MMORPG: Rebirth of the Mortal Online - Chapter 65

Chapter 65: Adam vs. Markus
The crowd was speechless as Kuro’s body fell to the floor, his eyes blank and drool dripping from the corner of his mouth.

Alice covered her mouth in a surprise gasp—she looked straight at Adam with sparkling eyes.

At that moment, the referee rushed to Kuro’s side and quickly checked his pulse.

“He’s fine, but he will be sleeping for the rest of the day.” Adam said with a reassuring smile.

The referee gulped and nodded. ‘Kuro is not a slouch. He is slightly above average in this dojo, but no one has ever defeated him this quickly before.’

‘That fight was short, but it taught me something valuable.’

Adam thought to himself and looked down at his right hand’s middle finger. It was slightly bruised and starting to swell. His own attack also injured himself!

‘My body is far too weak. In my past life, my fists could easily punch through walls, but now they are weak.’

At the second floor’s office, the bald-headed man sat back down.

“Markus, go fight him.”

“Me?!” Markus exclaimed and pointed at himself. “Why?”

“Our dojo can’t lose face.” The bald-headed man lazily waved his hand. “I also want to see how strong he really is.”

Markus narrowed his eyes, bowed, and then left the office. He walked down the stairs and caught sight of Alice, excitedly cheering on the sidelines.

‘Don’t hate me for what I am about to do to him.’ Markus rubbed his neck. ‘There’s a reason why we have our very own medical wing. Sometimes, pulling punches just isn’t an option.’

After Kuro was carried away by other karateka’s, the referee was about to announce another challenge match. Adam was also about to leave the stage. Then Markus went to the referee and whispered something in his ear.

The referee looked surprised before smiling. “The next challenge is Markus versus Adam!”

After hearing that, the crowd turned excited. Markus was the top-ranked student, after all, and was only below the master in terms of karate skills.

“I have to fight more?” Adam looked slightly surprised, but then walked back to the stage.

‘Markus against Adam…’ Alice looked worried for Adam’s safety. ‘Markus is the reigning Teen Karate Champion.’

“Are you two ready?” The referee asked loudly.

Markus put his hands beside him, bowed, and then straightened up confidently. He then moved into his fighting stance. It was a straight stance with his feet close to each other, his right foot slightly in front, and his hands raised in front of his face.

To the surprise of many, Adam moved into a boxing stance. His stance leaned closer to the left, with his weight shifted onto his back foot and his left hand held out in front of him.

‘Boxing?’ Markus frowned. ‘Isn’t he a user of Aikido? Perhaps he knows more martial arts? No, this could be a trick. Based on his body type, he shouldn’t be that familiar with boxing.

‘Aikido doesn’t necessarily need a strong body to work, as it is mostly throws and joint locks, which rely on technique and leverage rather than strength or size.’

At the second floor’s office, the bald-headed man crossed his arms.

‘Markus, do not underestimate your opponent. You’re familiar with fighting other karateka’s as you’ve done that for your entire life, but you’re very unexperienced in other martial arts. You might’ve studied about them, but fighting is a completely different aspect!’

Adam smiled casually, waiting for the match to start. His plan had already gone into motion. He made Markus overthink, causing his brain to overclock.

He could’ve used his boxing and other martial arts as trump cards to surprise Markus, but he had another plan. He wanted Markus to be uncertain, so he went straight to the boxing stance.

Based on his confused appearance, Adam was certain that Markus was thinking hard about whether he could actually box or if this was a trick.

Now, whenever he attacked, Markus’ reactions to his attacks would be a beat slower, as he had to be careful for other martial arts.

‘Markus is powerful when facing other karateka’s, but he is inexperienced when it comes to other martial arts. The more martial arts I use, the slower his reactions will be because of his inexperience.’

Markus sweated heavily. The fight hadn’t even started yet. Just like Adam predicted, he was overclocking his brain.

‘Can he really box? Is there more martial arts he knows? Maybe he just wants to confuse me with boxing, and when the time comes, he’ll use aikido to either throw me or put me into a joint lock.

‘His strikes are not a joke either, as proved in Kuro’s match. His middle-knuckle punch knocked him out cleanly, but his right hand is slightly injured. His attacks will lack strength, which is why I don’t think he will go boxing.’

The referee raised his arm and then, with a loud shout, swung it down.

“Fight!”

‘I can’t let him control the match; I’ll have to attack!’

Markus decided and instantly moved forward. The crowd grew excited.

‘He went straight to offense; good idea.’ Adam prepared for his attacks. ‘If he planned to do it slowly and use defense, I would’ve defeated him in a matter of seconds.’

“Rah!” Markus twisted his waist and threw a powerful straight punch.

Adam opened his clenched fists and slapped the punch away with ease. He then slightly backed away.

‘That slap didn’t hurt!’ Markus grinned and started throwing punches like a rapid gun, not allowing Adam to escape him.

Adam slapped the punches away while backing off constantly. As he was about to fall off the stage, he quickly jumped to the side and circled around Markus, who turned around and continued to throw punches.

Smack, smack, smack, smack!

The crowd cheered for Markus’ relentless advance.

Alice looked worried. ‘Adam…’

To the eyes of many, it looked like Adam was barely able to parry the attacks with his slaps. He was also constantly retreating and being pushed to the edge of the stage. It looked like it was only a matter of time before Markus’ punch landed.

Adam stayed silent, and at that moment, his feet reached the edge of the stage. He immediately stopped backing off and continued parrying the punches.

Markus grinned and started throwing jabs, trying to break through the defense. He was now in the perfect position. If Adam tried to jump to safety, he would use either hook punch or kick to catch him mid-air.

‘This victory is mine!’

The jabs were fast and precise. Almost looking invisible in the untrained eye. However, still, strangely enough, all of them were parried away.

And soon, the crowd started noticing it as well. Not a single punch landed, even though Markus had already thrown nearly fifty jabs.

‘W-why can’t I break through?’ Markus wondered with a sweat-ridden face, and his hands started to ache.

Adam’s hands weren’t that strong, but after being slapped nearly a hundred times, his arms started to sting.

‘I’ll have to shift to a more powerful punch; jabs won’t cut it!’ Markus reeled in his fist, preparing for a straight punch.

Adam’s eyes widened.

This was a moment he was waiting for!

Squeeze!

Suddenly, Adam grabbed Markus by his wrist and twisted it, causing Markus to let out a painful groan.

Still, Markus wasn’t planning to allow him to do that. He quickly threw a hook punch from an unguarded angle and landed a direct hit on Adam’s abdomen.

“Cough!” Adam coughed in pain, but he tanked it, and then he slammed his waist against Markus and threw him over his shoulder.

Markus’ worldview turned upside down, and then he crashed back-fist onto the hard floor.

THUD!