[https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/FoSuPu_nXvhC4a11aIfBrHV_TAAAA7ozl0nG7JbgO-62cjVHaAsWKaCaLrSJGjNE_Hwsc8Qq_8GlZ1JUcwi2Gj3pPLns1Ah079X6QMObjCjsVq2p5_V8O3RIBAocA0HXa_hQKTOQ]

The air around Sila was compressed under the influence of the swirling black qi. The valley trembled as if it was afraid of being near such a violent qi. Sila summoned the Crystal Demonic Sword in his right hand. Its blade was covered in flames from Flaming Cloud Qi. The qi shaped itself into a nimble black panther coiling around the blade. Its pair of red eyes glared at Shueria with killing intent belonging to a predator.

Tiger Dragon Qi was a qi art with soft and hard attributes, preserving and supporting each other. Kiryu named it Tiger Dragon Qi Art because he took a liking to the appearances of a dragon and a tiger. When he used it, he would often materialize a great tiger and a majestic dragon to fight in his place. For the same reason, he named the moves of his art Tiger’s Claw, Dragon’s Fist, and Tiger-Dragon Fusion. The qi art actually had no fixed form, however. Last night when Sila tried to mimic Kiryu’s action by creating a tiger and a dragon from his imagination, he couldn’t replicate the strength of the materialized beasts even though he and Kiryu exerted the same amount of power.

Sila’s Flaming Cloud Qi had psychic power as a composition. Thus, he had to strengthen his own belief and project it in his own way, materializing the beast that he deemed as unyielding—the beast which wouldn’t show fear even when up against a stronger opponent. After some trials and errors, the end result was a lone tiger, although its appearance became that of a black panther due to his Flaming Cloud Qi, which emitted black flames.

This level of power wasn’t something players could hope to attain. People often said Sila’s strength grew too fast, but he himself thought otherwise. He wasn’t content with his rate of growth, thinking that it was still too slow. A part of him refused to admit he was at the same level as Shueria. If he had to scrape through with a win over Shueria, how could he stand a chance against Montra?

Last night Kiryu recommended Sila utilize in-game skills. It was then that Sila realized the number of times he actually depended on in-game skills was rather low, which must be because he rarely thought Monster Soul was a game. Then, he tried several skills until he stumbled on his Lordship.

His Lordship was practically useless in battles. On the other hand, based on the intel he got from Yardpirun, Montra’s Lordship—which had been promoted to Emperorship—possessed powerful abilities. Sila pondered why there was such a large gap between their Lordships. In the end, the only answer he could come up with was that he had been utilizing his the wrong way.

Monster Soul Online is the kind of game that gives players hints and plenty of freedom rather than clear-cut answers. Lordship was like Rhythm in the sense that the system left players to discover their true abilities by themselves in order to optimize enjoyment. It was the privilege with latent power waiting to be discovered. Even for Rhythm, it still took three years before a majority of players knew about it.

Sila reread the information about Montra’s Emperorship and found that it was Emperorship of Guardian Spirit from the ‘Territory’ category. Looking back, his was the Lordship of Time from the ‘Death’ category.

Montra’s Emperorship worked splendidly in the territories he ruled. In his territories, his comrades would be granted great buffs. On the other hand, Sila’s Lordship did nothing for him aside from manipulating his opponent’s respawn time.

After consulting with Kiryu, the old man told him that many first generation players also had obtained Lordships during the closed beta period. Originally, Lordships and Emperorships were tools that the game creator bestowed players once he concluded that they could hardly survive in the Monster Realm. They existed to increase their odds of survival. As a side note, they were confiscated once the players chose to become Independent NPCs when the game was officially launched.

Personally, Kiryu had no experience using his Lordship since he always stayed in the same place and didn’t go out to fight. Nevertheless, he said to Sila that he had witnessed some first-generation players use the power in a variety of ways, such as stamping it on the ground, projecting it into the sky, applying it to their equipment, affecting their enemies, and some even cast it on themselves. There seemed to be no fixed pattern.

From then on, Sila tried using his Lordship in several ways. It wasn’t until he used it on himself that the system notified him of an update to his Lordship’s description. After checking it, Sila smiled.

[Lordship of Time]

[You can reduce the respawn time of players/monsters who are within a kilometer of you. The minimum respawn time you can set is one second.]

[You can extend a player’s respawn time when you personally kill them. The maximum respawn time you can set is seven days.]

[When using the Lordship on yourself, you can ignore cooldowns, delays, and any other aspects of skills that relate to time.]

[**Accumulated Time: 2,427 seconds.]

[***The time will increase by 1 second for each player you kill.]

Obviously, the accumulated time would decrease as long as Sila maintained the Incarnation of Chronos state. It seemed the number of players dying in Lafesta City was quite high, so he managed to store a lot of time. Seeing the number, Sila couldn’t help but be reminded of Illuminus’ item skills.

As he was now, Sila was qualified enough to adventure in the Monster Realm. Truthfully speaking, there were currently only three players who could go to the Monster Realm and not die instantly. They were Lomyok, Montra, and Sila.

Other players wouldn’t have a chance of surviving against the three as long as their rank wasn’t at least Lord Rank. All things considered, however, it also depended on whether players could tap into their latent potential or not. Take Lone Wolf for example. Even though he was the first player to reach Lord Rank, if he was still unaware of the proper way to utilize Lordship, he wouldn’t survive in the Monster Realm.

Sila utilized his Lordship on Evil God’s Essence. For the record, after Evil God’s Essence was strengthened by the essence of psychic power, Sila could use it for five minutes per day. However, it came with a downside that meant he couldn’t use other skills at the same time. Thus, Sila tended to use it briefly to perform a specific action before canceling it, as he always needed qi-type supporting skills. Nevertheless, in the Incarnation of Chronos state, all his normal skills would be elevated to transcendent rank. That allowed him to use Evil God’s Essence in actual combat for a long period of time.

The stone walls cracked as Sila swung his sword backward. His movement was amateurish like a child playing with a sword. He crouched slightly, similar to how a tiger prepares to jump at its prey. Meanwhile, Shueria felt a sudden chill. He broke out in a cold sweat and his body shivered.

Sila could understand Shueria’s feelings well. It was the same sensation he felt when he fought against the Water Dragon and Sebastian—being pressured by an opponent with a superior rank. Fear kicked in as a natural and irresistible reaction. Shueria had to concentrate harder just to take a step. Monster Soul was a world where the strong reigned supreme. This phenomenon was a privilege granted only to those who rose above the rest.

“Yahhh!!” Shueria roared to drive away fear. He spread his fingers, extending blades made of psychic power toward the sky. His psychic power molded shapes while his Cloudy Tiger Qi strengthened them. The blades combined and formed into a giant sword, fiercely slashing downward. The sword covered the sky. In such a narrow mountain pass, Sila had nowhere to evade.

Dignified Palm Blade — God-Rupturing Sword.

Sila was untroubled. In fact, he intended for Shueria to make a move first. Power of the Great Flow gushed over the Crystal Demonic Sword. The black qi blasted apart into small clusters of flames, illuminating beautifully like they were floating lanterns. It was the exquisite swordplay that even the intellectual Sanon had never witnessed before. Everyone looked at the sight with puzzled expressions.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Heaven’s Decree — Six Sword Style, Flaming Fireflies.

Shueria had yet to complete his slash, but he suddenly felt like it was actually him who was under attack. Suffering from qi deviation was better than death, so he stopped his move mid-way and retracted his power to strengthen his defense. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.

Sila violently swung his sword as if it was an extension of his body—a claw, to be precise. It struck Shueria, who lifted his wrist to block the slash. Shueria tightened his muscles and compressed his power, preparing for a heavy blow. However, the impact was soft and gentle instead, opposing the tremendous pressure that came with it. The blade slowly sank into Shueria’s flesh, bringing him torture.

Heaven’s Decree — Second Sword Style, Crashing Mountain.

Shueria’s wrist was torn apart before it could be healed by Recovering Qi. Still, the blade had already sunken one inch deep, so the recovery wasn’t as efficient as it should have been. Shueria exerted more qi and psychic power to push Sila away, and the latter actually jumped back easily. However, his sharp sword intent remained, pouring toward Shueria from the front.

Heaven’s Decree — Seventh Sword Style, Unforeseen Sword.

The sword energy was cold and sinister, contradicting Sila’s battle stance, which disregarded defense. Shueria’s brain realized that it was a trap, but his instincts ordered him to take action. In the middle of an intense battle, it was natural that fighters would move according to their instincts born from repetitive practicing and countless battling rather than their brain. Pumin’s sword art turned this asset into a liability. Through the swordplay which sends false signals, the opponents would be forced to make mistakes in utilizing their power. Even if they were aware that their instincts were manipulated, it was still too late for them to put a stop to their non-optimal actions. Moreover, even if they managed to stop their actions, their momentum would still be interrupted. In fact, the more skilled the opponent was, the more likely they would be weak against Heaven’s Decree Sword Art.

Unable to stop his body, Shueria rushed at Sila. The eyewitnesses wondered why he plunged into such an obvious trap. Nevertheless, without experiencing Pumin’s sword art firsthand, they wouldn’t be able to sense its dreadfulness. From an outsider’s perspective, they could only wonder why Shueria made one mistake after another when all Sila did was swing his sword around in a rather amateurish manner.

Changing his move too fast for his body to keep up, Shueria’s muscles began to bleed due to qi deviation. Blood soaked his blindfold. Poluk once told Sila that qi-type beings were great at melee combat. However, the severe backlash caused by qi deviation made the energy type unpopular among players.

Shueria quickly shouted a certain item skill before it was too late, “Aegis Ark!”

The armor on his chest emitted a light and enlarged, becoming a large shield which blocked Sila from coming forward. For the record, Shueria’s armor was the combination of protective gear and a shield. Once the item skill was activated, it would enlarge to protect its user and increase the recovery rate of anyone behind the shield.

Sila did a backflip and stood in front of the giant shield which completely blocked his path. Apparently, Shueria relied on an in-game skill to put a stop to Sila’s series of attacks. Sensing what was behind the shield with qi, Sila could tell that Shueria’s health points were recovering. If he didn’t continue his attacks, his past actions so far would be for naught.

Leaping to the Aegis Shield, Sila punched it using Genesis Punch. However, it didn’t budge in the slightest. Rather than possessing insanely high defense, Sila guessed it must be the shield’s ability that could temporarily nullify all attacks for a specific period of time. He decided to change his approach. Instead of punching it, he simply placed his palm on it.

King’s Treasury.

The big shield turned into light and was absorbed into Sila’s system window. Noticing what happened, Shueria, who was behind the shield just a moment ago, felt extremely shocked. In his hand was a potion containing a golden liquid that Sila had never seen before. Based on the look of it, the potion must be a very precious item, maybe even more valuable than Franz’s pallets.

“Ah. That’s mine too. It will waste more of my time if you drink that,” Sila muttered as he shot a suntetsu toward the startled Shueria, briefly knocking the potion out of his hand.

Weapons and equipment had to be touched directly by Sila in order for him to snatch them. However, if they were miscellaneous or general items like potions, just being within three meters was enough for the skill he obtained from the Devil Prince to work. It was a foolish idea to leave items untouched in the Demon of Greed’s presence.

Before Shueria could grab a hold on the potion, it became a flash of light and entered Sila’s system window. Crow showed an awkward expression as high-grade items he gave to Shueria continued to be robbed by Sila one after another. Without high-level armor, Shueria’s defense fell drastically. Furthermore, he was in a panicked state, opening up an opportunity for Sila to attack.

Sila swung his sword toward Shueria, who crossed his arms in front of his body to take the impact. Sila took a deep breath before letting out a thunderous roar.

Racial Skill — Slime’s Roar.

The people from Sila’s side had been warned beforehand, so they covered their ears in time, including Lookhin. On the other hand, Sanon and Crow felt light pain from their eardrums. As for Shueria, he was the direct target of the skill, so even his wounds were lacerated by the impact from the roar. All sound was lost instantly.

Regarding slime skills, the first stage of every skill was usually harmless. The user had to achieve some conditions to unlock their potential, like how Sila did with Fluffy Slime, Colorful Slime, and Transparent Slime. In the second stage, they would become quite high-level skills such as Formless Soldier, Orbiting Cosmos, and Moon Reflecting Mirror. Some skills were easy to unlock while most of them weren’t. Luckily for Sila, the conditions for unlocking Orangey’s Way of Slime—(F) Singing Slime—was easy enough. It took him only a single night to evolve it into (B) Slime’s Roar.

Enhanced by Monster Heir at transcendent rank, Sila’s usage of racial skills in the Incarnation of Chronos state was as deadly as weapons of destruction. Some skills were even more difficult to cope with than his martial moves. Sadly, though, he couldn’t use them outside the game.

Possessing Psychic Eyes, Shueria relied heavily on his hearing and sense of touch. With one of them becoming crippled, his world lost a part of its color. He could hear nothing aside from the sound of his own life beginning to fade away. His body recognized the crisis, thus his psychic power was in overdrive. Dignified Palm Blades protruded from every fiber of his body, turning him into a human hedgehog. Even Sila had no choice but to jump back to secure some distance.

‘Oops. I totally forgot that psychic power will be more dangerous in this kind of situation. I almost lost an arm.’

Even when Sila was especially vigilant, Shueria’s psychic power in a crisis still managed to injure him. The blades were several times sharper than before. He quickly circulated qi to tend to the wounds on his arm.

Shueria drew his hand, chopping toward Sila. The sharp psychic power engraved a perfectly straight horizontal line on the stone valley. Sila, along with Kiryu and Rex, had to duck down to dodge it. On the other hand, Lookhin was short, so she blankly raised her head, confusedly looking at the blade which simply flew above her.

As Sila ducked, he rolled on the ground and leaped at Shueria, stabbing the man’s heart using the sword in his hand. He realized his attack might not work since the heart was a part of the Sealed One. Nevertheless, based on his experience, each item on the set shouldn’t have overlapping abilities with each other. Hence, there was only a low chance that the heart could also nullify attacks like Illuminus.

Heaven’s Dismissal — Fifth Sword Style, Nine Ghost Strikes.

Sila’s blade went three inches into Shueria’s chest. Nine consecutive shockwaves entered Shueria’s body, each one as violent as a lightning strike. The result was unsatisfying as the attacks left only a small injury on the heart. Well, against an opponent who he couldn’t kill by attacking their vitals such as Shueria and Sebastian, Sila still had other means of slaying them.

Dual Generating Attributes — Metal enriches Water, Hundred Victories.

Kiryu’s Tiger-Dragon Fusion was used continuously by Sila. The blows rammed repeatedly into Shueria’s body, echoing like marching drums. Shueria was beaten badly by the strikes. He had to shift the target of Recovery Qi from healing his heart to his entire body. Just healing alone already took all of his effort, so he had no means of escaping from the beating. As his heart weakened, the protective aura around him became thinner, allowing Sila’s blows to hit harder.

Sila spun his body around, lifting his leg as he was about to land a kick.

Crow started to move, but he was slower than Sila due to the distance. The kick was instantly strengthened by qi, pushing the Crystal Demonic Sword’s hilt without holding back.

Dual Overwhelming Attributes — Wood drains Earth, Phantom Barrage.

The blade sunk deeper into Shueria’s heart in slow motion, as gently as stabbing a metal rod into a block of plasticine. The blade pierced through Shueria and exited from his back. His body flew toward Crow who was rushing at him.

Crow caught Shueria in mid-air. Both he and Sanon hadn’t expected Sila to already become this strong. Even they, who had planned to stop the fight when the result was clear, still failed to act in time.

Crow tried to transmit qi to heal Shueria. However, it failed. Even the Heart of the Sealed One also failed to help. Shueria’s body was like a deflated balloon. No matter how Crow transmitted qi to him, the qi would simply leak out.

Most importantly, from the battle’s start to now, only five minutes had passed.

Crow had far underestimated Sila. In the Incarnation of Chronos state, Sila could stand a chance even against Crow.

Exhaling, Sila both relaxed his stance and canceled his power. Kiryu then approached him and tapped him on his shoulder. The old man whispered to Sila as if he knew what Sila was thinking.

“Don’t worry. You did the right thing. Holding back would simply mean you looked down on your opponent. Letting him know you’re serious in the match is better than letting him know later that you made fun of the battle.”

“Yes, sir.”

At long last, Shueria’s body scattered as light particles after some struggle. The rematch, which had been agreed on by both parties long ago, finally came to an end in a quick manner with Sila’s overwhelming victory.