Chapter 103: A Skill That Has Never Been Used Before
When Kawin stomped his foot on the ground, he activated a magic skill called Earth Wall. Originally, it was magic designed to block a wide areof-effect attack. However, Kawin used it to cut off Sila"s escape route.
One of the benefits for dragons who overcame their Dragon Ritual was the ability to alter the result of magic skills they cast. Normally, magic skills always show the same result regardless of time and place, so a magic user needs to pick the right skill to use at the right time. Thus, this ability had overturned such a fundamental concept of magic.
It was the main reason why the dragon race was one of the strongest races in Monster Soul.
Since hidden weapons didn"t work, Sila decided not to make the first move. It seemed he had spotted one of the weaknesses in Kawin"s battle style. Based on Kawin"s placement of his feet, Sila realized that Kawin specialized in defense. That form of positioning didn"t allow the user to move from where they stood. In that case, if Sila didn"t enter Kawin"s attack range, he would be quite safe.
However, there was a miscalculation in Sila"s judgment. This was a game world. Kawin was well aware of his own weakness so he had covered this weakness with a magic skill.
*Rumble...* The sound of the stone wall behind Sila gradually moving closer could be heard. Kawin used magic power to push the wall forward, forcing Sila to come at him. With the current speed, Sila would be forced to enter a melee combat against Kawin in less than ten minutes.
"This is bad." Sila was startled.
Sila"s most prominent point was his Twelve Celestial-Traveling-Steps that required s.p.a.ce for him to move. If the distance was narrow, he would be unable to perform this martial art and would be forced to fight Kawin using only his instincts. He wasn"t confident that it would be enough to compete against Kawin, who seemed to be good at defending.
Do not let yourself go with the opponent"s flow. This was something his teacher always taught him.
Sila reinforced his fist with Genesis Punch and threw it at the wall behind him. The debris of the stone wall scattered around but there was only a cubit-depth hole into the wall. Sila"s mind was in a panic. He had thought a single punch would be enough.
It was the same for Kawin. He panicked after seeing that Sila could do that much damage to his Earth Wall. Well, based on the result, Sila couldn"t damage it more than that. Kawin channeled his magic power into the wall and the hole was instantly fixed.
Since he was unable to flee, Sila had no choice left but to defeat Kawin before the s.p.a.ce became narrower. Sila moved at such a high speed that there were afterimages of him. Nevertheless, Kawin didn"t care. His eyes still looked in a straight line.
Kawin was in a world of his own right now, where the only things that existed were within his reach.
Sila hoped to end the battle as fast as he could. He threw Genesis Punch at Kawin. There was only a single punch but the afterimages caused it to look like there were twelve punches thrown at him.
In the instant that Sila"s fist entered Kawin"s range, Kawin slowly waved his hands and his left foot drew a half circle line on the ground, changing its placement to the rear. His arm guard on his left arm hit Sila"s upper right arm, causing him to be pushed sideways.
Kawin"s fingers on his right hand bent into claws and were about to strike at Sila"s body.
Sila was surprised, but he wasn"t panicked. He activated Formless Soldier and changed his body to become as hard as steel. Instead of jumping backward, he took a step forward to close the distance further. It caused Sila to be hit by Kawin"s arm instead of his claws.
*Clang* The sound of grating metal could be heard. This time, Sila felt pain.
Kawin"s slowly moving arm had made Sila feel like he was. .h.i.t by a giant stone pillar.
Sila"s body flew away and into the stone wall behind him. He clutched his ribs with his left hand and relentlessly circulated Immortal Qi.
Sila guessed that the martial art that Kawin was using was the one he was a.s.signed to learn.
Six Moon-Grabbing-Claws.
In the beginning, Sila didn"t understand the name of this martial art. However, now that he had witnessed it, he knew.
Kawin acted as the center of the sphere that wouldn"t allow anyone to invade his s.p.a.ce. Kawin was like a moon. Although it was slow, it was firm and outstanding, hanging on the night sky while overshadowing the stars. His feet alternated between moving forward and backward in a half-circular motion, representing the period of the waxing and waning moon. Lastly, his hands spun around like a moon orbiting around the earth.
The supreme martial art for defense and countering.
Sila couldn"t understand how such slow movements could lead to a quick defense. Kawin moved as if he knew where Sila was going to attack. It was like Sila"s attack was blocked before he even moved.
Sila tried to use Universe Reversal to its maximum power, hoping to lift Kawin"s feet from the ground. However, there was no effect. Kawin"s feet were glued to the ground, not moving an inch.
"This is... he is much tougher than Mister Fargo." Even with Sila"s pulling power that had grown stronger than how it was when he fought against Fargo, it still wasn"t enough to affect Kawin.
Sila had thought that the Earth Dragon was the weakest dragon among the Eight Dragons, so Kawin, who had completed the Dragon Ritual, couldn"t be that terrifying. It was a thought based on the fact that even Sila at Squire Rank could defeat Python.
However, a player who overcame the Dragon Ritual and the dragon itself were different existences. Kawin was currently at Marquis Rank, Level 1000, so he was basically a Marquis Rank, Level 1000 Python who possessed more power and had a smaller, more flexible physique.
Originally, dragons were creatures that excelled at fighting against groups of enemies but were somewhat lacking in one-on-one battles. However, a human who possessed the power of a dragon was a different concept. This shortcoming didn"t exist for them.
Kawin had overcome the Dragon Ritual of the Earth Dragon. As long as a part of his body stayed connected to the ground, his condition would always be at its peak.
Sila tried firing hidden weapons from many different angles, but Kawin could neatly grab them all, causing Sila to be at his wits" end.
For starters, he didn"t have the desire to fight against Kawin. He was also currently clueless about how to win against Kawin. Kawin"s defense was too perfect. Sila wasn"t good at fighting this type of opponent.
Sila was about to call Sebastian for help but he hesitated. To begin with, he didn"t even know how to summon Sebastian. Even if he could summon him, this kind of fight in a narrow s.p.a.ce would be disadvantageous for Sebastian who used a big scythe as his main weapon.
"I will hold on by myself for a bit longer then."
Sila threw his third Genesis Punch to the ground, hoping for it to crumble Kawin"s footing. However, only the ground on his side turned to dust. The ground around Kawin stayed the same. It seemed Kawin put his magic power into where he stood.
It wasn"t that Kawin didn"t possess the skill nor the ability to attack Sila, it was just that he wanted to drive Sila into despair. His battle style was to drive his opponent slowly into a corner. This was what he and Revin didn"t agree upon.
Revin once told him that the faster you take down the opponent, the better. It would be the opponent"s fault and foolishness if they were to die without having a chance to show their true ability. On the contrary, Kawin believed that complete victory was obtained only when the opponents used everything they had but were still unable to win against him.
Kawin had noticed that Sila"s ability was far below his own, which had been honed through training Six Moon-Grabbing-Claws for ten years. He believed that Sila was sure to soon feel hopeless once he used up all of his trump cards and was still unable to win or flee. After he finally died by Kawin"s hands, Sila"s spirit and self-confidence would be broken.
The more miserable one"s defeat was, the harder it is for them to stand back up.
Nevertheless, after Sila thought for a while, he smiled. He had finally come up with a plan to escape from this dire situation. It would be a method that Kawin couldn"t think of. So, he calmed down and started to have a conversation with Kawin.
"I might not know Montra as well as you do since I"m not close to Montra. However, you"re not close to me yourself, so how could you be confident in saying that I have done nothing? I might be a frog in a well, but, while you are outside, your vision is even more narrow-minded than mine," Sila said indifferently.
"Is that your honest feeling?"
Sila nodded. He stared deep into Kawin"s eyes. "You said that I"m wicked. Don"t you think that Montra playing dirty in the match against me is more wicked?"
"Playing dirty? What do you mean?" Kawin was quite surprised to see Sila in a calm state. But he was more surprised by what Sila said.
Kawin inwardly tried to come up with an answer behind Sila"s calmness. Sila must have found a way to escape from him, but he had no idea what Sila would do. Kawin quickly reconsidered the possibility that Sila could flee from this place. The Returning Scroll was unusable in the city, while the Invitation Card wasn"t usable during a battle. Thus, these two methods shouldn"t be possible.
"I don"t know why you label me as the wicked one. However, what gives Montra the right to kidnap my teacher and ask me to surrender the match?"
"What are you talking about? Montra kidnapped your teacher, you say?"
Sila nodded once more. "That"s right. The reason I entered this game is to search for my teacher"s whereabouts. Until Montra confesses where my teacher is, I will not give up. Never."
Kawin furrowed his brows. "Bulls.h.i.t. There"s no way Montra had done that. Montra is stronger than you so there is no need for him to do that. You are just a sore loser who came up with an excuse."
"It"s true that I might be weaker than Montra. But, all I have said is the truth."
"Liar!! You are just a lying b.a.s.t.a.r.d who behaves like a good guy and pretends to be a victim to gain sympathy from those around you!" Kawin shouted.
Sila calmly replied, "If you don"t believe me, then try asking Montra yourself. Maybe you will figure out who, between me and Montra, is actually the liar. I dare you to do that since the Montra you know of and the Montra I know of seem to be entirely different people." Sila"s words implied that Montra was a two-faced person.
Kawin gritted his teeth while suppressing his anger. He took a deep breath to cool his mind. The martial art he was using required him to be calm and collected. His teacher once taught him that, the more anger he felt, the calmer he had to be.
"Why do we need to fight?" Sila asked Kawin.
"Since our opinions differ, I fight to prove that what I believe is the right thing. The winner is right and the loser is wrong. That is the way our world"s history works."
"That"s sad. I agree with you that people should stand firm in what they believe in, but only if they believe in right thing, otherwise they will bring harm to others."
The wall moved closer. There were less than ten meters remaining between him and Kawin.
Sila lifted his left hand up as he said, "Release, Lookhin." A black light flashed and flew upward to the sky.
Kawin took a look at the sparrowhawk flapping its wings above with not even the slightest change in his expression. "Do you plan to use the monster to gang up on me? I"m not that weak."
Sila shook his head. "That"s not my plan. It"s just, you use a magic spell to give yourself a terrain advantage. Now, allow me to do the same."
The Dark Age Sealing Ring flashed a dim, black light. Sila"s mind instantly connected with Lookhin. With the Dark Age Sealing Ring"s ability, Sila had a better control over Lookhin than he ever had before. He could choose which skill for Lookhin to use.
An enormous amount of water rained down from the sky. In the blink of an eye, water flooded the enclosed area surrounded by the stone walls. The water level reached Sila and Kawin"s chests and kept rising.
Kawin panicked as he realized Sila"s plan.
His weakness lay within the fact that he needed a firm foothold to unleash his full potential. If the water completely flooded the area and he was stubborn in keeping his feet on the ground, he would drown. Being powerful didn"t mean you couldn"t drown.
Although Sila didn"t particularly excel in fighting underwater, he was quite confident in his ability to fight in difficult terrain. It was a confidence based on his fights against the dragons.
Nevertheless, Kawin possessed the same trait of Sila in the sense that, the more dangerous the situation was, the calmer he became. He only had to exert his magic power into manipulating the stone walls, creating several football-sized holes in them. As a result, the water rapidly leaked out.
However, Lookhin was still releasing water at a fast rate, so the water remained at waist level.
If it was only this high, Sila would be worse off since he needed to move within the water while Kawin could just stand still.
Sila showed a smile at the corner of his mouth as he said, "Seal, Lookhin." The black light absorbed Lookhin into the ring. At the exact same time, Sila fired another hidden weapon at Kawin.
Kawin didn"t care in the slightest. He just thought that Sila had made another poor move as he parried that hidden weapon away. However, once the hidden weapon touched his backhand, he noticed that it was actually a flash bomb.
While Sila had been walking through the stalls in Grea City, he had noticed that there were some modern hidden weapons being sold. Thus, he bought some of them to compensate for the loss of Light of Forest.
The flash of an intense light burst out. Kawin closed his eyes as he clad himself with a high degree of magic power reinforcement. Both of his arms covered all of his vital spots. He believed that with both the physical defense of the Earth Dragon, the dragon that possessed the strongest defensive power, and his magic power reinforcement, the two or three seconds that Sila gained from this flash bomb wouldn"t bring him any significant harm.
However, his prediction was soon proved worthless as there was not even a single attack thrown at him. Once he reopened his eyes, Sila was already gone.
***
Outside of the stone walls, Sila quickly used qingqong to head out of the city. As Kawin was there, he would have no choice but to postpone his plan to find more clues regarding the Lost Android Kingdom. He could always do that after he finished his business in Madmen"s Valley.
Sila left the city. There were some people glancing at him but n.o.body wanted to meddle with him as Sila was soaking wet and wearing a dirty robe. His wet hair covered his face, causing him to resemble a beggar.
Sila recalled the moment he fled from Kawin and released a sigh of relief. He had just used a skill that he had never used before. He had initially thought that this skill was a useless one. However, for the purpose of escaping, its effect was suitable for an S grade skill.
Just a moment ago when Kawin was blinded, Sila had utilized those mere three seconds to activate Way of Slime and change his body into a blue slime. He had depended on that tiny, slimy body to pa.s.s through one of the holes that Kawin had made before changing his body back when he got out and fleeing the area.
Racial skill: (S) Way of Slime
You can change between their slime form and their human form.
You can use slime skills while in their human form.