Without an ounce of exaggeration, chaos erupted.
“You’ve returned as a true warrior!”
The moment Tarak met Khan’s gaze, he surrendered to the surge of emotion within him: a warrior’s spirit.
Battle Lust!
Tarak’s movements, as he unsheathed the massive bone sword at his waist, were incredibly swift, belying the fact that he possessed no mana. But Khan matched him perfectly.
Three collisions occurred in an instant.
In each clash, Tarak’s sword moved first, but Khan intercepted it with Draupnir, blocking the strikes. It was evidence that Khan’s reflexes surpassed Tarak’s speed.
“Good!”
Tarak felt a thrilling numbness in his grip and laughed. When had he last felt such intensity?
It had been ages since he experienced this much pressure, even while facing the Greenskins of Hoarfrost Gorge. Perhaps only the alpha of the Snow Mountain White Wolves brought such a feeling.
Who would have imagined feeling this pressure from the son of his sworn brother, once called a coward?
“You are a warrior!”
The bone sword made from the bones of giant monsters hunted in the Northland Mountains hummed. It resonated from intercepting a lightning-fast stab.
“Perhaps even stronger than me!”
A surprising statement. Tarak was the strongest warrior of the clan, excluding the Great Warrior. But such words coming from him couldn’t be dismissed as lies. Hoarfrost Gorge warriors despised falsehoods. Tarak’s words were pure truth, without any exaggeration.
‘Crazy, this is…’
Khan himself was equally astonished. He benefited from an unfair advantage in the form of stats.
Additionally, with his barbarian bonus strength nearing 80, he was a superhuman. That someone could match his unrestrained strikes was news to him. His eyes widened with surprise.
‘A superhuman!’
In retrospect, it wasn’t that surprising.
Among the Hoarfrost Gorge warriors, who could easily snap Greenskins in half, Tarak, the strongest after the Great Warrior, had naturally reached the level of a superhuman.
Crash! Crack!
Khan and Tarak’s greatswords collided with unwavering force.
Crack.
Their strengths seemed evenly matched. But in reality, the scales of power were significantly tilted in Khan’s favor. To be precise, Tarak’s combat skills and execution made it seem that way.
He always moved a step ahead of Khan. At first, Khan thought Tarak’s agility stat was higher than his own, but after a few more clashes, his perspective changed.
‘He’s simply moving first.’
Tarak’s mastery of interpreting and reacting faster by instinct and experience allowed him to bridge the gap in raw stats and strength, presenting a formidable challenge for Khan. Despite the apparent equality, the respect between them only grew deeper, recognizing each other’s unique talents and strengths.
Khan held the advantage in agility. He probably surpassed Tarak in strength and stamina as well. But Tarak maintained the initiative because he was predicting Khan’s next moves and acting preemptively.
‘How is he doing this?’
Predicting the opponent’s moves? Easier said than done. In a high-stakes battle between superhumans, betting your life on uncertain predictions was tantamount to suicide. It required not only immense courage but also the ability to constantly outmaneuver the opponent in psychological warfare.
“Is this the best you’ve got, nephew?”
Before Khan’s attacks could reach their peak, Tarak would clash his greatsword against them, siphoning off their strength. He also didn’t hesitate to throw punches and kicks. Khan, realizing that he would have been hit multiple times without his combat intuition, felt his face tighten.
‘Using a skill would disrupt this rhythm.’
If he activated a skill to amplify his strength, or if he used a powerful leap to prevent his attacks from being diminished, Tarak’s strategy could be neutralized instantly. But Khan chose not to use his skills.
‘Heavy Sword.’
Technique against technique. Heavy Sword was an adaptation built upon the foundation of a traditional swordsmanship technique, refined into Khan’s own unique style. It retained the core principles of the Antares’ Sword Technique, which emphasized maintaining the sword’s center.
Once again, Tarak moved a beat faster to interfere with Khan’s attack. But this time, the Heavy Sword’s path did not waver. Instead, it was Tarak’s hand that was torn and bleeding from failing to withstand the technique’s force.
“Exhilarating!”
With a burst of laughter, Tarak disregarded his wounded hand and continued to swing his greatsword. The thunderous clashes between the two superhumans echoed like distant thunder rather than the sound of metal on metal.
Each time they collided, Tarak was forced to retreat, bleeding and grimacing, while Khan pursued relentlessly, as if intent on ending it for good.
“Is he really the same kid?”
“There’s not another tiny warrior like the newborn kid! That’s definitely Khan!”
“Of course, he’s the son of the Great Warrior! To push Tarak back like this!”
The atmosphere grew electrified. The fervor of the duel between the two warriors spread through the ranks of the Hoarfrost Gorge clans like wildfire.
“It’s heavy… but it’s not sharp─!”
Then, for the first time, the Heavy Sword missed its target. Tarak implemented one of the simplest countermeasures against a greatsword technique that grew in power with successive strikes.
Snap…!
Pretending to swing his sword, Tarak let go at the last moment and wrapped his arms around Khan’s waist.
‘Kartus!’
The raw strength tightening around Khan’s waist could crush even a knight with bare hands. This was a familiar scenario. Previously, Tarak’s wife, Pashantu, had also resorted to using Kartus when she lost the strength contest, and Khan had overpowered her with brute force.
This time, Khan’s response was the same. He released Draupnir and placed his hands on Tarak’s wrists. His grip could crush even stones. If he used his full strength, he could shatter bones to dust in an instant.
“Sloppy! Learn it again─!”
Suddenly, the world spun around him. Khan quickly realized what was happening. It wasn’t the world that had spun; it was his own body.
“Ha!”
Tarak, whose wrists had been caught, had flipped Khan over. It was as if he had been waiting for Khan to make such a move. Despite Kartus being a technique designed to overpower a larger opponent, considering Khan’s strength stat, this should have been impossible.
“Uncontrolled power can be consumed by weaker strength─!”
But Tarak had done it. He had proven that he, too, had reached the realm of the superhuman. Using Khan’s strength against him, Tarak pulled him down.
Wham…!
“This is Kartus!”
Tarak’s limbs, as thick as those of Greenskins, locked around Khan’s body, restricting his movements. He twisted Khan’s arms to rip them out, depriving Khan of any chance to struggle or escape.
Crack. Crack.
Relying on brute strength alone wasn’t the right tactic. Once caught in Kartus, unless you had equally mastered it, you couldn’t escape. Trying to break free with force would result in more than just dislocated bones. Tarak was confident of his victory.
『Hmm, a misstep.』
But a voice in Khan’s mind contradicted that thought.
『Being close like this will only make it easier for this monster to fight.』
Had Tarak heard this, he would have questioned it, but unfortunately, only Khan could hear the spirit’s voice.
“Hup…!”
Even if he had heard it, Tarak’s error wouldn’t have been corrected. Khan’s muscles swelled instantly. As he began to resist the twisting force with raw power, the smile on Tarak’s face began to falter.
Thinking that resisting with strength was a mistake took only a few seconds to be proven wrong, as Khan’s actions induced shock.
“Relying on brute strength won’t… work!”
It was natural for Tarak to say that. Kartus is a technique that works even against the tough Greenskins of Hoarfrost Gorge, so Tarak believed the strength difference between himself and Khan was not that significant.
But he overlooked one vital detail. The endurance stat surpassing 50.
“Huff!”
Even the naturally sturdy body of a barbarian combined with an endurance stat of 50 was formidable. While sheer willpower alone might not suffice, a body that robust could overcome.
For a moment, the struggle between strength and technique continued. Then, Khan abruptly freed his nearly twisted arm. A disturbing cracking sound accompanied the movement, but Khan, unfazed, grabbed Tarak’s ankle, which was wrapped around him like a snake.
“What the…!”
Tarak was taken aback by Khan’s unconventional response. Psychological tactics and anticipating opponent movements had no meaning if the opponent could break free from a technique merely using their physical strength.
Khan rose, using one hand for support and the other to lift Tarak upside down. As Tarak caught sight of Khan’s fierce smile, he thought:
‘It’s like fighting my brother…!’
Bam───!!
—
Khan had defeated Tarak, the number one warrior of the clan, excluding the Great Warrior.
“Khan has won…!”
A ripple of shock spread among the Hoarfrost Gorge warriors, quickly morphing into a surge of competitive spirit.
No one was angry or reproachful about Khan defeating the Great Warrior’s representative. The unconscious Tarak lay forgotten as excitement took hold.
“He’s stronger than Tarak! I need to test myself─!”
“He seems quite skilled with a sword. I use one too!”
“Step aside! The second warrior of the clan will take him on next!”
“Karan! Since when were you the second warrior?”
It began with Karan and Omar wrestling like children over who was the second strongest warrior in the clan.
Then, the barbarian, who had been brawling over breaking each other’s necks even before Khan showed up, resumed their battles. Eventually, the onlookers turned their attention to Khan, charging at him with weapons in hand, transforming the ‘shelter’ into an impromptu arena.
“Die, Amal!”
“Today, we settle this, Fatun!”
Amidst it all, Amal and Fatun, still carrying their respective burdens, exchanged punches. Meanwhile, Tarak, who had regained consciousness, naturally began thrashing his runaway son.
In the middle of this chaotic mess, which could only be described as organized mayhem, Ludmilla, buried in the pelt of the Snow Mountain White Wolf, muttered in disbelief.
“They truly are an unimaginable race…”
TL’s Corner:
Yep, they are battlefreaks.