Eugene's straightforward staff thrust made the knight apprentice's expression shift slightly.
It was not because of how fierce it was, but because Eugene's attack went straight for his lower regions.
Sure, there was armor blocking it, but the staff delivered blunt force trauma. Even knowing the armor would protect him, probably not many people would want to take a hit like that.
"Cheap shot!" the knight apprentice cursed lightly as he dodged backward.
He had never encountered an opponent like this before.
But Eugene did not care about that. Seeing his opponent dodge, he had gotten a read on him. The guy's combat experience was not that strong.
Eugene's arms tensed, changing from a thrust to an upward strike, now aiming for his opponent's face and throat.
There was no armor there. Even a low-level professional knight would probably not be able to take a throat strike.
But this attack did not work either.
The other end of his staff was caught by a hand, causing Eugene's attack to hit the breastplate instead.
Seeing this, Eugene twisted his wrist to pull the staff back. This move was not going to cause any damage, so he needed to spin the staff and retrieve his weapon quickly.
Otherwise, if his opponent grabbed it, he would be weaponless.
The knight apprentice who had blocked the attack was also breaking out in a bit of cold sweat. He had not expected to run into this right off the bat. If his opponent's weapon had been a steel spear and he had more strength, he probably would have been defeated in one exchange.
Having seen Eugene's staff techniques, he put aside his contempt.
"In a real fight, there is no such thing as a cheap shot or not," Eugene replied, using his words to disrupt his opponent's train of thought.
But it was also the truth.
Anything that could kill an enemy was a good move. When hunting in the outskirts of Monster Forest, Eugene always kept quicklime in his belt pouch. It was not for magic beasts, but for people.
As long as that powder could get in someone's eyes, it made things easy. He learned this trick early on in street fights. Those guys used every trick in the book.
He was already being pretty restrained here.
"You will not get another chance," the knight apprentice said, gripping his sword with both hands. He had almost completely embarrassed himself just now.
Eugene stopped trying to provoke with words and answered with action instead.
Eugene gripped the back end of the staff with one hand and the middle with the other, lowering the front end slightly. As he advanced, this ordinary steel staff seemed to transform into a striking snake lunging forward to bite.
Watching the staff attack move like a snake, the knight apprentice was already prepared. Instead of retreating, he advanced to meet it. He had a handle on Eugene's attack damage now. Meeting attack with attack, trading injury for injury, was the best way to break through an agile opponent's attacks!
He was confident that with just one hit, just one sword strike, he could make this arena defender lose his fighting ability!
Sure enough, seeing this, Eugene pulled back his attacking staff and chose to step back.
The knight apprentice was delighted that his plan worked. He swung his sword toward the staff. He admitted his martial skills might not match his opponent's, but he had strength!
Sword and staff collided. One advanced, one retreated. On the surface, Eugene seemed to be at a disadvantage, with the staff even being knocked out of his hand.
But what the knight apprentice did not notice was that under the mask, Eugene's lips had curled into a smile. This was exactly what he was waiting for, this big movement!
As the staff flew through the air, the knight apprentice also realized something was wrong. His swing had met almost no resistance!
His opponent had intentionally changed moves and pulled back!
How was this possible? How could someone control their strength that precisely!
How could anyone give up their weapon in a fight!
This was bad! He had been tricked!
The knight apprentice's premonition came true. He had put all his strength into that swing, making it difficult to change moves now!
At this moment, Eugene smoothly stopped his movement. His strength had always been focused on his legs. To stop now, he just needed to twist his retreating foot and push forward.
His front hand, which he had deliberately loosened earlier, also shifted from a loose grip to a firm one with the motion.
Combined with his widened stance, using his opponent's charging momentum, it was like the opponent delivered his face right onto Eugene's fist.
Crack.
Along with the sound of bone grinding against bone.
The charging knight apprentice was knocked flat on the ground in front of everyone! Even his sword fell to the side.
This reversal came so fast that some people had not even reacted yet.
'His head is really hard...'
Part of that bone-cracking sound just now had come from Eugene's fist.
Eugene's fist had precisely hit his opponent's upper lip area, a vital nerve connection point on the face. For an ordinary person, taking a hit there would make their legs tremble from pain.
But his opponent was not ordinary. His facial bones were harder than Eugene had predicted.
If not for the precise strike enabled by his super dynamic vision, that punch might have cost Eugene more.
But in combat, there were no ifs.
As the sound of the steel staff hitting the ground rang out, the audience erupted in intense cheering.
"From the city, and he is on his knees after just two exchanges!"
"Glutton! Glutton!"
"Get lost, outsider!"
"I knew betting on him would win!"
Eugene paid no attention to the cheers. He just used his other hand to crack his somewhat deformed fist.
That punch had combined his waist, legs, and fist in a trinity of power to deliver that kind of damage. Good thing his recovery ability was strong, or he really could not use that move often.
This "instant kill" was not easy to pull off, but the visual effect should be maxed out.
This was just arena combat, after all.
In a real life-or-death fight, his opponent would already be dead. The sleeve blade hidden in Eugene's sleeve was coated with silver needle bee poison.
Even without poison, as long as he unexpectedly deployed the sleeve blade, he could have killed him.
"Ugh, you cheap bastard, fight me head-on if you dare!" Hearing the intense noise from below, the knight apprentice finally recovered from the suffocating pain. Red-eyed, he wanted to go up for revenge.
He had never been so humiliated!
"Lange!"
At this moment, a shout from below called the knight apprentice's rationality back.
The knight apprentice called Lange immediately stopped. He turned to look below.
It was his companion who had come with him. A young master wearing standard mage apprentice robes.
"Lange, you have already lost. In the few breaths you were down, it would have been enough for your opponent to finish you off," the mage apprentice said calmly, seemingly not angry about it.
"Young Master Falco, I... I just..." Lange wanted to explain. He felt wronged. His strength was clearly much greater than that short guy's.
"Get down here. Are you not done embarrassing me?" Falco scolded from the waiting area.
Compared to losing the match, he seemed to think his servant's behavior was more embarrassing.
"Yes, young master..." Lange did not explain and chose to obey. Then he went forward to pick up his fallen duel sword. By now he had also regained his rationality.
As a knight, having your weapon knocked away meant you had already lost.
"This time, you just got lucky," Lange said, still unconvinced as he passed by Eugene.
'Luck, huh... sure, let's call it that.' Eugene, hidden under his mask, showed not even the slightest reaction.
Ignoring someone was often the greatest contempt.
It was not until Lange was about to leave that Eugene spoke again. "Wipe your nosebleed. Remember to wear your helmet next time."
"Hahaha!"
Eugene's words made the nearby audience roar with laughter. They also enjoyed seeing someone trying to look cool get their face slapped.
"I thought he was so tough! Is that it?"
"Look at that outsider looking down on us. Where's all that swagger from before!"
Seeing the outsider get knocked down, the audience was pretty happy about it. They might have disputes among themselves normally, but when it came to outsiders, they were united.
It was not until the mage apprentice took the stage that everyone stopped their earlier merriment.
"Show him what you have got, Glutton!"
"Beat him flat like before!"
"I bet everything on you, arena champion!"
Eugene ignored the audience's noise as usual, adjusted his mask, and then focused on his new opponent.
Mage apprentice, Falco.