However, this conversation did attract the attention of others, as some bold noblewomen started chatting with Norma.
The atmosphere gradually heated up.
...
...
The sky dimmed.
After repeated skirmishes and waiting, the time finally reached nine o'clock, the moment for the duel between Ahtal and Greis.
"Lord Ahtal, the duel..."
The notifying guard pushed open the door, only to find that Ahtal, who was supposed to be in his room, had disappeared. All he could see was a discarded magic potion bottle on the ground.
"Did he go to the duel field ahead of time?" He stepped out of the room and looked towards the direction of the duel field, and sure enough, he saw Ahtal's back, the man who had won nineteen consecutive duels, drinking magic potions one after another, and casually discarding the empty bottles.
About twenty or so magic potion bottles were discarded along the road to the duel field.
And this was not against the rules, as long as none were used during the duel itself. However, a normal person drinking so many magic potions would likely suffer severe side effects, possibly even dying suddenly before the battle began.
Was the man willing to sacrifice his life for victory?
"Greis specializes in close combat, incredibly agile, with strength that is outrageously powerful, a character designed by the officials to torment, a monster with attributes meant to antagonize new players."
Xi Mu tossed aside the last of his magic potions and stepped into the duel field, the light hitting his eyes made him squint slightly.
Cheers from the stands swelled like a tsunami; the atmosphere in the entire duel field was extremely agitated. However, for someone accustomed to being the center of attention, he felt no fluctuation.
They were merely a group of NPCs acting as the atmosphere squad.
On the opposite side, another strong man wearing only shorts walked out. His dark skin bore mysterious runes, each of his muscles brimming with explosive power, as if twisted from steel cables.
This man was Greis, the man unbeaten in a hundred battles, possessing no magic power but having reached the pinnacle of the duel field through pure training and skill.
The gazes of the two men overlapped in a straight line, Xi Mu and Greis both revealed fanatical smiles and ran towards each other.
Seeing this, the host no longer announced the start but began to panic and flee, to avoid being killed in the crossfire.
Xi Mu grasped his substantial greatsword as if it were a throwing spear, hurling it towards Greis.
The greatsword cut through the air, like a swift arrow.
"Bang!" Greis's fist, dark as gold, struck the side of the greatsword at an even faster speed, altering its trajectory.
However, as if anticipating this, Xi Mu appeared where the greatsword had deviated, gripped the hilt with his hand, and with a sudden force from his waist, leveraging the inertia of the thrown sword, he fiercely slashed down at Greis.
In terms of strength, he definitely could not match the attribute monster set by the game officials, being still in the novice phase.
The only thing he could do was resort to techniques and all sorts of underhanded methods.
To win, that was what players should consider.
"This guy, he seems to know my combat habits really well." Greis dug his feet into the ground, retracted his whole body backwards, his thick greatsword grazing his body as it passed.
The combatants separated, eyeing each other across a ten-meter distance.
Greis raised his hand to touch his chest, feeling the warmth. Had he not dodged in time, his muscles and bones might now be severed,
instead of merely having his skin nicked.
"To gain the upper hand on the first exchange, is Ahtal really a novice duelist?" someone from the stands raised a doubt.
Indeed, from the perspective of the audience, Ahtal's odds of winning did not appear high, whether in terms of combat experience, record, or physique, Greis held an overwhelming advantage.
Standing at just one-eight meters, Ahtal, as compared to the nearly three-meter tall Greis, appeared nearly as diminutive as an infant.
Yet, the one who gained the upper hand first was the leaner Ahtal, not the more robust Greis.
"Perhaps it's because of the weapon." someone explained, otherwise it was hard to justify why the formerly overpowering Greis was now at a disadvantage.
Though there had been others who faced Greis with weapons in the past, they were still easily crushed by him.
"You... are strong, stronger than me." Greis spread his arms as if embracing the universe, his gaze fiercely fixed on the man opposite.
"Pity, you are weaker than me,"
If it came to combat techniques and seizing the right moment, the opponent was clearly stronger. Although they had only exchanged blows in one round, he already understood the opponent's advantage.
His advantage was his robust body, capable of withstanding ordinary weapon strikes, crushing granite with his bare hands, and tearing armor apart with his immense strength.
This was also why he wore no armor; ordinary armor would never be stronger than his bodily defenses.
Rather, it would hinder his agility.
Next, the way to fight was clear: use his strength advantage, find an opportunity to exploit the opponent's weakness, and finish the fight in one go.
Before that, he must focus on defense and evasion.
Xi Mu, seemingly foreseeing his opponent's thoughts, immediately changed his combat strategy. He squatted down, grasping the heavy greatsword in his hands, and swung it with all the inertia the sword carried.
With a mighty swing, Greis stepped back to dodge the blade and, taking advantage of his longer arms, reached out to grab Xi Mu.
The advantages and disadvantages of both sides were clear. If he could just get the opportunity to grab on, then the opponent's techniques would be of no use, as his strong grip could crush a person to death.
Xi Mu, looking as though he had anticipated this, quickly crouched and grabbed a handful of sand from the ground, flinging it towards Greis's face.
This was a tactic often used in childish fights.
But, surprisingly effective.
Greis instinctively stepped back; he did not want his eyes blinded by the sand, as that would impair his vision.
And impaired vision was extremely fatal.
In that instant, Xi Mu astonishingly let go of the heavy greatsword he was gripping, and threw himself into Greis's arms, landing a fierce punch.
Theoretically, he had to rely on the power of a weapon to have a chance to defeat Greis. Otherwise, competing in physical strength alone, there would be no chance of victory.
But,
"Bang!" Greis's eyes widened as the punch that hit his abdomen felt like a cannonball, lifting his nearly three-meter tall body into the air, sending him flying backward like a snapped chopstick.
Even with his solid muscles, he felt a wrenching pain in his abdomen, as if his intestines were about to break.
Truly, in terms of sheer strength, Xi Mu could not compete with an attribute monster like Greis unless he had ample time to level up.
However, there was not entirely no way out. Given the freedom of the "Mysterious Gate" game, as long as one prepared in advance, even a mortal could manage to kill a powerful mage.
Having consumed a large amount of Magic Potion beforehand to temporarily boost his attributes, along with the skill he had honed over many playthroughs, he managed to throw a punch painful enough for Greis.
But this was not enough to defeat Greis, the attribute monster.
Hand once again gripping the heavy greatsword, Xi Mu charged toward Greis, swinging another heavy, powerful stroke with the inertia.
Not choosing to block directly, Greis cautiously decided to dodge, delaying to wait for his condition to improve slightly; however, just as he stepped back,
Xi Mu had already thrown the heavy greatsword at Greis's chest, charging at him simultaneously.
Who to dodge?
As this thought flashed through Greis's mind, his body reacted first, dodging the greatsword that reached him first.
And the closely following Xi Mu also got close to Greis, striking his side with his hardest elbow.
Then, leaping up, he grabbed Greis's head and struck a heavy knee against his throat, as Greis's breathing hesitated and his eyes turned white.
His waist suddenly exerted force, jumping behind Greis as if vaulting, his hand reaching for the heavy greatsword on the ground.
Turning around, the greatsword heavily chopped down, accompanied by the sound of the blade cutting through muscle and bone, as blood spurted out.
Xi Mu, stained with fresh blood, looked at Greis fallen on the ground. He understood Greis's combat habits all too well and had even specifically released tutorial videos, teaching beginners how to quickly defeat this attribute monster.
And at that moment,
[Host…you…gained experience, is it time to encounter the Witch now?] the system exclaimed.
To this, Xi Mu just picked his ear, ignoring the sudden noise by his ear; after all, it was just the game system's upgrade notification and achievement acquisition.
Even if he didn't listen, he knew it all too well.