since he wouldn't feel much pain from it anyways.
So after understanding this part of him, August revealed a bright smile as he faced Marklein's fiery fist head on.
But before Marklein's punch could even touch his face, August's body had suddenly become ethereal like a ghost.
'What is happening right now? I'm becoming transparent?' Confused, August pinched himself to make sure he was still alive.
'Ouch! Okay, I'm still alive?'
August disappearing into thin air was done within a split second.
Following the completion of that second was Marklein's fiery fist. It crashed into the ground like a meteor, melting the stone floor like it was made of butter.
Seeing how his attack missed, Marklein remained calm.
He had read about the Ancient Ghost Clan and its secret techniques before.
To think that one of the Ancient Ghost Clan's most powerful secret techniques was in the hands of such a frail kid, Marklein couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh.
"Hahaha! How amusing! To think that a mysterious force such as the Ancient Ghost Clan would allow a nobody to learn their own secret techniques. How amusing indeed!" [Marklein]
August continued to remain silent.
If he played his cards well enough, he could turn this unbeatable duel into an even playing field.
'I wonder how long the effect of the Godly Lurking Art lasts? Last I checked, it lasted for more than 3 minutes when I was still in Body Tempering III.' Chin in hand, the gears in August's head began to turn.
From the looks of it, Guildmaster Marklein was clearly a late stage Qi Manifestation realm expert.
And by closely inspecting the flame density of Marklein's Flame Body, August guessed that the guild master has been stuck at this stage for more than a decade now.
Piecing this information with the fact that Marklein was easily pissed by August's remarks, August deduced that his opponent's mind has been corroded by fire qi.
Thus, making his emotions unstable and thus easily provoked.
But then, this deduction doesn't seem to correspond with how Marklein has been acting since August blocked his attack the first time.
'Did my lucky block make him return to his senses?' August wondered.
If it was like that, then all August had to do was provoke his opponent till he loses control of his martial technique and self-destructs.
But does he have time to do that? Or the ability to even speak?
His jaw was still dislocated at the moment.
"I found you~" It was at that moment that a fiery fist appeared in his line of sight.
"!!!" August tried to dodge to the side but Marklein's fist was faster.
With the guildmaster's fist connecting with August's face, August lost consciousness for a moment as his lifeless body flew across the arena before crashing into the stone floor.
'What the? How did he find me? I still have time before my presence can be detected again!' August was really confused this time.
He didn't understand how the guild master had detected him with his presence erased.
But before he could think any further, his eyes popped open as he quickly rolled to the side.
It was then that he swiftly dodged Marklein's punch before he ran away to gain some distance from the middle aged man.