Chapter 37: A Help from Varee
Sila observed the fight in front of him without blinking. The fight in front of him wasn't at the level he could witness easily. He was focusing his mind into the fight to gain the most experience out of it.
Almost 10 minutes had passed. Both Lone Wolf and Montra were still fighting in the sea of flame. Lone Wolf body emitted golden flames while Montra's body was covered by white aura.
Although he didn't show it on his face, Lone Wolf felt pressured. He had thought that with Pride skill, he would be able to finish Montra off with an ability to give a penalty of 52-hour resurrect time to a player. Nevertheless, it didn't work. The effect of his skill was coming closer to an end while Montra still kept self-resurrecting. In normal circumstance, his overall ability was a little below Montra. However, with Montra getting stronger every time he was resurrected, there's no need to guess who the loser will be.
Montra understood his skill more than anyone else. His understanding of "Dragon's Heart" was at maximum. Even with various penalties from Lone Wolf's ability, he was fine. All equipment on him was S-grade and had an indestructible property. He didn't care about losing 1000 level too as it didn't demote his rank. Every time he was resurrected, his rank and level remained at Marquis Rank, Level 1. Losing money wasn't significant either, as he kept most of his money in the bank.
Sila could see that although Lone Wolf was having an upper hand, it was only temporary. Despite Montra dying more than ten times, he was still fine. If Lone Wolf couldn't see through Montra's secret to keep resurrecting, he would be bound to lose.
Sila kept watching at Montra to search for his weakness. Finally, he discovered something.
Every time that Montra died and resurrected, his left arm and heart would be slightly glowing. The glowing at heart position is understandable since the skill is named "Dragon's Heart," but why the left arm?
Looking closely, Sila could see that Montra's left arm was significantly paler than other. There was also a familiar symbol written on it. Sila frowned. He couldn't remember where he had seen one before.
Finally, he remembered. He unwrapped the bandage on his right arm and found the exact same symbol written on Right Arm of the Seal One. Realizing this, he could think of many things.
He had entered this game with 10 out of 10 painfulness degree, the same as Montra. He had obtained the right arm, so it was not weird for Montra to obtain the left one.
Sila was recalling Bronze's, the weapon shop owner, speech.
"…His left arm was the embodiment of all ancient spells. His right arm was the defensive innovation from futurity…"
The left arm is the embodiment of all ancient spells.
Montra was a magic-type player, which was suitable to the left arm's ability. It was not that strange from him to obtain some incredible skill. Thinking about it, it was regrettable that he was playing qi-type while the right arm has psychic-type ability.
Lone Wolf's golden aura faded off. The effect of Pride skill had come to an end.
Montra grinned, watching Lone Wolf turned back to his usual self.
"Is this all you capable to?" teased Montra.
"What're you talking about? I can keep using it for days. Be ready for it," replied Lone Wolf.
"For such a fraudulent skill, there's no way for it to have no weakness. In this game, the more powerful item or skill is, the more restriction they possess. I guess that your skill must at least have a long cooldown." Montra analyzed.
Lone Wolf just smiled without answering. What Montra had said was true. His Pride skill couldn't be used in succession. Moreover, the more he uses it, the more likely for him to go berserk. There was even a chance for Lucifer to appear.
Montra concentrated his magic power into his body. His dragon staff was shaking like it was alive. The eyes of dragon flashed, glancing at Lone Wolf.
"It ends here," declared Montra.
"Dragon Heaven's Ray…" Montra was about to unleash his spell, but it was stopped midway. He turned to look at Sila. "It will be your turn soon, Sila. Don't quicken your dead."
Just now, Sila had ordered Lookhin to fire Golden Needle at Montra to cancel the skill.
Sila stood up. He looked at both Zero and Lone Wolf. The whole mess was his personal matter between him and Montra. It was the time to stop unrelated persons to be involved.
Sila was ready. He circulated qi over his body. It was painful. But he endured it. He walked three steps closer and declared.
"Let's end this."
His qi was overflowing. The sound of his bones cracking was echoed. He also faced with unbearable painfulness.
"It had ended long ago. You just don't realize it," said Montra. His magic power was accelerating.
Sila's right arm was shaken. The same had happened to Montra's left arm.
A battle could be decided at any moment.
"Stop right there," a familiar voice interrupted. Everyone turned their head to look at the voice's owner.
Varee jumped into a battlefield. "Let's wait for a war event to decide the victor. Now it's not the time."
"Varee… moves aside," coldly said Sila.
"Sila. Right now, you are not Montra's match. Just stop the fight for now."
"Why do I have to listen to your request, Goddess of Purified Water?" asked Montra.
"You have your hand full of problems. It's better for you to take care of them, isn't it? Your beloved guild might face great damages otherwise."
"Problems?"
"Just check your guild status message. You too, Cross," replied Varee, turning her head toward Cross.
Cross, who had tried to use his psychic power to hide his presence from Varee, became shudder. Nevertheless, he opened his guild status message as told.
Upon checking it, both Montra and Cross became shocked. Their guildmates currently attacked each other.
"What? Why is this happening?" Cross confused. Meanwhile, Montra glanced at Varee.
The reason Varee came late was because she had been busy created confusion among Heaven Dragon and Royal Armament guild members. She had disguised herself as Royal Armament guild member and had her friend disguised as Heaven Dragon guild member. Then, they infiltrated both guilds and instigated them to attack each other. Once the fights happened, she left the battlefield and come to rescue Sila.
Cross stopped taken aback. He immediately withdrew. He had temporary set his guild status message to block all notifications so that he could take care of Sila all he wanted. Now his priority was to stop the meaningless fight. He wouldn't let his people died uselessly more than it should be.
Montra stood expressionlessly in front of Sila. "I can just go once I finish killing you people."
"But you don't have that much time, I think? Although you might be able to kill all of us, if we join forces, we can keep you here for all day," said Varee. "If you don't hurry, the guild you have been painstakingly created might face with an irreversible damage, no?"
Montra frowned. He was looking at Lone Wolf. "Lone Wolf, do you become so low that you want to join forces against one person?"
Lone Wolf didn't answer. Zero replied in his stead.
"Kuku. Aren't we a wrongdoer? Isn't this a battlefield? Anything can happen, right?" Zero said.
Montra was speechless. Zero borrowed his own words to bite back at him.
"Why?" Montra asked Sila.
Sila couldn't answer. He didn't understand what Montra meant.
"Why does everyone always stand by your side? Both this time and before."
Sila was clueless about Montra's sentence. 'Before? Does he mean the previous duel between us?' Sila started to think that there was something more than he had known. Who was the one at his side? Didn't he fight alone?
"Next time, you won't be so lucky, Sila." Montra ended their conversation. He cast some spell and disappeared from anyone sight.
Sila withdrew his qi back. The pain still kept hurting him. He had to sit down and circulated "Recovering Qi" again.
A short time had passed, once Sila opened his eyes, he found that everybody was still waiting for him. There was one more woman in the group though.
This woman is beautiful and gave a mature vibe. Her hair was long. She was wearing mage clothes. In her hand was a small staff. Sila was staring at her without blinking.
"Are you feeling okay?" Lone Wolf asked.
Sila still stared at that woman. Varee started to introduce her to the group.
"Everyone. She is Vata, my senior at the university. It's thank to her help that I can instigate both guilds to attack each other."
"Hello, I'm Vata. Um… does my face stain with something, Little Brother Sila?"
Sila just came to his sense. "Sorry, I'm being rude, it's just that you are looking like one of my acquaintance."
People ignored this topic. Varee started explaining what she had done, which caused Zero to giggle. Meanwhile, Lone Wolf was feeling like Sila's injury wasn't normal. He then put his palm on Sila's shoulder to inspect.
"Isn't this "Bomb Lurking Psychic?" It's quite serious. It has spread throughout your body."
"Yes. I got it when I fought against Shueria. Although I have won, I was injured."
"Kuku. To be able to win against Silver Knight Shueria, Silver Knight, you are quite good. I can see the reason why Lone Wolf asks me to help you," said Zero.
"that's not it. Shuearia is superior to me in every aspect. I only won because of strategy."
"Kuku. So what? Using strategy in a fight is normal."
Lone Wolf interrupted, "by the way, what are you planning to do next0, Sila?"
"My teacher told me that I can remove "Bomb Lurking Psychic" with "Qi of Little Turtle's" help. I plan to get that first."
"Little brother, let me be honest here. That psychic is spread throughout your body. Even "Qi of Little Turtle" might not help you."
Sila's face was pale. Does he have no choice but to die?
Zero seemed to have some idea. He inspected Sila for a short time, then laughed.
"Kukuku. Is it a blessing in disguise? I've never expected this."
Everyone still didn't understand the reason behind Zero's good mood. They were waiting for him to continue.
"Well, this is my personal secret…"
Upon hearing this, Varee dragged Vata and herself away from the conversation. Then, Zero continued.
"I'm about to tell you the reason why I can use magic. Previously, as you may know, I was a pure qi-type player like you and anyone else. However, since the last war event, I was defeated by Montra and fled away from the battlefield without dying."
In the last war event, Zero, who was an individual player, could move freely since he hadn't had to care about guildmate. Upon facing defeat, he decided to withdraw. Thus, except Montra who was a victor in the war, Zero was the only Emperor alive. As a matter of fact, Cross and Lone Wolf had died alongside their guildmates.
"If you can't win, then flee, it's a common strategy in war. I won't ever fight in a sure-to-lose battle." Zero said. He looked at Sila then continued, "of course, there's an opponent that worth fighting against even knowing you would lose. But for me, Montra wasn't that guy.
"Once I have fled, I realized later that Montra seeped his magic power into my body during the attack. It kept damaging me from within. I had no way to remove them and left with no choice but to die. However, I didn't give up and went to a certain place to find a cure.
"That certain place is rumored to give player a rebirth if one can survive hardship. With this clue, I decided to place my bet on it. By the way, that place is called Madmen's Valley."
Sila frowned. He was very familiar with the name of this place. Where did he hear about it before?
"I can't tell you more details. I can only say that, once I survived there, magic becomes a part of me and make me significantly stronger. Well, that's all. The rest is up to you to give it a try."
Sila gave Zero his thanks. Afterward, Lone Wolf came at him and transmitted some familiar qi into his body.
"This is my "Qi of Little Turtle." It should block "Bomb Lurking Psychic" to spread further. However, you need to know that you won't be able to use qi until you can fix this problem, or else the psychic will act up again."
Sila felt the suppression feeling in his body. Now he couldn't exert his qi anymore. Nevertheless, the pain was gone. He was happy temporary until he realized something.
"What's wrong?" asked Lone Wolf.
"Now that I cannot use qi, how can I protect myself?"
"Is qi the only thing you possess?" Zero said. Then, he vanished without bidding farewell.
"As Zero mentioned, you should give it some thought, okay?" said Lone Wolf, "I need to go too. See you later." Then, he left.
Sila was left by himself. He was deep in thought.
"Aside from qi, what else do I have?"