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Volume 3
Chapter 38: Duel Between Monsters
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[Mission]
“A Forgotten King”
Rank “S” Difficulty
Once upon a time, there was a king, betrayed by his most trusted adviser and cursed to be a mute gladiator in the Coliseum.
The kind and honest king who by himself had atoned so ever greatly on a sin as a young man, had built the vast kingdom by his brother’s name. The kingdom grew into an empire and held the land for his entire rule. But the ambitious advisor who he had trusted with his secrets, pointed a crime to his name and sentenced him for the eternal suffering of a gladiator.
Cursed by an ancient evil magic, the Gladiator King fought until he was the last man standing. When the traitor king saw this, he ordered monsters to be his foes and so the cursed king fought and fought until his dying breath.
Even after his untimely passing and the empire crumpled because of the weak reign of the treacherous advisor, the curse that bound him to serve blood in the chalice was still to continue and go on.
For the curse of the Blood Moon is what keeps him on, his only wish is to be freed for this suffering by the hands of a worthy man.
For the king had lived by the sword, and by the sword he shall too fall. The curse that had long since been served, free the king and prove thy worth!
Requirements: Accept the invitation for a duel.
Rewards: Kyros Armor Set/Sword of Triune
Special Condition: Must be completed in the rules of a duel. If unable to comply, the mission will fail instantly
Penalty Upon Failure: The untimely resurrection of the Blood Dragon God
Time Limit: Until death
Siva’s eyes bulged in shock and astonishment, he can’t believe the words he was reading.
Just then, the appearance of the smoke warrior began to clear, his smoked black skin began to turn into a pale brown skin. His red eyes remained but their was the bluish spark of a defiant life.
His golden armor shone brightly, its jewels’ lights, all renewed, luster more brilliant.
The edges of his suit of gold detail was eye-catching, everything looked more extravagant and solid like the impression it first made.
And then the whole meadows began to change.
From the handsome warrior with brown forelocks from the Gonn Race’s feet, the burning grassland began to shift. Wound from dust and chips of soil somewhere in the ground, came walls of giant proportions complete with seats and stalls.
The surviving members vanished in their midst and as they appeared again, they became part of an illusion of crowds and spectators.
Cheers began to explode and the transformation was complete. From a burning hayfield into a coliseum, the change only took a mere few tens of seconds.
Then from a platform, a robed king with his crown and scepter raised a hand that silenced the loud cheering crowd. Then the current king, mentioned as the advisor who betrayed the man and cursed him, looked down on them as they now stood fifty meters apart.
Siva was surprised just when did the two of them were separated but he pushed the thought aside as the king began to speak.
“Citizens of Roma, we now have in our midst your oh so beloved king who murdered his own queen and sold your country to the Ravenna’s!”
A loud booing and hissing, curses of different tones and words came when the king finished his intro of the first gladiator. Siva himself felt that he had somehow been dragged into the story of the mission and so he did his best to not look at the betrayed king’s way.
But his good side got the better of him and so he saw the painful eyes of the cursed man looking around the crowd. He could only bow and close his eyes as the his bluish red iris then turned to stare at Siva.
“And now behold our champion!”
That’s when the cursed king’s body tensed, eyes turned bloody red. Shoulder stiffened, body moving like tight stringed puppet, the cursed king then relaxed a posture where his sword was at the ready at Siva.
Siva felt the surging of killing intent, something that he had learned to be familiar with throughout his days and months inside the game.
Perhaps it may sound impossible for this is just a game but he can’t ignore the fact that he feel heavy and kind of pressed whenever he senses the NPC’s killing intent.
And the feeling he was having now seemed to match that of the Dragon’s. He remembered how it felt as the heaviest, even compared to a Lapis, as it was enough to put him to shivers just remembering that event.
But Siva tensed, he had enough experience to counter the weakening sensation of those eyes.
“Commence the execution! Release the gates and begin fighting!”
“Wait, what?!”
To Siva’s surprise, four large gates from four sides of the inner coliseum opened up and four different kinds of S-ranked monsters appeared one after another.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
In his mind, worthy of an S-rank mission difficulty, the pangs of regret pierced repeatedly into his skull.
From the left side came a huge white ape, no eyes just pure and doubtless muscles, with a face that of a saber tiger, minus the sharp eyes but with a ridiculously large nose Siva's size.
From behind him came the most grotesque of the four as it was a combination of a multi tentacled jellyfish but with a shell on its back and a face that of an ugly landlady. All face, no body, and the tentacles were like its feelers with the impression of a snail.
It had a human’s lips in front of its shell and the multi numbered tentacles numbering at least a couple dozens protruded from the sides like ears.
Also a blind monster, without nose, only lips.
Then, from behind his opponent, the gate puked the smallest of the four.
Its size came to be 20 meters from head to tail, had a snake tongue going in and out of its crocodile face and from all respect, Siva don’t have to know what kind of reference did the monster came for it was, in its entirety and appearance, an ultra sized komodo dragon.
…or maybe a little respect for the horns on the tip of its tail. As it moved like a whip, fast and deadly, Siva had thought then that this mission with no time limit but his death really deserved its rank.
And finally, from the gate on the right side, came the, perhaps, most difficult opponent of all.
Rock body, from head to toe, a humanoid figure with a sheer size of 30 or so meters tall, dragging a large tree as if its main weapon, the rock golem appeared.
The gates closed and them on the dead center, was then locked with no choice for escape. The elevated podium at which the traitor sat watching was at least 50 meters high from the wall.
And the wall itself, it’s about 40 meters high, and just when he thought of using his boosters to fly off, there he saw the notice that aside from his items and weapons, all other options he had were disabled.
Truly, it was an act of torturing his already tired and very exhausted mind.
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“Fuck.”
He knew very well. He’s fucked.
No escape option, forced to fight a duel with a winning percentage of negative one million percent, and backed with the thought that he can’t even think of dying here, he began to think of that man’s face.
In just a few minutes ago, now, his Annoying Guys To Punish Hit List added another person.
His name was Jack.
But right at this moment, Augustus Laniary who’s been in the top rank for all eternity had been replaced by the face of Jack “you’re dead meat” Stone.
Irritation clawed on his veins, his grasp to his sword tightened in reflex.
He remembered all the hate he had for Jack and he even began to imagine all the faces of the monsters to have Jack’s face in it.
When he looked at them again, he could faintly see the face of the man and when he blinked several times, the face suddenly, miraculously, smiled at Siva.
“Hahahahahaha… found you.”
Like a crazy, deranged, warrior, the first target of his eyes and smile tinged with an unwanted rage was the strongest, most problematic one of them all.
One could only wonder how he hypnotized himself on that short moment. But it worked and now he’s moving.
Pulling his main weapon, creating drag marks on the ground, Siva flew into a run towards its direction.
For the whole arena of their contest was a mere 150m by his estimates, it wasn’t long until he reached the big moving rock's side.
Ignoring all others; the tentacled ugly snail, the giant white ape, the ultra komodo, and the main man of this mission, he felt that all of them should be dealt with in accordance to their difficulty.
So he run towards the hardest opponent, by his estimate again, and began to slash away at his rock hard legs.
To his expected annoyance, not a single one of his full swings were causing enough damage. Even if it was a weapon made from Dragon materials, the fact that it was a sword is still not a good match with its rock skin.
“Oh yeah?”
He jumps away to avoid a pressing stomp and moved his left fingers like playing the clavier one-handedly.
And without resting nor even stopping for a break, he used the momentum of the stomping foot against the owner and jumped when he saw the its legs were bent to his reach.
With a twist of his body, he swiped the (OK) button in the middle of his turn and the golden hammer he just recently looted appeared on his hands.
Just as soon as the weight registered to his senses, he grabbed it with both hands, using his twisting motion’s momentum, and pulled it so hard that the slanted bash hit the knee cap of the rock giant with a bang.
He didn’t use its function like that of Dragunov’s Air Blast, but the attack placed properly and the rock giant groaned with pain.
To where he hit its left knee, the giant grabbed it with his left hand and Siva twisted his body again with a full momentum to bash its left hand’s back side.
THUG!
Came the sound of blunt noise.
As it goes, the back hand of the giant was harder than its knee and the attack seemed useless as Siva was shoved away. The mere force of that parry was enough to throw him off and he landed like a cat, dragging dirt as he skidded.
But there goes the large Komodo, perhaps attracted to the macho rock giant, it crashed through him like a speeding race machine!
“Hahahahahaha…”
Siva laughed and knew that Killing Zone is activated as the monsters’ eyes all glued on to him.
He ran towards the komodo, looking back to where the snail and giant ape was, and then turned back again, an assessment on his mind.
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“Fucking crazy!”
“The Destroyer’s a crazy bastard!”
“Is he planning to take on two rare S-ranked monsters on his own?”
“Fuck! Look! The two others are coming his way!”
“Hey, there goes Romulus too!”
************************
From behind Siva, 60 meters away, the cursed king who obviously wasn’t on his right mind, seemed to looked puzzled as his opponents began to forget him.
They all turned to the other guy’s direction and so he too, planned to join the fray.
He used the giant white ape as a ride and steadied himself with a stab of his sword to its back. His sword with an aura of a flaming gas was a black sword that turns white when activated.
As it turned, the stabbed wound began to turn white, the white ape waking up on its trans as it felt the pain.
It stopped and tried to grab the perpetrator but the cursed king’s position was safely out of the reach of its long arms.
So the irritated ape threw out his arms in irritation and hit the giant ugly snail with a face consisted of its lips with fangs alone. It was hit right at the jaw and it also woke up from its trans and used his feelers to feel on to the direction where the attack came.
The whole endeavor was happening just 3o meters away from Siva and he was oblivious as to how that side of battle was turning out.
But in his side, he was having fun instead.
He enjoyed how the poor lizard was bashed awake by a trans-affected mad rock giant. Its giant tree was its club weapon, and it was pressing the lizard like a poor thing on its feet.
The lizard, bloody all over, couldn’t do a thing as Siva was moving away from where the club was going to hit and used him as a meat shield.
He lost his trans state but still couldn’t escape the rock giant’s foot. For not only the giant big and sturdy, as it was made of rock, it was also as heavy as it was.
The foot locked the lizard in place, and the club continued to pound on where Siva run after.
And just when Siva thought that the lizard’s all gone, then came green colored tentacles numbering countless moving on its way.
He forgot, whenever his vigor and agitation is renewed, the Killing Zone is refreshed and reactivated.
So it means that the tentacles were attracted to the direction where the target was and not only him, the big lizard and rock giant, including the ape, is in love too.
He did a quick scan, turning his head once and twice.
With a fast decision as quick as lightning, he ducked to avoid the tentacles and skid off to the lizard’s face and jumped off. He used its scales in the eyes and jumped again, looking up, and rolling left to avoid the club.
PASHAK!
The lizard’s head was smashed and it groaned in pain as it bit its tongue.
Siva continued to run and grabbed the club or whatever is grab-able in there. And as the rock golem pulled his club up, he jumped and landed on its shoulder, running to its neck.
Assuming that it worked, he saw the tentacles coming after him, touching the golem’s defending left hand the incapacitated lizard below.
Its first reaction was to pull the lizard and to Siva’s utter surprise, it happened quickly than he had first anticipated it would. Its direction was the fanged inside of his human lips and the ugly snail devoured the large komodo as if it was a honey biscuit.
With just one bite, its jaws snapped the lizard’s front right leg off. Then like a multi bodied snake, it hugged the lizard in its tentacle’s embrace and folded its body in a V-shape as if it was a metal bar.
The sound of crashing bones resounded and Siva felt like it was his own spine.
As scrawny those tentacles were, its arm-size was like a lie compared to the power it had once it grabs you. A chill he can’t explain crawled on his nape and Siva did a quick glance to his right to see the rock giant’s hand trying to reach out to him.
He jumped into the giant’s head, then jumped again to its left side. As the left arm is trapped by the ugly snail, he grabbed on tight to the golem’s shoulder rock’s edges and formed to watch over the unfolding battles below.
The destined opponent of this mission was struggling with the giant white ape. And as it turned out, the big lug of violence has more mettle than he gave it credit for.
As it still wildly tried to get the cursed king off his back, a wild punch made contact with the ugly snail as another hit the rock golem’s belly.
Both monsters lost their trans and Siva watched as they crumbled into a frenzy.
The blind snail devoured the lizard in one go, its whole ugly red lipped mouth expanding like rubber, with its fangs doing the same. It crunched over the lizard and he even heard the sound of it swallowing everything.
Three monsters, two men, the contest had been reduced to five contenders.
And just as Siva thought that everything was okay, it’s here he saw the change that turned everything upside down.
Hitting the ground with enormous violence, the giant white ape bashed the extending arms off from his arm.
Next he paused and smelled, then turned to attack the rock giant in a wild, violent fit. The cursed king was thrown off as the charge was swift as it was a twisting, the rock giant itself was slow and it wasn’t able to free its left arm from the steady hook of the snail.
Cheers exploded as soon as the king seemed to have landed hard. He rolled twice and Siva stared at him for just a little, a very tiny while.
His focus to the bashing wild monster, the giant white ape came like a gorilla aiming to rush the rock golem.
It swung its fist, the rock giant used its free hand who let go of the club and caught it. And just when the ape was about to pull his hand, its arms froze and the hand was stuck.
The rock giant didn’t let go of the hand so instead, the ape used his other hand and bashed the rock arm. Then it somehow felt that there was something on his feet, he grabbed it and used the club to maul the golem.
It was hit on the head, the golem felt it strong. It was rattled as Siva was too.
The violent ape was too strong as it was also fast, its violent strides were all so forceful that it was scary just planning how to escape them all.
But Siva, as crazy as he was, saw a chance and smiled, the Killing Zone recast, the giant white ape sensing his location with its giant nose.
Siva changed weapons, the guns held on his left hand.
He fired shots at the ugly snail, right inside its mouth, and for better or worse, it snapped free from its trans, roared angrily or painfully, and then used its tentacle feelers to where it supposed the direction of the attack came.
It sensed the white ape’s arm still being held tightly by the golem, and without much ado, wrapped its tentacles on its arm and broke it.
The white ape roared angrily and in pain, and used its other hand who held the club, bashing to where the side the monster was supposed to be but instead hit the head of the rock golem once, twice, thrice, until its fourth and fifth where he let go of the arm.
And as it felt dizzy, the rock golem, with his left knee weakened as it was, fell head first like a knocked out boxer, straight to the area where the ugly snail was.
CRASH!
The golem crashed down on the snail. But the snail’s house was sturdy beyond comprehension, withstanding the full brunt and weight of the tall rock golem.
But as its right hand was extended, it dragged the pale green colored tentacles down with him and also with it, the arm, and eventually the whole body, of the violent white ape.
The white ape fell, back first, dragged by the grip of the tentacles on its arm while the rock giant groaned in pain and seemed to have temporarily lost awareness.
Just then, the cursed king regained his bearing as Siva also stood to where he fell down and rolled.
Their distance was approximately 60 meters apart from each other. On each other side was the monsters with a sleeping rock giant dividing them and giving them a stage to restart their fight.
No words spoken, they both resumed.
Siva with the Black Ender…
Romulus with his burning sword…
Their swords clashed right at the golem’s back, sparks flew, wind cut, clouds of dust parted, two glaring men and their swords alone.
“Die.”
Siva’s words bade an omen, the cursed king jumping back two, three steps.
But Siva wasn’t giving anymore openings, he used his left hand and fired off shots. Four bullets came out of Eibon’s barrel and went straight to the direction where the cursed king was.
His shield on his right arm moved, his body bent sideward, he deflected all bullets the was aimed at his face.
It was fast, almost impossible to do, like a cheat, it’s both unfair and unfair.
And yet Siva was not minding. No, he expected at least as much. He dashed forth two guns now, at the ready.
Trailing light in the hot noon, bright yellow flashes did a barrage while he closed the gap. The retreating cursed king could only shield himself, not looking at the source of the attack, only using his ears to feel all the bullets’ directions.
And so Siva used that chance to close the gap between them, with one fell swoop, arched an attack in its blind side. But to his surprise, came the sound of metal over metal, CLANG goes, rocking his sword arm.
“…!!”
He gasped as he saw the burning sword, arched like a shield on his back, as if it had eyes on its own.
Again, another unfair realization.
This cursed king is just too strong.
No opening.
No weakness.
How the hell is he going to defeat this guy?
As this realization dawned on him, he failed to see the green tentacles extending from behind.
It grabbed his body, the two of them, and they were raised in the air. The tentacles had already pulled the white ape to the ugly snail’s side, winded it around the rock golem’s body, and with a few more to spare also reached out to the two contesting individuals.
“Shit!”
He can’t move, he can’t resists, Siva was being held up and down, side to side, like a toy, they were used like such as if being tortured to their core.
Then the feeling of losing direction came and he felt his stomach churn.