Chapter 205: Counterattack with the Same Move
Grea City was dyed with the colors of fire and blood. The smell of blood fused with the water vapor and the smoke, bringing a nauseous feeling to those who were in the city.
Nevertheless, it brought a particularly pleasant sensation to some people; the ones who longed for the smell of victory.
Montra was indifferent to the situation unfolding before him. He glanced over his system window and quickly typed words at incredible speed. Soon, he raised his head up, looking at the view of Grea City underneath his feet.
"It seems Cross personally commands the army. It"s the old Cross at that. This will be difficult."
Montra didn"t underestimate Cross. Actually, in his eyes, disregarding the one-on-one fighting ability, Cross was a very dangerous person, especially the Cross from the era when he had just founded the Royal Armament Guild.
Montra had seen Cross" ability and potential for a long time. He also figured that someone like Cross wouldn"t submit or yield to someone else. Still, since Cross was of no use to him, Montra had to get rid of him before his potential bloomed.
In the beginning, the Royal Armament Guild was a guild with a solid foundation and structure, having an excellent commander as a leader and two trusted and strong vice-leaders. If left unchecked, the guild would grow and become a pillar that couldn"t easily be taken down.
Since "Pull" wouldn"t work, instead Montra would "Push" them.
Montra secretly helped Cross behind the scene. He took down the Royal Armament Guild"s potential threats and destroyed all their obstacles while avoiding a direct clash between the Heavenly Dragon Guild and the Royal Armament Guild.
He indirectly supported them to become a famous and large guild within a span of a year, which was quite short considering the size of the guild.
As a result, Cross acquired more power, wealth, people, and influence than he ever expected. In the end, he was obsessed with power and greed. His character greatly changed and he became a totally different person.
The guild"s structure heavily relied on monetary benefits. The guild members rarely had a chance to be united in action and spirit, so they lacked the ability to cope with problems and could be bought with money. Most importantly, the guild leader never had a chance to overcome a crisis, so he was drunk on fake success and supremacy.
The rest was easy. Montra just had to seize the right moment to crush them completely.
"Hmph. To be honest, I didn"t think it would be possible for him to rebuild his guild again since he has no funding and his reputation is bad. I didn"t expect there to be people willing to join his new guild. It seems the Mountain Thieves League is at work here. Beluga is a well-known person who knows all kinds of people. It will be possible if he lends Cross a hand. Unfortunately, he is a tough nut to crack."
Beluga was another person that Montra considered a threat. Nevertheless, if Beluga could be defeated easily, the Mountain Thieves League wouldn"t survive to this day even though they clearly showed hostility to the Heavenly Dragon Guild.
Beluga was a charismatic and straightforward person. He had a lot of friends. Some of them were morally upstanding people, while others were the opposite. He was one of the most influential people, possessing a large network in Monster Soul. If someone wanted to bring harm to Beluga without a proper reason, there would easily be an upheaval.
Therefore, unless it was absolutely necessary or he was certain of his victory, Montra wouldn"t attack Belaga, at least openly.
It was exactly as Montra thought; only the Mountain Thieves League could persuade people to join the Royal Armament Guild even though Cross" reputation was in the mud.
The Mountain Thieves League was famous for their motto, "Achieve the impossible".
The remaining four warlords still didn"t make any moves. They were silently waiting for Montra"s orders.
"Everyone, go ahead and wait for me at the second meeting point. I will follow you shortly after." After Montra finished his sentence, all four warlords promptly departed for the new location.
Soon, the disguised Zazae came back to Montra.
"I retreated as you instructed, Sir Montra," reported Zazae.
"Good. I have prepared more tasks for you."
"Yes, sir. Nevertheless, Cross is still giving us a hard time. I think we should fix this problem first."
Montra shook his head. "No, I can handle him myself. These tasks are extremely important, and you are the only one I can trust to do them."
"Just say the words, sir, and I will accomplish whatever you ask of me."
"Then, firstly, kill me," Montra said flatly. Zazae was stunned.
Zazae removed his mask, showing well-defined facial features with a large scar running across the entire face. He only showed his face to those he trusted. Showing it meant he was expressing his loyalty toward Montra.
"...What did you just say, sir?" Zazae asked to make sure.
"I said "kill me". This is your first task. Do it now." Montra"s eyes were saying that he wasn"t kidding.
Zazae stopped hesitating. He slashed Montra with the blade in his hand. Blood spurted out from the wound. Montra didn"t put up even the slightest resistance.
With Dragon Heart, the white glow enveloped Montra"s body for a moment and his wound instantly closed.
You have been killed by another dragon-race player. You have lost the racial skill (A) Dragon Heart.
You have successfully killed the current strongest dragon-race player. You have acquired the racial skill (A) Dragon Heart.
There was a change in the strongest-of-the-race ranking for the dragons, though Montra didn"t care. He had held onto the top position for so long that people quit checking.
For the immediate future, no one would notice that the ultimate skill of the dragon race had already changed hands.
"The next task. I want you to go to Madmen"s Valley and complete the quest there to polish your psychic ability further. That place is not far from here, and a night with a full moon is coming soon."
Zazae was still in a daze from taking the skill that belonged to Montra. He quickly asked, "May I ask why?"
"You are one of the Heavenly Dragon Guild"s greatest a.s.sets. Your strength is comparable to the Two Monarchs and your loyalty is genuine. You deserve to be nurtured."
"Nurture... me?"
"Yes. The Envy Card has good compatibility with you. Now that you have copied Cross and Lone Wolf"s powers, you are more than a force to be reckoned with. However, even if you can copy the power, you can"t develop it. Anyway, with Dragon Heart, the probability of you losing the card will be lower."
Immediately after he got the report from the Five Warlords regarding the raid at the Victorious Wolves Sect, Montra noticed the weaknesses of the Envy skill that allowed the user to copy the base power of anyone fighting them.
The card that seemed to be fraudulent at first glance had at least three big weaknesses. Firstly, the user couldn"t develop power outside of the user"s energy type. Secondly, the user couldn"t copy power from the same opponent twice. Finally, the last and biggest weakness was that Envy"s ability was always active.
This meant Zazae could use others" abilities all the time. On the other hand, anytime he died, he would instantly lose the card.
Montra lowered the chance of Zazae losing the card by transferring Dragon Heart to him. With it, Zazae would get a second chance if he made a mistake. He could use that second chance to either continue the fight or flee.
In addition, Montra planned to send Zazae to accomplish a quest that would enable him to unlock the ability to use dual energies, opening up the opportunity for him to develop his psychic power.
Zazae asked with concern, "But, without Dragon Heart, Sir Montra"s Dragon Ritual will..."
Montra"s skin softly glowed white, illuminating the area around them. He unleashed his magic power to accelerate the healing power of the Heavenly Dragon Scale. Soon, the remaining half of his health points were refilled.
He answered Zazae"s question with action rather than words.
"...Heavenly Dragon Scales. Sir Montra, so you have already completed your Dragon Ritual..."
"Correct. Now, go. Contact me when you finish. I still have one last task waiting for you."
Zazae nodded and donned the mask like before. He removed Cross" full body armor and equipped the a.s.sa.s.sin garment he always wore. He lifted up the scarf around his neck to cover his mask and quickly leaped to the northwest, heading for the Single-Horned Dragon Forest.
Montra waited for a minute to ensure that no one was around him except Ramiel. He unsealed the Left Arm of the Sealed One which was at the fourth stage. His left arm turned black and ugly, like the arm of a demon.
"Change the skill in the slot," Montra commanded.
[Please choose a single magic-type skill for which you would like to disregard cooldown and delay.]
Montra selected a skill to replace Dragon Heart. For the record, the Left Arm of the Sealed One unlocked another ability when it reached the fourth stage. In addition to the slot for selecting a skill that the user would like to disregard the cooldown and delay of, there was one more slot for selecting a magic-type skill that the user would like to double in strength. As a side note, the user can"t select the same skill for both slots.
[The Left Arm of the Sealed One requires an hour to process the new installation. You can"t use the skill being processed during this period.]
"Seal." Montra activated a skill to return his left arm back to normal.
"Ramiel. Let"s go. I hope you have built up your power for long enough. The next phase of the plan relies heavily on you."
"I"m ready, Master Montra."
"Good. Let"s go."
Montra used a levitation spell and flew up. His destination was the second meeting point, where most battles were taking place. The Heavenly Dragon Guild"s members were doing their best to help out the injured players and lead them safely to the exit. Obviously, their actions brought great joy to the ordinary players.
During his flight, Montra noticed a small group of players being surrounded by both the flames and a group of bandits taking advantage of the chaos to rob the weak.
Montra summoned the Dragon Head Staff in his hand. Several blue magic circles appeared surrounding the flames, covering one hundred meters in each direction. The dragon eyes on the mage staff gleamed once.
"Rain Summoning."
Water rained down from the sky, extinguishing the fire and lowering the temperature. Those who touched the rain also felt their health points slightly regenerating.
"Thousand-Year Ice Seal."
Montra waved his mage staff once, and the pool of rainwater on the street instantly solidified. The ice sealed the lower bodies of those bandits, restricting their movements.
Montra stood on the roof of a building. He looked down and found that there were only a few survivors.
A young woman, one of the survivors, looked up to Montra and said, "Thank you."
Montra didn"t reply. Instead, he cast healing magic to completely refill the survivors" health points.
"You should be able to handle the rest, right?" Without waiting for a reply, Montra continued heading to the second meeting point.
"Wow. The Magic Emperor in action," said one of the survivors.
"Eh? That person just now is the Magic Emperor?" asked the young woman.
"That"s right. With Sir Magic Emperor helping us personally, we will surely be safe. The evil Royal Armament Guild will cease to exist today. d.a.m.n. This kind of guild doesn"t deserve to have a place in Monster Soul."
The remaining survivors agreed. They quickly defeated the bandits in the ice and proceeded to exit the city through the lane that the Heavenly Dragon Guild had cleared for them.
The game forum was filled with topics hailing the Heavenly Dragon Guild"s righteous actions of helping people without expecting anything in return.
People began to see the cruel side of the war. Some of them hoped that if all the evil guilds, who brought harm to the majority of people playing Monster Soul, were wiped out before the war event start, there was a chance that the vicious war wouldn"t take place.
Who knows? Maybe an era where all players joined forces and united as one was closer than they imagined.
As the news was spreading, Montra and Ramiel reached the meeting spot and met up with the four warlords and the rest of the guild members who arrived before them.
Montra started issuing an order once he arrived.
"Cross is using guerrilla warfare against us. The number of people on his side is lower, so he relies on mobility and sneak attacks. It"s possible that his men have already infiltrated our group.
"The smaller team has the advantage of moving quickly, but larger team aren"t useless. From now on, we will no longer march forward but will instead surround them, keeping their base in check. Moreover, issue the order to everyone that we will use the backup symbol instead of the first one. Those who don"t have one are to be killed on the spot."
One of the guild members quickly sent an order via his system window, relaying Montra"s command.
Soon, some battles broke out. Those who infiltrated didn"t have a backup symbol so they had no choice but to retreat to the Royal Armament Guild"s base.
"If this was a real war, we can just surround them like this. However, we have to advance this time. They have fewer players, so we will win if we clash against them directly."
Ramiel"s body glowed in white light, and a semi-transparent giant white cube emerged with the Royal Armament Guild"s base as its center, seeming like a barrier.
"We will use the same method that the Wicked Union used against us. We will force them to match us, fighting separately without interruptions. However, we will be the ones choosing the matchups this time."
As he finished speaking, Montra approached the four warlords.
He handed a sheet of paper to Shuran. "Sun-Extinguishing Warlord, you stay outside the barrier and stick with the order I wrote on this paper."
Shuran read the contents written down; they were about when he should shoot, the targets who took priority, and some signals for communication. He memorized all of it, then destroyed the sheet.
"Ramiel, the second stage." Montra gave an order without looking back.
Ramiel"s face was drenched in sweat. He unleashed more magic power, and the barrier"s color changed from white to white-blue. Except for the color, it didn"t seem like anything else had changed.
"Ramiel just reversed the barrier. With this, the people outside can attack those inside but the people inside won"t be able to exit."
Shuran got it. With this barrier, he could concentrate on shooting without worrying about a counterattack. He jumped toward the rooftop of the tallest building nearby and activated G.o.d"s Cathedral to cover the entire barrier. He was ready to fire according to Montra"s instructions.
"Everybody except for the warlords, wait outside. The default order is to kill everything that comes out of the barrier, even if it"s a pet or myself. Shuran has command. Listen to him. He will be the one who decides if you attack the ones exiting or not."
The guild members started to understand. On the paper that Shuran read just now, there should be a symbol known only to Montra and Shuran in order to distinguish whether players exiting are friends or foes.
"Star-Finishing Warlord, Illusionist Warlord, Black Star Warlord, and Ramiel, come with me inside. Ramiel, be prepared for the third stage."
When the five of them proceeded and gathered in front of the barrier, Lost Ghost asked, "Will we really go in with only five people? Although it"s true that the Royal Armament Guild"s only has a few hundred members, there should be around ten skilled experts inside."
Montra ignored the question and took out three sheets of paper. He handed one to each warlord. "Follow the instructions written on the paper. Destroy it once you finish memorizing it."
The three warlords did as he instructed, destroying the sheets after reading. They wondered why Montra didn"t just explain the instructions. Why bother writing them down?
Trick Master asked, "These instructions are..."
Montra lifted his hand up to stop Trick Master from speaking. "The contents are the same but don"t speak them out loud. We have to take precautions in case our enemies are eavesdropping on us."
The three of them nodded. Grea City was the city of engine and technology. They wouldn"t find it hard to believe if there were machines or items that could eavesdrop on people"s conversations.
Montra headed inside, followed by the rest. They could enter the barrier easily. A great battle like the ones in Zhongsuyuan City was about to unfold. Similarly to that time, no one could predict the outcome of the battle.