Chapter 178: Not Normal, Not the Right Way, Not the Right Time
Sebastian was maintaining all four dimensions with great concentration. As a result, although he could still converse like normal, he couldn"t move from his current spot.
The enemies who had snuck into the gathering party clearly saw four of the Five Dragon Warlords being swallowed into the gates. The obvious action they took immediately was attacking Sebastian, who was floating in the sky in the middle of the party. It was apparent to them that this butler was the spellcaster behind their leaders" disappearance.
Sebastian"s body was pierced by several arrows and bombarded by magic, turning him into a ragged hedgehog. His body became b.l.o.o.d.y but a smile was still hanging on his face.
The undead race had no vital spots. For them to kill Sebastian, they would have to keep attacking until his health points were depleted. As a Lord Rank monster, Sebastian"s health pool was considerably high. It would take at least half an hour to kill him.
Nevertheless, what the opposing players aimed for was breaking Sebastian"s focus. For most continuous spells, the caster had to constantly expend magic power in order to maintain them. If the spellcaster was injured during the process, there was a high chance that the spell would get canceled.
Unfortunately for the players, Sebastian had a secret side of him that only his close friends like Franz and Asura were aware of. Not only he was a s.a.d.i.s.t who liked torturing people and watching them writhe in pain, he was also a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t who liked it when he himself felt pain inflicted by others.
Well, it wasn"t that all of the attacks were ineffective. Sebastian"s concentration almost broke due to the amus.e.m.e.nt he felt from the pain.
There were many opponents in the gathering party. Naturally, only Varee, Sangdao, and Nednapha couldn"t manage to keep them in check since they also had to protect the people who got poisoned. As for Burapha, he chose to act defensively in order to block the attacks aimed at Sebastian, though he could only block a third of all the attacks.
The other ones who had it rough were White Swan, Ratri, and Hermit. They did their best to pour the Cleanse Antidote into the mouths of those who didn"t drink enough.
Lookhin was floating in the sky, aiming its attacks at one group at a time. It was feeling upset. If it wasn"t for the fact that it had to control its strength in order to not damage the paralysed players, it would have already exerted its full power to sweep away all of the pests below.
Sila jumped out of the first gate, landing on the ground. He looked around and frowned when he found that the battles were still ongoing everywhere.
He fired several suntetsu at the enemies nearby. Some took a moment to glance in the direction of the attack, and were filled with confusion.
The dimensional gate behind Sila started to fade. He shouted, "Lost Ghost has died! There are only four warlords remaining!!"
Simultaneously, everyone took a look at the vanishing gate. Seeing that Sila was the only one exiting the gate with no sign of Lost Ghost, who had disappeared together with him, everyone felt shocked, though there were different kinds of shock.
Both Sila"s friends and foes were shocked to see Sila only took a short amount of time to defeat Lost Ghost in a one-on-one fight. Some enemies opened their system windows to check Lost Ghost"s status, and when they confirmed that Sila"s claim was real, their faces turned pale. For Sila"s friends, they were more surprised than shocked. Sure, they knew that Sila was strong, but they didn"t think he would be able to defeat Lost Ghost in just a few minutes. What he did was simply not normal. Moreover, there were no signs of fatigue nor injuries on Sila.
Sebastian smirked as he could guess that Lost Ghost had died while his card"s ability was still active.
"Did you get the card, sir?"
Sila took it out to show it to everyone. The card shone brightly, further backing his claim.
"He was able to kill Lost Ghost while the card ability was still in effect? That"s a card from the same series as Lone Wolf"s, isn"t it? Wait... Sila has a card too. He might have been able to win thanks to that. Thinking about it, he has never shown his card"s ability to anyone. Is he planning something?"
Ratri wondered about many things in her head. She firmly believed that there shouldn"t be someone who was superior to her lover.
"Please keep it, sir. Although you can"t equip it, it"s better than losing it to others," informed Sebastian.
"I can"t equip it?" asked Sila.
"Yes, sir. You can"t have more than one card from the Seven Deadly Sins series equipped at a time. Mister Sila already has the Greed Card on you, so you can"t equip another. However, thinking about it again, I think you shouldn"t keep it on yourself. Otherwise, if you die when using the Greed skill, you will lose both cards."
"Oh, I see."
Actually, Sila was curious since the Gluttony Card wasn"t forcibly equipped. He initially thought that the experience points he would gain in the future would be reduced to a mere 1%.
The system adhered to the concept of "in the possession." Although he could only use one card, if the remaining six were in his possession and he died while his equipped card was active, he would lose all seven of them. This was precisely why Montra gave one card to each of the Warlords.
As Sila had returned, Lookhin felt more enthusiastic. It hurriedly cut off two players" heads using a flame blade and flew to cling onto Sila.
"Umm, since I can"t use it anyway, should I give it to Lookhin?"
Sila extended the hand holding the card to Lookhin, who was looking at it with sparkling eyes.
"Will there be a problem if I let Lookhin eat it?" Sila asked Sebastian.
Sebastian slightly furrowed his brows. "I don"t know for certain, sir. It"s better than keeping it in your possession, that"s for sure. However, the cards of the Seven Deadly Sins are quite special, so I don"t know what will happen if Lookhin eats it."
Lookhin offensively pressed its claws into Sila"s metal arm, though Sila didn"t feel it.
"Chirp, chirp."
Lookhin tilted its head adorably. Sila wasn"t sure if Bluebird was the one who imitated Lookhin, or if it was the other way around. However, one thing for sure was that it was far cuter when Lookhin was the one doing it.
"Fine, fine. Just don"t blame me if your stomach gets upset." Sila handed the card to Lookhin and said, "Star Swallow."
While everyone was watching, the black card sprang out of Sila"s hand and the air in front of him cracked.
Sila stepped back with caution. Both the appearance and the nauseous sensation flowing from the crack reminded him of when he used the Greed skill, and how Mammon tried to break free.
An extremely large group of flies flew out from the crack, covering the entire sky above the gathering party like a black, living cloud. Lookhin flew following the flies in a daze, its eyes glowing with a green light. The same light enveloped all of the flies. Lookhin then opened its beak and the flies were sucked in at a terrifying speed.
"I... won"t... I, Beelzebub... the King of... Gluttony… one who devours, not the one to get devoured—!!"
A hoa.r.s.e voice muttering its lack of consent came from the group of flies. The number of flies being swallowed by Lookhin was simply beyond its size. Sila couldn"t help but wonder where they all went.
Lookhin"s body glowed green before it spat out a black mist, which spread out and covered its body. The mist kept condensing until it resembled a black bowling ball, and continued to hover above the party.
The system sound rang out in Sila"s head.
Your pet, Lookhin, has achieved a certain condition. It is undergoing the process of evolution into Lord Rank.
You have gotten Lord-Rank Monster Egg 1 EA.
Sila was shocked at the unexpected development. He told Sebastian, "It seems Lookhin needs some time to evolve to Lord Rank."
"That"s natural, sir. I heard that evolving to Lord Rank and Emperor Rank are often complicated processes."
"Why wasn"t there such a thing in Rex"s case?" Sila argued in his mind.
Actually, in the case of Rex, Rex had attained Level 1000 Marquis Rank for a long time, so his power was very stable. The only thing he needed was something that stimulated his growth.
However, in Lookhin"s case, its rank started at Squire and unorthodoxly made a big leap to Marquis within a short period of time. Moreover, its skill pool was too diverse, and severely lacked balance. Therefore, upon reaching Lord Rank, it had to sleep in order to bring balance to all of its powers.
Burapha jumped at Sila. "Alas, Big Brother Sila. You should"ve done that after Lookhin finished helping us fight the approaching army first."
"Ah, I did it the wrong way. I didn"t know this would happen. Well, I will handle them myself."
Sebastian interrupted, "Please don"t worry, sir. As for that army, I have already prepared a countermeasure. Mister Sila should help the others instead."
"What countermeasure?"
Without their leaders, it seemed the enemies didn"t dare to attempt attacking Sila. They took a roundabout way and aimed their attacks at Burapha or Sebastian, leaving Sila to take his time firing another batch of suntetsu at some of them while conversing with Sebastian.
"Over there, sir. That"s my trump card."
Sebastian turned his head to Lomyok, who Sila easily recognized. Presently, Lomyok"s handsome face was marred by weird characters written all over. In addition, there was black smoke coming out of his body. His eyes were completely shut while he was muttering something inconceivable.
"Him?" Sila asked, feeling concerned. He had seen Lomyok"s strength before, and it was simply lacking.
"I"m with him, so it"s going to be alright, sir. You can be at ease and help others instead, Mister Sila."
If Sebastian was backing Lomyok, there really shouldn"t be anything to worry about. He put the egg into his system window and took a look around.
Burapha was exceptional at defending, partially due to his lance art. He could block attacks by generating waves of energy with his lance. The only area in which he lacked was experience. If he fought with the art more, his application of it would only become more masterful.
With Twelve Celestial-Traveling-Steps, Sangdao could move freely in the limited battlefield as if she was just dancing around. Her Chinese sword was brilliantly stabbing one opponent after another. Sila could tell that the qi technique she displayed was Ray a.s.semble. Her blade stabbed only at the opponent"s vital spots without missing an inch, and her swordsmanship was extremely fast, leaving behind only shadows of the blade, fascinating to the eyes like shining stars.
By far, she was formidable, and the opponents were fully aware of how much of a threat she posed. Her only weakness seemed to be the fact that her swordsmanship only worked up close, which her opponents noticed and took advantage of by keeping their distance and bombarding her with long-range attacks. As a result, Sangdao wasted most of her time dodging and deflecting attacks.
Nevertheless, since she still had her hidden weapon art, Sila didn"t think he had to worry about her too much.
Nednapha was standing on the stage, sniping opponents down below. Her bow seemed to be a product from Lost Grea City. The bow, attached on her arm, could generate laser arrows. The arrows she fired were like flashes of light. Moreover, they could go straight, zig-zag, and even split into five smaller ones, causing the opponents to have a difficult time coping.
The most worrisome player turned out to be Varee. She excelled at fighting against a group so she had to take a risk by charging into the middle of the enemy group. Her swordsmanship was too quick for the naked eye to follow. If Sila"s eyes weren"t playing a trick on him, it seemed like Varee"s Shadow Moon could even cleave magic spells.
However, the problem was that Varee was a nimble attacker who could attack her enemies very quickly, but she lacked damage. With her opponents being Marquis Rank, meaning they possessed high health points and were able to strengthen the energy reinforcement enveloping their bodies even more. She had a difficult time killing them. Instead, she was the one taking damage and having her health points chipped away.
"Her attacks are quick, but not lethal. If the opponents properly protect their vital points, she will have a hard time against them. I guess her psychic power is the type which can boost her speed but not her attack power."
Sila decided to give Varee a hand. He jumped into the fray and circulated Yin Yang Energy. The power of Stellar Wheel was spinning around both his arms like arm guards.
"Come closer, and duck!!" Sila gave an order to Varee.
Veree slashed at the incoming lightning magic arrow and did as she was told. Then, both Sila"s arms drew curves, making a detour around Varee and spread out.
Boom—!
Amidst the confusion, an explosion occurred, generating fierce winds to blow away everything near Sila and Varee. All the opponents who had surrounded them got blasted away with the impact, receiving severe injuries if not killed altogether.
"Miss Julia!"
Out of nowhere, Sila shouted, and Julia ran out of the kitchen.
"How can I serve you, Master?"
"Umm... Where have you been?"
Ever since a moment ago, Sila had been looking for Julia. He even expanded his sense using Yin Yang Energy to do so. However, Julia was an item, meaning Sila couldn"t sense her easily.
"After collecting money, there were no further instructions, so I was in the kitchen, Master, tasting the dishes. I planned to prepare one or two more dishes before cleaning the kitchen."
"E-Eh? Why didn"t you come out and help us fight, then?"
"That"s because Master wasn"t in danger, and I wasn"t ordered to do so. Master once said that I"m allowed to do anything I want."
Sila scratched his head. If there was someone who had a worse grasp over common sense than he did, that person would be Julia. To be fair, she was a maid AI. To her, what would be more important than cleaning, making meals, and following her master"s instructions?
"Anyway, for the time being, please help Varee handle the enemies."
"Yes, Master." As soon as she finished talking, Julia summoned Trickstar in her hand.
People began to doubt whether guns were available in Monster Soul. Someone even thought it was just a model. Monster Soul"s technology focused more on the fantasy aspect rather than the military one. As such, there were laser weapons available in the game. However, they had never seen or heard of guns before.
Sila took a glance at the three remaining dimensional gates, contemplating which one he should enter.
Sebastian said, "All of them should be fine, sir. Instead, I"m more worried about Franz and Asura. Mister Sila should go help them."
Sila frowned. At most, Shuran must be Marquis Rank. How could he handle two Lord Rank monsters?
Sebastian could tell what was going through Sila"s mind by reading his expression and began to explain.
"It"s due to the Wrath Card, sir. The Wrath skill constantly deals damage to all beings within the range of its effect. The duration of the skill is uncertain. In the beginning, the damage it deals is negligible, but as more time pa.s.ses, the damage increases. I can sense the card"s location jumping all over the place. It seems we can"t afford to look down on our opponent; he is quite good at keeping his distance while running away, making sure that Franz and Asura are always within range of Wrath"s ability."
Sila nodded as he understood and circulated Yin Yang Energy throughout his body before leaping to the west. He had to raise his speed to make up for lost time, since Franz and Asura had left ten minutes ago. He would think about what he should do to help them later while he was on the move.
"According to Profound Qi Circulation Art"s knowledge regarding the Five Elements, the metal element is most related to speed."
Sila acc.u.mulated Yin Yang Energy into his lungs, the organ of the metal element, and used the explosive speed to instantly disappear from everyone"s eyes.
Bang—! Bang—!
The sound of two gunshots echoed, turning everyone"s attention back to the battlefield. They easily noticed two players squirming on the ground while screaming in pain. Their heads were burning with scorching fire.
Julia had just shot two bullets made of two bottles of Flame Liquid, one of the products sold in Sebastian"s shop.
For the record, last night, Sebastian had prepared almost twenty thousand bottles of them, reiterating to Julia that they were for emergency use when the plan went wrong, which she thought was now. Julia couldn"t help but admire him. "Mister Head Butler was indeed well prepared."
On the other hand, Sebastian thought, "Ah? She can use them as bullets? And here I planned to use them to burn all the evidence that might point to me."
Suddenly, it struck Julia that this was her first time using Trickstar in a large-scaled battle. She remembered how the Android King had asked her to help advertise his products so people visit Lost Grea City instead of Zeref"s weapon shop. He also suggested that the best way to promote a product was to use the "word-of-mouth" strategy.
Bang—!
Another gunshot rang, and the bullet entered an unfortunate player"s mouth. He didn"t die yet but it seemed as if a volcano erupted from his mouth. If it wasn"t for the fact that he fell down and was rolling in pain, one would think that he could use some kind of fire-breathing skill.
While the rest of the enemies began to fear Julia, suddenly, she brought out a megaphone and started to speak.
"The most advanced weapons in Monster Soul can be purchased only in Lost Grea City, everyone. Please pay a visit if you have time."
Everybody in the gathering party, both friends and foes alike, were stunned. They all thought the same thing: This isn"t the time to promote products!!
Julia fired another bullet, again aiming for someone"s mouth. Sadly, her opponent hid behind their shield just in time, although the shield became scorching hot, forcing him to throw it away later.
Varee took the chance to come forward and behead him in one move.
"Word of mouth is quite hard, I see."
Julia thought to herself and continued firing bullets. Sebastian giggled at such an interesting development even though his body was covered in blood.