As the long-nosed man declared the start of the fight, the 8-foot brute immediately charged forward to grab Zareth, however, his attempt did not bear fruit as Zareth swiftly jumped up and skipped across the top of the man's head before landing right behind him.
Now, fueled with even more anger, Hughes turned around to face Zareth once again.
"Fight me like a man and stop running away you little brat! This is a real fight, there are no shenanigans here!" He roared before storming towards Zareth once again.
"The champion is right! No magic nor weapons are allowed in this brawl! It is a contest of pure strength, skill, and endurance!" The long-nosed man yelled in defense of Hughes' words.
'Damn... I was hoping to test out my new sword. That's too bad. I guess I will have to end this fight quickly.' Zareth thought to himself, slightly disappointed but still wary of the time he had left until daybreak when he needed to be home.
With the strength he gained from the Direwolf mana core, Zareth was far more powerful than in his previous state. Taking on a normal human who didn't have any cultivation was easy for him.
Although this brute wasn't exactly normal, he wasn't comparable to someone who had cultivated their body, even if it was a ten-year-old kid.
Without another thought, Zareth dashed forward and sent a powerful punch straight into Hughes' large stomach in the split of a few seconds, causing waves of fat to ripple away from the impact zone.
The force of the punch was powerful enough to send a small shockwave through the man's body and out into the air, collapsing his lung and making him unconscious immediately.
As Zareth backed away, the man's body slid from his shoulder and slumped onto the ground like a limp ragdoll.
This distraught scene sent another wave of silence through the crowd quiet enough to hear a pin drop.
For a moment, Zareth looked at the body of the unconscious man with a curious expression.
No one in the crowd knew what he was up to, but they were too stunned to think about it anyways.
Finally, after a couple of seconds, Zareth kneeled in front of the man's face.
"Is he... checking on his unconscious opponent?" A man in the crowd suddenly spoke.
This caused a domino effect of people speaking of the same thing.
"He is making sure Hughes is okay!"
"What a kind soul!"
"He is fit to be the winner!"
Hearing this, Zareth could only think to himself
'Of course, they idolize the winner. In the end, who you are doesn't matter as long as you win.'
Even the long-nosed announcer had joined in.
"Rath, did you say? You are indee--" However, the man's sentence was cut short.
Instead of seeing Zareth help Hughes, everyone in the crowd saw him lift his head and punch him straight in the nose.
Hughes' nose began bleeding profusely as Zareth then dropped his head back down onto the pavement before walking towards the long-nosed man.
No matter what the circumstance, Zareth, or rather, The Sovereign of Wrath, would only be victorious in his fights when blood was drawn. As the crowd saw the evil-looking grin on his face, they were ridiculed with disbelief.
"He's a monster..." One man in the crowd quietly spoke.
"What is wrong with him!? Why would he--"
Zareth couldn't care less for what others had to say. Right now, he was just happy to get his reward money.
"So, can I get the 50 gold right now sir?" He said to the long-nosed man who was still in shock.
"Y-yes! Here you Rath. I hope we see you again next week as well. You... erm... put on quite a show today!" The man said, trying his best to act as his usual self as he dropped a cloth pouch full of gold bars into Zareth's open palm.
Zareth graciously accepted the reward as he made his way through the crowd to leave. This time, people moved to the side, clearing a path for him.
"I will be back when I have the time, don't forget the name!" Zareth said as his final words before leaving.
He put the pouch inside his inventory and eventually left the black market in the same way he came.
Although he wanted to sell his cores and also buy some elixirs and potentially even some pills to help him in his mana cultivation, there was no more time left.
He was going to have to do all of that the following day.
By the time he arrived at his house, it was just about time for his parents to wake. Thankfully, he had arrived just minutes before they had done so.
Of course, he also hid his sword and mask inside of his inventory, and as he climbed into bed, all he could think about was using the sword tomorrow.
Just like that, tomorrow arrived. As usual, Zareth performed his daily workout routine and waited until the moon overcame the sun.
As the clock struck 11:00 pm, he set out into Jormount forest with his parents completely slumped.
Using Flash, Zareth arrived at his hunting spot with the large rock and treeless plot very quickly.
Looking at the rock, he saw that it was still stained with bird sh*t.
The sight slightly irritated him.
Now that he was finally alone, however, he pulled his sword out of his inventory and unsheathed it.
The green glimmer of the blade shined lightly even in the dark. It was truly a fine blade.
After observing the sword for a moment, Zareth tightened his grip around the sword before quickly swinging it in the direction of the large rock.
As he did this, a small puff of air released from the blade and crashed against the rock before disappearing. The force of the air was pitiful, but that was to be expected since Zareth had not gained much mastery of the blade yet.
[Spiraling Wind Sword: 0.02% Mastery]
When releasing his slash, Zareth was also testing whether the blade automatically infused with Zareth's mana, or if it had to be done manually.
From the results, it seemed that none of the two outcomes was correct.
Although it did take Zareth's mana on its own, the sword did not infuse itself with mana.
This was something Zareth was hoping for, as infusing a weapon with mana was an extremely difficult but powerful technique in the Immortal Realm that required absolute mastery of weapons.
However, it looked like the sword was just acting as a vessel to use wind magic using Zareth's mana. Still, it sucked at doing even this because of the little mastery.
However, this was nothing to worry about. Zareth still had a new powerful and durable weapon in his hands.