Chapter 65: Hassan— Masseur of The Wild (4)

༺ Hassan— Masseur of The Wild (4) ༻

The stars twinkling in the night sky were reminiscent of the scene of a deep blue-colored silk being sprinkled with grains of pure white salt. At the center of the sky, the two moons hung high above while subtly illuminating the objects on the training ground.

Swish—

Hippolyte spoke as she raised her body from the bench.

"Hassan, I heard that you apparently have an interesting talent related to your hands."

Hippolyte was talking quietly and softly, but somehow I could feel goosebumps spreading on my nape from hearing her voice. It was because her tone suggested that she knew about everything there is to know, so I couldn't help but confess before I got entangled in another troublesome scenario.

"Where did you hear such a thing...?"

Where did Hippolyte hear about my talents? Did Daphne break the oath she made by the River Styx and talk around about it? Hundreds of thoughts began spinning in my mind about where she might've learned about this secret talent of mine...

"I heard about it from Mr. Baltma."

Baltma? Who was Baltma again? Looking back on my memory, I finally recalled the face of a middle-aged man who saved me from being slapped by Daphne when I first joined the Mars guild.

It seemed like the half-bald man's name was actually Baltma. I forgot about that because I hadn't even seen him once after that day. Yes, he was the first person to inform me about my blessing.

"...So what do you want to talk to me about?"

"When you attacked me that night, you probably already learned about why I refused my promotion offer to the gold tier."

"Pardon?"

I didn't know anything about that though. I only recently learned that Hippolyte refused to be promoted to the gold tier.

But before I could make any excuse, Hippolyte continued her speech.

"My overall stat points is already over 40. I mean, it's been a long time since I passed the gold tier promotion standard. But this stat is only applicable when the sun is shining above the sky. I'm weak under the moonlight. I'm probably as vulnerable as an untrained ordinary person in that state."

Hippolyte's words reminded me of the moment I encountered her in the pond not long ago.

At that time, Hippolyte's level dropped drastically for some reason and only remained around level three.

"In that sense, Hassan... Do you want to spar with me once again?"

Hippolyte clenched her fists and then entered a stance resembling a Muay Thai athlete's.

I couldn't comprehend the sudden change in this situation. I mean, she just confessed that she was as weak as an ordinary person during the night, didn't she? Then why was she suddenly asking me to spar with her? It just didn't make any sense to me.

"Are you serious?"

"Bring it on. The last duel was unexpectedly interrupted by a bothersome third party. Let's make this an additional part of the last duel then."

Hearing her mention the interference in the last duel, I was able to understand that Hippolyte was somehow able to notice that time had stopped for a brief period during the duel. At the time, the female warrior just shrugged her shoulders once and didn't say anything about it.

"What are you hesitating about? Are you scared of me, Samaritan?"

"Well, don't regret it."

It might seem like a provocation, but this time the odds were strongly in my favor as I had already been able to bring a bathing Hippolyte down the last time around.

At that time, Hippolyte was weak enough that I could easily overpower her, even with my meager strength. If what she said was true, she must be as vulnerable as that time since she was also under the presence of moonlight at this moment.

Let's pretend to make a mistake while sparing - I felt my motivation beginning to spark into a blazing flame. Let's squeeze that big, soft, and pillowy bosom once more.

"Okay, from your expression, you seem to be full of fighting spirit. Then I'll go first."

Kick—.

Hippolyte swiftly rushed toward me with the sound of her feet kicking the earth.

She was pretty fast even after being weakened to such an extent, but this time I could follow her movements with my eyes. The last time around, she was so fast that it felt like she was literally teleporting from one place to another. But of course, pursuing only with your eyes and reacting with your body were two different things altogether.

Whoosh—

Then Hippolyte stuck out her hand toward me. Her hand was directed toward my collar, and just as I thought that she was going to grab it, my body rose into the air and my back landed on the ground with a loud noise.

"Uck!"

In an instant, all the air gushed out of my lungs. It hurt so much that I wasn't even able to breathe properly, but I was more curious about just what happened than the pain that was surging throughout my body.

"Now, you've already died once."

Hippolyte stepped on my chest. Looking up from below, I was greeted by the sight of her slim calves, firm thighs, healthy abs, and the lower delightful curves of her large breast. It felt really nice to be able to witness such a sight.

"Do you want to go for another round, Samaritan?"

Sweep—

She removed her foot that had been putting pressure on my chest as she stepped on it. Her next action was to offer her hand to me as though she wanted to help lift me up. I grabbed her hand and raised myself while still bewildered about how she could defeat me with such ease.

D-ring—

[Stats] Name: Hippolyte Heavensinger

Level: ?? → 3

Conditions: Boiling Blood >Moonlight Enervation >Severe Menstrual Cramps >???? >

On the status window that showed up inside my mind, her level is definitely shown to be decreased to three. Most probably this phenomenon had occurred due to the 'Moonlight Enervation' condition that was shown in the window.

However, I couldn't understand. How she, who was currently only at a meager level 3, could put me, who was almost thrice her level, to the ground just like that?

"You look like you still don't understand why this happened. Then try, try to beat me until you realize just what is causing you to lose. For starters, if you succeed in attacking me, I will give you a prize."

Prize? Holy shit! Truth be told, I was actually hiding my real skills for such an occasion. It was a tactic to catch Hippolyte off guard and attack her to aim for the greatest benefits.

"Now, just what are you trying to do here? Ignorantly swinging your arms like that won't land you a good attack."

"Keuukkk!"

But damn it, no matter how many times I restarted the spar, my attacks would never land on Hippolyte.

"Come on, untie it, hurry up."

With both arms held, I was being choked on the neck by her strong thighs.

Squeezeeee— Pressss—

Although I liked the feeling of her soft and strong thighs being in such intimate contact with my neck, I couldn't breathe properly due to her chokehold. I started to lose my vision and my eyes began rolling up into my sockets.

"Geck..."

I felt like I was going to die due to being suffocated by Hippolyte.

"You're dead once again."

Only then, did the strength of her thighs tightening around my neck loosened, and I could finally take a relaxed breath after a long time.

As blood seemed to flow back into my head, my body was so tired that it almost gave out all its functionings. Was this something like the choking game or what?

"Ugh. Cough. Cough."

"Samaritan, you've already died 12 times tonight. When the hell are you going to finally land an attack on my body? Although I don't mind continuing this game for the whole night."

I was furious at how she looked down at me while I breathed heavily, gasping for each breath. Now I was convinced that I couldn't beat Hippolyte even in her current heavily-weakened state.

Despite getting defeated a few times already and the extreme pain surging through my body that was enough to make me faint, my fighting spirit was somehow soaring high like never before.

This situation was completely different from the time when I subdued her with sheer strength alone. Damn, are you cheating?

"You look like you still don't realize the reason you're in such a state. If we are to look at the current stat points between us, it would definitely be strange if your attack, which is twice more than mine, isn't working on me, right?"

"T-That's true."

"Because ever since epic-grade artifact, the needle of appraisal, has been discovered, adventurers have become more inclined to rely only on their stats to get stronger. Only wimpy scholars who have never been on the field would take these numbers seriously. You should not disregard someone's experience and skills in combat."

In other words, as Hippolyte said, no matter how high the numerical representation of your level was, if you lacked the combat experience and skills, the result of winning or losing was unknown.

To be honest, losing to a mere level 3 Hippolyte was a bit of a shock to me. It meant that having a high level wasn't the most critical factor to guarantee that you would win in combat.

"I know that you must have realized it by now, Samaritan. You are like a beginner who has not even learned the basics. It's a pity that you're wasting your talents like this."

"D-did you call me in the middle of the night just to tell me that?"

"Yeah, because those who got a blessing tend to be conceited and eventually face their downfall sooner or later. That's why I thought it was better to lower your arrogance at least once before you develop a bad habit of being too arrogant and ignorant about your own reality."

Indeed, what Hippolyte said was absolutely true. These days, I have earned a good amount of money from several different sources of income, so my confidence and arrogance have indeed risen quite high.

After continuing to suffer such overwhelming defeats, I finally realized the importance of being more humble. Damn, I was still such a sore fucking loser!!

While I was suffering a setback, Hippolyte lifted my body and shook the dust off me. Then, she said with a firm tone.

"But you're the first to try more than 10 times to defeat me without giving up on the second or third time. I'll acknowledge your determination and spirit. I like your mindset of not wanting to remain a loser like that."

"I-is that so?"

Hippolyte seemed to have misunderstood something. Actually, I didn't keep coming at her because I didn't want to lose per se.

Hippolyte, whose level was decreased, mainly used the ground grappling technique to attack me. Due to the nature of the grappling technique, her body and mine had no choice but to stick together.

Because of that, whenever she used the arm bar technique, she would hold my hand between her bosom.

Another reason to not give up was that I also liked how her toned thighs pressed my face, and I could smell her sweaty fragrance. In fact, Hippolyte would never know that I was the real winner in this sparring. I was such a friggin' genius.

When I was giggling to myself like that...

"Since you have lost looking so excited and all, tonight you will be my slave. Actually, I've wanted to own a Samaritan slave for a long time. Samarians are hard to tame like wild horses, but they're so strong that they're treated as luxury goods, right?"

"W-What!?"

I was shocked by the unexpected words she uttered, and my body started to tremble. Be her slave? What the hell did this mean?

Did this duel suddenly have some "Duel to the death" rules without my knowledge? It was so unfair that I was falling into slavery once again..

"What did you mean by being your slave? Just what the hell are you talking about?"

"What are you so surprised about? How can you not know that the lives of those who lost a duel or a fight will be up to the winners to decide?"

"B-But, isn't this just a mock duel?"

"There is no such thing as a mock duel. It's simply a duel. Will you discuss your circumstances with the evil spirits who are trying to take your life?"

"It's not like that, but being a real slave is a bit...."

"Don't worry. I'm not going to make your life hard. Now, shall we start with running five laps around this training ground? Of course, do it in the leapfrog position."

Fuuuck...

That was how I had to carry out all the silly things Hippolyte ordered me to do. From doing leapfrog jumps around the training ground to sitting on a transparent chair and doing personal training.

I ate well these days, so I thought I gained some fat in my body. But I felt like my whole body was losing all of its calories due to the intense training regimen.

"Get up and do one more!"

"I-I really have... No more strength left in my body. Ugh..."

"Only when you exceed your limits do you gain stamina and muscles properly. Hurry up!"

"Ugh, n-nineteen..."

"Good, one last time, then!"

"But, you said it was the last time before...."

"I'll finish it after you reach twenty. This will be the last one. Now, go for twenty!"

"T-T-Twinty..."

"Twinty? You must have said twenty wrong, right?"

"Ack..."

After finishing five sets of 20 push-ups with Hippolyte sitting on my back, I completely lost all of my strength and fell on the dirt-covered ground. I didn't even have any strength to lift a single one of my fingers.

"You're weak, Samaritan. Children in Kairos' introductory class could have done this much well. Didn't you say you wanted to be a hero? A Gold-tier adventurer, huh?"

"T-That's true...."

Fuck, just what kind of strict training is this!? Apart from being trained, I just felt like she was slowly chipping away all my life energy.

"Come on, the night is still long. There's still a lot of training to do. If you want to exceed the overall stat points of 40, you can't do it with ordinary training alone."

"...Well, didn't you say that it's not all about points in a duel?"

"Yes, however, the promotion is still dependent on overall your stats. To be a Silver tier, you must have an overall of above 30, while to be a Gold tier your overall stats must be above 40. Come on, stop thinking about these things and get up quickly."

"I really can't lift a finger. I'm telling the truth."

"You are being personally trained by Hippolyte. Don't you know just what type of an opportunity this is? It's not something that anybody can get even if they pay gold for it. Hurry up!"

"Keug..."

But I was telling the truth. My head was spinning, and I didn't have any energy left in my body.

The face of a senior officer from my military days immediately came to mind. My senior officer was a famous gym rat in the battalion, and whenever we had time, he would drag me to the gym and torture me with all kinds of fitness training.

That senior officer also habitually said, "Not everyone can learn this kind of thing from me, even if they wanted to pay me for it." Damn, are all those workout maniacs the same? Was this something that transcended both time and the boundary of worlds?

Therefore, I was lying on the ground and dragging time.

Suddenly, a firm grip started putting pressure on my back, and at the same time, I could hear a loud cracking sound from the joints of my spine.

"A-ack!"

In addition, I also started screaming at the unexpected pain that assaulted my senses.

"Then stay on your stomach. I'll try to loosen your muscles and joints."

While hovering above my back, Hippolyte began pressing the area near my waist with her huge palm.

It was a very rough touch, but my muscles, which were being overworked, felt more relaxed than I thought after that massage.

Although Luna's massage felt somewhat commendable, it was still a little clumsy. Meanwhile, being massaged by Hippolyte felt like getting an authentic massage.

Did all people who like to work out know more about how to release the tension of muscles like this?

All my muscles that felt stiff were already loosened— from the shoulder blade region that I couldn't reach to even my nape. She even loosened my neck. I felt like my body was softening under her experienced touch..

"You have a knack for massages. Have you studied the human body before?"

"I've killed a lot of people. If you look at where and how to hit to deliver a critical strike, you will naturally grow familiar with something like this."

Shit, I wish I hadn't asked that. The massage I initially received at ease started to give me anxiety. I felt like I was an experimental animal under the hands of a mad scientist.

"But this is my first time touching a man's body other than hitting them. On top of that, this is actually the first time I've met a man other than my father alone. Yeah, since we're talking about my father, it looks like you've met him, haven't you?"

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