CHAPTER 26: THE MOMENT OF TRUTH.

Morales rushed out first as the others quickly followed behind him, fire blazed fiercely in his eyes. Even though his eyes were locked on the team A Pugilists, he was still keenly watching everywhere.

He was right.

As soon as they all started running, the 2 critically injured Pugilists among them turned tail immediately and started escaping.

Swiftly turning back, he slightly threw the iron rod upwards before grabbing it back in a tight grip while forming a javelin throwing stance. His muscles contracted before he released the rod with all his might.

Only a loud sound of impact was heard, quickly followed by blood blossoming like drizzling rain in early autumn.

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Critical hit -170

Your attack paired with an iron rod dealt crippling damage to your opponent. -20% overall health.

Your opponent has been inflicted with the heavy bleeding status: -3 HP for 20 seconds.

You have killed a participant of the recruitment tournament, gaining 3500 experience.

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The Pugilist’s head was directly torn to a bloody mess by the impeccably timed blow. Everyone sucked in a cold breath of air.

Seeing this, the other critically injured Pugilist made a sharp U-turn and returned to the battlefield with shocking vigor. His movements were completely unlike someone critically injured.

Morales already predicted this, that was why he reacted so fast.

If these 2 guys were planning to forfeit the battle completely, he would gladly let them go, but the sad truth was that they had no intentions of doing that.

They just wanted to run and hide, thereby whiling the time away as the others fought bloodily here. In the end, they would reap the free rewards and emerge among the last 10 survivors.

Morales’s move was swift and without hesitation even though the team A Pugilists were already before him.

Before they could attack him first, he rolled on the floor, in the process picking up another iron rod that was lying there before swiftly turning and unleashing a well-timed stab forward.

His target bent down at a steady rhythm as his knees quickly touched the street floor, enabling him to dodge the stab in the process.

He slid forward a bit under the iron rod before using his own rod to perform a sweeping strike, the air howled and shook from the air resistance offered to his movements.

Morales reacted extremely fast to this as he jumped upwards, performed a backflip in mid-air before landing. After dodging each other’s prep attack, they finally faced off properly.

Clang!

Both iron rods clashed as a glaring metallic grinding sound quickly followed the impact. They both withdrew and stabbed again, their moves were in sync and tyrannically fast-paced.

As the 2 strongest behemoths of this group clashed, the other Pugilists of all 4 teams finally clashed. A tug of war quickly started.

As soon as the battle started, 2 Pugilists quickly targeted the critically injured one among them. As everyone already appeared here, there was no sense in holding back again.

Active skills and abilities wreaked havoc across the street. The critically injured Pugilist tried to resist by focusing on defending, but a betrayal from her teammates did her in.

At this point, there was no point for teammates. Only 3 participants were remaining to be killed, if that happened then all the rest automatically qualified which was their goal in the first place.

The female Pugilist could only let out an aggrieved cry before succumbing to all the attacks. The 8th casualty appeared in the battle, now only 2 more deaths were needed.

Seeing the swift death of the Pugilist, Morales’s black-haired teammate shuddered a bit before subconsciously moving her battlefield closer to where Morales battled.

Morales paid her no attention; he was completely engrossed in his battle. Since he transmigrated into this world, most of the opponents he fought against were either too strong or too weak.

This was the first time that he was fighting against an opponent of equal strength. He had to confess that the feeling was completely different, the battle felt more real.

All his muscles were on fire, power brimmed through him as his iron rod kept on striking at his opponent while parrying the ones directed at him also.

The huge contrast of his opponent’s black vest with his red vest was so striking, it felt like a legendary battle between the blood goddess and the god of death.

Bam! Ahh…!!

Morales heard a sharp scream erupt from his side, prompting him to slightly glance back to take a look. The source of the scream was his black-haired female teammate.

Her left leg was bent to an incredible angle, it was clearly dislocated. From the blood on her opponent’s rod, Morales quickly deduced that she was hit hard on the leg several times and it finally succumbed.

Whoosh!!

His iron rod suddenly zoomed to the side at a mind-blowing speed and parried the stab that was aimed at her.

He didn’t know what compelled him to do it, he just did it. Though the black-haired girl was the one who opposed him the most since they became teammates, she also left the most impression on him.

Well, the main reason was that letting his last teammate die would surely make more opponents focus attack him.

His immediate opponent was definitely not going to give up this opportunity that was granted to him.

He felt a cold wind blow past his abdomen, he subconsciously shifted his body to the side but the sharp rod still cleaved past his ribs, taking a sizeable amount of flesh with it.

He felt his system light up a notification at him but he was too focused to pay attention to it.

He gritted his teeth, held his iron rod with a tighter grip before spinning in one place. The rod quickly became a revolving wheel, its sharp point becoming the reaper of flesh.

The Pugilist that dislocated his teammate's leg suffered the brunt of the attack; the pointed end of the rod slashed through his chest. He grunted in pain and retreated.

During the process of all this, another Pugilist succumbed to the pressure and died from the other Pugilists’ battle. Now, only 1 participant dying would end this tug of war.

This scenario suddenly changed the dynamic of the battle. The remaining survivors split into 2 groups; 6 Pugilists now focus attacked Morales while the remaining 2 fought it out.

Morales’s face darkened. “What type of setting is this?”

Despite the feeling of injustice that he felt, he did not try to escape, not that he even had the option. His gaze hardened as he activated his flicker skill again and rushed into their midst.

He swiftly swung his rod to the side, hitting one of the Pugilists on the head while his leg swept sideways, brushing another from the ground with a sweeping kick.

Bam!!

2 other rods hit his back at the same time as a metallic taste quickly rushed to his tongue. Blood seeped slowly from his mouth but he did not stop, he rolled under the bombardment of rods.

His plan now was to avoid the Pugilist who had the same strength as him, he could at least survive the others' attacks for a few minutes.

The black haired-girl became the only isolated participant in the raging battlefield. She had the option of hiding, but she hesitated.

In the end, she just couldn’t act against her conscience. She grabbed her iron rod, leaped to her feet on one leg before jumping into the 5 vs 1 battlefield, making it a 5 vs 2.

Ahh!!

Morales felt a few more of his teeth knocked out by an opponent’s rod, the pain was biting at his consciousness. The battle was already going on for 2 minutes but he could not see any breakthrough point.

Almost every part of his body was riddled with injuries, the blood was already blurring his vision but he still didn’t succumb to let these bastards treat him as their punching bag.

His black-haired teammate was even more miserable. She would have died already, but the fact was that all 5 Pugilists focused on him.

“Why are you doing this? Do you know who I am?” He finally resorted to threats; he was desperate and out of options.

He did not know what spurred almost all the Pugilists to gang on him, he felt resentment feel every part of his being. Despite his threats, his opponents only increased their attacks as they could see that he was almost at his wit's end.

One of the participants, A Pugilist on black from team A suddenly rushed forward to tackle him down. He tried to resist but his failing strength finally succumbed.

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You are under the heavily bleeding status: -2 HP for 10 seconds. Bandage your injury immediately.

Your health is lower than 10%: -10% to all attributes.

You have been tackled- A submission has been initiated on you.

Initializing strength judgment…, judgment initialized

Your opponent currently has more strength than you, submission successful.

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After this notification, Morales suddenly felt weakness invade his bones as his opponent firmly locked him in one place.

His black-haired teammate tried to help but she was hit by a rod on the head and thrown to the side.

This time, he was alone and he was facing his most dangerous situation since he transmigrated.

After throwing her to the side, all 4 free Pugilists stretched their rods and stabbed down at him. If all those rods pierced him, Morales had no doubts that death was his only fate.

He felt fear for the first time, his heart was palpitating rapidly.

When he looked closer, he noticed sneers on his opponents’ faces. This mockery aroused anger within him as he suddenly started shaking agitatedly, his blood felt like they were on fire all of a sudden.

His depleted energy was suddenly restored and soared upwards mysteriously. This was the moment of truth!

Boom!!

At the last moment, before the rods could stab at him, a fierce energy shockwave erupted with him as the center.

Space seemed to have warped as the air visibly squeezed before shooting outwards. All 5 Pugilists, including his teammate that was rushing to help, were fiercely thrown away.

Silence suddenly descended as all the Pugilists stopped their battles and looked at him in shock.

“What just happened?”