Chapter 290: King of Lumos vs Prince of Everything

Slimo jumped outside, running after the area Jacob crashed into. Jacob jumped to his feet and wiped his mouth.

"Wow. No mercy for the man who just a leg, huh?"

"Mercy? After all the times that I’ve lost to you? You must be losing your mind to think I would hold back!"

"You won’t feel bad about beating up someone younger than you?"

"Oh, sure. Because you are so helpless!"

Jacob laughed and planted his feet in the ground.

"Bring it."

Slimo cranked his neck and lifted his arms up, ready for Jacob to come his way. Jacob bounced around on his heels, slowly kicking up his speed as he closed the distance inch by inch. As he settled into his rhythm, he rested his eyes, blocking out any distractions that may hinder his fighting ability. All there was in this world was Slimo and himself. There was no temple, no jungle, and no puddles of rainwater.

Suddenly, Slimo shot forward. Jacob met him halfway with a punch of his own. Each one of their attacks landed on the others cheek, causing a massive shockwave to ripple the vines and leaves around them. They both bit through the pain and continued wailing into the other. Slimo threw his head at Jacob’s fist, preventing it from building up enough momentum to do any serious damage.

Using his right hand, Slimo’s knuckles scraped against Jacob’s jaw. After landing the clean hit, Slimo grabbed on to Jacob’s arm and spun him over his shoulder, slamming him on to the earth with devastating force. The cracked ground exploded below them, creating a crater so large the structure began to collapse on itself.

Jacob rolled on the bottom of the crater to get to his feet. His head felt dizzy and his thoughts were scattered, but that didn’t stop him from putting up his defense in time. Slimo crashed through the dust cloud with his heel, aiming to slam down on top of Jacob’s skull. Determination seeped from his pupils as his he approached. Jacob lifted his arms to block the attack.

Another massive boom rang across the jungle. Jacob was pushed further into the ground. The trees around them toppled from not being supported properly by the earth. Their roots appeared to be as vast as the veins of a human body. Jacob tried lifting his arms to send a counterattack at Slimo, but they were shaking horribly from the previous impact.

He decided to use his legs instead. Jacob threw multiple kicks at Slimo’s legs, each one more devastating than the last. With each block, Slimo was sent further back. Jacob thought of an idea. He jumped at Slimo, throwing his knee forward to crash into his ribs. Slimo slid under his attack by throwing his body backwards. As Jacob was flying over him, he twisted his body and threw the back of his heel down at Slimo’s chest. At the last moment, Slimo hardly managed to twist out of the way. Suddenly, something yanked his neck backward.

Jacob used the momentum from his first jump to carry Slimo with him if his first two attacks missed. Now, Jacob had a hold of Slimo’s neck. They both crashed on the ground in a wrestling match. Slimo thrashed as Jacob held is arm around his neck. Suddenly, he threw himself up with Jacob still attached to his back and body slammed himself back down into the stone, causing Jacob to loosen his grip.

Using the opportunity, he slipped his hand between his neck and Jacob’s arm. Jacob grunted and used all his strength the throw Slimo away from himself. They both stood inside the deep stone crater panting heavily while staring at each other.

"This is a bit too weak, wouldn’t you say?"

"I agree. How about we try increasing the speed a bit."

Slimo’s eyes glowed with excitemnet.

"Now we’re talking!"

Both of them charged at each other and butted their heads together, causing a small amount of blood to seep from both of their skulls. Jacob could see something changing inside of Slimo. His speed, strength, and durability had seemingly increased in this short time they were fighting. His eyes had never looked so determined before. It was clear Slimo wanted to win this fight more than anything.

However, Jacob’s strength was also rapidly increasing with each passing second and he refused to hold anything back. His muscles felt like they were trying to poke through his skin with every push. Just then, Slimo threw the first punch. It crashed through the air much faster than he was expecting, but he dodged it just in time anyway.

Just then, something strange began to happen with Slimo’s skin. It was as if steam was coming out of every pore in his body. He could hear his heart thumping at a steady pace, and as the punch Jacob had dodged stopped, a geyser of air followed its path upward. Jacob almost choked seeing how powerful the punch was.

’How the hell?! If I got hit by that, I would be a goner!’

Before Jacob could snap out of his shock, another punch was rocketing towards his stomach.

’I-I can’t block it in time!’

The air around his fist was screaming right before impact.

’Just take it, Jacob! Bite your teeth and take the punch! Just don’t pass out!’

Slimo fist landed square in the middle of Jacob’s stomach.

BOOM!!

It felt as if Slimo’s fist had completely penetrated through his abdomen. Jacob coughed out blood as a current of air lifted him upward. Slimo slammed his foot in the ground, cracking everything around him before sending another uppercut aimed at Jacob’s face. Even after reeling from Slimo’s first insane attack, he managed to slip past his attack and send a fist of his own directly on his nose.

A perfect counter punch.

What made this counter punch so special was that it sent Slimo’s power right back on himself due to the momentum of his uppercut. However, due to the extensive damage he had just taken, Jacob’s form was off and only managed to slightly damage Slimo before crashing into the ground.

’Slimo.’

Jacob pushed himself up using his shaking arms. He could feel power feeding his muscles more and more. The ape’s power was taking its effect. He stared at Slimo in disbelief. He was smiling, the same determined glare exploding out of his pupils. However, he noticed something else.

Slimo’s legs were shaking.

He had sustained too much damaged, even from the weak counterattack. Slimo simply didn’t have a lot of durability, or at least not enough to stand for this long. The only thing keeping him on his feet was his determination to win no matter. However, Jacob refused to simply give Slimo the win to make him feel good. He knew that if he did, Slimo would resent him for it. So, Jacob went to finish him off.

’You are... so damn persistent.’

Jacob charged after Slimo as fast as he could. As Slimo threw a punch at him, he slid under it before throwing one back towards his chin. However, something was wrong. Jacob’s form, timing, and power were all perfect.

’...so, why?’

He was about to connect with Slimo’s chin.

’Why is he smiling?!’

Suddenly, a knee was sent crashing into Jacob’s jaw from below. In an unbelievable turn of events, Slimo had turned Jacob’s punch against him. Jacob flew through the air before crashing into the ground.

’His back was turned, his legs were shaking, so how did he-’

Jacob’s eyes widened as Slimo’s silhouette soared above him, slowly falling to bring Jacob one final assault. Jacob lifted his arms while laying down desperately, but Slimo snuck through every hole in his defense flawlessly. Dozens of punches rained across Jacob’s body. Every time he moved his arms to where he thought a punch would land, there would be two more landing somewhere else.

Every hit felt like heavy stones were crashing against his body. Jacob was being overwhelmed completely, even with his increasing strength. His vision started to fade. As Jacob’s body was being continuously pounding into the earth, he finally came upon a realization.

’He was faking it!! He was pretending to have taken more damage than he had so he could catch me off-guard!’

With one final punch, Slimo slammed his fist directly into Jacob’s skull. His body had finally had enough. Jacob was knocked out instantly. Slimo staggered as he tried to stand up, a wide smile painting his face while he stared down at Jacob’s battered body.

"I... win."

He raised one of his arms into the air.

"I finally... won."

Suddenly, he heard a scream from an angry woman close by.

"YOU MORONS!! WHAT THE HELL WERE BOTH OF YOU THINKING?! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO CALL ME STUPID SOMETIMES!! HAVE EITHER OF YOU NO SHAME?!"

Slimo lifted his head, his ears still ringing from his fight. He didn’t bother responding to the voice right away. Instead, he whispered something to himself.

"But you were holding back by suppressing your power. I would have been helpless against it. I promise I will surpass that one day too."

"Hello?! Did you hear me, old man?! Look at what you did!!"

Slimo finally stared over at Sqaubee who was helping Sarah walk around the massive piles of crushed stone that littered the area around them.

"Jacob and I were just training. What’s so wrong about that?"

"Oh! You were just training! I see. So that must mean you can break whatever you want! Including something like... oh, I don’t know. THE ENTIRETY OF THE TEMPLE!!"

Slimo raised an eyebrow and looked back at the temple they had explored. It had been reduced to nothing but a giant pile of rubble. The two heads of the stone guardians were poking out the stone, unphased. It appeared they didn’t need a roof over themselves to still protect the stairway of the sacred place. Slimo’s face dropped and turned pale.

’I am so dead when Lidia gets back.’