The orc charged again with no pause and openings. It was charging with pure relentless aggression.

Nobody’s breathing became uneven. His body was reaching its limit. Every dodge hurt his body like hell. "Man... my body is feeling like a thousand ants are biting it."

The monster swung again.

Nobody ducked barely.

Another swing.

He jumped backwards.

Another.

Another.

The arena floor continued breaking apart from repeated impacts.

Ren watched silently. Then he said,"You’re relying too much on reaction."

Nobody barely dodged another attack. "WHAT REACTION DO YOU EVEN MEAN?!"

"You’re waiting for the attacks before moving."

The orc punched toward Nobody directly.

BOOOOM!!

Nobody rolled away desperately again. "Of course I’m waiting. What should I do then without getting smashed?"

"You must predict." Ren’s crimson eyes narrowed slightly. "Not respond." 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

The words made Nobody realise what he now must do in order to survive against this monster. "Right. Predict...not react. I can try."

The orc roared and lifted the cleaver overhead again.

Nobody stared carefully.

He observed the monster’s shoulders, foot positioning, grip angle and muscle movement. His eyes widened. "...Left side."

Before the orc even swung....

Nobody moved.

SLAAAAAAM!!

The giant cleaver crashed exactly where he would’ve been standing.

But this time he was already beside the monster. "...Got you." He stabbed the metal rod directly into the injured leg from earlier.

DEEEP.

The orc roared in pain and stumbled slightly.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Weak Point Strike Successful]

Damage: 21

Enemy HP:

195/300

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Nobody quickly retreated while breathing heavily. "...Okay...That actually worked."

Ren smirked faintly. "He’s learning."

The orc’s rage intensified further now. Its breathing became heavier and more violent. The red glow from its eye spread partially across its face.

The chamber lights flickered from the pressure alone.

Nobody’s smile faded slightly. "...Why does it look even angrier now?"

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Warning]

Enemy hostility increasing. ⚆ᗝ⚆

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"...You think?!"

The monster suddenly grabbed its own cleaver with both hands. Dark red energy gathered around the weapon.

Nobody slowly stepped backward. "Coach ...Ren."

"Yes?"

"...That attack looks dangerous enough to smash me."

Ren casually nodded. "It is."

"...Great."

The orc planted one foot forward.

Then....

It roared louder than ever before.

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!

And swung the giant cleaver downward with enough force to split the arena floor itself.

Nobody’s eyes widened. "...OH SHI...."

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!

The giant cleaver crashed into the arena floor with terrifying force. The metallic ground split apart violently as debris exploded everywhere.

Nobody barely escaped by throwing himself sideways. "GAH....!" He rolled across the floor several times before stopping near a cracked section of the arena.

Dust and smoke filled the air.

The orc slowly lifted its massive weapon from the shattered ground while growling deeply.

Grrrrrrrrrr....

Nobody remained on one knee, breathing heavily. His office clothes were already ruined. His white shirt was stained with blood and dust. One sleeve was torn completely. Bruises spread across his arms and ribs.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[User Status]

HP: 40/410

Condition:

Critical

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Nobody stared at the system window blankly. "...Fourty?...Brother I’m basically dead already."

The orc started approaching again slowly.

Heavy footsteps echoed throughout the chamber.

THOOM.

THOOM.

THOOM.

Nobody looked toward Ren desperately. "At least give me some healing!"

Ren remained sitting and supported his chin lazily. "What a headache..."

Nobody immediately looked offended. "HEADACHE?! I’M FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE HERE!"

Ren sighed dramatically like an exhausted office worker forced into overtime. "You beginners always complain so much." He snapped his fingers once.

The system window immediately appeared.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[System Notice]

Applying:

Minor Healing

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Soft blue particles surrounded Nobody’s body. Warm energy spread through his injuries slowly. The sharp pain throughout his body started fading little by little.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[HP Restored]

40 → 80

80 → 110

110 → 140

Current HP:

140/410

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Nobody blinked. "...Woah." He slowly stood up. The pain wasn’t gone completely but now he could actually breathe properly again. He stretched one arm carefully. "...Okay. That feels WAY better."

Ren smirked faintly. "Don’t get excited. It’s only minor healing."

Nobody looked at him suspiciously. "...You really struggle to say nice things huh?"

The orc roared again violently.

GRAAAAAAAAAAAH!!

The monster suddenly charged forward once more.

Nobody quickly jumped backward.

BOOOOM!!

The floor shattered where he stood moments earlier.

But this time, Nobody’s eyes remained calm and focused.

The orc swung horizontally.

Nobody moved instantly.

Not after the swing....But before it.

FWOOOOOSH!!

The giant blade passed behind him harmlessly.

Nobody’s eyes widened slightly. "...I saw it."

The attack wasn’t random anymore. The orc had patterns.

Ren’s crimson eyes narrowed slightly from the couch. "...Good."

Nobody dodged another strike.

Then another.

The giant orc looked terrifying. But now the attacks started feeling readable like a repeated boss pattern in a difficult game.

The system window flashed.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Combat Adaptation Detected]

User reaction efficiency increasing.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Nobody smirked slightly while dodging another cleaver strike. "...So that’s how this works."

The orc roared and swung downward.

Nobody stepped sideways immediately.

SLAAAAAM!!

Massive impact.

But he was already moving again. "Your left shoulder moves first before vertical attacks."

The orc growled aggressively.

Another horizontal swing.

Nobody ducked instantly. "And your right foot drags slightly before wide swings."

Ren leaned back against the couch. "...Interesting. You’re now figuring out its moves."

The monster became more aggressive after realizing its attacks were missing more frequently.

It charged swinging wildly now.

But Nobody’s movements became sharper too.

The orc punched toward him directly.

Nobody twisted sideways narrowly avoiding the fist.

BOOOOM!!

The shockwave still pushed his hair backward violently.

"...Still dangerous as hell though!" Nobody grabbed the broken metal rod again.

The orc lifted the cleaver overhead.

"Shoulder shift, right leg positioning, weight transfer. Yes..prediction complete." Nobody moved before the attack landed.

SLAAAAAM!!

The floor exploded.

But Nobody had already slipped behind the monster. "Too slow."

STAB!!

He drove the metal rod deep into the back of the orc’s knee.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Critical Weak Point Hit]

Damage: 29

Enemy HP:

166/300

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The orc roared in pain and stumbled forward heavily.

Nobody immediately retreated with no unnecessary attacks.

Ren noticed that too. "...Good. You’re finally thinking while fighting."

Nobody breathed heavily.

"...Yeah...Getting smashed into walls repeatedly helps learning somehow."