231: Beatrice’s First Opponent

“That’s a relief!” Beatrice said in response to Number Twenty-six’s declaration of killing intent. Although she was already no stranger to taking a life, it somehow was easier to come to terms with killing another when she knew that they had the same intention.

Proactive self-defense? Beatrice wondered how her mind rationalized when and how it was fine to take a life, even if she was the one who arranged the circumstances for such a situation. Even back in the Shadow Woods, surely a solution could have been reached for dealing with the murder-rapist bandits without acting as the judge, jury, and executioner. And yet, Beatrice acted without hesitation.

But there was no time for such moral dilemmas right now—Beatrice was about to tango with her first opponent in these Games.

“Relief? Did I hear you right?” Number Twenty-six asked in disbelief, astonished and insulted by Beatrice’s easygoing demeanor. “What’s with that carefree, daydreaming attitude? You’re taking this way too lightly.”

“Same goes for you. Or did you forget that of us four only one person is supposed to survive?” Beatrice pointed out. “Even if you kill me and your wife wins her fight, you’d still have to fight each other to the death.”

“You’re worrying about the wrong thing,” Number Twenty-six said.

“Oh? And what should I worry about?” Beatrice asked, preparing to fight as she sensed an approaching end to this conversation and saw her opponent slowly change his stance.

“About what I’ll do to your body for insulting my wife!” Number Twenty-six shouted and interlocked his fingers. “Power of Body!”

Number Twenty-six suddenly bulked up. His muscles grew in size and density as if he compressed two months’ worth of weight training into a single second. And he wasn’t done.

“Leg Double-up!” the man shouted. A moment later his leg muscles grew even bigger, pressed against his skinny pants, and tore them up in several places as the leg muscles worthy of a track cyclist could not be contained.

The next second, Number Twenty-six sprinted toward Beatrice with a battle cry, one hand in front of him, the other at his hip. The moment he was within range, he unleashed a powerful punch aiming it right for Beatrice’s solar plexus.

The punch connected perfectly.

Huh? Beatrice looked down, past her breasts, at the straight muscular arm that still pressed the fist against the skin of her abdomen.

“Huh?” Number Twenty-six blinked twice.

-30 HP

“That’s it?” Beatrice asked.

“WHUOAH!!” Number Twenty-six jumped back, flabbergasted at what just had transpired. He landed several yards away from the big-breasted bimbo that just took his all-out attack as if it was a punch of a child. With his glasses sliding off his nose, breathing heavily, the man tried to figure out what was going on as cold sweat formed on his forehead.

Beatrice looked at her poor, confused opponent while replaying in her mind what just happened. Nothing at all, really. Even though the succubus saw the beefed-up man charge at her at full speed, and could comprehend that he charged at her at full speed, it somehow felt like she had to patiently wait for him to reach her.

Even as the clenched fist flew directly at her, Beatrice kept changing her mind whether to simply step aside or to deflect it, or to catch it or to break his arm. In the end, the attack seemed so underwhelming that Beatrice could not conceive a reality in which it could possibly do any serious damage. So, Beatrice decided to simply take it head-on to gauge the maximum damage an undefended attack such as this could do to her.

Just thirty Health Points? Beatrice brought up her Information tab.

Information

Name

Beatrice

Age

18

Class

Succubus

Level

18 (22%)

Health Points

485/500 (+0.88/sec)

Arousal Points

73/279 (+0.01/sec)

Stamina Points

190/190 (+0.48/sec)

Physical Attack

17

Physical Defense

22

Magic Attack

19

Magic Defense

34

Speed

17

Not even a tenth of my total points! And half of it is already regenerated!

All this time, as Beatrice continued to level and make gains in her stats, it never seemed like she made substantial progress in her character’s combat power. But now that Beatrice looked back to her few combat experiences in this world, she single-handedly wiped out four opponents, and while her last opponent overwhelmed her in raw power, she still ended up besting him. And Steve was no grunt either, but a unit leader of a powerful organization in this city.

And since Beatrice’s fight with Steve, she gained six more levels and made several noticeable upgrades to her wardrobe which boosted her stats considerably, even without the cloak that Beatrice left with Ember.

When Beatrice took all that into account, as well as the fact that she entered a fighting event whose sole purpose was to exploit the desperate, what hope could her first no-name opponent of these Games even have against her?