Chapter 155 - Jason Doesn't Take This Seriously...
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Because the Ghouls could not simply believe what Ervas and Veronica were saying, they had to convince them through fighting.
Although both of their Death Attribute Charms were somehow affecting the Ghouls to an extent as they were half-undead Demons, they were still not completely convinced, but held great hopes… well, mildly.
Leonidas, the strongest Ghoul, alongside his two siblings, Izquierdo and Derecho, were ready to fight against Ervas, Veronica, and… Jason.
Jason was rather worried… not for themselves or even his son, but worried about the Ghouls.
He was thinking that if Veronica and Ervas were to be too aggressive or rough… they might end up killing them without realizing it, which would only make things worse for the whole tribe, earning their hate and distrust.
After all, Ghouls seemed to like to do battles to showcase their strength through the years, but they would always know when to stop before things were to get worst… but Ervas and Veronica did not have much of a concept of 'holding back', or not that Jason had ever seen one.
"Sigh… Well, I will try to hold back as much as I can, but after changing Jobs so much, I've gained too much strength… It will be hard to handle it so I don't hurt him…" thought Jason with a bit of cold sweat dripping on his neck, he really didn't want to ruin the Igni Kingdom relationship with the Ghoul Tribe, especially because he was the actual King of such Kingdom.
"So you're the King of the Igni Kingdom, huh? Aniki said that you looked quite strong just by looking at you! But for me, you are a bit too skinny to be recognized as someone strong, so you better put in a good fight if you want my recognition! Err… what was your name?" asked a large and burly, red-skinned Ghoul with a bald head and three horns circling his head. He was Izquierdo, one of Leonidas' siblings.
"Underestimating me, huh?" thought Jason as he gave Izquierdo a gentle smile.
"My name is Jason, Izquierdo-san, nice to meet you, I also hope for you to go all out from the very beginning, or you might faint before your weapon eve hits my skin…" said Jason with a worried expression, which made Izquierdo completely enraged…
Jason was not being provocative in a direct sense, he was actually worried about Izquierdo, which broke a bit of his warrior's pride.
"What did you just say, you skinny human?! I'm gonna smash that stupid face of you!" roared Izquierdo, rushing towards Jason as the whole tribe of Ghouls cheered for him around the small battlefield or 'arena', which was located in the middle of the tribe.
"Sigh… Okay, but please don't get mad when this is over" said Jason.
"Mad? I'm going to be happy as I trample over your- Ung!"
As Izquierdo approached Jason with a fiery blaze on his crimson eyes, Jason moved at a speed that Izquierdo could not perceive completely, raising his bare fist towards the Ghoul man's stomach and giving him a mildly strong punch without any martial technique charged with it.
His fist seeped inside the stomach of Izquierdo, barely managing to not detach the whole skin, but leaving a mess inside of his stomach.
"Buaagghhh…!" cried Izquierdo, he wasn't even capable of putting a dent on Jason and he was already kneeling in the ground, gasping for air.
"Uaagghh… Buuaagghhh…!"
Izquierdo began to vomit blood as Jason's eyes almost seemed to faint.
"E-Ervas, please help him! I think I went too far?!" asked Jason, worried about the poor Ghoul Man.
Every other Ghoul in the village was having their eyes popping out of their sockets in disbelief… even Leonidas, who recognized Jason as 'strong' never thought that a single of his punches in the stomach of Izquierdo would make his sibling kneel in the ground instantly vomiting blood while gasping for air.
"On it," said Ervas, flying with the 'Flight' No-Attribute Magic Spell towards the poor Izquierdo who was in great pain.
"Calm down, take it slow," said Ervas, patting Izquierdo's shoulders as he extended his arms into phantasmagoric, semi-transparent limbs, which he seeped into the flesh of the Ghoul Man, connecting himself with him and sharing his Rapid Healing Skill.
Just using Healing Touch would only regenerate wounds that could close themselves, but a wound in the stomach, which most likely made it explode inside of the Ghoul Man's torso, needed a bit of surgery.
Ervas kept using Healing Touch while grabbing the stomach of Izquierdo and stitching it together with phantom threads and then healing the stitched parts until it was finally in a good state again.
Izquierdo still felt a lot of pain, but he was beginning to cough less blood.
"Ungh… T-Thanks…" he muttered, as he fell unconscious.
Leonidas approached Izquierdo as he glanced back at Jason with an angered expression…
"You're strong… Jason wins!" he roared, raising Jason's arm.
"Sorry for that…" muttered Jason.
"Hmm… You being strong doesn't mean that the kid or the armor is! We'll see until then!" said Leonidas.
"Sigh… you're rather stubborn, are you not?" laughed Jason as he walked back to the sidelines of the battle, most of the Ghoul men moved away from him in awe when he walked around, while the women began to see him with new eyes.
"Isn't her rather muscular still?" said a Ghoul woman with a mischievous smile.
"If he defeated Izquierdo in one punch, he must surely have a strong seed!" said another Ghoul woman.
"Hey, I saw him first before all of you!" shouted a third Ghoul woman.
"Lies!" added a fourth Ghoul woman.
A little catfight started over the seed of Jason, but Jason was not worried about such things as the only woman on his heart was Ervas' mother. He would have to reject more women, that was all, he had gathered a surprising amount of such experience in women rejection in the Squirrel-kin tribe, whose tribe was completely made out of thirsty women.
"Is he… is he an aniki too?" asked a Ghoul man.
"A new aniki has arrived!" said another.
"We have to recognize a new aniki!" said a third one.
"Jason, the new aniki!" said a fourth Ghoul man.
Jason was then surrounded by thirsty Ghoul women and cheerful Ghoul men asking him various things… he rejected the women while also accepting the sparring sessions or instructions and teachings that were asked to him by the Ghoul men.
It seems that the King of Igni was making good relationships with the Ghoul people already… though the rejected Ghoul women were left heartbroken, or more like frustrated, they only desired him so they could give birth to a strong offspring, not because of love.
After a few minutes of 'recess', the mini-tournament resumed, now with Veronica and a blue-skinned Ghoul man, Derecho, moving forwards to the small arena, which was but a cleansed area where there was only dry dirt.
Such area was often used by the Ghoul men to wrestle to judge their strength, they would often not use weapons and fight with their hands, but some of them preferred to beat each other with clubs or even axes, depending on how brave they were.
Despite the dangerousness of such practices, casualties due to such practices were close to none, and unless there as a Ghoul Man with clear bad intentions in such matches, they would know when to stop and ask for the help of them women, who were good with magic and healing.
"Your King might have defeated my little brother, but I won't fall so easily! I am stronger than him! At least twice as strong! I even have a Level 4 Unarmed Fighting Technique Skill that I have pulled through many years! I am not afraid of beating your feeble armor body with my bare fist!" said Derecho, his glossy blue skin shined brightly by the reflection of the sun, he raised his fist to the air as the rest of the Male Ghoul gained new hopes of a victory on their side.
"Uoooo! Aniki, you can do it!" cheered a purple-skinned Ghoul man.
"Derecho, you're the best aniki!" cheered a rare, green-skinned Ghoul man.
"Beat that armor!" roared a pale, blue-skinned Ghoul Man.
"Do it! Do it!" shouted a fourth Ghoul man, who had red skin.
"Aniki can do it, no doubt!" cheered a gray-skinned Ghoul man.
"Izquierdo is but the weakest of the three Leonidas siblings! It was a tight match, but now things will be more even!" added a sixth, red-skinned Ghoul man with an eyepatch on his left eye.
"Yeah, a Living Armor might have a tough body, but it is no match to the Level 4 Unarmed Fighting Technique of Derecho Aniki!" said a seventh, blue-skinned Ghoul Man with the horn on his forehead broken.
"She's just a monster, she stands no chance!" laughed a young Ghoul man with purple skin.
"Is she really the Princess of that Kingdom? Women shouldn't participate!" said another Ghoul man with a cheeky grin.
Derecho raised his blue arms as he received the praises of all of his 'bros'.
"Hm! With all of my little brothers cheering for me, there won't be any chance for you to win!" he laughed.
However, Veronica was standing there silently… she was actually talking with Shade.
"Hey, Veronica, beat them to death! I allow you!" roared Shade.
"Can you calm down please, they're just overly excited, that's all"
"No! Kill them! How dare they treat our lady like this?!" roared Ozgeth.
"Massacre! Massacre, guuu!" shouted Gubo.
All of Veronica's rest of the party were residing inside of her hollow armor through her 'Space Expansion' Skill and were more enraged than her over the provocations of the Ghoul men.
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Aniki = a Japanese honorable term for an older brother or a superior.