Chapter 412: A Haughty Spirit Before A Fall [Part 1]

Less than ten seconds.

Tristan’s battle had ended that fast. He simply stood there, quietly waiting for his opponent to charge at him.

As soon as the other party entered his one-meter range, he unleashed the fastest punch he could muster and knocked his opponent unconscious.

No one saw it coming.

Not even his opponent.

All everyone saw was the young warrior collapsed on the ground unconscious.

Gundar took one glance and announced that the battle had ended.

Tristan then faced the oracle of his tribe and bowed respectfully in her direction.

Tianna smiled faintly in return, giving Tristan a brief nod of acknowledgement.

Among the warriors of the young generation, Tristan was the strongest in the Warclaw Tribe.

Many young ladies even wished to have the chance to become his partner for life.

Unfortunately for these girls, he only had eyes for Tianna.

And she knew that as well.

Sadly for him, someone had already taken her heart. If not, she might have accepted Tristan’s marriage proposal, for she would be assured that he would treat her as the most precious thing in the world.

Godwin also knew that Tristan loved his daughter. This was why he asked him to win the tournament and bring honor to the Warclaw Tribe.

"The four semi-finalists, please stand in the arena," Gundar ordered.

Zorren, Byron, Jason, and Tristan stood side by side, facing the greatest shaman of the Borderlands.

"As per the rules of the tournament, the second stage will start immediately," Gundar said calmly. "Since none of you look like you’ve suffered any injuries, I’m sure you can fight without problems.

"However, if you do feel any strain or have been injured during your matches, please speak now. The Chieftain of the Aslan Tribe will heal your injuries before your matches start."

As soon as Gundar finished talking, Byron immediately raised his hand.

"Me!" Byron said. "I hurt my head earlier."

The corner of Gundar’s lips twitched at those words. Byron’s innocuous words reminded him and everyone about the chubby young man’s battle earlier.

The shaman was certain that Byron didn’t really suffer any injury from his fight. But for the sake of fairness, the shaman asked Leone to heal Troy’s son.

Leone smiled faintly as he returned to the arena. He then pressed his hand over Byron’s forehead and activated his healing ability.

Truth be told, Leone and Daedalus were quite fond of this chubby young man since they knew something about him that only a handful of people knew about.

"Thanks!" Byron said after getting treated by Leone.

"You’re welcome," Leone replied and was about to walk away when he suddenly turned his attention to Zorren. "What? Do you have a problem with me?"

"I do," Zorren replied. "But I’ll deal with you after the tournament ends. You can wash your neck until then."

Earlier, he had unleashed his killing intent toward Leone, who was about to leave. Something about this exile from the Kingdom of Britannia just pissed him off so much.

"It’s fine to be jealous. A bit of insecurity is also normal. But it’s pointless, you know? After all, everyone can tell I am more handsome and charismatic than you," Leone said shamelessly. "And while I can heal injuries, I can’t heal your looks. It’s a pity, but even my pet pig, Porkchop, is more handsome than you."

After saying those words, Leone flipped his cape and walked away as if he owned the place.

Zorren’s expression contorted with rage. But before he could even take a step forward, a pressure descended on his body, preventing him from moving an inch.

"Behave yourself, Zorren," Gundar said. "Or I’ll force you to behave."

The shaman had sensed Zorren’s killing intent earlier, but made no move to stop it. After all, he knew that Leone wouldn’t be rattled by something like that.

And just as he expected, the young chieftain had the final say, leaving Zorren in the dust.

Zorren wasn’t ugly. In fact, he was quite good-looking. Unfortunately, Leone and Jason were significantly more handsome, so he really couldn’t say anything back.

All he could do was use violence.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that around Gundar.

Use violence against the strongest shaman of the Borderlands?

That was simply courting death.

Zorren clicked his tongue and finally took a step back. The pressure holding him in place also disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place.

Jason, who saw everything from beginning to end, looked calm on the surface.

But internally, his mind busily churned various ways to make Zorren pay for his transgressions not only toward the lady he loved the most, but also toward his great chieftain, whom he respected the most.

"It’s time to draw once more," Gundar said after the situation calmed down a bit. "Same rules. Those who pick the same number will fight each other. Who will go first?"

"I will go first!" Zorren declared as he boldly took a step forward to put his hand inside the ballot box.

A few seconds later, he took out a ball that was numbered one.

"Next," Gundar said. The one who drew after Zorren was none other than Tristan.

"Two..." Tristan narrowed his eyes.

He had hoped to draw one so that he could beat the crap out of Zorren and put him in his place.

"Hah! You got lucky." Zorren smirked. "If you were my opponent, you would have died a dog’s death."

Tristan gave Zorren a side-long glance before walking away.

He wasn’t someone who traded insults or taunts.

Instead, the young warrior preferred to take action because it spoke louder than words.

"Can I draw first?" Byron asked Jason.

"Go ahead." Jason nodded.

The chubby young man smiled and walked toward Gundar, ready to draw a ball from the box.

Zorren and Tristan paid extra attention to Byron’s draw. After all, his pick would finalize their opponent.

Byron took one good look at the number of the ball in his hand before presenting it to Gundar.

It was none other than... number two, which meant that his opponent was Tristan.

Jason no longer needed to draw, but he still did.

And just as everyone already knew, he drew the number one.

In other words, he would fight the most dangerous opponent in the tournament.

Or at least that was what everyone thought at that time.

"Perfect!" Zorren clapped his hands. "This is more like it!"

While he couldn’t hurt Leone because he was a chieftain of the Borderlands, his to torture Jason in front of his chieftain and make him regret the day he was born.

’I want to enjoy this fight to my heart’s content.’ Zorren chuckled internally. ’First, I’ll pull out his tongue so that he can’t surrender.’

The rules of the tournament said that if someone surrendered, the battle would end immediately.

But he didn’t want to give his opponent a way out.

He thrived in making his opponent feel despair.

He wanted them to fear him.

He wanted them to know who would send them to the afterlife.

’I’ll tear him limb from limb, gouge his eyes, and cut his ears off,’ Zorren mused. ’Let’s see how his chieftain will react after I finish crippling his representative.’

Zorren smiled evilly as he faced Jason in the arena.

Tristan and Byron had already left.

The atmosphere in the arena had become tense as they waited for Gundar to give the signal to fight.

"Fight!"

As soon as this order was given, Zorren partially transformed his legs to that of a Fenrir, drastically boosting his speed.

His hands reached out toward Jason’s mouth, intending to pull out his tongue.

’You’re mine!’ Zorren thought when his hands were only a few inches away from Jason’s mouth.

He didn’t even have the chance to pry his opponent’s mouth open, for Jason moved his head to the side.

A second later, a fist landed directly at the center of Zorren’s face, breaking his nose then slamming him to the ground.

The impact made his body bounce off the ground once, his mouth opening to cry out in pain.

In that instant, Jason’s revenge started. He pried Zorren’s mouth open and pulled the latter’s tongue out.

A fountain of blood spurted from Zorren’s mouth following that. Shocked, everyone, including Hagen, rose from their seats reflexively.

They had expected something like this to happen.

However, they expected the victim to be Jason, not Zorren!

Without missing a beat, Jason grabbed his opponent’s head and smashed it toward the ground with his full strength.

He understood that his opponent was stronger than him and that this was the perfect opportunity to end this fight.

So, he didn’t hold back, attacking with the intention of smashing Zorren’s head into meat paste.

However, things didn’t go according to plan.

Zorren’s head hovered a few inches above the ground. His arms had already transformed into that of a beast, using them as support for his body.

Jason sensed something and immediately backed away.

In that split second, a loud snap reverberated in the surroundings.

At that moment, Zorren had fully transformed into a Fenrir.

Had Jason not backed off right away, Zorren would have successfully bitten off his opponent’s hand, avenging himself from tasting first blood.