Chapter 154: Spar

    Derek laughed. I dont know what youre talking about. Its not like youve done anything to me. What good is being fast if you cant injure your opponent.

    Shae narrowed his eyes as he looked Dereks body over from the bottom up. Usually, a hit to the sternum would at least make the other person lose a little breath. Fine. Shae finally said.

    Derek moved into a boxing stance and prepared for an assault. He had a sinking suspicion that by the time the spar was over, his Physical Resistance passive was going to level up multiple times. Derek smiled and motioned Shae with his hand.

    Shae launched his attack. The man wasnt so fast that Derek couldnt defend against him, but he was fast. It was very hard to counterattack. It was all Derek could do to block his attacks, and the occasional one landed somewhere on Dereks body.

    This was fine, though. Derek didnt know how much of Shaes full strength was in the attacks, but it wasnt enough to do Derek much harm. Sure, the attacks were breaking his skin, but they werent piercing too deeply into his muscles.

    Derek could tell that Shae was beginning to wonder about Derek, as even though he had been hit and cut multiple times, he didnt flinch. His body was covered in blood, but Derek kept his usual smile.

    Finally, Derek found his opportunity. In a thrust to his side, Derek stepped forward and trapped Shaes spear with his arm. Then he grabbed it and pulled forward, causing Shae to finally enter his range. With his free left hand, Derek punched.

    Shae tilted his head to dodge, but Derek already knew he wouldnt be able to hit such a hard target. Instead, he changed the trajectory of his punch and hit the man in the center of his chest. The punch basically used all of Dereks strength.

    When the hit landed, Derek released the mans spear and took a step back. Shae stepped back a few times with the momentum from Dereks attack.

    Shae looked Derek over with a frown. Is that your strategy? To take a beating until you can get a single counterattack that doesnt do anything.

    Derek smiled, knowing that if he had been channeling void, that hit to the chest would have been critical. He doubted it would have been fatal, but it was definitely something that would be hard to recover from.

    Dereks grin got even wider as he took his hand and wiped at some of the blood on his abdomen. As he did so, everyone realized that there wasnt a mark left on his body. His torso was the same as it had been before the spar, minus the blood.

    I dont know what youre talking about. What beating? Derek asked. In all actuality, his health was at 100%. The beating he was taking wasnt anywhere worse than what the last void beast he fought had done. Not to mention that this time, it was after he upgraded his Vitality and Endurance stats and went through another breakthrough.

    Shae groaned. Youre a tank? He said. I hate fighting tanks. He muttered under his breath.

    Each time the spearhead stabbed Derek, it took with it a chunk of at least three percent of his HP. Still, the barrage of attacks kept landing, and Dereks smile never left his face. Occasionally, an attack would land that would pierce all the way through his muscle, and even penetrate his bones slightly.

    Derek finally guessed that the blue glow that fell over the mans spear was some kind of skill that increased penetration. Still, it didnt matter as the bone healed as soon as the spear was removed, and the muscle soon followed.

    If this part of the spar lasted much longer, the entire room was going to end up under a pool of Dereks blood.

    Two minutes later, Derek received a surprising notification. Both his Greater Meditation and his Physical Resistance had leveled up. Its about damn time. Derek thought about Greater Meditation. He couldnt remember the last time his favorite skill had leveled.

    The notification was a happy event for Derek, and he let it show on his face. His smile was even brighter. Apparently, Shae noticed his smile as well. That, and the fact that Derek was moving slowly and not even trying to block anymore must have irritated the man to no ends.

    Suddenly, Shae screamed, and another glow washed over the blur. Unlike the hastening and piercing skills before, this glow came with the activation of an actual combat skill.

    Derek felt the attack more than saw it. Three blows in his abdomen. He felt as the spear both penetrated the front and blew out of his back. The first attack pierced through, missing all of his organs, but the second hit the bottom of his left kidney, right below his ribs, causing a massive gash on the organ.

    That was enough for 30% of Dereks health, but the real damage came with the third blow. It broke through his rib cage and directly penetrated his liver before coming out the back.

    This caused Dereks eyes to widen as he weakly grabbed the spear, which was still penetrating his body, with his right hand. His health had fallen to 23% and was dipping even lower as his Vitality worked hard to repair all the damage.

    Derek! Thomas screamed from across the room.

    Derek looked up at Shae, who looked to be in a sense of panic. Thats a nice, Oh, shit! What did I just do? face. Derek thought. Luckily, once his kidney was healed, with the combination of his Vitality and Greater Meditation, his health was already shooting back up.

    Derek chuckled as his grip on the spear tightened. Then, he moved his left hand as if it were a blade and activated both Sweeping Slash and Multi-Strike. He could have gone with the void, but he didnt want to kill the man.

    The blows came rapidly as the man let go of his spear and jumped back with his arm in a cross shape. Derek clicked his tongue as Sweeping Slash just wasnt as good as it could be with a weapon. Still, the combination of the skills cut the mans forearms deeply through his bracers and even caused him to grunt in pain.

    Derek ripped the spear out of his liver and cast Rejuvenation on himself. Then he looked over at Thomas. You should leave the room. Its my turn. His fingertips began glowing blue as lightning flowed throughout his body.