Odyssey of the Blind God

Nial was not ready to give Khain a chance to excuse himself for losing against him. Thus, he didn't feel like using a runic armament to evade the high-velocity punch that almost reached him.

Nial knew that Khain was using a different martial art technique than before but he had also concluded that one of the Valxian's abilities was to create a second impact with the mana he released from his body.

Thus, the moment Khain hit something, a second impact would be created, causing more damage than the first one.

This was something Nial had to avoid until he knew if the second impact had a penetrative trait or not.

He didn't plan to get defeated because of a stupid mistake and it was because of this reason that Nial twisted his body in an uncomfortable angle to evade the high-velocity punch.

Nial miscalculated the speed of the punch, which was why he couldn't simply evade it and he was forced to circulate mana through his left arm to deliver a blow to the fist that shot down toward him.

The fist of the Valxian was twice, or even thrice as big as Nial's head, giving him enough room to impact with his flat hand.

His physical strength might not be as strong as the Valxian's, but Nial was still capable of diverting the trajectory of Khain's high-velocity punch, even if it was just a little bit!

The small change in the punch's trajectory was enough for Nial to regain a proper foothold on the ground and to gain the opportunity to counterattack.

Khain had just pulled his right hand out of the ground before he had twisted his body to punch Nial in surprise. Because his stance was not perfect while executing the second blow and due to the obvious fact that Nial was a much smaller target to aim Khain's body posture was a bit off and more leaning toward the ground.

Nial used this opportunity to blast forward and jump upward, blasting an uppercut that was further strengthened with his mana in Khain's direction.

His uppercut hit the Valxian almost too perfectly and Khain lost balance for a moment due to the terrifying strength Nial had delivered despite his tiny figure.

The Valxian's head was forced upward and blood spurted out of his mouth as he fell to the ground, where he remained motionless for a moment.

"What the hell…" Khain mumbled as he lifted his body from the ground not even a second later.

"You are the first human I will fight," The Valxian said before he lightly added, "Looks like I have to change my combat style to be able to fight someone as small as you!"

Khain began to smile, which looked hideous because he was still bleeding out of his mouth.

'This will probably get more annoying now, won't it?' Nial let out an exasperated sigh while focusing all his senses on the Valxian and the changes that occurred around and within him.

"Just keep making excuses. Maybe that will make you feel better when I defeat you!" He said out loud and dashed forward without waiting for the Valxian's reaction.

It was a waste of time to speak during a fight, especially if one had an advantage. Stalling time to give Khain the opportunity to create a counteroffensive attack against him was not something Nial was ready to do.

On the contrary, Nial wanted to overwhelm Khain without the use of runic armaments or his dark energy. He used the Heart of Darkness to pull mana toward him nonetheless but that was merely to provide him with more mana to use for martial art techniques, [Hodur's Heir] or [Blood Eclipse Moon].

Nial didn't reveal all his trumps immediately, which is why he activated [Blood Eclipse Moon] to release some of the stored and altered moonlight within his body.

His physical strength increased and the potency of his mana skyrocketed in return. Nial appeared in front of Khain, whose stance had changed once again.

'Another martial art technique?' Nial wondered when the Valxian kicked out at him. Khain's kick was extremely powerful and fast.

The Valxian's sudden attack was twice as fast as before, which was why Nial had no way of evading the attack. The flat base of the Valvain's foot smashed against Nial's side, flinging him dozens of meters away.

'No second impact?' He thought in confusion as he somersault mid-air to land on the ground without an injury.

Khain's kick had been extremely fast but it hadn't been as powerful as the flat hand thrust or the high-velocity punch. Furthermore, there was no sign of the second impact, which decreased the danger of Khain's attack tremendously.

Changing his combat style in accordance with his opponent's traits and abilities was useful but if Khain was not able to injure Nial, all his power would be for naught.

Khain disappeared from his location and he emerged right in front of Nial. He kicked Nial once again, disappeared, and reappeared magically at the spot where Nial would inevitably land.

This time Khain prepared a punch and the attack impacted Nial mercilessly, flinging him through the air like a big sack of potatoes.

The Valxian repeated the same attack pattern multiple times, catapulting Nial in various directions.

Everyone who had been witnessing the battle right in front of them couldn't help but frown deeply including Elder Walin.

"Did I overestimate him? Khain's proficiency in the Secea Wind Cutter technique exceeds my expectations by far but still…" Elder Walin mumbled as she watched Nial getting beaten into a pulp. It almost looked like Khain was playing around with a large ball to perfect his technique, rather than fighting a battle.

The beginning of the entrance test had been in Nial's favor but the moment Khain changed his combat style, everything changed as well. This was enough reason for Elder Walin to believe that Nial may not be the person she had presumed him to be.

"Since when have you become so impatient, Walin?" The Dojo Master asked without taking his eyes away from the battlefield. His arms were folded across his chest, clearly showing that he didn't intend to intervene and end the battle.

Some Valxians felt that this was cruel, but they didn't expect less from the Devilish Dojo Master.

"Impatient? Are you not too confident that nothing will happen to Nial?" Elder Walin asked in return, not sure what the Dojo Master had in mind.

He smiled lightly and glanced toward Elder Walin, who looked straight at him.

"Who says that I care if something happens to the human?" The Dojo master retorted nonchalantly and Elder Walin finally understood what was going on.

It was true. There was not really a reason for them to care what would happen to Nial. It would have been the case had Nial belonged to any other race, or was someone with a unique background or special powers, but it was quite obvious that Nial was a human from Jundra.

He had decided to explore Jundra on his own and no one would ever find out about Nial's death if he were to die right now.

"But it looks like I will have to intervene soon," The Dojo Master suddenly said and his expression changed a bit.

"To save Nial?" Elder Walin asked but the Dojo Master could only shake his head grimly as he mumbled, "No, to save Khain!"

Moments earlier, Khain had kicked Nial high in the air. The Valxian had had enough of Nial, which was why he created the opportunity to change his martial art when his opponent wouldn't expect it.

Nial couldn't change his trajectory mid-air, which was why Khain had blasted him close to the ceiling before he appeared above Nial.

Khain activated his only ability [Mana Impact] as he exerted [Piercing Clouds], a powerful technique that was capable of penetrating his opponent's defense with a seemingly simple thrust of overly compressed mana.

It was not easy to execute the [Piercing Clouds] technique, especially while changing the exerted martial art technique all of a sudden. However, Khain was capable of doing so because he was in his peak form.

He felt stronger than ever before and thrust his flat hand toward Nial. His fingernails were just about to cut deep inside Nial's abdomen when Nial flashed a bright smile at Khain.

"Got you, you little fucker!" Nial shouted out from above, while the 'Nial', who was being pierced by Khain, disfigured all of a sudden.

The disfigured Nial burst open and turned into a huge mess of black miasma that expanded rapidly while Khain's head flicked upward.

"I wouldn't breathe in the miasma if I were you!" Nial shouted a warning while he was hanging from the ceiling of the Pagoda's first floor. He was clutching the ceiling tightly and breaking parts of it so that he wouldn't fall. He smiled at Khain while controlling the black miasma.

He sent it straight toward Khain's face which was shrouded before forcing his way into the body of the young Valxian, who was trying his utmost to prevent the miasma from entering his body.

However, Khain was too inexperienced in fighting against someone, who used gaseous attacks against his opponents.

He was not sure how to defend against them and ended up trying to use his mana to restrict the miasma from entering his body.

Simultaneously, as Khain had begun to struggle, Nial swung himself a little to catapult himself toward the Valxian.

His fist was coated in crimson energy and he shot down, using all his might to punch Khain straight in the chest, breaking several ribs at once.

The impact of Nial's attack was more than enough to turn the Valxian's body into a missile that smashed into the ground and stayed there, unmoving.

Nial was pulled to the ground not long after but he landed gracefully.

However, his expression was serious because he could tell that the battle was not yet over.

It had just begun!