15. Prideful Warrior

"

Rock, paper, scissors. We will settle who fight that insect with rock, paper, and scissors." Fritz made a fist, indicating that he was ready to play the game. Newt has heard of the game, but he hasn't actually played the game. He has no one to play against with.

"I-I haven't done this," Newt was also ready to play the game, "this, rock, paper and scissors thing."

They completely ignored the lizardmen once again. "And you dare ignore me aga-"

Fritz cut in before it could finish its sentence. He glared dagger at the lizardmen, and for some reason, this sent a chill to its spine. The lizardmen were left in utter flabbergast.

'H-how could a small kid possess such malignant aura. And h-he directed it to me! This might actually be b-bad! No, erase such thoughts. I am a great lizardman. The greatest of the greatest!'

Fritz and Newt continued laying the game until one of them won. Newt, despite being a beginner has won the fight against Fritz. I think it is what they called 'beginners luck?'

"Newt, you know what? Fuck it, let's just kill that insect together!"

Fritz does not want Newt to get ahead of him. He disregarded the proposed idea and decided to fight along with Newt.

"I was planning on doing that from the start, even if you were the one to win instead."

The fear the lizardmen felt earlier when Fritz glared daggers at him still lingers inside the lizardmen. It stood still and fixed his composure. He hid the fact that he was somewhat still scared of what will come next. Will he die or will he live after all?

Fritz equipped both of his weapons. The Blemish Dagger in his left, whilst the Double Edge Karambit was on the other hand. While Newt has already unsheathed his Light's Bane, he adjusted the weight and width of the weapon.

Newt cast his skill upon himself. Buffing all of his stats, doubling them. He went for the right flank of the lizardmen. And Fritz rushed over to the other side. The two of them will attack simultaneously, leaving no time for the lizardmen to attack as he will defend himself from a barrage of attacks.

"Okay, I like the guts of you two meat brats! Come at me with all that you've got! I, Zerd, shall beat the shit outta you two damn kids!"

Zerd won't yield to the feeling he felt earlier. He won't let his fear get the best of him. He wielded his spear and shown-off his spear handling skills.

"The insect's wielding a stick..." Fritz kept on insulting Zerd. He's agitating the lizard to make it easier to deal with it and lose its cool. "How would you skewer us with that pathetic-looking stick you're wielding?"

Zerd's sharp teeth lined up in anger, "you brat! This spear has been 

passed down from generation! Don't you dare keep on badmouthing my ancestors' heirloom!" Rage created by Fritz sparks inside Zerd's head. There became only one thing to do now, that is to murder the brat that badmouthed him and his ancestors' heirloom.

"Heh, what a shithead," Fritz muttered those words under his breath as he accelerated towards the furious Zerd. The latter faced the speeding kid towards him, completely ignoring the other one behind him. Zerd had succumbed to his furies. There's only one thing that kept repeating inside his head, 'Slaughter him, Skewer, Skewer, Skewer!'

Zerd clashed against the incoming Fritz. He thrust his spear, rapidly repeating the same attack. Fritz could not close the gap against the lizard. He waited for Newt to take the other side and attack before he carelessly struck.

"What--?!" Newt almost got caught in a pitfall Zerd had prepared. They were expecting hunters to clear the dungeon, so he made dug the ground and made some pits. Newt had barely dodged the pit. He jumped before he could fall down the pit filled with sharpened tree branches. He'll immediately die if he falls down the pitfall.

When Newt triggered the trap laid by Zerd, the latter shifted around to face the other kid. Zerd was going to skewer Newt in mid-air. There's no way Newt could dodge him in the air. Unless he has aerial skills that he could use to manipulate the air and pull himself from getting pierced.

"Die--!!!" Zerd thrust into the air.

'This is dangerous. I'll get stabbed!' Newt has no other means of dodging the spear's sharp tip.

*Clang!!!*

Fritz seeing that Newt was in danger, moved his ass and parried the thrust, saving Newt from getting his guts stabbed. He let his dagger scratched onto the spear's handle. He managed to close the gap between them and landed multiple cuts to Zerd using his Karambit.

[Skill: Skill Generator activated.]

[A random Thief skill has been generated.]

['Trap Detector']

[This will give you the insights of any nearby traps within the range of a hundred meters.]

['Trap Detector' has been activated.]

Newt landed just fine back on the ground. While Zerd was hurt and was feeling the pain from the multiple cut wounds inflicted by Fritz. The latter immediately told Newt the layout of the traps inside the room.

"I'd say that you brat has got some skills." The grin from Zerd's face as he was going to skewer Newt had faded after getting hurt. "And I'd also say that it really did hurt when you cut me with your weapons." Zerd made a quick glance at his cuts which were healing themselves at a rapid speed. "And... there." The wound had completely healed, and Zerd was back to his normal state.

"So, this won't be easy after all, huh?" Having been granted a skill to detect nearby traps was a lot of help for both of the kids. That way they would be able to fight whilst just avoiding going near the traps. Not like earlier that they became focused on two things; Zerd and the traps laid out by the lizard.

Nearly ten seconds had passed when Zerd decided to attack again. But this time, he uses a skill.

'Bad Temper'

This skill will turn all of your pent-up rage and furies into strength, buffing one's stats up! A sudden outburst of overwhelming strength has been given to Zerd. And he's going to put it to use now.

"Geh, look at that!" Newt pointed out the ground where Zerd stood earlier. Its foot dug deep into the ground as he dashed forward to the kids. Imagine how much force Zerd exerted just from dashing. And how much strength he became just by using a single skill.

"Have a taste of my rage-- my strength!" It wasn't just his strength that had increased, but also his speed. And he knows what he was doing. 

Since he was the one who dug the ground and placed sharpened tree branches to catch his prey, avoiding them was an easy feat. It was the same for the other two since Fritz was given the locations of the traps.

Zerd was closing the gap between them, so the two had two distance themselves from him. They were planning on having his skill run out of time. To wear out. They just have to bear with it and keep on avoiding entering his attack range.

"What's wrong?! Why are you two running away?! Why don't you fight me head-on?! Isn't it an advantage since there are two of you?!"

The lizardmen were persistent and consistent at what he was doing. He kept on chasing after the two, but Fritz and Newt were leading him into the traps he made, and they were utilizing it as a weapon. They were running circles around the traps. Zerd can't jump to them since he'll just become an easy target for the kids. So, he can't do anything but chase them on foot.

"Don't chicken out on me! Where's your pride as a warrior?! Warriors don't 

run away, but face their enemies!"

Zerd goes on with his warriors' pride and a bunch of bullshits for the two kids.

"We're not warriors! We are kids, KIDS!" Newt put emphasis on the word kids since they were really so. "You can't eat your pride. We'll do anything to survive! And pride won't save us."

What Newt said causes Zerd to trigger him some more. His pride was hurt by Newt, and he can't let that slide.

"Pride is important! I'd rather keep my pride than stoop so low just to save my ass!"

The prideful Zerd was able to run around at top speed, closing in the gap between him and the kids.

"Eek, he's close!" Fritz's eyes scanned Zerd and found out that he did not have his spear with him. "Be careful, Newt!"

Zerd clenched his hand into a fist, and he put all of his weight into his clenched tight fist. The two were focused on running around, waiting for the buff to wear off.

"I won't be able to dodge him!" Newt's face turned grim, thinking that dodging was impossible. He had leaped and was currently in the process of running away. He has no choice. He will be using the Light's Bane to block this incoming attack.

Zerd's fist flew towards Newt. The latter clutched onto his sword, tightening his grip on it. And hold it where the edge was on the side. He'll be using the sword's body to block off the destructive punch.

It connected. Both Newt and Zerd were gritting their teeth. One was because of anger, and the other was because of the impending force.

*Cracks*

Newt saw the sword was forming cracks. The durability of the sword will soon hit 0.

"Damn! The sword won't hold off! I'll get hit!"

*Breaks*

The sword didn't last long. But Newt did as he felt the ground on his feet.

"Seems like I'm a little bit lucky." He forced a grin on his face as he right away moved his body to dodge no, to lessen the damage Zerd would inflict.

"Ack! Ugh!" His right flank was hit instead of his stomach. It hurts a lot, even though he manages to slightly shift his body. The difference in strength displayed it all. Newt spits blood, a sign that he was badly hurt. He was forced to kneel on foot on the ground as he aided his flank.

"Pride won." Zerd looked down on the badly hurt kid and raised another fist. "Seems like this is goodbye for you."

~