Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"I hope all of you had a good night of rest because you should be wide awake for the 16th match of the first round. On the left, we have Caleb, the Dragon Knight. He is a contestant who not only shone in the preliminaries but has already appeared in previous contests, like the Great Race.

And on the right, coming from the Beast Palace of the Southern Planes, we have Hao Li. He and his wolf companion have shown what they are capable of during the preliminaries and can't be underestimated,"

Hao Li stepping onto the stage looked wild, very much unlike most cultivators they had seen on Urth so far. He wore a vest made of thick, coarse leather, barely keeping his bulging muscles in check, and a skirt made of the same leather. it was accurate to call his hair a big, filthy mane. Beside him stood a massive wolf, as big as a horse.

Caleb, on the other hand, not sitting on his Wyvern, was the spitting image of a knight, as it was popular among the people of the system worlds; A full plate armor and a longsword on his belt. The dragon knight also carried a lance in his hand. His Wyvern had not entered the field, yet.

"This could get interesting," Yu, sitting up in the VIP booth of Minas Mar, commented slightly intrigued.

"What do you mean?" Seth asked him curious. The blacksmith had a rough idea of Caleb's strength and the prowess of a Wyvern. Although he couldn't say the same about Hao Li, but unless he had something more up his sleeve, his wolf wouldn't be enough to keep up with a Wyvern, if they stayed on the ground.

"Hao Li is a beast cultivator, you don't see these very often. They live in the hostile planes in the south. It's said they rear some of the fiercest beasts of the XiGuang Province. I'm looking forward to seeing whether the rumors are true," Master Mountain explained his sentiment but didn't explain any further. Getting some exposition from his friend, Seth questioned whether he underestimated the wolf.

...

"Hah, where is your lizard beast, reflective man? Do you really think you stand a chance against the great Hao Li without it?" Hao Li said roughly and laughed at him, as he sent his wolf forward. Caleb didn't take the bait, he didn't even use his weapon.

The giant beast, a wolf the size of a horse, was slugged straight in the face by the armored fist. The comparatively small figure of the knight stood still, as the massive wolf flew, turning around its own axis, and crashed into the arena floor, whimpering in pain. A dim light could be seen in the gaps of his helmet's visor as he looked straight back at the cultivator.

"How dare you!" Hao Li exclaimed incensed, seeing his pet hurt. His exposed muscles bulged as he charged at the silent Caleb. The aura around his body became visible to the naked eye as he rushed forward. However, his run came to a sudden halt when he had to evade the sharp stab of a lance, aiming for his eyes.

"Hng! You are wide open!" he recovered, trying to aim for the gap in the knight's defense after he got past the spear's tip. Yet again, his fist met a gauntlet's palm in midair and was stopped in its tracks. Caleb clenched the man's hand securely.

The expressionless helmet looked Hao Li in the face. Still, the cultivator got the message the moment he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. He was the one that was open. The knight had exchanged the lance for a dagger and wordlessly started stabbing him repeatedly, not letting go of his hand.

"Guohh!"

Accompanied by a massive roar of pain and anger, Hao Li exploded with force and managed to wrench away his hand from the knight's death grip. The beats cultivator took his distance, examining the extent of his wounds. His chiseled six-pack was mangled, at least none of the perforations was big enough for his entrails to hang out.

Caleb on the other hand could be seen silently wiping the blood off the dagger before changing back to the lance. He was clear, that he could have killed the cultivator then and there, but he was also clear that he didn't show the best figure in the previous events.

After the loss against the golem and his performance during the race, he felt like the audience saw him as someone overly reliant on the Wyvern. It didn't feel good to be underestimated, just because he approached the events with leisure. He would show them the power of a dragon knight by making an example of Hao Li.

"If you have any other tricks up your sleeve, bring them out now," the knight said calmly, his deep voice reverberating in the stadium. His calm, confident demeanor seemed out of character for the Caleb they had seen so far, but it scratched an itch none of the other contestants had touched upon so far.

Calm and confident in his skills. Yet he did not directly strike down his opponent but gave them the chance to display their best skills. This was the niche the saintess of Gatris could have occupied if she wasn't an absolute crazy wench, that disgusted the audience with her mockery and sadism.

Hao Li didn't have to be asked twice. He opened the pouches on his belt and beasts started appearing in the arena. Another two wolves of similar size to the first one, a tiger the size of an elephant, a bear the size of a house, an eagle the size of a small plane, a creature that looked like a deer, bigger and with a set of sharp teeth and some more monsters the knight found hard to describe.

Caleb had not expected for the man to pull out an army of beasts from his belt. He was prepared for a power-up skill other cultivators like Dumm Ting showed, but not that he would turn out to be a tamer class.

"Haha, you should have ended me when you had the chance, shiny man!" Hao Li chuckled. Protected by a snake humongous snake, the cultivator sat down cross-legged and started meditating. Was he mocking him? no, after a moment of observation, Caleb found that all beasts suddenly had a visible aura. Looking at the status, all of their stats had risen by 10%. Hao Li was actually buffing his pets from the rear!

He clicked his tongue. This was going to be a challenge without Wyvern, unless... he acted a little unknightly. Caleb's arm wound back as a small round bottle appeared in his hand. With a mighty throw, the bottle was flung among the crowd of beasts.

A gray vapor rose from the place where the bottle landed and enveloped Hao Li and the beasts. Some of the beasts caughed, others bled from their eyes and nose. Hao Li started retching violently. After rising by 10%, all of their stats had now fallen by 30%.

"P-Poison? How could you?" The audience was also shocked at the sudden twist. Caleb simply shrugged his shoulders.

"You buff them, I debuff them. it's the name of the game. if there is something I learned after watching you cultivators fight in the preliminaries, then that I don't need a corresponding class to chuck poison bottles at someone. And I came prepared," he added and threw another one.

As if receiving a silent command, all beasts suddenly charged at the knight, like they were trying to stop him from throwing another one. This was the moment Caleb had waited for. He threw the bottle on the ground, creating a smoke screen.

It was true, he had broken out from his narrow perspective, after watching the tournament. If he was in single combat, nothing stopped him from using consumables to create an advantage for himself. using poison in this way may have been different when in a party, or in a dungeon, but nothing hindered him here.

Although Caleb had no dedicated skill to see inside the smoke screen he created, he didn't need it, after all, he didn't stay in there. His aim was not the beasts...

The Knight used <Dragon Knight's Charge>, which would usually be used on the back of his mount, to shoot straight through the mist, his lance pointing ahead. On his way, he had grazed past the massive bear, creating a clean cut-out on its hind leg.

Leaving the beasts behind him, there was nothing but Hao Li and the snake before him. The poison mist he spread didn't affect him, after all, he had drunk the antidote not too long ago. The snake charged forward to stop him and passed by the lance he had thrown midway.

While the serpentine foe received the same treatment as the wolf at the start, being flung away by a brutal, armored punch, the lance traveled unchallenged, aiming for Hao Li. but the beats cultivator couldn't be underestimated. The lance, powered by a skill, was deflected by a glowing talisman suddenly appearing in the air.

But before Hao Li could gloat about the fact, that the sneak attack was unsuccessful, Caleb was already upon him, the symbol of knighthood in his hand. The sword had left its sheath. Glowing with greenish-blue sword aura it drew a simple slash, from the top of the head, down to the ground.

The battle ended as the two halves of Hao Li fell to the arena floor.