137 Suddenly Transforming into a Shonen Battle Series

Although he was deeply immersed in the heat of battle, Jos's mind was not blinded by the conflict before him. While the Grandmaster was somewhat exasperating in every aspect, he undeniably commanded a considerable number of capable subordinates.

Having lost a wager to him once, they certainly wouldn't foolishly sit back and wait for defeat. Their chance at a comeback lay entirely in securing his death during these two matches designated by them.

After all, if he died, all wagers would cease to exist, and other troubles would be resolved effortlessly.

The Grandmaster merely enjoyed gambling, which did not mean his sportsmanship was exemplary. In the original version of events, when Thor had almost defeated the Hulk, he had also secretly intervened to alter the outcome!

Working backward from this known fact, it was not hard to guess how the opposing side would arrange these two gladiatorial bouts.

A ratio of three hundred to one alone was definitely insufficient to guarantee the possibility of killing Jos. After all, in a world where individual strength could reach the heavens, sheer numbers could never bridge the gap in quality when facing a true powerhouse.

Therefore, the Grandmaster must have arranged other tricks, deliberately concealed among those three hundred individuals—a fatal, hidden blow meant to take Jos down in one strike!

The Grandmaster's scheme could hardly be called brilliant; otherwise, Jos would not have seen through it so quickly. Yet, it was an unavoidable open conspiracy that genuinely caused quite a headache.

"Well, none of that is the real problem. But if I win this match, this guy will definitely force me to fight the Hulk directly... Tch, it's a situation I've been trying my absolute best to avoid, yet it still ended up like this in the end."

At the mere thought of what lay ahead, Jos could not help but feel a twinge of irritation.

Although his meticulous preparations had at least spared him from the fate of ordinary gladiators fighting to the death here with no clue when he might encounter the Hulk, the current situation was hardly pristine.

However, lacking any extraordinary traits, Jos's background as an ordinary person allowed him to accept any accident or failure with relative ease.

Besides, the present situation did not yet count as failure; at worst, the outcome was simply not as effortless as he had anticipated.

"Forget it, forget it. I'm no apple-munching guy with glasses. Let alone thinking three steps ahead for every single move, managing to make sure this current step doesn't land me in a pit is already a victory."

With a self-deprecating laugh, Jos cast these emotions to the back of his mind, shook the twin appendages behind his shoulders, and prepared to carve a path through the enemy once more.

Yet at that very instant, as his mental state shifted, his body involuntarily experienced a microscopic, fleeting moment of stiffness. Under normal circumstances, such a momentary rigidity would pose no problem whatsoever, but this was the middle of a fierce combat!

In the blink of an eye, several blades gleaming with cold light erupted simultaneously, slashing toward Jos from different angles and weaving an inescapable net of steel around him!

These were the assassins the Grandmaster had prepared all along!

No, calling them assassins might be giving them too much credit; they were merely a group of thoroughly trained fighters.

Yet there was no doubt they were a squad of highly coordinated, formidable surprise attackers who had concealed their presence, blending seamlessly among the other hundred-odd combatants, launching their synchronized assault only at this exact moment!

This sudden move startled Jos slightly, but his movements remained utterly unhurried.

Wielding weapons in both hands, he swept outward, instantly parrying the most dangerous strikes aimed at his heart and head. The twin claws behind his shoulders lashed out with violent fury, tearing through a massive mass of flesh and blood, ripping the seamless net of blades wide open!

"Nothing special after all... Wait?! No!"

Just as Jos's spirits relaxed, he instantly sensed that something was gravely amiss. Unfortunately, it was already too late to react; a sword beam, glowing with a heat and brilliance unlike anything before, descended upon him!

Jos had assumed that the formation of three hundred men was merely a diversion to cover the assassins' ambush, yet he never imagined that even those assassins were still just another diversion!

This blade stroke was the true fatal trap the Grandmaster had prepared for him!

The wielder of the blade was unremarkable, almost utterly mundane, to the extent that Jos could barely perceive his presence.

Yet this sword was a genuinely terrifying artifact!

There were many powerful divine artifacts in the Marvel universe, and blade-type weapons were naturally plentiful. For instance, the enigmatic blade Muramasa wielded by Wolverine—capable of cutting through both lasers and Adamantium—was one of the prime examples.

Lacking relevant knowledge, Jos could not recognize the true identity of this weapon. Perhaps it was not a legendary artifact known across the cosmos, or perhaps it was merely a nameless, broken blade forged casually by the dwarves.

Even so, the power of this single strike was formidable enough to make Jos's soul tremble!

Regrettably, having just shattered the surrounding assassins, Jos was currently in a moment of exhaustion where his expended strength had not yet renewed. He could only watch helplessly as the blade cleaved into him!

Clang!

Though it struck a human body, the sound produced was not the wet, soft thud of flesh being severed, but rather a strange metallic ring, as if striking solid armor.

The very next instant, Jos was sent flying backward as though struck head-on by a freight train, hurtling across the entire expanse of the arena and embedding himself deeply into the solid wall!

"What is the meaning of this?!" Despite scoring a massive success with this strike, both the swordsman and the Grandmaster wore expressions of utter astonishment.

This was a blade! Not a hammer. Under normal circumstances, Jos should have been sliced cleanly in two. Why had it resulted in him being sent flying by some sort of blunt impact?

"Hiss... I still grew careless. I almost died right here..."

Embedded in the wall, every single inch of Jos's body thrieked with agony, and blood seeped from every facial orifice, making him look utterly wretched.

Yet, ultimately, he had survived this blow.

His Infinity set converted all slashing and piercing damage entirely into kinetic force; combined with his viscous bodily structure, which liquefied parts of his skin to absorb the brunt of the impact, followed by utilizing his most advanced deflection technique to discharge the remaining force out of his body, Jos had finally managed to survive the assault!

"I almost had to 'apply this live experience to my next life'... As expected, I still underestimated this man, the Grandmaster..."

Even though he constantly reminded himself of the Grandmaster's status as an Elder of the Universe, the man's antics possessed a deeply deceptive quality.

This deceptiveness didn't stem from any exceptional acting skills, but rather because he genuinely behaved like a total goofball. It was all too easy to forget that this goofball was, after all, an ancient entity who had ruled Sakaar for countless eons, and surely possessed unfathomable hidden cards in his hand.

With a soft sigh, Jos wrenched himself free from the wall. As he stared at the sword-wielding figure, a long-dormant fighting spirit ignited within his eyes.

"Again!"