Ariel's hand had completely sliced through Two's head. In the real world, his body would have been absolutely unable to withstand the shock. Even in this virtual world, with all the momentum accumulated by Ariel, he should have received at least 250 Damage.
However, to everyone's surprise, Two's HP bar was not completely emptied by the attack. He still had one more HP point. Only one.
Five immediately saw the opportunity. He wanted to attack but he was too late. Sophia had already reacted and instantly healed Two back to 50% of his HP.
Having failed her attack, Ariel crashed on the ground due to the effects of [Sky Fall]. Her own HP bar that was full until now dropped down to 50%. Her face twisted in pain from the crash.
"Ouh, thanks!" Two, who had always worn a rather serious face, was shocked for the first time. He was grateful for having Sophia at his side who always reacted very quickly. He nodded to the Cleric and recollected himself.
"If it was not for [Indomitable Will], I would have already died here." Two could feel the cold sweat on his back. He normally would not have been able to survive such a powerful attack, but he recently acquired a unique skill. The prize of the tournament of the church was a unique passive skill called [Indomitable Will].
Regardless of what amount of damage he took, instead of going to 0, his HP would stop at 1. This was a particularly useful passive skill that would protect him from all lethal blows once. After that, he would simply need to heal quickly, giving him a much higher endurance than normal.
Five immediately felt a dark feeling dwelling in his heart. He knew what would happen next. "No! Stop!" He shouted but the knights were all already moving. They were even no longer interested in him. It was true that Five was worth 200 merit points, but Ariel was a level 32 Harpy. Whoever would kill her would obtain a massive amount of exp.
Items were important but before everything, there were levels. The game was dictated by the level of the players; the higher it was, the more options they would have.
Ariel was also aware of her predicament, but she did not care about it. Instead, she lowered her head and smiled faintly. Her eyes connected with Five's for a brief moment. She tried to speak but before any sound could come out of her mouth, the Knights mercilessly stabbed her with their weapons. Despite having a higher health pool than the players, she was completely surrounded. Under the attack of all the knights, it only took a few seconds for her health bar to be completely depleted.
Five was only a few meters away from Ariel and was naturally able to clearly see the scene. Ariel was one of his most powerful monsters but before all, she was his friend and confidante. When he looked at Ariel's last moment, she was still smiling. There were no traces of regret on her face and that alone stroke Five to the core.
The harpy was willing to die for him, but it was not something Five wanted. The harpy's death triggered something in Five; it felt as if a bubble around him was suddenly popped. His eyes inadvertently turned toward Two. He was the one responsible for all of this. If it was not for the Earthbound Curse, none of this would have happened!
It was true that it was all just a game but after more than a month, Five had already bonded with his monsters. They were more than just employer and employee but now, it was all gone.
Two was already on guard and naturally noticed the changes in Five. He could feel the burning stare of Five. In his eyes, he saw both pain and anger, and all of it was directed right at him.
Five let loose of the burning rage in him. All he wanted to do right now was to take down all the Knights that were responsible for Ariel's death. He knew he was outnumbered and would probably die within the next second, but Five still grabbed his short sword firmly.
He was about to charge at Two but before he could move a muscle, a loud explosion suddenly occurred high in the sky. The clouds in the sky were suddenly blown away, opening a massive gap in the sky.
2 figures were flying at high speed toward the ground. The battlefield suddenly froze as all the fighters looked up.
When Five saw the first person, he thought he was dreaming. There was quite a large distance between him and the flying person but Five swore that she looked exactly like Ariel. It was only when they got closer that Five realized that it was actually Harriet. A simple look at her level quickly revealed her identity.
Behind Ariel, Five saw a handsome man chasing after her. He had 4 large wings behind his back; his long black hair was floating behind his back as he held a long menacing blade pointed toward Harriet.
Judging from the scene, Five immediately understood that Harriet was in a bad position. However, his own situation was not any better. Furthermore, as a level 18 player, how was he supposed to interfere in the fight of monsters around level 60.
Harriet was rushing down as quickly as she could. She tried to delay the Fallen Seraphim for as long as she could but she obviously could not hold her ground anymore. Her battle form has already expired, leaving her with no choice but to escape.
In her hurry, she did not immediately notice the death of Ariel but when she saw the Devil Suppressing Barrier, Harriet loudly shouted, "Noon! You promised that there would be no danger! I already delayed him for as much as I can!"
Five was stunned. Harriet's voice was loud and clear but what was she talking about exactly? Five turned to look at Noon who was still facing the Commandment of Faith.
Noon naturally heard Harriet's shout. He focused his gaze on the masked man who was still covered in blood. "She is right. I wasted a lot of time here. I should end it quickly."
The church was not considered as a dominant force on Zero for no reason. They were most probably already aware of the fight going on and reinforcement was probably on its way. Noon was powerful. But against a whole army, he would not stand a chance.
The masked man suddenly felt a gloomy feeling rising in his heart. He knew he was not Noon's match but could not escape. However, the Devil Suppressing Barrier would at least trap Noon long enough for the other Commandments to appear.
"It's time to get out of this box." As Noon spoke, the leader of the Wandering Ram Tribe had already appeared right in front of the barrier.
The masked man noticed his movement, but he was not worried about it. What could a level 50 do to him?
Five was also puzzled. He did not understand the Wandering Ram Tribe Leader's action. The latter's face was calm as he raised his hand and pressed it against the Devil Suppressing Barrier. Then, Five suddenly saw a change. The small number above the Wandering Ram Tribe Leader changed; his level actually changed!
[53.... 58.... 62... 65... 69... ???]
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The number kept increasing until it finally displayed '???', indicating that Five's level was way too low to read his level.
Inside the barrier, the corner of Noon's lips curled up in a smile, "I wasted my time on you. It seems that you really have no idea of what the faith's ability is. Maybe it really has none. I pushed you to your limits for a while but nothing happened. I guess the Shrine of Faith deserves to be ranked last after all. Stop thinking about using the Devil Suppressing Barrier to keep me here. The barrier itself is strong from the inside but from the outside? A simple pinch can destroy it."
As Noon spoke, the Wandering Ram Tribe Leader made his move. The Devil Suppressing Barrier; the pride of the church, suddenly shattered. It exploded into countless shards that fell around Noon and the Commandment of Faith.
The executioners of the church immediately froze. They had been rushing toward the Wandering Ram Tribe Leader to stop him but as soon as he revealed his real level, they were immediately suppressed by his aura. They could not believe what they were witnessing. The Commandment of Faith himself was shocked. He had absolute trust in the church's power but now, in front of him, his trustworthy barrier just exploded into nothing.
Noon was the only one who seemed to be unaffected. Without even looking up, he raised his palm as he let out a faint dark aura.
[Dark Nebula]
The air became still. Everybody could feel it on the battlefield. A dark sphere appeared on Noon's palm and launched itself in the sky. As it traveled, the dark sphere started to distort itself and grow in size. The dark sphere shone brightly, spiraling endlessly like a black hole ready to swallow everything; it continued to grow and soon reached the size of a regular human being.
The sphere seemed to be moving at a slow pace but in fact, no one else was able to move in its presence. The eyes on the battlefields were glued to the dark nebula as they followed its trajectory.
The dark sphere flew right in the sky toward the Fallen Seraphim. The latter was naturally aware of the threat flying toward him but he was unable to do anything. When he tried to change his trajectory, he felt like he was moving at a snail's pace. The Fallen Seraphim screamed as his vision was clouded by the dark nebula.
Without even slowing down, the dark nebula swallowed the Fallen Seraphim whole and continued on its way toward the sky.
"Gasp" That was the reaction of countless warriors on the battlefield. A level 60 powerhouse disappeared just like that.
Under the terrified stares of the crowd, the old Wandering Ram Tribe Leader wordlessly walked toward Noon. Even as they were about to run into each other, he did not stop and to everyone's surprise, the old man started to merge into Noon and was eventually completely absorbed.
"This... Is it a clone?" murmured the Commandment of Faith but Noon completely ignored his question. Instead, he simply said:
"Alright. Now it's your turn. A Commandment's ability can be a real gamechanger. If you do really have one, then use it now."
Noon stepped forward and with a single swing of his arm, broke the Commandment's mask.
"Ahh!"
The Commandment was unable to react in time. For now, he had at least been able to block Noon's attack but it was only now that he was realizing just how wide the gap between them had been.
"You... You are blind?" said Noon when he noticed the Commandment's face. He was a handsome middle-aged man but there was something wrong with him. There was a strange mark connecting his two eyes and even though they were open, his eyes were devoid of irises.
"Tssk... I supposed this is fitting of the phrase: Blinded by Faith," Noon did not give his opponent any time to react and activated one of his skills.
[Spatial Collapse]
At first, nothing happened when Noon activated his skill but a few moments later, a massive amount of blood started to flow out of the Commandment's orifices. He coughed and vomited blood as even more flowed out of his eyes and nose.
"Looks like I was wrong. Sorry for wasting everyone's time," said Noon as he disregarded the dying man. Noon had essentially crushed all of the Commandment's internal organs by crushing the space inside him. Unless he had a trump card of some sort, there was no way he would survive. As Noon expected, the Commandment of Faith quickly collapsed on the floor. He died before his head even managed to hit the ground but there was no fear or anger on his face. All Noon could see was an expression of peace and joy as if he was welcoming death.
***
Harriet was relieved to see Noon finally act. She knew his real power was far above her own and as she expected, Noon did not have any trouble getting rid of the Fallen Seraphim. She was not happy at the idea of being used and quickly disregarded him to look for Five and Ariel. The Harpy Queen's eyes were sharp and quickly, she found Five surrounded by the knights and Ariel's corpse.
"This..." Harriet trembled when she saw Ariel's state. Although she did not spend much time with her, Ariel was still her daughter. She was almost a perfect replica of her. Harriet felt her heart being ripped apart but she did not show it. It was not the first time one of the harpies under her would die to an enemy. After fighting in dungeons for so long, she became resistant to that feeling.
There was nothing she could do to save Ariel but the one thing she could do was to avenge her. She slowly floated down as she activated her skill: [Eye of the Storm]
Five immediately felt it. He was looking in a daze at the Harpy Queen when he suddenly felt a wild air current flowing around him. All the Knights, including Two, were also aware of the situation. They had been momentarily distracted by Noon's actions but they were forced back to reality as their life was threatened.
Five felt the air current grow stronger and stronger. Soon, the small air current turned into a giant tornado swirling around him. Five himself did not feel anything aside from the overpowered breeze but it was a different story for all those outside the eye of the storm.
Two and his comrade were immediately swept away by the tornado. They could not even stick their feet to the ground as the tornado pulled them in its swirling hell. As they were constantly assaulted by the wind, the players' HP immediately plummeted. It did not matter how high their magic resistance was or how much healing they could use. Harriet was 30 levels above the players'; how were they supposed to survive the attack of such a powerful existence.
Even Sophia, the beautiful cleric let out a gasp. She held onto Two's body firmly but in the end, she was unable to resist the strong current and was pulled away by the tornado.
Five stood at the center of the storm, completely unharmed by its powerful effects. He was not totally surprised by the appearance of Harriet. He had long had some doubts that the harpies did not go very far.
Since he did not receive any mentorship, Five was forced to discover the mechanics of the dungeon by himself. His main focus was naturally the DP generation. He had asked the harpies to test how much DP they would obtain if they killed monsters outside of the dungeon.
As it turned out, the further away they were from the dungeon, the less DP they would generate for killing the same monster at the same level. At some point, 0 DP would be obtained from a kill. Based on this observation, Five easily determine that the harpies did not leave him alone. When he first started his journey on Zero, he had obtained a considerable amount of DP out of nowhere. The only source he could think of was the harpies but the amount of DP did not decrease over the course of his journey. What did that mean? It meant that the distance between the harpies and himself did not shrink at all!
He was not angry at the harpies' decision. Maybe it was a good thing that he was forced to build the dungeon alone and experience the hardship of an entrepreneur. However, what Five was not happy about was the fact that Harriet had had some sort of deals with Noon and all of it resulted in putting Ariel in a dangerous situation!
He wanted to ask her what exactly happened. He wanted to ask her why she was no there protecting her own daughter.
The storm gradually weakened. The thick layer of dust slowly fell down, allowing Harriet to emerge out of the storm. She gently floated down, carrying Ariel's corpse in her arms. She graciously landed in front of Five. Her beautiful eyes blinked as she nervously spoke, "Five. I am sorry. I should have been here protecting you and Ariel. Can you please take it? I know that is what she would have liked."
Five chose to remain silent. As much as he wanted to speak, he could clearly see the guilt and pain on Harriet's face. She was covered with bruises and injuries from her fight but did her best to hide her emotions. She was as affected as he was by Ariel's death. He had a lot to ask her but that could wait for them to return to the dungeon. The situation was over; there was no need to reveal everything in public.
Harriet's black wings stood out in front of Five. She stepped forward, pushing Ariel's corpse into Five's arms. The latter immediately understood what she meant. She was asking him to loot her corpse! Due to Noon's actions, the players did not have time to take her Black Feathers or her core.
Five knew he would not be able to maintain her corpse for very long. After a while, the corpses of the monsters would naturally disappear unless they were kept in special conditions. He pressed his palm against Ariel's chest. "Collect."
Five instantly noticed that 3 new items were added to his inventory. The first two were black feathers while the last one was a small black bead called [Harpy's heart]. Five could still choose to collect Ariel's clothes but without hesitation, he chose to leave them on her to not sully her body. He could feel her soft body in his arms gradually getting colder.
"We will talk when we get back home," quietly said Five.
"Enn," Harriet nodded, unsure of what to say.
The storm gradually faded, revealing the landscape around them. The entire area around Five was completely deserted. All the enthusiastic players that chased after him had been wiped out. All, except for Two.
The robust Knight was the only survivor of Harriet's terrifying attack and it was all thanks to [Indomitable Will] that allowed him to survive with 1 HP. The passive skill was extremely powerful but it was also extremely rare and could not be acquired by normal means.
When he saw Two, the burning rage Five buried inside of him once again swell up. He was about to ask Harriet to kill him but before he could speak, a bright phenomenon occurred next to Noon.
***
Noon did not waste any time looking at the dead corpse of the Commandment. There was nothing interesting he could loot from it. He already knew he had pulled Five and Harriet into this situation against their will. As repayment, he would leave the corpse there for them to loot.
"Too bad... From this, I can only conclude that the Faith has no unique abilities. We should not have any unexpected surprises from now on..."
He turned his attention at the group of executioners of the church. There was still a lot of NPC Knights on the battlefield. They all had their guards up facing him. In the corner of his eyes, Noon also caught sight of the Baron who had stayed on the sideline form the beginning.
"You should leave while you can," calmly said Noon.
The baron was quick to react. He bowed to Noon and rapidly ordered his own troops to retreat even farther away. He had no intention to fight for the church.
When they saw their only potential ally leave the battlefield, the church executioners knew their doom has arrived. The almighty Commandment has been defeated in a single attack; what could they, normal knights of the church, do against this terrifying opponent?
Noon was about to attack when he suddenly felt a strange aura coming from behind him. Despite his high level, even he was being suppressed. Noon immediately turned around and saw light particles rising from the ground around the corpse of the Commandment.
Noon was shocked, he has clearly crushed all his internal organs but in front of his very eyes, Noon watched as the corpse slowly stood up as if nothing happened. The light particles became denser and denser and the once empty eyes of the Commandment shone brightly as a golden mark appeared on them.
The corpse slowly moved and blinked its eyes as a normal human being. It then turned toward Noon and said:
"It has been a while... Aries."