Chapter 142: Butcher

"I know him! He was my classmate! There’s no way he’s going to win against the Butcher..."

"Anyone other than the top elite leaders of the License Exam stands a chance either, to be honest."

"But I guess that group doesn’t have any other chance, right? They don’t have anyone else aside from their leader who possess strong enough skills."

People were doubting whether Paul could even last for a few seconds. They weren’t even thinking that he could win at this point, especially with how he presented himself.

Paul was a lanky dude. He looked as frail as a stickman. Anyone would think that he would be blown away with a single sneeze from the Butcher.

"Don’t hurt him too bad!" said someone from Carter’s group.

"Hahahaha! I don’t think we’ll be able to do anything in this duel. The Butcher may defeat everyone there!"

"Remind me again why we put him up first."

Despite all of that jeering, Paul remained focused. He turned back towards his group. His friends gave him encouraging words and expressions full of support.

But that didn’t matter. The only thing that he had to think about was Eren’s words.

"Relax," Eren said. "You can beat him. Just do as I’ve told you."

Paul nodded with determination. And finally, both fighters entered into the fray.

There was no outside bounds here. The only way to lose was to surrender or to fall into unconsciousness.

And it seemed that the Butcher was going to try and do exactly that.

The large man lunged towards Paul, his entire arm up to his shoulders emanating Reinforcement.

He used his Martial Manual. Multiple large swings allowed the Butcher to create a tornado-like effect in his R?zoň Reinforcement, sucking in anything in front of him.

Paul felt his own body getting dragged forwards. His feet was barely dragging on the floor.

Eventually though, he used his new knowledge of the Primal Step to use his Negative Reinforcement to keep his feet tethered to the floor. A vacuum underneath his feet solved the problem that plagued him right this second.

Surprised, the Butcher clicked his tongue.

"Woah... he survived the Blender."

"If he had been caught by that suction force, it would have been over."

"Meh. He got lucky."

Eventually, the Butcher got tired and stopped swinging his arms in circular motions. The tornado in his hands ceased, returning everything back to a normal Reinforcement.

This time, the Butcher raised his hand and began to mold his own R?zoň.

The hazy, vague shape soon turned into something with a hook. Then, the Butcher threw it upwards, like a fishing line being cast.

But unlike a fishing line, this casting was faster than normal. It homed towards Paul before sticking itself on his back.

Suddenly, Paul felt himself getting pulled upwards by the hook. Even the vacuum in his feet couldn’t help keep his feet tethered to the ground.

Paul struggled as his feet hovered a few inches above the floor. He was like a pig being laid on a hook to be drained of its blood.

Then, the Butcher charged forwards and sent multiple punches towards Paul.

These punches were exacerbated by R?zoň. It grew to a punch the size of a human person itself! Being hit by this attack would send anyone into a coma immediately.

But Paul simply looked at his opponent and frowned.

He took a deep breath and told himself to remember what Eren told him. ’Trust your power.’

And right at that second, Paul unleashed his own counter-attack.

With his fingers unfurled, he sent out a thrust of his palm towards the Butcher’s attack.

His hands glowed with R?zoň. And in turn, a golden hand suddenly appeared right in front of Paul, protecting him from the Butcher’s attack.

The two Martial Manuals crashed into each other.

And the result should have been obvious. The Butcher should have overpowered Paul no matter what kind of Martial Manual that he had.

But the opposite had happened.

Paul’s Golden Hand was able to stop the Butcher’s Punch with relative ease. It was stable against the onslaught of the ’beating’ that Paul was going to take after being hanged on the hook.

"What?! How was he able to do that?"

This was the question asked by everybody in the room. Then, somebody who was way more knowledgeable about Martial Manuals spoke up.

"That’s... that’s the [Golden Hand]! That’s a Martial Manual from the Lindbergs!"

Immediately after saying that, a lot of people gasped out loud.

"So that’s what happened!"

"I did remember this group randomly earning the lootbox of the Lindbergs. He must have learned it then!"

"How lucky were they to get that?!"

Many were simply crediting this incredible upset because of the Martial Manual that Paul used. However, the more knowledge and skilled examinees were able to discern the truth.

After all, the [Golden Hand] was not as easy to execute as many people think. It was a technique that required a lot of practice and hard work to be used effectively.

And the people who knew that the most were the Proctors and the Sponsors watching this fight from afar.

Some of the people in the shadows all raised an eyebrow upon seeing this.

Paul may be emerging as a potential talent, surprisingly. If he was able to use the [Golden Hand] to such extent in such a short amount of time meant that he was incredibly talented, to the point where he could be comparable to the other leaders in this tournament.

But of course, this was just a preliminary thought.

Still, many of the proctors began to talk to each other.

"If anyone won’t speak up, then I’ll go for dibs on this young man," said an unknown Proctor.

"Come on. There are no dibs in this, you know that," retorted an unknown woman.

"Either way, I don’t think any of us will be able to recruit him. If the Lindbergs find out about this, which I’m sure they will, they will be sending a lot of gifts to keep this guy interested in them."