Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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/FWOOSH!/

"ROAAR!"

/PIERCE!/

The monster dashed towards Dale, swinging his arms without any precision. However, even without tact, the beast's claws were likely huge claymores cutting through the air, covering much of the space before Dale as they threatened to turn him into jerky.

Yet, Dale did not flinch.

Instead of walking back, he immediately drew in the distance closing the gap between them to a point where the monster couldn't strike him.

Its large, stiff arms, made it hard for it to touch some parts of its huge body, and at this speed, the monster couldn't react fast enough and change the trajectory of its fingers.

Thus, taking this chance, amidst the scales of the beast, Dale found a gap, and in this moment of vulnerability, he swung his spear forward, intending to cripple the beast.

He maximized his strength by using his opponent's weight and speed, embedding his spear deep within the monster's left knee joint.

/SPLATTER!/

/SCREECH!/

The beast cried in pain as the spear's tip came out from the other side of its leg, much to Dale's surprise.

'It seems this monster isn't as resilient as I had thought.'

Without hesitation, Dale dashed between the legs of the lizardmen, holding the tip of his spear from the other side of its knee before pulling it, leaving behind a rather large hole oozing greenish-red blood.

/Growl…/

The beast growled, this time, it wasn't as excited as before, it was even possible to say the monster's mind had "cleared up".

Usually, beasts were starved and drugged before these fights, and now, it seemed the lizardman's mind had sobered up after the sharp pain.

But don't be mistaken, the fight had only started, compared to its size, the injury he inflicted was like that of a small barb of iron penetrating a normal person's knee…

It did little to impair its ability to move.

/SWING!/

In anger, the beast swung its tail almost hitting Dale had he not predicted the obvious movement.

With that, he took a few steps back, causing the beast to expose its own back to his companions as it turned to face him again.

"... "Crunches", alright, here we go!" Gyu said with an unusual accent as he looked at the Lizardman

But at that moment, he turned to the side, and his face began to twist as anger took over his body.

/SMACK!/

"WAKE THE FUCK UP MUTE, ELGUR'S OUT THERE WORKING HIS ASS OFF! EVEN IF YOU WANT TO CRY, DO IT AFTER WE KILL IT!" He said as he punched Kutr's face, causing his helmet to fall onto the ground

"Huff… Huff… Huff… Wh-Wh-What am I… Supposed to even do here?!" Kutr exclaimed as he trembled on the ground

"Curses… If only I knew… Let's distract it."

'It's the best we can currently do.'

/ROAR!/

While they talked, Dale fought the beast in the distance, this couldn't go on!

"No matter what, it's a beast, as long as we distract it and make it hesitate for a moment, we can give him enough time to move and act!"

"H-How…"

"DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU EVERYTHING?! GO UP THERE AND MAKE SOME NOISE WITH THAT SHIELD OF YOURS!" Gyu said as he kicked Kutr, running after Dale and the monster soon after

"...Urg… This is…"

Kutr swallowed dry, getting up from the ground with trembling legs before running after them as well.

…

/Meanwhile…/

/SWOOSH!/

The air whistled by his ears as the Lizardman's claws slashed through the air.

With every swing, Dale tried to figure out the monster's overall level to try and see how much strength he should display to win against it.

/SWOOSH!/

/CRACK!/

'Speed... In the 50s, maybe higher... Constitution, 60...'

To test its strength, Dale guided the beast to one of the stone pillars in the arena.

With a mighty swing, the Lizardman missed him, hitting the pillar at full force.

/CRUMBLE!/

And as to be expected, the beast demolished the pillar as if it was a pile of hardened sand.

'It's strong, it's claws are sharp. I can't block it with my spear, it's useless to even think about it...'

'It's decently fast too, but the problem here is its size, there's a lot of muscle compressed in this monster.'

'This Lizardman... It's a Challenge Level 50 monster, somewhere along those lines, nothing impressive, it's the kind of creature one would find in the shallow parts of the Horizon Woods forest, albeit a monster of this size wouldn't live for long there, given everything that could and would kill it there.'

'This Lizardman is bigger than even the most buffed Karkavan but it's weaker than a Hog in the forest... It wouldn't last long there.'

/SWOOSH!/

/CRACK!/

/GASPS!/

Taking this chance as the Lizardman recovered from hitting the pillar, Dale dashed next to the Arena's walls, baiting the Lizardman to swing at the walls, causing the audience to gasp in fear and shock as the walls began to crumble under its might.

Of course, that wasn't what Dale wanted to see, he had other plans.

/Thud!/

From the walls of the arena, several of its decorations began to fall and crumble, and amidst them, a set of sharp, giant metal spikes fell with the stones…

/SWOOSH!/

Dale took this chance to flee from the beast as dust rose from the rubble.

'It's not impossible to win the way I am now, the problem is that I'm super tired, it's getting hard to move my arms and I barely dealt any damage to the beast whatsoever.'

'It would've been better if I came here without any armor, I wouldn't be as tired as I'm now if I had only cloth surrounding my body.'

'I can't expect it to die from blood loss either, the injury I gave it is insignificant compared to its total body size.'

'I need a more decisive strike, a chance to deal a strong blow against it.'

He thought for a moment before shaking his head.

'I didn't want to rely on the little energy I gathered, but if it comes down to it… I'll make use of it.'

Before, during his time in the jail cell, Dale tried to do the unthinkable and open his Heart Gate, but his efforts proved futile.

First, it was clear that this body had never been in contact with Mana before, anything he did would be its first time and that meant he would be met with resistance at every turn.

It would be impossible for him to circulate it around his body without causing some sort of damage, or worse, for him to even be able to gather anything substantial at all.

His manipulation of Mana was far too decadent for him to take hold of it in such a fine way.

Still, he had enough for a somewhat decent strike, but then what?

He wasn't worried about the Lizardman but the rest of his stay in the memory, he had things to do and he couldn't waste this chance locked away for questioning.

He needed to finish this fight as an ordinary person and hide his trump card for when he truly needed…

/ROARR!/

A powerful scream rang in the arena as the Lizardman jumped from the rubble, rising half a dozen meters in the air before falling before Dale.

/Growl…/

The beast looked down at him with its slit pupils, sharpening its "eyebrows" as it burned Dale's appearance down the corners of its simple mind.

/SLAM SLAM!/

"OVERHERE YOU ACCURSED LIZARD!"

"?"

"!"

'Finally.'

At that moment, behind the Lizard, Gyu and Kutr began to attract its attention, with Gyu screaming and Kutr slamming his hammer at his shield, creating a lot of noise.

Due to the noise, the Lizardman momentarily turned its head to face them, giving Dale a prime opportunity to strike!

/PIERCE!/

Given he wouldn't have another chance like this anytime soon, he knew he had to do something reckless.

He ran forward before jumping, swinging his spear directly at the Lizardman's eyes!

/SLASH!/

/CUT!/

/SPLATTER!/

/ROAAARRR!/

As he predicted, the beast turned its head to face him at the last moment, but although it saw him moving in its direction, the beast couldn't close its eye in time, and before it knew it, immense pain traveled across its face.

/Grab!/

Before the beast lashed out at him in anger, Dale grabbed the Lizardman's scally body, pulling himself upward with the little strength he had left vaulting over the lizardman's body.

/Thud!/

To reach the beast's eyes, Dale had to jump onto the beast, using his spear to cover the rest of the way, barely managing to get a cut.

It was an incredible jump, however, that alone wouldn't have been enough as Dale wasn't strong enough to jump 4 meters into the air while holding onto 30 kg worth of metal armor.

He initially jumped onto the Lizardman's knee, using it as a step to jump another few meters above as he used its legs and chest as a foothold to climb higher.

Once he managed to deliver the strike, with the strength he had left, he pulled himself over its shoulders before falling behind it, on the ground.

Falling from such a height would leave quite a few ribs broken, especially with the heavy armor he was using, it wasn't very comfortable…

That was why, while everyone was distracted by what he just did, he circulated Mana to strengthen his body.

He had been doing so for a while, but thanks to the distraction, he didn't expect anyone to notice it.

/Dash!/

Without hesitation, Dale dashed towards the broken wall, signaling for Gyu and Kutr to follow.

/ROAAARRR!/

Midway through his dash, the monster recovered from its injuries, scanning the arena in search of its opponents before finally finding him.

Right now, Dale had just arrived at the metal spikes and was currently trying to pull it from the ground.

"Let me help you…HUPP!"

Thankfully, Gyu arrived just in time to help him pull the spikes from the ground.

/ROAR!/

At that moment, the Lizardman began its dash to them.

"WHAT'S THE PLAN?!" Gyu exclaimed as he witnessed the berserk beast charge in their direction

"We need to shove it onto these spikes! We can't win in a direct confrontation, I can barely move already!" Dale exclaimed as he gnashed his teeth

That was everything Gyu needed to hear.

"Got it, leave the rest to me, just hold onto the spikes… Where's 'that' I gave you before?"

"This?"

Dale handed the metal vial to the man, trying to be somewhat discreet.

"Wish me luck."

/Clink… GULP!/

A bead of sweat falling from his forehead, Gyu took a small mouthful of the contents of the vial, and immediately as he did so, his face seemed to turn red as his vessels began to expand.

He threw the rest of the vial to Dale without a care in the world, taking a deep breath before...

"HAAAAAAAAA!"

Gyu exclaimed, running forward toward the Lizardman like a madman, his arms open as he threw his spear away.

"DON'T FORGET THE PLAN!" Dale exclaimed as he crouched next to the metal spikes

"I'M AWARE OF IT! I'LL LEAVE THIS PLACE A FREE MAN!"

"..."

/SLAM!!/

Meanwhile, the useless Kutr stood back with his shield in silence, but when Dale looked at him with a frown he began to slam his hammer on the shield d as that was the sole thing he could do without putting his life on the line.

"HUAAA COME AT ME LIZARD!" Gyu exclaimed as he felt the kick of a thousand donkeys push him forward

Like a moth to the flame, the finale of this fight was about to happen!

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Notes

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