The Ogre, having missed with his first strike, roared in a frenzy, driven mad by his injuries.
His muscles swelled, thick as barrels, and his blood-red eyes flashed with a fierce light.
He drew back his fist until it was level with his shoulder.
The iron fist, dozens of times more terrifying than Tabu’s, cracked with explosive force as it came crashing down, the blow carrying the momentum of a thunder-laden warhammer!
Under this strike, the earth itself seemed doomed to destruction!
Most people could already envision the scene of Bai Ya being smashed into pulp.
“Hey, hey, don’t underestimate my prediction and footwork.”
Everyone felt the arena quake violently.
Dust and debris filled the air.
Once their sight cleared, they saw the Ogre, his massive silver body bent over and fist pressed to the ground, reappear before them.
From beneath his fist, the floor radiated with massive spiderweb cracks, spreading over a quarter of the arena!
“That guy—there’s not even any flesh left… it must be like that…”
A young noble, seeing no blood beneath the Ogre’s fist—not even a single drop—instinctively assumed Bai Ya had been pulverized to the point that not even scraps remained.
Though he knew something was off, he couldn’t believe Bai Ya could have dodged such a punch.
With that speed and power, it wouldn’t be surprising if a person was shattered into pieces!
“I don’t believe she’s the sort to just throw her life away.
If she dares to make a move, then she must be confident.
Ah, honestly, it’s the first time I’ve had such a ridiculous thought—she’s even weaker than I am, just a little girl, but she truly can’t be measured by common sense.
Don’t despair, everyone—keep watching.
While we cower here for safety, she is our savior.”
At the tunnel entrance, Luo Shi spoke earnestly to the warriors beside him.
Tabu, gravely injured, bared his white teeth in a grin, clearly agreeing.
“I believe in Big Sister Bai Ya! She will save me!
But! But! I still feel so unwilling!”
The girl standing by Tabu clenched her lips tight, tears shimmering in her eyes.
Seeing Bai Ya face the Ogre head-on, she wanted so badly to fight alongside her! To help her!
That urge burned within her stronger than ever before.
“Go for it, Big Sister Bai Ya!”
She cupped her hands around her mouth and, eyes squeezed shut, shouted with all her might.
“Hey! What are you doing? You’ll attract the Ogre this way!”
A mohawked warrior turned at the sound, shouting at the girl in terror.
He was about to explain the Ogre’s terror to her when another voice interrupted.
“Roger that.”
As the dust on the field settled, the crowd was met with the disheveled figure of a white-haired girl, covered in grit and sand.
Gasps of disbelief echoed through the stands as Bai Ya, with only her right eye, calmly watched the Ogre’s every move.
At the same time, she extended her uninjured left arm and gave a thumbs-up toward the tunnel where the warriors were gathered.
“Big Sister Bai Ya…”
The girl’s heart pounded at the sight.
A wild, inexplicable emotion welled up inside her, her mind now completely occupied by Bai Ya’s image.
“See? I told you—she really is our only savior right now,” Luo Shi grinned, a smile of relief even he didn’t quite understand on his face.
The crisis was hardly over, and the idea of Bai Ya defeating the Ogre was absurd.
Ordinary humans defeating a Gold-rank monster was something no one dared even imagine.
Glancing at the girl’s flushed cheeks, Luo Shi laughed. “Come on, everyone, let’s cheer for our savior, shake those arrogant nobles off their high horses.
If we care more about attracting monsters than boosting her morale, we’re truly useless!
This is the only thing us cowards can do to salvage a bit of our dignity!”
“It’s a bit embarrassing for an adult like me to say, but let’s entrust our courage to that child who fights for us!”
After Luo Shi finished, the surviving warriors looked at each other.
The confusion on their faces gradually faded away.
While Bai Ya focused on the Ogre’s every move, she suddenly heard a wave of cheers—quiet, but fervent and excited.
She also noticed quite a few nobles scowling, which made her grin happily.
Seeing Bai Ya so pleased, the nobles’ faces grew even darker.
Arthur looked as though he might explode from anger.
“Kill her! Eat her!!”
As if in response to Arthur’s furious roar, the Ogre let out a bellow, stomping the ground to pieces.
He lunged, arms outstretched to seize Bai Ya, his massive maw open wide like an unstoppable charging bull.
“Bai Ya, go! Defeat the boss! Bring us victory,”
Just before the Ogre’s monstrous hands reached her, Bai Ya slowly closed her right eye, an excited smile tugging at her lips.
The Ogre grabbed at nothing.
The scene he’d imagined—tearing a frail human in two—did not happen.
Unable to stop his momentum, he felt something catch his left foot.
Before he hit the ground, he saw what had tripped him—a battle-axe, one of the weapons scattered around the arena.
His colossal body crashed down, shattering the ground.
At that moment, a petite figure leapt high, both legs kicking straight into the Ogre’s head.
As he sluggishly lifted his head, she drove it into the dirt, forcing him to eat a mouthful of earth.
Using his head as a springboard, she bounced off, flipped three times in the air, and landed nimbly on the ground.
“Huh, not bad,” Bai Ya looked at her hand in surprise as she landed steadily.
“Body’s weak, underweight… but in exchange, my flexibility and agility are enhanced?
Guess my setup isn’t so bad after all.”
“Well then, come at me. If you can hit me, I’ll admit defeat!”
Bai Ya instantly regained her composure and started running before the Ogre could get up in rage, doing her best to keep her distance from him.
A second later, a massive shadow fell over her.
Bai Ya immediately realized the Ogre was lunging at her—a move she’d already seen a dozen times before!
She abruptly stopped, ducked down, cradled her head with one hand, and rolled sideways to the ground, every movement decisive and perfectly timed, as if she’d practiced it dozens of times!
The Ogre pounced on nothing again.
His landing shattered the ground under his limbs.
Bai Ya scrambled up beside him, but this time, her actions were strange.
Instead of running away, she stepped onto the Ogre’s back and leaped into the air.
Everyone was stunned—what was she trying to do?
The air wasn’t empty.
Aside from the swirling dust, several weapons spun through the air—flung upward by the Ogre’s earlier strikes.
“Thank you.”
Bai Ya knew she had no strength to wield any of the weapons in the arena.
Physical training had long since become her daily routine, but even so, she never planned on just running away.
She’d already prepared for a counterattack.
The weapons the Ogre had sent flying were her ticket to fight back—the Ogre himself had handed her the means to strike.
“Dagger! Scythe! Battle-axe! Curved blade!”
Each time she leaped up, Bai Ya grabbed a weapon with her left hand, changed its spinning trajectory, and flung it at the Ogre’s head—all in one seamless, fluid motion.
In just a dozen seconds, she’d launched four attacks!
Before the scattered weapons hit the ground, Bai Ya would always leap from the Ogre’s back to snatch one from the air, deftly redirecting it toward the Ogre’s head.
People suddenly felt as if she were dancing in midair.
Bai Ya’s counterattack was like a stunning performance—utterly breathtaking.
The continuous clang of metal and the Ogre’s furious roars echoed in everyone’s ears.
In an instant, blood gushed from the Ogre’s forehead—one of the battle-axes smashed through his already weakened skull.
His rage was unending.
He staggered upright, howling with fury—he would tear Bai Ya to shreds!
But now, no cheers came for him.
The stands fell silent.
After a long while, the nobles began to realize—a Gold-rank monster had been injured by a human’s counterattack! How could this be?!
It was utterly unthinkable! An ordinary human! An ordinary human! Had managed to fight back against a Gold-rank monster! To fight back!
The nobles panicked.
They had always considered a human challenging a Gold-rank monster as suicide, and yet now the Ogre… was on the defensive!
They desperately wanted an explanation for Bai Ya’s effective counterattacks, for her courage to face a monster many times her strength head-on—what was driving her to fight?
Bai Ya paid no mind to the nobles’ shock.
She continued to bait the Ogre into attacking, leaping up to seize the airborne weapons and launching counterstrikes—each blow drawing blood.
Her brilliant performance drew all eyes, and some nobles even began to suspect she was using martial skills.
How could an ordinary person dare to fight a Gold-rank monster without martial skills?
The nobles scrutinized Bai Ya’s every move, especially the way she hurled the weapons.
They wanted proof of martial skills to undermine Bai Ya’s achievement, but they found nothing.
When did she use martial skills?
Neither her jumps nor her throws showed any sign of battle energy!
The nobles could not accept that Bai Ya—a mere mortal—could gain the upper hand in battle.
It overturned everything they believed.
“Martial skills… is it?”
In the entire arena, only Captain Ya Cang understood the true depth behind her actions.
Bai Ya’s maneuvers, her use of flying weapons for her counterattack, resonated with the spirit of swordsmanship.
Ya Cang was a sword master—a Gold-rank expert.
He had survived countless life-and-death battles, slowly climbing his way to Gold rank and laying a solid foundation.
Compared to those noble bodyguards raised on resources—wastes who could barely muster a thin layer of protective aura—his own Gold aura was like a vast ocean.
He also had the courage to face the slave girls head-on—even deadly living weapons didn’t frighten him.
Only Rinne Taki, the under Ryumion, was the exception; he would die to her unknown and terrifying powers before he could even get close, and he had no wish to recall the sight of Rinne Taki using her racial gifts.
From number 000 to number 010, the eleven slave girls are “Gods.”