Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
I quickly swatted the Cloak with my spear as it closed around me. I used the impact of the blow to squeeze my way out of the quickly closing hole. I still had the other Blink, but I didn’t want to use both at once. My AGI was high enough for now.
“You slippery bastard!”
“Thanks, I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Grah! Let’s see how long you stay that confident! Spear of Death!” Angered again by my retort, the Reaper summoned a black spear and threw it at me.
I tightened my hold on my Harrier and charged at the Reaper, while quietly activating Judge’s Gavel. I knew this attack probably wouldn’t connect, but its cooldown was an hour. I had to use it as much as I could since I was sure this battle was going to take quite some time.
As soon as the Spear of Death drew close to my head, I bent over backwards far to avoid it. The attack power of the Spear of Death was actually so high that the air it cut through cut me. I ignored the scratch and focused on the Reaper. Just as I drew close to Fayez, I heard something whizzing right at me from behind.
For a split second, I contemplated on whether I should focus on the Reaper or turn around and deflect whatever was coming at me but quickly decided to stay on the Reaper. Judge’s Gavel was still activated and I was confident my body could take whatever attacks for now, even without the damage reduction from Unrivaled.
“Die!”
“Summon: Doll of Death!”
My spear connected with the summoned Doll of Death, destroying it in single blow with the thundering boom of the Judge’s Gavel. Soon after, something struck me hard in the back. I couldn’t see what it was, but I was sure it was the Spear of Death that had turned around. And it hurt!
“Gah!”
“Shit! You’re insane! How did you destroy my Doll in a single blow?” the Reaper shouted, but I ignored him.
It had been a while since an attack last knocked the wind out of me. The Reaper’s attack was truly the strongest that I’d encountered so far. I thought for a moment if the same fighting style was going to work against the Reaper. Sure, thanks to Level 5 Mana Conversion, my ATT was second to none, but my DEF and HP wouldn’t last long against the Reaper’s own attack output. I quickly brushed the thought away. I was good at this fight style and as long as the Reaper made that ugly expression, I knew that I was not the only one taking damage.
—
Fayez was shocked. He didn’t underestimate Lee Jiwon for a second. He knew that Lee Jiwon was powerful, but it was impossible for him to destroy the Doll in a single blow. That Doll of Death contained all of the lives of Fayez’s past victims. Its HP were well over 3,500,000 points. That was equivalent to 7,000 VIT points! Sure, it didn’t have DEF or MDEF, but it didn’t need them until now. That meant Lee Jiwon’s attack just now had inflicted well over 3,500,000 points of damage. If he had gotten hit by that…Fayez shuddered at the thought.
==[Doll of Death has been completely destroyed.
You can now only summon a base Doll of Death.]==
Fayez now had to start over with the Doll of Death. “I’m going to rip you to pieces, Lee Jiwon!” It took Fayez six years to build that Doll. It was near impossible to build it back up. Devas and deities were much stronger since the start of Otadolon. It was going to take the Heavens knew how many years, and that just pissed Fayez off even more.
—
Fayez was getting noticeably angrier, and that worked for me. Him getting angrier meant I was doing something right, and meant it was more likely he was going to make a mistake.
“Fissure!” I slammed my Harrier into the ground, splitting the ground beneath the Reaper. The split earth rose up to swallow the Reaper whole.
“Come forth, Roots of Death!” As the earth split around Fayez, giant black roots burst through the ground, intertwining with each other and protected Fayez from Fissure. The ground continued to rumble and undulate around Fayez, ripping some roots while other roots grew to replace the ones that were lost.
“Blink 2.” At first, both Blinks were the same. But after Amplification, Blink 2 from the Commitment had a shorter cooldown than Blink 1, meaning I could use it more often. Once I confirmed Blink 2 was available again, I used it to get right next to Fayez and stabbed him with my spear. This time, it was successful.
“Gak! Chains of Death!” Fayez was too focused on protecting himself from Fissure, so he didn’t notice me get behind him. He didn’t just take it, quickly counterattacking. In an instant, a black chain appeared and wrapped itself around my leg. Fayez grabbed the chain and spun me around in the air.
I smashed my spear at the chain to try and get out of its hold, but I was only rewarded with the clanging sound of metal before I was slammed hard into the ground.
“Die!”
“Gah!” My ribs felt like they were going to break from the force, but I bit through the pain and quickly got back to my feet. I raised my spear and with a single, powerful blow, I broke the chain around my leg.
“Thorns of Death!” The Reaper fired another volley of black thorns my way. I used my spear to block what I could while avoiding the ones I couldn’t and charged at the Reaper again.
“Fuck! Why is your attack power so high?” the Reaper spat as my spear slashed him twice.
“Shit! I avoided them all, but I still got hurt,” I muttered to myself. Not a single thorn hit me directly, but they had still left deep scratches when they whizzed past me.
“I’ll kill you, Lee Jiwon!”
“Not if I kill you first!”
—
“…”
“…”
More than ten thousand soldiers were fighting in a fierce battle in the middle of the Battlefield of Valor. However, many of them were more focused on the duel taking place beside them rather than on their enemies.
-Is that even possible?-
-What do I have to do to get that strong?-
The duel was no longer a fight between two men. It was more akin to a fight between gods. The force of their attacks was so great that they had inadvertently created a hundred-meter wide opening around them.
Just then, the sound of horns being blown could be heard from the Abu Dhabi Guild’s side of the Battlefield. It was the sound of retreat. The Abu Dhabi soldiers turned around to see the red flag waving, signaling them to fall back.
“Why?”
“But we’re still winning.”
“We can win if we just help Lee Jiwon.”
The Abu Dhabi soldiers didn’t understand, but they were still given the order to retreat by their commanders.
“Fall back!”
“Don’t advance any further and fall back!”
The Abu Dhabi soldiers disengaged from their enemies and began to retreat, making sure to take Lee Jiwon with them.
—
“Mr. Lee! We need to go!” I heard someone call from behind me. I heard the horn as well, and I think I knew why. Khalid’s army was being pushed back and he didn’t do anything besides send in the Reaper, even though he set those conditions. From what I could see, Khalid had about three thousand soldiers left while Abu Dhabi still had about six thousand and yet, Khalid continued to send in more soldiers to die. He was planning something and Baden and Umaru must have caught on.
“You’re not thinking about running away, are you?” Fayez taunted, but I didn’t care.
“I am!” This duel was going to end with one of us dying, one way or another. It didn’t have to be now.
“Blink 1.” I Blinked away from the Reaper and joined the retreating Abu Dhabi soldiers. Fayez didn’t follow.
—
“Hmph. So they’ve finally caught on.”
“Yes, sir. They aren’t fools. But either way, this should be enough, wouldn’t it?”
“It is.”
Astes had lost four thousand of its original seven thousand soldiers while Abu Dhabi only lost about fifteen hundred.
“How much time has passed?”
“It’s been two hours and forty minutes since we lost our first soldier.”
“Then it’s time,” Khalid said with a nod. He just needed to begin the next phase before the three hour mark, since that was how long it took for devas to resurrect outside the Battlefield.
“Get ready.”
“Yes sir!”
By Khalid’s orders, the Astes soldiers on the Battlefield spread out. Once they were in formation, Khalid stepped out and shouted, “By the will of this dungeon’s owner, Restart!”
In that instant, thousands of beams of bright light shone down upon the Battlefield for a moment. At the very spots the beams shone on stood the devas that had died.
“Huh?”
“What is this?”
“I thought I was dead…”
The resurrected Abu Dhabi soldiers were left alone in confusion, right in the middle of the Astes soldiers who knew exactly what had just transpired.
“Kill the rat bastards stuck in our trap!”
Fifteen hundred Abu Dhabi soldiers were surrounded by seven thousand Astes soldiers. They didn’t stand a chance. Astes rained down a torrent of skills and spells, sending the resurrected Abu Dhabi soldiers back to their graves in an instant, shifting the tide of the battle in favor of the Astes.
—
Baden watched in anger as his men died like hogs caught in a bait trap. He wanted to save them, if it wasn’t for the report he received from one of the resurrected soldiers before he died. Those brought back to life had a buff that decreased damage taken by 50% and had their HP, MP, and Fatigue fully restored. Khalid’s army was back to full force while Baden’s remaining force was heavily fatigued after nearly three hours of fighting. There was no way to save them.
