Punching Bag

'God damnit, a Qi Manifestation Expert is a lot more troublesome than I had expected. The only way I can win this mock battle is through a battle of attrition. Alright, I can do this!' [August]

When the dust settled, Guildmaster Marklein rushed towards August at full speed, wanting to end this battle before his Flame Body ran out of time.

August saw this but remained calm. He had thought up a plan to win.

When the guild master was just a hair's breadth away from him, August quickly bent down to dodge the guild master's fiery left hook before he picked up some rocks from the shattered arena floor.

Marklein noticed this but he chose to ignore August's peculiar actions. He would rather continue his chain attack by smashing his fist onto August's back!

But once again, as if his opponent had grown a third eye on his back, Marklein watched August smoothly dodge his attack by rolling to the side.

"You slimy bastard! Stop dodging my attacks!" Annoyed, Marklein roared at the fleeing August.

"One punch from you would shatter all my bones and kill me. To avoid that from happening, what else am I supposed to do besides running?" August smirked back.

"What the–? When did you fix your jaw?"

"Just now."

"When?"

"Moments before I dodged your smash."

"How?"

"Can't tell you. It's my secret."

"Gah, you're driving me nuts! Xie Tian, how much longer do I have before I have to concede to this slimy bastard??"

"3 minutes, Sir."

"Only 3 minutes are left? Fuck, I've spent too much time talking. Be prepared, boy…I'm coming at you at full strength!"

Having said that much, Marklein took a deep breath to calm his raging thoughts. He wouldn't be able to exert his full strength if he continued to be blinded by his rage.

Once his mind had calmed down, the fire qi surrounding his body grew hotter and brighter, as if the Sun had descended onto Marklein.

"Flame Body, 2nd Phase…Birth of a New Star!" Readjusting his battle stance to fit his technique, Marklein shouted at the top of his lungs.

Marklein was serious now.

August knew that.

But before he could finish blinking, he felt his weight lightened as a strong force struck his stomach and was sent flying as a result.

"Boom!" August was shot into the arena's ceiling, wedging himself between two broken slabs of stone.

Without hesitation, Marklein appeared in front of August at light speed before sending out a barrage of fire infused punches at the August.

Since August was stuck within the ceiling, he could only grit his teeth as he endured the barrage of attacks coming at him.

He was practically Marklein's punching bag at this point.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" A string of explosions resounded within the arena, intimidating Xie Tian as he watched the fight from the ground.

'The guild master has done it again…Oh how am I going to clean this up?' Xie Tian sighed in his heart.

He didn't know August so he wasn't worried about him.

But if the guildmaster were to kill the applicant, Xie Tian would have to go out of his way to clean up the body, dig him a grave, before going over to the Ancient Ghost Clan to ask for forgiveness for killing their disciple.

Xie Tian hadn't completed his life goals yet so he wasn't willing to sacrifice himself to cover up his guild master's mistake.

August's backer was the Ancient Ghost Clan.

If they find out that their disciple has died by the hands of a guild master from the Adventurers Guild, war would break out immediately.

So to prevent that, Xie Tian thought of sacrificing himself to quell their anger.

But then again, this was a disciple from the mysterious clan anyways.

Xie Tian believed that August would survive Marklein's deadly beatings without a problem.

Up in the corner of the arena's ceiling, August coughed up mouthfuls of blood as he tried to hang on to his life.

His arms and legs have been smashed to dust by Marklein. He was certain that his ribs had been shattered to pieces as well.

The only thing that's keeping him conscious was the beating sound of his heart.

"Boom!" Marklein punched a hole in August's chest, making him cough out blood again.

"Give it up, boy. I'll relieve you of your misery if you forfeit right now. My guild possesses one B rank Doctor so you're as good as saved if you give up now." [Marklein]

"Oh yeah? If that's the case, then I'll just continue to endure. After all, I can just ask that doctor to heal me after I pass this mock battle!" August laughed back.

"Tch, you asked for this." The shine in Marklein's eyes disappeared as he sent out a barrage of full powered punches at August's body again, dying the white shirt he was wearing with his own blood.

Even though the only thing coursing through him was qi, Sion decided to inject human blood into August's dead blood vessels so that it would make him look more human if he were to get injured in the future.

But contrary to his sorry appearance, August's heart was calm. He didn't feel any pain due to his pain reduction skill.

Besides that, his burning reduction skill helped to put out the flames on his body.

As for his broken bones, he merely needs to circulate qi within his body to recuperate.

His zombie body possessed no impurities within so recovering through cultivation was doable.

Marklein finally stopped attacking August after the remaining 3 minutes had passed.

He looked at Xie Tian once before he picked up August's crippled body and got down from the roof.

Xie Tian ran over to August to check his pulse. Marklein avoided attacking his heart so Xie Tian could perform his medical check on August smoothly.

Whether he lived or died during his attack was of no concern to the guild master.

"He's alive." Xie Tian confirmed after having checked August's pulse in 5 different places.

"You sure? He looks pretty dead to me." Marklein looked at August with doubt.

He certainly didn't pull any punches besides avoiding the boy's heart. So August being alive after all that made him feel doubtful.

But Xie Tian has never been wrong with his medical analysis, not only was he a B rank archer, he was a B rank Doctor as well.

Marklein believed that Xie Tian was telling the truth, which made him doubt August even further.

"Tch, fine. Bring the kid to the infirmary." [Marklein]

"Yes, Sir. And what about his application? What should I tell him?" [Xie Tian]

"Tell him he's passed. He's now an official adventurer of the Adventurers Guild." [Marklein]

"Understood, Sir." [Xie Tian]

With that, Guildmaster Marklein returned to his quarters, leaving Xie Tian alone to carry the barely breathing August to the guild's infirmary.