Chapter 16

Insignificant

What power…I’ve never seen such kind of ability before! Or maybe…

Is it an Ultimate Skill?!

There is only one way to find out.

After defeating all her attackers, FlowerLord saw the silhouette of what could only be a resemblance of a person falling down from the sky.

It was clear from 300m away.

The sound of something fast and roaring, the echoing boom of something that sounded like a plane, she was sure it came from the sky for there are no such thing as that sound that could be made in the limited grounds of this battlefield. And so, the moment she looked up, she saw it. Three rings in the sky, expanding throughout the blue canvas, parting the clouds and the smog of war.

The moment she had assumed that the object seemed to hit the ground, she jolted in shock and surprise when all of a sudden, a lightning strike so bright and loud had hit the place where the object came.

It was followed by a huge tremor and an impact of dust and smokes.

The blinding light was sure to surprise everyone and basing on its size alone, she was sure it could’ve killed everyone near at least its impact site’s 20m radius.

Five seconds have passed, a silence engulfed the whole area. She as the first amongst the stunned players who recovered her bearing and immediately ran over to come close and see who it was. Those who had found their self and recovered had many different reactions.

Some wanted to get away.

Some were curious but stuck on their feet.

Some also wanted to get closer.

And there are some who was still dumbfounded.

But she ran. She never stopped. Towards the eastern horizon where the sol was about to shed its first light, FlowerLord’s heart was beating fast from running. Yet, she was calm.

Who is this person?

Where did you come from?

What is that ability?

………what do you want?

She ran without stopping and those who were also curious like her began to take their own pace.

The war of the TGG and the Sylphs around the nearest 2km from the site of the impact momentarily came to a pause as they were also players, curious of what that lightning strike was.

But normal players aren’t the only ones who had their curiosity.

Cramer’s group and some high ranked Masked Men also had the same thoughts as her and they all made their way to the impact site.

It’s now been 15 seconds, the crater was still covered in smoke and dust clouds.

The smell of burnt meat made conservative players go away and the sight of the burnt humans made those with weak stomachs puke on their knees. The numbers of those dead bodies around 60m away would easily reach around 80, with a few heavily wounded lucky ones who survived the radius of the attack.

Cowering on their back, the survivors begged for the help of their comrades. Some where actually on the verge of death, with half of their bodies burnt and some actually losing a limb or two.

The sight of devastation surprised FlowerLord who came panting along with her allied forces.

From her left side, screams of players reached her ears as the sight of ravaging Masked Men came towards the direction of the impact site.

Then from her semi-right, another group of glossy armored individuals were casually asking for a way to go through her allies.

Judging from that sight alone, it was no hidden fact that the arrival of this individual certainly broke the order of their ranks. Another indication of this reality is the way her allies actually allowed those shiny armored men to go through their formation —clearly a sign of decline on their morale.

FlowerLord, granted an authority to give out orders, yelled towards her allies, “Hold your lines!” that made the TGG members wake up and immediately took their stance on the solidified second line of attack.

And it was just in time that the Sylph’s forces came behind her, making a four way front, with the impact site placed right their midst.

Then…

“THIS WAR IS A STAGED ACT!!!”

The voice echoed all over them. And as if it was a timed act, the sol’s first light shone on them from the edges of the cape and the formerly bluish ambient land was now painted in a bright gold hue.

A strong gust of wind blew from the southwest and it drove away the dusty clouds.

What everyone saw had surprised them. A man with a black and red coloured domino in a formal white polo and black slacks greeted them.

He was averagely tall, bearing a firm stance, with his eyes probing all around him, feeling if there would be someone who’s stupid enough to commence an attack. His left sleeve had an intricate design, embroidery of an unknown origin that gave an elegant, yet, dangerous appeal to his air.

“LISTEN! THIS WAR, IT WAS…” But before he could finish his words, someone from the TGG yelled out.

“You killed our comrades! We have no reason to be listening to you! Attack him!”

It was one of the TGG commanders who spoke and he was a Mage who had a spell already cast and ready while those under him poised to strike and attack.

But right at that moment, the monster rides of those monster riders close by roared along with a message on their visions. Everyone within the 500m radius around the man had the same message. No one was spared. Not even the Sylph’s side. Not even FlowerLord. Not even Cramer’s group nor the Masked Men.

The man glared on the direction of the TGG front and the monsters kept roaring as their riders tried their best to stop their amuck.

‘What?! What is this skill?!’

‘This…this…’

‘It can’t be…’

‘70%?!’

‘It’s him! It’s the person with the dragon…’

‘What kind of build can give you this skill?!’

The murmurs never ceased entering the people’s ears. The visions of the people in the vicinity had the same messages while the monsters who’s rank was C and higher snapped their restraints and broke free. They rushed towards the man’s direction and FlowerLord did watched in awe how the man defeated three monsters in just one go.

He just clapped his hand and the three monsters who tried to tackle the man fell down dead clean and green.

Everyone froze on the sight of the act and there are those who actually stepped back a few paces. The man only did a slight movement to avoid the rolling dead monster as its elephant size became a large lump of meat on his side.

It was such a simple act that no one even thought of to use in any kind of fight, even —and probably most especially, during hunts.

With a simple clap of his hands, the monsters all fell on the ground and the sight of such ability and might is enough to make the weak hearted ones to cower and take the back ranks. Those who were easily influenced took the same pose and it didn’t took long before the majority of them had influenced even those with moderate skills.

It was just a simple act, and yet, with the realization that even S-ranked hunters would take at least two hits before they can take down a B or even a C-ranked mob.

The power of intimidation it did on them was so big that only a few strong willed and confident players remained on the front side.

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And within that area, “Enough with your lies!”

The Masked Organization initiated an attack as two of front men dashed for a melee strike while four others more began to cast destructive magic.

Everyone else backed off as the man was subjected to an ambush. And yet, with even more surprise, the man spread open his arms as if inviting them as visible electric sparks flowed out from his body and began to spread throughout the side of the masked men.

The surprised two, whose rank was rather high, had their movements impeded by a stunning sensation of blurry visions and vomiting act.

And at the next moment, the casters around 60m away had their magic spells cancelled since their minds were snatched away by an incoming attack. Actually, it was an attack that no one can actually dodge: it was an orange colored strike from the man who suddenly came towards them.

***

The man suddenly vanished!

FlowerLord’s senses tingled with excitement as she saw for the first time an ultra high level magic spell or maybe a skill, or perhaps an ability, of such grandeur.

Wait…orange…aura? Is that strange glow an Aura?

It can’t be!

In just a snap moment, the man with the black mask was teleported to the masked men’s side!

And even though no one was yet to lose their life on his movement, he held just simply punched the one who screamed and stopped his speech. The punch only looked normal that any normal person can pull off. Yet, the punched person was thrown away five meters and did not stand up for the next four seconds. But when he finally stood up…

“S-Sixty…Sixty percent damage! What the fuck are you, you monster!”

The words surprised the people as the man resumed his speech. “THERE IS A PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS WAR! EVERYTHING HERE IS PLANNED BY A SINGLE PERSON! THIS IS A WAR WITH A SECRET AGENDA OF A SINGLE PERSON!”

And a players from the Sylph bellowed. “He’s right! We told you guys many times! We did not kill anyone nor we ever stole anything! We are all innocent of the crimes you accused us!”

“Lies!” Yelled one from the TGG. “He attacked our comrades! He’s on your side! And these murderers in their masks are on your side too! Kill them! Kill them!”

“STOP!” Shouted Hubert from the shiny armored group. “It’s true! We had our investigations and there’s really a person controlling this war from the shadows!”

The Tower of Sol Guild, before becoming an official guild, was already a famous hunting group. They were led by a strong influential man named Thorn who, in cities of open kingdoms, had a reputation to hunt down those criminals who had committed treason. Because of this, his name and his group of vigilantes-turned-police-turned-bounty hunters-turned-guild warriors was well known and respected.

It was actually also a common fact that they have an official announcement of fighting off the organizations that tries to disrupt and abuse, steal, or most especially murder innocent players. It was their solid reputation as one of the game’s equality law enforcers.

Thus, it was a recognized fact that one of the entities in their hit list is the infamous Masked Organization whose crimes are scattered throughout Terroa.

And so when one of their leaders, Hubert, The Calm Storm, spoke on behalf of the side of their accused part of the Masked Organization, the TGG who had realized this fact all had their tongues held back. All except the members who joined the TGG for personal goals to take revenge on the Sylphs.

“They killed my friend and now he can’t play since the game was expensive! It’s all their fault!”

“Yeah! They killed my little sister’s avatar when the Sylph attacked one of our bases!”

“You TGG bastards! We attacked your bases in retaliation for you murdering innocent members of one of our castles!”

“And you guys killed my boyfriend’s avatar!”

“You guys killed my friend’s avatar…”

“You guys killed my brother’s avatar…”

“You guys killed my teacher’s avatar…”

“You guys killed my friend’s husband’s lover…”

“You guys killed my neighbor’s grandad’s avatar…”

These same line repeated endlessly on both sides and the call to make the issue come forth and be understood by each other had gone down to the sink.

This war has now gone into the point where it was already beyond repair.

It was there then that FlowerLord, who watched and tried to understand the situation, saw the same wizard who got knocked off earlier sneaking behind the black masked guy. And in the chaos of the arguing TGG and Sylphs, the wizard summoned a high rank sword and in the distance between him and the black masked man, it was actually surprised how at the next moment, the wizard was suddenly kneeling on his knees.

The man, with no such weapons in him, did nothing, not even a flinch of a finger nor turning his head to look at the wizard.

He only looked at the man when he was already on his knees and on his feet.

And as if to betray her expectations, the black mask man stepped into the hand of the fallen wizard and did a stomp that crushed the hand. He knew then that with the blood spilled, that arm has been rendered useless.

The sight ignited for the other members of the Masked Organization to retaliate and those who had their skills already cast out began to attack the other man. The TGG and the Sylphs who was arguing with each other saw them and they too began to resume their halted war.

The scene had become more chaotic. There was no more tactics. No more strategy. It has become just black versus white, red versus blue.

FlowerLord drew her gaze to the masked man who was fighting off some seemingly high ranked players.

The TGG which side she was on did not care about it as they too had focused their attention on their brawl against the Sylphs. Groups of five versus groups of five, six for those closer friends, solo versus many for those who weren’t selected, and there was also like Merlock and Darna over there who was still in their contest of Archery versus Magic.

It was, at some point, fun looking at them.

Earlier, she’s been concerned about her HP and MP levels that she had forgotten to see and look around her.

What was the purpose of this war again?

This isn’t just some personal matters of PVP where one attacks and win to prove he’s right. This war, in a seemingly weird point, had the logic that from the start, the Sylphs had announced their claim that the TGG had accused them of something that they didn’t do.

It was published. The interviews were done. Now she is finding the intruder’s words true with the backing from the members of the Tower of Sol’s claim. And so, if that’s the case, should she be dropping her weapons now and going home?

No.

She had a reason she can’t do that. She came in this war as a job. She had to earn back the money she had spent on getting the rare Weapon Enhancement Item, Black Ball. Thus, she had to fight any enemy in front of her. Strike. Defend. Live on.