Battle

Whilst the fight was ongoing between the two, Shinto and the others quietly watched the match. From the bystanders, Shinto noticed that most of the players who were watching had eyes filled with mockery on Ethaniel.

'Sigh, this guy is doing the same mistake as last time no?' Shinto raised his brow. 'The brawler skill 'Headlock'... He should have retreated back the moment his skill didn't hit, that way he wouldn't have lost so much and gained nothing...'

[ Headlock ] [ 120 MP ] [ Cooldown: 15 Minutes ]

Grabs onto an enemy's head with both fists, disallowing them the freedom to move freely for 3.2 seconds. While the enemy is in this state, the user can connect multiple combo attacks that deals an additional 5% damage.

...

Often times, Headlock was used as a finisher ability. When the enemy received the ability, they would lose a lot of health by the end of the skill duration due to the constant combos and damage dealt from the brawler.

The ability 'Headlock' was one of the few ability options available for the 'Brawler' class when they reach the level of 12 and completed their class quest. The other two options besides that were 'Highwind Kick' and 'Parry Fist'.

When a player reached the level of 10, they would start getting class quests that allowed them to gain abilities, stats and the like. The quests at the start would typically give two to three different choices of skills, and the player would need to choose them. From there, their playstyles and skillsets would differ from player to player, thus allowing for a more unique variety of gameplay and styles.

Besides unlocking class quests, players could also begin to branch out from their classes and look for other classes that are related to the class that they have chosen previously. Often times, these are known as a class advancement quest, or a class change quest, however, they are not hidden ones.

'The chances of Ethaniel winning are quite slim...' he thought to himself. 'The fact that he's in a disadvantageous situation with his low health and bad start, the only way for him to win is if he manages to sidestep all the attacks or successfully parry against them...'

While thinking and watching the match ongoing, Shinto heard Kon's voice from his shadow. "Hey, master! What's going on? Why are we still here?" Kon whispered. "Weren't we going to go back to town or something?"

"...ah, well, something happened and I'm going to continue observing the situation," he said.

"Oh? Then, if we're going to stay here, is it okay if I can come out of the shadow now?" Kon asked. "...staying in here while not being able to move about is making me a bit restless..."

"Err, well..." Shinto turned to look around his surroundings. Seeing as how most of the players were on the other side of the area, it shouldn't be a problem. "I guess it'll be fine since we're hiding here," he said. "Just don't make any unnecessary noise and if anyone approaches, just go back to the shadow."

"Right, right!" Kon happily said as they reappeared in front of Shinto, quickly they began stretching its body. "Ah, finally I can move about again!" he slightly raised his voice.

"...hey, Kon... Your voice..." Shinto said as he covered Kon's mouth in a hurry.

Quickly as he did so, he hurriedly walked away from the bush and went to another one. Simultaneously as he did so, a few players headed to the original position of Shinto.

"...huh? What's up?" a player asked.

"Ah, I thought I heard something..." he replied.

"Probably some bugs or something," he shrugged.

Watching the scene pass, Shinto let out a breath of relief. "Phew... Kon, you almost revealed us..."

"I'm s-sorry it was my bad!"

"Sigh, it's okay. Just don't do that again..." he said as he turned back to watch the ongoing match.

...

As the light shone out towards Brox, Ethaniel swiftly drifted to the side as he unleashed another attack. This time, a grey ray shone against his blade. The two light mixed together quickly hitting the man.

"Tsk, such a nuisance!" Brox shouted out as he moved towards Ethaniel's direction, with both his fists held up tightly near his chest, he swung it towards him. "Is this some last-ditch effort?"

Ethaniel read the movements of Brox's fist, quickly he swayed to the side, dodging the attack. Soon after, he held up his sword as he slashed at the man. "Who says it was a last-ditch effort?" he scoffed.

"Hmph, say all you want," ignoring the sword coming right at him, he leapt forward towards Ethaniel. Then, he held up his shin, quickly he sent it flying over to Ethaniel.

Noticing the attack, Ethaniel couldn't do anything about it. His sword landed onto Brox's however, his shin landed onto Ethaniel. Taking the hit, he was pushed back by the force while Brox took the full force of his attack.

"Y'know, if we go about it this way, I'll win, right? Just look at your health," he laughed. "Just give it up!" he leapt forward once again, this time, his body lit in a red aura.

"Not yet!" Ethaniel said as he quickly jumped to the side, gripping onto his hilt, he unleashed a ray of light at the tip of his blade. In the next moment, he brought the edge of his sword down to the ground, breaking it.

The force from his attack shook the ground heavily as the light began to shine down in a horizontal line, heading to where Brox was. Simultaneously, Ethaniel wasted no time as he sprang straight to him, with his sword in hand, he swung it over to Brox.

At that moment, all of Ethaniel's skill hit the man. With a glance at his health, he saw that Brox's health was now in the red, it was at 2%.

"...ugh! Seriously?!" Ethaniel clicked his tongue as he hurriedly jumped back. However, before he had the chance to, he felt a tight force grabbing onto his legs.

"Hah, where do you think you're going?!" Brox said as he sent a kick over to Ethaniel, following up with that, he began to start a combo on Ethaniel.

"Argh...!" Ethaniel was helpless as he was continuously pushed back by the force. His health slowly dwindled as dropped down to the last few bits of numbers left. '...I can't end it like this!' he glared at Brox.

Gritting his teeth, as he took another hit from him, Ethaniel hurriedly got himself back together as he clenched his hand, turning them into fists. Soon after, he moved his fist straight towards Brox, landing a punch and destroying his combo on him.

Following up with that, he held onto his sword as he slashed at Brox for the last time.

"Huff... huff..." Ethaniel let out a tired breath as he averted his eyes over to his notification.

[ System announcement: WINNER - Ethaniel! ]

"Hah... I won. Take that, you bastard," he said as he wiped the blood off his face. "Now give me back the item." Ethaniel glared at the fallen Brox.

"Hmph. Who said it was over?!" Brox let out a roar. "We're not done yet! Do what you've been told to do guys!"

"...what?!" Ethaniel's eyes opened wide as he turned to look around his surrounding area, There he saw almost all the players within the area were rushing up towards him.