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Chapter 85: Solaria

The first sensation that Noppakorn felt was softness followed by a nice scent that tickled his nose. Sadly, he couldn’t keep daydreaming. Soon after, his face was imprinted with the sole of a foot.

“Kyaa!! Nop, you bastard, what are you doing!?” Rattana screamed. Her face was red while she was stomping continuously on Noppakorn.

“Ack, urg, oww, stop! I’m going to die!” Noppakorn blocked the stomping with his hands.

‘Oww, she even reinforced her magic power into her feet. Is she really going to kill me?’ Noppakorn inwardly thought while circulating Recovery Qi.

“Why did you suddenly go crazy and hug me like that?” Rattana asked, her face was still red.

“I just saved your life. Look at that.” Noppakorn pointed his finger at the grandstand. Rattana shifted her gaze to that direction and found that the spectators were all lying on the floor.

“Ah? What’s wrong with them?”

“They died. I don’t know why they haven’t turned into light and disappeared, though.”

“Died? How?” Rattana looked around the grandstand and ended her gaze at the arena. The ice field was melting to liquid and began to boil over. The vapor covered the entire arena so she couldn’t see much of it.

“They died from a sacrifice. The Grass Flower Fairy has a passive skill called Sinful Oath. Whenever the fairy is killed by its owner, its sadness that births from the betrayal will lead to vengeance. It will cause everybody in a one-kilometer radius who didn’t put up a resistance to die together with it. Then, a random high-level monster is summoned. The monster’s strength depends on the number of the sacrifices.”

“Is there something like this? I haven’t heard of it before.”

“Only a few people know. Flower fairy is a hidden race in the game. In addition, if this ability is triggered, it will permanently die and won’t be able to revive. This ability has only ever been used once before. It was during the last war event, at one of the branches of the Royal Armament guild. Most players weren’t there as the battle between Montra and Lone Wolf was occurring at another city. At that time, the monster that was summoned was merely a Cyclops, a Level 100 Marquis Rank monster.”

“Why was that?”

“Well, that’s because most people have energy reinforcement active during the war event. Anyway, the number of players that died that time was still close to a thousand. However, this time is different. Many players weren’t prepared. I guess around ten thousand have died. I have no idea which monster is going to appear,” Noppakorn expressed his concern.

The system alert went off, answering the question on their minds.

[Monster Hellfire Dragon Solaria, Level 850 Marquis Rank, appears.]

“A dragon? This is huge news.” Noppakorn hurriedly contacted Bluebird via his system window. However, no matter how many times he tried, he couldn’t reach Bluebird, causing him to be anxious.

‘Why can’t I reach Blue? Did something happen to him?’

The conversation between Noppakorn and Rattana was announced via a microphone, so the special guests in the VIP room had heard the story.

“Is there really something like this?” Burapha wondered.

“Um, I have heard about it from my friend,” Poluk plainly replied.

“As for me, I saw Francine do it in the previous war event. I didn’t expect her to have another flower fairy, though,” Varee added.

“But, the summoned monster is not Francine’s pet, right? Can she control it?” Burapha continued asking.

“That won’t be necessary. Although she can’t control it, she possesses a method to prevent it from attacking her. She is the Monster Queen after all,” Lone Wolf replied.

“Wait, isn’t this too much? How can she just kill everyone in the city? This wasn’t part of a war event. The Royal Armament Guild can’t just shrug it off as Francine’s responsibility herself,” Ratri said.

“Who says that everyone was killed? Look again,” Poluk said.

At the grandstand, there were less than ten players who were still doing fine. This meant these players had reinforced themselves with power just in time. Normally, once an opponent acted suspiciously, reinforcing one’s entire body with power was an obvious reaction. Well, given that these players were only here as spectators but still managed to protect themselves, they were at least praiseworthy and careful players.

Lone Wolf didn’t recognize any of these players. They seemed to be high-level players who didn’t belong to any guild yet. Lone Wolf was quick to remember their faces as these players could become either formidable foes or strong allies in the future.

Now, all vapor had evaporated. Sebastian was carrying Sila’s body at the edge of the arena. At the center of the arena, a massive dimensional portal had appeared on the floor. A gigantic dark red dragon was summoned. The surrounding temperature became burning hot, so hot that it was hard just to breathe. The smell of sulfur spread all over the arena.

Francine who was nearby, smiled merrily. She took out a knife and cut her own arm, creating a long wound. Blood was dripping on the floor. Then, she swung her arm so that her blood was splashed on the dragon’s body.

“Blood Ally.”

Francine activated a skill exclusive to human-race players. This skill allows the targeted monster to not hurt her. Meanwhile, she couldn’t deal any damage to it too. Moreover, as long as this skill was active, she won’t be able to use any of her other skills except Psychic Power Reinforcement. Well, she didn’t care. She was very confident that there was no way Sila would be able to win against a Level 850 Marquis Rank dragon. The winner of this match was her.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Solaria was a massive dragon with flame-colored scales. There was a red crystal horn that resembled a sword on its forehead. Its wings were thick and sharp. Throughout its body, its numerous scales were as sharp as spikes. Even its tail looked like a sword. Its yellow eyes seemed very brutal and its teeth were placed in rows like a shark’s. Its breath reeked of sulfur.

As slimes were a dragon’s nemesis and Solaria was a quick-tempered dragon, it didn’t give any signal prior to breathing fire at Sila.

Sebastian was tense as his enemy turned out to be a dragon. Dragons were a top-tier magic-type creature. Although Sebastian’s rank was higher than it, Sebastian was more proficient in handling an army than dueling against a single dragon. Moreover, Solaria’s Dragon Domain was wearing away the health points of its enemies every passing second. If Sebastian neglected using his magic power to protect Sila, Sila would die in no time.

“Cold Breeze of the Afterlife.”

Sebastian flicked his wrist. Then, a cold wind blew and extinguished the dragon’s flame breath.

‘Lookhin, concentrate on using your ice power. Try attacking him when the chance arrives,’ Sebastian gave Lookhin instructions. However, once he turned around and looked at Lookhin, he found out that there was one more problem.

Lookhin’s eyes changed from green to red. Qi, magic power, and psychic power shot up from its body. The power was so great that even Solaria shifted its attention to Lookhin.

A system sound went off in Sila’s head. Although Sebastian couldn’t hear it, he could guess what was happening.

[Dark Brown Sparrowhawk Lookhin, Level 350 Marquis Rank, has less than 40% of its health remaining. It has automatically entered a berserk state. Its level is temporarily increased to 1,000 and Player cannot control it for the time being.]

Without listening to anyone, Lookhin’s body turned incorporeal. The temperature of the arena decreased by several degrees. It charged directly at Solaria going as fast as it could.

Solaria didn’t panic. It turned its body to face Lookhin. Then, it opened its mouth to exude its breath. The temperature was instantly hot again.

Solaria stomped its right foreleg. The ground was shaking. A burning sword pierced upward through the ground.

“Blazing Blade.”

Lookhin was violently hit by the tip of the blade. The blade didn’t pierce through it but it was severely damaged. Lookhin coughed out blood.

Blazing Blade was usually an offensive skill, but Solaria had used it as a defensive move. For magic-type creatures, each and every spell has a defining characteristic that can’t be changed. No matter the situation or the user, the spell’s result will always be the same. Despite this shortcoming, magic-types are blessed with many spells, so if one can cast the most suitable spell in the right situation, they can become incredibly powerful.

Despite Lookhin turning itself into the incorporeal form of a snow spirit which was supposed to be able to pass through any object, what Solaria did was the same as what Sila had done. Solaria had reinforced its Blazing Blade with magic power to make it able to attack Lookhin.

“Shriek!” Lookhin let out a very loud, piercing sound. It concentrated its enormous magic power and formed several Granite Spears to attack Solaria. Unfortunately for Lookhin, Solaria’s Dragon Scales were too tough. These attacks only caused shallow wounds on it.

Lookhin didn’t stop at that. Both of its wings were flapping, activating Soul Sealing Snow Fairies. It used up almost all of its remaining magic power. The entire body of Solaria was covered in ice.

Solaria didn’t flinch from Lookhin’s attack at all. For it was a top-tier dragon, so the attack of a mere bird was insignificant.

“Blazing Scales.”

The scales of the dragon turned half-yellow and half-orange as if they were a burning metal. The spikes on its body were like a terrifying burning sword.

The ice covering it body melted away. It was very unfortunate for Lookhin. Lookhin’s ice originated from magic power. Based on the elemental principle of magic types, ice was unfavorable to fire. For Lookhin to subdue the fire-element opponent using ice magic, Lookhin’s power would have to be much higher than the opponent.

Not to mention that the current Lookhin was far weaker than Solaria. That was why Sebastian had warned Lookhin not to act instinctively. Sadly, Lookhin had entered a berserk state and didn’t listen to him.

Sebastian watched the situation with great concern. If Lookhin were to die within Sebastian’s Timeless Enigmatic Magic Domain, that would become bad news.

Sebastian shot a glance at its master. Sila had asked for ten minutes to perform qi circulation. However, twenty minutes had already passed but Sila showed no signs of regaining his consciousness.

The butler turned to look at the Hourglass of Judgement. It was filled with the souls of all players in the city. At first, Sebastian had summoned this hourglass to play a prank on Francine. He was fully aware that he couldn’t collect enough number of souls to perform a sacrificing ritual.

Sebastian also possessed a spell that required a sacrifice, though it was different from the Grass Flower Fairy. The fairy’s ability sacrifices lives while Sebastian’s spell sacrifices souls. The Grass Flower Fairy only took a life. Players won’t lose experience points or any item. However, Sebastian’s spell wasn’t the same.

If the soul of a monster was sacrificed, the monster would be gone forever without a way to come back to life. Meanwhile, if the soul of a player was sacrificed, the sacrificed player would lose every item they possess as well as all of their money. The rank of the sacrificed player would also be demoted by one.

If Sila was conscious at this time, he would prevent Sebastian from doing what he was about to do. However, Sila was unconscious. There was no way Sebastian would care about other people’s wellbeing.

That was a given, though, as he was a grim reaper.

“This kind of thing is their own problem, isn’t it? Please blame your own bad luck,” Sebastian muttered to himself. The present Sebastian never imagined that his actions would cause a very big problem.

But, it was as he said. It was a big problem for others to take care of.

In the near future, after the players in the city revived, they would demand a large compensation from the Royal Armament Guild. Then, as the guild leader, Cross would soon become the public enemy of the mass. Even Cross himself didn’t know the reason why he ended up in such a predicament.

“Dear Lord Hades, King of the world of the dead. Due to a contract from the ancient era, this lowly one would like to provide you with these sinful souls as a sacrifice. Please grant this lowly one a tiny part of your power for this one to slay his enemy. Calaveras.”

The hourglass broke into pieces. The sky above turned dark, reminiscent of a starless night.

For the record, even Sebastian himself couldn’t cancel the effect of Timeless Enigmatic Magic Domain unless thirty minutes had passed. Thus, the best course of action was to kill the Hellfire Dragon within the remaining ten minutes before Lookhin dies. As for Francine, she wasn’t a problem anymore. She had run out of pets and her power should already be depleted. Moreover, even if Francine was killed, the Hellfire Dragon would still remain here. So, Sebastian planned to kill the dragon first.

The small dimensional portal appeared out of thin air in front of Sebastian. A human skull fully engraved with incomprehensible characters slowly flew from the portal. Sebastian took it in his hand.

“Please don’t die, Mister Sila.” Sebastian placed Sila’s body on the ground. Afterward, he pushed the human skull into his body, causing his body to change.

Now, Sebastian’s appearance was like a human skull floating in the darkness. Witnessing such an appearance, Francine's face was pale.

The invisible body with the human skull quickly flew toward Solaria. Beside Sebastian, there were thirteen scythes floating around him. Each of them was pitch black. Magic power similar to a black mist was being emitted from them.

Sebastian’s body flashed once. All the scythes stabbed at Solaria’s body. They pierced through the dragon’s scales and sunk deep into Solaria’s flesh.

“Soul Cursing Stamps.”

The hollow eyes of Sebastian flashed. The scythes instantly disappeared. However, looking closely, one would notice that each wound caused by the scythes was engraved with numerical characters around it. The numbers ranged from one to thirteen.

As soon as Sebastian had activated the spell, the first number was gone. The wound on Solaria darkened. The blood stopped bleeding, but the dragon cried out in great pain.

“Soul Snatcher Scythe.”

The signature scythe of Sebastian appeared in the air.

“Flaming Blades of the Underworld.”

Solaria activated one of the most powerful spells it had. Twelve red burning blades floated on the air and moved freely from place to place. Every swing of each of them caused the flame to ignite violently.

Sebastian used his scythe to parry against Solaria.

Soul Cursing Stamps showed their effect every passing thirty seconds. The dragon would be tortured. Meanwhile, Lookhin tried to attack Solaria too. However, there was no apparent result. Lookhin was obviously getting weaker.

Without anyone noticing, Francine was holding a knife in her hand. She was slowly moving toward Sila, going a roundabout way, step by step.