================================
Volume 5
Chapter 28: I Warned You
================================
“My goal right now is to get that record.”
After Siva frightened the group of robbers-to-be, he proceeded with vigor towards the third floor. From the left side of the door he came from, he walked off with wide strides and then made his way to the third floor.
It was his first time being in the third floor because it was a place only reserved for Magicians who wanted to enchant a Tier-5 Talisman, or for players who are in the middle of a special quest that required them to make contact with a Magister –either by force or by being summoned.
On the third floor, going to the left is the Enchanters of Tier-5 Rank while on the right is a hallway that turns towards the right into a door of a room.
Aside from those aspiring players who wish to have a Tier-5 Talisman, there were also a number of people who had a higher degree of purpose than the rest of them. It was the same thing that Siva had come here for. Siva went into this door and opened it.
When Siva appeared in his black magician outfit, the four people on that part of the third floor all looked at him with a curious and wary expression.
One player in particular frowned as soon as she saw Siva and was in fact not looking directly at Siva but rather to the staff that he held in his hand.
While all of these four players are high-ranking players of The North, this girl was actually one of the strongest players that can be regarded as in the same level of power as Cedric.
Of the four, she was the one with the most visible expression of wariness and hostility.
And to even show that, as soon as Siva took his first step, she stood up and went directly to bar his way.
Siva, being used to this kind of treatment wherever he goes, only looked down at the girl from the Tekz Race and even leaned down at him.
Although it cannot be seen, Siva was also a man and when he looked down on this girl, he was actually trying to stop himself from kneeling down to pick up this walking lump of cuteness.
If one had to express how this girl looked like, then perhaps the correct word is a cute [Loli].
She was small but her youthful appearance betrayed her frown of displeasure at Siva’s presence.
Imagine a 5 feet 2 inches tall petite girl with a set of above average racks, with pure sea-blue hair in a twin ponytails hairstyle, grey eyes, pouting cheeks, and a frowning pair of perfectly trimmed brows… what part of men wouldn’t want to spoil this little creature?
Siva wasn’t weak against women and perhaps because of his experiences with Rafaela and his unspoken intimacy with the Scion of the real world, then one can even say that he has very high standards when it comes to being attracted to women.
But no–
What he feels when looking at this creature in front of him wasn’t the vigorous attraction of a man into a woman. No. It was that same feeling of aggressive impulse of when one is seeing a fluffy puppy of about two weeks old.
Adorable…. very… adorable.
But alas, Siva’s adulated eyes were concealed by that intimidating glare of his mechanical-looking lifeless red glowing orbs for eyes so even though he didn’t want to incite the feeling of looking for trouble, he still did and that’s the reason why the little loli walked towards his direction with frown and hostility.
“Who are you and how did you get it?” Even the girl’s voice was soft and tender, provoking even more of his –or even those other three men behind her, to want to grab her, put her in their pockets, and stuff her in a shelf to preserve her cuteness.
But Siva had more tenacity than any normal men and so he focused on the question and thought, confused.
“What… are you talking about?”
When Siva’s ghastly voice rang, the three men behind her felt their hearts quiver and the little loli take a step back as if from fright or perhaps surprise.
Because on Siva’s reply, there was a pause and that pause had a sensation of [inhaling or maybe exhaling] sound that added more ‘ghostly’ effects on his already ghastly appearance.
Siva of course didn’t do that on purpose it’s just that it was hard to stop himself from trying to pinch the girl’s cheeks to test if her cuteness was real or not.
But the girl recovered fast and then pointed at the staff in his hand, saying, “That’s the Whale Whisker, owned by one of the greatest Wizards of this continent! I personally knew the owner of that staff and he is the reason why I am here because I am going to challenge him again to obtain it! So I am going to ask you again… who are you and how did you get that staff?”
Siva was stunned in silence.
The girl’s actions were really childish but the meaning on her words carried weight on them. Especially when she mentioned that the staff Siva was carrying is the legendary staff weapon «Whale Whisker» of the renowned Wizard Cedric “The Blue Mage”.
At the prompt, the three Mages behind her all took a glance at the staff in Siva’s hand and they displayed their surprise when they confirmed the appearance of this legendary weapon.
“The Whale Whisker!” murmured one of the three. “It was rumoured that this weapon was pulled out of a legendary creature called the [Thunder Whale] who is a True Dragon and lives on the skies of the eastern Pacific Ocean.”
And another added, “But meeting a Thunder Whale is even rarer than meeting a real Elemental Dragon! In the whole history of the game, Cedric was the only one recorded to have met one and survived the entire ordeal!”
Upon hearing this, Siva looked down at the staff and, sure enough, connecting the color pattern of the staff and its rough edges, especially the top side that held no orb and yet it glows and actually looked like a strand of a hair when seen from a distance, he was surprised to actually find it plausible that this [Whale Whisker] and its name was indeed the same legendary weapon that was pulled out of a legendary creature such as the Thunder Whale.
“Answer me!” demanded the Little Loli.
Siva tried to calm himself and, again, became thankful that he was wearing a mask.
The sound of his breathing was eerie and all the more that he hasn’t even dispelled his Dragunov’s function and still had a black aura arising from his shoulders, this simple act of breathing itself was enough material to intimidate even the loli.
“I won it.” Siva said, unable to think of any reply. “I… killed the owner of this staff and looted it.”
When these words were heard, the four, including the Little Loli, gasped in surprise.
One should know that Cedric was indeed a very strong Mage and… unbeknownst to these five, even in the Blue Card Legion, his existence was actually a very large addition to their overall power.
That was the reason why even Gats was worried for his death meant that not only they lost their control of the magic spell in Dragona, they also lost a very strong Wizard to their overall force.
Even Siva had to agree that Cedric was very strong, despite his scorn-inducing tastes with women. After all, he experienced how strong he is when he was taken in Dragona.
“Y-You… killed… him?” The Little Loli was shocked.
She had been playing this game for a long time now and although her excessive cuteness sometimes made her enemies bow down in defeat before they even fight, her competitive spirit still pushed herself to go to dangerous places and improve herself little by little.
In her journey to become the strongest Wizard, she eventually met Cedric and was defeated in a magic showdown.
Their meeting was back in the continent of Heartilia in the south and although it took her a long time to find out about his whereabouts, she was actually preparing to fight him, thus the reason why she is in Warjillis, and thus the reason why she is in this place.
But to meet the one who killed the powerful Cedric…
Such shocking surprise caused her to be stunned and heartbroken at the same time.
Her obsession to become the strongest Magician was broken by this… intimidating man.
But before she drowned out in hopelessness, the fires of anger were lighted in her heart and she raised her head to glare at the man in front of him.
FLASH!
At the next instant, the Little Loli changed her street outfit into a little witch’s wardrobe complete with a broom stick as a flight accessory and a curved-looking wand held in her tiny little white hand. And even the overall red-to-purple colored theme of her costume added more charm to her outer demeanor, betraying the angry look in her face.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
She jumped back and was caught by the broom stick as she sat there swinging her wand that traced a glowing lighted detail in the lighted room.
The detail formed into a symbol and when her hand motions stopped, like a signature, she waved her wand and her powerful Mana fluctuations erupted in the room to suffocate everyone within.
“I will never forgive you!” She exclaimed and waved her tiny hand.
The formless signature-drawing in midair glowed a bright greenish blue glow and then, like fragments of a broken glass, separated into countless magical symbols.
Siva watched in those tiny moments that felt slow as the countless magical symbols arrayed itself into one of her strongest magic spell.
The magical symbols formed a body-sized magic circle that, as soon as the last symbol latched in place, were then connected by a bright line of greenish glow, revealing a very detailed and very complex magic circle.
Everything took place in but two seconds.
To complete a two second spell only meant that this girl’s armory of Talisman were very high!
Even the three men behind her, upon seeing this, could only take many steps back as they were sure now that this girl’s magic ability is above theirs.
Siva was no exception. He had a habit of dissecting anything that he is seeing for the first time and upon glancing on this magic circle and seeing that it was completed in just two seconds, he already guessed that her Talismans are probably comprised of at least Tier-4 or Tier-5.
No doubt about it. She was in this room anyways and if she wasn’t on the other side of the third floor, then her being here only meant that she is planning to either combine all her high-ranking Talismans into probably the first Tier-6 Talisman!
Such thoughts entered his mind as soon as he saw the Little Loli’s magic circle.
And not only that, while the superficial layer of Siva’s mind was surprised by this, his underlying thoughts were already in the middle of processing and trying to dissect the origins of those magical symbols.
From the most random Terran Magic Symbol that his eyes had seen, to the ones that he had read, those casual memories were dug up from the very remote vaults of his subconsciousness. And just before the spell was actually released in the next instant, Siva’s mind was also finished trying to understand a few of the magical symbols of the spell.
“Penta-Hadron Annihilating Barrier.”
With a beautiful yet sinister smile, the Little Loli’s voice rung in the room, layered by the sound of magic as it reverberated along the explosion of Mana.
The magic circle expanded and five muffled booming sounds rung as the magic circle separated into five magic circles that radiated five different colors.
Blue, yellow, black, green and red… the five circles did not intertwine with one another but instead formed a restricting barrier around Siva.
As soon as this happened, Siva felt that his chances of surviving this attack only laid on the fact that they are inside a safe zone that had the spell that stops death-by-killing-each-other placed by the Gods to the cities.
–or at least that’s how the Terrans explained it.
So with this thought, Siva’s main goal was to at least defend himself and minimize the damage so as to not render him unconscious because of the impact of the upcoming attack.
Seeming to have read his mind, the Little Loli’s lips curved to an even crooked smile of mockery.
“If you’re thinking that this city is a Safe Zone, then you are mistaken!”
Siva’s heart skipped a beat as soon as he heard this.
His mind worked on the possibilities and then recalled what had happened in Dragona and gasped as he had realized why the city was destroyed from within.
“The cities of The North aren’t safe zones at all.” this sentence was uttered with ridicule as the Little Loli waved her wand that caused the five magic circles to have their resplendent glowing patterns to glow even brighter. “I will get that staff!”
After she yelled, the magic circles suddenly faced upwards to the ceiling as five figures came from each of the magic circles.
All five figures were humanoid but none of them were either Terran or Human. Instead, all of them were like spirits –leading to the three men in the room all thinking of the same thing.
“She’s a summoner!”
At the next instant, the five summoned [spirits] all pointed a finger towards the ceiling and five pillars of blinding lights flashed out and expanded, trapping Siva in the middle and overwhelming his silhouette with their respective force.
KRACLE!
That sound came from above Siva and not even after a second had passed, his subconsciousness told him that this spell was of a particular element.
Knowing this, a smile emerged on his lips and instead of defending himself; he only opened his arms out.
“Come!” He roared as she did.
“Die!”
BOOM!! A very loud explosion rocked the entire temple as alerted Enchanters and players all looked towards the direction of the third floor.
The chandelier in the center hall of the temple rocked as a few glasses fell and hit the surprised patrons.
From the second floor, the Tier-4 Enchanters all ran in their fastest speed, not to mention that the Tier-5 Enchanters in the third floor were the first to come to the direction of where the explosion originated from.
The entire room was blasted apart as the wall that’s supposed to have been reinforced by magic had many cracks and even a hole to the side.
Even the door behind Siva was destroyed and there is only a cold white smoke mixing with dust clouds and rubbles spreading outwards from the center of that loud explosion.
The white and brown smoke was the only aftermath of the explosion and from the deeper side of the room is the Little Loli smiling a smile a victory.
She had beads of sweat on her forehead to show that the price to pay for this spell was a very high amount of Mana. She wasn’t that tired and she wasn’t even panting but her breathing was deep and her healthy chest was heaving up and down.
“What is going on here?!” an angry shout came from inside the room they were in as the door to the High Magistrate of this Enchanters’ Temple was kicked to a shattering degree to reveal the person. “I am in the middle of my slee –meditation and advised that no one disturbs me! Who the hell made that explosion?!”
“I did!” Exclaimed the Little Loli. When the High Magistrate saw her, his anger immediately vanished and was then replaced by a fawning smile.
Rubbing his hands, he then ignored the spreading white smoke as he approached the Little Loli.
“So it is our princess. You should have said so. If you wanted to wake me–I mean, seek audience with this humble me, you should have arranged for an appointment. You know I would gladly accompany you in any request you made of this humble mage.”
The Little Loli, seemingly used to this treatment, only snorted as she hovered down from her broom and looked at the direction of where the door should have been.
At the time, she had a beaming smile of triumph that soon vanished as soon as she saw the edge of her target’s black robe.
Fluttering in an invisible wind, the man was gradually revealed… his arms still spread wide open, the staff in his right hand, and the lower half of his body was bathing in the seemingly endless supply of the cold white smoke.
Her eyes went wide as she couldn’t believe it.
Seeing him as if he was praising something in the ceiling with his arms wide open, the anger in the High Magistrate’s eyes burned at his silhouette.
“Are you the one who made the little princess angry, huh? Do you even know who she is?”
Although she didn’t like it, seeing that man spread his arms wide before the spell was released, just like how he is right now, actually made her feel that there was something wrong here.
That was her strongest spell!!
“I-Impossible…” How could she, with her abundant knowledge and obsession in defeating Cedric, not be aware of all the possible combinations of runic symbols that have no counter?
She knew that Cedric had the same amount of experience and knowledge as a Wizard like her and so what she sought was a magic spell that cannot be blocked nor defended by anyone.
In her years inside the game, her own research never bore any satisfactory fruit –until that time when she saw him during the War of Two Powers.
That’s it! With that magic, I can be the strongest!
His magic wasn’t in any books, nor was his element an actual element of power. But that lightning attack that killed the monstrous Cramer of the TOS Guild is indeed a genuine new element in the game.
No player had ever devised a way to summon any form of lightning by using magic the way he did.
After the War of Two Powers, many Wizards and Mages researched the secret to his magic but there were only a few who only managed to get close to the [lightning effect] and actually never had the same kind of power that can destroy a player’s avatar in one hit.
Forget about his instant teleportation ability that seemed to have no cool down period, just getting close to the level of power of his [Summon Lightning Magic] was already a high-enough dream for even someone like her.
And so, after her sleepless nights of research and obsessive focus, she finally found a way to manifest the same level of power as him.
In her heart, there were only two people that stood higher than her in terms of magic attainment.
The first was Cedric who she only saw as someone at the same level as her.
The second was The Destroyer who she wholeheartedly respected and even hailed as hero in terms of magical attainment.
But to see this skull-faced guy actually ignore her magic without even making a move…
Her heart sunk as her expression changed into a look of utter disbelief.
“W-Who are you?” she said as she collapsed on the floor.
She had planned to combine the Talismans that made up this spell into a single Talisman so as to increase her chances of even improving it and also save up space in her ability slots.
But to actually meet someone who can neutralize her strongest magic spell without even lifting a finger not only crushed her pride, it also crushed her aspirations.
Cedric was already hard to defeat with him using the Whale Whisker and now, even with the Whale Whisker, Cedric was still defeated by this man… and not only that, he even now had the Whale Whisker!
He was already strong defeating Cedric without the staff so thinking about how strong he would be now that he has the Whale Whisker is too hard to imagine.
But the man did not reply. Instead, the man lowered his gaze and looked at the stomping High Magistrate who pointed a finger at him as he summoned his own staff lined with golden pearls.
“I order you, who are you and why did you incite a fight with the princess?”
With his harsh words and tone, the Magistrate cast a restricting spell that formed a magic circle beneath Siva’s feet. Siva, upon lowering his head, only looked at the High Magistrate and exhaled as soon as he felt the restricting effect of the spell.
But the sound of this action had the counter-effect of a mocking snort rather than a gasp of surprise.
“You insulting me?!”
True enough the High Magistrate was infuriated as well as the other lower Tier Enchanters of the mansion. They were respected Enchanters who can bind Talismans using their secret arts so to be insulted that way by a black robed Wizard was something that cannot be tolerated.
“Burn him!”
“Arrest him!”
“Don’t let him get away!”
“For the little princess!”
“…”
POW!
“Awts!”
Screams of anger rose aside from that one young Enchanter who was hit in the head by the nearest Magistrate in the end.
The High Magistrate had a beaming smile on his face as he came 3 meters away from him.
And as soon as he did, Siva’s voice rung again. “Don’t get closer.”
Siva sincerely pleaded since he can’t move. But, like before, because of the [inhaling or exhaling] sound of his skull mask, paired with its frightening red-eyed glare and his muffled voice, the plead was actually turned into a sound of mockery as the High Magistrate was, again, infuriated up to his bones.
“You dare to mock me in my territory? I will kill you where you stand right now!”
Hearing this, the Little Loli felt that the situation was dangerous. But her mind fought, which side should she take?
This Mage defeated her so she wanted to know his secret or his name instead but then, because of his arrogance, he incited the anger of the High Magistrate and so he will be killed right now.
Besides, he was bound! He can’t escape!
She was about to scream and yell for the High Magistrate to forgive him when she noticed that the density of the white smoke had become a mist that filled the entire room.
Her mind reeled. A familiar phenomenon suddenly came into her mind.
She had seen his video many times and had studied every angle of that ability.
Although she had noticed that there were indeed the white fog at the time when he killed Cramer, but she had dismissed that white mist as to the fog of war that came from the burning of the battlefield.
But in this moment, a sensation of crisis rose in her chest as her first reaction was to jump up and fly away from there.
She didn’t have time to issue her warning when she heard Siva’s voice rung from the midst of the mist.
“I warned you.” He said.
The Little Loli was already in the furthest part of the room, to where the High Magistrate came from, when from behind her frantic escape, lightning crackled followed by a loud explosion.
She was thrown off her broom and was slammed into the couch in the room. Then it was followed by the screams of despair, followed by deathly wails…
…and then finally followed by his regretful voice.
“I warned you.”