Chapter 622: Panic

The next day, evening.

“Come on, Helvetti. You can do it!”

Wilhelm shouted with a grin.

The humanity were cheering. Animal Kingdom stayed silent.

“…Heh.”

Helvetti wrapped his knuckles with the white tape and then made circles with his head.

Across from him, Singlar of the Animal Kingdom stood silently before him, a dark look in his eyes.

It was the sixth match of the tournament, and with Animal Kingdom’s reputation on the line, he couldn’t let it go to the last match.

The referee stood between them. He took a napkin, let it flutter against the ground, and then glanced at both competitors.

“This is the sixth match. The score is 3 for Animal Kingdom and 2 for Humanity. If Singlar emerges victorious, Animal Kingdom is the winner of the tournament.

“If Young Helvetti wins, the tournament will go to the last match.

“Let’s have a fair and good match. Are the two of you ready?”

He asked.

Helvetti and Singlar nodded, and both took their stance with the world turning silent around them like a calm before the storm.

“FIGH—”

The referee was in the middle of bringing his arm down, but Helvetti had already made his move, driving his spearhand towards the black panther.

The spearhand landed in Singlar’s chest, right in the middle of his vertebrae, and stabbed right through.

“Ah…”

Singlar slid backwards with a bleeding chest.

The referee wasn’t expecting such a sudden move, and he quickly jumped out of the ring so he wouldn’t be in their way.

“Come on, Singlar, don’t lose!”

Dawn Pawford shouted.

“…You got this!”

Shafira shouted.

Animal Kingdom’s side had turned rather empty.

There were only Beast Prince Arazimir, Shafira, and Dawn, while the rest had been hospitalized.

While Animal Kingdom was leading in the score, it looked like they had been injured way more than their opponents.

“ROAR!”

In that moment, Singlar’s eyes turned dark, and he let out an ear-shattering scream that sent chills down everyone’s spines.

He grew tall. About three meters. In the same moment, fur started growing all over his body, and his teeth became sharp fangs.

The fur became thick. It was bear fur.

“I thought Singlar was of the Black Panther clan? Why does he look like a bear?”

Antigone asked in surprise.

‘…Singlar is an abomination. He is half black panther and half dead bear. The dead bear is quite a rare race in the Animal Kingdom, and apparently there are less than ten of them alive.

‘They’re close to extinction.’

Beast Prince Arazimir thought with a cold look.

There used to be many Dead Bears roaming down the Land of Eternal Forest, but after the King of the Dead Bears rebelled against Beast King Vladimir, only a few of them remained alive.

Singlar rushed at Helvetti. The size of his bear body looked menacing. He swung down his bear paws.

“Argh!”

Helvetti caught the bear paw. It crashed down at him like gravity itself. Yet, he fought against that pressure.

“Hahahaha!”

Helvetti laughed, then brought the bear paw down and broke Singlar’s balance. The bear staggered back, unable to keep his footing.

With a sharp uppercut, Helvetti whacked Singlar in the jaw. A crack sounded, and his head snapped back.

With a leap, Helvetti jumped over the large bear and kicked him in the face. The bear stumbled backwards and crashed into the ropes.

“Haaaaa!”

Singlar pushed forward. He whipped his enormous arm at Helvetti. It sent him flying like a cannonball across the ring.

“Ufgh!”

Helvetti smashed through the ropes. The ropes snapped. And he plummeted into the crowd.

“Helvetti! Oh no!”

“Get up, please!”

“Do not lose!”

The crowd panicked.

“Yeah, yeah…”

With a smirk, Helvetti jumped back to his feet before the referee had an idea to start the countdown and then rushed straight at the bear.

Singlar’s swings were wild and lacked control. Swoosh, swoosh. Helvetti dodged them and then quickly landed a series of powerful punches on Singlar’s face.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

‘…Being a dead bear isn’t working!’

Singlar shrunk. Blackness enveloped him. He became the hybrid form of a black panther.

With that, he became fast.

The fists came fast. Punched landed across Helvetti’s body. He could barely keep up with the barrage.

Helvetti’s legs trembled. His eyes rolled back to his skull. It wasn’t looking good.

In that moment, Singlar brought his fist forward to end this match once and for all. The humanity packed.

Do not lose, Helvetti!

A shout of unison resounded through the world.

THWACK!

At that moment, Helvetti headbutted Singlar’s fist. Forehead against fist. The winner was Helvetti’s forehead.

Crack!

Singlar’s fist shattered, and the impact woke Helvetti back up from his half-unconscious state.

“Hahahahaha!”

Helvetti smashed his fist into Singlar’s jaw. The jaw and teeth shattered. It sent him flying across the air.

While flying, Helvetti grabbed his leg and yanked him back to the ground. Singlar’s body smashed through the stone.

Boom! Crack!

He stopped moving.

“HAHAHAHA!”

Helvetti mounted him, his fists smashing into Singlar’s face, and he wasn’t stopping at all.

With a serious look, the referee jumped in and tried tackling Helvetti off Singlar, but it felt like he was trying to move a mountain.

The referee wasn’t weak. Much stronger than Helvetti. Yet there was something about this young man that was extremely scary.

“Come on, stop it!”

The referee wrapped his arms around Helvetti and finally managed to throw him off, but he was still throwing punches, but at empty air this time around.

While Helvetti was punching at nobody in particular, the referee went to check on Singlar and saw that he was very much unconscious.

“M-Match is over!”

“Winner is Helvetti!”

That finally woke Helvetti up, and his grin stretched across his face. Then he turned to Animal Kingdom’s representatives, who looked grim.

“Oh my, what do I see? Panic? Don’t tell me that you guys think that you might actually lose now, hahaha!”

Dawn and Shafira looked pale. Panicky even.

It didn’t matter that they had Beast Prince Arazimir as their last fighter. Somehow, this tournament had gone all the way to the final match.

It was supposed to end in four matches!

With scared gazes, they turned to Beast Prince Arazimir, who wasn’t paying any attention to them.

Instead, he was looking across the ring at Kiernan. He was the only one in his mind right now.