Domain
Volume 2 upgrade specialist interval chapter 37 - hope
Looking at the men before us it was obvious we had been singled out. These weren’t ordinary thugs who came to steal from us. They were way to organised.
Solomon: looking for us, who are you?
Stepping slightly forward I focused all my senses on the people before us. The feeling I got from the men wasn't too dangerous, but they weren’t weak either.
Robed man: hahaha, you don't recognise us? we're from the capitalist mages guild.
Hearing so I instantly became more vigilant. After a week I had hoped we had gotten away with it. It seems they knew how to hold a grudge.
Solomon: oh, so that's who you are. So, how did you know it was us?
After going into hiding for a while I wondered how they knew what we looked like.
Robed man: well, you're going to die anyway, so I don’t mind showing you.
Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a small pocket watch.
Robed man: this is called a death tome watch. It can be linked to a person, then when they die it will point towards the killer.
Seeing this my long forgotten fear was confirmed. I had thought at the time such a guild may have a method to track us. At this point, I tried to reconcile with them. As much as I disliked them, at my level I could not really risk angering an E rank.
Solomon: that's quite a nifty item. I guess you came here to get revenge, right?
Robed man: you could say that.
Solomon: isn't that a little petty. Losing one G rank won't effect an E rank guild too much. Is there no way we can forget about it?
Though I acted politely, on the inside I was seething. Having to act like this in front of this trash was infuriating.
Robed man: hahahahaha, first you attack us, now you want to make up with us? I'll tell you what, give us an hour with them pretty friends of yours and I will consider it.
As he eyed Alice and Pluvia, he licked his lips.
Pluvia: HUH, JUST TRY IT, MOTHERFUCKER.
Exploding with anger Pluvia was on the verge of attacking them. Being as she was originally many times stronger than these guys, she still had not grasped the situation.
Holding my arm out I indicated for her to calm down.
Solomon: I'm trying to be reasonable here, can't we resolve this issue.
Seeming to have reached the end of his patience the man spoke once again.
Robed man: no we can't. Now, if you submit to us and become part of our guild, we will spare you.
Seeing the man be so unreasonable, I no longer tried to make peace. If we were going to fight anyway, I was going to crush them. Turning to my teammates I issued a few orders, making sure the robed man could not hear.
Solomon: Alice and Pluvia, stay behind Gareth. Gareth, protect them with your life.
Turning back to face the men I assessed their strength. The strongest was the man I spoke to. From what I could feel he was a high-level G rank. Behind him stood three similarly robed men. They gave of the strength of a mid-level G rank. As for the rest of the men, they were unranked. Though they held strong weapons, they were no threat to me.
Solomon: it seems there is no way for us to end this peacefully. So, do me a favour and die.
Ourous: hostile intent detected, killing these contestants will no longer cause a penalty.
Holding up the arcane orb I put a quarter of my energy into it. As the lizard head and shoulders quickly formed the expressions of the robed man and his men darkened. Having been in Domain for long enough they could tell the strength of my attack.
Robed man: EVERYONE!, FORM A PROTECTION CIRCLE, NOW!
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The men reacted quickly after the orders from their leader. Standing behind the three mid G ranks the unranked began chanting. Though they did not have any enhancements they all had cultivated a small amount of energy outside the system.
Though I knew this was possible it was not usually worth doing. Mostly because even a hundred unranked cultivated energy couldn't even match 1 G ranks.
Joining in with the chant the mid-level G ranks each pulled out staffs, pointing them at the high-level G ranks back. A second later as my lizard had just finished forming, the robed man held up his staff. It was dark green with a fist sized piece of crystal in the end. As the crystal lit up, an intricate magic circle formed in front of him, at least 10 meters wide.
as the lizard flew at them the magic circle gleamed with light. On contact, the lizard was held back by the magic circle. Though it was a strong attack, the combined defence of 4 G ranks was too much to break.
Now having blocked the attack all of them looked relieved. Taking advantage of the opening I drew my sword, charging at them. I was already half way to them by the time they reacted.
Robed man: UNRANKED, HOLD HIM OFF. WE WILL PROVIDE RANGED SUPPORT.
Using the unranked as disposable pawns he backed away. It seemed like these G ranks had no close combat ability. After seeing me used such an attack, they probably thought I was the same. Unluckily for them, I wasn't.
Though the G ranks hesitated slightly, they still charged at me. As I met the first man's charge I nimbly dodged his downward slash. Then before he could react I sliced across in a horizontal slash, cutting off his head.
Seeing one of them be killed so easily, the unranked wavered. At this point, the robed man spoke out.
Robed MAN: WHAT ARE YOU DOING, ATTACK HIM! ANYONE THAT CAN INJURE HIM WILL BE GIVEN A G RANK REWARD!
Having such a reward on the line the unranked were instantly invigorated. Once again they charged at me. In the same way as before, I quickly dispatched three of them. Even seeing this, they still charged at me. A G rank reward to these unranked was like an oasis in the desert.
After dispatching two more men my instincts told me I was in danger. Looking at the G ranks they had started a joint attack. Based on the feeling I got it would be an extremely strong attack. Not having much of a choice I activated wolf form. since I had broken through it only took a quarter of my qi now.
As my body distorted into the fur covered werewolf-like form, the unranked became panicked. Though I was strong in my human form, they still had a chance at injuring me, however, now they stood no chance.
Looking over at the G ranks I gave them an evil grin.
Solomon: you should have thought more carefully before attacking me.
Hearing my beastly voice they all turned sheet white. Even the normally composed leader had lost his confidence.
Holding up my hand I pumped the final half of my qi into the arcane orb. As I was transformed all of my skills would be two times stronger. This meant that this attack would be two times stronger than the one I used on the chieftain.
As the qi formed into a lizard it once again continued past the shoulders. Creating the torso, and then the back legs. Continuing on it created half of the tail before finally stopping.
The G ranks, feeling the oppressive waves of energy from my attack, became terrified. Losing all hope of escape they stared at me as if I was the devil. Sending the attack at the G ranks I watched as it effortlessly tore through the unranked.
In a last ditch effort, the G ranks placed all of their energy into a defensive magic circle. Compared to before this circle was only a decent bit stronger. It seemed they used a lot of their energy to block my initial attack. Reaching the magic circle my attack tore through it like paper.
As the attack collided with its target the stored energy exploded outwards, engulfing the street in a sea of fire. The attack was even stronger than I thought, sending flames barreling in every direction. Moving quickly I jumped in front of my teammates. Using my large frame to protect them from the flames.
Though my attack was strong, both my natural protections against fire and my training with Carbones allowed me to avoid injury.
Solomon: are you guys all right?
Looking down I examined my teammates. Though I had blacked most of the attack. I was only using my body.
Pluvia: were fine, anyway, we should move quickly. We've attracted too much attention.
Looking at them, only Pluvia was unsurprised with my attack. Both Alice and Gareth stared dumbfounded. Turning around I saw the reason. Half of the 30 meter wide Main Street had a massive crater in it. Reaching at least 5 meters into the ground. Even the ground and building around the crater were badly scorched.
Solomon: wow, I really should have held back a bit. well, it's too late now. we've got to quickly leave. Follow me.
Picking up Alice who was quite a bit slower than the rest of us I began running down the street. A few minutes of running later and we had arrived at the hotel. Entering the lobby we stopped to catch our breath.
Gareth:haaagh, it, seems. Haah, we weren’t followed.
Solomon: hopefully, haaaah. Either way, haaah. They wouldn't, haaah. Attack us here.
Pluvia: you should think before you act. If we weren’t lucky you could have attracted serious attention.
Surprisingly unlike us, Pluvia wasn't out of breath. As a dragon, her stats were probably much higher than ours.
Solomon: serious attention?
We were already attacking an E rank guild. What's worse than that.
Pluvia: this is a city owned by the three great guilds. If you cause too much of a ruckus here they will dispose of you. Even at my strongest, the three great guilds are a terrifying existence.
For the first time, I saw concern and fear in Pluvia's eyes.
Solomon: well it's too late now. We'll deal with that if it comes to it.
Pluvia: I don't know if it's a good thing or not that you're so unworried. If you anger the great guilds then no one can save you.
Solomon: I know I know. Anyway, it's been a long day let's go rest.
Walking back to our rooms we were all tired from remaining awake for 28 or so hours.
Gareth: well, I'm dead on my feet. I'll see you guys tomorrow.
Walking into his room Gareth bid us goodnight.
Solomon: damn, I'm not too hot myself. Alice, are you okay letting Pluvia sleep with you.
Alice: yeah, I've got some things to talk to you about. So I'll come to your room tomorrow morning. Night.
Solomon: night.
Walking into my room I made my way to my bed. Falling into the sheets my fatigue caught up to me. As I began to drift to sleep the worries of the future surfaced in my mind. The missions, the capitalist mages guild, The three great guilds. All of them caused me to worry.
Just as the last sliver of consciousness left me a new emotion was born in my heart. A warm feeling that it would all work out somehow. That no matter who I faced, if my team was with me, I would beat them all. I called this new emotion, hope.