333 Over pride
The half-wolf knew well how proud adventurers used to be, and Melkians were mostly conceited with their martial techniques, so caution was needed when dealing with people like that.
Therefore, Luke started his actions after so much dodging only by blocking one of Phiaro’s punches with his right arm and then punching Phiaro’s face with his right fist.
The bald man’s reflexes were lagging after drinking so much that night, so Luke’s punch knocked him back and blurred his vision. Coincidentally, the same alcohol that made Phiaro slightly cloudy also boosted the adrenaline coursing through his veins.
For a second, Luke thought he’d knocked out Phiaro with just one punch, then he was glad when Phiaro hit him even harder than before.
Luke continued to dodge the attacks and occasionally threw punches in the opponent’s abdomen area, which only encouraged Phiaro to continue.
Gradually, Luke began to increase the power of his punches, making the moments of rest that Phiaro took to himself shorter than before. After the fight was over five minutes, the big bald man was already completely drenched in sweat, bruised on his abdomen and panting. The half-wolf, on the other hand, had an intact appearance, not even the strands of his hair seemed to have shifted position.
At this moment of rest for Phiaro, it was the first time that most spectators had noticed the scandalous difference in the conditions of the two fighters.
Although Phiaro was already completely convinced that Luke was indeed a man of terrifying strength, he was too proud to admit it out loud while still standing. After raising his fists, Phiaro ran towards Luke one last time.
Luke took a step back when he saw the man with the stringy muscles running towards him, but he didn’t do it out of fear, he did it just to fix his positioning on the battlefield. Thanks to that small move, Phiaro had to stretch farther to try to land a right punch to Luke’s face. This punch must have been faster than it actually was, which Phiaro internally regretted.
The bald man’s blow was nowhere near a speed Luke couldn’t dodge, but Luke chose not to. At the time, Luke grabbed Phiaro’s wrist with his left mother, pulled Phiaro down hard, and kneed Phiaro in the face so hard he flew two meters up when he was released.
As Phiaro fell to the ground on his back, the thud echoed in the silent arena.
For the adventurers, Luke’s landslide victory was proof that his strength was indeed greater than normal, but it was still a shock to see Phiaro, one of Melki’s most experienced adventurers, look like a child fighting an adult.
“Ended! Luke is the winner!” Leonan decreed, raising his arm and pointing to the right side of the arena.
All the people fell silent, as did Walley, who silently celebrated.
“I’m going to the hotel, I’ll be between 13th and 4th, in that rickety hotel. If they need me, ask the receptionist with my name.” Luke said and walked out of the arena.
After the half-wolf retreated, the adventurers gathered to check on Phiaro. Well, in appearance he was really deplorable, but for some reason he was smiling.
“Why are you smiling, idiot?” One of Phiaro’s groupmates asked him. “You know you have a broken nose, don’t you?”
“HAHAHAHA! And what’s so great about having a broken nose? I’ve already broken my nose like 10 times!” Phiaro exclaimed after chuckling at the question.
Everyone looked at each other, not understanding that bald man’s spontaneous reaction.
“Aren’t you mad at that half-beast?” A swordswoman asked.
*Crack*
Phiaro fixed his nose in place with his bare hands. “Why would I be?” He asked, his voice a little faint.
“Why, because Luke humiliated you!” Someone else countered.
“Humiliated me? What are you talking about? He could have humiliated me if he wanted to, but in reality he was showing every one of my weaknesses.” Phiaro answered with sincerity after all the fight was already over.
“Like this?” asked Leonan, interested in the matter.
“Haven’t you noticed? I’m sure he was holding back. He constantly attacked my weakest points, but with the speed he showed to dodge my punches, I’m sure he could have hit my chin or throat at least ten times. Not to mention his reflection.” Phiaro replied, remembering every second he could see his mistakes, but Luke didn’t take advantage of them.
Generally, a punch to the throat or chin is an accurate knockout, although strong punches to the throat cause suffocation and are practically taboo in the Melki Empire.
All the adventurers who listened to Phiaro’s explanations were surprised that Luke seemed even more of a force to his opponent than to the onlookers. Undoubtedly, Luke had trained so much that these days normal people looked like children fighting him.
*
The next day, Luke woke up to a loud knocking on his door.
“Luke, wake up! Something urgent has happened!” Walley, on the other side of the door, exclaimed with some despair.
The half-wolf opened the door while still yawning with sleep and with his hair totally disheveled. “Good morning, Walley. What happened this time?”
“I was sleeping at the Headquarters of the ‘Sickle of the Forest’ because you forgot about me, and a messenger from one of the Marquises appeared. Apparently the Marquis Stahurt wants to meet you in person.” explained the white haired man.
Frowning, Luke asked, “What is a Marquis?”
“I explained to you before how hierarchies work here in Melki, didn’t I?”
“If you explained it, I don’t remember.” Luke said simply.
In the past, the Melki Empire was just a small Kingdom at the southern end of the Skoll Continent, that is, the hierarchy used to have the King as the highest position, and soon after came the Dukes, Marquises, Counts, Viscounts, Barons. , Imperial Guards and lastly the commoners. After the Melki Kingdom expanded a lot, it became an Empire, but the positions of the nobility remained, because all the nobles already had power and if the Emperor tried to take it away from them, there would be several separatist wars.