A Proper Fight

Han’s eyes narrowed, confirming that this was targeted towards Joseph, but soon relaxed only thinking of how much of a mistake they made. The others in Joseph’s group immediately forfeited.

As members of low-ranking guilds, they knew the thing had been chosen for Joseph—and they’d die if they stepped in. While they wanted to complain, they knew it was pointless to do so.

Separated from Han, Joseph couldn’t get the usual briefing. But he didn’t need it and just did some light deduction on his own. ‘Well, it’s a cyclops, gotta watch out for any eye beams if it has them.

The red skin… usually they’re grey in most media, so maybe it’s got a fire resistance? Red usually means fire, so either an affinity or resistance, usually one and the same.’

With his deductions complete and bow in hand, he stepped into the arena. The cyclops still wresting about in its restraints, guards standing ready for the signal.

High above, the king and assembled Guild Masters leaned forward—some with unease, others with burning curiosity, and a few with simmering rage, eager to see him struck down.

As the signal was given, the guards in sync, let go of the chains and retreated a safe distance. With its freedom restored, its arms and legs flailed crazily, the chains whipping back and forth, leaving deep gashes in the ground.

At the same moment as the signal was given, a translucent film covered the arena, with light swirls of colors, the same barrier used for the previous fight.

With the barrier’s purpose to disorientate the creature and prevent it from focusing its aggression on anyone not in the arena, the large eye quickly locked onto Joseph.

*GRArAAAAA!*

Guttural and filled with indignation, steam all but fumed from its eye socket as it fixed on him. The roar, thick with hatred and rage, made his heart skip a beat. Then the beast charged, its towering six- to seven-meter frame digging out the ground with each stride.

He sprinted toward the trees, his agility carrying him there before the beast could catch up. Murmurs rose from the crowd, not only at his startling speed for a mage, but also at the sight of a bow in his hands instead of a staff.

Entering the tree line, his figure vanished, blurring into the background. Both the audience and the cyclops lost track of his position. Towering over the trees, its eye darted about, and when it failed to spot him, its fury only grew.

Whipping around the chains, trees fell one after another. Dirt, grass and wood flung all over the arena, bouncing off the translucent barrier protecting the audience. Inside the forest Joseph maintained his cool, sitting a short distance away on a branch.

As he drew back the bowstring, a faint arrow shimmered into being, solidifying in a glow of blue. Its shaft was hollow at the core, a thin barrier dividing streams of white and blue that swirled within. Toward the triangular point, the energies pooled more densely, gathering in a concentrated glow.

The blue arrow streaked from the tree line, light flashing across the monster’s eye. Its reaction was swift, its head snapping toward the shot. With a guttural growl, it shut its eye tight, like two metal plates clamping closed in an instant, bracing for impact.

But the impact never came. Mid-flight, the arrow twisted unnaturally. Now aligned with the cyclops’s face, it shifted angle with uncanny precision, driving straight into its narrow ear canal.

The eyelid shot open, its mouth roaring in pain and just then *bang!* a sharp, grenade-like puff of air shot out, blood shooting out its ear and onto the floor. While Joseph hoped for more damage, instead only achieving a shredded outer ear, he moved positions as the cyclops charged his way.

Letting out another while moving, the tip of the arrow shot out with an insane amount of spinning, its tip glistening more than usual as it impacted the cyclops’s knee, spearing itself deep inside.

Roaring again and clutching its knee, with a sharp snap the magic arrow shattered as it moved, blood dripping out the hole. Demolishing the forest as it went, he fired arrow after arrow into its knee, but no matter what it just kept moving.

When he moved out into the open, removing his camouflage to save mana, he noticed the knee’s holes had stopped bleeding and already scabbed over. Similarly, its ear was devoid of flowing blood, it had already dried up and sealed the wound.

‘Does it have faster regeneration?’

Tightening his eyes, he raised columns of concrete everywhere, some low, some tall. Being harder than the trees to break, the chains merely chipped it, requiring it to actually use its body or avoid them manually.

With the field littered with concrete he could hide more effectively in the open. With his thoughts racing, a plan quickly formed in his head now that he has an idea of its behavior. With a bit over half his mana left, he let loose and flooded the field with water.

The hard-packed dirt quickly softened into a boggy mess. Focusing on a single section, he turned the ground into a deep pit of mud. As the cyclops raged and searched for him, he worked quickly, soaking the area until it was pliable enough, then using concrete to pry the mud apart.

With a platform above, he dashed beneath it. The mud sucked at his legs up to the knees, far from ideal—so he raised a hand to the ceiling, a faint force anchoring him there. Pulling himself up, he planted his feet on the underside of the concrete and crouched, hanging upside down.

With gravity against him, it was harder than usual, but a sliver of mana sent a sharp pop directly above him on the other side of the concrete. The sound caught the cyclops’s attention, and it stormed over, the concrete slab he clung to groaning under its immense weight.

Confused, angry and in pain it thrashed around the chains, meanwhile from directly beneath its legs Joseph spent a full minute channeling spirit and mana into a large javelin-like arrow. Easily twice as big as usual, its tip was thinly pointed, with a large payload of volatile mana-spirit energy along its entire shaft.

With heavy, sweaty breathing he released. The arrow, sturdy at its tip and filled with force burst through the concrete in a clean shot. Being so close and directly underneath the cyclops it had no time to react, a long shaft over a meter long shot up and into it through one of the weakest points of many living beings.

Gouging out its innards, the payload remained motionless for just a moment, the cyclops roaring in pain as Joseph hurried out as the concrete threatened to collapse. Just as he got distance, he felt a sharp tug on his mind, the next moment… devastation.

The massive payload detonated violently, shredding its soft inner organs. Blood gushed from its mouth as a tremor ran through its frame; it staggered, then collapsed backward. Writhing as it choked on its own blood, the beast gave a final shudder—and then fell silent.

Roars erupted from the upper stands, filled with citizens, merchants and other paying spectators. Even a few of the guilds clapped, thoroughly entertained by the incredible display and destruction both Joseph and the cyclops provided.

With an unreadable smile on the king, a trumpet was sounded, the mark for a successful round. Cedrid hurried over, checked Joseph, checked the body, and raised his hand. “Monster hunted… round over.”

A guard gestured to lead Joseph off, but he instead pointed at the corpse. “I get the cyclops’s corpse, right?”