Chapter 596 A Challenge?
"Are you sure about that?" Jack asked. "The more people you send our way, the more credit you'll give me. Then what will halmut do, huh? How hurt would he feel to know that he lost his followers without even losing himself?"
"Shut up!" Torian stated loudly, hurling a lightning bolt at Jack. As Jack vanished and reappeared alongside Moranti, Tornian continued, "If you don't want us to slaughter and overwhelm you, then what would you prefer? I'll allow you to choose your means of death."
"How about a challenge? I'm lv. 91 and I'll take on anyone of you head to head, including you Torian. Do you have the courage to step up or did Halmut already castrate you? How about you, Grixor? Want to pick up where we left off or will you always need a ball-less companion to back you up?"
Both Torian and Grixor let their inner rage fume and begin to heat their blood, in part to their disbelief of Jack only being lv. 91. But Lyrun was the one who responded, "There's no reason to accept that, not when we have the advantage!"
"But I can change that," added Moranti. "All I need is a second to open a rift and bring the gods of Trodar over. Would you prefer I do so now or in a few moments?"
"If you won't challenge me, then why don't we test our strongest mortals," stated Jack, stunning the gods above. The boisterous hero continued, "We place your five strongest mortals against our five strongest. The winner will claim Korten for themselves."
"We refuse!" shouted Lyrun, not hesitating.
Not only was Lyrun playing the part but he was genuinely against such a plight deep down. With Jack becoming a god, Lyrun deeply doubted that Trodar could face the mighty dragons present with mortals alone.
"Really? Then why should the world fear dragons? What's the point of being so huge and monstrous if they can't even win a one on one fight?" Jack ridiculed.
"How do we decide the victor?" asked Torian, ignoring Lyrun's previous statement.
Jack smiled and shrugged. "Death. How else?"
"And you won't interfere when your people lose their lives?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you the same question?"
"Torian, there's no point to this," Lyrun stated, trying to counter Jack's prodding words. "We should--"
"We accept the challenge. But the moment you break the deal or argue the end result, then you'll be overrun by us all," declared Torian. "We'll allow you to bring any mortals you have through a rift but no other gods are allowed to step through. If another god appears, then we'll immediately swarm you and the city."
"Very well. Then you won't complain when you lose the lives of five dragons?" questioned Jack.
"Such a thing won't happen," Torian firmly stated. "But should a dragon's life be lost, then we'll take it as a grudge that we'll seek revenge for in the future."
"Alright, then we have an agreement." Jack turned to Moranti, whose face was clearly puzzled. "Moranti, go and gather the best five. Be back in five minutes, got it?"
"You got it…" Moranti sighed, trusting Jack's judgment. Though he wondered why Jack agreed to have no other gods join them in Korten, Moranti did as Jack said and teleported away.
Looking up to the invading gods, Jack asked, "Where do you want to do this?"
Torian glanced around, finally pointing to the largest clearing he could find. "There."
Resituating themselves, the many gods gathered around the clearing, letting Jack, Eedaj, and Guuro claim a corner for their viewing pleasure. The dozens of dragons then landed and surrounded all edges of the clearing. There was no retreat or way out now, so each of the battles would only end in bloodshed.
After communicating with Moranti about the battlefield, a giant spatial rift appeared on one side of the clearing. It was dozens of meters wide and even went through the ground.
Four figures followed Moranti through the rift, causing Torian and the legendary gods to shift in place. Part of them immediately regretted accepting the challenge with so few questions answered prior.
All eyes focus on two figures, Jin and Hadurt. As a former god, Jin was the most experienced combatant and would easily be a threat to a lv. 89 dragon. The odds of such a match would at best be fifty-fifty, if not leaning in Jin's favor. And Hadurt was the former chaotic champion with training from numerous chaotic gods. Now that Hadurt had become a demon with Hell-flame Fox blood, it was also impossible to guarantee a victory against him.
The remaining two figures didn't get as much attention at first, but they were credible enough to merit a glance.
Phoro was quickly recognized, though no one was able to see his level. But the Minokawa was now five meters tall and looked more like a dragon with feathers than he did a bird.
The last figure was a complete mystery. It looked like a man but he wore a legendary roxite helmet, something that even the gods rarely knew existed. No one was able to see through the helmet, sense the man's level, or peak at his face. He also wore light, flexible armor and showed no skin whatsoever.
But there was something wrong.
"Where's your fifth challenger?" questioned Torian. "Don't tell me that--"
"He's already here. Just ask Grixor."
Startled by Jack's statement, the Storm Dragon glanced at the god beside him. "Really?"
Nodding, Grixor replied, "This will be interesting…"
"Very well…" Troian sighed, taking half a moment to think. "Let's have all five matches take place at the same time. Any victor of a match will then be allowed to aid their party after killing their opponent. Do you object to that?"
"So you want to make individual fights grow into a party battle? I'm not against it, but remember that you asked for it," replied Jack, shaking his head.
Torian took a look around the clearly, sizing up the dragons in search of the best matchups.
"Don't forget him," added Grixor, pointing to a Quake Dragon. "He'll face the fifth opponent."
"Then we'll have it like this!"
Once Torian chose the five dragons, including Grixor's suggestion, they entered the clearing. All combatants spread out as the dragons approached their predetermined prey according to Torian's orders without any objection from Jack.