Chapter 759: A Tricky Power

This was Max’s chance.

He stared directly at Dud as several thoughts ran through his mind, but the strongest emotion among them was anger.

"There are a lot of things I planned to do after waking up in this new body," Max said. "But certain situations and certain people kept getting in my way."

He lowered his stance and prepared to attack.

"And you keep getting in my way!"

Max jumped into the air and spun, swinging his heel towards the side of Dud’s head.

Dud ducked beneath the spinning kick. The moment Max landed, Dud reached for his leg, using his entire body to try to secure it. If he could trap the limb, he would be able to grapple Max and force him to the ground.

Max quickly pulled his leg back.

Dud’s hands followed, his fingers attempting to close around Max’s ankle. Before they could establish a firm grip, Max reached down and caught hold of them.

He twisted Dud’s fingers and pulled them down with force.

Several sharp cracks rang out as the bones broke.

The damage forced Dud to release Max’s leg, freeing him from the attempted grapple. However, there was no pain or concern on Dud’s face.

Instead, he smiled.

Dud moved his fingers, flexing them one after another. The broken bones shifted back into place, and within moments, his hand appeared as good as new.

Is his power like Joe’s? Max wondered. Does he have some form of super healing?

The speed of Dud’s recovery was beyond anything Joe could currently achieve. Even after such a clear break, Dud’s fingers had repaired themselves almost instantly.

There’s something else to it as well. I can feel it.

Max couldn’t quite determine what he was missing.

Dud was far more skilled than he had been during their previous fight. The relaxed and arrogant man who had been part of the Rejected Corps had almost completely disappeared.

His movements were now sharper and more focused. There was no wasted effort or carelessness in the way he fought.

Perhaps Dud had always possessed this level of skill but had never taken his earlier fights seriously. It was also possible that becoming superhuman had allowed him to bring out abilities he had previously been unable to use properly.

Either way, Dud had become an extremely difficult opponent.

Fortunately, Max had gained more than the power of his own Vow.

Throughout his journey, he had watched a number of powerful fighters and copied parts of their fighting styles. He had taken the movements that suited him and added them to his own techniques.

Max charged forward and lifted his leg as though he were going to kick Dud in the head.

Dud reacted by raising his arm to block.

The kick never came.

It was a trick Max had learned from Darius. While Dud’s attention remained fixed on the raised leg, Max twisted his body and compacted all his power into his right fist.

He drove it into the side of Dud’s ribs, striking with the same kind of force and movement that Na would have used.

Max felt the ribs crack beneath his knuckles.

At the same moment, Dud’s fist slammed into the side of Max’s face.

The knuckles of Dud’s gloves had been reinforced with hardened pads that felt almost like metal. The strike rattled Max’s head, and his balance disappeared for a moment.

He staggered backwards before jumping away to create some distance.

When Max landed, his legs wobbled beneath him. For a second, he thought he might topple over, but he managed to remain standing.

"You can hurt me as much as you want, Max, but it won’t do a damn thing," Dud said.

A sneering laugh escaped from him.

"Actually, maybe I shouldn’t have said hurt. You can damage me as much as you want."

The choice of words gave Max the answer he had been searching for.

Dud didn’t merely possess a powerful healing ability. His cracked ribs would quickly repair themselves, but that alone didn’t explain how he had counterattacked immediately after receiving such a heavy blow.

Most people would have flinched or lost their breath. Even with rapid healing, the pain should have interrupted their movement.

Dud had shown no reaction at all.

He can’t feel pain.

That was why Dud had been willing to break his own arms to escape Max’s submission hold. He hadn’t hesitated because there had been no pain warning him to stop.

His healing repaired the damage while his inability to feel it allowed him to continue fighting as though nothing had happened.

This is going to make the fight much harder than I initially thought, Max realised. How powerful is his healing? Am I going to have to kill him with a single attack just to stop him?

Max had already been placing his full strength behind his attacks. He had broken Dud’s fingers and cracked his ribs, yet neither injury had slowed him down.

The other option was to attack faster than Dud could recover. If Max continued piling damage onto him, perhaps Dud’s body would eventually reach its limit.

No matter how powerful the Vow was, the energy required to heal had to come from somewhere. At some point, his body should become unable to keep repairing itself.

At least, that was what Max hoped.

"I told you that even if the two of us fought one-on-one, I would be the one to win," Dud said. "It seems you didn’t believe me, but I’m here to prove it to you."

Dud’s ribs had already returned to their original shape. He stood straight again, showing no trace of the damage Max had caused.

"Oh, and by the way, I don’t think you’ve been keeping an eye on your two friends," Dud added. "They aren’t doing particularly well."

Max didn’t want to take his attention away from the opponent in front of him, but he risked a quick glance towards the other fight.

Darius was on the ground after taking a kick to the stomach.

Jett was still standing, but blood was running from several parts of his body. He had suffered multiple injuries while trying to keep up with Popper.

In comparison, Popper and Dipter both appeared to be in good condition.

Max might have defeated them before, but he had made enormous improvements in a short amount of time. His strength and skills had grown faster than those of nearly everyone around him.

Darius and Jett hadn’t experienced the same rapid progress.

They had arrived to help, but they were already struggling against opponents who had beaten them once before. All they could realistically do was buy Max time.

That time was still valuable, but it wouldn’t last forever.

If Popper and Dipter finish their fights and join Dud again, I’ll be in serious trouble.

The moment Max finished the thought, a faint noise came from somewhere in the distance.

It was the sound of rumbling, steadily echoing towards them.