[https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/qe-qjfeOm5rTLHH09TF-I640n62INCPejhfe9fAPTk3RZvpFJiFkr6ajjVoU7hhfOvnHqXD7Ti1ei5RyMtCth-aqjXjFVHSLG_4_uwSucSNLbCAhBb57vgTldXcQsSw7qz8_Wasi]

Chapter 208: The War Between Two Men

Both Sila and Montra were people belonging to the martial world. With just a few exchanges, they could gauge the other’s fighting ability and art to a certain degree.

Montra estimated that Sila’s current power was comparable to or slightly below Revin and Kawin. However, Sila qi’s unique characteristic helped him gain an upper hand all of the time even though Montra’s raw power should have been superior. Even so, Montra wasn’t too concerned since he still had trump cards left.

Likewise, Sila sensed that Montra had more inner force than him even though he was sure that he previously possessed more. Obviously it was due to him abandoning his qi when he entered the Desert of Death. Nevertheless, Sila didn’t regret it. Five-Attributed Cloud Qi had a unique trait that enabled him to always gain the upper hand against his opponents if he used it right. Even if the amount of his inner force was lower, he was confident that he could win.

Montra’s art was vigorous and decisive. However, it had a weakness. Even if Montra was a genius, he was still human. His power wasn’t bottomless. If the battle was prolonged, he would exhaust himself and die.

The unexpected factor was Montra’s Dragon Domain. The gentle fog lingering on the ground around his ankles wasn’t harmful to Sila at all even though his experience told him that every Dragon Domain brought negative effects to the dragon’s opponents. Yet, based on his observation, it seemed Montra’s Dragon Domain was different from others.

It affected Montra and his allies instead of the opponents. Its power seemed to be the healing kind. What proved Sila’s theory was that both Montra and Trick Master’s wounds were healed. On the other hand, Sila, who was closest to Montra, didn’t get affected by the domain at all.

Sila’s guess was right on the mark. Infernee held the title “Immortal Dragon.” She was a gentle dragon, so no one had ever seen her making an attack before. Moreover, nobody knew what kind of offensive skills she possessed. With her transcendent healing ability that instantly invalidated any damage done to her, there had never been any record of a dragon successfully harming her to this very day. In the end, she was hailed as the empress of dragons.

Montra selected Infernee simply because her Dragon Ritual was the hardest one to accomplish. Generally, the Dragon Ritual’s objective represented the selected dragon’s way of living. The quest to stay alive for five years despite becoming the target of all monsters symbolized living a peaceful life.

The traditional way to complete the quest was to stay in the Dragon Kingdom without going outside for five years. If one could do that, they could easily succeed while getting to experience Infernee’s preferred way of living.

However, Montra believed that there was always more than one path to success. There was no way he would be willing to waste his time in the Dragon Kingdom for five years. He interpreted that ‘Staying alive for five years’ as equivalent to becoming so strong that no one could kill him. He relied on the loophole created by Dragon Heart invalidating death penalties combined with the Left Arm of the Sealed One’s fraudulent ability to accomplish the quest in a way that Infernee never imagined.

What worried Sila was that Montra covered his weakness with in-game ability. Still, this was a game, so it made sense that Montra utilized in-game skills. As a result, Sila had to forsake the plan of prolonging the fight and exhausting Montra’s strength.

‘I can win if I use Heaven’s Decree Sword Art. However, this war is only a prelude to the real one. If Montra sees the sword art, in one month he will surely be able to come up with a countermeasure.’

Sila didn’t know whether it was coincidence or fate. When he discussed his qi art with Pumin in the Desert of Death, he stumbled upon the similarity between Five-Attributed Cloud Qi and Heaven’s Decree Sword Art; the resemblance his father praised him about many times.

Five-Attributed Cloud Qi allowed him to change his element and gain the upper hand against his opponent, though it didn’t directly affect the enemy. On the other hand, Heaven’s Decree Sword Art didn’t affect himself. Its terrifying aspect was to force the opponent into a state where they couldn’t use the best of their ability.

Pumin declared that the day when Sila could utilize both arts simultaneously would be the day that even ten Montras couldn’t be his match.

Sila glanced at the battle between the Royal Armament Guild members and Trick Master. It seemed Jundtrathep had already activated Land of Promises, so the situation got a lot better. Nevertheless, as long as Trick Master still received the beneficial effect from Montra’s Dragon Domain, the result of the battle would be decided by whether Jundtrathep’s skill duration came to an end first or Montra’s skill lost effect first.

The battle between Sebastian and Ramiel took place far away. Ramiel had to constantly maintain the barriers so he couldn’t show the best of his ability. As a result, he was neck and neck with Sebastian, who had lost his spells.

Sila didn’t understand why Sebastian didn’t use the lantern he got from Anubis, though he had no one to ask. There might be some sort of condition that had to be fulfilled first, or maybe Sebastian had some kind of a plan. In any case, based on Ramiel’s firm defense, Sila guessed that the battle would be a prolonged one.

The furthest away, Sila could sense Bluebird’s power running around from place to place. Sila had to admit that Bluebird was really great at fleeing despite the fact that the area was limited due to barriers. Even though he was being chased by two Dragon Warlords, he had yet to be cornered. The game of tag seemed to be a prolonged one as well.

Ultimately, the decisive battle was the one between him and Montra. The instant one of them lost, the fate of their entire team would be decided.

The outcome of the war that decided the fate of Grea City was dependent on the smaller war between the two men.

Montra noticed it too. That was why he put more effort into the fight.

“Unseal.”

Once he finished saying the word, Montra’s left hand turned as black as ink and as scary as a hand belonging to a devil.

Montra clad his spear with magic reinforcement. The power emitting from the spear was incredibly strong, double what he had been releasing before. As soon as he saw it, Sila immediately realized that he could no longer touch Montra’s spear like before. With this level of power, his hands and feet might be torn apart just by being near it.

‘What is this abnormal increase in power? Is it due to the left arm’s ability? Umm... makes sense, I guess. Since Illuminus is the ultimate weapon of protection, it isn’t strange for the left arm to possess some absurd offensive ability.’

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Montra’s Left Arm was currently at the fourth stage. Even though it hadn’t reached the final stage yet, it granted Montra a slot for installing a single skill that he could exert twice as much power from.

The skill that Montra chose was the most ordinary skill: Magic Reinforcement.

In Montra’s opinion, the most important skill was the skill that he would be using most. Montra was an expert at magic power reinforcement from the start. With this ability, he could exert twice the power he normally did.

“Prepare to die, Sila,” Montra announced while pointing the spear tip at Sila for the second time. However, it was overwhelmingly oppressive this time. Sila was aware that his Sea Star Wheel couldn’t weaken this level of power anymore.

God’s Realm Spear Art — Spear Readying Brionac.

“Illuminus,” Sila muttered. Then, a mechanical arm appeared on his right shoulder. Just by looking at its appearance, Montra figured it was at the fifth stage, which was the final one. That meant Sila had already encountered the Sealed One.

Montra spent a lot of resources but his Left Arm only managed to reach the fourth stage recently. On the other hand, Sila had only just started playing the game but he managed to get it to the final stage. That clearly meant Sila’s teacher was giving him a hand behind the scenes.

Not only was Mora an Independent NPC, but Montra had heard that he was also among the first ones who were invited to try Monster Soul Online. It was possible that Mora personally knew the person who took the role of the Sealed One and asked that person to secretly assist Sila.

“You are really disgusting.” Montra gritted his teeth. Against someone like this, there was no need for him to exchange words anymore.

The power of Triple Sky Energy exploded out from within his body. His body couldn’t withstand its power so his skin was constantly torn apart, though it quickly regenerated later. The cycle of breaking down and healing continued to occur.

The power he exerted was so overbearing that many Royal Armament Guild members shuddered.

‘Montra unleashed the power of the metal element along with the fire element. They conflict with each other, so they are damaging Montra himself. In a normal situation, I can just leave him alone and he will eventually die from his own powers. However, his Dragon Domain allows him to resist the backlash. What a terrifying matchup. Could it be that I have to use the second stage of Five-Attributed Cloud Qi already?’

Theoretically, Sila’s Five-Attributed Cloud Qi consisted of three stages. The first stage was what he was currently using. He could use it proficiently and maintain its usage for a long time without any drawbacks. As for the second stage, he could do it during practice, but that was because he was in a no-pressure environment. Lastly, the third stage was something beyond the current him. He still lacked the amount of inner force and proficiency necessary to exert its power.

Montra didn’t leave Sila any time to think. The unyielding spear clad with intense power flew at Sila. It was a simple movement, yet the power contained within the spear was far from normal.

Sila didn’t possess any move that could cope with such a powerful thrust.

Even though Pumin suggested that he pretend to heavily rely on Illuminus in order to make Montra think that he couldn’t live without it, Sila admitted that except for using Illuminus, he had no idea of how to oppose Montra right now.

Sila controlled Illuminus to block the spear. Similarly to how Sila was confident that his Corpse-Igniting Stomp could kill Montra, Montra was confident that there was no need for him to change the spear’s trajectory. He believed that even a strange-looking third arm couldn’t resist his powerful spear.

However, Montra was wrong. As soon as the spear clashed against Illuminus, all that happened was Illuminus flashing once, then nothing.

No scratches, no damage, and no crashing sound. It was as if the power in his spear had suddenly vanished.

While Montra was puzzled at what happened, Sila quickly seized the opportunity and controlled Illuminus to take hold of the spear. Even if Montra tried to retract it now, he would have a hard time doing so.

Unfortunately, Sila had never had three arms in his life. By using the third hand to grab the spear, although it did help him obstruct Montra’s ability to use a spear, doing so also limited his movement.

He originally planned to advance forward to enter Montra’s blind spot. However, he had to change his plan and tugged on the spear to bring Montra to him instead.

For him to kill Montra, he should exert the power of the fire element. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to penetrate Montra’s invisible armor.

Attribute of Fire — God-Slaying Spear.

Sila concentrated the hot power of his qi into the tip of his elbow. This move was derived from Nine Sun-Melting-Fists and Flaming Cloud Qi; both were offensive arts so this move was especially powerful.

As long as he could strike Montra’s heart, no matter how great his regenerative ability was, Montra would die.

Montra released his hands on the spear and solely clad his chest, around the heart position, with magic power reinforcement while leaving other parts of his body defenseless. His finger moved slightly with a gesture as if pulling a trigger.

Instinctively, Sila sensed danger. He moved some portion of his power back to raise his defense, resulting in a thirty percent loss of power in his elbow.

At the exact same time that Sila’s elbow struck Montra’s chest, a mysterious arrow suddenly and precisely struck Sila’s temple.

Sila collapsed with his face against the ground. Blood spurted out from his head. People were shocked by the sudden change. Their faces went pale.

Meanwhile, Montra’s vision was flashing red. His chest was lacerated. Even with the strong healing ability, the wound still couldn’t be closed in a short time. This indicated that Sila’s previous strike was indeed powerful.

Montra tried to recall his spear, but he failed. In the end, he had to resort to transforming his spear into a mage staff in order for it to escape Illuminus’ clutch. Montra was aware that there would be a slight dimensional gap when transforming a weapon, so he made use of it.

As for the previous exchange, if he didn’t get Shuran’s help, he would have already died.

“Since you want to die so much, just die.” Montra transformed his mage staff back into a spear and thrust it at Sila.

Having no choice, Sila rolled his body, evading the spear, and jumped back up. Seeing that he was still alive, everyone released a sigh of relief.

Sila pulled the arrow out of his temple. Actually, it had only penetrated two centimeters deep. However, its spin caused a lot of blood to gush out. Noticing a chance, Sila had pretended to die by grabbing the arrowhead with his pulling power. He planned to lure Montra into approaching him in order to collect the spear before making a counterattack. Apparently, his plan failed.

“Why haven’t you died already?” asked Montra.

“You too,” Sila replied without giving up.

The number of Sila’s opponents increased by one. In front of him was Montra while Shuran was outside, ready to snipe him.

Sila could only hope for Mamon or Lookhin to quickly take care of Shuran. Otherwise, he had to cope with attacks from both sides.

“Do you really intend to fight me two-against-one, Montra?” asked Sila.

“Don’t forget that this is a war, Sila. History is written by the victors.”

Montra decided to use his secret move that he hadn’t mastered yet. One part of his power dynamically stimulated his overall power, radiating intense heat. Even though his posture was the same, Sila felt something had changed.

God’s Realm Spear Art Combo — Spear Readying Brionac & Spear Thrusting Shemao.

Even though he lacked proficiency, it seemed the time had come for Sila to display the second stage of Five-Attributed Cloud Qi.

Despite the two of them thinking that this battle was only a prelude to the real war so they shouldn’t use all of their cards, it seemed both Sila and Montra had totally forgotten.

Dual Generating Attributes — Wood Feeds Fire, Shapeless Flame.

Montra and Sila were glaring at each other without blinking.

Montra showed the might of God’s Realm Spear Art Combo, which was very taxing for his body and power. Even though his power was replenishing with the help of his Dragon Domain, it still couldn’t keep up with the power consumption.

Concurrently, Sila’s body was surrounded by a red cloud, drifting slowly but radiating strong heat, burning everything entering its radius. Sila hadn’t mastered using dual attributes yet, so he chose the move that he was most proficient with. Nevertheless, as utilizing dual attributes was still new to him, an opening would eventually show.

In the middle of such a decisive deathmatch, a certain voice suddenly broke everyone’s focus.

“Ermm... Excuse me, Sila. Do you need my help?”

The voice was familiar. Everyone shifted their attention to the voice’s owner. Witnessing who that person was, it was Montra who found it most shocking.

The person standing in the distance was Bluebird, and there were no signs of Lost Ghost or Cheris. Everyone was too focused on the fight between Sila and Montra, so they ignored what had happened to Bluebird. They didn’t understand how he could appear there without the two who had chased after him.

“Bluebird? What about the two Dragon Warlords?” Sila asked immediately, though he still kept his eyes on Montra, afraid of him making a sudden attack.

Then, Bluebird’s answer shocked everyone, including Sila and Montra.

“Ermm... I’d say... I have already defeated them.”