Autophagy
Chapter 38 - Dream Space! (20) | 38

"What the fuck?" Tao Hai looked at the chipped staff in his hands. This staff was made out of great magic wood. A normal human shouldn't have been able to put a dent on it.

"You are stronger than you look newbie," Tao Hai said while wiping the blood off of his mouth.

"What a surprise!" The announcer shouted as loud as he can. "Who would think that this newbie here would be able to hurt Tao Hai! He seems to pack a bigger punch than we thought!"

Seeing that Tao Hai was hurt, the crowd went crazy. People were always crazy about the dark horse trend. The underdog turning the tides was the pinnacle of fantasy. Countless people dreamt of achieving such a feat.

"Should I thank you for saying that?" Song Lei asked. Tao Hai had been trying to slowly back off for some time now. It was obvious that he was trying to increase the distance between them. As Song Lei had understood that, he was walking at the same pace as Tao Hai, keeping their distance the same.

As they kept on going like this for some time, Song Lei felt hot air rising from his feet.

'What is happening?' He thought. 'Fuck!'

Song Lei tried to roll to the side and managed to do so. But the impact of the explosion still hit him, sending Song Lei flying.

"Haha! You got careless boy! I'm still much more experienced than you!" Tao Hai ridiculed. While doing so, he raised his staff and started chanting. This opening was his chance and he wanted to utilize it.

Although some were disappointed, the crowd was satisfied with the bloodshed. All they wanted was blood. It didn't matter whose it was.

"Incredible move from Tao Hai! He used an invisible pentagram magic trap to attack the newbie! This is one of his greatest abilities! The newbie couldn't realize that he was trapped until he saw the light! Haha!" The announcer laughed. The crowd followed along and laughed.

Song Lei couldn't bother at the moment as he still had shellshock because of the magic. There were little cuts on his skin and he felt that he was hurt badly.

He forced his body to work. As soon as he managed to get up, Song Lei rushed at Tao Hai. He was scared that whatever spell Tao Hai was casting, if he let him cast it, it would be his end.

When Tao Hai saw that Song Lei was able to recover in time, he stopped chanting and charged back at Song Lei.

As Song Lei wasn't expecting Tao Hai to act in such a way, he had to stop and defend himself. Tao Hai raised his staff and swung it at Song Lei's knee. Seeing Tao Hai's attack, Song Lei ducked and put his shield where the attack would connect.

Suddenly, the staff went out of Song Lei's sight. 'Fuck! It was a feint!' Song Lei shouted in his mind. He felt a hot air wave nearing his face. Thanks to his increased senses and inhuman reflexes, Song Lei managed to raise his right hand in time to block the staff. When he felt the magic wood staff connect with his hand, a cracking noise echoed in the arena.

"What an incredible feint from Tao Hai! He seems to be dominating the match! Although the newbie could block the blow, he has broken his wrist!" The announcer shouted with excitement.

Song Lei backed off as best as he can. Tao Hai was chasing him with a flurry of attacks but because he was able to keep up with Tao Hai's tempo, he didn't get hit again.

Ironically, his wrist breaking because of this attack was the best Song Lei could hope for. If he were to take that attack to his face, he would instantly lose consciousness. He was happy that he could block it in time.

As time passed, Song Lei was getting more and more tired. He had to drop his shield to keep his gladius as one of his hands was broken. His only option was to dodge ins such a situation. His right hand was his dominant hand and it was broken at the moment. This put Song Lei at more of a disadvantage.

'I won't be getting anywhere if I just dodge,' Song Lei thought. The longer he kept dodging, the more Tao Hai would have his guards up against a desperate last attack.

After thinking about this, Song Lei did his best not to change his dodging patterns so that he could pull Tao Hai into giving away an opening.

"Is dodging the only thing you can do newbie!? Are you this much scared of me!?" Shouted Tao Hai. He was wasting his breath as such provocations had no effect on Song Lei.

When Song Lei managed to see an opening, he charged back in to attack. Song Lei swung his gladius to Tao Hai's waist. Tao Hai was surprised as he tried to dodge. When he realized that he couldn't dodge in time, he held his staff vertically to block the attack.

Sadly for him, Song Lei's gladius disappeared from his sight.

"You're not the only one who can do feints!" Song Lei shouted. His knife ripped off Tao Hai's fingers that were holding the staff. Fingers flew around as Song Lei jumped backward. He was scared that Tao Hai would cast some kind of desperate self-detonation magic.

"AAH!" Tao Hai shouted as he dropped his staff to the ground. "My! My fingers!" He shouted.

The crowd roared as Tao Hai lost his right-hand fingers.

"Truly unbelievable! This newbie is a monster! He really seems to have the ability to beat Tao Hai!" Announcer shouted.

"How can you do such feints even though you are a newbie..?" Tao Hai asked while trying to stop the blood flow by squeezing his hand.

Song Lei didn't answer. He actually didn't know how to feint. he hadn't even held a sword in his hand before. There were no techniques put into what he just did. What he did was limiting his strike to a controllable speed and changing its course at the last moment. Because of his superior speed, this controllable speed seemed to be much more than a normal human could manage.

Seeing that Tao Hai wasn't blowing himself up, Song Lei charged in for one last attack...