Chương 100: CLASH OF CONVICTION
Exvo, at the moment, was sailing through the Byinshi river. Fish in thousands got caught in nets maneuvered by tough-looking seals raised on the ship. These seals smartly trapped fish in the nets before slipping through the air-barriers serving as temporary inlets on the ninth deck, successfully bringing all the fish into the underwater portion of the ship. Only a couple of seals jumped out of the waters and landed on the tenth deck, along with their catch that was well over a thousand fishes of different kinds.
Gerett picked up a few smaller fish and hand-fed those two seals before sending them off back to work on the ship. While eating a baguette with a boneless, roasted fish hidden inside, Gerett watched over as other gloved workers packed the fish in containers. "It looks like we've got plenty of salmons this time. It's only the month of Mitvallen, yet they have already begun migrating for whatever reason. Lucky us. Keep a few gravid ones aside," Gerett ordered. "We can have some fish eggs for dinner."
"Yes, sir."
Stussy, meanwhile, was silently observing from the side while also reading a leaflet that contained the recipe for cooking an ororo—a poisonous freshwater fish that regularly consumed gold up to almost sixty percent of its diet. Eating an ororo would temporarily supply one's nails or hair or both with a golden tinge, and the ororos' bones and flesh were also golden to an extent. Naturally, the ororos were quite pricey, so only the rich people could afford to often bring ororo meat onto their plates or decorate their food with crunchy golden bone flakes to show off their wealth. In general, commoners preferred eating ororos right before a big event, whereas rich folks spent extra every day to get drunk drinking gold-flaked alcohol.
"So it releases a toxic gas while being cooked," Stussy nodded to herself and then looked into the distance, at the extensive view being offered while standing on Extensive Voyage.
Exvo was, without doubt, a mountainous vessel, but compared to the Byinshi river that was over a hundred miles wide, the prodigious ship seemed paltry. In parallel, the massively wide river seemed thinner than a stitching thread in relation to the vast lands it ran through. One of the largest ships in the world and one of the widest rivers in the world, both of these extraordinary entities struck as anything but impressive when surrounded by the spectacle of a continent that hosted mountains hundreds of miles tall and at least as wide, with youthful rivers flowing down the ranges aplenty and in the process making magnificent valleys with steep sides and waterfalls that strikingly connected the sky and the ground. The humongous birds hovering above, below, and through different layers of whopping clouds seemed minuscule in that colossal landscape, and the same could be said about other gargantuan monsters wandering about in that stupendous wilderness. As for men, as far as size was concerned, they were no more different than the ants they casually stomped over every so often. Many trees extended either out of the ground at sea level or from the mountains and spiraled their way up into the clouds and what lay beyond, bearing fruits that mildly glowed like mini stars. As far as a mortal's eye could see, there was less to no presence of humanity, whether it be societies or settlements. All in all, it was a breathtaking habitat, one more than worthy enough for any sane man to take a time-hallowed gander.
Normally, given the wondrous scenery Stussy was in, she would be playing a tune to wash the spots off souls around her, but because of Jehez's death, she chose not to. She was currently looking above at the clouds. A giant spider had connected the clouds and a mountain with a thin, transparent web and had been trapping monsters. Even though rough winds pulled the clouds away, the web was sturdy enough to not let the billows go. There were also many half-eaten creatures hanging from the web. At the moment, a mighty bird that had caught a hulking python got stuck in the web. The spider wasted no time and hastily feasted on the fresh prey, and both the bird and the snake could do little despite all their struggle. Stussy brought her gaze down to the sea level because she had the chance to look away.
At first, she spotted tall monkeys in trees husking oversized coconuts with bare hands or teeth but didn't fully eat the coconut meat, and then she noticed overgrown bears near a waterfall ingurgitating fatty-bits of fishes—mainly the eyeballs and the brains—seemingly wasting away the rest. However, Stussy knew very well that the remains of the food thrown away by the monkeys or the bears would later be gladly devoured by other creatures and would also be supplied as nutrients for other trees, plants, and streams in the neighborhood. For instance, birds lower on the food chain would eat every morsel a bear had left, and the remaining waste would eventually compost in the water or land and thus enrich the whole neck of the woods. Nevertheless, be it the monkeys and bears on the land or the spiders in the sky, they were making an embarrassment of riches and were eating so much quality food in profusion that they would put any rich man's diet to shame. An average person, at first sight, would definitely envy these creatures. Stussy, however, knew enough about living in the wilderness to not let jealousy break through to her heart.
Stussy's eyes eventually settled on the pods of whales stranded in the sand at the shore. The expedient and unprincipled birds were pecking and eating the whales alive in throngs. Though the arrival of Exvo had pushed water over the shoreline, there wasn't enough force to move such large beings. With a wave of her arm, Stussy sent forth a tidal wave, frightened the feathers out of the birds, and pulled the whales back into the river. A quarter of those whales had already died, so they floated back to the surface. The still-living whales kept rubbing their bodies with the dead whales as if trying to wake them up. Soon, they mournfully cried for their dead friends and mates and for having to leave them behind. Their grieving wasn't clearly understood by ordinary ears living above the sea even though Stussy and some others on the ship could decipher the cries that traveled many miles both above and underwater. Either way, it was such a sad sight to behold, except maybe to the dastardly eyes.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on Exvo.
"You said there was work to be finished," Roseberry was talking with Sean inside his cart while it was on the move. "Was that taken care of, Mr. Sean?"
"Please call me Fourteen," Sean seemed rather uncomfortable.
"I can't do that," Roseberry said and flashed a knowing smile. "Someone as capable as you should keep using your original name."
Sean exhaled a deep breath. "But…"
"It's not like you are thinking of climbing the ship with some entry anytime soon, so why bother following such informal formalities?"
"You've got a point, sir," Sean gave out a long sigh. "Alright. I'll take your advice to the heart."
"Good. So, regarding your unfinished business…"
"Don't worry about that. It's been handled," Sean said and remembered telling Mulyk to take care of the drill hall for some time. He then slurped on fish soup textured with golden meat. "This is good. Shiny, soft, succulent, and full of flavor. What fish is this?"
"Ah, that's a goldgill," replied Rosberry in a mannish insouciance.
Sean, for a second, stopped eating. "I've heard about them. The rare fish that can be found near underwater volcanoes. So this meat isn't artificially colored, huh." He faintly nodded his head, looking impressed, while the meat melted in his mouth. (The fish that's said to bring brilliant luster to the skin, but if consumed too much, then one's nails will…) He glanced at Roseberry's long nails, which had a soft golden glow to them. He slightly smiled. (Though goldgills aren't as costly as ororos, they have a longer-lasting effect on one's skin and nails, which can last for weeks if not months depending on the diet. The only downside is that I heard this is highly addictive meat, to the point of turning people crazy for it.) "I think women would love to add this to their daily menu."
"Haha, I can totally understand why," Roseberry briefly slapped his thigh. "After all, the skin looks the best right after taking a bath. Still, one can't easily get their hands on goldgills, but there are many other ways to get their nails to naturally change color. That said, goldgills have their own special place in people's hearts."
Sean could only softly smile. Goldgills were the kind of fish that shed bits of their sparkling skin and used them as bait to lure prey. It was said that once a fish ate a goldgill's skin, it would crave for its meat and would go crazy if it didn't get to eat a goldgill's meat soon. There was also the ill-famed legend of how an entire kingdom was reduced to ruins because they couldn't provide a mighty martial his goldgill meal on time.
"Anyway, let's talk about you."
"What's there to talk about?" Sean shrugged his shoulders. "My life is boring."
"In my eyes, it's not. For instance, I was genuinely surprised when I heard that you chose 'Hot Tongue' Hovan as the referee. I didn't think you were acquainted with that rogue."
"We're not friends or anything," Sean was quick to reply. "He owed me a bit, and since he was also free, I asked him to take up the job for a little while. That's all."
"Oh, I see, but from what I've heard, he's a hot-headed person," Roseberry somewhat tilted his head. "You think he can be competent and responsible?"
Sean paused for a moment and replied, "I believe so."
"Mm, that's good to know. In any case, as long as the referee spends the money well and earns profits, I don't really care who's doing the job. By the way, where's your pet cat? Are you not bringing it along?"
"Ah, he's… he had some scores to settle, so he stayed behind."
"Oh. Don't get me wrong, but this is good in a way. I mean, cats are cute and all, but they can quickly turn nasty given they crap everywhere."
"It's okay," Sean slightly scratched his jaw. "Though I'm a cat person, I know everyone can't be like me. My mom, for one, never let me bring cats into the house."
Sean amusedly laughed.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the same deck, Lirzod and Hundred were still in the test hall. Currently, Cat Conflict was terminated for a day, so people were idling in the hall. Gorka's effect was also another main reason why folks in the hall looked so dull right now. Even though Yohann was still sitting right outside the hall, he wasn't playing music and was just writing his songs in a palm-leaved notebook titled 'Bard's Soul,' with his eyes closed. A girl in tears came up to him and told her story of how her boyfriend had been cheating on her, and how she was still struggling to break up with him. She gave Yohann two copper coins and asked him to give her strength through a song. Yohann, being a blind person, couldn't see the worry in her eyes, but he could feel it in the air. He could guess what sort of expression she was making while being in her presence, so he didn't need to think much, for he had not only been in her shoes but also her boyfriend's shoes, so he swiftly wrote a song on a leaf and handed it to her. As she read the poesy, her tearful eyes widened and dazzled in delight.
"O Love
You have made me dance
In the middle of your palms
From the start
And here I am today
Kneeling in your presence
Saying 'Damn it all!'
As you trample over my heart
And walk away without giving a fuck.
Well done, Love
For leaving a huge hole in my heart.
Well-fucking-done!
Thank you for turning someone
Who had the strength to fight back
Into someone who couldn't run away.
Well done, Love
Thanks to you, I've seen it all!
Well-fucking-done!"
"Thank you. Thanks a lot," the girl thanked Yohann and gave him two more copper coins before contentedly leaving with a spring in her steps. "I've been his little cat until now, but with this, I can decamp from that fraud of a flame! I'll be free once again!"
Yohann exhaled an audible breath, for writing those few words had taken some toll on his heart, even though it didn't look like it on the outside.
In the meantime, Lirzod and Hundred were arguing inside the hall.
"You said that we'd come across a guide if we stay here," Lirzod gave a displeased glance at Hundred. "I've wasted a lot of time just because of those words."
Hundred suffered a loss of face, but he couldn't just sit and do nothing. "I only told the truth. Staying here is the safest option for us. When we meet a guide, we can get a room and go there without others noticing us."
"I think it's better if we just go and search for the guide ourselves."
"No, it's too risky."
"I know, but I'm willing to take that risk."
"Aren't you listening? It's too dangerous for you to go outside. You may not even get far from the hall."
"How do you know that?" Lirzod stood and headed to exit, despite Hundred's warnings.
Just then, an abnormally large elephant stopped by at the exit, which, of course, also served as an entrance. After the elephant got on its knees, two people climbed down from the towering beast and entered the hall. The mahout, the elephant rider, was still on it, picking his teeth.
"Wow, this is one big elephant," Lirzod had long stopped in his tracks. He was about ten meters away from the elephant and viewed it in awe. Its presence was so felt that he could literally smell it from afar.
"This…" after seeing the elephant, Hundred thought of an idea. "I think I've found a way to find a guide without a problem." He caught up with Lirzod and hurriedly said, "We just have to ride that thing until we find the guide and then reach our room."
"You think nobody would bother us if we are on that elephant?" Lirzod cast a questioning glance.
"I can say confidently…" Hundred looked up at the elephant once more, "not just anyone can dare to stand in the path of that thing. It looks different in size and shape than your average elephant."
Meanwhile, the mahout signaled with his mouth, but the elephant didn't get up. "Stand, Gaja!" he used the hook and put pressure on its forehead. The elephant grunted and got back to its feet.
"If he keeps doing that," Lirzod mumbled, "one of these days it's going to squash him."
"Let me ask the price," Hundred was going, but Lirzod grabbed his hand, making him turn his head. "What?"
"That elephant looks upset. Staying away from it would be the right thing to do."
"Upset?" Hundred just snorted. "Those things are always upset. Don't worry about that. We are just going to ride it for an hour or two until we get our job done, that is landing at our room."
Lirzod, however, didn't say anything. He could only wonder what if people attacked their room? Though it was a rare thing, it was surely possible.
"Look, if you are that afraid," Hundred suggested, "then close your eyes and pretend you're riding some buffalo or something. How about that?"
Lirzod sighed. "You're not getting what I'm saying, but whatever, let's go. I've never sat upon an elephant before, so I do feel the urge to experience the ride."
"That's more like it," Hundred flashed a grin.
Both of them then flitted to the burly beast, and Hundred clapped twice. The mahout looked in the direction, but the elephant raised its hind legs, causing him to roll forward from the saddle and fall from the top. Luckily, he landed on his butt, and no bone was broken. Hundred ran over to help him get up, but the mahout pushed him away and hastily took out a knife from under his shirt and pierced it in the elephant's trunk, making it scream and back away. "You piece of shit! You think you can dance whenever you want? You only dance when I tell you to!" He went closer and loudly said, "Sit!"
The elephant got on its knees.
The mahout now turned his head toward Hundred. "Are you looking for a ride?"
"N-No," Hundred was quick to reply.
"Yes," Lirzod intervened. "What's the price?"
"A silver per hour."
"What?" both Hundred and Lirzod's jaws dropped. "That's robbing."
"Gaja is not a regular elephant. He's the result of cross-breeding done through two powerful elephant races," the mahout pulled a bit of the elephant's hair off its trunk. "See for yourself. Even his hair is colorful." He put the hair in both their hands and smiled.
Lirzod and Hundred could only look at the hair and then each other's faces.
"He's only ten years old," the mahout continued employing his versatile tongue, "but he can already easily trounce your typical adult elephants. And he'll grow much more in size and strength over the coming years. Then the price to ride him will be much higher."
"Ten years means it's quite young," Hundred opined, "yet it's already quite big. If it grows any bigger, you can't roam with this thing on many decks. I can see the reason behind your desperation." He then looked at Lirzod. "What do you say? Want to waste two silver pieces to ride this thing?"
Lirzod nodded straight away.
"Great," the mahout quickly climbed to the top of the beast. "Just wait a second. I'll remind him of some manners first." He put on a spiky glove and slapped hardly on the elephant's neck. "How long are you going to sit? You can get up now, you useless thing!" The elephant was trying to get up, but it was slow. He held the knife again and stabbed once more on its head, making it scream even more. Gaja got back to its feet in haste as blood slightly slid down its face.
The mahout put the knife away and then propitiously smiled at Hundred, who looked to be stupefied and even stepped back a bit. "Please get on, sirs. Your silver pieces will be paid more than their worth through this ride. Oh, and by the way, don't clap when around Gaja. He's not well trained yet, so he still can't differentiate the signals from the owner and others well."
"Uh…" Hundred still looked to be in a bit of a shock. "It's okay if we climb, right? It's not gonna go wild, or will it?"
Lirzod, who was watching all this, had his hand clenched as the mahout's image reflected in his sharpening gaze.
"There's nothing to fear, sir," the mahout assured. "Gaja doesn't get violent. Even if he did, I know how to put him back in his place." He held the elephant hook with his right hand as if subtly showing that he had ways to bring the beast under control.
Hundred looked back at Lirzod for approval. Lirzod, however, was looking right at the mahout in a disgruntled look.
Sensing that things were a bit off, the mahout took a gamble. He took out a copper coin from his left pocket and flicked it toward Yohann, who grabbed it while he was writing something in the book, with the other hand. "Play us a tune."
Yohann indistinctly smiled before raising his foot and banging the drum with the drum sticks. He then played the violin together with the drums. Looking at this man playing drums so effortlessly, with his feet nonetheless, Hundred was quite impressed. He looked at Lirzod, who also seemed astonished. The last time when Lirzod saw Yohann, he was only beating the drums at a slow speed, but now, Yohann was playing so fast that it was hard to take one's eyes off. Yohann's ankles looked so rubbery that they were bending nimbly as if he had no bones. Lirzod couldn't help but compare Yohann to Primera. Even though Primera was a master of many musical instruments, she had class when thrumming the strings or tapping the drums. Yohann, however, was now playing instruments in a bizarre fashion. Still, the sonorous melody of the violin and the fast-paced yet restrained beats perfectly enhanced each other. For a blind man to be playing with such skill, it was his first time seeing something that made his blood flow fast and give rise to a strangely good feeling.
In that time, what nobody knew was that even the mahout was mimicking what Yohann was doing. He got excited for sure, but more than that, he wanted to show off and reveal his cool side to attract the present customers. However, what he didn't know was that he was still holding onto the hook while making the drumming gestures.
And before he knew it, Gaja raised its trunk and trumpeted in pain. The noise was so loud that everyone in the vicinity had to clamp their ears tight. Even then, Hundred felt like he might pass out at any moment, and his eyes suffered some loss of blood. Lirzod had a frown on his face, too. Even though the mahout was used to hearing elephants roar, even he was taken by surprise. Only Yohann stayed calm under that intense vocal pressure, having stopped playing the music almost immediately.
Gaja's roar lasted for six long seconds, and the indoors only intensified the noise and caused some ears to bleed.
After Gaja stopped screaming, out of startlement, the mahout howled, "Gaja! Shut up!" he pierced the hook on its forehead again and further broke its mind. The moment it shook its head, its eyes fell upon Hundred who was standing right next to it. And its gigantic trunk came swinging at him diagonally like an ax going for the tree.
Though Hundred was taken by surprise and had no time to react, his whole body had long frozen before the mighty beast even made a move at him. He would be a goner if that incoming trunk were to hit him now, yet all he could do was watch as the massive trunk came swinging like a majestic weapon, but before it reached him, someone else came in between and took the blow by his ribs. The armor dented, and dust flew off of it. Though this person didn't feel any cracking of the ribs, the heavy blow took all the breath out of him. Blood came to light at the corner of his mouth.
"L-Lirzod!" Hundred was stunned.
"Go!" Lirzod shouted without looking back. Just then, the trunk wrapped around his waist, startling him. Though he tried to stand his ground, the beast effortlessly lifted him with the trunk as if he were a twig and smashed him to the super-hard wooden floor. The moment his head banged into the floor, he coughed up blood. Though he ground his teeth and glared back at the beast, it tossed him away as if he were a rag doll.
"Gaja! Stop!" the mahout madly slapped and pierced the elephant's head nonstop, and its temper now totally snapped. With two quick side steps, it closed the distance to the wall and banged itself into it sideways, throwing off the mahout in the other direction. This time, when he landed, his ankle sprained, and he fell on his hands. The rumbling noise then reached his ears. When he turned back in eyes full of shock, the mighty beast charged him, thrusting its tusks down at him.
But Lirzod appeared in between and grabbed the tusks by his hands. He was still pushed back, and his feet slid on the floor, but he roared back similarly. His muscles tightened, and veins swelled out through his skin as he supplied strength into his arms. The elephant got stopped in its tracks, at least for the time being.
"Ho…" Yohann's expression released a hint of surprise as he silently paid attention from his position, though he couldn't put his eyes to work.
Reading the situation, Hundred came and helped the mahout retreat into the hall.
Lirzod tried to rotate his arms, seeking to tilt the beast, but the elephant stepped back once, causing him to lose his grip and balance. The next second, it hastily headbutted him and sent him back onto the floor, and then went for the kill by getting down to its knees and thrusting its tusks at Lirzod. However, he rolled halfway and dodged the tusks. It shook its head, trying to batter him with the tusks, but its tusks were long enough for Lirzod to grab onto them. And as the elephant stood, he stood with it and jumped. Both of his feet landed on its tusks, and he briefly stood there before jumping and landing on top of its back. He attempted to remove the hook stuck in its forehead, but the elephant violently moved about, and he was thrown off balance. Also, at that moment, the beast went straight for the only person in its sight, Yohann.
Sensing the elephant coming his way, Yohann didn't even flinch. Lirzod struck the elephant's head with his elbow, and it groaned a bit, but that didn't stop the beast. "Go away! It's coming at you, Mr. Singer!" Lirzod shouted at Yohann.
Just as the beast was nearing Yohann, Lirzod jumped into the air to get some room for a kick, and at the same time, Yohann put the violin away, and when he jerked his wrist a little, something came out of his sleeves. It was a harp. His fingers swiftly strummed across the strings, leaking a loud noise accompanied by a gust of wind that blew hard and pushed the elephant to the side and redirected its path into the hall. It seemed as though some invisible pressure had deflected the elephant's momentum.
Lirzod, too, was blown back, and he banged into the wall before eventually landing on his butt. He looked at Yohann in astonishment while rubbing his butt.
"If you have time to look at me, then drop a coin, sir," said Yohann while brown gas leaked out of the harp's strings. "Oh, right. You said you didn't have money. My bad."
Lirzod was startled. "Ah, crap," he thought about Hundred and then hurriedly ran into the hall, chasing after the elephant.
"Maybe I should get going, too," Yohann thought, but then sighed. "But I feel so lethargic. Let's wait and see if I get to play some more melodies." He put his hand into his sleeves and took out glass vessels containing milk and tea. He boiled the milk while holding the glass cup in his hand, then poured the tea, stirred the liquid with his breath, and took in the scent of the vapors before taking a sip. "Mmm…" he nodded to himself as he slowly savored its taste.
Meanwhile, inside the hall.
As the elephant was destroying all objects in its path, the people panicked and ran for their lives. There wasn't anything hard enough in the hall that they could hide behind, so they could only flee. Hundred, who was helping the mahout, couldn't get far, and the elephant caught sight of them, and it immediately changed direction and went after them.
By then, Lirzod was following it, too. Seeing that it was still going after Hundred and the mahout, he closed the distance in a few quick long jumps and used the momentum to spin and kick right in the elephant's balls. The mighty beast at once crumpled to the floor and grunted in pain as it slid to a stop on its chin, its tusks having left two thick lines of marks on the floor. For the moment, it stopped moving.
Hundred looked back and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Use this time to run," Lirzod said aloud, startling them, and they got going again.
"That damn thing…" the mahout was busy cursing the elephant while escaping.
Lirzod also used that opportunity to leave, but just as he was leaving, a dark bronze-skinned brown-haired man went past him in a blur and landed on top of the elephant that was still down on its belly.
When Lirzod glanced back, that person unsheathed his blade without waiting and thrust it straight down onto the back of its neck.
"Hey…" in a flash, Lirzod appeared right behind him.
The sword suddenly changed direction and curved its way back under its holder's arm and went straight for Lirzod's belly.
"Whoa…" though Lirzod rotated his body to his right, the sword cut through his armor and scraped his skin, sending a sudden chill up his spine. However, he wasn't the only one who was surprised.
Gritting his teeth, the brown-haired man swiveled to his left and twisted his wrist so that the cutting edge of the blade now faced toward Lirzod. And then he swiped it horizontally, aiming to cut up Lirzod's back.
"W-Wait!" Lirzod said, but his eyes enlarged as the opponent wasn't stopping. He promptly ducked and dodged the sword that came from behind without even looking. His knees were already bent, so he dodged the blade, though at the cost of getting the tips of his hair cut. He put one of his arms on the elephant and crafted a spinning kick that struck the opponent's ankle from the side.
Though the opponent lost footing and was about to fall, he stabbed the elephant on the skull and helped himself land on his feet comfortably. He instantly went for a thrusting attack. Lirzod side-stepped and avoided the blade, but the opponent grinned, for it was a feint. He changed the direction of the sword in mid-motion and went for Lirzod's chest; however, Lirzod moved a step closer and clapped onto the weapon with his hands that whooshed from above and below as though he sandwiched the sword. Before the sword even gained enough momentum, let alone reached his chest, it was stopped. "What's wrong with you!" yelled Lirzod.
He saw through my feint? The brown-haired man was mildly surprised. (In that split-second, he came closer to me and stopped the blade before it picked up any more speed. This kid's good.)
They exchanged glances briefly, and as the opponent tried to twist his sword, Lirzod pulled his left hand that was under the sword and then pushed the weapon down with the other hand. The move slightly pulled the opponent forward, for Lirzod had smacked the sword in the same direction the opponent was going to pull his weapon. At the same time, Lirzod's right palm thrust upward straight toward the opponent's chin.
Just as the heel of Lirzod's hand was about to bang into his chin, the brown-haired man moved his head to his left, and the edge of Lirzod's hand brushed past the jaw.
Lirzod swiveled to his right and chopped his hand onto the back of the opponent's neck, but then he suddenly stopped. He glanced down at his leg, where the tip of the sword was pointing at him, and Lirzod's left hand had grabbed the sword and stopped it from piercing his stomach.
Lirzod's hand was bleeding as both their eyes met again.
"You were a fraction of a second faster, so why did you stop?" the brown-haired man asked.
"There's no reason for us to fight," Lirzod replied in a rough voice.
The brown-haired man didn't like what he was hearing. "If you hadn't stopped me from taking care of the elephant," he tried to pull the sword, but sensing that, Lirzod let go of the weapon and saved his hand from getting cut further, "I wouldn't be doing this."
As Lirzod stepped away, the brown-haired man changed from double-handed to single-handed grip and dashed ahead while slashing the sword diagonally at Lirzod. Though it was aimed at the shoulder, it was a full swing with enough force to fully chop any man's head without fail.
Lirzod sprang back and evaded the attack, but in return, he almost reached the rear-end of the elephant, where there wasn't enough room to move around. Also, the armor he was wearing proved to be a burden with every passing second, for it somewhat hindered his movements. A straight thrusting sword came at him mercilessly. Lirzod crouched down, for he couldn't even risk taking an attack with the armor as it had gotten cut once.
The elephant that had been silent till now suddenly rose to its feet, throwing them off balance. The brown-haired man used the blade to support himself from falling but ended up stabbing the beast's skin. Lirzod, on the other hand, grabbed the opponent's leg.
The elephant roared in a fit of ill-temper and torment. It ran rampant and bulldozed through every object in sight and banged its body against the walls, trying to get the two people off its back, but those two humans briefly held each other's hands and balanced themselves before resuming their fight. While the elephant rampaged, those two were busy fighting each other. Lirzod ducked from horizontal sword swings, deflected the straight thrusts, and dodged the vertical slashes even though it was a hard thing to succeed repeatedly. With his opponent doing a lot of wrist-work, there were many close calls, but Lirzod didn't back away. There were a lot of feints thrown in by the opponent, where the sword seemingly moved away from him only to suddenly angle into him, but Lirzod met them head-on and cleanly staved them off, his feet shuffling side-to-side or back-and-forth from the line of the sword. Whenever the opponent tried something different, Lirzod upped his game and was proving to be more than a match for his opponent as far as fending-off was concerned. Still, the opponent kept hurting the elephant either wantonly or not, and the challenge of freeing it from his whims beckoned Lirzod into chasing the swordsman.
Both their aims were clear.
One was trying to stop the opponent and kill the elephant if possible, and the other was trying to stop the kill.
In that process, they moved over the elephant along its spine. When they were at the head, the brown-haired man stepped on the elephant hook that was still stuck to the head. This caused the elephant to raise its trunk and shake its head madly. It made a mess out of a stone bench with its tusks. Lirzod, who was already punching at the opponent, ended up striking nothing, for the brown-haired man once again used the footing on the elephant hook to dodge Lirzod's fists and then shift places.
"This thing keeps destroying things, and you want to save it?" the brown-haired man asked in haste, his voice filled with contempt.
"I do!" Lirzod immediately turned back, but the sword came right at him. He was forced to move rearward. His feet hastened backward on top of the elephant's forehead, while the beast had its head tilted up.
"Tch!" the brown-haired man stepped forward and thrust his sword again. Luckily, the trunk was down, so Lirzod ran back along the length of the tusks, for they were raised now. He barely managed to make enough distance to avoid the sword, but the opponent went for the tusk instead. "Swift Song!" he diagonally slashed the sword while twirling on his feet, and his blade cut through the left tusk near the base and scraped past the right tusk, startling Lirzod, who now got forced to stand on just one tusk.
"Stop," Lirzod hollered.
"One more to go," while the beast groaned from a sharp pang of pain, the brown-haired man, however, seemed to be going for another continuous swing to cut the right tusk as well, but sensing that, Lirzod immediately leaped, briefly stepped on the rising trunk, then spun in midair and kicked the back of the opponent's forearm, causing the brown-haired man to lose balance.
Lirzod's toe landed on the beast's face, but his foot slid down the bloody elephant's face. The elephant sought to catch him with the trunk, but he jumped and landed on the right tusk and slid for a second, then leaped again and hopped on the tip of the trunk before landing on the top of the head and straight away ducked to dodge the enemy's blade, then banged his head heavily into the brown-haired man's chest. Both their sweat flew off their skin during the impact. The brown-haired man got his feet lifted off the elephant's back, but he safely landed about four away and then coughed up some blood. This was the first time someone made him bleed with a headbutt. As he forcibly shut his mouth and swallowed the remaining blood, Lirzod turned around and footed the elephant hook up and caught it.
"You can't stop my blade with that!" the brown-haired man stepped in and swung his blade almost horizontally like he was whipping someone. It was a reckless move, but it seemed seamless, probably because of his practical experience. Lirzod hastily blocked the attack with the hook, but the wooden handle of the hook got cut, and its head fell to the floor. Lirzod blinked twice, and his jaw dropped momentarily. But before the brown-haired man went for another attack, he stepped close and grabbed the opponent's wrists tightly and locked his arms so he wouldn't be able to swing his weapon again.
"I don't have to stop your blade," Lirzod said, making a hard jaw. Having locked each other in a rigid position, they stared into each other's eyes, aiming to assert dominance.
"Why do you stop me?" the brown-haired man questioned authoritatively. "The elephant meat will feed cats for weeks. Let me finish off this crazy beast already for daring to dance around in my hall."
"The elephant didn't go crazy. It's just angry," Lirzod replied boldly, "as you are now."
The frown on the brown-haired man's face faded away. But something else took over his face as flashes of his childhood played in his mind. He narrowed his eyes and asked callously, "So what?"
"Should we feed you to the cats, too?" asked Lirzod.
The brown-haired man's gaze lost more warmth as he remembered the time when he was a mere four-year-old kid, and a herd of elephants had run amok through his village at night and killed hundreds of villagers, including his entire family. Eleven of his family members—parents, grandparents, four sisters, and three brothers—got trampled under the feet of those hideous savages on several occasions, and somehow, only he had miraculously survived. Sitting in the pool of blood painted by his family in their torn-down house, he cried and cried and cried, but no one came to their rescue. Amid the seemingly unending chaos, he had to watch some of his siblings take their last breaths, and there was nothing he could do to help them. He could only cry. That was the worst nightmare he had ever experienced, which, even to this day, gave him sleepless nights.
Coming back to the present, Lirzod and the brown-haired man briefly exchanged biting stares.
"I'm not bad like this elephant," stated the brown-haired man while shuffling his feet to keep his balance.
"So if an animal gets angry, it becomes a bad being, but if you get angry, you become a saint," Lirzod raised his brows. (The elephant indeed started rampaging out of anger, but every time he stabs it, the screams it's letting out tell that it's also terrified. It's probably feeling quite confused right now.) He pitied the beast. "For your information, this elephant didn't get angry for no reason."
"Huh! They are called animals because they get angry and stir bullshit for no reason, and you are spouting all this nonsense because you are dumber than this elephant for thinking you can take me on," the brown-haired man's voice was sharp and numbing like the growl of a predator, "but let me warn you. You may lose your precious limbs for taking this risk of standing against me."
"Too bad for you. If the elephant was strong enough, I wouldn't have had to step in," Lirzod replied right away. "Besides, I can't help but step in if it involves saving the life of a poor elephant."
"Hmph! You are delusional if you think you can stop me from putting this elephant on tonight's dinner plate," the brown-haired man snorted, and then the two pushed each other off and made the distance. Lirzod was standing near the tail, and the other fellow was at the head. Even though the elephant was on the run, some people, including Hundred and the mahout, were watching those two from some distance.
When the elephant eventually found the exit of the hall, both of them had to duck to avoid getting hit by the wall. Afterward, the brown-haired man looked at Lirzod as if wanting to know if the boy had changed his mind, but Lirzod raised his fists in defense. The brown-haired man smirked, "Fine. If I need to cut your ass to get to this elephant, then so be it." He dashed toward Lirzod, who also charged ahead. A sword slash and a straight punch were at work. Both of them dodged each other's attacks as they also exchanged places.
As the elephant paraded its rage in the streets, many people turned their invisible tails. A wave of worriment broke to the shore. Minding the winding emotions in the air, Yohann turned his hand to his lute and strummed and rode the waves with his voice.
"Fear
Thou art always here
Running inside me
Like thou own me
And seldom taketh a tea
For thou are jonesing for me
To feel thee
And loathe and pee
But alas I can see
The way to be free
And the key
To make thee takest a knee
Is to not flee
But austerely agree
And pay the fee
In grit and glee
To go beyond thee."
His ditty failed to stop the beast, much less the two individuals involved in a dogfight, but some men's feet came to a halt, and their racing hearts shortly slowed down and breathed more backbone into their rough-and-tumble lives as they witnessed the war.
As the two gents fought with a sense of urgency on its back, the elephant ravaged through the street, banging itself to the walls and objects in its way before entering the hall again through another entrance that was about a few hundred feet away from the last one.
This time it ran straight into a large pile of barrels stacked next to the wall, forcing both of them to jump onto the barrels and exchange a few blows and cuts there. While the elephant pushed its way through the pile, those two kept fighting on the side, as they ran up and down the staircase made by the barrels. At one point, Lirzod had to bend to the side to dodge the vertical slash. However, it was a feint. The brown-haired grinned as he stopped his attack in the middle and slashed his blade horizontally. Still, to his surprise, Lirzod couldn't control the momentum and was forced to fall to the side. The weight of the armor definitely played a part in it. However, as he fell, he received a flesh-deep cut on his shoulder in that process. The brown-haired man was startled but then inwardly smiled. (There isn't enough room in that direction. I'll jump the moment he falls!)
Lirzod had no time to mind the wound. He turned during the fall and landed on his hands, placing them at the edge of a barrel because there wasn't enough room. He then sent a solid kick into the enemy's belly.
"Ugh!" the brown-haired man was blown back, but as he fell, he turned in midair and safely landed on another barrel before jumping off in the elephant's direction. After landing safely on top of the beast, he rubbed his belly and narrowed his eyes. (Just when I think I have the advantage, he makes up the difference by moving like a monkey in a circus, while wearing that crappy armor nonetheless. I can see why he could gnaw at Hardy Brothers without much of a concern, but as a swordsman, I can't allow myself to lose to a dancing monkey.) He gripped the hilt of his weapon tightly and looked toward the rest of the collapsing heap of barrels.
Lirzod somehow skipped on the falling barrels and bounced off a windowsill to reach the animal's top. As the elephant left a trail of rolling barrels in its wake, both of them were again on top of the beast, causing the elephant to feel even crazier.
"Safe…" Placing one of his hands on his shoulder wound, Lirzod panted a little as he looked at the elephant. "This is one hot-headed elephant. When is it going to stop destroying things?" he bit his lower lip.
"It will if you just let me stab it in the neck," the brown-haired man let out his opinion.
"Oh wait, I wonder if there's any female elephant nearby?" Lirzod, however, was preoccupied with his own thoughts. "That should get this thing's attention. Where is its owner?" he looked around for a bit.
"Hey…" the brown-haired man called out. "Do you think this is a joke?"
"Mm?" Lirzod then looked at the opponent. "What?"
The brown-haired man moved his hand closer to the hilt. "Our fight isn't done."
"Eh? You want to get hit more?" Lirzod raised his brows.
The brown-haired man rubbed the blood off his mouth and chin and then snorted, "Don't take my pause as me hesitating or changing my mind."
"Is that so?" the corner of Lirzod's mouth turned down a bit. "Your grandparents must be gobbing in their graves."
"My grandparents died on the first night I've seen their faces, and I don't even remember their faces clearly, much less know them on a personal level, so I honestly don't give a shit if they're spitting or farting in their graves."
"That's sad—in many ways. But, believe it or not, I kinda feel you."
Momentarily, they stared at each other, their bodies warming but hearts calming. At that moment, it seemed as if they could see what the other person was thinking. But that silent period—not counting the elephant's ruckus—didn't last long, and they resumed their battle, their attacks even faster and sharper than before.
The elephant still madly stomped its way around in the hall as the two humans kept battling on it before finding its way out through the previous exit again. The armor on Lirzod clearly seemed to have weighed him down while they were fighting on the barrels, but on the elephant, he looked much better.
Yohann, who was witnessing the battle in his own way, could smell the blood coming out of the elephant's wounds and the cuts on Lirzod's arms. He picked up his beggar's bowl and tossed it in Lirzod's direction. "Let it aid you in this endeavor!" His voice definitely reached Lirzod.
Though the brown-haired man tried to stop Lirzod from getting that item, Lirzod responded a bit early and caught the object and right away used it to block the sword.
Lirzod then banged the opponent's chest with the bowl, which was actually a small shield resembling a buckler.
The brown-haired man was pushed back, but he attacked again without hesitation. "Sparking Slash!" He waved the sword from underneath, but Lirzod, too, didn't back away and parried the attack meticulously. Sparks produced where the shield and the blade came into contact. Lirzod's fist then punched his jaw and sent him back two steps.
The opponent spat to the side and then rushed at Lirzod once more While Yohann started playing Lionheart—a fast-paced battle song meant to match the fury of a lion's roar—using zither and drums in the background.
Lirzod focused on blocking, but at times, when he got pushed to the edges, he parried the attacks left and right and landed punches and kicks at every provided opportunity, all the while they both shrunk their frames and kept their bodies closer to the elephant. Whenever Lirzod lost balance, he landed on his arms and momentarily fought with his legs. However, when his opponent lost balance, he used the sword to stab the elephant's skin, causing the elephant to never feel at rest. This irked Lirzod even more, and he smashed the shield into the opponent's face, but it was blocked pretty neatly using both arms effectively. A few more attempts of bashing with the shield changed nothing.
(He's using the second arm to support the sword so he can block the shield comfortably. No wonder I couldn't push him back.) Lirzod frowned upon realizing what was going on, so with a stretch of his arm, he brought the shield parallel to his arm. This time, his arm slipped past the sword, and the edge of the shield struck the opponent's face. Still and all, the opponent bent his head backward in the last split second and avoided getting his nose broken. Lirzod quickly went for a kick in the ribs, only to again get blocked by the arm.
When Lirzod briefly backed away to get his breath back, the opponent took his turn to attack, forcing Lirzod to defend himself. His lower half of the legs were targeted by the opponent, making it extremely hard for Lirzod to keep up with him while carrying armor and a shield.
The brown-haired man also seemed a little frustrated, for he had been trying to make Lirzod jump into the air so he could take the boy down with one solid strike, but his plans weren't working as Lirzod always tried to close in to minimize to restrict his offense and also the damage done by the sword. Still, Lirzod's foot once slipped over the spine of the beast because of the bloody wetness of the skin, causing him to collapse backward. His opponent saw an opportunity and struck the sword down without hesitation. Though Lirzod landed sideways on his ribs and elbow, he still managed to block the sword with the shield and then kicked in the opponent's calf, causing him to fumble to the side. They quickly found their footing and resumed fighting.
Both of them kept using their whole bodies as they tried to outsmart each other, all the while making sure they didn't fall from the angry elephant's back. Before Lirzod got hold of a shield, he could only deflect the sword during the thrusts and had to avoid the slashes, but now, he began to pretty much trouble the opponent by actively using the shield to not only defend himself effectively but also strongly attack the adversary and push him back.
As the elephant rampaged in the streets and entered the hall once more, many people now followed the creature from a distance, not for the beast but to watch the two men clashing on its back.
"They can fight on the back of the elephant without falling!"
"Despite being in such a place, they are moving so well and fast. Especially that Hovan is swinging his sword exceptionally. Even someone like him isn't good enough to be the Sword Child?"
"Hovan may no longer be a member of Flirters, but bothering him wouldn't do anyone any good."
"That boy, Lirzod, has been fighting our new referee, Hovan, on an equal footing for some time. I guess his battle with Geragorn was true then?"
Among the onlookers, Limon was also there, and he just happened to stop nearby Hundred. "Those two are not standing straight anymore. By lowering their bodies, they are gaining more control over their movements even in such an awkward spot. Clearly, they're either not new to battles or just naturally responding to a new setting," the corners of his lips curled down as he nodded in surprise. "Maybe I can learn a thing or two from their fight."
"Mm?" Hundred glanced and looked toward Limon. "Who do you think will win?"
"I don't know," Limon opined. "If that Lirzod didn't have a shield, then I could have chosen Hovan, but now… It's hard to guess." As he saw the battle, Lirzod was blocking at times but was trying to parry whenever he could.
"As long as he has that shield, he can block the attacks, so he doesn't have to fear losing," Hundred said. (Of course, if he falls, and the elephant gets a good step on him, then he'll be done for, but that's a different story.)
"Not necessarily," Limon replied a bit late, for he was busy observing the ongoing fight. His eyes were still set in the direction of the elephant. "If he was fully blocking, that's one thing, but it's hard to stay at one spot and focus on defense while that elephant is going around crazily. Maybe, that's why he's parrying whenever he can. That way, he's diverting the momentum of the attacker, thereby giving himself more time to counter-attack."
Hundred was a little surprised to hear that. Though he rarely ever fought with a sword, he could still tell that their fight looked cool, but after Limon explained things to him, he understood that a lot was happening in that battle.
"But Hovan is no slouch," Limon continued. "He's trying to put himself in an advantageous position, too, through trickery."
"Trickery?"
"Feints," Limon casually said. "Unless you have exceptionally experienced eyes, you don't know which thrust has full strength behind it, so that boy must be extremely careful before he goes in for a counter-attack. After all, parrying itself means putting oneself at risk. Blocking is much safer, as long as you have a good shield. I'd say it's best that he gets down from that place. On the floor, he has more space and can block relatively easily. That said, the elephant might not let them have a good fight once they get down."
"Maybe that's true, but…" Hundred put forward his thoughts. "Whether they are fighting on the elephant or the floor, whoever puts themselves in an advantageous position will win."
Limon glanced at Hundred and chortled. "Haha, of course. That goes without saying. If Hovan's tricks pay off, he'll come out as the winner."
Hundred narrowed his eyes. (Why aren't you getting off of that elephant, Lirzod?)
The mahout, on the other hand, was still cursing while hiding behind Limon because he was tall and bulky. "Someone stop that feral beast! Beat him into submission. I'll pay whoever kicks some sense into that big moron!"
"Shut up," Limon took out a half-cut lemon that had pepper sprinkled all over, and then squeezed it in the mahout's face.
"Ah, my eyes, my eyes!"
Limon then poured some drops into his mouth and savored the taste.
Meanwhile, Lirzod became more aggressive and was trying to attack whenever he could. Just when he parried a diagonal slash, he realized that it was just a feint, but before he could recover, Hovan slashed in the same manner and cut through the armor, and blood leaked out. Lirzod stepped back, but he was given no time to think, for Hovan attacked him again with a straight thrust.
However, to Hovan's surprise, Lirzod swiveled two times to dodge the sword and moved past him and appeared on his back. Using that momentum, Lirzod tried to bang on the back of the opponent's head with his right elbow, but to his surprise, Hovan turned around to his right and appeared on Lirzod's left side, wearing a big smile on his face as he slashed the sword at Lirzod's thigh. Before he could land a strike, Lirzod's left elbow came out of nowhere and smashed him in the front and broke his nose.
A fountain of blood poured out. Hovan almost lost consciousness from the impact and was falling backward. Lirzod grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer. "Are you satisfied now?"
With a bloody nose, Hovan grinned and then stuck his tongue out and barked. "Not yet. Not until I see you on the floor, crying for your lost limbs! But if you don't want that to happen, then you can give me your tongue. How about that?"
Seeing Hovan tightening the grip on the sword, Lirzod pushed him away.
Lirzod was now standing straight near the head, and Hovan near the tail.
Hovan looked at Lirzod's belly, from where blood was dripping out. "You are bleeding more than I am. How long do you think you can keep standing on your feet?" he purposely pierced the elephant on the back once before changing his grip to a double-handed one and smiled. "But it won't be any fun if you just let me cut you or this beast without a fight."
A second of silence passed between those two, even though the elephant under them was still at unrest. The elephant's back was pretty much covered in blood now, and so was the soles of the men's feet.
"Have it your way," Lirzod loosened the fist of the hand that wasn't holding the shield. "I've boiled up enough, and I think you deserve to taste a shiver of my smite."
"That's the spirit. Now I can continue painting this stupid plant-eater with both your blood until you're a step away from hell," Hovan said and grinned. He briefly looked down to see where the spots were bloody and unsafe for footing before gyrating ahead with a massive double-handed swing. "Vortex Tear!"
The wind itself seemed to be swirling around him as his feet snaked over the elephant's spine.
"This will hurt a little, tusker." Taking a deep breath, Lirzod bent his knees and pressed his feet down with such a strength that the elephant's knees shook a bit. Being the mighty elephant that it was, it too had pride. Instead of collapsing on its front knees, it raised its hind legs and did a circus move like in the past. At the same time, Lirzod propelled himself up at the incoming vortex of an opponent. With a booming thrust of his shield, he put an end to the vortex attack, leaving only a few fleeting sparks and also Hovan in shock.
(I-Impossible! He broke Vortex Tear even though it's his first time seeing it. And he stopped my full-powered sword!) Hovan's eyes enlarged. Both of them were still in midair, with Hovan right above Lirzod. "I-I give up. Please stop." As he was saying, a knife popped out of his boot, and he swung his foot at Lirzod's face, but the shield came in between. Sparks flew momentarily as metals scraped past one another. "Just kidding." He spun in midair and landed on the bum of the elephant, for the beast was still standing on its front legs.
Lirzod landed back on the steep spine of the elephant but straight away ran up the spine.
"Let's see if you can stop this!" Hovan jumped high, held the sword in both hands, and came down somersaulting through the air. "Drunken Crane's Descent!"
Lirzod, too, had jumped off the beast and thrust the shield at the incoming opponent. The blade and the shield clashed, but to Lirzod's surprise, Hovan's body was still in motion. He somersaulted over the shield and stomped his feet on Lirzod's face. Using the face as a footing, he jumped high and brought his body parallel to the walls, with his head down, and spun axially. "Vortex Tear!"
As the cutting blade came down piercing through the air and aimed to drill its way through Lirzod, Hovan felt the hilt twist in his hand, and a soft sound leaked out, and the blade suddenly stopped.
(He stopped my blade again?) Hovan's eyes widened as his momentum was completely gone, and what's more, he saw that Lirzod stopped the sword with his five fingers. As if that wasn't enough, Lirzod was outstaring him with one of his eyes closed. "H-How did you do it?"
"Fighting has much to do with flair than just force. I thought you knew that."
Both of them briefly landed on the elephant's bum, but Hovan bent his knees and jumped high in haste, not wanting to stay in close proximity of his opponent. "L-Let's stop. Let's take a break."
"I have no respect for someone who swings his blade without caution or creed," Lirzod also jumped in double-quick time," so 'break' comes after I beat your ass."
"Krgh," Hovan gritted his teeth and briskly thrust the sword down.
Lirzod, however, smacked the blade away with his bare hand, stunning Hovan momentarily. In that split second, Lirzod pulled his elbow back and thrust his open hand straight at Hovan's chest at a blistering pace. "Humbler's Palm."
BANG~~!! CRACK~~!!
Hovan's enlarged eyes instantly turned white from the impact that dented his chest and cracked bones at numerous places. The sword slipped out of his grip. He spurted out more than a mouthful of blood as he got sent flying to the roof like a projectile.
The onlookers looked in disbelief, including Hundred and Limon. As for the mahout, his jaw was hanging as far and down as it could.
Even Hundred didn't comprehend what exactly happened, but Limon did, and yet he was quite nonplussed. When Hovan was coming down with his drilling sword attack, Lirzod had actually bashed the spinning sword with his fists, one of which was guarded by the shield. The sudden impact stopped most of the force behind the spin, and Lirzod later caught and stopped the blade with his bare fingers. "That knuckle-based move… for a second, it reminded me of the Bone-Breaking Knuckle Arts, an exemplary art among the knuckle-based martial arts. Even though his move seemed different, it still stopped a fast-moving sword. Did he do it without planning, or did he mean it?" Limon's face was still filled with wonder. "What am I thinking?" he slapped the back of his head. "There's no way a young lad with a little background to be acquainted with such distinguished arts. In any case, he prevailed. But what truly surprised me, though, was that palm strike..."
Limon suddenly went back to his childhood when he, an orphan, was taught how to fight by an old man wearing diapers and a large bamboo hat. This old man had saved Limon from a bull's attack by slapping it as if it was a fly. Limon had only spent a few weeks with him, and now he remembered the words that that old man once told him after his knuckles had broken during practice: "Listen, kid. Fists are fast and all, but if you prefer power, then strike with your palm instead. As long as your feet are grounded, not only does the attack generate more power and do more damage, but also the risk of injuring yourself is quite low.
"However, if you're not scared of injuries and still desire to have powerful attacks that can do lethal damage, then you should learn how to kick. Legs naturally generate a lot more power than arms because they have stronger muscles gained through daily labor. A powerful punch to the face can break the nose and jaw, for sure, but a powerful kick can break the neck and even fracture the skull. So, you must not recklessly kick others because you may end up unintentionally killing them. Still, without speed and timing, a kick to the head can be seen from a mile away compared to the kick to the thigh or the knee. Having said that, there are experts out there who can break an opponent's kicks with their punches, so don't take my words literally when I said legs generate more power than arms because a fight depends on both you and your opponent. Regardless of what one is up against, a warrior with stable legs and a strong heart is like a tree in a storm. Even if a crazy number of thoughts are running through their mind, their arms and legs sway as their heart desires, all the while never losing sight of how their abdomen is rising and falling. That's why I call such people 'untoppleables.' You should aim to be a untoppleable!"
Coming back to the present, Limon still seemed surprised. "I don't think I'm anywhere close to becoming a untoppleable. That palm-strike looked so cool all the way from here. Also, to be able to generate so much power through the palm while in midair is no joke. I regret never learning palm techniques from the geezer. He taught me how to kick, but with my current physique, every time I kick, I'm afraid of letting a fart out. So I've long begun to subconsciously hold back myself from kicking often." He put his hand on his face. "What an embarrassment I've become."
Lirzod, meanwhile, landed on the elephant's butt because it was still standing on its front legs. He sniffed a little and didn't like the smell the air carried in that spot. As Hovan fell back, Lirzod stretched his arms out and caught him, then jumped off of the beast. The moment Lirzod got on the floor, the elephant saw him and hastily got back on its four feet and chased him.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Lirzod, who was casually walking while carrying Hovan and the shield, had to run away with a shocked expression. "Give me a break. I saved your life, you dumb idiot! Don't come after me!"
However, the elephant was in no mood to attempt to comprehend a foreign language. It chased Lirzod more aggressively than before, trumpeting dementedly.
"Geez, this bastard is so heavy!" though he was running as fast as he could, Hovan's weight slowed him down, and the elephant easily caught up to him, but Lirzod took it toward the remaining heaps of barrels. As the elephant tried to jam its tusk into his back, it ended up piercing the empty barrels that got stuck to its remaining tusk. The elephant then got confused, and it desperately shook its head, trying to shake off the barrel, but it wasn't coming off.
"Hehe," in the meantime, Lirzod sneaked away like a rat and ran off into hiding. While breathing heavily, he faintly grinned for having succeeded at escaping. He was still holding both Hovan and the shield.
The elephant, on the other hand, kept struggling in all ways possible, but the barrel seemed to have settled in its new home, a tusk that was over three meters long.
"Damn it. It's still not stopping. Just how long can it keep going like that? Maybe I should go and bring it to its knees," Lirzod muttered to himself while his body was aching and burning all over. "Mm?" Just then, he noticed a few guys trying to steal the fallen tusk, but it was too heavy for them to carry it alone. Just when they were arguing with each other to form a group, Harrison entered the scene, picked up the tusk onto his shoulder, and quickly left after briefly smirking at Lirzod. "That guy..." Lirzod's brow jerked a bit. "I doubt he's thinking of gluing it back to the elephant. Then again, would gluing work?" He was in doubt, but he chased Harrison, shifting Hovan onto the shoulder. "Hey, wait! You can have this guy for that tusk!"
"Stop following me," Harrison ran like a dog with a bone in its mouth. "Don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong."
"Stop! I will give you a kilo of groundnuts," Lirzod said aloud as he exited the hall.
"What a fool! I can buy food that lasts an entire year if I sell this tusk," Harrison snorted as he increased the pace.
"Tch," Lirzod also picked up his speed, but then he noticed a few people rounding the corner and entering the street, and they were shouting Lirzod's name and were cursing at him, which caused him to stop immediately. "He used the tusk as bait to lure me out of the hall. I should've known." Lirzod quickly put Hovan down on a stone bed at the side of the street and then hastened back to the hall.
"Don't let him go!" Harrison shouted. "Whoever brings me his arm gets its weight in ivory, and of course, no rent for three months no matter which room you stay in."
The incentives Harrison gave boosted men's speed as they chased Lirzod. Just as he reached the entrance of the hall, some people came out and tried to block his way. Hundred came out of nowhere and spear-headed two men out of their lines, giving Lirzod just enough room to act. Lirzod took the chance. He slipped through the other's attacks and entered the hall, leaving Harrison utterly frustrated.
Lirzod and Hundred then got together and exchanged a hi-five.
Harrison arrived there a bit slowly because he was carrying the tusk. "You bastards had one thing to do, and you couldn't even do that properly!" he fumed at those men.
"If there were more men, it would have been tricky," Lirzod was panting, his hands placed on his knees as he tried to get his breath back. He then stood straight and stared at Harrison, who was standing right outside the test hall. "What? Do you want me to get that tusk back from you?"
"Do it if you dare," Harrison said and icily smiled. He could see that Lirzod had cuts and bruises all over his body, so there wouldn't be a better time to teach him a life lesson. Alone, he might fail, but with almost thirty people behind him, that was no longer the case, at least in his view. "Or should I say, 'do it if you care?'"
"You…" Lirzod felt the urge to step out of the hall and deal with him.
As Lirzod was about to step forward, Hundred blocked him with his hand and said, "Don't. He's not worth wasting our time."
Lirzod was able to agree with Hundred this time and stayed back.
"Backing away like a chicken, are ya?" Harrison taunted and stepped forth.
Just then, Gaja entered the street, scattering the men gathered at the entrance, including Harrison.
"There, tusker!" Lirzod pointed his finger at Harrison. "He's stealing your tusk!"
Coincidentally, the elephant also noticed its tusk and chased Harrison with increased speed and trumpeting in rage. It was catching up with him, bringing his heart into his mouth. He dropped the tusk and ran away shamelessly, "You little bastard! Mark my words! I'll pay you back in twice!"
"Hehe," Lirzod just laughed and waved his shield. "You can pay me back in your dreams."
Lirzod and Hundred then looked at each other and just breathed sighs of relief.
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
VKBoy
VKBoy Daily Dose:
Jailer: You're a respectable writer in society. Why did you kill a bear?
Writer: The protagonist in my upcoming novel is a hunter, so I wanted to feel his POV. That's why...
Jailer: So, that's why you foolishly hunted a bear despite being aware that our state banned such hunting practices. Look where it brought you, though. Six years behind bars ain’t gonna be pleasant.
Writer: It's okay, sir. In the sequel, the protagonist kills the jailer and escapes the prison.
CL: 11,900+ words.
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