The Rise Of A Tribal Deadbeat - Chapter 83

Zok did not wait for Naalnish to do whatever he was planning to. Instead, he charged at him first. Thanks to the [Hoard] ability, he was confident in his strikes and knew if he couldn’t defeat the man in one strike, he would follow up with stronger strikes as he stacked the damage done from his attacks.

But he wasn’t charging in blindly. He had almost died to the fists similar to the ones that were in front of him and he wasn’t going to get blinded by his power like the last time. On top of that, he wasn’t planning on losing against a shaman.

Zok was assuming that the man would attack him first. But that did not happen. Instead, the man assumed a defensive stance and the following moment, the blue flames burst out and surrounded the man from head to toe.

“What the hell?”

Zok stopped abruptly mere moments before his spear collided with his opponent’s face. Something was telling him not to attack Naalnish. For the first time, Zok listened to his mind instead of his anger and jumped back.

Naalnish was left surprised as Zok did that. But at that moment A smile popped up on Naalnish’s face. A moment later the flames were once again contained within his fists.

“Looks like you are aware of my Devourer skill.” Naalnish proudly claimed, “It’s a rare ability I was born with but it manifested after I met the Shamanka. That manifestation was the whole reason why I gave up my life as a hunter and became one of her followers.”

He continued, “I used to be like you. Misguided and arrogant but I also see potential in you. Just like the Shamanka saw potential in me. That’s why I’m giving you a chance… give up being a rogue bastard and turn yourself in. I will even put in a good word for you so you would not be harmed in any way-”

“The only thing I am interested in is killing you all.” Zok gave the man a firm response.

Allying himself with the shamans after all they had done? No thanks. He would rather get killed by their hands than shake them.

It appeared that Naalnish did not like Zok’s straightforward response as the smile he had disappeared once again. He was done giving this rascal chances to join him. He genuinely thought that after being abandoned and living on his own, Zok would have realised how hard it was for someone to survive alone. Especially, in a place like Wilderness.

As things stood, the beasts were not the only enemies he should be concerned about. After all, the kid had just made enemies with every single person who lived in the wilderness. Just how long did he think he could keep avoiding them? Sooner or later, the Shamanka would put an end to his miserable life.

The tribes, the shamans, even the beasts were ready to kill him, and yet there was not a shred of fear in Zok’s eyes… which pissed Naalnish more than anything. Zok was aware of the situation he was in and yet he was acting as if it was nothing?

“Being too brave and lead a man to become stupid. I have seen it numerous times, but never to this extent.” Naalnish calmly spoke as he erupted into flames once again, “Fools like you do not deserve to live.”

With all that killing intent directed his way, a notification informing him about the battle popped up in front of him.

___

Enemies Detected!

• Grade A [Occunian] x1

• Grade C [Occunian] x1

Probability of winning: 62.69%

Recommended action: Take caution.

Copyable skills detected nearby.

Conditions to copy the skill:

• Kill the Grade A [Occunian] known as Naalnish

__

“Finally…” Zok mumbled to himself, “Getting new skills always makes my heart race.”

This time Naalnish did not hold back. He lunged towards Zok, burning everything in his path.  Out of nowhere, a hammer appeared in his hands which he swung with all his might. Even with his increased agility, Zok was only able to narrowly dodge the attack.

However, it wasn’t the hammer he had to dodge. It was the weird heatwave that came gushing out of it. It appeared as if Naalnish had become one with the hammer. Almost as if the hammer was a part of his body rather than a separate weapon.

Since Zok wasn’t using [Elude], dodging the attacks would do little good for him. Unlike [Elude], [Hoard] ability worked on the concept of attacking and not dodging. But Naalnish was not giving Zok a single opening to attack.

As the fight dragged on, Naalnish’s got more and more relentless. Zok had no choice but to keep dodging his attacks and hope there would be an opening soon enough. But as more time passed, his hopes of finding and opening got lower and lower.

he couldn’t even switch from using [Hoard] to using [Elude] as there was a cooldown between switching the skills. If he stopped using Hoard, it was possible that he would not survive while the cooldown period got over.

Even if he was able to survive, it would take him some time to dodge enough attacks to defeat the Naalnish. Even though Zok had a higher probability of winning, things were not looking good for him at all and just like that his luck ran out.

A moment later, the hammer hit him right in the stomach. But it wasn’t one attack, but two. First, Zok was hit with the heatwave and then a second later with the actual hammer. The explosive sound generated by the attack was enough to make the nearby creatures run for their life.

As for Zok, he was sent flying backwards, crashing into and breaking a countless number of trees in his way.

“I told you to surrender while you had the chance.” naalnish spat out in rage, before slowly walking towards Zok following the trail of destruction he had left behind.

However, something suddenly grabbed onto his legs. He looked down only to see that numerous vines had popped out of the ground and were holding him in place. But that wasn’t all. Naalnish could hear the slow growling of beasts he had put to sleep.

All three of Zok’s allies were back on their feet, with Cero and Kaira standing right in front of him. They were growling at him as if challenging him to take a step in Zok’s direction. It was the same case with Shira, who was standing behind the creatures.

“Did the sound of explosion wake them up?” Naalnish shook his head, “I can’t take all of them on my own… that bastard sure is lucky. Tsula, let’s retreat for now… we know where he lives so it wouldn’t be tough for us to find him again. So long, lucky bastard.”

Saying so, Naalnish and Tsula ran away. As much as Cero and Kaira wanted to chase them down, they were not in a condition of doing so. They were still suffering from whatever that smoke they had inhaled was.  Moreover, Zok’s well-being was much more important than killing them.

Zok’s vision was a bit blurry, and the last thing he saw was his pets and Shira walking towards him, before he lost consciousness.