B.F.HUUPS
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Chapter 37
🕑 Added 2025-07-20 20:37:08 +0000 UTCLeaping out from the water, Aaron shot straight across to the closet lizardmen, charging up his [ Overclocked Haymaker ] as he ran.
The closest lizard barely managed to turn its yellow, reptilian eye toward him in time to catch a glimpse of the powered-up punch coming its way before its head disintegrated into meat chunks.
The other lizards shared a terrified look and raised their weapons. This was an actual town, unlike the little orc outpost, and as such, they actually exhibited some level of organization. As three of the closest lizards turned to face Aaron, another ran off into the streets. Not that he was bothered, he had come for a fight, and he had gotten one.
Shrugging, he accepted his three challengers and got to work. Ending his combinations with [ Overclocked Haymaker ], he had to admit the new skill was pretty damn fun. It helped that the lizards weren’t real, and he didn’t need to feel bad about slaughtering them. Because blowing them apart with his fists was just too enjoyable. Like fucking piñatas they exploded with each touch of his new Skill. It was like he had fiddled around in the console commands of a game and dialed his attack power all the way to the top.
One of the lizardmen even blocked it with a shield, and Aaron let it happen, wanting to test the skill against the defensive equipment. And sure enough, the shield was blown into pieces, which was quickly followed up with a successive attack, killing the temporarily relieved lizardman.
Between their kinda shoddy equipment and lacking skills, Aaron had a theory that these lizardmen were either civilians or weak militia, a theory that was only strengthened a moment later. Because the lizard who had run off originally returned… with a small army in tow. An army that looked significantly better armed and more warrior-like than the lizards he was currently obliterating.
Banetoad Shaman [ ??? ]
Redscale Axolotl Ceremony Master [ ??? ]
Redscale Axolotl Backstabber [ ??? ]
So, I guess these three are the lords, Aaron thought as he inspected the three boss-looking lizards amongst the crowd.
They pretty much looked as you would expect. A fat toad wielding a knotted staff and covered in necklaces adorned by teeth, shrunken heads, and bones. A big, red lizardman dressed in what looked like armor made of stone, and carrying a large, spiked club. And finally, a smaller, cloaked lizard with its head cowled and daggers in both of its hands. Behind them were fifty or so soldiers, armed with clubs, axes, and bows.
So, they brought the cavalry, more fun for me.
But it wasn’t. That was when things went downhill. First, bubbling green, acidic magic flowed from the banetoad’s fingers, while the backstabber literally just vanished with a puff of black smoke.
“Oh, fuck.”
Meanwhile, some kind of Skill created a shimmering barrier around the ceremony master’s big, mean-looking spiked club, and the armored lizard led the march toward Aaron with a wave of its arm.
The fight was, well, not much of a fight. It started with Aaron dodging acid magic, and then arrows from the archers, and then bracing himself for battle as the frontline charged forward with the ceremony master leading them. However, the battle between them never started. Because a poisoned dagger stabbed straight into his back. Fate reading was great, when you could see your enemy and therefore, their threads of fate. When you couldn’t, because they were a stealthy little bastard, it was a lot less useful.
He tried to fight back, but the poison weakened him substantially, and the next two dozen stabs finished him off.
For the sake of science, he did head back into the trial and was killed with equal ease. These enemies were a considerable power-up from what he had fought previously, and he was either going to need a lot of time or a power-up of his own.
Returning to the hallway once again, Aaron shrugged. The ending hadn’t been ideal, but he had gotten a chance to test his new Skill, which was the entire point of entering the trial. Besides, it was the fourth stage, and Yendal was waiting. There was no point bashing his head against this wall, not yet at least.
He had a goddess to impress and a blessing to earn. Who knew how much stronger he would become once he earned it? There was only one way to find out, and Aaron eagerly jumped to his feet.
Time to show that smug goddess what I’m capable of!
Collecting himself, Aaron approached the dial to start the trial. He doubted the goddess would have made the offer if she hadn’t taken some form of interest in him, but he still felt tense, like he was going for a job interview. If she wasn’t impressed by his power, would she rescind her offer?
Don’t worry so much. Worst-case scenario, you leave this place with just one blessing. That’s still like super good, isn’t it? I’m pretty sure Douglas said something like that during one of his lectures.
Swallowing, he accepted the conditions and entered the trial.
Rivers of lava snaked across a charcoal battlefield, and standing calmly as she always did, Yendal stared back across the ruinous trial stage.
Alright, here goes nothing.
Aaron shot toward her, easily bouncing between the many lava rivers, without activating his Skills until he closed the distance. Standing before her, he activated [ Relentless Scourge ] [ Thick Skinned ] and [ Gorgon’s Time Dilation].
Teasing him, Yendal moved as if his time dilation did nothing, and Aaron was forced to deactivate the Skill. If she could do that, then the Skill was to his detriment, as it was slowing him down, and at the cost of a shit ton of mana.
He had to take a moment to admire the impressive feat. Gorgon’s Time Dilation didn’t slow people down; it slowed time. Meaning she had essentially just broken the laws of time, or relativity, or something like that. Aaron wasn’t really up to scratch on the science, but he was fairly certain some kind of law had been broken.
Oh well, let’s do this the old-fashioned way.
He charged into range, reading her threads and releasing his practiced routine of strikes. This was what all his training had led up to, and he would put the overconfident goddess in her place, even if she could break laws.
Pushing her and positioning her in dangerous combinations, he pressed until she was right where he wanted her to be. Her threads read favorably for Aaron. He charged up his haymaker and struck. But in a tiny fraction of a second, new threads of fate shimmered into existence, and she effortlessly stepped aside and countered with her own body-shattering blow.
Aaron was sent flying, but he wasn’t dead. Just very, very close to dying. But between his regeneration and stuffing his mouth full of food, he quickly recovered. Though it was obvious Yendal allowed him to, as she just stood there watching.
“Okay, time for round two,” he spat blood.
Aaron shot back into range, exerting himself to his limit as he attempted to make his moves unreadable and to force his opponent into his grasp. But this was absolutely fruitless against somebody like Yendal. She let him dance his dance, and when he went to strike with his haymaker, she struck him again, almost killing him once more.
“Seriously? I thought this was meant to be a test of power!” Aaron barked with frustration.
“Power is meaningless if you can’t use it,” Yendal replied flatly.
“Fine, I’ll show you how I use it,” Aaron hissed as he stuffed his mouth and then shot back into range.
Again, Aaron shot forward and into the fury of battle, and again, he was humiliated and thrown back.
Wiping blood from his mouth as he threw all manner of disturbing food items into it, he eyed Yendal for a weakness. But he knew it was pointless. Her stance was perfect, and her speed and strength far surpassed his.
Of course, as usual, that wouldn’t deter Aaron. Every smirk, backhand, forehead flick, trip, throw, and whatever other techniques she could use to embarrass him only pushed him harder. The question wasn’t if he could find a way to win, but how.
Combination after combination was broken down. This was an even harder fight than last time, and he was always one step behind. But he did have one trick she had yet to see.
He pushed hard, throwing out misleading strikes and feinting combinations used to trick the goddess, then switched into completely different attacks. He threw out combinations that suddenly stopped short—circling and then bouncing back into endless feints and flurries. He threw everything out in a desperate attempt to draw her attention, and all the while, he focused on her threads.
He pushed, willed, and dictated. Springing into a violent combination that flowed from one to another, and at the last moment, he released his torrential will and spirit upon fate itself, forcing a new thread to be formed. This was not like the balls in the game. It might have only been a shadow standing before him, but it was the shadow of a powerful god, and the ability to alter its fate was mindblowing.
Interrupting his concentration, a fist flew straight into his chest, blowing a hole through it.
Coughing, Aaron awoke in the obsidian hallway. Just when he thought he had her.
“Damn you!” He bounced to his feet and rushed straight back into the trial with a determined glare.
He had worked hard for that setup, and just like that, she had crumbled it before his eyes.
It looks like I’ll just have to work faster.
Aaron’s body couldn’t keep up with Yendal’s, and so his defense needed to be on point. He had to position himself just right so that he always had an extra fraction of a second to dodge before the attacks even came, and that meant he couldn’t just focus on reading fate. She would no doubt end him again if he tried that.
Restarting the trial, he again worked Yendal into position. Carefully placing his combination and movement through the battle to position her just as he wanted.
Working the threads of fate, he watched as new threads were spun, reacting to his movements, and steered her toward the perfect moment. He was laying a trap several seconds into the future that would spring forth in an instant, snaring his prey.
He was also splitting his consciousness between the two tasks. One side, keeping track of one second into the future, making sure he was correctly placed so that he could dodge her counters, and the other half, several seconds ahead, reading fate and predicting the perfect thread to travel.
And when he found the opportune moment to strike, he pressed his unbreakable spirit against fate, attempting to bend it to his will.
As before, she seemed to know exactly what he was doing, and shot forward with a combination of his own. But Aaron had seen this too, and was already dodging in preparation.
Dodging backward, he readied his strike. The opening was tiny, but if he could nudge fate just enough, he could land it. Focusing on the threads, he made his final corrections and weaved a new thread.
But it was off. This wasn’t like the balls. This was like pushing a freaking semi-trailer. All that effort, and Yendal’s fate remained unmoved, and an earth-shattering strike hit him a fraction of a second later, killing him instantly.
But Aaron wasn’t one to give up, and he immediately restarted the trial. Again, he pushed her though the steps, picking every move with care, and carefully manoeuvring the battle many steps ahead.
Again, he slammed against her fate with all of his mental strength, and again, he came up short.
This was a man against a goliath, but Aaron wasn’t deterred. Again, he restarted the trial, and again, he came up short.
Cackling on the floor, a mischievous grin creased his face, and he dove back into the trial.
Blood and sweat poured down his face as he pressed his mental will against Yendal’s fate for the fifteenth time, and again, it did not budge.
It was like he was attempting to push a boulder up a hill after leg day, but that wasn’t about to stop him.
His eyes went mad, and his mind was distant. But if it was the last thing he did, he would bend that shadow’s fate to his will.
A deathly cocktail of punches and kicks followed. Aaron’s eyes were fully white, and his mind was hell bent on twisting fate to his will. He slammed against the wall, which was Yendal’s fate, with all his might, and he pushed, and he pushed, and finally, something gave.
He moved it. He moved a singular thread, lining her fate up with a trap he had planned so many deaths ago. It wasn’t much. Not even an inch. But it gave an opening, and Aaron’s powered-up fist sailed straight through her defenses and landed hard against her chest.
But as quickly as the attack had landed, the shadow blinked away and out of range. It was an attack that had blown others to literal pieces, but the damn shadow seemed fine.
She looked at him coldly as color filled her shadowy features. “You did it. You actually hit me. Impressive,” she said, patting where Aaron had landed. “The Skill isn’t half bad either.”
“Sooo, does that mean I get your blessing?” Aaron grinned.
“No.”
“Wait, what?”
Yendal slammed a fist into her open palm and bowed. “You win this one, but I want to see it once more. Challenge me again.”
“Seriously? Wait, get back here!” Aaron yelled at the shadow. “That’s not fair! You said if I showed power!”
“Consider it punishment for fraternizing with that glutton,” Yendal flashed a thin smile. “And next time, do it without bending fate. I want to see if you can hit me with skill alone. Do that, and you’ll have my blessing.”
With a nod, the shadow began to dissipate and drift off with the wind.
“What a load of—wait, did she actually smile? Still, all that work and now I’ve got to do it again?”
Doing it again wasn’t the worst part, though. Aaron grimaced as he considered the momentous task ahead of him. He had barely been able to hit the elusive shadow with his Fate Weaver Trait. Now, he was going to have to do it without it,
Chain Quest: The Shadow Trials
Stage three of [ Trial of the Challenger ] COMPLETED!
You have tested yourself in one-on-one combat against a weakened shadow avatar of a god and have emerged victorious.
Quest Rewards: Soul Strengthening Radish [ Rare ], Dining Hall upgraded to level 3.
Experience rewarded for completing a quest stage!
Ding!
[ Brawler ] has LEVELED UP!
20 → 21
“Bloody fucking hell. You son of a. Alright, whatever,” he exhaled, calming himself. “But this time, she better bloody give me that blessing!”
