In the next instant, he was a few feet away from the Seedling, which let him get a close-up view of what he was trying to kill.

It was a replica of the massive giants William had seen fighting but proportionally shrunken into the size of a seven-foot man. Charred skin, tiny glowing orange lines running down its body, and shockingly red eyes glaring at him.

That didn’t stop William from trying to cave its head in. He bared his teeth as he threw a haymaker at the Seedling, probably the dumbest thing he had done so far.

“Gah!” William yelped as he was launched back. His attempted punch had been casually blocked, or so he had thought, until he landed on the ground and looked at the Seedling.

The arm that had blocked his haymaker was leaking an orangish red liquid. It was damaged in a way that more fit a landscape than a living being. The arm was cracked like the ground would be after an earthquake, with magma escaping from those cracks.

It looked terrible, but William could see the arm visibly healing itself. The desperation it brought up in him was unmatched. There had to be less than thirty seconds before his martial skill was deactivated. And he had to throw himself into hand-to-hand combat with a younger version of the being that seemed specialized in that type of fighting.

“Now, you harm me further.”

William ignored the Seedling’s attempt to speak to him. He intended to use the precious few seconds left to cause as much damage as possible. And in the back of his mind, he dearly wished to do enough damage to end its life.

William forced his mind into a calm state, grounding himself. He launched forward, propelling himself with a speed that still surprised him. His fist aimed straight for the Seedling’s face, but with surprising agility, the creature raised its undamaged forearm, deflecting his attack with a sickening crunch.

Both of the Seedling’s arms were now a cracked mess. However, William didn’t allow himself to be pushed away. He easily dodged the soft counter since he was expecting it. If this was the Seedling’s maximum agility, it bodes well for him.

Immediately afterward, William spun on his heel, aiming a roundhouse kick at the midsection. He didn’t care if the attack landed or if it was blocked once again. It would do just as well to further damage the Seedling’s arms.

The beast chose the latter option.

Seeing the impending blow, the Seedling crossed its damaged arms, taking the full force of the kick where it couldn’t afford it. The thunderous boom from the impact was immediately followed by the beast letting out an earsplitting shriek.

William’s kick had destroyed its forearms. Everything below the elbow no longer existed, leaving a thick flow of orangish-red blood oozing from the open wound. However, he didn’t rest at the seeming success. It wouldn’t surprise him if the Seedling could regrow the missing limb.

William’s eyes narrowed when it seemed the beast was finally tired of being passive. It had refused to counter him for some reason, and he had started to think that interrupting the embryo from fully compacting might have been the key to staying alive.

After all, the system told him the name of it was Weakened Magmaheart Goliath Seedling. There must be a reason for that.

The other option was that the Seedling didn’t want to harm him, but this was something he doubted. Perhaps before Princess Jin threw her tokens at it, but not now. Not after it said he would repent, whatever that meant.

William’s eyes widened when the Seedling whipped his arm up, spraying the blood leaking from the end at him in an arc. He hadn’t been ready for such a thing, thinking that an attack would involve physical contact, not some blood flinging.

That was a mistake.

[-250 HP]

“FUCK!” William screamed in pain when it felt like molten lava was sprinkled on him, and his robes caught fire. He jumped back to put some space between himself and the Seedling and quickly ripped off the smoking clothes, not that it was in a state worth saving even before it caught on fire.

“Leave. But the girl will stay to return what she stole. Your last chance.”

That didn’t sound like Princess Jin would get out alive after the beast was done with her. Since he was already this far, what was the point in backing out now? William had a real chance at taking this thing down, and he wouldn’t be foolish enough to let its blood touch him again. He didn’t know why the blood didn’t harm him when his fists made contact with it while on the Seedling’s body, but he didn’t question it.

Besides, he noted something interesting after he was hit by the blood. His hand was unharmed. The Elemental Gauntlet, something he had forgotten he was wearing, protected him from the molten blood. Something to keep in mind.

He launched himself at it again, intending to not let off until it was a corpse.

“You made your choice.”

William feigned a high kick, targeting its head, causing the Seedling to raise its mutilated arms to block the attack. But at the last moment, William switched tactics, dropping low and aiming for the knees, wanting to take out the remaining limbs to make easy movement close to impossible.

The Seedling was caught off-guard. It let out a rumbling grunt of pain but didn’t fall. However, the left knee was heavily damaged to the point where he felt another kick in that exact area would make the leg entirely useless. The Seedling’s red eyes were narrowed, and it shifted to protect the damaged knee from him.

With a bellowing roar, the Seedling thrust its arm at his face, the gaping wound at the end suddenly letting out heat that was visible to the eye. That was what William was waiting for.

Seeing the small opening, William lunged right at the arm, using the hand protected by the Elemental Gauntlet to grab the open wound and push it out of the way. The very next moment, a barrage of rapid punches was aimed at the Seedling’s exposed torso. Each thud of his fist against the creature's charred flesh was like the beating of war drums.

The Seedling grunted with each impact, the cracks on the torso expanding every time until the orangish-red blood flowed copiously out of the newly created wounds and dripped down its body. Sensing the shift, William pressed his advantage.

He used the short training from Qin Yu and the frantic mob fights he experienced to its limits.

William unleashed a flurry of attacks, combining punches, kicks, and quick counters to the weak response of the Seedling, pushing it back step by step. For each block the creature successfully made, two or three attacks from William landed the intended target.

It was in a miserable condition. Its arms were even further destroyed, over half of its torso utterly red with blood, its legs mangled from taking repeated kicks but somehow still whole, and more importantly, its face finally caught a little damage.

Out of all the parts of the body William targeted, the Seedling was extremely careful with never letting an attack land on its face. He had taken advantage of that by repeatedly targeting the head, never hoping to actually land an attack on it, but instead on the part of the body the beast offered up as a sacrifice.

It wasn’t hard to understand that keeping its head safe was paramount for the Seedling. William’s attacks hadn’t been successful in landing on the head till a moment ago when the rest of its body was too damaged to block his attacks.

The end was near. He could sense it, and apparently, so could the Seedling.

Suddenly, the beast pushed forward with a roar of frustration. It looked like it was trying to body him, but the attempt was laughable since it was so slow in his eyes. William didn’t stay idle. He rushed to meet the Seedling, intending to use the beast's momentum against itself. It wouldn’t be much, but maybe that extra bit of force behind the impact of his fist would finally end this.

The Seedling’s red eyes glared at him hatefully as it likely realized that it was over. Its life would be taken from it when his fist impacted its forehead.

[-1000 HP]

“GRAHHH!”

William found himself staring at the ceiling, blood bubbling past his teeth as his mouth opened, soundlessly crying in pain. He had no idea what had happened. How it went from victory to inches away from death.

“It seems you are finished.”

His ears twitched as he fought through the unexpected pain and pushed himself off the floor to stand on his feet.

The Seedling was hundreds of feet away from him. Its attack launched William this far from it. It slowly walked toward him, stumbling from the damage its legs had taken.

“You will help replace the nutrients your companion denied me.”

Ah, his martial skill had been deactivated. Right before he was about to kill the Seedling.