Cheat Awakening

Myne, in a hurry, barely raised his arms when Krythik's fist crashed into his forearms like a warhammer, the impact shuddering through his bones. Myne staggered back, his teeth rattling from the pain. Five times a normal man's strength, and he was barely a match for his opponent. This bastard, a grotesque blend of human and insect, possessed fists that felt like iron and struck with an agonizing force that hurt like hell.

Krythik pressed his attack relentlessly. A jab snapped Myne's head back. A low kick buckled his knee, nearly dropping him. Thankfully, Krythik seemed to be toying with him, his strikes precise and controlled, not aimed to kill him.

Myne, already aware of his opponent's dark intentions, gritted his teeth and blocked the incoming punch aimed at his face, countering with a brutal hook to Krythik's ribs. However, Myne's full-powered punch barely flinched Krythik; his natural armoured plates were not just for show, effectively absorbing the blow.

A spined elbow grazed Myne's cheek, splitting the skin. Blood trickled down his jaw.

If this continues like this, I am going to be beaten to death, Myne thought, but thankfully, Keythik didn't seem to possess any special skills or abilities, only excelling in hand-to-hand combat, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.

As Myne contemplated ending the battle, Krythik lunged again. This time, instead of directly taking the hit, Myne's right hand snapped open, and he used the Holy Palm Eye skill without hesitation.

An eye appeared in the middle of his palm, and a powerful light erupted from it – a detonation of searing white. Although it was daytime, because Myne, the wealthy guy, poured hundreds of mana points directly into it, the light from the eye was more powerful than dozens of flashbangs detonating simultaneously.

Krythik reeled back, hissing, and covered his face with his clawed hands, while his remaining two hands flailed wildly, stopping anyone who tried to approach.

Seeing that his plan had worked, Myne quickly used the Paste skill and glued Krythik's two clawed hands to his face.

Although Krythik was powerful, his strength was purely physical. He possessed no other advantages except for his thick skin. When he realised he couldn't move his hands away from his face, he began panicking, running around like a crazed bull, smashing into the nearby trees.

Just as Krythik slammed into a tree and fell to the ground, Myne used the Paste skill again, glueing the other party's buttocks and legs to the ground. Krythik snarled, his muscles bulging as he strained against the bindings—but he soon realised he was helpless and would only injure himself further if he used too much force.

Just then, Myne, finally feeling at ease, grinned evilly, rubbed his fists together, and struck his opponent hard.

A fist to the gut, where the chitin was thinnest. A knee, harder. Krythik gagged, and acidic saliva sprayed from his mandibles. Myne grabbed one of his curved horns and wrenched, twisting his head sideways. A sickening crack split the air.

Feeling his injuries worsening, Krythik, the ruthless fighter, leaving a trail of green blood and bits of armour and skin from his buttocks and legs behind, stood up.

At the moment of life and death, he had found a way to get rid of Myne's Paste skill, although it had cost him dearly.

Krythik gritted his teeth in pain and surged forward, blind but furious. Myne sidestepped, laughing now, the thrill of the fight coursing through him. He was also enjoying the feeling of bullying the weak.

He drove a knuckle into the joint behind Krythik's knee. The warrior fell to his knees, and Myne's thumb found the soft membrane of an eye between the other party's claws and pressed it hard.

"AHHHHH!!!"

Krythik, who hadn't opened his mouth until now, howled crazily.

But someone obviously wasn't interested in wasting any more time. The final blow was a palm strike to Krythik's thorax, right where those eerie, glowing runes pulsed. The carapace splintered, and Myne's palm went directly into his opponent's thorax.

Krythik's body shivered for a few seconds before he collapsed, hitting the muddy ground with a thud.

Myne planted a boot on Krythik's neck and leaned down, his breath ragged. He had never thought that a battle could be so exciting. Of course, he still preferred the wizard style of bombarding his opponents from afar and leaving them in despair.

Thud!

Myne, who was panting heavily, also fell to the ground, not caring that his clothes were getting dirty. Although the battle was very exciting because his opponent was so ruthless, he was forced to maintain one hundred percent attention and didn't dare to make any mistakes. He believed that after witnessing his skills, if he had even once fallen into Krythik's grasp, he would have died. Only an idiot would still care about his little brother when his own life was in danger.

At this moment, just as Myne was resting, a prompt appeared before him.

[ You have gained the attention of the Boundless Blood Pool. ]

[ You have gained the attention of the Lord of Hell, and he has given you a thumbs-up in admiration for defeating an opponent more powerful than yourself. He is looking forward to your next performance. ]

That bastard is watching my battle? Just how free is he? Doesn't he have anything better to do?

Myne wasn't surprised that the guy with the weird name, Boundless Blood Pool, was watching him since his opponent had been specially picked by him to teach him a lesson. But what made his blood boil was that the shameless merchant was actually watching for fun and, instead of giving him something good that could help in the upcoming battle, was simply talking nonsense.

Just don't give me a chance, otherwise, I will f*cked up your entire family, Myne thought, fearing his words might be heard, he could only curse silently in his mind.

Just then, the surrounding scenery dissipated like broken bubbles, and he returned to the ancient and vast arena. He was teleported directly in front of the statues of the five monarchs, or gods, whichever they preferred to be called.

"Huh?"

Myne noticed that the other three statues remained still, but the stone fountain-like statue had begun to "gurgle" and was now spurting out blood, soaking the stone moon that floated in the centre of it. As for the statue of the travelling merchant, aside from the runes that had now spread across its entire surface, there wasn't much change.

[ Congratulations, host! Your performance has been appreciated by the Boundless Blood Pool! It has decided to let you go this time and will not interfere in other battles. ]

"Phew, that's good. If someone more powerful than that incest freak appears in the next battle, I am definitely going to be beaten," Myne breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the good news from the system.

While Myne was talking with the system, suddenly a ray of light shone on his head, and a message appeared in his mind.

The Lord of Hell, the guy who liked to pretend to be a travelling merchant and fool innocent people, wanted to cheat his fellow comrades, meaning the other four monarchs, and for this, he hoped Myne could continue fighting and win the remaining two battles as well.

Then, knowing Myne's cowardly personality, before he could complain, a notification appeared before him.

[ Congratulations to the host for clearing the first round of the battle.

You have received 20 free attribute points and 1000 coins. ]

"What a big deal. That bastard is now forcing me to fight to the death."

Myne couldn't help but show a look of amazement. He was worthy of being a Lord of Hell. He could get such a generous reward for just a casual fight.

"But why are the coins so few? At least he should have added another zero. For someone of his status, didn't he feel ashamed of giving only 1000 coins?"

Myne couldn't help but complain and quickly allocated his free attribute points. He urgently needed strength, so there was no point in saving them.

[ Name: Glitcher (Myne Fortuna) ( 666666 )

Level: 5 ( 234/1500 )

Race: Human

Strength: 31 → 41

Endurance: 31 → 36

Agility: 27 → 32

Spirit: 107 → 167

Mana: 74 → 94 ( Stored Mana: 1726 )

Free Attribute Points: 0

Coins: 4000 ]

[ Skill Bar: Holy Palm Eye, Appraisal・Complete, Inventory, Cut & Paste, Thunder Ball ( 3/3 ). ]

[ Item Bar: Hundred-Man Killer Knife, Eye of the Evil God ] ( Total 5 Grids / one with each level )

Thanks to the Eye of the Evil God, after he added 20 points (10 to strength, and 5 each to endurance and agility), his spirit automatically gained 60 extra points, three times the total value of the spent attribute points. Because spirit and mana were connected at a fundamental level, his mana also received a significant boost, directly gaining 20 points. However, since he had his inventory to store mana, he didn't care much about it.

As his attributes increased significantly, Myne felt like his entire body was blooming with energy, especially his spirit, which not only helped him resist the abyssal pollution but also cleared his mind, increased his thought process, and made his sixth sense stronger.

"Not bad, not bad. Now I have the confidence to deal with the next opponent. Without the interference of those monarchs, I am surely able to handle the next one with ease."

"System, let's start the second battle."

As soon as Myne finished speaking, an altar slowly rose in the middle of the five statues. On it were placed a large number of fresh fruits and vegetables, most of which Myne had never seen before. There was also a huge wild boar-like beast with flaming orange and blue fur, golden pupils, and two long, elephant-like teeth, its limbs tied up and struggling constantly. Next to the wild boar was a dagger made of bones from an unknown monster.

[ Open the belly of the tribute, sacrifice to the Eternal Void Eye, and ask it to witness the ancient sacred duel. ]

What's the point of these formalities this time? Can't we just do it normally like before? Although Myne was complaining, he still did it without any hesitation.

Amid the painful screams of the huge wild boar, the dark red blood dyed the entire altar red. At the same time, the blood moon above the bloody arena emitted a scarlet light as if it had accepted Myne's sacrifice.

Not long after, the surrounding scenery began to change. This time, Myne appeared on a floating rock above a volcano. Flowing magma surged beneath the rock, and there were only a few other rocks for people to step on besides the one he was standing on.

Aside from the frightening environment, the super hot temperature, and the lack of any land around him, what caught his attention more was that there were three huge statues around the volcano!

They were the blood-spraying fountain, the strange wriggling maggot, and a devil with a cheap smile on his face. But at this time, the three statues had become extremely huge, much taller than the volcano, almost reaching the sky. They surrounded the volcano like three giants looking at toys in their palms.