Bounty Hunt in the Underworld Arena

Dave and Rock stood in the underworld arena facing each other, both of them ready to attack at any moment.

"Okay, I am the referee today. This fight follows the standard rules for underground arena battles. No killing and no attacks that leave behind lasting damage. You lost if you fall off the stage, go K.O., or when you are immobilized. The loser of this fight has to follow one order of the winner.Any question? Are you ready?", said Bronko. He was the bald man with a bear-like stature, who talked with Dave in the pub before.

"I am ready!", said both at the same time.

"Okay then let the fight begin!" shouted Bronko stepping to the side.

"Pew. Pew. Pew."

3 stone projectiles flew in Dave's direction the moment the fight started. Rock shot them from his fingers and Dave wasn't sure if he had to hold his hand like a gun to activate the ability or if he only did it to look kind of cool.

Dave dashed to the side and dodged all three of the bullets by a hair's breadth.

"Hihihi, run little rabbit. If that is the only thing you can do then I have won in a flash."

For Rock to associate Dave with a rabbit was a fitting comparison. Since Dave's agility stat hit the ULTIMATE rank after the fight with the lightning rabbit, Dave tried to copy some of its movements for his own use. A dust cloud rose behind him from the sand that covered the floor of the Arena.

He made a swishing gesture with his hand and shot a hardened watermelon-sized bubble at Rock's lower body.

"Hahaha, what do you think some bubble can do to my rocks?"

Rock made a fist with his hand and shot a snowball-sized rock at the bubble. The moment both hit each other, the bubble lost the strength test and exploded with a 'Ptch' sound leaving behind a soapy water puddle at the floor.

Dave circled Rock and shot one bubble after another at him and each time was countered with a rock smashing it.

"This won't work dumbass! I am rank 2 already. You will run out of mana before me and then I will kick your ass."

'I guess you can't surrender in the underworld arena. Only if you manage to leave the stage. So if your opponent stops you, he can basically do whatever he wants...' thought Dave remembering that Bronko never mentioned you could surrender.

"Then take this one. I am sure you can't block it!", shouted Dave mischievously.

He shot a bubble the size of a gymnastic ball at Rock, who countered with a rock of the same size.Before both Projectiles could collide, Dave made a ripping gesture with both his hands, and the one big bubble turned into 4 watermelon-sized ones. Those 4 were more nimble, dodged the incoming stone, and headed directly for Rock from four different directions.

With a shocked look on his face activated Rock his safety measure, hitting with his fist the ground beneath him. 4 rock walls rose around him and defended him against the bubbles that exploded with a 'Ptch' sound.

Dave first dodged the gymnastic-ball-sized rock and then accelerated activating his movement skill.

'[Strong Movement]'

After the fight against the rabbit [Strong Movement] reached [A] rank, what was kind of crazy thinking about the fact that at the beginning of the fight it was still [E] grade. But the power of his enemy in combination with hundreds of continuous uses seemed to have helped his ability rise in rank faster.

Furthermore, his Hero abilities were easier to rise in rank because they already had the penalty that they consumed Heroism a resource that could only be recovered through quests.

When [Strong Movement] was still [E] grade it boosted Dave's speed by 25% now it was completely different. His speed was boosted by a huge 45%. To the audience, it appeared as if Dave was teleporting from his position 25 meters away from Rock directly to his right sight.

Using the force of the speed Dave activated [Aprrentice Hero's Punch] and shot his strongest fist at Rock from the side. The stone wall was turned into debris and bombarded the by his own walls caged in Rock.

Gritting his teeth he activated his trump card.

"Lava-Stone-Body!", shouted Rock.

His body grew and turned into stone. Then through the fissures that were created by his fast growth, lava started to trickle down turning him into a gigantic lava-stone-monster.

Dave feeling the incoming danger jumped back and covered himself with a bubble shield. The moment he landed on the floor, he was frontally hit by a burning stone. His bubble shield cracked like a broken mirror and then with a 'Ptch' sound splintered apart.

The projectile's speed was reduced by a huge margin and Dave could roll easily to the side dodging it. But there was no chance for him to catch a breath. Right, when he wanted to steady himself Rock was in front of him.

His lava-stone-fist raised, he smashed it down at the crouching Dave, who could only try to block the fist with his arms. He was shot through the air and landed heavily on his back. His right arm, who met the full force of that attack dangling uselessly at his side.

Dave gritted his teeth not a single scream escaped his mouth.

"Hahahaha. That is what you get for messing around with someone, who is stronger than you!", shouted Rock an insane cackling coming from his throat.

"Shit.", barked Bronko. "I told you no lasting injuries Rock. I have to disqualify you!"

While he said that a stone coated in lava was fired at Bronko. He jumped from the stage and escaped the attack only narrowly.

"Damn. The skill took possession of him. Boy, you have to flee!", shouted Bronko, who knew Rock would never break the arena rules otherwise, to Dave and ran away head over heels.

Dave didn't know that something like this could happen. His face contorted with pain, he readied himself.

"Giving up is not part of the dictionary that is my life!"

'That sentence sounded kind of cool,' thought Dave rubbing his nose. Unlucky for him though, there was not a single person left beside the insane Rock that could hear him.

'Hopefully, Ayano and Anna come over and help me. In the meantime, I will try my new strategy!'

To call this strategy completely new was kind of a stretch but at least a part of it was something he didn't try before.

'Let's start... unfortunately, my right arm is useless now.' Dave covered it with a thin bubble to keep it safe from further damages.

'[Strong Movement]'

Dave dashed in Lava-Monster-Rock's direction.

"[Aprrentice Hero's Punch]", exclaimed Dave.

Rock countered his left fist with a right fist of his. The outcome of the strength test was bad. Dave was blasted to the edge of the arena. Only this time he had the advantage that his arm was strengthened by the skill and wasn't hurt.

'That won't work.' thought Dave. 'I need fast attacks that hit him from his dead angles. Time for the lightning rabbit strategy.'

This was how Dave called the attack chain he used to subdue the lightning rabbit back then during the limit breaking quest. He started with the creation of 8 bubbles, which first circled him and then swarmed out to surround Rock and him at the same time.

"You can't catch me, you ugly lava-monster!", said Dave trying to infuriate the insane Rock.

He dashed forward activating [Strong Movement] at the same time. His goal wasn't Rock this time but a bubble to his right. He reached the bouncy bubble before Rock was there and was catapulted forward.

Bouncing from one bubble to another Rock could only turn himself in Dave's direction, catching him was out of the question. Dave smirked. A puddle of soapy water at the ground squirmed and turned into a bouncy bubble 2 meters behind Rock.

Dave dashed past Rock by a hair's breadth hit the bubble and was right behind him before he had a chance to turn around.

"[Apprentice Hero's Punch]!", shouted Dave.

He fired his strongest fist right at the Lava-Rock-Monsters back. Before Rock was hit though Dave created another bubble at Rock's feet. Dave created at the beginning of the fight intentionally many water puddles to allow him this kind of supporting maneuver, leaving his mana inside them he could manipulate them any time he wanted to.

This time it wasn't a normal bubble, telling the truth it wasn't even one but two. Like two snakes the bubbles entangled Rock's feet and legs. Then Dave's fist hit its target. Rock tumbled to the ground hitting the sandy floor head first.

"Bubble prison!", shouted Dave.

This wasn't a real skill. It was only something self-created like the bouncy bubbles he used before. Bubble prison was supposed to lock down his enemies in place.Then he started his barrage of attacks.

"[Apprentice Hero's Punch]!"

"[Apprentice Hero's Punch]!"

"[Apprentice Hero's Punch]!"

"[Apprentice Hero's Punch]!"

"[Apprentice Hero's Punch]!"

"[Apprentice Hero's Punch]!"

Every punch hit Rock's back making it impossible for him to free himself from his prison. After six punches [Apprentice Hero's Punch] reached [A] grade. After his battle with the lightning rabbit, it was already [B] grade and Dave developed the desire to further increase its rank.

He believed that once its level was high enough, he could earn with every punch against an enemy a handful of Heroism. Right now he was only a step away from reaching a point, where income and cost of the skill were equal to each other. He recalled the skill's information.

[Apprentice Hero's Punch] [A]

[When push comes to shove the only thing a hero can trust is the power of his fists. Unleash your strongest punch.

If your punch hits a villain then your Heroism rises by +6.

Effect: 85% increased attack power

costs: 10 Heroism per use]

Up until now, every rank up of the skill increased the income by +1 and reduced the cost by -3.In conclusion, this meant that when [Apprentice Hero's Punch] reached [S] grade, the skill turned break-even, and every rank beyond that he would gain more and more profit.

"Hahaha!", laughing happily because of the cheating system he discovered, he continued his barrage of attacks.

His only concern was how long Rock would be able to handle the damage done to him.

Hopefully, he would be able to level his skill up a few times until then.

"[Apprentice Hero's Punch]!"

From a distance the audience that fled before watched a battle crazed hero punch the shit out of an insane lava-rock-monster.

Not only once was the question heard, who of the both of them was really insane!

That was the moment when Dave unknowingly earned himself the nickname battle-crazy-hero.