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Volume 5
Chapter 44: Nine Dragons Sakura Angel
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Siva was always looking at the Northern side of the arena. He was clear that he had set up the right conditions for the experiment.
If as much as one soul is to enter the quadrant and other exists, the Lapis will unleash the Pose of the King and will slaughter them without a doubt.
No one has yet to provoke the warning of the Lapis though but every player in the arena right now isn’t new to just how frightening this ability of S-Ranked monsters are…
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«Pose of the King»
––A Spirit-focused attack that paralyzes anyone for 10 seconds. Only doable by some A-Rank and all S-Ranked or higher monsters.
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Earlier, there have been a one sided clash between him and the members of the Nine Dragons Gate.
Now, their attacking waves stopped and more people had come to join the fight in the arena.
“Well now…” Siva couldn’t help being amused as he murmured to himself. “I ain’t blind to not see that they’re planning something.”
He saw the transformations of one of the GM and he also noticed the casting of an AOE spell by the GM of the Ebony Sanctuary.
Its effect was incredibly wide making it seem that he was a powerful Mage. But with how Siva was familiar with the construction of Magic Circles, he knew that this spell focused on [range] and had a very long [Cast Time], prone for attacks. That’s the reason why he ordered his members to shield him from all directions of possible attacks.
He looked up and saw the looks of the ones who wanted to see the upcoming clash ––including the personalities Thorn and Volt introduced to him just before they decided to go here.
“Coralline… she’s really a real headache.” Siva saw the little loli floating there sitting at her broom and he can’t help but look at her in a different light.
It’s not the look that had something to do with weird fetishes. No.
Siva was actually looking... at her broom.
“If I’m not mistaken, it has the same ability as that of a standard Flight Armor or Flight Wings but a little bit customized… making it an Invention!”
Siva’s crafter soul was growing and now, he was looking at almost everything he sees with the possibility of it being an invention or an artifact.
With access to a miraculous tool as the PDT and the Nano-Furnace, being an Engineering Student that he originally was, his creative soul was lit and he was being inspired to go beyond what the current human technology has… even if it was just a game!
In his eyes, right now, in this world, there are only three kinds of classifications on items.
If it’s not an invention, then it’s a magical artifact.
Only those two criteria are generally possible.
Aside from the fact that it may be a «Rune» which combines both technologies, if it’s not made up of nanotech and has mechanical functions and abilities then that might only be an Enchanted Item, or both, which is a Rune.
For now, he doesn’t have a «Mana Crystal» that enables one to be an Enchanter and recognize runes and magical symbols.
Although he already had «The Record» that he can use to identify which items are capable of Mana Channeling and being crafted into items, he still lacked the necessary information regarding the right magic runes and symbols to create magical phenomena.
He wanted to create the same weapons as the Runes in legends. That was one of his new goals!
––although that’s a story for the future…
Right now though, he had to focus his thoughts in the experiments he was conducting.
Weapons first, innovations later.
In the far front, a large group of people came from the audience area and they are all joining forces with the NDG members that are now led by their Queen of Fire.
And yet, Siva was still lax. Or if it can be explained in other words, it was still expected.
He had just obliterated nearly a quarter of her forces as soon as he had arrived.
The entrance he made with the Lapis was perhaps second only to how much impact it caused to the grand entry of the Elder God Donar.
And with the Reaper immediately creating a name for itself as soon as it arrived for the expense of her Guild Members, why wouldn’t she be enraged?
On another note, with how many people not in the S-Ranked title joining in the fray right now, Siva actually wanted to scream at them…
“You broke the balance first by inviting your entire guild in the arena. This should’ve been just for the qualified ones and not with your guilds with it…!!”
He knew, of course, that it was greed that pushed these GMs to using their members for their own gains and that there was actually no rules saying they couldn’t use this tactic.
So since they’ve already used outside forces to help them secure the Ten Acolytes spot, why can’t he, the (secret) perpetrator, use the same tactic?
“Let’s finish the experiments, then.” Siva said.
When Thorn and Volt heard this, the two couldn’t help but shuddering from the wild ideas that these simple words entailed on their minds.
Experiments…?
So this raging mob is just his test subjects?
With his tests in mind, Siva pulled the staff and then powered the orb again.
After that, the eyes of the Lancer Puppet lit up as its movements stopped. It jumped back without looking to retreat back at Siva’s side, and without any kind of warning… vanished into thin air when it entered the 10m radius from Siva.
Its equipment and all… gone. All came back to the owner’s Inventory. When the GMs saw this, they were all surprised as every one of them knew that with his Dragoon in there, his defense line was tighter so letting it retreat now only meant for a bigger ploy on his part.
They had to brace themselves for something.
In fact, up above, Coralline was sneering ear to ear as this action from The Summoner should have made them all realize that those reapers aren’t some kind of magical summoning.
If they had noticed it, then they should’ve changed their tactics but seeing that they aren’t doing so, she could only laugh at them from inside.
Below, Sakura Angel and Queen of Fire exchanged looks of confusion but they soon nodded at each other and ordered an all-out attack. Before The Summoner could finish whatever he was planning, they will attack and disrupt him and eliminate him from the ranks of the possible Ten Acolytes.
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The both of them aren’t that skilled in fights but in Warjillis, war potential aren’t just decided by individual powers, sometimes, in their cases, it was also on the way they control their own forces to suppress their targets.
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Sakura Angel shouted, “Mages at the back, Archers to the front of the Mages… tankers take the front and flank. Punishers, concentrate your attacks on him.”
At the same time, the Queen of Fire was going all out giving commands to her dragons, “Form the Fire Dragon Formation! Support Mages, protect our sisters from any attack!”
Even as they gave their commands, sneak teams were already either going high up for an ambush or have circled around and joined the suppressing encirclement of the wayside forces.
Everything and everyone was targeting Siva.
“Attack!”
“Go!”
The ladies of the Valkyries cast pink-colored spells to boost the abilities of their Punishers while the hundreds upon hundreds of dragon members all roared at the same time to summon nine large fire serpents measuring a hundred meters long!
With a surging sound of a tidal wave, countless cherry petals engulfed the area at which every member of the all-girls Punisher Platoons became a single entity of a large projection of a Valkyrie Knight wearing a pink and black themed armor.
The eyes of the Valkyrie Knight were alive and it glared at Siva as it prepared its sword to slash at him ‘til kingdom come!
“Destroy this abomination!” The Sakura Queen roared and the large Valkyrie was the first to step forth to crush a single enemy with a Reaper at his side.
Seeing this, Siva couldn’t help but shiver.
It was the first time he was seeing a grand magic that needed multiple Mages to be cast. Although he had the «Five Sacred Seal of the Pentagon» with him and it being classified as a special spell, it only needed one person to be cast and its power is still bale to tie down even a full grown Lapis.
But a grand spell that needs multiple Mages… unless he was an Archmage or a Dragon-Level player himself, he wouldn’t be able to survive such an attack.
Thinking about this, a surge of painful reality hit him.
If only he could use magic, then he should be able to go to an Enchanter’s Temple and slowly build his own grand magic spell… but… he cannot.
“Because I was cursed!” Siva mourned. “I was cursed and it’s infuriating. I just want to be able to save Baron, I just want to see him smile and play again… to hear him asking those simple curious questions like before… to see him chase fireflies in the garden… to hear him sleeping soundly in his red-colored car bed… but this world has him, Augustus has him, I am lacking the strength to be able to protect him from this world so I have to be strong! I have to be strong enough so that none can stand in my way! And these people… they’re my stepping stones so I have to step on them! I can’t use the Killing Zone in here and that is the reason why Erebus is here! ”
His eyes were blazing with determination. He knew that this attack was powerful that’s why he had decided that he will also going to put forth all of his abilities and resources in display.
Siva never took his eyes off the Giant Valkyrie, his mind was already fixed on the action he was about to take.
The Giant Valkyrie fast and not even two seconds had passed that the blade of its sword is already looming over him. With a quick step, the Berserker appeared in front of Siva, blocking the sword that descended upon him.
But not even half a beat later, the crossing Sword-Claws it used to defend against it cracked and then broke, and the sword descended upon its Black Tech body.
BOOM!
A massive explosive sound occurred, the sword made contact with the body and the Black Tech was split apart, the puppet body hiding behind the Black Tech cloak exploded into bits.
The sword never stopped and still descended. Its momentum only dying by a bit but its overall power and force was still enough to render Siva into smithereens.
Looking at this sword, Siva’s lips curved into an insidious arc. His eyes wide with obsession, the skull mask he wore seemed to reflect that spirit of undying pursuit of power that everyone in the arena, even those who were floating above it, all felt that a demon suddenly appeared in the stage!
“Come forth, Erebus!”
Amidst the loud explosive sound of the wind being torn apart by that sword, Siva’s ghastly voice from behind the mask rung as it was delivered by the auricle.
It was whispering voice, like a summoning, and it was so cold and so full of malice that even the audience felt that this Giant Valkyrie, if it was a person, was definitely doomed.
Just as the voice rung and the sword about to hit Siva, a giant hand stretched out from the behind Siva… a hand that was fully 3m large!
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When they people saw this hand, they were all reminded of the time when this summon first came into being earlier.
“If it was going to defend then it’s futile.” Thought Sakura Queen. “Our Valkyrie Grand Magic is the Barrier Magic that needed many Talismans to be cast at the same time. We spent many time and money creating it and its main use is to injure even the strongest of the S-Ranked beasts!”
Confidence rose on her chest as she glared down at the skull mask skull.
But when her eyes fell to the red glowing orbs for eyes of the mask, she couldn’t help but feel her heart clench for a bit as her body involuntarily trembled.
Everything went slow even for her perception as she saw the black colored hand reached towards the descending sword.
Then the contact and the explosion, wind particles spread out as the arena below the sword and the hand was reduced to rubbles and debris. A crater was made, spreading its cracks throughout all the sides of the arena.
The blade of the Giant Valkyrie continued to descend: it was clear that it was still pressing that damned puny little black wizard.
“Ahahaha! That’s what you get from––“ when she saw that the sword was still descending upon that crater, the Sakura Queen was sure that she won this round. But her laugh stopped in the middle when she noticed the black lines crawling from the blade towards the arms of the giant projection.
The horde of the attacking players were shocked, even the mouths of the audience were gaping wide open.
Coralline, Thorn, Volt, Rentaw, the announcer, the GMs, the Queen of Fire, even Heller far away… all had their mouths were open but no words could’ve ever made it out of their lips.
Sakura Angel’s laughter broke in half and the sound of air being stopped midway her throat was the only sound coming out of her.
This is the first time they all saw this kind of scene where a Magical Projection, something create by Mana, was being… contaminated by a black substance that looked like the same black goo that made up the Reapers’ bodies.
And then they recalled that voice they all heard just before the impact… Erebus.
Some of them researched the name in the web and they were shocked to see its origins.
“God of Darkness?”
“Another God?!”
“No! That guy’s a player!”
“But it’s Erebus!”
“Goodness me… just what is happening to this damn game already?!”
Those who couldn’t believe what they were seeing were all astounded. Sakura Angel was aghast. But just before she lost her focus, the angry Queen of Fire by her side roared.
“Kill him!”
ROOOOOOAAAARRRRRRR!!!
A mighty roar of a dragon came from behind them as the nine fire serpents reached their peak of power and flew to the sky, the sides, and in all directions towards the enemy hiding underneath the cover of the shadows of the dust clouds of the crater.
“You will burn with the fires of our passions!” The Queen of Fire was still angry and she clearly never considered anything of that black substance just now.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! ~~~~~B-B-B-BOOM!!
Nine resounding loud explosions rocked the entire stadium, the ground shook as the crater expanded with the descent of the nine mighty dragons.
The clouds of dusts were now covering almost entirely half of the arena, or if it was still called like that as its entirety was now in a wreck –the former white marbles now in ruins as deep craters and the burnt tree had caused it to be unspeakably ugly.
Raging fire towered at a height of 10m from the crater, the heat casing the fog of war to heat up and cause more fog to appear.
In the nearest 100m area of the crater where The Summoner should have been, the fire had reached a scalding temperature too hot to describe.
This caused an illusion that covered half of the Giant Valkyrie’s body to be covered by red and orange dancing flames.
Its hands were covered by the dust clouds and fires, and just as the Queen of Fire was about to laugh in victory, they all saw, to their utmost disbelief, the face of the Giant Valkyrie twist in an ugly expression and with tremendous expression of pain, it let out a silent cry.
The faces of the Mages and everyone who was bound to its talisman all turned in an ugly expression of as they felt their Mana being sucked away from their bodies without their consents.
Screams rang on the Wizard Ranks but this was still negligible and wasn’t as shocking as to the sight that everyone could behold.
Because right now, to everyone’s surprise, the Giant Valkyrie that towered a hundred meters high, was writhing in an unimaginable pain as its body was forcefully twisted, torn apart, and eaten by the black substance that looked like millions upon millions of termites gnawing at its flesh.
“H-How could… but that’s our…” the Sakura Angel couldn’t help but stutter. Her mind was in so much stress that it’s like oil floating above the water.
Not only her but the Queen of Fire was also in the peak of shock right now.
It should be noted that what they have used just now are their strongest attack Magic Spells. To see that the black substance were still active is a clear indication that their target…had not died.
As for Siva, although he would have died earlier by the attack of the Giant Valkyrie and the Nine Dragons formation, the reason he was able to live on and survive is because of a passive ability.
Gift of Spirit.
In the verge of death, he can reject it once and give him a chance of surviving an assault again.
But if he was to be hit with a deadly attack, then the Gift of Spirit will lose effect and he will finally die.
Thus, before the Giant Valkyrie could attack again, Siva chose to attack it head on before recovering from the injuries he sustained.
And just as they noticed this fact, the black gooey substance eating the Giant Valkyrie made a final action, completely twisting the body of the poor beautiful lady that if it does have a spine, then it would have been turned more than 180 degrees.
Because its arms were twisted counter clock wise, its body followed, then the chest, and the neck, and then its entire head… perhaps it’s more than just 180 and would seem that it was a complete 360 turn from its arms to its head.
It was a miserable end to a beautiful creation!
But the perpetrator cannot be seen anywhere though the black substance had already stopped its cruel torturous execution of the Giant Valkyrie.
Just when they are focusing their sights on the bottom of the crater, the black substance moved.
CHAK!
With the sounds of crackling of bones, it pulled the upper body of the Giant Valkyrie back into the depths of the sea of fire.
Leaving the mangle lower body starting on the hips… vanishing in the wind.
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Doo-Doo-Doom! Finish her!
KA~CHAK~~!!
––––Fatality––––
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Next chapter: Conclusion in the arena!