Alien Knights

This monster that descended from the sky had a tail in the shape of a scorpion and a body that was exactly the same as that of a lion, but it had a pair of bat wings.

Just when Todd lamented the wonders of biological forms, the Manticore took the lead in attacking.

The bat wings blew a gust of wind on the ground. Taking advantage of the wind, the monster kicked its four claws on the ground, turned from static, and its forward speed reached its maximum in an instant.

Todd was taken aback by the swift attack. Without enough mental preparation, he rolled over with his right hand propped on the ground, dodging the attack in embarrassment.

"Concentrate! Focus on your opponent!" Meredith stepped on the ground with both feet, and her body was like a light and big bird, flying up to the top of the tall stone pillar, looking down at the battle below.

Todd adjusted the balance of his body, put away his academic distractions, and looked at the manticore in front of him. Metal scales slowly appeared on the skin of his right hand.

The manticore looked at the rising black flame on the opponent's right arm, and somehow remembered something, and stopped in place, with his body close to the ground, assuming a posture ready to go.

Seeing that the opponent had no intention of attacking first, Todd gritted his teeth, rushed forward with a stride, and swung his right claw violently after accumulating strength.

Seeing this unfamiliar action comparable to a street fight, Meredith covered her face with her hands while lamenting helplessly.

Sure enough, Todd's blow was too hard, and his previous movements were too obvious. The manticore easily jumped sideways, and after dodging the attack, he stood up again, taking advantage of the gap when the opponent had no time to close the attack, and left three deep scars on his body with the lion's claws.

Meredith sat on the pillar, shaking her fair calf, and taunted without sparing any effort: "New guy, have you never fought before?! I bet all the drunks in the fishing village are better at fighting than you!"

Todd smiled wryly as he touched the scar beside his ribs. Although the ability of "regeneration" allowed the skin and muscle tissue to heal quickly, his inner self-esteem was greatly hit.

When he was in the Muxi Kingdom, he was sitting on the throne. Apart from the symbolic sword carrying, he never had to participate in real battles. Even the martial arts training that Cumberland required of him every day was only perfunctory.

But now is not the time to lament these things.

The manticore succeeded in one move, and then launched another charge, but this time the target was Todd's head.

Dodging this attack with a short body, Todd took a few steps back in a panic.

Meredith yelled anxiously, "Watch your steps! Keep your balance!"

The fight lasted for two minutes, and the manticore left Todd with no less than ten large and small wounds. If it weren't for the increase in physical strength, and the help of "Metal Skin" and "Regeneration" abilities, Todd would have died ten times already by now.

Skaha's training for Cu Chulainn came to an end, and the two turned their attention to the battle of the new entrants.

Cu Chulainn, who was covered in bruises, walked to the bottom of the stone pillar, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth indifferently, raised his head with a smile and shouted: "This guy really passed the test of "strength"? Are you sure?"

Meredith used a crow feather as a dagger, threw it towards Cu Chulainn's head, and roared angrily: "If you meet his opponent in the "strength" trial, even you will only lose."

"What?!" Cu Chulainn caught the crow's feather, broke it into two pieces, raised his head and shouted proudly: "There must be a limit to lies! I am..."

With a snap of Scathach's fingers, a round pebble flew into the air and hit the back of Cu Chulainn's head, breaking into two halves: "Shut up and watch carefully!"

Cu Chulainn grinned, rubbed his head desperately, looked at his master, and asked puzzledly, "What are you looking at?"

"Look at how he learned to fight..." After saying this, Scathach remained silent, watching Todd's movements intently.

After the initial one-sided beating, Todd was hit less and less often, and even occasionally launched a counterattack or two.

The mutated and transformed body has far surpassed ordinary people in terms of attack power, physical endurance, agility, and reaction speed. This gives him unlimited trial and error possibilities in battle. The only thing he lacks is combat experience and opponent information.

As the battle progressed, Todd gradually recalled his experience of playing games in his previous life.

Whenever you play hardcore action games such as "Bloodborne" and "Dark Soul", when you face the boss, you often end up with infinite death and running corpses at the beginning. After adapting to the enemy's attack routine, the battle will become as simple as drinking water.

The same is true for the Manticore opponent. The monster's attack methods are nothing more than four methods: scorpion tail, claw attack, impact and bite. However, the telescoping range of the opponent's tail and the stretching length of the limbs all have a certain upper limit. Taking the opponent's speed, attack habits, battlefield terrain and other factors into consideration, the opponent's attack range and order can be roughly calculated, thereby predicting a concept often used in action games-Safe Zone (Safe Zone).

Twenty minutes into the battle, everyone present saw a strange situation.

Although Todd was never hit by the manticore again, he had no intention of killing him either. In battle, he can always dodge every attack of the enemy without delay, and imitate the opponent's attack style bit by bit.

In the eyes of outsiders, it is more like an "alternative pas de deux" than a battle of life and death.

One man and one beast, advancing and retreating, circling and sliding.

However, compared to Todd, the calm "lead dancer", his dance partner seemed a little restless.

After being angry, roaring, biting, rolling, and fleeing without success, the manticore completely collapsed.

It knelt on the ground with all fours, sticking out its tongue and gasping for breath. There was no fighting spirit in its eyes, only despair and sadness.

Meredith jumped off the stone pillar and looked at Todd with a different look than usual. She said in a joyful tone: "You won."

Cu Chulainn glanced at the half-dead manticore on the ground, muttering, "Of course such an opponent will win."

Todd sat cross-legged in front of the manticore, looked at the no longer crazy monster, and laughed.

Meredith came behind Todd and said, "Give it a good time, this is the power of the winner."

Cu Chulainn, who was standing not far away, also croaked at this time: "That's right, tear open its throat! Tear off its head! Blood! Wailing! This is the meaning of fighting!"

Manticore leaned his chin on the soil and closed his eyes quietly, like a traveler who saw the end of his life, accepting his fate with peace of mind.

Patting the dust on his buttocks, Todd looked at the monster under his feet, with a smile still on his face: "Let's go, get out of here."

The decision to abandon the execution of the loser stunned the other three present.

Meredith stammered, "Let it go? You're kidding, aren't you?"

Compared to her questioning, Cu Chulainn showed anger: "The execution of the loser by the winner is a tradition in the northern region for thousands of years! If there is no blood and life of the loser in a battle, as a sacrifice! Then, what will become of a sacred duel? A group of children, playing tricks?!"

Ignoring the attitude of others, Todd lowered his body, pointed to the distant sky with his finger, and said to the manticore kneeling on the ground, "Let's go, go back to the sky, the battle between us is over."

The monster slowly opened its eyes, watching Todd's movements and listening to his words, an inexplicable emotion slowly emerged in his eyes.

Seeing that the manticore still didn't move, Todd stepped forward, intending to pat the manticore on the head to make it leave as soon as possible.

The moment his palm touched the lion's head, Todd's consciousness suddenly entered the "soul space" automatically.

Looking at the blue water around his body, Todd said in amazement: "What's going on?! I haven't activated the soul space!"

A hilly figure, slowly swimming across the dark sea below Todd, one huge eye opened...stared...closed.

In the eyes of ordinary people, the whole process was just a second of Todd's stupefaction. But only he himself knows what just happened.

Todd, who returned to reality, looked at the manticore flying farther and farther in the air, sweat dripping down his back. My own consciousness was pulled into the "soul space" of other creatures just now!

Ignoring Meredith's obstruction, Cu Chulainn walked up to Todd and shouted loudly, "Do you know what you just did?!"

The latter shrugged: "I'm not used to wielding a butcher's knife against an enemy who gives up resistance."

Pausing for a moment, Todd added lightly: "Doing that makes me feel unfulfilled."

"What did you say?!" Cu Chulainn blushed, rolled up his sleeves, and was about to fight Todd.

A twisted vine, like a live snake, climbed onto Cu Chulainn's body, tightly binding his hands and feet.

Scathach threw away the branch in his hand, leaving the three of them walking towards the temple. When she left, she left this sentence: "The winner has his own reasons."

Seeing that Todd and Meredith were also about to leave, Cu Chulainn, who was tied tightly and fell to the ground and couldn't move, yelled anxiously: "The one who broke the tradition is the new guy. I didn't make a mistake! Why did you tie me up?!"