The bard fantasized again.

Chapter 45 Victory and Defeat (5k words, please continue reading)
Shyvana was never patient to begin with, and in her rage, she wouldn't give the Black Serpent any breathing room.

Her offensive was like a whirlwind, and the huge axe in her hand was swung like a bamboo fishing rod.

Black Snake was determined to stall for time and simply focused on hiding.

His combat experience was far greater, and as a former rogue, he had a thorough understanding of every muscle and bone in his body.

So much so that he could always slip away like a soft-boned viper between attacks.

But seeing her attacks repeatedly fail, Shyvana became even more annoyed—

This is a battle we cannot afford to lose.

There is only one prophet.

There were many old men who disagreed with this chief.

"Coward! What kind of skill is it to hide and run away!?"

If he's at his peak, Black Serpent wouldn't mind giving a couple of sarcastic remarks.

But he only felt tired now, and didn't even want to expend the energy to speak.

He retreated repeatedly until he was right in front of an orc, with nowhere to hide. Then he leaped up, stepped on Shyvana's shoulder, and pulled her to the other side.

Sivana was still annoyed.

But this annoyance will eventually turn into frustration.

She will calm down because of her disappointment.

That's when it's time for me to make my move.

Seeing the black snake maneuver and stabilize the situation, Tang Qi felt that the outcome of this duel was only a matter of time.

But the closer he got to the final moment, the less he could afford to relax.

The goblin sorcerer is their only bargaining chip.

We absolutely cannot let her take the opportunity to escape.

Otherwise, they wouldn't even have the right to negotiate.

However, the old goblin was surprisingly well-behaved during the gladiatorial combat.

The ethereal aura emanating from the wound was stabilizing her condition...

Tang Qi couldn't help but consider the threat she could pose—

Logically speaking, [Fireball] and [Fear] were used in succession.

Her spell slots should be completely depleted.

The spell slot is closely related to the spellcaster's mental strength.

For example, a spellcaster of the Nova rank has enough mental energy to support two second-level spells and four first-level spells.

Unless extraordinary measures are used, once his spell slots are depleted, his brain will no longer be able to withstand any more pressure and he will need a long period of rest to restore his mental state to its peak.

Meanwhile, sorcerers, who are also spellcasters, have a severe shortage of spell slots.

Of course, this is because her power does not belong to herself.

Therefore, a short rest is all it takes to release all the stress.

【False Life】is a special blessing bestowed by the sect leader and is not considered one of her spells.

What worries Tang Qi is...

During the time when the black serpent was fighting the female orc.

Is the old goblin, whose abdomen was stabbed by a scimitar and who was never able to pull it out, considered to have taken a break?
Perhaps it would be safer to stab her in the waist and abdomen again now?

Tang Qi was somewhat confused about the situation:

"Never mind, let's be on the safe side."

Without hesitation, he yanked the scimitar out and stabbed it at Barbaya's other side—

"Damn human, what are you doing!?"

The sudden slash caused the old goblin to cry out in pain.

Tang Qi realized that the eerie green aura around her wound had dissipated with his strike.

No wonder Barbara was hysterical.

She had already closed her eyes during a break in the fight between the two, praying for the blessing of her 'master' to release the pressure in her brain.

But this sudden blow severed her connection to the prayer.

The disappearance of the "false life" signifies that she will bear all the harm that follows entirely on her own...

Is it just a coincidence?
This human's eye is truly sharp...

She clenched her teeth, her expression uncertain.

As Tang Qi finished off the enemy, Kuru suddenly shrank back and moved closer to his leg:

"There are so many people watching the play!"

Tang Qi then looked around and saw many goblins and orcs on the tortoise shells, who were constantly moving towards the center in order to get a better view.

The battles are now becoming increasingly intense, and Shyvana is gaining the upper hand in the situation.

The cheers and shouts around me were incessant, and it was normal that the number of onlookers was increasing...

wrong.

Tang Qi narrowed his eyes slightly.

He was now inside the encirclement, a few feet away from the crowd.

The busybodies who gathered around were of various races, but most of the short goblins with yellow-green skin stayed close to him.

"Kuru, keep a close eye on the surroundings for me."

Tang Qi had no choice but to tighten his grip on the old goblin's neck and move further away from the goblins behind him.
"Behave yourself, don't try anything funny."

"You've already stabbed me in the back, what else can I do?!"

Barbaya's high-pitched and hoarse voice always made people feel uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, the black snake in the crowd had already led the crazed Shyvana on a long run.

Meanwhile, he kept scheming in his mind how to help Shyvana win the gladiatorial match with dignity.

Although it may be reluctant, sometimes 'failure' is a kind of 'victory'.

He wasn't trying to compete with anyone; that was something he liked to do when he was younger.

Right now, he must get back to the town before the orcs do.

Having figured out the key point, Black Serpent stopped being hesitant and saw the anger in Shyvana's eyes gradually fade.

He understood that this was the only opportunity he could seize.

He immediately stopped and turned to run towards the barbarian.

Seeing that the annoying flea had finally stopped running around, Shyvana roared and swung her giant axe at his head.

The crimson waning moon swept away the fierce wind.

But there was no human figure in sight!

As she swung her sword, the anger in her eyes and the savage bear behind her vanished in an instant.

Black Snake had already slid over behind her, pushed off the ground with both feet, leaped up, and turned to draw his knife.

Shyvana was startled and quickly twisted her waist, shouting as she tried to use the momentum to swing her giant axe into a crescent shape and slash behind her!

The black blade had already pierced the night, slashing towards Shyvana's nape—

If the strike is swift enough, it will hit Shyvana's neck before her axe strike lands.

This might not necessarily cost her her life.

But it will inevitably determine the outcome of the battle.

Sivana gritted her teeth.

After battling the black snake for a long time, she knew she wasn't fast enough to stop the long-planned attack.

After this blow, all his previous boasts and hopes of gaining a reputation will vanish into thin air.

For a moment, she regretted agreeing to the bet on the gladiatorial man.

After the defeat, should I keep my promise and let them leave?

After a brief moment of hesitation, Shyvana ultimately chose to deny it.

What contract? What honor?
No orc would care about that.

No tribal chief would tolerate someone who is superior to him living for more than three days...

Without sanctions, that person will take his place and become the new chief.

That's how savage tribes are.

They must die here!
Shyvana was certain in her heart that she was about to face the ending she had envisioned.

But the blade did not slice across the back of her neck as expected.

Instead, the sensation of the giant axe digging into her flesh reached her hands first.

"Boom!!!"

Using the momentum, Shyvana blasted the black snake away.

The outcome is decided!

She hesitated and turned around, seeing the human lying on the ground, a gruesome bloody gash on his back—

The wound looks scary, but it didn't damage the spine at all.

She realized that in the final moments of the fight, the man hadn't even turned over to swing that blade.

Instead, they assessed the distance in advance and kept the injury within a suitable range.

He is releasing water.

But for me, the victory was not honorable...

"Uha!!!"

But no orc saw the truth.

They only saw the immediate result.

Suddenly, a boisterous cheer erupted in Shyvana's ears:
"Shyvana! Shyvana! Shyvana!"

She was unsure whether she should enjoy the cheers.

As she remained silent, a call echoed through the woods.

Tang Qi's back felt as if it had been struck by an icicle.

That unique, tingling sensation of alertness suddenly struck!

But he was still tightly holding onto an old goblin, which hindered his movement.

The instant he realized the danger was approaching, he grabbed Barbaya by the neck and turned to shield her from behind—

Several streaks of silver light flashed before their eyes, and four goblins emerged from the crowd of onlookers, simultaneously slashing at their revered prophet with their cheap scimitars.

"what!!!"

Barbaya let out a strange cry, and large tears streamed from her narrow eyes.

"You bunch of useless trash, you've managed to cut me!"

The goblins were stunned, never expecting the human to react so quickly.

They thought no one had noticed them.

However, the goblins' defeat could not alleviate Tang Qi's sense of urgency.

He was a bard, not known for his strength.

The fact that this old goblin could hold a knife in one hand and lift Barbaya with the other was entirely due to his short stature and withered body, which had hardly any flesh on it.

But the four goblins' solid, heavy strikes shifted Barbaya's center of gravity.

This made it impossible for me to hold her neck tightly anymore.

With a swift movement, the old goblin fell to the ground!

"Oops!"

Tang Qi didn't dare to delay and hurriedly stepped forward to grab this only 'chip'.

But the four goblins pressed their advantage, once again brandishing their blades and slashing towards Tang Qi's forehead. "Rua!"

Kuru waved his wand, shooting out an ice crystal that struck a goblin squarely on the forehead. The frost rendered his stiff scimitar utterly ineffective.

Tang Qi obeyed the alert signal, sensing the landing point of the other three goblins' slashes and deflecting their attacks.

He did not follow up with a slash.

Attempting to brave the threat of another attack from the three goblins, he pushed through them and charged directly at the fallen Barbaya—

But the three goblins had bought her a brief moment of opportunity.

Ignoring her bleeding wounds, she insisted on clutching the pendant bestowed upon her by the sect leader in front of her neck.

The sorcerer uttered harsh and noisy filth from between his lips, like mosquitoes buzzing and swirling around in one's ear.

A dark, malevolent light suddenly burst forth, connecting her pendant to her finger.

"[Magic Blast]!"

In an instant, the alarm bell rang.

The impending danger sent chills down Tang Qi's spine.

In an instant, I heard a cacophony of cheers, goblin howls, and kobold anxieties...

All sounds seemed to transform into dull white noise, gradually fading into silence.

Tang Qi suddenly realized that his eyesight had become exceptionally sharp.

So much so that those two invisible wisps vibrated and twisted with a repulsive force in the firelight, white mist, and air they passed through.

The columnar trajectory appeared before his eyes.

They are like two sharp swords.

It must pierce through everything in its path.

Up to his chest, his heart.

Tang Qi had already experienced the power of this repulsive force.

Just a slight shift to his waist and abdomen was enough to make him cough up water with difficulty.

This fragile body could not withstand its continuous bombardment.

"Get out of the way."

His mind was clearer than ever.

This was the only option he could make.

"Get out of the way."

He tried to move his legs.

But they found that they seemed to be stuck in a quagmire, heavy and powerless.

He was firmly imprisoned in place, unable to move.

"Get the hell out of the way!"

Tang Qi roared inwardly, but his legs, which were sinking in the mud, had already taken root and embedded themselves in the ground.

No matter how much they call, they remain unmoved.

The chill down his spine made Tang Qi realize the reason—

[Alertness] enhanced his perception of danger.

This is equivalent to infinitely lengthening the distance of the reflex nerve within a fixed time period.

This puts his brain in a state of near-bullet time illusion.

However, his body was too weak to keep up with the nerve signals.

This results in the current state where mind and body are almost completely separated.

There is no such thing as having the best of both worlds.

[Awareness] can help him avoid dangers that are enough to trigger a reaction.

But it also makes those unavoidable fears unforgettable.

This invisible repulsive force arrived in an instant.

This brought Tang Qi to the brink of death.

But there is nothing I can do.

“Bang, bang!!!”

Two explosive sounds pierced the air, comparable to thunder accumulated in dark clouds!

Tang Qi was sent flying backwards.

His hearing gradually cleared, his vision dimmed, and a heaviness settled in his chest...

When he hit the ground, he felt like he couldn't breathe.

But this is not how death should feel.

It is the feeling of suffocation caused by a heavy object pressing down on your chest.

Tang Qi opened his eyes blankly and groped for the heavy object in front of him.

The slippery, warm moisture traveled to his fingertips.

A strong, metallic scent of blood filled his nasal cavity—

This is a person!?
"Ahem, cough!"

The black snake, whose back had been severely injured, felt a sweet, metallic taste rise in its throat and spat the blood onto Tang Qi's shoulder.

Tang Qi never expected that the mercenary would be the one to save him at the last moment.

But he didn't understand it at all.

Why did he risk injury to do everything in his power to save himself?

"You—why!?"

"Stop talking nonsense. If you die, how the hell am I supposed to get back to town?"

Black Snake was panting heavily, and even his cursing became weak and ineffective.

Is Starplum Town really that important to this mercenary?
"We'll talk about it once we're out of here! First, help me up, we still have to fight our way out."

This is not the time for idle talk—

Barbaya gripped the pendant on her chest once more.

Foul language will again be uttered from between the teeth:
"[Magic Energy] -"

She couldn't recite the syllables completely yet.

A heavy punch suddenly landed on her cheek.

The punch carried immense force, causing the skin on her cheeks to tremble from the shockwave, and her cheekbones to cave in.

The old goblin was blasted into the crowd of orcs by a single punch. They scattered and retreated, leaving the prophet trailing a deep furrow in the damp earth.

She couldn't withstand such immense force; her eyes rolled back, she foamed at the mouth, and she fainted.

"Uh-huh!?"

The orcs were also shocked by the sudden punch, and all looked at their leader who had thrown it—

Shyvana spat coldly and slammed the giant axe in her hand into the ground:
"I haven't even finished fighting yet, what the hell are you meddling for?!"

Tribal gladiatorial combat is sacred.

Before the outcome is determined, anyone who intervenes in the struggle, regardless of their status, will be considered disrespectful to the tribe.

As long as the black snake can still move and hasn't surrendered, the matter isn't over yet.

Therefore, Shyvana had every reason to teach this old goblin who had annoyed her from the very beginning a lesson.

As for that human...

He watched as the black snake, helped up by Tang Qi, tried to stand upright.

Shyvana couldn't help but clench her fists.

Glory told her that she should explain to her people the fact that her victory was not honorable.

"For this position, for the sake of the tribe, we must learn to suppress our emotions and exercise restraint..."

Sivana let out a long breath, then slammed her fist into her chest with a "thud."
You have lost.

Our [Fierce Roar] tribe has no place for a weakling.

But a clueless old man disrupted the bet.

and so--

Get out of here!
Go back and take good care of yourself.

Filled with fear of the [Fierce Roar], they watched as our iron hooves trampled the town—

I'll be waiting for you there.

Then, we'll restart this unfinished battle!

"Uha!!!"

Perhaps because they found it entertaining, none of the orcs wanted to go against Shyvana's decision.

They celebrated yet another victory amidst cheers.

Sivana sighed.

She may have truly grown up.

He can also tell shameless lies without batting an eye, just like his father.

But no matter what, she will spare this human.

Now that she has gained the fame she desired, she doesn't mind fulfilling the bet.

Moreover, she didn't want to recall the unfair outcome of her victory.

This gave her the illusion that she had won the gladiatorial contest but lost everything.

Leaving him in the tribe will only cause trouble for people.

But one day, she will surely reclaim the dignity that belongs to her.

Before that, letting him off the hook might not be a bad idea.

Just treat it as...

Respect for the strong.

'strength'.

It is the creed of the [Fierce Roar] tribe.

"Hoo, ha!"

"Hoo, ha!"

"Hoo, ha!"

The orcs parted to make way for them, leading into the forest.

The battle cry, like a drumbeat, is both a celebration and a demonstration.

Before Shyvana could back out, Tang Qi and Black Serpent exchanged a glance, then strode forward with their heads held high.

It was also meant to intimidate some orcs, to tell them that his injuries were nothing.

But when they led Kuru through the forest.

After recognizing that they had pulled ahead of those slow-moving giant tortoises in the sky by a considerable distance,

Black Snake could no longer maintain his carefully constructed facade.

He felt increasingly dizzy, his vision gradually blurred, and a feeling of weakness overwhelmed his entire body.

He wanted to just fall asleep like that.

Whether or not I'll wake up tomorrow.

He was gradually becoming unable to feel the pain anymore.

His knees buckled, and he collapsed to his knees.

　To maintain emotional continuity, there should be single, larger chapters today and tomorrow.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)