After several failed attempts to probe and provoke, the burly man's patience was almost completely worn out. He charged forward like a cannonball.
His shoulders were broad, his back thick, and his bulging muscular arm whistled as he threw a hook punch straight at Johnny's face.
The wind from the punch stung Johnny's ears. If he were hit, half his bones would likely shatter.
Facing such a physical monster, Johnny naturally couldn't confront him head-on. He chose to constantly evade.
Johnny moved swiftly, like a fallen leaf blown by a strong wind, not retreating but advancing. However, he wasn't meeting the attack head-on but instead slid along the outside of the burly man's arm, like a nimble fish, darting into the blind spot of his opponent's arm span.
The burly man's punch missed, and his center of gravity momentarily paused. Johnny seized this fleeting opportunity, slamming his left knee hard into the inside of his opponent's thigh!
"Ow!"
The burly man grunted. This seemingly ordinary knee strike was delivered from an extremely tricky angle.
Johnny had aimed for his femoral nerve plexus, and the intense pain caused the burly man's right leg to buckle, instantly disintegrating his offensive.
Tom's eyes lit up from the side of the ring. She whispered, "Good kid, you know how to use him as a punching bag to practice your reactions, don't you?"
Johnny's current reactions and movements were similar to when he had toyed with him in that training ground, but the difference was that Tom had sufficiently powerful strength and reaction speed, but what about Johnny?
Moreover, was the opponent's resistance to strikes also very strong?
Indeed, the burly man's resistance to strikes was astonishing.
Johnny felt a chill in his heart. He had thought this knee strike would make his opponent stumble a few steps, but to his surprise, the burly man merely swayed his body, then grinned, revealing his stark white teeth: "You've got some moves, kid! But it's not enough!"
With that, he charged at Johnny again, not dodging or evading, and his large, fan-like hand grabbed at Johnny's collar.
Johnny's heart tightened. The burly man's strength far surpassed A Bao's!
He shook his arms, using Jeet Kune Do's "one-inch punch" to block, while simultaneously leaning back sharply, barely avoiding the dangerous chokehold.
The burly man's hand grazed his chin, and his fingernail left a bloody scratch on the side of his neck.
Immediately after, the burly man's elbow struck Johnny's ribs like an iron hammer!
"Bang!" A dull thud.
"Damn you!"
Johnny felt as if his ribs had been struck by a sledgehammer. His throat tasted sweet, and he almost vomited blood.
He used the force to retreat three steps, hitting the cold cage wall before steadying himself, clutching his ribs and gasping for breath.
All the spectators stood up, gasps and whistles rising and falling.
"This kid is finished!" someone lamented.
"That burly man is a professional fighter. I heard he used to be a wrestler!"
"His ribs are probably broken..."
Tom frowned deeply, clenching her fists.
To be honest, encountering such a monster in the second round was quite unexpected for her.
Johnny wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his eyes growing calmer.
He could clearly hear his heart pounding like a drum, and he could feel every rib protesting.
But he knew he had to hold on.
Although the burly man's stamina was astonishing, one thing couldn't be changed: the larger the physique, the greater the consumption.
The bulkier a person's physique, the worse his reaction ability and speed would be.
Coupled with the considerable energy he had expended in pursuit earlier, his breathing had already begun to become heavy.
This was an opportunity!
"Still able to stand?"
The burly man was also somewhat surprised, then approached with a sinister grin, "I won't go easy on you!"
Johnny took a deep breath, no longer simply evading.
He seized the moment the burly man swung another punch, suddenly ducking low and rushing forward, aiming for his opponent's supporting leg!
This was a common "sweeping technique" in combat.
However, the burly man's reaction was quicker than he expected. His other leg was firmly planted on the ground like an iron stake, and his upper body sank with the momentum, instead trying to ram his shoulder into Johnny's chest!
In the nick of time, Johnny twisted his waist, not only avoiding the collision but also using the momentum to wrap his body around the burly man's arm like a nimble snake. His legs locked around his opponent's waist and abdomen like iron bands, while his arms tightened fiercely. This was a modified "guillotine" chokehold!
Since the opportunity had arrived, Johnny couldn't let it go.
"Ugh ah!" The burly man let out a painful roar.
Johnny's chokehold precisely compressed his carotid artery, while his other leg tightly hooked his ankle, preventing him from easily breaking free.
The burly man tried to shake him off with brute force, but Johnny had already concentrated all his weight and strength there. Their bodies were pressed tightly together, rotating in the cage as if one entity.
"Come on, Johnny!"
Tom shouted excitedly from below the stage.
Johnny felt the muscles in his arms trembling violently, and the sharp pain in his ribs came in waves, but he gritted his teeth, not relaxing in the slightest.
He could feel the burly man's heartbeat gradually quickening, and his breathing becoming more rapid. His opponent's stamina was being rapidly depleted!
"Let go of me!"
The burly man roared, attempting to knee Johnny's back, but Johnny was prepared, flexibly dodging to one side while tightening his legs even more, increasing the force of the chokehold by several points.
"Crack!"
A faint sound of bone cracking came, whether it was the burly man's shoulder blade or some part of Johnny himself groaning under the strain.
But Johnny no longer cared. All his focus was on locking down his opponent.
Finally, the burly man's legs could no longer support him, and he dropped to his knees in the cage with a "thump"!
Johnny seized the opportunity, suddenly exerting force from his waist. His entire body, like a fully drawn bow, pressed the burly man heavily against the cage wall!
"Bang!"
The burly man struggled, trying to push Johnny away, but the lack of oxygen and the pressure of the chokehold left him powerless. When Johnny counted to five, the burly man finally couldn't hold on and passed out.
Even though he had already fallen unconscious, Johnny still did not relax, continuing to tightly constrict his neck.
After the burly man lay motionless on the ring for quite a while, the countdown finally began.
After ten counts.
"Match over! Blue corner wins again!"
The referee's voice echoed in the noisy cage.
The entire venue was first silent, then erupted in a thunderous roar of astonishment and applause!
Those spectators who had previously mocked Johnny for overestimating himself were now dumbfounded.
Johnny collapsed beside the burly man, gasping for breath, each inhale pulling at the wound in his ribs, sending waves of intense pain.
But as he looked at the numbers Lv3 (3/100) flickering on the Jeet Kune Do proficiency bar in the bottom right corner of his vision, a tired yet gratified smile involuntarily curved on his lips.
Tom rushed forward excitedly, helped him up, and handed him a bottle of water: "That was amazing! You're crazy! You actually dared to choke him out with a guillotine!"
Johnny took the water and drank a mouthful, shaking his head, feeling the blood in his body gradually calm down yet fill with power: "He was pushing me... making me see many things clearly."
He glanced at the burly man lying on the ground, still unconscious, and said sincerely, "He is a worthy opponent."
"You, you're really becoming more and more like good fighting material!"
Tom smiled and patted his shoulder, "But you also need a good rest. Your injury..."
"It's nothing."
Johnny moved his body around. Although every movement pulled at the pain, making him wince.
But he could feel that this victory was more solid, more hard-won than the last.
The lights outside the octagon cage shone on his sweat-soaked face, reflecting a brand new kind of radiance.
However, he also knew that it would be very difficult for his proficiency to increase further, and he simply didn't have that much time to spend here, so he decided to stop there.
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right nobut who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/TripleCrown
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"