Chapter 234: For Which Purpose Does The Bell Ring?
Sila, Asura, Lookhin, and the mysterious man enjoyed their food as if it was the most ordinary thing to do. Only Burapha was tense and barely able to eat. He was completely on guard.
"You are making a face like you just ate poison. Your psychic power is annoying, you know?" warned Asura.
Sila added, "Burapha, overstressing can be counterproductive. Your psychic power emphasizes being continuous and traceless, so you should emit it steadily. If you"re this tense, you will lose your prominent point."
The mysterious man nodded. "Regardless of what kind of situation you are in, either you"re advantageous or disadvantageous, you shouldn"t express what is in your mind. You need to maintain control over your facial expressions, your actions, and your power."
Even a stranger gave him advice. Burapha couldn"t help it anymore. It was fine if everyone kept their cool. He gave up as he introduced himself.
"Thank you for your advice, sir. My name is Burapha. May I ask for your name?"
"My name is Fallun. Everybody calls me the Frosty Berserker though."
Burapha felt that Fallun"s t.i.tle didn"t suit him at all. The "berserker" part couldn"t possibly describe this seemingly simple man who seemed to have a carefree personality.
"My name is Sila. This is Asura, and this is Lookhin." Sila introduced his teammates.
Fallun scratched his head. "Um. It has been a year since the last time I left Belacia City. I didn"t expect the outside players to become this strong. As I don"t keep up with the news, I"ve never heard your name before."
"Me too. I haven"t heard the name Fallun before," Sila replied sincerely.
What Sila said could be taken as an insult, but Fallun knew that Sila meant no harm, so he laughed. "Hahaha! You"re right. Neither of us has heard of the other before."
Noticing that Fallun was quite friendly, Burapha inquired, "Why did you decide to come over and greet us?"
"Hm? It"s nothing. I just thought that it"s a good opportunity. Belacia City rarely has newcomers. You guys may become my friends or my enemies in the future, who knows? In any case, since the future is uncertain, it"s better for us to get to know each other when we still have a chance."
His reasoning was a bit sketchy. Nevertheless, Sila didn"t mind. He continued the conversation. "Mister Fallun seems really strong. I don"t doubt it. However, for me, I don"t think I am worthy of being called strong yet."
Fallun grinned as he laughed. "Haha! Don"t be modest. I can discern who is strong or not without having to watch them fight. Other than Little Brother Burapha, the rest of you are br.i.m.m.i.n.g with confidence, and that shows you have faith in your ability. Here, even if you are weak, you will have to pretend that you are strong. Otherwise, everyone will walk all over you."
Fallun"s statement seemed to be directed at Burapha. He was warning Burapha about his lack of self-confidence. For an expert, regardless of the situation, they shouldn"t express their worries.
Suddenly, the sound of a bell ringing could be heard four times far in the distance. Sila and his comrades turned their attention to the source of the sound. On the other hand, Fallun frowned as he heard it.
"What was that sound? It rang from the west."
Fallun stood up. "It"s an alert. There are several bells in Belacia City. If monsters raid the city and you need a.s.sistance, you can ring any bell once. If you see a dispute between players, you ring the bell twice. Then, if the city is at risk of falling, you ring the bell three times."
"What about four times?" Sila asked as he was sure that the previous sound rang four times in succession. Furthermore, Fallun made a strange reaction as soon as he heard it.
"Maybe someone accidentally knocked it. Otherwise, it means that guy is brave enough to return to this place. At this rate, today will be hectic. I"m going to go take a look at what happened." Fallun placed five gold coins on the table. "It"s on me this time. Think of it as a welcome meal. Who knows if we will ever get another chance to enjoy a meal together."
Not only Fallun, but it seemed that many people were also leaving and heading straight to the west.
"Can we go as well?" asked Sila.
Fallun, who stood at the edge of the balcony, turned to him. "Here, you can do anything you want without having to ask for anyone"s permission. Well, let me give you a warning that it can be very dangerous. If the alert is real, we will be facing a great catastrophe. A disastrous day in this city"s history may be repeated."
Every customer left. Noticing that Burapha"s bowl still had remaining noodles, Lookhin lifted the bowl up and poured everything into her mouth. She hastily swept the corner of her mouth using her sleeve and followed Sila. Meanwhile, two fairies, who worked as waitresses, came out from the kitchen. One of them dashed to each table and collected the money while the other floated up and released the rope binding a sign to the top of the restaurant, revealing a sign beneath, which said "Closed."
"Catastrophe? What kind?" Sila asked as he looked around. He found people from all over the place leaping toward the west. It seemed everybody in this city could move quickly. Not a single one of them simply ran on the ground; someone flew while someone else jumped from rooftop to rooftop. He even noticed a person in a chef uniform dashing forward. It seemed this was an incredibly important alert as the restaurant even had to close down.
"It"s not just a normal catastrophe. It"s a blue-colored one."
Fallun leaped through the sky as he finished answering Sila"s question. Based on Sila"s observation, Fallun relied on his qi to materialize sheets of ice and use them as footholds. His qi was so strong that it could even freeze air. Sila"s Tortured Soul was no match for Fallun"s mastery.
"Blue-Colored Catastrophe? It sounds weird. What kind of catastrophe has a color?" Sila wondered.
"This is terrible, Big Brother! That"s Big Brother Blue"s t.i.tle!"
"Bluebird"s t.i.tle? How is he related? He even has an exclusive alert in this city?"
"I don"t know, but let"s hurry up."
Burapha relied on Psychic Impact to send himself flying. Asura and Sila quickly followed him while Lookhin used her Great Sparrowhawk Qi to fly forward.
Lookhin used to feel confident that there was no one who could rival her top speed in the vast sky. However, it seemed that didn"t apply to Belacia City"s sky. In this place, there were at least two others who were considered Lords of Speed.
Both of them flew past Sila"s group with astonishing speed. The two of them even glanced at Sila and his teammates before they left.
Sila had an opportunity to observe both players. One of them was a man with a messy hairstyle dressed in old white clothing. He could run through the sky as if running on flat ground. As he ran, he kept yawning like he had just woken up. The other one had golden hair and was wearing loose clothing. He didn"t run through the air, but stood on a flying sword which flew at an extreme speed. Their destination was the same as everyone else, the west.
"This place is really full of crouching tigers and hidden dragons. I"m glad I came," Sila muttered as he followed Burapha.
"I have seen people flying with levitation spells or stepping on air with psychic power before. However, this is my first time seeing people completely disregarding gravity."
"They are both psychic type. The man with the messy hairstyle seems to be a member of a qi-type race though. I felt qi in his body."
"A mixed type? Those are quite rare."
Mixed type players meant players who selected a race with a different energy type from their main power, and made up a minority of the entire playerbase.
By choosing to become a mixed type, players wouldn"t obtain a synergistic effect from their supporting skills enhancing the racial skills. Their racial skills wouldn"t be able to exert their full strength. On the other hand, mixed-types possessed a variety of skills. For example, Zazae was a member of the dragon race, which was a magic-type, while his main energy type was qi. As a result, he could utilize magic-type racial skills while possessing high health points and great physical abilities. However, he couldn"t cast the Skeleton Dragon"s spells.
In their group, since Burapha was in the lead, Sila and others naturally had to follow him. Except for Burapha, no one used their top speed. Nevertheless, even if Sila were to use his top speed, he still didn"t think he could catch up to the two previous players. He would have to seal Lookhin in his armor in order to rival them.
Soon, Sila reached an area where more than twenty players had gathered. There was a person in the middle of the group. However, unlike what Sila had expected, that person wasn"t Bluebird. Instead, it was a young woman holding an ice-cream cone. She was carefreely standing among the others.
"How dare you ring the bell without a proper reason, Snow? You surely know what ringing a bell four times means."
Sila looked over someone"s shoulder and noticed a certain woman dressed in a white scholar outfit scolding the young woman in the middle. She had an oval-shaped face and a pair of sharp eyes. Her posture was upright and stern. Sila would know later that her name was White and the young woman in the middle was called Snow.
"I really saw Bluebird, White. Although he donned a disguise, I"m sure it was him. I approached him in order to take a better look, but he quickly fled. If it wasn"t him, he wouldn"t have escaped," Snow argued as she pouted. She seemed childish, so the scene looked like a daughter arguing with her mother.
"In that case, where did you last see Bluebird?" White asked with a serious expression.
"I followed him to that corner, but he suddenly vanished. That"s why I knocked the bell to summon everyone, so we can search for him."
"Could it be that he masked himself with magic? One year ago, Bluebird had yet to select his element. If he chose the earth element, some mid-tier spells will be unlocked and he will be able to use them to disguise," White speculated.
Everyone immediately looked around, looking for any strangers. Soon, their eyes locked onto Sila and his teammates.
"I think I have never met these four before," said White, and her statement instantly made Sila become the center of attention.
Fallun stepped forward. "All four of them just arrived in this city today. They were with me in the restaurant when the bell rang. They can"t be the Blue-Colored Catastrophe. Indigo can be an eyewitness to my statement."
"Yes, all four of them were in my restaurant. They are not Bluebird. I remember every customer in my shop." A man in a chef uniform stepped up. Apparently, he was the restaurant"s owner. His name was Indigo.
"Other newcomers? Again?" White c.o.c.ked her head. With Fallun and Indigo"s confirmation, the others were no longer interested in Sila"s group. Nevertheless, Sila was aware that his face was already memorized by the players present.
"In conclusion, you hallucinated or lied. As one would expect from a child"s words." Another voice came from behind Sila. Turning around, Sila got to see the most outstanding person he had met so far in Belacia City. He was a white-haired man with a bulky, muscular physique, like Fallun. His most eye-catching part that couldn"t be easily removed from Sila"s memory was the fact that the man was only wearing underpants. Furthermore, they were the indestructible underpants generated by the system, an object meant for preventing obscenity that couldn"t be removed.
"Shut up, you pervert!! I"m not lying!!" Snow shouted.
"You are not lying? Where is the Blue-Colored Catastrophe, then? No matter how hard I look, the only thing I see here are those white tailorbirds." The man pointed at five tailorbirds perched on a roof.
Sila and everyone else followed the man"s finger. If anyone observed closely enough, they would notice that one bird among the rest flinched as soon as it was pointed at. It was constantly shivering.
"Oh, smooth," thought Burapha. He was one of the few people who knew Bluebird could transform himself into a tailorbird. Some people only knew that Bluebird liked to form his magic power in the shape of birds.
Even for those who were aware that Bluebird could transform, almost no one knew he could pick any color for his bird form. Normally, as he liked the color of the sky, Bluebird transformed himself into a blue tailorbird.
For the record, tailorbirds were like background objects in the world of Monster Soul, similar to rocks next to roads. Every one of them was identical to each other, aside from their colors. Killing them was possible, but it was simply a waste of time. Naturally, no one cared about them.
"Stop it, Ryou. Anyway, let"s be on guard. If anyone sees him, please inform the others," concluded White.
"Heh. If I really find him, I won"t share him with anyone else and will execute him personally," Ryou, or rather the underpants man, said. He disappeared from where he was standing and reappeared in front of Sila. In any case, Sila could tell that Ryou had temporarily accelerated his speed to the point where it seemed like teleportation.
Ryou stared at Sila, along with his teammates, as he kept the distance between them at four meters. He snapped his fingers three times, and, like a lighter, three cl.u.s.ters of flames were lit up on his fingers. The three small cl.u.s.ters gave off pale glows as if they were souls. Ryou tossed the fireb.a.l.l.s around between his two hands as if he was a clown in an amus.e.m.e.nt park.
Sila came to know that this man was a qi type player. Moreover, his mastery over Flames of Torturing, Ray a.s.semble, and Cruise Breeze was exceptional. He could even touch the flame he made out of qi with his bare hands.
"Here you go, a housewarming gift from me. Take it."
The three fireb.a.l.l.s shot toward Asura, Burapha, and Sila. Maybe Ryou thought Lookhin was a kid, so she was the only one he didn"t make a move against. In any case, Lookhin continued to enjoy a bag of snacks in her hand apathetically.
n.o.body came to interrupt or even gave a warning. They were also curious about the newcomers" strengths.
The three fireb.a.l.l.s traveled at a different speed. Asura was the target of the first fireball. His face was devoid of emotion like he was just a lifeless skeleton. As far as he saw it, the fireball wasn"t lethal. It was just a tool to gauge his strength. He wouldn"t allow himself to be tested that easily though. Thus, he neither dodged nor blocked the attack. He pretended to fail to evade it and got hit directly.
The fireball submerged in his body as he secretly utilized his psychic power to negate most of its power. He took several steps back and pretended to stagger. He deliberately allowed himself to be hit and lost an insignificant portion of health points as he refused to show his real strength. Aside from his poker face, his acting was realistic.
Asura made it look like it was easy to cope with the fireball. However, the fireball was extremely fast. Burapha couldn"t bring his lance out in time. Still, he moved his hands in circles and depended on Parry technique which Sila just taught him recently to sweep the fireball away. Although the fireball was made of qi, it was touchable. He redirected the fireball upward, which caused it to explode in the sky like a firework.
Unfortunately, Burapha"s hands suffered from a hot sensation like he was scalded. He had to rely on his psychic power to reduce the pain.
As for Sila, he was accustomed to being attacked. Since the opposing side told him to take it, he decided to literally take it. He extended his right hand and materialized an invisible cone made out of his power. The fireball pa.s.sed through the cone and its strength was reduced by half before Sila grabbed it with the Stop technique. For the record, his movement wasn"t one in Six Moon-Grabbing-Claws. It was his own move.
Formless Martial G.o.d — Moon-Catcher.
Sila held a fireball in his hand, like what Ryou did previously. Everyone was surprised. The reason Ryou could hold the fireball easily was that it was his own power. The feat of holding an opponent"s power as if it belonged to oneself meant Sila was more skillful. Still, this fireball wasn"t Ryou"s true strength, so it couldn"t be concluded yet.
"I didn"t know that there would be a gift. Well, I don"t know what to do with it, so please take it back."
Sila"s eyes shortly gleamed with killing intent. Encountering several strong people stimulated Dark Self. Although it wasn"t to the point where Dark Self surfaced and gained control over his body, Dark Self"s influence affected Sila"s state of mind. As a result, his next action wasn"t a mere test but an actual attack.
Formless Martial G.o.d — Sun-Melter.
The fireball ignited and suddenly became larger. Sila added all of his combined qi techniques—Tortured Soul, Unblemished Cool Breeze, Galaxy Eclipse, and Universe Reversal—into this attack. The fireball radiated an intense heat like it was a sun. It even vaporized the snow below Sila"s feet.
The bystanders stepped back as they protected their bodies with energy reinforcement.
The miniature sun shrank and became a gla.s.s marble. Still, its might was unchanged. Ryou, who always showed a playful personality, showed a stiff expression as his entire body was engulfed by a blue flame that he emitted.
Sila flicked his fingers and sent the gla.s.s marble toward Ryou. Under normal circ.u.mstances, Ryou would accelerate his speed and dodge it. No one would be foolish enough to directly receive this level of attack. However, Ryou was a stubborn person. Since Sila literally took his fireball, there would be no way he could feel content with evading Sila"s attack. He planned to literally take it as well.
However, once the fireball came into contact with Ryou"s palm, it lost its powerful might and came to a halt. Mimicking what Ryou did, Sila snapped his fingers once, and the fireball disappeared.
"With this, I have properly returned it," Sila said as he felt relieved. Dark Self"s flash of killing intent caused him to attack Ryou for real. Thankfully, the heart of Formless Martial G.o.d was Formless. True is False, False is True. No matter how powerful his attack was, Sila could change truth into a lie, canceling it instantly. On the other hand, he could also change his seemingly weak attack into one that dealt high damage.
The flame that was surrounding Ryou dispersed. It seemed the reason he only wore a pair of underpants was due to the fact that no clothing could handle his flames.
"My name is Ryou. What is your name?" Ryou asked with a serious expression.
"My name is Sila. As for them—" Sila was about to introduce his teammates, but Ryou cut in.
"I only asked for yours. Here, you have to be strong enough to be able to declare your name. Otherwise, you have to live without people caring about you."
Honestly, Asura didn"t care whether his strength was recognized by others. It was perfectly fine for him if no one wanted to know his name. As for Burapha, he admitted he was still lacking. He knew he didn"t deserve to stand on the same ground as the other players here. He made a firm determination that he wouldn"t leave this place unless his strength was acknowledged by the people in this city.
The sound of a bell ringing was heard once more. It came from the north this time. Furthermore, the sound constantly rang with no sign of stopping. If one listened carefully, they would know that the sound came from several bells being knocked simultaneously.
"What does this mean?" Sila asked, hoping for someone to answer.
"It means a horde of monsters is raiding the city. This is rare. I wonder who invaded the Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Castle. Why don"t they wait for two more days?" Fallun asked after answering Sila"s question. At the same time, most of the players in the area started leaping to the north without any discussion.
As everyone followed the bells" sounds, a certain white tailorbird finally stopped shivering and flew in a different direction with its mind at ease.