Chapter 125: An Enemy on a Narrow Path
Bow was sitting with her cheeks puffed up near the pool in the Mansion of Secrets. She had been making this face ever since Sila retrieved her from the Slime Kingdom.
"Bow, I"m really sorry."
"Au~ Big Brother Sila, you promised me that you would take me back in two to three days, but you disappeared for a week. When my dad comes out of his seclusion, I will tell him that Big Brother Sila doesn"t take good care of me."
Sila"s face was pale. Fortunately, the Slime King had yet to end his seclusion when Sila had taken Bow back. Otherwise, if Bow really were to tell the Slime King, he would be thrown into the bottom of the Cliff of Heroes to be killed again and again for sure.
Even training under the Slime King"s guidance caused Sila to die twice. At that time, the Slime King didn"t even take it seriously as he only taught Sila using Poluk, Viola, and Divine"s skills. He hadn"t shown his own skill yet.
"Please, Bow. How about this? I will take you on trips as compensation for my mistake. Where would you like to go? The Single-Horned Dragon Forest? The Valley of Immortals? These two places are very peaceful, you know?"
Bow gave in easily as she asked, "What kind of places are they?"
"The Single-Horned Dragon Forest is a forest of the primeval era, a habitat of the Single-Horned Dragons. Usually, you won"t be able to go there. However, they are on good terms with the slime race now."
Bow pulled a wry face. "There will be only trees, insects, and dragons, right? Bow doesn"t wanna go."
"Then, what about the Valley of Immortals? The villas in the valley are..."
Sila halted his words as he didn"t know how to describe the scenery. Aside from spending time practicing, he didn"t have a chance to appreciate anything in the valley.
"Erm... they are quite pretty."
"The villas in the valley? Are there many people living there? What kind of products are being sold?" asked Bow.
"Ah... There is only one person. And, I believe not a single product is being sold there," Sila mumbled.
"Why should Bow go, then!! The places that Big Brother Sila recommended are too boring!!"
Sila scratched his head. "If you just want to go shopping, let"s go to Grea City, then. There are many products being sold there as it"s one of Monster Soul"s main cities."
"Really~!?"
Sila didn"t know for sure but Grea City was even hailed as the Android Kingdom so his guess shouldn"t be too far off.
Frankly, Sila"s guess was really on the spot. There were many products being sold in Grea City. Too many, in fact. Players need to know what they are looking for, otherwise, they will just get confused.
"Of course." Sila smiled at her.
"Let"s go, then~ But Bow is still mad at Big Brother, okay?"
"Haha. Fine. Give me a second to ask Burapha where items like accessories are sold there."
Sila opened his system window to contact Burapha, but found out that he couldn"t reach him.
"Ah? Is it because I"m in the Mansion of Secrets?"
"You don"t need to worry about that anymore, Master. This place can connect to the outside now. Mister Head Butler has already taken care of this matter."
Julia"s voice came from next to Sila. He turned his head only to find that she was carrying many snack and desserts for Bow, all of which was requested by Sila.
"Is that so? Thank you, Julia. Bow, please eat a lot."
"Au~ Of course Bow will eat a lot. Bow was abandoned in the Slime Kingdom for an entire week." Bow was sulking then started eating all the snacks and desserts Julia prepared for her.
"Mister Sila, I can detect that you are carrying a certain S-grade item with you. Do you want me to keep it in the treasure room?"
"S-grade item? Do you mean this right arm? The thing is, I can"t take it off, Julia."
"I meant the Gem that Mister Sila always carries with you. I detected it long ago and thought that you carried it with you for some purpose. Nevertheless, it has been on your person every time you come back to the mansion. I should warn you that holding onto the Ocean Heart Aquamarine is very risky."
"Ocean Heart Aquamarine?" Sila opened his system window and found that it actually contained the S-grade Ocean Heart Aquamarine within. This light blue diamond-like gem was something he obtained when he killed Leviathan with Burapha and Bluebird.
"Ah, about this, I originally intended to keep it in the treasure room as well, but I always felt like holding onto it so I didn"t do that."
Julia nodded. "It"s one of the twelve Gems of Catastrophe. Each of them has the power to attract living things. I suggest that you keep it in the treasure room. Otherwise, you will encounter misfortune as it will attract catastrophe to the holder."
"Is it that dangerous?" Sila spun the Ocean Heart Aquamarine around. No matter how he looked at it, it was just an ordinary beautiful blue diamond to him.
"If you don"t carry it with you or you seal it, there will be no problems. Some of the Gems can be used to awaken the power of certain monsters. Other than that, I heard that there are other methods to utilize them, though I do not know."
Sila didn"t want another problem coming at him so he obediently listened to Julia"s suggestion and tossed the Ocean Heart Aquamarine to her, which Julia caught and promptly left the room, heading toward the treasure room.
"When are we going~?" Bow urged Sila. Her mouth was still full of desserts, though.
"Wait a minute. Let me ask someone else."
Since he couldn"t contact Burapha, Sila scanned through his friends list to see if he had someone that could help with this.
Finally, he came across Varee"s name. Varee was a psychic type player so she should have visited Grea City. He also remembered that Varee liked going shopping so she should be able to help him.
Sila called Varee. He didn"t know whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, but she answered his call soon after.
"Oho? It seems a storm is going to bombard some city today. It"s unexpected that Sila would be the one to contact me," Varee greeted him.
"I have something to ask, that"s all. Varee, do you know which area in Grea City sells girly items?" Sila ignored her mocking remark.
"Girly items? What are you planning to do with them?"
"Just tell me where."
Varee frowned. "Is that something the person asking for help should say?"
Sila realized that he was rude. "Eh. Sorry."
Bow"s voice interrupted the two of them. "Big Brother Sila is going to take me shopping~"
"Oh, Bow? It"s been a while. Sila, can you hold Bow up for me to see her?"
Sila held Bow up and thought that her weight had increased once again, though he said nothing.
"Big Brother Sila is going to take me shopping~" Bow repeated. Then, both girls continued chatting with each other.
Meanwhile, Sila didn"t bother listening. Thinking about items, he recalled that he was in debt with the bank again. Even though he could just sell the items in his treasure room for money, he wanted to try collecting money by himself first.
As the girls" conversation still continued, Sila realised that he still had the Greed skill from the Greed Card. Though, he stopped considering using it once he opened his system window and saw that the chance for him to meet Mammon had increased to 65%.
The conversation finally ended and the screen showing Varee vanished. Sila looked at Bow as he was confused.
He still hadn"t found out where he was supposed to go.
"Bow, I still haven"t finished talking to Big Sister Varee yet. Why did you cut the connection?"
"I already talked about that with Big Sister Varee."
"I see. Where should we go, then?"
Bow shook her body. "Big Sister Varee didn"t tell me."
"Eh? How can we go to the right place, then? Didn"t you just say you talked about this with her?"
Sila opened his system window and was about to call to Varee again.
"You don"t need to call her. I already invited Big Sister Varee to join us~ See? She is there."
Sila followed Bow"s line of sight and found that Varee was approaching them, causing him to let out a big sigh.
***
The sky above Grea City in daytime was blocked by steam, causing the atmosphere in the city to seem dim. Sila, Varee, and Bow emerged in the middle of the city.
Varee was carrying Bow as she started walking to the northeast of the city.
Sila was walking next to her as he nonchalantly asked, "Why did you suddenly want to come with us?"
"It has been a while since I went shopping, especially in Grea City."
"Why?"
"Grea City was ruled by the Royal Armament Guild. I was always annoyed every time I visited this place so I tended to avoid it."
"I see. So it was because of the Royal Armament Guild."
"Yes, it was," Varee replied to Sila before conversing with Bow again.
Sila noticed that many people had been keeping their eyes on them.
The main reason Sila tended to avoid bringing Bow into the city was because her appearance was too noticeable. He didn"t know what Varee was thinking, letting Bow out in broad daylight like this.
"No need to mind them. All they can do is stare at us," said Varee.
"Bow might be in danger, no?"
"Sila, you can"t hide Bow all the time. It will only be a matter of time until people locate her. Instead, you should just show to them that you don"t fear them."
Sila frowned. "What if they come to us with the intention to steal her?"
"Easy. We kill them. Keep doing it for a while and they will no longer bother us," Varee said indifferently.
Sila looked left and right. "By the way, it"s as you said. These players only keep their eyes on us without taking any action. It"s different than at the port. Back then, they came at me very quickly."
"That"s because I"m the one carrying Bow. If I need to explain, I would say that the bandits are being wary of me."
Sila started to get it. "Ah, right. You were bothered by the bandits too when we first met."
"Those bandits in Beginning Town don"t know much about players from the Main Continent. Most of them only heard rumors of me but didn"t know of my ability. So, sometimes I was challenged by them."
As they conversed, suddenly, Sila could sense a pair of eyes glaring at him with intense psychic power. He looked at the source and found a man covered in a robe jumping away.
Sila could tell that the opposing man was the source and had intended for him to sense the gaze.
"What"s wrong?" Varee came to Sila once she saw that Sila had stopped walking.
"So Varee wasn"t aware, hm? Who was that guy in the robe?"
Sila was pondering as he replied to Varee with a smile, "Ah, nothing. I just remembered that I have something to do at the bank. Please go ahead and I will follow you later."
Varee frowned. "What do you need to do? Could you postpone that for later?"
"I can"t. The bank contacted me and told me that it"s very urgent. The market zone that you"re going to is located in the northeast, near the east gate, right? I will go there as soon as I finish."
"Big Brother Sila, won"t you come with us?" Bow asked, feeling slightly dejected.
"I will, but you can go shopping with Big Sister Varee first, Bow. It"s girly items so shopping with a fellow woman will be more fun for you."
Varee looked at Sila for a while before saying, "Let"s go, Bow. Big Brother Sila already said that he would follow us as soon as possible."
"Don"t take too long, okay?" Bow said.
The two of them left and continued walking along the route. As for Sila, once Varee"s body was out of his line of sight, he circulated qi and jumped in the same direction as the robed man from before.
The power of Galaxy Eclipse expanded his sense of awareness in the five hundred meter radius sphere, covering one-fifth of Grea City.
As Sila was exerting his full mastery of Qi Concealment, if the opposing party wasn"t skilled enough, he or she wouldn"t be able to detect his qi.
However, one person could detect his power and moved to escape Sila"s sphere of awareness.
Sila immediately soared following that person.
One minute later, that person had stopped in the corner of an alley. Sila also reduced his speed as he decreased the radius of Galaxy Eclipse to be around his attack range.
Sila could tell that this person should be very skilled, though he didn"t know if this person was a friend or foe. He circulated Tiger Dragon Qi all over his body. Shapeless Qi also circulated itself automatically.
As he arrived at the corner, a sword suddenly flew at his face.
If this had happened before he had visited the Valley of Immortals, he would have evaded this sword by moving his body. However, Sila had now learned the six main techniques of Six Moon-Grabbing-Claws. Although he couldn"t perform the same movement that Kawin had used, he understood the principle behind the movement.
Evading should be done in moderation as it might cause the user to lose their tempo. Prior to this, Sila had no idea. However, he was now aware that parrying the opponent"s flying weapon would allow him to stay in a firm position that would allow him to have an easier time counterattacking.
Sila"s right hand was lifted up slowly but precisely. The back of his hand lightly tapped on the flat side of the blade. This action was also being supported by soft qi and his st.u.r.dy physique.
Since he didn"t know whether his opponent had applied some trick to the sword or not, he decided to not grab onto it and instead just parry it using the Parry technique of Six Moon-Grabbing-Claws.
The tip of the blade sank into one of the buildings nearby, indicating that it was a move intended to kill. Sila was right to not take it lightly. His eyes were fixed on the person covered by a robe.
"Who are you? What business do you have with me?"
Another sword appeared in that person"s hand. Enormous psychic power was released from it. Fortunately, Sila had protected his body using qi circulation so he wasn"t affected by it.
In his brain, he was processing who his opponent might be. Who had he met that used multiple swords as their main weapon and were a psychic type?
Sila dragged his feet in a half circle, placing his left foot in front of his right one. Both of his hands were readied in front of his chest.
He was still inexperienced in positioning himself. However, the result of studying Tiger Dragon Qi caused Sila to realize that the most natural posture would be the one that could exert the most of his ability.
Thus, he let his body go with the flow of Tiger Dragon Qi.
"Cross, right?" Sila muttered as he believed that there was no other suspect.
The robe was placed in the system window. Cross" body finally made an appearance for Sila to have a clear look. However, Sila needed to take a while before he could recognize that the man in front of him was the same Cross he had seen before.
Cross" body was significantly slimmer. Both his cheeks and his eye sockets had sunken, and the skin around his eyes was darker. His hair was a mess and his usual elegant armor was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a bunch of mismatched low quality armor. Even the sword in his hand was an ordinary metal sword, not suitable for someone with the renowned t.i.tle Sword Emperor.
More importantly, the psychic power that Cross was emitting was filled with a strong, disgusting emotion. Sila could easily tell that it was more powerful than before.
"Today, you will die."
Cross" body trembled lightly as he said this line. His eyes were so red that Sila was taken aback.
"Rhythm of the Imperial Graveyard."