Free Web NovelChapter 122: Game On
The moon hung high above the frozen sea. One side of the battlefield burned with crimson flames. The other shimmered beneath waves of icy mist.
The cargo ship creaked as it drifted between fire and frost.
Nobody slowly rolled his shoulders. The metallic Bunny Punching Gloves gave off a crisp mechanical click.
CLINK.
CLINK.
He looked up at the towering Flame Yeti. A grin spread beneath the crimson bunny helmet. "Hey..." He pointed one frosty glove toward the giant yeti. "...Bastard."
The Flame Yeti narrowed its blazing eyes. "...WHAT?"
Nobody planted both feet firmly on the frozen deck. "Let’s fight head-on, no tricks, no running and no sneaky attacks. Just fists."
The giant stared at him for several seconds. Then...A slow smile appeared across its monstrous face. "...I...AGREE."
Nobody laughed. "Good. I was worried you’d chicken out."
The monster snorted. "...I...DON’T..KNOW...WHAT...A CHICKEN...IS."
Nobody blinked. "...Fair."
Far above the battlefield...
Ray leaned forward in his chair. "They’re really settling this with a fistfight?" He chuckled. "I honestly can’t predict this NPC anymore."
The System quietly appeared.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Friendly Reminder]
User Has Voluntarily Challenged A Unique-Class Opponent To A Pure Melee Contest.
Probability Of Regret:
72%.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Nobody looked at the window. "...Only seventy-two? I expected higher."
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[Confidence Detected]
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"You do know confidence and stupidity are cousins."
The System remained silent.
The Flame Yeti suddenly clenched both fists. Fire exploded around its arms.
WHOOSH!!
Nobody answered by coating both Bunny Punching Gloves with an even thicker layer of frost. Blue mist curled around his fists. The temperature dropped sharply.
The two opponents slowly walked toward one another.
Step...
Step...
Step...
Neither looked away.
The ocean itself seemed to grow quiet. The surviving smugglers watched from behind overturned containers.
One whispered, "...Who’s going to win?"
Another swallowed nervously. "...I honestly don’t know anymore."
The distance closed.
Ten meters.
Five.
Three.
Nobody smiled. "You ready?"
The monster answered with a roar. "YAAAAAAAH!!"
Nobody said,"Close enough."
Both of them disappeared at the same instant.
BOOOM!!
Their fists met in the center of the deck. A powerful shockwave rippled across the cargo ship. Nearby containers slid backward several meters. The frozen deck cracked beneath their feet. Neither moved.
Nobody looked up. "Dang your...Strong."
The Flame Yeti grinned. "...YOU...ARE WEAK"
Nobody suddenly pulled back one fist.
BAM!!
A clean punch landed against the monster’s forehead. The giant’s head tilted backward. Before it could recover....
BAM!!
The Flame Yeti answered with a heavy punch to Nobody’s helmet.
Nobody slid backward several steps. "...Ahemm..." He adjusted the bunny ears of his helmet. "That....was a good punch." He stretched his neck.
CRACK.
CRACK.
"Let’s continue striking."
The monster smiled. "...GLADLY." It stepped forward again.
BAM!!
Nobody answered with another punch.
BAM!!
The monster returned one immediately.
BAM!!
BAM!!
BAM!!
Every collision echoed across the frozen ocean. Neither bothered blocking. Neither bothered dodging. They simply exchanged blow after blow. Far above...
Ray slowly blinked. "...They’re actually boxing."
The System calmly commented.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Combat Style Updated]
Current Fighting Method:
Competitive Face Punching.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Nobody laughed even while throwing another punch. "Hahaha! Best description ever!"
BAM!!
Another solid hit connected with the monster’s jaw. The Flame Yeti stumbled one step. Then answered with a heavy swing.
BAM!!
Nobody’s helmet tilted sideways. He quickly straightened it. "Don’t hit the healmet..It is expensive."
The monster frowned. "...SORRY....WAIT...I’M NOT SORRY."
Nobody pointed at it. "That’s the spirit."
The giant roared once more. "YAAAAAAAH!!" Its fists ignited. Flames wrapped around both arms. The air shimmered from the intense heat.
Nobody lowered into a boxing stance. Cold mist poured from his gloves. "Come on...Show me what you’ve got."
The monster rushed forward. Every step dented the steel beneath its feet.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Nobody remained perfectly still.
The distance shrank. At the final second, the Flame Yeti threw a massive right hook.
WHOOSH!!
Nobody leaned backward. The burning fist missed his face by mere centimeters. He smiled. "Too wide." Using the opening he sprang upward. His entire body twisted through the air.
BAM!!
His icy fist connected squarely with the Flame Yeti’s cheek. A burst of frost exploded across the monster’s face. The giant staggered sideways. "...ARGHH!" It rubbed its cheek in disbelief.
Nobody landed lightly. He pointed at the monster. "Cheek inspection complete."
The Flame Yeti blinked. "...WHAT?"
Nobody laughed with a smug tone and said,"You’ve got a very punchable face."
The smugglers hiding nearby exchanged confused looks. "...Is....Is he insulting the strong muscle guy?"
Another nodded. "...Apparently."
The monster growled deeply. "...YOU ARE...ANNOYING."
Nobody proudly placed both fists on his hips. "I’ve heard that before."
The System appeared again.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Achievement Progress]
Professional Annoyer
Progress:
89%.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Nobody stared at the notification. "...Wait...That’s an actual achievement?"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Potential Achievement]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"I suddenly want it."
The Flame Yeti clenched both fists again. Its cheek still carried a thin layer of frost. Steam rose where fire and ice collided. It lowered its body.
"So...Round three? Wait, I think it’s round four" Nobody asked.
The monster answered with another earth-shaking roar. The frozen sea trembled. The burning cargo ship groaned.
Nobody raised both Bunny Punching Gloves. His grin returned beneath the crimson bunny helmet. "Heh...This is getting fun."
The moon watched silently as one rabbit and one towering monster prepared to exchange another flurry of punches, neither willing to give an inch, while fire and frost continued to clash across the lonely sea.
The cold wind swept across the cargo ship once again.
Nobody slowly bounced on the balls of his feet. "Not those ball guys...ahem.."
Left and right. Left and right.
The metallic Bunny Punching Gloves emitted soft mechanical clicks every time he tightened his fists.
CLINK.
CLINK.
Across from him...The Flame Yeti lowered its massive body. Its burning eyes never left Nobody for a single second. Flames curled around its enormous arms like living serpents.
Nobody grinned. "You know..."
The monster growled. "...WHAT?"
"You actually punch pretty hard." Nobody continued.
The Flame Yeti proudly crossed its arms. "...OF...COURSe...I’M..Stronger"
Nobody nodded thoughtfully. "Nuh uh. Besides, I’m the crimson bunny biker."
"...YOUR....POINT?" Yeti asked.
"My point is..." He raised both fists. "...Never underestimate a bunny. A bunny gonna smack your shitty as* head."
The Flame Yeti roared. "YAAAAAAAH!!"
BOOOM!!
It exploded forward. The steel beneath its feet folded inward from the force.
Nobody didn’t retreat. Instead... He sprinted straight toward the giant.
Far above...
Ray leaned closer to one of the floating screens. "They’re charging each other again. I like this."
The distance vanished in an instant.
The Flame Yeti swung first.
WHOOSH!!
Its burning fist sliced through the air like a cannonball.
Nobody tilted his head. The punch missed by barely an inch. Hot wind brushed against his helmet. "So close."
BAM!!
Nobody answered with a quick jab to the monster’s ribs.
The giant barely flinched. "...TOO...LIGHT."
Nobody smiled. "I wasn’t finished."
BAM!
BAM!
BAM!
Three more punches landed in rapid succession. Each strike released a burst of icy mist. The frost slowly spread across patches of the monster’s burning fur.
The Flame Yeti answered with a wide swing. Nobody ducked beneath it.
Another punch came immediately after. Nobody slipped to the side.
A third descended from above.
FLASH!!
He spun away just in time. The gigantic fist smashed into the frozen deck instead.
BOOOOM!!
Steel plates buckled. Ice burst into the air.
Nobody whistled. "...You really hate this ship."
The monster ripped its fist free. "...YOU KEEP MOVING."
Nobody shrugged. "It’s called footwork. You should try it sometime."
The System quietly appeared.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Combat Analysis]
User Dodge Efficiency:
94%
Enemy Accuracy:
Improving.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Nobody nodded. "So he’s learning."
The System replied.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Affirmative]
Unique-Class enemies continuously adapt during combat.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"...Well...That’s slightly terrifying."
The Flame Yeti suddenly lowered both shoulders.
Nobody noticed immediately. "...Huh?"
The monster wasn’t looking at his face anymore. It was watching...his feet.
Nobody smiled beneath the helmet. "Oh...You figured it out."
Without warning...The giant lunged. This time...Its first punch wasn’t aimed at Nobody’s head. It targeted where Nobody was about to step.
BOOOOM!!
Nobody barely avoided it.
The second fist arrived immediately.
WHOOSH!!
Nobody twisted his body. The attack scraped past his shoulder. "Holy moly..You’re predicting me now?"
The monster grinned. "...LEARNING."
Nobody laughed. "Good..Otherwise I’d get bored."
Far above...
Ray folded his arms. "He shouldn’t be able to read movements this quickly. I guess that NPC pushed him to evolve."
Back on the ship...
Nobody cracked his neck. "Alright. If you’re adapting...I’ll adapt too." He suddenly changed rhythm. Instead of bouncing lightly...He became completely still.
The Flame Yeti blinked. "...WHY...STOP?"
Nobody smiled. "You were reading my movement. So now...There isn’t one."
Even the wind seemed to pause. The monster took the first step. Nobody remained motionless.
Another step.
Still nothing.
Five meters.
Three.
Two.
The monster threw a straight punch.
WHOOSH!!
At the very last instant....
Nobody slipped just outside the attack. His movement was almost effortless.
The Flame Yeti’s eyes widened. "...WHAT?!"
BAM!!
Nobody’s icy glove landed cleanly against the giant’s side. A burst of frost spread across its waist.
The monster staggered. Before it could recover....
BAM!!
A second punch struck its shoulder.
BAM!!
A third connected with its chest. The giant stumbled backward. "...ARGH!"
Nobody pointed at it. "See? You were watching my feet. You forgot to watch me."
The System immediately displayed another notification.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[New Technique Recognized]
Adaptive Rhythm.
User Has Successfully Altered Combat Tempo.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Nobody blinked. "...I just made that up."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Nevertheless...]
Technique Registered.
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"Heh...I’ll take it."
