Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
“Hah…instant resurrection; something like this actually existed?” I truly had no idea this was a thing. If I did, I would have prepared for it. “Ha…no wonder they were dying too easily.”
During the twenty minutes I had fought against the Reaper, I believed we were evenly matched. With Abu Dhabi pushing forward, I just had to keep him preoccupied and we would have won the battle. But now, things were different. I had to defeat the Reaper no matter what, and then help Abu Dhabi. Even then, we only had a small chance of winning.
—
Khalid laughed, content with how well his plan worked. The tables had flipped in an instant. Astes’s officers and the representatives of the six emirates smiled along with him. Just like Khalid, they had poured many resources into ensuring this plan would work over the past five years. There was no turning back now.
One man couldn’t smile, however. Fayez had clearly felt the power of Lee Jiwon during the twenty minutes they fought each other. Lee Jiwon couldn’t utilize his Unrivaled’s abilities and all of Fayez’s attacks more or less connected, even if Lee Jiwon managed to block some of them. Either way, Fayez had believed he could make short work of Lee Jiwon.
-Tsk. So I was completely off the mark?-
Fayez thought that the only reason Lee Jiwon was able to defeat three of the Seven Monarchs was his special Unrivaled skill. He thought that Lee Jiwon had relied on Unrivaled’s special abilities, but by now, Fayez realized he was wrong.
-Shit! I might actually die before he does!-
Fayez was horrified by how much Lee Jiwon’s normal attacks hurt. He had never received that much damage from anyone before. That giant hammer that destroyed his Doll in a single blow… Fayez had no idea what that was. The problem wasn’t Lee Jiwon’s Unrivaled skill, it was his unbelievably high attack power! If it weren’t for his passive ability, Death’s Sovereignty, which decreased all incoming damage by 30%, Fayez would turned back first, no matter how embarrassing it was.
-Facing him on my own was a mistake. Fuck! Lee Jiwon…he really does have the potential to become the Emperor of the Monarchs!-
He didn’t want to admit it, even if it meant dying, but personally facing Lee Jiwon like this didn’t give Fayez much choice in the matter. Lee Jiwon truly could become much more powerful than the Four Monarchs. If Fayez couldn’t defeat Lee Jiwon here, the other Monarchs didn’t stand a chance against him.
-I can’t let that happen! I have to kill him here. If I can’t do it on my own, I’ll make Khalid help me!-
Fayez made his decision. No matter what happened here today, Lee Jiwon had to die. Lee Jiwon had to incur those ten deity death penalties. It was the only way to slow him down.
-It’s a good thing Khalid has the upper hand now.-
Fayez laughed bitterly. All the confidence he had before fighting Lee Jiwon was gone.
—
“We leave the Reaper to you, Mr. Lee,” Umaru said.
“I understand,” I replied with a nod. What other choice did we have? I and Fayez were the strongest here. There were no other devas here that could face him. He also had way more AoE skills in his arsenal. If I didn’t face him, he could wipe out the entire Abu Dhabi army before I could make a proper dent in the Astes army.
Just then, Baden stepped out to face the soldiers. “The fault lies with me! As your leader, I should have noticed the enemy’s scheming sooner, but I didn’t and fifteen hundred of our comrades paid the price.” Baden scanned over the soldiers before continuing, “However, I won’t go down as a useless leader. I want to be remembered as the leader who overcame such an unfavorable situation and achieved victory. If you all feel the same and trust in me, I know I can make that possible. Will you all follow me once more?”
“We will follow you to the depths of hell!”
“We fight as Abu Dhabi and die as Abu Dhabi!”
“For al Nayan! For Abu Dhabi!”
The soldiers roared as one with a new burning morale, after they felt lost when they lost their comrades without being able to do anything. I nodded at their willpower. Things weren’t looking good for us, but the battle wasn’t over yet. Abu Dhabi was made up of the most elite veteran soldiers, accustomed to fighting with one another. The other side was made up of a makeshift alliance of six different factions. It didn’t matter if they outnumbered us if they couldn’t work together as well as Abu Dhabi.
“Move out!”
“Yes, sir!”
Baden led his army out to meet Astes in battle once more. Thirty minutes had passed. Astes had lost their buff by now, and Abu Dhabi had recovered most of their Fatigue, as well. I headed out too, to face Fayez the Reaper again.
—
“Shit!”
“Someone do something about Lee Jiwon!”
“Where’s the guy who fought Lee Jiwon before?”
I hacked and slashed at the Astes soldiers before me like a machine. I stole a glance towards Fayez. He stood next to Khalid with his arms crossed. It seemed he wasn’t going to join the battle any time soon. I didn’t understand why he would do that, but I and Abu Dhabi were actually thankful for that. I kept swinging my spear, knowing for a fact that they couldn’t resurrect again.
—
“Why aren’t you fighting Lee Jiwon again?”
“Because I’m afraid.”
“…Of Lee Jiwon?”
“Yeah.”
“…” Khalid didn’t know how to respond to Fayez’s blunt reply. Fayez and Lee Jiwon seemed to be on equal footing before, but now he was acting differently. Either way, the battle was going according to Khalid’s plan. He couldn’t leave Lee Jiwon alone like this.
“We will defeat Lee Jiwon ourselves! Just hold him at bay until we defeat Abu Dhabi!”
“I know you saw Lee Jiwon’s hammer attack, too. I might be able to survive it, but at what cost?”
Khalid clenched his fists in anger. “What happened to all that confidence you had earlier?”
“I know. It’s embarrassing, but it’s the truth.”
“Then are you just going to stay here like an idiot? Are you just going leave Lee Jiwon alone? You’re going to die with us in the end if you leave it like this.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“Yes, I am,” Khalid replied without missing a beat. Khalid had put everything on the line with this guild battle. If he lost here, he had nothing more to lose.
Fayez softly chuckled. “I want to kill Lee Jiwon as much as you do. But he’s strong, possibly stronger than me. We really underestimated me. I barely made a scratch on Lee Jiwon, but he almost wiped the floor with me. I can’t hold him off for you. It’s impossible.”
“That’s bullshit! Do you mean to say that I should just accept my defeat now?”
“No, I’m not. Let me finish. There’s a way we can win.”
“And what’s that?”
“Prepare four hundred people that can incur irreversible death penalties, and they have to consent.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t want to have to resort to Incarnation of Death. It’s not easy to recover from it, but we don’t have a choice.” Fayez didn’t want to ever use Incarnation of Death, but he believed that it was the only way he could kill Lee Jiwon.
==[Incarnation of Death (Fayez’s exclusive skill)
A skill usable only by the retainer of Death’s Sovereignty.
Cooldown: 30 days
Requirements: This skill can only be used by one of two ways.
The user incurs a death penalty to use this skill for 24 hours. (After Incarnation of Death deactivates, the user will die.)
Four hundred devas must willingly incur irreversible death penalties to use this skill for 24 hours.
All Stats increase by 2x.
All Death-type skill damage increase by 2x.
Power of Touch of Death increases by 2x. (Decreases ATT, MATT, DEF, MDEF by 30%.)
Grants Cuirass of Death.
After Incarnation of Death is used, Death’s Sovereignty cannot be used for 90 days.]==
There was no way Fayez could normally use it because of its requirements. He had to sacrifice himself or four hundred willing people to use it. If he sacrificed himself, that meant losing Death’s Sovereignty altogether.
He had four hundred people he could sacrifice here, however. He could just use Khalid’s subordinates. Fayez concealed the first requirement and revealed the rest to Khalid.
“This is the only way I know of.”
“…”
“Make your decision quickly. The more of your men Lee Jiwon kills, the less men we have to sacrifice.”
“Shit!” Khalid hated that he had to resort to this and hated Lee Jiwon for forcing his hand. “Fine! I’ll have them ready in ten minutes! Just make sure you at least hold him at bay for ten minutes!”
“Hmph. Fine. You’ll have your ten minutes. I won’t be able to do anymore than that,” Fayez said calmly, but he was actually sweating bullets. He was crossing his arms to hide fact that his armpits were drenched. This was the Battlefield of Valor. There was no way out of here until he killed Lee Jiwon, or until he died. If Fayez died, then it would take him three thousand hours to resurrect. Fayez knew that there was a higher chance of him dying than of him killing Lee Jiwon. Regardless, Fayez uncrossed his arms and sprinted for the battle.
—
“Judge’s Gavel.” Fayez finally moved. I activated the Judge’s Gavel that I was saving and moved to intercept him.
—
“Multi-Thorns of Death!” Fayez feared Lee Jiwon’s hammer attack. If his Doll of Death couldn’t fully protect Fayez from that attack, then his Mantle of Death or Roots of Death couldn’t either. Fayez decided to attack from a distance instead. He just needed to buy ten minutes.
It was impossible to maintain a fair amount of distance from Lee Jiwon, however. Not only was he unbelievably strong, he was also unbelievably fast.
“Fuck! A skill that strong should at least have a month-long cooldown! Wave of Death!” Fayez shot a huge black wave of liquid at Lee Jiwon, but it wasn’t enough to slow him down. That only served to frustrate and annoy Fayez even more.
“Mantle of Death! Thorns of Death!” Fayez summoned a black shadowy wall and fired another volley of thorns, but it was all in vain. Lee Jiwon’s spear broke through the Mantle and struck Fayez. He went back flying from the force of the hammer that struck his head. All Fayez could do was swear and ask the heavens how a deva this strong could ever exist!
