The contest continued.
Snow's close-quarters fighting style was gradually showing its effectiveness...
Even though the Viking was physically strong and had excellent resistance to blows, he couldn't withstand the constant "liver shots" without taking damage.
If the Viking had chosen to fight up close like Snow, he might have already won.
But he didn't...
As Feng Bujue had said, the Viking wanted to put on a "beautiful boxing" display; he wanted more than just victory, he wanted to prove that he was technically superior to his opponent.
This... was a kind of conceit, but not an excessive one.
The Viking knew very well that he was a boxing genius; even aside from his meticulously honed skills... his "intuition for instantly seeing through his opponent's 'distance'" was something ordinary people couldn't achieve.
Therefore, he had always believed... that it was only natural for him to make appropriate concessions in a match.
Before, he had deliberately given "Mirror Shield" a chance to make one last attack, and that was the idea.
Now, he was entering the ring again to face Snow after already having fought one match; and even after his opponent had resorted to such ugly tactics, he still hadn't abandoned his principles... that was also the idea.
This was his conviction as a strongman, the most fundamental concept for him, and even if he lost here today, this concept wouldn't waver.
Puff—puff—
"Pretty stubborn, huh..." Snow said close to his opponent, his fist still pounding away at the Viking's liver, "Judging from your footwork, you're clearly feeling the effects..."
"Heh..." the Viking laughed, "So what?"
"Tch... that's a really irritating reaction..." Snow spat unhappily, "I've put aside my pride, used these extreme measures, and worked hard until now... and you're responding to me with this attitude?"
"Hmph... you're absolutely right..." the Viking sneered, muttering under his breath, "My obsession with winning isn't that strong to begin with; if I can't defeat my opponent with my 'overwhelming technical boxing,' then victory means nothing to me... like today, if you end up winning, I won't mind, because I didn't lose at 'boxing,' I just lost to your 'tactics' that even you find embarrassing."
Hearing these words, Snow was silent for a moment, then he actually stopped hitting and took a few steps back.
"Hmm?" The Viking saw this, but didn't rush to attack, just questioned, "What's this? Are you finally ready to have a fair and square showdown with me?"
"Fair and square?" Snow repeated those four words, his eyes and tone becoming very cold, "So your kind of boxing is called 'fair and square,' and what I've done so far is 'cheating and playing tricks'?"
"Ha!" The Viking opened his arms and retorted with a laugh, "Isn't it?"
…………
"That's right! You're just cheating and playing tricks!"
"It's good that you have some self-awareness!"
"It's more than just cheating and playing tricks, it's simply despicable and shameless!"
The surrounding pirates all heard Snow and the Viking's conversation, and for a time, curses filled the air.
…………
"Don't joke around, you bastard!" Unexpectedly, Snow, who had always been very gentlemanly, shouted out loud at this moment, "Close-quarters attrition warfare is a very common tactic even in regular boxing matches, how can that be called cheating and playing tricks? Is it only fair and square if I use your best style to fight you?"
The Viking was stunned by the question, and after a few seconds, he replied, "Well... indeed, close-quarters is also a technique... it doesn't count as a foul..."
"And... what's with this 'my obsession with winning isn't that strong'..." Snow continued relentlessly, "People like you who have the idea of 'regardless of winning or losing, as long as I can fight beautifully'... don't deserve to win at all!"
"What?" The Viking was also amused, "You say I don't deserve to win?" He gave a dry laugh, "Heh... then is your kind of dirty boxing qualified to win?"
"Of course it is!" Snow said at this point, and the stance he adopted also changed, as if he was about to launch an attack, "No matter how you denigrate this kind of boxing... whether you call it 'ugly' or 'dirty'... it's still boxing! The 'gorgeous boxing' fought by geniuses and the 'practical boxing' fought by weaklings are the same... weaklings can't defeat their opponents in the realm of geniuses, so they abandon the gorgeousness that they also love, even abandon their dignity... just to use victory to prove their strength and effort.
"How could you understand the feelings of the weak... the goals that they can't achieve in their entire lives are easily achieved by those with talent; and you, a talented person, are still saying such sarcastic things as 'victory means nothing to you'... it's simply outrageous!"
"Tch... just a bunch of sophistry..." the Viking spat, "What kind of mood I'm in when I box... is my freedom, if you don't like it, then come and win against me..." he paused, "The pity is... you weaklings can't win against me, can you? Since that's the case, why not show some awareness as a weakling? Instead of making those boring attempts with so-called 'practical boxing,' why not show off your 'gorgeous boxing' and be beautifully defeated by me... that would be more enjoyable."
"Weakling's... awareness, huh..." Snow murmured, then gave a cold laugh, "Heh... fine, I'll let you see the awareness of a weakling."
After speaking, a murderous intent flashed in his eyes.
The Viking also sensed something, readjusted his stance, and waited in full battle readiness.
At that moment, Snow moved swiftly...
"A combo, huh... and a combo with more than four punches and room for follow-up variations..." The Viking had already tested his opponent's "distance" and keenly judged the other party's moves at the first moment, "Well... it's not much of a threat to me..." he thought in his heart, "But it's still better than close-quarters combat, at least defusing such an attack is more interesting."
As he thought of this, Snow's first punch arrived.
Pa—pa—boom—
"Two jabs... a straight..." The Viking's mind was incredibly calm, and he had already captured the direction of his opponent's next punch in that instant, "Next is... an uppercut coming from the chin!"
Whoosh—
His judgment was correct, Snow did throw that punch.
The Viking took half a step back and easily dodged it, still thinking in his mind, "There's something wrong with the speed of this punch... which means... it's not over yet... there's a straight punch hidden at the end."
Snow's actions were completely expected by his opponent; after that uppercut, he vigorously raised his right hand backward...
"Heh... he's a weakling after all..." Facing this final blow, the Viking seemed very relaxed, his thoughts were very clear and unhurried, "This is also a bad habit that most second-rate boxers can never change—whenever they use a combo with a relatively large number of punches, when they get to the last one or two punches, they'll throw a 'telephone punch' (that is, a punch that doesn't contain any concealment or feints; most punches thrown by ordinary people are like this, before the fist is thrown, the movements of the arm and body have already clearly foreshadowed the next punch... for professional boxers, this is like 'calling them on the phone,' giving them plenty of time to 'answer'); even with a massive amount of training to correct this almost instinctive movement, it may not be possible to change, because muscle memory can be trained... but some people's brains just can't keep up..."
When the Viking saw that "telephone punch," he decided to end the match right there.
His method was also very simple—take a step forward and throw a preemptive interception.
Having already seen through the trajectory of the opponent's next punch, this was the most effective and visually impressive way to break the move.
This kind of effortless "one-hit KO" was exactly the winning method that the Viking had been pursuing and implementing...
Whoosh—
The Viking threw his punch.
He seemed to have already seen Snow fall to the ground, as if he had already heard the lines announcing his victory.
However, at this instant, an astonishing change occurred...
"What!" The Viking shouted these two words for the first time in his forty-seven deck boxing matches.
Because... his confident KO punch had missed.
Snow's "telephone punch" was real, not a feint; perhaps Feng Bujue, with his zero-time difference calculation, could have followed up with such a complex "trap move" after a multiple combo, but Snow's ability was obviously not enough to support him in completing such an action.
But... Snow still hadn't been hit. Only because... at the moment when the interception punch came, at the same time that his own "telephone punch" had already been launched, he did something that a normal person couldn't do—he took a step back.
It sounded like an insignificant thing, but in reality... it was infinitely close to "impossible"; the difficulty was probably equivalent to turning the right hand clockwise while turning the right foot counterclockwise.
It was precisely for this reason that he threw an "impossible" punch—a counter-punch while retreating.
What was originally just a telephone punch that was preempted by someone else, in this "one step," was transformed into an amazing and unbelievable good punch.
If you want to break down this action, then it was a counter-attack against a counter-attack, and from this, it can also be judged that all of his previous combos, including the preparatory movements for this punch, may have been part of a trap.
But... did he really think that much?
He didn't...
That step back, that stroke of genius that was almost impossible to achieve with normal brain function, was actually... due to his "Title Ability."
[Follower] Title Ability:
[Name: Sure-Dodge (Do-My-Best Type)]
[Special Ability Type: Active]
[Consumption: Stamina Value 100]
[Effect: During activation, the body will automatically dodge all attacks that can theoretically be dodged (duration of five seconds, cooldown of one hour)]
[Note: I do not recommend that you use it when facing a very dense attack, as it may cause you to suffer more serious damage than enduring the attack itself.]
Snow's title was undoubtedly obtained by following the studio's training buddies to level up for a long time, so the ability of this title was also a bit of a坑爹 (kēng diē – disappointing).
Although the consumption of this skill was not high, and the effect was also "looked good," it was actually a bit terrible to use...
For example, suppose... if Snow were to activate [Sure-Dodge (Do-My-Best Type)] when being strafed by a machine gun, whether or not he could dodge all the bullets was another matter, but his body would most likely twist itself into serious injuries.
However, in the current duel, this skill had become the key to turning the tables.
Except for the three players, no one knew—before the fight even started, Feng Bujue, who could see his teammates' data, had laid out a battle plan based on this title skill...
Snow's not-so-good title skill was precisely the basis of all the tactics.
Jue-ge and Snow both knew very well that the problem couldn't be solved by just "close entanglement"; if the Viking became enraged and started exchanging liver shots with Snow, Snow would lose quickly; even if the other party kept enduring, he might not be able to seize a normal KO opportunity.
So, the "close-quarters battle" was just a means of creating a false impression.
Snow had been busy for a long time, not trying to win by "wearing down his stamina," but trying to use this behavior to set a trap for his opponent...
Ordinary traps were useless against the Viking; in front of a true master like him, ordinary tricks were useless, and provocative behavior was mostly in vain.
These... had also been confirmed one by one in actual combat.
To deceive the Viking, you had to put more effort into things other than boxing, such as... acting.
Snow's last performance was within the plan; his passionate speech was not a heartfelt expression (this guy himself had never been a weakling)... but a groundwork for "changing his fighting style."
In this situation, the Viking would think that Snow's behavior was "driven by emotion" and would not feel anything unnatural about it.
And at this time, the Viking... would definitely not consider the matter of "this person can knock me down with beautiful boxing" again, because he had already roughly understood Snow's level in the previous entanglement; the endless "close-quarters combat" had worn down not only the Viking's stamina, but more so his vigilance towards Snow as a person.
All conditions were ready, and Snow rushed up.
After activating [Sure-Dodge (Do-My-Best Type)], Snow's body was equivalent to being controlled by two forces; Snow's own thinking was controlling the body to attack, while the power of the skill was responsible for controlling the body to make dodging movements.
No matter how clever and concealed normal technical movements were... the Viking might not be able to see through them; but Snow's technique, which was similar to "ambidexterity (drawing a circle with one hand and a square with the other)," was something that the Viking had never experienced and could not predict.
Thus, the man who had never lost in forty-six battles was helplessly defeated by this miraculous "retreating counter-punch."
At this moment, the deck was silent.
And the three players were all watching with bated breath and praying... hoping that this group of NPCs hadn't seen Snow's "use of skills," which was a violation.