*Crack*


    [Durability: 0/3000]


    [Death Worm''s chest te is destroyed!]


    utz breastte cracked apart in pieces. But unlike one might think, the breastte was not destroyed by Steve''s kick rather through subsequent use and damage it had taken while utz fought a horde of monsters. Steve''s kick just gave the finishing blow.


    "It was a decent defensive equipment but with low durability," utz whispered.


    utz rubbed his abdomen to check whether he had sustained any injuries. Steve''s punches had never directly connected with him but his kick did. But there was only a slight red mark where Steve had kicked!


    "I had felt this before. indeed his kickcked force."


    Steve''s kick was nothingpared to his punches. It would be right to say that he didn''t know how to properly kick at all! Unlike his punches which was his martial form which he had practised day and night, his kick was amateurish. It couldn''t do much damage.


    It''s not so easy to change your form even if you wanted to. utz who had tried this already knew better than anyone else.


    [Time remaining: 00: 39]


    Steve had no time to wait for utz to get up. He was in a race against time. Chivalry should always be thrown at the back of the mind and taken up only when needed.


    He rushed towards utz to end the strife once and for all.


    But…


    In his charge, he felt his feet getting locked. Since his upper body still had the momentum from his charge he couldn''t help but tumble over. His torso made an arc in the air as he fell on his face..


    *Thud*


    His face crashed into the dry soil. His nose started to bleed.


    He looked up only to find utz''s lips arching to a sinister smile. Wondering what had happened he nced towards his legs.


    "What the fuck!"


    To his horror, a score of ck hands had risen from his shadow and gripped onto his legs. They didn''t have much strength in their arms, not anythingpared to Steve''s strength after going Berserk. But s! Because he was running too fast their intervention caused him to tumble.


    It was like how a single rock can cause a fast-moving train to be driven off its track. It''s like how no matter how insignificant and little a banana is, it can still cause you to fall in case you step on it.


    "Let me go," Steve pulled himself from those mysterious hands. He was quick to free himself and looked up towards utz. But he was gone!


    *sh*


    Before he could figure anything out, utz shed his sword at his neck. A stream of blood flowed out. The cut wasn''t deep not deep enough to kill him even though utz hadn''t held back. Thanks to Steve''s high defence stat which was definitely higher than utz''s.


    Both of them were using Satan''s system, their biology couldn''t be defined by usual logic! But to put it simply, since utz [Strength] stat was lower than Steve''s [Defence] utz was unable to behead Steve even if he had attacked from a blind spot.


    But even so, it was a major injury for Steve.


    "A!," Steve screamed in pain.


    When Steve was busy freeing himself from utz''s [No-Name] Spirits, utz had taken the opportunity to sneak behind Steve''s blind spot! That''s how he was able tond such a decisive blow. If it was anyone else other than Steve with that ridiculous Defence stat he would have died already!


    Holding his neck with his left hand, Steve turned around and punched utz with his right. utz, who was expecting this much, ducked to the side and dodged it with ease. That is when utz''s eyes met with Steve''s.


    Steve''s eyes were bloodshot crimson red enveloped in dark ck mes. The Berserk Mode sure was reflected on his eyes as well.


    "Tell me where did you get such strength?" utz asked. How could he have missed such important information? He could never. That means that it was apletely new discovery!


    "Price for Information," Steve screamed as he spat blood.


    utz indeed wanted to know. To the point that he even contemted what the best price for it would be.


    "I am willing to pay by sparing your life," utz smirked.


    "Then better ask my dead body!" Steve cried. He had no more time to joke. The essence of time was probably the most important to him.


    A series of shes began once again as they again found themselves in a deadlock. Steve with the injury could no longer overpower utz. The pain was a hindrance to his punches. He was not like utz who could fight even when cut in half.


    utz wasn''t in any better situation either. With him losing the [Death Worm''s Breastte] he had lost that +10 Defense boost which he got from it.


    Even if they were equally matched there was a fundamental difference. utz had cleared most of the beasts in both the waves while Steve had only focused on killing humans and surviving.


    In a parallel universe, if Steve had not been greedy to be wanting to bag both the prizes. If Steve had been more meticulous with increasing his stats rather than increasing his kills then with the help of the 2x stats boost he would have probably killed utz by now.


    But with his sound judgement and goal-driven attitude, utz has skipped over such fate even to the point of gaining an upper hand over Steve though not to the point of overpowering him. There was still a deadlock.


    And it wasn''t like utz had no other options if such nightmarish fate were to befall him. The escape portal was just in front of him. If it had turned out to be a losing battle for him he could have escaped. Though that would indeed be cowardly. But thankfully utz was able to turn the tables.


    [Time remaining: 00: 19]


    ''Shit, I can''t win this, I have to escape.'' Steve thought.


    And definitely escaping worked both ways.


    ***


    Author:


    Creation is hard for authors. Cheer me up with your power stones!


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