Battle with Hulk

Fanny quickly stopped Hulk from the green giant's little game. He wanted to test how much stronger Hulk became under the reinforcement from 'Demon Armor Incursio.'

Forget about defense; Fanny wanted to know Hulk's strength first. The giant shouldn't be enraged right now, so his strength must be at baseline.

"Go and lift that rock." Fanny pointed at the boulder that he usually used to test 'Explosion Magic.'

Hulk obediently rushed to the boulder and grabbed its sides. He roared and lifted the boulder easily above his head. Fanny was speechless. He knew that Hulk would be able to lift it, but he thought the green giant would struggle a little more; what Fanny had called a boulder was almost the size of a small mountain. It looked like a toy in Hulk's hand.

To properly observe the armor's effect, Fanny told Hulk to put down the rock and remove the 'Demon Armor Incursio' before trying to lift the rock again.

The sudden disappearance of 'Demon Armor Incursio' made Hulk feel strange. The green giant touched all over his body for a while before realizing that Fanny had removed the armor.

"Come on, lift the rock again." Fanny watched Hulk closely.

Hulk required much more effort this time, using both his hands to lift the boulder. He couldn't raise the rock above his head like he did while wearing the armor.

This demonstration was enough to show Fanny how terrifying Hulk could be with the strength amplification from 'Demon Armor Incursio'—on top of that, this Hulk was in a normal state. Weakened even, after consuming so many 'Sumire Karaage Rolls.' There's no telling what kind of nightmare he would become if he was strengthened by rage.

Fanny came back to his senses while Hulk was still struggling against the boulder. He told the green giant to stop and expressed his real purpose, "Hulk, fight with me!"

Fanny expected Hulk to happily accept his challenge, but the green giant unexpectedly shook his head in hesitation. "Mage, friend!"

The simple sentences conveyed a very clear meaning. Fanny was a friend, so Hulk didn't want to fight him out of worry that the giant would hurt him.

"It's okay." Fanny flew up to pat Hulk's head. He smiled. "It's just a sparring match. You could limit your strength."

Hulk hesitantly shifted.

"Come on!"

Fanny did not give Hulk another chance to refuse. He immediately equipped 'Demon Armor Incursio' and prepared to really farm experience through Hulk, releasing an 'Explosion Magic' right at the green giant.

Hulk raised his hands to block the flames; the explosion didn't even scratch his green skin, but his battle instinct was provoked. He grinned in excitement and rushed toward Fanny.

Fanny's current objective was gaining experience through battle, so he didn't bombard Hulk from the air. He instead tried to fight on the ground as much as he could.

What happened to Tony was still vivid in Fanny's mind, so he didn't dare take Hulk's fist head-on. Despite Hulk's initial reluctance, there's no stopping the green giant once someone excited him.

Hulk's strength and speed came at a price for his dexterity. He simply threw around his enormous strength recklessly. Thus, Hulk's combat skill was a complete mess, at least compared to Fanny's own.

Because of that, Hulk's fist couldn't reach Fanny—though, it's not like Fanny's fists and chant-less 'Explosion Magic' could harm Hulk.

The situation was akin to if an assassin faced a knight. Unfortunately, Fanny's output as an 'assassin' was too low, so he couldn't breach through the 'knight's' defense. On the other hand, Hulk, the 'knight' with his high defensive and offensive capacity, didn't have the skill nor control to connect his attacks.

Overall, this kind of battle was disadvantageous to Fanny. With the small margin of advantage Fanny had, Hulk only needed one hit to take him down.

However, this did not mean that Fanny was definitively weaker than Hulk. His real class was a mage, after all. The current predicament occurred because he was fighting against Hulk to gain experience; if Hulk was really an enemy to be defeated, he would've flown high into the sky and begun chanting a Boosted 'Explosion Magic.'

With his straightforward personality, Hulk obviously hated Fanny's evasive battle style. It didn't take long for Hulk to accumulate rage: even with Fanny's comparatively low output, Hulk would also feel pain if he got hit too many times.

As Fanny predicted, Hulk abandoned any notion of mercy after he was enraged.

Hulk roared, his punches carving small craters every time they slammed into the mountain. Fanny trembled in fear; he didn't want to end up like Tony.

The battle did not last long. Fanny's tense mind was quickly worn down, while Hulk's intensifying rage only empowered the green giant further. His beast-like instinct gradually adapted to Fanny's fighting pattern.

The battle ended when Hulk sent Fanny flying through the sky, although Fanny considered this a draw.

Unfortunately, the system didn't differentiate between draw and loss, only loss and victory.

"Fighting, Mage, not like," Hulk sulked after the battle.

After all, Hulk was mercilessly barraged with attacks until the last moment, and Fanny ended the battle right after the giant finally figured out how to counter the mage. Nobody would be happy with that situation.

"Cough!" Fanny coughed in embarrassment. He underestimated Hulk's strength even to the last moment.

He did not expect that Hulk would improve so quickly in battle. He could easily evade the wide and forceful attacks in the beginning, but it became more and more difficult as the battle progressed. He had no choice but to end the fight there.

Fanny was a little worried. The gap in strength had only grown through this first battle, even though he had planned to beat every drip of experience out of Hulk during this summer vacation.

He couldn't waste this holiday!

Fanny anxiously wracked his brain for a solution while checking the experience bar. Despite not winning against Hulk, he still gained around seven Mordo.

Fanny was stunned. If he gained so much experience despite not winning, then how many Mordo would winning against Hulk be worth?!

Fanny subconsciously turned to Hulk, who was in a bad mood. Perhaps because Banner had intentionally summoned the giant this time, Hulk hadn't shown any sign of turning into Banner yet.

Fanny broke the silence after thinking for a while, "Alright, don't be angry. I'll treat you to something! You haven't eaten anything other than fried chicken nuggets, have you? I'll take you to eat something else."

Hulk's frown turned into a curious expression. He almost exclusively appears during dangerous situations, so he has experienced little other than fight or flight instinct.

"Come!"

Fanny opened the portal to the villa that Banner lived in. He had hesitated to bring Hulk there, but he ultimately trusted that Hulk would obediently listen to him.

Hulk curiously inspected everything in the villa—but Fanny stopped him when he was about to reach for the wine cabinet.

"Must not move this!" Fanny said with a serious face. He didn't know Hulk's alcohol tolerance; it would be disastrous if Hulk got drunk and out of control.

"Oh."

Hulk gave the wine cabinet a strange look, but he obediently kept his hand off of it. Fanny sighed in relief.

Fanny then took off 'Demon Armor Incursio' and went to the supermarket and nearby restaurants. He bought about a metric ton of snacks and food, intent on teaching Hulk about the diversity of Earth's culinary culture.