Chapter 143: Tiger Team - First Part
The sight of Elven Village at night was more beautiful than what Sila had imagined. The residents lived in hollow sections of large trees that filled the area. A lot of lamps were hanging from branches. Within the lamps, there wasn't a candle but a few fireflies emitting light not inferior to moonlight. A gust of cold wind sent the smell of tree leaves and grass into his nose.
"You have got a message."
The sound suddenly rang out inside his head, startling him. Sila waved his hand once and found that his system window had finished upgrading. The message he just got was from Orpheus telling him that the upgrade was done. Sila checked his item window and found that there was an unfamiliar book inside; it seemed to be a manual explaining the benefits of the upgraded system window.
Sila decided not to read it for the time being. As for releasing Bow, he decided to do that after he left Beginning Island. At the very least, he wanted to let her have fun for as long as possible.
Still following Tiger and the twins, Sila took all of the items inside his sleeves and pockets and stored them in his system window.
"What's wrong, Big Brother? Did someone call you?" asked Aek as he saw Sila close his system window.
"It's nothing. Just a message from my friend." Sila shrugged.
As the four of them entered Elven Village, they noticed that any elves they came across gave Sila a strange look, like he was an alien.
"Um... Are the elves usually this... strange?" whispered Sila.
Tiger shook his head. "No, they are not. They're usually friendly, to be honest. I wonder if something has happened. Let's hurry up and find the rest."
They accelerated their speed and soon arrived at the training ground located further in the village. There were fences to separate the boundary between the village and Illusion Forest.
As soon as Sila arrived, five young women entered his sight. The first one was Alice who was practicing firing arrows by herself. Next to her was Jundtrathep who was talking to a young woman in a black witch robe. It was the first time Sila saw someone wearing the complete witch set; she even wore a wide-brimmed witch hat. The fourth one was a young woman in a Kung Fu uniform holding a mace in her hand. He could tell that this woman was a qi-type player since she was practicing qi reinforcement, and she was quite good at it. The last person was next to her; she was Luna, Jundtrathep's partner who Sila had met before.
"Jund!! Look who is with us today!" Aek was the first to shout.
All five ladies stopped what they were doing and turned their heads toward Aek before shifting their gazes to Sila.
"Big Brother Sila? Why are you here?" Jundtrathep approached him.
"It's not that weird, Jund; many people have come to Beginning Island lately. We just met Big Brother Sila in the weapon shop so we invited him to come back with us," Tod replied in Sila's place.
"The thing is, I had some matters to attend to on Beginning Island, so I returned. It's already finished though."
Alice quit firing arrows and came to the group. Meanwhile, Tiger gestured toward the woman Sila didn't know to introduce themselves.
"Sila, this is Pimchanok, but we call her Pim. And this one is Thanapond, or Pond. They were busy the last time we met, so this is the first time you get to see all of our team members."
It was revealed that the woman in the Kung Fu uniform was Pim and the one in the witch robe was Pond. Both of them were quite good-looking; Pim was like an athlete brimming with confidence while Pond looked cute and delicate.
"Hello. It's nice to meet you." Both greeted Sila almost at the same time. Nevertheless, as they didn't know each other, they didn't know what to talk about.
"You are real?" It was Pim who broke the silence. "Are you really Mister Sila?"
Sila was surprised as he wondered why they would think he wasn't real. "Yes. My name is Sila. Why do you ask?"
"It's nothing. It's just... based on what Jund told us, Mister Sila is calm, handsome, skilled, kind, generous, ...the list goes on. Don't let me tell you more of them; it will take me a day to list all of them. In conclusion, Pond and I have always thought that Jund just made up her dream guy." (As Pim said all this, Jundtrathep was poking her non-stop, her face totally red.)
It was the first time he was directly complimented, so he didn't know what to say. "Er... I'm not that great. I still have many flaws."
"And you are modest," Pim added another good trait.
Tod coughed to interrupted the conservation. "Ahem! There is still another dream guy standing right here, you know?"
The group fell completely silent for a moment. Aek tapped on Tod's shoulder while Pim yelled, "The most you are is a shameless guy, Tod! How thick is your face to dare compliment yourself? More importantly, Mister Sila plays qi type, you know? He is much cooler than you."
Thinking about how someone's energy type was related to how cool they were, Tod pulled a wry face. However, Pim seemed to be able to read his mind as she continued.
"It's surely related! All true men play qi type. Take Mister Lone Wolf, Mister Zero, or Mister Lomyok for example. They are all cool."
The first two names were fine, but Sila somehow disagreed with the last name that was mentioned.
"Miss Pim yourself is very skilled. I noticed you were practicing qi reinforcement just a moment ago. There are not many players on the Main Continent who can use it as well as you do. I personally think that you are on the same level as Mister Lomyok."
Pim grinned. In Tiger's group, she was the only person playing qi type; Pond and Jund chose magic type while the men and Alice chose psychic type. Thus, there was no one she could talk to about qi.
"See?! He really is a good guy," said Pim. "You also seem to have met Mister Lomyok. Are you two friends?"
Sila pondered for a while to find a description for his relationship with Lomyok. Being friends seemed too intimate, but being enemies also didn't feel right; he didn't have a feeling of wanting to fight or compete against Lomyok even though Lomyok declared himself as Sila's rival.
"I have met him once or twice. It's more correct to say that we are acquaintances."
"Anyway, for what purpose did Big Brother Sila come to Beginning Island? Can you tell us?" Tod hurriedly tried to change the subject before the conversation circled around Lomyok.
Sila had already come up with a prepared answer. He had anticipated that someone would surely ask him. It was an ambiguous answer that wasn't exactly lying.
"About the slime rock in Beginning Town, it was a quest for a player from the slime race. I returned to complete this quest."
Although it wasn't exactly the case, Sila's answer was logical, so no one suspected him.
"Ah. Talking about this, you are wearing green wuxia clothing, aren't you, Big Brother? Are you the person that people in the forum said snatched their reward?"
"There's no way Big Brother Sila would do that," Aek interrupted Tod before he could say anything else.
"That's not it. As I said, the slime rock was an exclusive quest for slime players, so I'm the only one who could break it. As for the quest reward, it was a skill, not an item. Thus, I can't share it with others even if I want to."
Even though it was a distorted truth, the result was good. Later on, this information would gradually spread from the members of Tiger Team by word of mouth until everyone stopped chasing Sila over this matter (though he was still being chased for various other reasons).
Tiger noticed that the conversation started to focus on Sila's personal matter, so he changed the topic.
"By the way, everyone, how about our training?"
It was a daily task for Team Tiger to train themselves every day. After hunting monsters in the day, Tiger, Aek, and Tod would visit the town to identify items and have their weapons repaired. Afterward, they would start a meeting to discuss how they could improve.
"Today is like every other day, Big Brother Tiger. We have encountered all kinds of monsters in Illusion Forest anyway," said Alice who seemed to be a representative of all the girls in the team. "Pim has eaten a Serpent Heart, so Pond is the only one who is still at Squire Rank, Level 1000. As for Jund and I, we have gotten a lot better at using our skills. We've been wondering when we'll go to the Main Continent."
Everyone agreed with what she said, including Tiger who believed that the time to depart Beginning Island had come, as they had been everywhere. Still, if possible, he would like his team to have experience fighting against human opponents before they went to the Main Continent. However, it would be too risky for them to try engaging in a fight against a player.
As he was somehow an expert regarding training, Sila could read Tiger's anxiety. As a result, he proposed to help.
"If you're still worried, how about having a mock battle against me?"
Everyone shifted their gazes to Sila.
"That would be too much for us to ask. Mister Sila is our guest," said Pond.
"No problem. I'm happy to help. Aek and Tod also told me they would like to show me how strong they have become. Since that was the case, instead of showing their progress via other means, they can show me through a mock battle."
Everyone showed a worried expression, but Tiger accepted Sila's offer. He would like his team to have experience fighting against a human opponent and this was the perfect opportunity.
"That sounds good, but we have to hold back. How about each person stops when it's determined that they should be dead?"
As they had agreed on the rules, each team separated to prepare themselves. For Sila, he just placed Bow on the grass and let her become very transparent. He then picked up several tree branches on the ground and kept them in his sleeves.
"Um... Our team has eight members. Isn't this too unfair to Mister Sila?"
"Don't underestimate a skilled qi-type player. In close-quarters combat, a qi-type player will have the advantage. We have to be careful, especially magic-type members who might not have enough time to cast a spell," Pim expressed her opinion as she was a qi-type player as well.
"What Pim said is correct. Sila isn't weak, Pond. We have eight members and that means he can choose to attack any of us first. I witnessed Sila's movements; although they weren't particularly complex, they were very fast. We have to try our best. This is a rare chance for us to be able to fight against a skilled player."
"More importantly, Big Brother Sila was the champion of last month's tournament in Colossia City, you know? I heard that it was very intense as ten thousand players died," commented Tod.
"What should we do, Big Brother?" Aek asked Tiger.
"We will use regular formation, then. It's our usual formation when taking on an opponent with an unknown ability anyway."
Sila could hear what they were talking about. He had to admit that Tiger wasn't a bad leader. Well, he was still unaware that Sila had practiced martial arts. He wasn't the same as the old Sila who was artless and relied heavily on qi.
Tiger Team's formation was slightly different than what he had witnessed before. Jundtrathep was still in the center, but Pond was standing next to her. In the rear, there was Alice who had nocked an arrow; with her position, she was able to see all of her comrades and would be able to help any of them if the need arose.
Aek and Tod were standing in front of them. Their job must be to protect the three girls behind. In front of the twins, there was Pim who was holding a giant mace. As for the very front of the team, there were Luna and Tiger, both holding a weapon and a shield.
'Um... focus on being offensive at the front, defensive in the middle, and supportive in the rear. In this case, Nine Sun-Melting-Fists will be the most suitable art for this confrontation.'
Due to him being chased constantly, Sila's ability to spot the weakness of the opponent's formation was far higher than Tiger's. It took him just a mere second to decide where he should start his attack.
"Let's start!" yelled Tiger as a signal of the battle.
Pond and Jundtrathep started casting magic spells while Alice clad her arrow with psychic power reinforcement. Aek and Tod strengthened their shields with psychic power, and Pim clad her mace with qi reinforcement. Luna and Tiger also strengthened their entire bodies with energy reinforcement.
Overall, their formation focused on defense rather than offense. As Sila was the type who excelled more at being offensive, he was the first to act.
His sleeves flicked, shooting tree branches at Tiger and Luna in the front row. Luna lifted up her small, circular shield to guard while Tiger blocked them with his Earth Shield.
Utilizing the step-in technique of Nine Sun-Melting-Fists, Sila narrowed the distance in the blink of an eye and arrived at the first weak link of Tiger Team.
It was a spot between Tiger and Luna.
Tiger used a longsword while Luna used a spear. With them being next to each other, they could cover a wide area. However, Sila was too close for them to bring out the full potential of their weapons.
Stomping the ground, Sila utilized Nine Sun-Melting-Fists to push Tiger and Luna's shields and sent them several steps backward. Now, only Pim was left to confront him in a direct battle.
Pim panicked because she didn't expect Sila to approach her so fast and quickly slammed the mace down. Since she did it by reflex, she didn't hold back at all.
Sila didn't mind, though. He parried the mace away with his right hand and placed his left hand on Pim's side. Relying on the Migrate technique of Six Moon-Grabbing-Claws, he redirected the force behind the mace from his right hand to his left hand and blew Pim toward Tiger who was charging at him.
Alice fired an arrow at him. However, she must have shot it in a hurry, because it wasn't as lethal as it should be. Using the Stop technique, he grabbed the arrow in mid-air and broke the arrowhead off. Then, he fired the headless arrow backward to hit Pim's forehead, which made a slapping sound.
*Pa!*
"One down," Sila said softly, while Aek thrusted his spear from the left.
Using the footwork of Nine Sun-Melting-Fists, Sila sidestepped and moved into a more favorable position, using Tod's body to cover himself.
Being in a hurry, Tod tried to strike him with his spear, which Sila ignored and continued moving forward. Once he reached a certain point, Sila lifted his shoulder to hit Tod's side and sent him toward Aek, causing them to fall on top of each other. Finally, Sila fired two tree branches at their foreheads.
*Pa! Pa!*
"Two, three."
At last, Luna approached Sila from a distance that allowed her to use the full power of her spear. Her white spear emitted white light as she thrusted it toward him.
In the entire group, the ones that were the hardest to take down were Luna and Tiger; that was why these two were in the front row. Nevertheless, Sila ignored both of them and did a backflip, landing himself behind Alice.
"Kyaa!" Alice screamed as he pushed her back, sending her to Jundtrathep and Pond. Following Alice, he flicked his finger at Jundtrathep and Pond respectively. "Four, five, six."
It was at that moment that Tiger swung his sword at Sila as Luna brandished her spear. Still being as calm as ever, Sila deflected the tip of both weapons to connect to each other using the Parry technique.
The impact caused Luna's grip on the spear to be weakened, which Sila took advantage of by firing three tree branches at her. The first two were aimed at her heart and head, while the last one was fired at a relatively slower speed.
And it went as he had expected; Luna used her shield to block one of the branches while evading the next one. However, she was still hit on the forehead by the last branch.
"Seven." At the same time that he counted seven, Sila used his hand to grab Tiger's blade.
As he had anticipated, Tiger's control over his weapon was far superior than Aek and Tod's. Tiger rotated his wrist once and it was Sila who had to release the grip. It wasn't due to Tiger being stronger than him but because of the direction of the rotation. It showed how great Tiger's control was.
Nevertheless, due to his choice of equipment, a longsword and a big shield, Tiger's offensive ability was lacking. The longsword had a long reach but also a long delay between attacks. Once the sword was released from Sila's grip, and Tiger thrust it at him for the second time, Sila parried the blade away and entered his attack range. He strongly exhaled while placing both hands on Tiger's chest and abdomen. It was the precursor to one of the offensive moves of Nine Sun-Melting-Fists.
Stomping his foot on the ground, the force of the stomp was sent into his hands and pushed Tiger away. Tiger's body flew backward and slammed into a tree with a thud. He was a highly skilled opponent with precise control so Sila couldn't afford to hold back as he had done against others.
The mock battle was over in less than a minute. Everyone was confused over what had happened. Aek and Tod even weren't aware yet that the battle had already ended.
Tiger lifted himself up while Luna ran to Jundtrathep to help her master stand. Everyone was still in a daze, trying to process the result of the mock battle, and it seemed Pim was the first one who reached a conclusion. She punched her fist into the sky excitedly.
"Qi type is superb!!!"