I'm back with the update.

It's late because of internet connection is down for two full days.

I'll try to update the next chapter in 2 or 3 days since it's halfway done.

Enjoy the hilarious moment that you will read in this chapter.

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Chapter 9 - Gorilla!

The duel continues with different people. They fight one on one with only one rule, last man standing.

No items can be used inside the duel ring unless it was a consumable item for skill that is automatically used when the skill is triggered. You can buff yourself before starting the match. It seems there is a price for the winner.

A tall man with a paper bag covering his head is acting as MC.

SickMan Lv 23

"Those who wants to test the duel ring will need to register here."

Across the ring, I saw a white haired boy arguing with a very bulky man. It's the gorilla who bumped into me earlier. The man seems to be yelling at the boy, but the boy ignores him.

I walk towards them hoping I can get a closer look on what is going on between them.

“… stinky brat! Why don’t you fight me one on one on the duel ring. I’m not scared of you.”

“Don’t regret it!”

When I take a closer look, I can see that the lv 38 gorilla is arguing with a lv 39.

‘Holy shit, the white haired boy’s level is actually higher than the gorilla.’

They walk towards the MC and register for the next duel.

At a glance, the boy equipment doesn’t look good. A leather armor covered with a furry coat along with a pair of leather shoes and bandana, your typical light combat class that focus on speed.

The gorilla is wearing a steel armor and carrying an oversized sword with a pair of steel boots and steel gauntlet. This gorilla seems more intimidating than the white haired boy.

‘Now this is a rare sight. Duel between high leveled characters. I’m not going to miss it. It will be better if I can copy one of their skills.’

Currently on the ring, there are an archer and a mage fighting against each other. The archer is using a longbow. Longbow is a specialized weapon for archer class, usually used by sniper class. The mage is using a two-handed staff. Two-handed staff is a general weapon where every class can use it.

Game Information

There are two types of weapons in Eden Online.

General Weapons : Can be used by any class. Most of them are weaker than specialized weapon.

Specialized Weapons : Can only be used by specific class, stronger than most general weapons.

The archer starts the preemptive attack by dashing towards the mage.

‘A longbow user initiating close combat?’

Longbow advantages are range and damage. It provides shooting range farther than normal bow and high damage output. The archer actions can be considered weird even if the opponent is a mage.

The mage prepared his staff and cast <> around his body. The archer immediately retreats while throwing something on the ring. Seeing the archer retreats, the mage cast another spell <> towards the archer. The archer rolls on the ground and jumps to the corner ring. He draws his bowstring and activates his skill <>. The mage immediately cast <> to block his arrow, but his arrow is faster.

*bbbzzzzttt

The arrow sticks to the mage’s right leg. The mage hides behind the clay shield and start casting <>. It is the fourth spell derived from <> that deal continuous damage in an area. I think it was an 8th tier spell. Since the mage hides behind the clay shield, the archer activates his skill <> at the things he threw when he retreat earlier.

*boooooomm

Four explosions triggered behind the clay shield, depleting the mage entire HP bar.

‘A trapper with a sniper skill, formidable indeed.’

Trap skills belong to ranger class while snipe skills belong to sniper class, but this archer is actually capable to use trap skill and snipe skill together. I wonder what his class is.

The duel ended with the archer as victor. Gorilla and white haired boy proceed to go next. The white haired boy was named Ethan while the gorilla was named Goliath.

“I’m going to kick your ass!”

“Oooh scary.”

This Ethan boy actually acts so carefree. Is he really that confident? With just one level difference, there shouldn’t be many differences.

Ethan starts preparing his equipment. The leather armor is now switched with a dark colored overcoat and black boots. Looking at this scene, a look of horror can be seen on Goliath’s face.

‘That equipment! It couldn’t be!’ (Goliath)

When Ethan brings out his sword, Goliath’s face immediately turns pale. The sword has a dark purple aura emanating from it. It really gives me a chill when I look at Ethan’s appearance.

Even before the battle starts, Goliath seems to be cowering in fear.

‘What is so special about Ethan’s equipments to make that gorilla freak out?’

As soon as the battle starts, Ethan dashes towards Goliath with a speed faster than anyone I ever met.

<>

Ethan activates his skill. A light traces can be seen emanating from his foot. Like a trail of diamond dust, every time he moves, it leaves behind a trail of white glows.

Goliath also activates his skill <>. The oversized sword is covered in flames. It's a skill from magic swordsman class, but as far as I know, magic swordsman shouldn't be able to use oversized sword or even wear heavy armor.

Contrast to his bulky appearance, the way he moves his sword is fast. Just watching him from here, I can feel the air vibrates every time he swings his sword. Ethan doesn't seem to be bothered by it.

*Clang Clang Clang

Every time Ethan swings his sword, Goliath blocked it with his oversized sword that is clad in flames. Every time Goliath tries to attack, it only grazes some part of Ethan’s body. If you look closely, you can see that Ethan is moving in a circular movement around Goliath.

Ethan attack speed is slightly faster than Goliath. When Ethan's sword hit Goliath shoulder, a panic look went over his face. The shoulder part of steel armor is turning into a purple color, the same color as Ethan’s sword aura.

‘I won’t last any longer. No other choice then!’ (Goliath)

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Goliath changes his skill to <>. He’s charging some kind of skill for 1 second and stabs his sword to the ground.

<>

Multiple earth spikes burst forth from the ground covering the entire duel ring. He thought he had killed Ethan, but Ethan was nowhere to be found.

A purple colored aura can be seen on the sky directly above Goliath. Ethan had jump when he saw Goliath charge his skill.

“Your fate has been decided!” (Ethan)

<>

A single stab from the sky towards the ground splitting Goliath’s armor right in the middle.

<>

Three hits combo unleashed towards Goliath. His armor is now covered with purple color and start decaying. When I take a look at it, I saw Ethan’s HP bar still at 87% while Goliath’s HP bar is at 1%.

Ethan waits until Goliath’s armor destroyed and then he kills him with a single stab towards the heart.

“Blame your own weakness.” (Ethan)

Ethan puts away his sword and goes out of the ring.

“So cool!”

It was like watching a superhero movie where the main character defeat the villain and say some catchy phrase. The way Ethan spoke just now is very similar with my childhood friend. He also likes to mimic the superhero movies and say catchy phrase like that.

‘I wonder what he’s doing now.’

The duel ended with Ethan as the victor, while Goliath had his armor destroyed. Goliath is frustrated inside the duel ring and start scanning the area. At this moment, his eyes met with mine.

‘Uh Oh! Trouble!’

When I was about to run away, he leap from the ring and stand in front of me.

“You! You’re the one who bumped into me in the town earlier. I still have to pay you back for it.”

He dragged me to the MC and registers our duel. Do I really have a choice? My strength is puny no matter how you look at it. Being dragged like a garbage plastic bag, I no longer have any way out.

‘Let’s do some reassessments. He is a level 38 magic swordsman with an oversized sword as a weapon. Did he have any spare armor?’

I take a look at him, but he is still holding onto my robe. Did he think I would run away?

‘I guess he won’t bother putting a new armor.’

If only I can put this to my advantage. Too bad I’m not a physical attacker; otherwise I can exploit his lack of armor. Let’s check what I can do inside the rings. I can’t throw potion since items can’t be used. I guess this means I can’t do 100% freeze on him.

I tried to simulate some strategies to fight against the gorilla. A while later he drags me to the ring.

‘Aaaahh. How bad can it be to fight against this gorilla?’

A level 20 elementalist versus a level 38 magic swordsman. The difference is so high. I can only rely on luck and fate. If fate allows it, maybe I can win.

*Huuuuu Haaaa

I take a deep breath and cast <>.

The gorilla is waving his sword in front of me. He tried to provoke me.

“Show me what you can do, boy. Who knows? Maybe I’ll change my mind.”

He stands still in the opposite side of the ring waiting for me to make my move.

‘Okay, let’s try the first strategy.’

I cast <> directly beneath him.

*Woooshhh wooooshh

The damage is so little. Even with him standing inside the <>, his HP bar only goes down by 3%. Fire wall supposed to be my most damaging spell.

‘Plan B then.’

<>

I charge multiple <> and run towards the gorilla. Watching my absurd movement, he swings his sword at me. I dodge the sword by ducking and punch him in the throat. Seeing my punch coming, he takes a step back and activates his skill.

<>

I immediately throw my <> towards his sword. My current skill of condensed magic allowed me to cast multiple spells in a single form like a layered magic. My current <> contained 8 layers of <>.

*Peng!

A burst of broken sound was heard. The sword now has a crack in it. It indicates the sword currently on the verge of losing its durability.

‘Condensed Magic?!’ (Goliath)

Anger flashed in his eyes. He raised his sword and does <>. My life ended in an instant and at the same time, his sword is broken to pieces.

All of this is possible since he didn’t change his weapon after his fight with Ethan. From what I saw earlier, Ethan’s purple blade actually has destructive capability, in other words it significantly diminishes his opponent equipment’s durability with each strike.

I died, but I destroyed his equipment. Dying is a sure thing since I can’t even damage him, but making him lose his equipment is a different thing. A wonderful feeling, a sense of accomplishment comes over me. I died with a wide grin plastered on my face.

As soon as I resurrected on the spot, I run as fast as I can while he stands there looking dumbfounded. He’ll surely hold a grudge against me, but that look on his face is worth it. That single moment when he saw his sword break into pieces, that look on his face is priceless.

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Two hours later.

I am now grinding my status in the eastern side of the town. Fighting against the wolves become easy since I can use condensed magic although it took a toll on my mana cost.

The gorilla doesn’t seem to mind me since he didn’t look for me. I’m free from a possible nightmare.

Three hours later.

‘I’m finally finished grinding my status.’

Character InfoNameRenRaceHalf ElfClassElementalistLevel2131%Physical Strength67%Magical Power2274%Physical Resistance142%Magic Resistance1494%Endurance1638%Speed222%Focus237%

'That should do.'

I need to take the trial for the guild tablet pieces so I walk back to the town and contact Tatsu.

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End of Chapter 9