Zaryusu used his long tongue to lick the red liquid on his face.

Zaryusu felt lucky, for having avoided the claw to his eyes. He was hurt, but it was just a nick, he could still fight on. He was thankful to the ancestor’s protection and—

Maybe I dodged that because of Crusch’s ancestors.

Zaryusu was grateful while Zenberu complained unhappily.

"Speaking of which, you seem to be holding back by refusing to use that ability."

Zenberu clenched both fists and repeatedly beat his chest.

“My apologies, but I have no intention to use that move.”

“Eh? Then don’t complain after your defeat that you did not use your full strength.”

“After exchanging blows with me, you still think I am the kind of person who would say such a thing?”

“... No, I don’t think so. Sorry, I have said too much. However — if you do not plan not use that move, then it’s my turn now!”

With the sound of piercing wind, Zenberu launched a kick towards Zaryusu with his leg that was as thick as a tree trunk.

The movement was made without a shred of hesitation.

As Zaryusu was avoiding that leg thrust, he swung Frost Pain to slice Zenberu. However a metallic sound rang out and the sword was deflected.

Zaryusu widened his eyes in exclamation.

If one were to use a blade to block an attack by flesh, the attacking party would be the one to be injured, this much was common sense. However, utilising monk's Qi energy overturned this logic.

This was the effect of 'Steel Skin'. At the moment that an attack came into contact with the user’s skin, this special ability would use Qi to envelop the body, turning skin into the toughness of steel. This ability was the same as 'Natural Steel Weapon', where similarly the amount of training that was put into refining the technique meant that a greater toughness could be achieved.

The opponent’s skin had deflected a magic sword. This meant that the opponent had already refined the monk ability to great heights. However Zaryusu remained confident that victory was within his grasp.

It wasn’t that the difference in both parties’ battle technique was astronomical, but rather that Zenberu’s circumstances were inherently relatively unfavourable.

Allowing one to be overwhelmed by continuous attacks.

Kicks, tail sweeps, punches, chops, attacks of all sorts.

Zenberu relied on his body’s ability with each strike, which was not only fast but also heavy. Facing such an enemy, even Zaryusu had to drop his offence to maintain his defence.

Continuous attacks were followed by even more continuous attacks.

If he were to forgo defending against the enemy’s crushing attacks, Zaryusu would no doubt be defeated. The surrounding lizardmen believed that the tribe chief who was launching continuous attacks without stopping had victory in his grasp and were shouting out encouragements.

Zenberu’s claws occasionally grazed Zaryusu, easily breaking apart the hard scales protecting the body, causing fresh blood to flow. His injuries were not light at all.

Zaryusu’s body was full of these wounds. His life was like a candle in the wind, and it would not be surprising for him to surrender at any moment. The evidence was all over the lizardmen’s faces as they revealed joyful smiles in delight for their victorious tribe chief.

However, Zenberu did not share their sentiment.

Every time a continuous strike was blocked, Zenberu felt that victory was slipping further and further away, which distressed him immensely.

The blade of Frost Pain harboured cold frost which stacked frost injuries for every cut it inflicted on enemies. In addition, it had an effect where any enemy coming into contact with the weapon would suffer some frost injuries. In other words, merely by exchanging contact between the blade and flesh, Zenberu was slowly being eroded by the frost.

With both hands frozen and both legs numb, his movements became more and more slower.

What a shame... because the previous fight was such a quick defeat… I didn’t even know that it originally had such an ability! It seems like it doesn’t just have that one ability! No wonder it is one of the four treasures!

It was precisely because Zaryusu knew that the item had such an effect that he chose to stick to defence — Rather, that was why he would choose this method as it was able to guarantee causing harm to the opponent. It was because of this that he did not evade Zenberu’s attacks but took them head on.

This choice was the most cautious and also an elaborate path to victory.

It was flawless. For the current Zenberu, it was the greatest enemy.

Towards Zaryusu who leaped over, Zenberu released a powerful punch. If this move were to be blocked, Zenberu’s chances of winning would plummet.

Zenberu felt like he was picking a solo fight against an impregnable fortress.

Ah, ah, what a shame, can I not defeat him… However, I have waited for this moment for a very long time!

He recalled the memory of going by himself to pick a fight with that male lizardman. Since then, he had become much stronger, and had gone through never-ending back-breaking training in order to obtain victory. When he heard the news that the person who had defeated him had been killed, he had felt immensurate regret, and yet he had not stopped his training.

All in preparation for this day to come.

As tribe chief, he had been unable to set everything aside to go pick a challenge, therefore when he heard that the wielder of Frost Pain had arrived in the village, he was hard-pressed to contain his joy.

He could not allow this fight, which he had been waiting for all this time, to end so easily.

Zenberu punched and kicked, yet his sense of touch was gradually diminishing, and his Qi too was increasingly ineffective in reaching his hands and feet. Even so, he still attacked relentlessly.

So strong, even stronger than the fellow from that time!

Seeing as he himself had trained unceasingly, this male lizardman in front of him must have also undergone continuous training unabatingly up until this point.

Since the start, both lizardmen had not drawn any closer during the fight, and of course he could also find an excuse by saying that he had lost to the ability of Frost Pain, but he did not wish to use such cowardly words.