"Underground Rank 113, do you dare to accept this challenge?" shouted one of the three elders at the referee desk who wore grey robes.
This elder could hardly believe it when he saw the youth's registration. When did they even register a new hunter? The loudmouth annoyed the elder, who would disdain the former entirely if he didn't dare to fight. Marsha should be able to throttle him even if she just finished a fight.
The words 'do you dare' echoed around the hall.
Bas felt sure this elder had some relation to this girl.
"Hmph, battle, why not battle?" Bas shrugged his shoulders as he walked to the battle cage.
When she heard this, Marsha frowned.
Rank 113? Didn't that mean he hadn't battled before today? The ranks 101-125 changed daily. He was so pathetically weak that he fell to the bottom of the barrel repeatedly, or he had just arrived today! It would be impossible for him to climb the rankings without slowly grinding his way up. That was unless...
Wait...Did this kid intentionally goad me into a battle?
He wanted a shortcut challenge!
"Fuck..." Marsha was an eighth-level Foundation hunter.
With her agile mind, she quickly realized that she had been manipulated. Yet her anger only intensified.
Marcus Bloom was being escorted away on a stretcher, but as he passed by, he whispered something to Bas that made the eyes of the latter shine. Bas just smirked and kept moving forward. After the battle announcer opened the gate, Bas flipped into the ring and landed with great poise.
"This kid is a little interesting..." Brenda Evans, the sexy announcer for the Fifth Class and peak Fourth Class matches, had an intrigued glint in her eyes as she observed this Bazzy Dagod.
"What could be interesting about this little punk?" Brenda's father, Sid Evans, replied when he heard his daughter's remark.
He didn't find this Bazzy Dadouché exciting at all.
"He spoke out just to goad the opponent. However, even I would have to slaughter him for his remark if it were me. If he loses the fight, he will forever be a loser." Brenda replied lightly, amused at her father's reaction. "But what if he wins? What would he be then?"
"Arrogant and short-sighted! What does he gain by skipping the line? He may even lose his life to Marsha's supporters or herself." Replied Sid without a shred of emotion.
"However, if he wins, he will be catapulted to fame and resources in a single step," Brenda replied matter-of-factually. "Fifty ranks at once is no small leap here, Dad. He'd be an overnight celebrity, something we've not had for a while. I remember a rowdy youth who used a similar tactic during his first match. Let's see what he does."
"The child is too arrogant," Sid crossed his arms and closed his eyes as he spoke to his daughter.
He knew what Brenda was insinuating, but he didn't buy it. How could someone as young as Bas have possibly reached the eighth level of Hunt Foundation without acquiring a shaky and unstable foundation? Sid didn't believe it was possible in Mortalee. How could this brat compare to his younger self?
"He will not amount to much, even if he wins. The shortcut may be quicker, but that battle experience during the ascension is irreplaceable. I regret jumping 15 ranks back then, but he intends to jump over 50! He's already spoiled himself, and it'll be too late to regret even if he scrapes up a W."
Brenda felt these words contained some truth when she heard her father speak to her. She stared disappointingly at Bazzy Dagod, far less enthused, waiting to see her father's words come to life.
"I know what you want to do, but I won't let you win so easily!" Marsha pulled out a two-foot-long butterfly knife and readied herself to attack at the first notice.
Seeing that Marsha dared to pull out her weapon, Bas frowned. That blade was a bronze-class weapon, and its double handles looked awesome! He did not have a weapon and hadn't realized that weapons were not prohibited.
"Don't blame me for not being polite then!" Yelled Bas as his muscles tightened and his stance lowered.
He was pissed. All he did was talk a bit of trash, and this woman wanted his life. How incredible. 'Hmph, daring to pull out a weapon on this deity? So much for keeping a low profile. I'll have to teach this little dove a lesson.'
"Who is that guy?"
"Rank 113? Must be his first time."
"He pissed off the 51st-ranked? This kid doesn't know how high the sky is."
"Look at his battle stance, though! He almost looks like a hunt expert, so crisp."
"His aura is so...sharp. It isn't very comforting even from here. It's almost like he's the one with the knives. What kind of arte do you think he's training?"
"Probably a weak sword arte, one that peaks too early. We've seen too many of those."
"I don't know, this one seems different. He might be a black horse in today's fights."
"The following contest will be Rank 51 - Marsha Logan challenging Rank 113 - Bazzy Dagod!" the current battle announcer took to the stage to start the battle. He read the rules to both fighters before exiting the stage and waving his hand. "CONTEST BEGIN! FIGHT!"
Shing!
As soon as the match started, Marsha brandished her bronze class butterfly knife and thrust toward Bas' heart rapidly. Bas pushed himself off the ground with his left leg and deflected the blade to the ground with his right leg, causing sparks to fly.
'Tsk, I could end it right here.' He thought.
However, Bas felt that would be too easy. He wanted to put on a show.
While Marsha was still recovering her balance, Bas used his forward momentum to front flip into a dropkick. Marsha felt like a nine-ton mallet landed on her chest as she was launched backward, crashing into the cage. The cage repelled her body back on the stage, where she slid pathetically.
Marsha coughed out a mouthful of blood but quickly rose to her feet. She never once loosened the grip on her weapon. Marsha felt startled because the strength her opponent just displayed was even higher than her last. This wasn't an opponent she could underestimate further. She immediately started using her weapon's switchblade function, making her attacks less predictable.
Bas was quite impressed by this. Although the exchange was only a few seconds, he used 45% of his strength in that kick, plus his speed and weight. In his opinion, even a ninth-level Foundation hunter would have been injured by that previous attack.
"Hmph, you're actually pretty tough," Bas complimented his opponent, for she had won his respect.
"Yeah, and you're not all that at all!" Marsha spat blood on the ground and lifted her blade, panting heavily. "Come on, let's fight! HURRICANE SWEEP, KILL!"
Bas felt a reaction from the ryms in the surroundings as a mild wind moved his hair. Before he could react, Marsha appeared with her blade lashing out in the same whip-ish manner as her legs in the previous match. Surprisingly, she reached a state of near fusion, as the switchblade caused variations with multiple blades slicing at Bas.
"Dodge!" Bas was smart enough not to be hit by a bronze-class weapon; those blades were more than enough to take his little life! On top of that, this chick was talented enough to have almost entered a new dimension of the blade.
He dodged the movements of this crazy woman by a hair's breadth with each strike. Cold sweat crept up his back, but Bas suddenly noticed an irregularity in his body. His Soul Record was operating independently as he dodged these attacks by the skin of his teeth. One of his runic imprints was starting to shine. "A premium soul skill is finally developing? Could this be the will of the dragon sovereign? If I could see the matching constellation right now, I could interpret this skill easier."
Premium soul skills were Hunter Skills developed by a premium Soul Record of any class. Like all hunt skills, they could be unlocked with the prerequisite level of origin power. These skills would take shape based on the hunter's experience in relation to the record. However, he could only use the default hunter skill without refining his will into the record, not a soul skill. Bas' life suddenly being in imminent danger provoked the production of a new soul skill.
Of course, this skill was unlikely to be primed by the end of this battle. On the contrary, Bas would need some time to comprehend it. After all, he had yet to connect with the will of an Evil Dragon, let alone the Evil Dragon Sovereign.
For now, his dodging efforts were just becoming increasingly easy. For this reason, Bas chose not to attack, simply using his opponent's fury to temper himself. He would always have time to win the match afterward. Where was he supposed to find such a good performance dummy in the future?