XL. The Ram

Kval began to run, charging at him, shouting.

"Give me that necklace!"

Dag prepared to dodge the axe blow. Being Kval's weapon very heavy, he tried to hit Dag who easily managed to dodge the shot, but when he tried to hit Kval himself, he parried.

This new enemy was very strong in defense.

With normal attacks, Dag probably wouldn't have been able to hit him. He had to use his new skills.

He quickly crossed his arms and tried to strike with Earth Stomp. The ground beneath Kval began to shatter when he jumped high despite the weight of his axe and tried to hit Dag, totally ignoring his ability.

Dag sideways dodged the axe blow from above. If it hit him, he'd probably split it in two.

He moved a few feet away.

"You're fast, kid. But sooner or later I'll catch you," Kval said with a sadistic expression, twisting his head. A crazy smile appeared on his face.

Soon after, he put his axe behind his back.

Dag looked at him suspiciously.

Kval snapped forward and put his hands on the ground, starting to run like an animal, on all fours!

He was quickly heading towards Dag when two large horns of ram appeared from his head.

Dag opened his eyes wide to that vision: it must have been a skill derived from the Kval Clan! He recalled that Heimdallr, their baseline God, had a large pair of horns like those.

In a few seconds, Kval was already ahead of Dag, who didn't have time to think. He tried to dodge the blow, but with a movement of his head the man hit him with a horn, injuring him on the arm.

Fortunately, the blow was not well settled, otherwise, the horn would have pierced Dag's arm.

Kval turned furiously on four "paws" and charged Dag again, who this time waited for the goat to be close enough to jump over him.

He jumped, grabbing him by the horns and tried to sink the sword on his back.

He noticed that not all of Kval's body had turned into an animal: he was a kind of humanoid, half man, half mutton.

He narrowly sank the sword into his back. The armor had been pierced, but his skin was much harder than the human one.

He had to apply "Perforate" to his shots, otherwise he would have barely scratched it.

As soon as he was hit, Kval groaned.

At the end of his run, he stopped and returned to his feet like a human. The big horns were still on his head.

He touched his back and looked at his hand, full of blood.

"Grrr! damn brat! Give me the emblem I told you!" he yelled. Extracting the axe and sprinting back towards Dag.

"The emblem?" thought Dag.

That's why that necklace was so important! It was one of the ten emblems! But which one?

Dag parried the blow, but Kval hit him in the face with the axe rod, causing him to fall to the ground.

Dag coughed up blood. The blow was really powerful.

"That emblem is mine, it belongs to me rightfully! I was the one who defeated its owner! If you want it, you'll have to defeat me first!" continued Kval, waving more like a beast than a human being.

Dag didn't know what emblem it was, but that warrior was really strong. His shots were so heavy and ignored every attempt of parry. His sword wouldn't have been enough to deflect those blows. He had to attack powerfully to kill him.

"Emblem?" asked Dag, his mouth bleeding.

"That pendant is the No. 10 emblem," Kval said.

"Unbelievable!" thought Dag. He planned to win all the emblems one at a time, but he never imagined that they would find him.

If he had given the necklace to Kval without a fight, he probably would have killed him anyway. He didn't seem like a person to bargain with.

Dag was determined to hold the pendant.

Perhaps with the emblem, he could regain the trust of masters Egill and Dargeon and could return to the temple.

Dag got up and thrust his sword beside him, into the ground.

He clenched his fists and felt the blood pump quickly.

"I know that technique, you're a member of the Hammers Of Thor!" said Kval.

Dag didn't stop focusing.

Call Of The Berserkr had been activated: he must not waste a second.

Shooting forward, Dag grabbed the sword and charged at Kval.

With a rotation of his body, he tried to hit him violently with the sword at chest height, but Kval deflected the shot, kicking Dag in the stomach.

He spat blood again.

"Not even with my upgraded body I can do anything to him!" thought Dag, worrying seriously.

Kval approached Dag crouching on the ground and gave him another kick, more powerful than the first, causing him to roll to the ground in pain.

"You're pathetic," Kval said disdainfully, venting from his nostrils.

He lowered himself towards Dag and grabbed him by the hair, lifting him off the ground.

He tore off the bag that contained the necklace and then dropped Dag again.

He took the necklace and threw the bag to the ground.

From the ground, Dag saw the vial fall from the bag, near him.

After taking possession of the necklace, Kval wore it around his neck.

"Hahahah! At last! The emblem is mine!" he chuckled with satisfaction.

"You definitely made me angry, kid. I won't spare you! Die!"

He tried to hit Dag with the axe, but he rolled to one side, dodging the blow.

The axe lodged in the ground.

As Kval tried to extract it, Dag took a snap of the vial.

"Uh?"

Kval turned to him unaware of what was about to happen.

Dag uncorked the vial and drank the magenta blood all at one sip.

He felt a feeling of omnipotence flowing through his veins, from the tip of his toes to his head.

The sword fell from his hands.