Chapter 395: Monarch (3)

“They’re like cockroaches.”

Chris, who was floating in the air, looked down and frowned. Activating both the Fly spell and the Haste spell to boost his movement speed and taking down a quadruple caster equipped with two offensive spells was no easy task.

“No matter how many I kill, they just keep coming...!”

Each time Chris waved his hand, waves of fire and ice surged and exploded across the ground. He had already killed over 400 Black Dragon guild players on his own.

They were all just trash in the 200 to 300 skill range, though...

Still, the impact he showed was overwhelming for a single wizard.

“Chris!” Jamba, an archer and fellow Crimson Dawn member, shouted while running across the top of the barracks. “Start getting ready to pull out!”

“Got it...

Argh

! What about Master?”

“Are you seriously worrying about him right now? He can take care of himself!” Jamba’s hands didn’t stop moving even as he spoke.

Using rapid fire, his arrows instantly pierced through the heads of four people as his archery was, quite literally, dead-on every time.

“For the record, I’ve taken down over 400.”

“Weren’t we betting on commander kills? I got three.”

“No way there weren’t at least three commanders in that 400. I win.”

“Don’t make me laugh.”

As they exchanged jokes while turning the Black Dragon’s outpost into a wreck, they began to prepare for their retreat.

Tick, tick.

It was the sound of a timer. It was the timer Ghost had told them to sync before the operation began.

The twenty minute operation time is almost up. I should better start pulling out as Jamba said.

Right before retreating, Chris prepared a big gift like Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.

“It was fun meeting you, let’s never see each other again! You cockroach bastards!”

A blazing sphere of crimson flame slowly descended toward the outpost.

Fwooosh!

The sphere incinerated everything within range and melted anything it touched on impact.

“This is Magma Ball, a Unique skill with a level 450 requirement.”

Chris looked down at the wasteland he had created and saw his allies retreating one by one. Ghost was probably already slipping away under Stealth.

Then I’d better go too...

Just as Chris started to move, the large barrack that he had identified as the Black Dragon headquarters, suddenly caved in. It was bound to fall, since it was made of cloth and had been split in two.

“Master...?”

Chris saw Ghost inside, drenched in blood.

The opponent is Xao Lin?

Chris had never once thought Ghost would lose in a one-on-one against Xao Lin.

Those Black Dragon bastards must have pulled some dirty trick again.

Chris bit his lower lip and prepared to fly to him in a hurry. However, the Black Dragon guild’s officers, who had gathered before he knew it, began bombarding him.

“Elegance of Slowness!”

“Target lock!”

“Chain Lightning!”

Debuffs flew in nonstop, and ranged skills rained down on him.

“You idiot! Why are you still there?!” Jamba, who had stayed behind to escape with Chris, shouted from below.

“But Master is—!”

“He’s done for! He said to act on your own if things go bad, didn’t he?”

Left with nothing to say, Chris furrowed his brows and slowly flew backward. At that moment, he saw Xao Lin’s spear thrusting forward. A swift and precise strike that sliced the air like a blade. Ghost tried to dodge the attack with footwork, but the spearhead followed like a snake and pierced straight through his heart.

***

“Ghost died?” Minerva asked with widened eyes.

MID Online’s

top elite small guild, Crimson Dawn, returned with only a partial success. They had killed around 5000 members of the Black Dragon guild in twenty minutes. However, four members of Crimson Dawn, including Ghost, had lost their lives in that process. Considering the entire guild had only twenty-two members, it was a devastating loss.

“Xao Lin... There’s something off about him.” Chris furrowed his brow as he continued, “There’s no way the Master couldn’t handle him. Especially with how careful he is, he never lets his guard down and always strikes a vital point using Stealth for the first hit.”

“

Hmm

. Not much is known about Xao Lin, after all,” Vulcan muttered quietly as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.

“

Yeah

. We even rechecked all Black Dragon intel before the war started...” Chris slowly shook his head. “There’s just too little information on that guy. We don’t even know what skills he uses, so we can’t figure out his class.”

“According to what’s known, he should be a Swordsman, right?”

“No. Today he used a spear, and... come to think of it, it’s strange. That guy always stuck to dungeon hunting. He completely avoided open field hunts.”

“He thoroughly hid any information about himself.”

“Exactly. Honestly, I never cared about Xao Lin. I figured he was only famous because of the Black Dragon guild and that his personal skill barely placed him in the top fifty.”

“Did anyone get a message from Ghost after he was logged out?”

“There was, but...” Chris shared the mail with a troubled look.

“Xao Lin’s stats were abnormal?”

“Is this the actual message Ghost sent?”

“Yes. According to him, who fought him directly, Xao Lin’s stats are extremely high, so he said to avoid direct confrontation if possible.”

“Extremely high stats... Could he have used some kind of illegal program?”

“If he had, Ramus would’ve already banned his account a long time ago.”

“

Hmm

. Still, that’s difficult even if we’re told to avoid a direct fight. We’re the ones defending the fortress. Even if we don’t want to face him, we can’t just lower our tails and run away.”

“That’s the problem. In that sense, maybe this operation was a failure after all...”

“The operation failed? What do you mean?”

At Vulcan’s question, Chris shook his head as if trying to erase a sudden thought.

“It’s nothing...”

Just then...

“Master! The Black Dragon army has finished regrouping and is advancing again!”

“

Tsk

, I thought we’d get a break now that the sun’s gone down... Then again, they’d naturally take turns and keep pressing us around the clock with their numbers.”

“But it doesn’t look like they’re just trying to annoy us. The one at the front is the Black Dragon master, Xao Lin.”

Everyone inside the meeting room looked at one another the moment those words were spoken.

“Damn it... This is why bad feelings are never wrong.” Chris scratched his head in irritation and muttered, “Perhaps carelessly poking at Xao Lin’s secret turned out to be the worst move we could’ve made.”

***

While the war between Kingdom of Aldebaran and the Kingdom of Rashion was raging, a conflict of similar-scale was unfolding in the Demon Realm. It wasn’t between the east and the north, as both archdukes had already withdrawn to their respective territories with their forces. This was a battle between individuals. It only resembled a war because of its scale.

“Nice!” Angol Moa shouted in a high tone, brimming with excitement.

Facing her, Kai’s gaze remained as calm as a still lake.

She really is a hassle.

As expected of the Demon King, her specs couldn’t be compared to any archduke from the start. Her agility outpaced even Steron of Black Lightning’s lightning-fast speed, and she seemed to have mastered Serphine’s ice magic and Basion’s poison as well, using them freely.

At least my XP is going up fast.

The two had already left the Demon King’s Castle and were exchanging blows in an unnamed wasteland.

Angol Moa casually flicked her fingers as lightly as unlocking a phone screen. However, Kai immediately rolled across the ground in alarm. It turned out to be the right move. A giant stone pillar behind Kai was severed.

Kai looked back at that and muttered, “She really is a monster...”

“It’s amusing to hear that from you. Is that a form of humor humans enjoy these days?” Angol Moa’s voice was clear, but her appearance was in shambles.

The cloak she wore was torn in multiple places, and she had rolled on the ground so many times that small wounds covered her body and dried dirt clung all over her.

“In all my life, I’ve never met a human this strong... no, not even among demons.”

“What’s with the sudden compliments?” Kai narrowed his eyes and tried to read her intent.

But Angol Moa simply shook her head and smiled brightly. “That last attack was my final outburst. I no longer have the strength to face you.”

“Are you being serious...?”

“I swear on my honor and my heart, I am serious.” Angol Moa slowly approached Kai. “You truly are strong. Rather than blindly increasing raw power, you know the importance of using your abilities efficiently.”

“Took me some effort to figure that out.”

Before sparring with Angol Moa, Kai had leveled up to 600 and distributed all a total of 325 stat points. Distributing them evenly, he had to endure another round of growing pains. His Strength had reached 3,787. His HP was at 3,012. His Intelligence had already surpassed 3,000 long ago, so he skipped it and instead increased Agility to 2,082. Lastly, his main stat, Holiness, had reached close to 4,500.

As expected, dueling strong opponents really speeds up the adaptation process.

It would be more accurate to say he adapted to those stats in order to survive. At first, Kai had been pushed back in the fight against Angol Moa, but as time went on, he began to understand what he could do and what he couldn’t. Just realizing that had changed the flow of the battle drastically.

“But I have one last piece of advice to give you.”

“You’re not about to say something like ‘never trust your opponent’ and attack me out of nowhere, are you?”

Angol Moa burst into hearty laughter at Kai’s joke. “What do you take me for? Set those kinds of worries aside.”

“Then what is it? What’s this advice?”

“You are strong, but how should I put it... something is missing.” Angol Moa said as she placed her hand over her heart.

“The beating of the heart?”

“No, not that. How should I explain this... right. Let me give an example from when I once conquered the Demon Realm.” Angol Moa’s gaze turned toward the horizon. “When I faced Serphine of the west, I could feel her loneliness. A deep desire to be alone, to trust no one. Probably because her subordinates betrayed her after she tried to abolish the law of the strong devouring the weak in her domain.”

“Betrayal?”

“

Hm?

If you must have seen them already if you met her. The ice statues in front of the mansion.”

“

Ah,

so those were all her subordinates.”

“Serphine gained the emotions of distrust and loneliness through their betrayal. I’m sure you felt it too as you exchanged blows with her.”

“Definitely...”

He felt something beyond mere coldness when he fought her and faced her ice-based attacks. A feeling that chilled him past the bones, reaching deep into his heart—an emotion he couldn’t quite name.

“You can usually feel someone’s emotions when you fight them. But with you, I feel nothing at all.” Angol Moa’s eyes looked straight into Kai’s. “It’s truly strange. You’re definitely strong, and someone of your level should have a belief engraved into their soul. But I don’t feel it.”

“That’s because...”

He wasn’t a resident of this world. He hunted monsters, leveled up, and increased his stats to grow stronger. In other words, he was a player.

“But does that really matter?”

“It does.” Her voice was firm. “If growing strong is your only goal, then I wouldn’t bother saying any of this. But your goal lies higher than that, does it not?”

Angol Moa pointed toward the sky.

Kai raised his head without realizing it and looked up at the ashen sky, muttering, “Higher... right.”

What he aimed for was the god who ruled over the heavens and managed this world.

Angol Moa quietly watched him for a moment and then nodded. “I’ve decided.”

“Decided what...”

Instead of answering, she broke off her left horn.

“W-what are you doing?”

It all happened before Kai could even try to stop her.

“A being who cannot even firmly establish their own beliefs has no right to shatter the beliefs of others.” Angol Moa bit her lower lip hard as if suppressing the pain and extended the horn to Kai. “Take this.”