Rebirth in Another World as the Undead Queen

Chapter 186 : Primal Awakening

Primal Awakening"Are you ready?"

"Anytime."

"Cut the nonsense, let's begin."

The two assumed their stances, preparations complete.

"Begin!"

Maregof took the initiative to act as referee, and as his shout fell, Aruka and Stro charged at each other.

"Ha!"

Stro gathered all his strength, chopping straight down with his large wooden blade. Orcs and werewolves were essentially evenly matched in physical strength, which meant neither side had a true advantage.

Crack!

The wooden sabers collided, and Aruka used a cunning angle to knock aside Stro's weapon. After deflecting the attack, stro's guard was wide open—Aruka immediately delivered a heavy punch.

Boom!

Stro staggered back several steps from the blow. Witnessing this, the Dwarf Clan Chief's tightly knit brow relaxed a little; he saw something unusual in Aruka.

"How is this possible?"

Stro felt something was off—the werewolf in front of him was supposed to be about even in strength, or perhaps even a little weaker. So how did Aruka manage to fend off his attack?

Serea also found this strange, since before this she had only seen Aruka fighting atop his direwolf. But now, it seemed his swordsmanship was rather impressive too.

Only Aruka knew the truth: while the humiliations from the Qili Family came, they also left him with some other things.

Seeing Aruka standing ready with his blade, stro dared not be careless again. There was something odd about this werewolf.

"Looks like all I can do is stall until that takes effect."

This thought crossed Stro's mind, as no one noticed that he had secretly swallowed a pill before the duel.

"Trying to run? What a coward!"

Aruka taunted, stomping heavily as he pressed closer, slashing down with his large wooden blade, leaving Stro forced to defend passively.

Thus, Aruka firmly seized the upper hand, continuously pressing Stro.

Witnessing this, Serea glanced at Maregof with the corner of her eye. Although he was somewhat surprised, his expression remained calm. Serea even caught a hint of a malicious smirk on his face.

Something's up!

Serea realized something was amiss and looked toward the duel ring. In just a blink, stro had reversed his initial losing position to parity, even to an advantage!

Stro's offense made little use of technique—he simply relied on brute force, swinging his wooden blade in great arcs. Under normal circumstances, Aruka should not have been outmatched in strength, but—

Crack!

After blocking several attacks, stro showed no intention of letting up, swinging again. Aruka tried to knock his blow aside as before, but this time, he could clearly feel that Stro's strength was on an entirely different level.

Something's wrong!

"This is payback!"

Stro roared. Using force, he knocked aside Aruka's weapon, destabilizing Aruka, then spun his wooden blade around for a heavy slash.

Crack!

Aruka raised his blade to defend, but upon collision he felt irresistible force. Cracks spread through the wood, and he was forced to use both hands just to barely hold on.

"Is that all the strength you've got?"

Stro sneered. At this point, his skin had developed an abnormal red tinge. Aruka also sensed that something was very wrong.

On the other side, Serea had already discovered the truth—it was a strange buff...

Berserk: By taking a berserk drug, one can overdraft their body's potential to obtain strength far beyond normal, but after the drug's effect one will enter a weakened state.

It was the effect of a drug!

With the aid of such a strange drug, Aruka's strength now fell short.

"Little pup, is that all you've got?"

"......"

Aruka clenched his teeth, holding firm. Seeing his opponent still able to hold out, stro unleashed his final move.

Rage (Tier 3)!

Overdrawing one's own body to unleash powerful strength was an inherent skill of orcs, trolls, ogres, and other races. And Stro possessed a Tier 3 Rage.

This way, he could use "Rage" to cover for the berserk drug's effects—in the eyes of outsiders, he was merely in a Rage state, and the berserk drug could go unnoticed. Only Serea, using Appraise, had discovered the truth.

"Ha!"

Rage combined with the berserk drug put Stro's body under immense strain; his stamina was rapidly depleting. He couldn't keep it up long—but neither could Aruka!

"Fall for me!"

Stro pressed down hard, doubling his usual strength. Under the massive force, cracks began to spread across Aruka's wooden blade.

Not good!

Seeing this, Aruka mustered all his strength to push aside Stro's blade and sidestepped, but as expected, his own sword broke. Though he dodged the blow, his opponent immediately followed up with a kick.

Aruka raised the broken blade to block, but Stro's foot shattered it further. Aruka was sent flying.

Barely regaining his footing, he found Stro already upon him, the tip of the wooden blade aiming straight for Aruka's throat. Even with a wooden blade, with such speed and power—

He would die!

It was clear what Stro intended. Avril saw this and tried to cast magic to intervene, but several beastmen blocked her path.

"Out of the way!"

Avril tried to circle around, but it was already too late. The wooden blade darted toward the defenseless, just-standing Aruka.

"Aruka!"

Avril shouted.

Aruka gritted his teeth, and in a desperate move grabbed the wooden blade. The direction of the thrust was pushed aside, and the blade stabbed into Aruka's shoulder.

Pssht!

Blood flowed, but no one intervened—duels in the jungle would not end until one side could not fight or surrendered.

"Damn it."

With his attack deflected, stro reached for Aruka's throat with a claw, intending to kill. But suddenly, Aruka raised his other hand, grabbing Stro's wrist before he could make contact.

"What!"

"Hmph, normally I wouldn't even consider using this move against you, but it looks like I have to get a bit serious."

Feeling the immense strength binding his wrist, stro's face was incredulous. Logically, there was no way Aruka should have been able to block him now.

"This pain... it really is nostalgic."

As Aruka spoke, his appearance started to change. The gray fur on his body faded to silver-white.

Serea revealed a relaxed smile—at last, that move had come.

"You!!!"

Stro regarded Aruka as if he were a monster. At that moment, Aruka lifted her head—her once-silver eyes turned light blue, and then—

Primal Awakening (Tier 3)!

"Awooo!!!"

A chorus of wolf howls echoed from outside the camp—Aruka's direwolves. It was this very technique that made even proud direwolves acknowledge him as their master.

Just like Serea's Blood Frenzy and Death Decay, once Primal Awakening was triggered, Aruka would consume the magic power he'd accumulated over time; his attributes and level would soar, and finally—

Level 31, Legendary!

Before Serea could take a closer look, Aruka clenched his fists.

Crack!

A crisp sound rang out; the wooden blade and Stro's hand both broke. Aruka, moving faster than sight, drew back his wolf claws.

Yet he seemed to be restraining himself—the claws did not stab, but instead clenched into a fist, which he then drove forward in a powerful punch.

(To be continued...)