Martial Arts Worlds - Chapter 426

Chapter 426: Tree Spears
Last night, slightly past midnight.

Shuffling under the bedsheets, Kiernan stared silently at the ceiling while feeling Aoi’s naked body clinging against his arm.

She was soundly asleep and snuggled up against him as if seeking warmth and comfort in his presence.

Kiernan couldn’t sleep.

He’d prefer getting a good night’s sleep before the important matches, but once again, his nerves were fighting against him.

He couldn’t help but think about tomorrow, knowing that it was an important day, and he didn’t want to lose.

“Sigh…”

Kiernan carefully moved Aoi off him, carefully placed her head on the pillow, sat back up, and covered her naked self with the blanket.

She looked like she was frowning as she lost the warmth she loved very much.

Kiernan put his clothes on, caressed the ring on his finger, and then silently left the room so that he wouldn’t wake up a certain someone.

…

A few hours later.

Kiernan stood in the middle of a dark forest, the light of the stars shining down on him, and he then turned around, looking straight at the martial arts temple.

He came to check out the area around the temple for tomorrow’s match as he wanted to see if there was any plan he could come up with.

A moment ago, he climbed on top of a tree to see how the martial arts temple’s fighting stage would look, but he saw nothing except sand.

It didn’t seem like there was any plan there he could come up with, so he decided to focus on the forest around the temple.

“Hugo should be my opponent, and if his defense is as strong as Master Arakawa says, then I know exactly what I should do.”

Kiernan crouched on the ground, picked up a handful of dirt, and then looked at the trees around him with a knowing smile.

…

Present day.

Kiernan jumped off the sand and drove his feet into Hugo’s guard, who grunted in response.

“Iron Style, Strong Drive!”

Hugo’s feet slid backwards as Kiernan kept pushing him back with a kick and soon made his back touch the rock wall.

Kiernan jumped backwards, flipped in the air, landed on the sand, and then launched himself forward with his left arm in front of his body.

“Iron Style, Car Crash!”

Kiernan tackled straight into his guard, made the rock wall behind Hugo’s back crack, and then sent him flying through the century-old wall.

The temple priest’s eyes widened in shock.

“Oh my god!”

“They’ve destroyed the temple’s walls!”

Hugo tumbled down to the ground, and his back hit the hard trunk of a tree with a loud thud.

“Strong Drive!”

Kiernan smashed his feet into his sturdy body and sent him crashing through the thick trees with a powerful force.

CRACK! CRASH! CRACK!

“They’re fighting outside!”

“Fuck, let’s go watch!”

Everyone hopped off their seats and ran through the broken wall to spectate the match that was happening in the outside forest.

The temple priest hopped over the wall, used the trees as a ladder to climb up, and overseered the chaos that was unfolding in the forest.

Kiernan dug his hand under one of the trees, unrooted it from the ground, and then hurled the ten-meter-tall tree at Hugo!

“Iron Style, Tree Spear!”

The tree smashed into wide-eyed Hugo and sent him flying through the air before he crashed into a steep hill with the ground shaking beneath him.

“This is fucking nuts!”

“Kiernan is destroying the sacred forest!”

“What insane strength!”

Hugo stumbled back to his feet, his body shaking in pain as he had received punishment like never before.

He had never been beaten up so ruthlessly before, and he, who had gotten used to having day-long fights before, was already at the brink of defeat!

At that moment, trees came flying through the air, and before he could do a single thing, the trees came crashing down on him.

The trees buried him deep into the ground and left bloody scratches all around his body. It was such a one-sided show of power.

Kiernan leaped forward—long and strong leaps—then jumped up into the air, and as he saw Hugo climb himself out of the tree debris, he landed a powerful blow to his chest.

THWACK! THUMP!

“Urgh!”

With a bloody cough, Hugo smashed back to the ground, and then Kiernan started raining punches at him mercilessly.

The sound of the knuckles hitting flesh reverberated throughout the forest, and the onlookers couldn’t help but take a loud gulp.

“Argh!”

Hugo pushed Kiernan off him, jumped to his feet, and swung his fist at him—but Kiernan dodged it and drilled his spinning fist into his stomach.

“Hyperion’s Smash!”

Hugo got sent flying backward and smashed through a few more trees before landing on the ground with a thud.

With painful sounds, he tried to stand back up, but his body was fighting against him and was telling him to rest.

“Come on! Don’t do this!”

Kiernan walked ahead, grabbed a tree by its trunk, but as he was about to unroot it, he turned his gaze to one of its branches.

Aoi, with a lovely smile, sat on the tree branch with her legs dangling off the side.

“Aoi, dear. Mind taking a seat elsewhere?”

Kiernan asked with a smile.

“Sure~”

Aoi jumped off the tree and landed on the branch of a neighboring tree, watching the fight with a smile on her face.

Kiernan picked up the tree from its roots, dragged it behind him as he walked over to Hugo, and saw him struggling to get on his feet.

He lifted the tree over his shoulder and prepared to smash it down as if it were a sword or something.

“I…”

Hugo looked at the massive tree and could only imagine the pain it would cause if it hit him directly.

With his body unwilling to listen, he let out a deep sigh and only raised his right arm.

“I… surrender!”

Hearing that, Kiernan dropped the tree to the side, exhaling a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.

“Unbelievable…”

The crowd couldn’t believe it.

“I think I have heard that no one has been able to defeat Hugo in less than three hours. This match didn’t even last three minutes!”

The temple priest looked deeply at Kiernan and then announced.

“Match is over—Arakawa Kiernan is victorious!”