Limitless by John Gold (best e reader for android txt) 📕

the portal ring. Judging by how far she traveled, her opponent must be very strong.

Happily, the duelist isn’t killing his opponents, just sending the most ardent of them off to the respawn. The Hunters, not being idiots, stopped coming after him. Femida writes to me after his tenth victory in a row. Even she, a sword master, was unable to wound him.

It’s practically cheating! He stopped my sword with one hand, almost breaking it a second later. I could barely pull it away from him. Isaac is drooling, and he says you need to meet this guy.

Why do you call him immortal? Why hasn’t anyone been able to wound him?

Who knows? He doesn’t have a magic shield, he doesn’t have a bubble, the arrows you hit him in the eye with just bounce off, and even dissection didn’t help. I just ruined his clothes. That’s why he tried to break my sword.

What does he want? What’s the point of challenging all the Hunters to a duel? You don’t get an achievement for that. I’ve checked.

He said he’s looking for a strong opponent. There was a whole line trying to fight him at the beginning, then they rushed him all at once, and after that, the duels started.

Femida is only messaging me because none of the Hunters want to mention it. Fighting for fun is one thing, while pointing out someone you respect and have fought shoulder to shoulder with is a different matter entirely. Femida didn’t tell the guy to come after me; she wrote me so I could make up my own mind. Another strange thing about our guest is that his name and level don’t show up even when he does damage or takes it.

I leap out of my tree into the portal ring. Yet again, the poor Hunters see the pancake I squish into turn back into my body. The duelist just smiles.

He turns out to be around thirty. There’s nothing special about his looks, and he’s wearing simple clothing, though his hair is standing on end. He radiates the same energy coming from the cube, too. His eyes are dark brown, as is his hair. He stands about a hundred and eighty centimeters tall, and he’s powerfully built. None of the Hunters can match the strength I sense in him. He’s stronger than Krash, if weaker than death, the devil, and that thing in the astral. Limitless power!

Finally, he stops looking me over.

“So, you’re the strongest one here?” He smiles, brimming with happiness.

“More, unbeaten. I’m sure you could find someone here who could take me on, but they’re just shy,” I reply, matching his smile.

Oh-h, what a magical smile! It isn’t that it’s attractive; it’s more that it gleams with something close to ecstasy.

An entire bouquet of delight dances across his mind.

“Then, let’s see it!” It takes my opponent less than a second to jump into a karate pose and give the air in front of him a shove.

Damage received: 23688015 (ignored: 25000000)

13548686661530/13548686661530

The shock wave nearly exceeds 25 million damage, and it’s not even the strike. All he did was send out a wave of air that wiped away everything in its path. Everything behind me was hit by it, including tents, bonfires, and dozens of Hunters who were killed or thrown back ten to twenty meters.

Now, the space around us is clear. LJ reacted faster than I did, shifting my center of balance to make sure I wasn’t thrown backward. My opponent smiles yet again as if he’s found a new game.

“Thanks. You’re really going to push me.”

He quickly closes the distance between us, but I’m able to jump backward. And even though he misses with his thrust, we’re less than fifty centimeters apart. The first part of my body explodes into pieces; a death zone appears behind me. Nobody survives. A second later, the shoulder, arm, and internal organs that were ripped off regenerate. LJ activates my demon form, which I’ve been hiding from the Hunters—I need at least one ace up my sleeve in battle. Lightning, dragon breath, and a force blade earn me nothing but a happy laugh.

“Yes, yes, yes! Show me what you can do, Sagie!”

It reminds me of the fight I had with Krash when I was studying at the Academy of Magic in Kkhor. Could they be related somehow? Unpleasant memories unleash themselves in a powerful kick to my opponent’s face, with my body amplified and my speed boosted by my demon form. Neither my bone blade nor my chimeric shield is any use. They’re both gone. It’s a battle between two monsters.

It’s quick healing, maximum strength, enhanced agility and thinking, thanks to my demon look, against monstrous strength in close combat. If I didn’t have my tree, I would have died in the first second. I even carry him up five kilometers in the air before hurling him down onto the portal circle. All that does, however, is make him slip when his boot tears. That’s all the damage the fall does. My armor is barely able to recover between his attacks, and he’s able to crack every magic shield I throw up with just one blow, no matter how much mana I pour into them. One of the paladins decides to see if he can do the same to a bubble. That just enrages him, however, and he gives the poor knight and his bubble such a kick that he lands several kilometers away.

How long have we been fighting? An hour? Two? It could be more. Every blow I land hurts me and just knocks him slightly backward, though we’re both just sticking to hand-to-hand combat. Well, almost… I’m healing myself automatically, restoring the damage he does. In turn, he’s loving the battle, giving me all kinds of new injuries. I’m able to heal myself faster than he can hurt me, however. He tries a quick space marine kick. His hands are up and bent at the elbows, covering his face, and one leg is thrust