Chapter 256: 256
t
Sponsored Content
When Sila arrived at the temporary fight club, he got excited by the atmosphere full of shouting and the sounds of battle . Hundreds of people fought to their hearts’ content .
Spotting Sila, several spectators split up to make a path for him, which Sila thanked them for by bowing his head slightly .
“Sila! Come here!” shouted Bluebird from a corner . Sila raised his head and found that Bluebird was sitting on a wooden seat in the front row, surrounded by Lookhin, Asura, and Clute . In a way, it was as if they were his bodyguards, preventing others from approaching him .
Sila passed through the crowds and arrived next to Bluebird . He stroked Lookhin’s head a few times .
“It seems everyone is here . Have you finished sightseeing?” asked Sila .
“This city is small, and most of the buildings are in ruins . The only place to stop by is this fight club,” replied Bluebird .
Sila turned his attention to the arena where Burapha was fighting . “What do you think, Mister Asura?”
Asura didn’t shift his gaze to Sila . He stared at Burapha, who was fighting his fourteenth opponent, while scratching his bald head .
“He is getting better, that’s for sure . I have been picking a slightly superior opponent to gradually make him grow stronger . The kid has been focusing on defense so he could save a lot of stamina . He should be good to fight seven or eight more opponents . ”
“But that’s only in terms of one-on-one fights, right?”
“He can manage to stand his ground against a group if his opponents are weaker or equal . His lance art is good at defending, so he can save his life . His stamina will be consumed at a rapid rate though . ”
Sila had never seen the One-Eyed Evil God, Kirishima Kai, utilize Eastern Sea Sailing Lance Art before, but he could guess that the art was more profound than it appeared to be .
Based only on what he had seen so far, Sila had no more advice to give . For Burapha to hone his lance art further, he could only rely on himself .
Burapha drew his lance and deflected the spear held by his current opponent . He relied on the parry technique to redirect his opponent’s attack to the left before twisting his elbow, changing the position of his lance to jab his opponent’s armpit .
Burapha’s psychic power flowed along with his movements and spiraled up, leading the accumulated psychic power in his opponent’s body to flow the same way . The attack came from the inside out, causing several ripples to appear on his opponent’s skin . The strength left his body as he fell on his knees .
“Next person!” shouted Burapha . He took a deep breath, feeling energetic .
Wondering which person he should pick next, Asura’s gaze wandered around the location . Yet Sila suddenly stepped into the arena . “Let me . ”
Burapha wailed . “Big Brother Sila? How can I stand a chance against you?”
“No matter who your opponent is, you can’t think it’s a hopeless battle . In fact, my fighting abilities and Revin’s are around the same level,” Sila replied calmly .
Sponsored Content
Even though they were aware that this wasn’t a fight to the death, the people were interested to see Sila’s battle . Thus, no one but Burapha opposed Sila’s abrupt decision .
Seeing Sila summon the Crystal Divine Sword, some people were surprised . This was their first time witnessing Sila using a sword .
“Big Brother, do you have to use a sword against me? I heard from Big Brother Blue that you only use it against strong opponents . ”
“Revin uses a sword too . His swordsmanship is even better than mine . ”
The name ‘Revin’ seemed to be a good catalyst for Burapha . He no longer complained as he moved his feet to confront Sila . His expression was devoid of hesitation .
Sila tightened his grip while borrowing power from the Great Flow . He started the battle with the first sword style of Heaven’s Decree Sword Art, Inverted Ground .
Nature responded to the sword art by influencing Burapha’s perception with a surreal phenomenon, making him think the ground was unstable and that he had to attack right now if he didn’t want to be buried alive .
Still, Burapha didn’t move forward . He simply adjusted his breathing .
Sila frowned . Heaven’s Decree Sword Art had always worked against his opponents so far . He didn’t understand why it didn’t affect Burapha . Nevertheless, as he had mastered the Cloud Part, it only took him a few seconds to guess the reason .
‘I see . Even if he felt the urge to attack, Burapha is aware that he excels more at defense . He would be put into a disadvantageous position if he attacked, so he chose to stay focused despite it conflicting with his intuition . That’s why Heaven’s Decree failed . ’
It was an unexpected weakness of Heaven’s Decree Sword Art . Even so, after thinking about it deeply, Sila decided it wasn’t a big deal . Even a slight moment of hesitation would give him enough of an advantage if he utilized it right .
‘I will have to be more direct in my attacks, then . ’ Sila slowly stepped forward .
The Great Flow, one of Pumin’s profound arts, was categorized as a magic ability in-game . Thus, it worked best when used together with his magic skills—Orbiting Cosmos and Element-Changing Nightmare Magical Qi .
Black grains of sand swirled around the blade . Sila was exerting dark earth elemental power with Element-Changing Nightmare Magical Qi . Although the sword seemed to be lightly held in his hand, its physical attack power was greatly increased due to the supplementation of the earth element .
Sila jumped into the sky while mimicking Revin’s martial move to attack Burapha by drawing his sword in a beautiful curve .
Revin’s Flame Phoenix Sword Art was fierce yet ever-changing, suitable for a long and heavy sword . Sila’s sword had a thicker edge, so he couldn’t properly replicate the might of the art .
As such, the strike was clearly inferior to Revin’s and Burapha easily blocked it using a psychic barrier .
The attack power in the strike pushed Burapha three steps back while Sila could feel some kind of mysterious power silently submerging into his veins through his arm .
Sponsored Content
Although this power was currently harmless, Sila was fully aware that it could become a problem in the future, so he quickly circulated qi to drive it out .
“You’re good, Burapha . ” Sila gave Burapha a compliment . “Still, it’s not enough . Your power is faint and lacking strength . The difference between it and Shueria’s Bomb Lurking Psychic is as large as the difference between Heaven and Earth . I could drive it out with just two laps of qi circulation . Revin wouldn’t take longer than me . ”
With his weakness being mentioned so clearly, Burapha had time to rethink . He had been controlling his power to become faint in order for it to easily submerge into his opponent’s body . However, as it could easily enter, it could easily be forced to exit as well .
As Burapha was still pondering about it, Sila vanished from his line of sight . Only his words entered Burapha’s ears .
“Scattered, they are weak . Integrate, and they will be strong . ”
Burapha calmly bumped the handle of his lance against the ground to emit his psychic power around the arena for the sake of pinpointing Sila’s location .
Quickly, Burapha tilted his body to the left and swiftly blocked Sila’s sword using his lance .
The impact wasn’t strong but it sent vibrations through Burapha’s lance and made it harder to hold .
It seemed Sila had changed the element around his sword from earth to water . The dark water element focused on complexity rather than raw power, aiming at the weapon instead of the user .
Burapha gritted his teeth as he rotated the lance to weaken the vibration . However, Sila didn’t allow him to do that so easily . He struck once more, this time with the dark fire element . The black flames were swirling fiercely around his sword . There was no mercy in this attack .
The eyewitnesses thought Sila was too heavy-handed with his actions in what was only a sparring match, though no one could help Burapha in time .
Meanwhile, Burapha himself was getting out of breath . He bore the exhaustion and forcefully exerted more of his power . He quickly came up with a way to survive by kicking the lance’s handle to quicken the speed of the rotation, finally dispersing the vibrations and blocking Sila’s second attack . At the same time, he also activated Water Spirit to melt the snow around him and protect himself with it .
The sound of metal against metal echoed . Both weapons were made by the same legendary weaponsmith, so there was no difference in quality .
Burapha’s psychic power developed during a moment of crisis . The wave of psychic power split into three and infiltrated Sila’s body using his sword as a medium .
The three waves then recombined into one, squeezing Sila’s veins from within as if it was a steel thread .
With Burapha’s evolved psychic power, Sila had to resort to using Serene Circulation and pressed his fingers on his arm in order to negate the wave .
Sila’s eyes gleamed red as he pressed the sword down before dragging it along with the ground . His usage of a sword was bizarre and far from ordinary . It was at this moment that Sila executed his version of Heaven’s Decree Sword Art for the second time .
Sila’s Personal Sword Art — Vast Underworld (Originally Inverted Ground) .
Sila’s swordsmanship differed from Pumin’s in the sense that he disregarded the manipulative power of the sword and compensated for it with an increase in profound strength .
Sponsored Content
He swung the sword upward, aiming at Burapha’s chest .
In the decisive moment between life and death, Sila retracted his power and slightly pulled back his sword . As a result, the back of his blade only sent Burapha flying two meters into the sky instead of killing him .
‘As expected of Flaming Cloud Qi, a dark art, I can even make Heaven’s Decree Sword Art into my own . I will have to adapt the remaining sword styles too . ’
Sila recalled the last strike just a moment ago . He spotted the chance to develop his own sword style, aiming for it to possess the attribute of penetrating an opponent’s defense . Even better, he could control his power at will . It only took him an instant to unleash or collect his sword might .
Despite the fatigue, Burapha stood up while feeling delighted . He could clearly feel the development of his psychic power due to overcoming the danger just now . He hurriedly gave Sila words of gratitude .
“Thank you, Big Brother . I can feel my power rising inside me . ” Burapha then took a health potion out to drink .
“Psychic power will develop in desperate moments, so I had to put you in danger . I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about my intentions beforehand . It would block your psychic power from growing if you knew the danger was false,” Sila explained while returning his sword to his armor .
Witnessing the fight, Bluebird rushed at Sila and Burapha and intimately put his arms around their necks . “You two are getting stronger . Cool! At this rate, you will have a lot of followers in the future . When that time comes, you can just order them around without having to do anything yourself . Such bliss~”
Sila and Burapha awkwardly smiled at Bluebird’s remark . Before the conversation continued, Bluebird’s system window notified him about an incoming message .
Seeing the name of the sender, Bluebird quickly read the message . His expression immediately turned grim as he read the contents . It was an expression that his two friends had never seen on Bluebird’s face .
“What happened, Big Brother?” asked Burapha .
Bluebird replied with an exceptionally serious expression . “A problem occurred with Boss . Her identity as a spy was exposed and she was killed once . She is now offline and has requested my help . ”
Sila realized that this was indeed a grave situation . “What can we do to help?”
The playfulness from earlier could no longer be seen in Bluebird’s eyes . He sent a message to Sila in order to prevent anyone else from eavesdropping .
‘I will go to the Floating Magic City and sneakily help Boss out . ’
Sila replied to the message . ‘That city is the base of the Heavenly Dragon Guild . How can you alone make it?’
‘I have to do it by myself, as our mobility will be negatively affected if many people go . I will appoint the time with Boss . When she logs in, I will take care of the person in her path and escape together with her . ’
‘In that case, let the three of us go together . ’
‘Do you think Burapha can do it? I am not looking down on him or anything, but with the task ahead of us, his ability to fight won’t be as important as his ability to survive . ’
‘Don’t worry . You will see a new version of Burapha soon,’ Sila affirmed .
With that, Bluebird was no longer opposed to the idea . ‘In any case, I will head over there in advance and make preparations . We have to plan an escape route at the very least . ’
Sila nodded . ‘Be careful . ’
Bluebird closed his system window and left . People were more interested in Sila, so they let Bluebird go without trying to stop him .
Sila thought the time for him to proceed with his plan had come . The earlier he finished his goal here, the sooner he could go and help Bluebird .
“Everybody, please listen to me . ”
Sila was becoming famous, so they all paid attention to him without complaints even though his voice wasn’t loud enough for some of them to hear clearly .
“Three days from now, I will host a big event that is meant to bring us closer together . This event will be extremely dangerous . Anyone that doesn’t want to take part, I will have to ask you to leave the city before we start . Those who stay will automatically be forced to participate . ”
One person shouted . “What kind of event you are talking about?”
“Raiding the Dragon Kingdom . ” Sila had said it rather casually, but his words were like thunder to everyone’s ears . The silence vanished in an instant as it was replaced by a noisy atmosphere .
“The Dragon Kingdom? Are you still sane?” White passed through everyone else and stood in front of Sila .
Sila nonchalantly replied, “I know what kind of an opponent a dragon is . It possesses sturdy scales which are durable against all kinds of energy, a tremendous amount of magic power, the ability to manipulate the results of spells, and a domain that puts its opponents into a disadvantageous position . Furthermore, against many of them, their Dragon Domains will overlap with each other, making it hard for us to even lift our hands .
“I won’t tell you this event will be easy, because it will be insanely difficult—so difficult that we have to join forces and bring out our full potential . Its difficulty will be enough to make most of us die in this raid . In any case, I’m not asking you to risk your lives for free . If most of you agree to participate, I promise I will shoulder the burden of rebuilding the city no matter how the raid turns out . ”
Sila had said what he wanted to say, so he simply waited for their replies . Meanwhile, the players looked askance at each other .
After some discussions, people took turns to converse with White . In the end, White once more acted as the representative of the city when negotiating with Sila .
“They have all agreed to participate, but under a few conditions . You have to prove to us that those weren’t empty words . The first condition is that we must see some progress for the restoration of the city—it must show signs that it will be done within a week . The other condition is that you must show your true strength, and it has to be at an acceptable level for bringing us to raid dragons . ”
Listening to White’s proposed conditions, Sila fell silent . Everyone thought the condition was too hard, though the fact was Sila was mentally communicating with Sebastian .
While White was hesitating over whether she should lower the wager, Sila replied, “I accept your conditions . About the first condition, it will take only three days . The city will be completely rebuilt even before the event starts . Regarding the second condition, please pick a handful of the strongest people among your group, and I will show them my true strength . ”
“You never cease to amaze us, Mister Sila,” White muttered while shaking her head .
“Don’t be amazed just yet, Miss White,” Burapha interrupted, “When Big Brother Sila is involved, this kind of thing can only be trivial . ”