Chapter 148: The Important Thing
"How did you get there?" Even though his body wasn"t injured, Sila tried his best to regain the power he exhausted earlier by secretly circulating qi. He wanted to be fully prepared when fighting Montra.
"I was here from the start, waiting for the right moment." Montra snapped his fingers and the winged man nodded. His hands glowed with a white character and the circular barrier around Fenrir resonated. The Werewolf King"s eyes shone with dangerous red light.
Fenrir, the Werewolf King has entered a berserk state. As a result, its underlings, the Black Werewolves, have entered a berserk state as well.
The system"s announcement was like something from a nightmare. It was followed by a warning about the increased levels for the Black Werewolves all over town. Beginning Town had transformed into a death zone.
"Mister Sila, that man is Ramiel, a Lord Rank monster of the angel race." Sebastian floated down and landed himself next to Sila. Meanwhile, Ramiel turned to Montra.
"Master Montra, that man is Sebastian, a monster of the undead race. His Rank is equal to mine."
It was unexpected information, though Montra only paused for a brief instant before speaking to Revin.
"Revin, can you hasten our plan?"
Revin nodded. "Although the size of Beginning Town isn"t that big, I need to stand still for the effect to show greatly."
Montra nodded. He said, "Ramiel, lend me your power."
Obeying his master"s order, Ramiel summoned another circular barrier, similar to the one surrounding Fenrir, and covered Revin with it.
"Ramiel excels at regeneration, defense, sealing, and creating a domain, sir," Sebastian told Sila.
Revin"s body was engulfed in flame inside the sphere. Witnessing the scene, Sila could tell immediately that Revin was using Dragon Domain. Moreover, it was the one he encountered in Colossia City, Solaria"s Dragon Domain, which constantly damaged enemies inside its radius. Worse off, Revin"s Dragon Domain was even stronger than Solaria"s.
One of the reasons why Montra was late to the scene was because he had been evaluating Sila"s fighting ability from afar. However, the main reason was that he was waiting for the best moment to deal a serious blow to any players who weren"t allies or part of the Heavenly Dragon Guild so they"d be worse off when the war event started.
As many skilled players had gathered in this place, Beginning Town became a suitable stage to deal a heavy blow to his enemies. For the record, no one in the Heavenly Dragon Guild side had come to Beginning Town because he had forbade it.
In fact, he had planned to have Revin deal continuous damage with the help of the rest of them. However, with Beginning Town mysteriously being attacked by a herd of werewolves, he chose to idly sit by and watch. If it wasn"t for Sila being one blow from killing Fenrir and turning the tables on the werewolves, they wouldn"t have interfered.
Beginning Town"s current appearance would not look out of place if the town was located in h.e.l.l. The temperature was insanely hot, the players" health points continued to decline, and more than eighty werewolves were in a berserk state. They unleashed their full power with no regard for their lives and their constantly declining health points.
"I"ll take care of Ramiel myself, sir. If his concentration is disrupted, the protective barrier will naturally disappear. Fenrir is on the verge of death, so if it comes into contact with the Dragon Domain, it will undoubtedly die," said Sebastian. The important part was that he was just informing Sila of what he planned to do, not asking for permission. He had already summoned his giant scythe and there were black magic particles floating around him. His red eyes looked into Ramiel"s golden ones.
"Master Montra. May I..." muttered Ramiel, to which Montra nodded. With his master"s approval, the angel flew to the south of the town. He didn"t even need to look back to know that Sebastian was following him.
Only Montra, Kawin, and Sila remained. Down in the streets, the player side was surprisingly managing, unlike what Montra had antic.i.p.ated. It was thanks to Tiger Team letting Jundtrathep show her hidden abilities.
As soon as the werewolves had entered the berserk state, Tiger realised that they couldn"t keep their trump cards a secret and quickly ordered Juntrathep to summon five Guardians of Light and activate Land of Promises. Immediately after, he asked his team members to send a party invitation to nearby players.
Around sixty players gathered in the middle of the town, surrounding Jundtrathep. A hopeless battle turned into a stalemate. As they didn"t have to be afraid of death and their energies were completely refreshed every time they died, they could finally fight the werewolves without holding back. Though, this situation was temporary because Jundtrathep wasn"t affected by her own skill. She alone had to suffer from Revin"s Dragon Domain. Because of this, there were eight magic-type players who specialized in healing constantly casting healing spells on her after Tiger made a request to them that was partially an order and partially begging.
Montra had noticed Jundtrathep"s overpowered ability and Tiger"s leadership early on, as he was studying his enemies. Although it"s true that one of them possessed a fraudulent skill, he was more concerned about Tiger"s exceptional leadership and keen insight. Tiger could give out clear, effective orders to various groups of players even though they hadn"t trained together even once. His quick decision-making skill was remarkable and Montra considered this kind of person more dangerous than a skilled individual like Jundtrathep or Sila.
"Kawin, go and kill that man and the woman in the middle. I will handle Sila myself."
"Be careful." As Kawin finished speaking, he jumped down to the ground.
Sila started to feel restless, but Montra had shown no openings so far. If he was too hurried to act, he would make a mistake and die.
As Kawin landed on the ground, the earth shook. He started approaching the group of players fending off the werewolves, taking slow but firm steps. A werewolf spotted him by chance, and charged in his direction
Sadly, an opponent who only used powerful attacks that lacked technique was like Kawin"s favorite dish. As soon as the werewolf entered Kawin"s range, Six Moon-Grabbing-Claws was used. Kawin"s left hand grabbed the werewolf"s incoming wrist while thrusting his right hand toward its chest.
The werewolf"s body rotated in the air twice before being slammed into the ground. As a result of its power being combined with Kawin"s technique, although it didn"t die on the spot, it could no longer move.
The players started to be wary of Kawin. They could tell that this man wasn"t an ally based on the fact that he appeared alongside Montra"s teammate, who was the one constantly dealing damage to them with his domain.
Stomping his foot on the ground, two giant boulders were summoned and floated into the air. Kawin thrusted his hands forward, and the boulders flew in that direction, which happened to be where Jundtrathep was. They might not be enough to kill her, but the group"s defensive formation would surely crumble if they were hit by the boulders.
However, during their flight, both boulders fell into pieces and were driven off course.
In front of Kawin appeared a woman with white hair wearing a light-blue coat. No one could tell which direction she came from or what she had done to the boulders.
"Who are you? Are you on Sila"s side?" asked Kawin. He didn"t know that there was a female player of this caliber aside from Sangdao.
"I"m simply an enemy of the Heavenly Dragon Guild."
Kawin thought for a moment. "Are you from the Wulin Masters a.s.sociation? Did the Elders send you to help Sila? Don"t you know that this is against the rules?"
There was no reply. She just stood there smilingly while her hands gripped thin air.
Sensing danger approaching, Kawin clad his body with magic power reinforcement. In the next instant, a blade stabbed his back, which was his blind spot. Even though he had readied his defense beforehand, he still took damage. If he had taken a moment longer to react, the blade would have already stabbed through his back and reached his heart.
Yardpirun"s body still remained in front of him, but Kawin was certain that it wasn"t her real body. He no longer dared to converse with her, fearing that he would be distracted, and constantly maintained magic power reinforcement on his body.
"Won"t we continue talking? That"s regretful. We were getting to know each other." Yardpirun"s voice came from both the left and the right, teasing Kawin.
"If you want to talk, just show yourself. Don"t use Psychic Body," Kawin said while keeping his concentration. He could sense that this woman was skilled at manipulating her enemy"s focus.
"Ara~ It"s the first time we met, Mister Kawin. I"m a fine lady so I need to be reserved." The woman continued to tease him, but Kawin wasn"t in the mood for that at all. He knew that he would be killed the moment he lowered his guard.
Yardpirun wasn"t very aggressive with her attacks, however. Maybe she didn"t want to push him into a corner too much and risk a counterattack. Their battle ended up as a stalemate.
Looking at their fight, Sila was somehow relieved. Yardpirun seemed to be able to hold Kawin off for the time being.
As for Montra, he was curious as another unexpected variable had appeared on Sila"s side again.
"Let"s end this, Sila. Oh, I should tell you that, unlike last time, you won"t be getting any help this time. Lone Wolf has long since disappeared and there is no way Zero will help you."
Lone Wolf was in seclusion, training under Poluk. Sila was aware of this fact. However, Montra"s sentence seemed to imply that he knew something about Zero"s situation.
"What did you do to Mister Zero?"
"Fufu. I"ve done nothing. I"m just positive that Zero won"t ever come to your aid because he is now a member of the Heavenly Dragon Guild."
Sila was shocked by Montra"s reply. "That"s not true! You"re lying. There is no way Mister Zero..."
"I"m not obliged to tell you anything else. This is not a secret. In a few days, this news will spread and people will be more apprehensive of the might of my guild."
Sensing that Montra was acc.u.mulating power within his body, Sila was taken aback. The current Montra possessed power equal to Sila using all of his power even though he was a magic-type player.
Sila didn"t want to take a risk and swallowed an Emperor Qi Pellet. Shortly after, he recovered sixty percent of his energy. It seemed the Emperor Qi Pellet could be used to help stabilize qi as well.
Meanwhile, Montra had activated Martial Radiance Art a moment ago. Actually, half of his power was sealed due to the Dragon Ritual. It was only thanks to this unique power that allowed Montra to exert twice as much power as he usually did, though it had a strong backlash, damaging his own body after he canceled it.
Sila might think that Montra had much more power than he did, but it was far from the truth. In fact, they were almost equal to each other in terms of inner force. It wasn"t strange considering their age and the time they spent training their body since childhood.
Montra came up with his own qi art, while Sila practiced Tiger Dragon Qi.
The big difference was their hand-to-hand combat ability. Montra"s Heavenly Destiny Fist wasn"t only the most suitable for him, but it was also very flexible to use thanks to Montra"s knowledge on a variety of martial arts. With his position, he had the right to access the Wulin Masters a.s.sociation"s library; it was a place where the martial arts that had no successor were kept. It was the Wulin Lord"s duty to a.s.sign these arts to suitable pract.i.tioners so they weren"t abandoned and lost to time.
As for Sila, although he inherited three great martial arts from the Elders, those arts were all too profound for him, so he was unable to master them within a short period of time.
"Things will be easier if you just hand over the Gem of Catastrophe," Montra said while he readied his magic staff. It was a precursor of one of the martial moves he had learned, Destroyer Lance. He wanted Sila to give him the Gem first. Otherwise, there would be no way for him to get his hands on it even if he killed Sila.
"How do you know about the Gem of Catastrophe?"
"That should be my question, but I think I can guess the answer," Montra paused for a moment, before continuing, "When you killed Pythia, you surely got the Cloudy Pearl. Hand it to me and I promise you that you will be the only one to die. We will immediately withdraw."
"The Cloudy Pearl?" Sila had guessed incorrectly. He had thought that Montra was referring to the Eternal Onyx. It seemed Montra still didn"t know that the Eternal Onyx was in Sila"s possession. It was fortunate that Sila didn"t accidentally let it slip.
The fact that Pythia possessed one of the Gems of Catastrophe was known by Montra for a long time. Regardless, destroying the Pillars of Wind would bring him too much enmity, trouble, and attention, so he chose not to make a move.
Thus, once he got a report that Pythia had made an appearance on Beginning Island, he and his comrades rushed here.
"I wasn"t the one who killed Pythia." Sila decided to lie. There shouldn"t be any way for Montra to know that Pythia died by his hand.
"That woman named Vata already told me everything. Stop talking nonsense and quickly give me the Pearl."
Sila frowned. Now that he thought about it, Vata was missing. At the very least, she should have told him via Varee that she arrived safely at the town.
"Where is Miss Vata?"
"That woman no longer poses any benefit to me. After I tortured her to make her tell me what I wanted, I disposed of her."
"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d...!" Sila once had sympathy for Montra when he heard the story from the Three Elders, but now, all that sympathy vanished. He finally personally witnessed what the Elders had noticed in Montra and would never let this kind of person become the Wulin Lord.
"Are you angry, Sila? Aren"t you giving a d.a.m.n in the wrong place? This is merely a game. It"s no problem even if people or monsters die a hundred times. I hate people like you the most; the kind of person that pretends to be good and innocent. For me, all of my enemies must be wrecked and ruined without exception. Ambition and goals are the most important things."
If it was Montra"s plan to provoke Sila, it worked splendidly. Sila"s qi was surging more than usual and the roof underneath him began to violently shake as a result.
"Only power isn"t enough to protect what you hold important, Sila. And if you don"t believe me..." As he said, Montra soared to the left. Noticing Montra"s destination, Sila immediately followed after.
Lookhin unleashed its power and hundreds of flame blades flew at Montra. However, he spun the mage staff in his hands, avoiding the direct clash and instead parrying all of them away with a fierce movement that generated a storm.
He dashed at Lookhin and swung his mage staff at it to send the bird flying toward Sila.
Having to evade Lookhin, Sila"s movement was delayed by a beat. He was already too late. Montra was standing on a different roof. His right hand gripped his mage staff while his left hand was squeezing Bow, who was activating Divine Raiment to resist the crushing force.
"To prove that you are such a two-faced b.a.s.t.a.r.d, I will let you choose. Give me the Cloudy Pearl, or this pet of yours dies!!"