Chương 158: B2 Chapter 14 - Clash Of Gods Part Two

Hibana and SwordShiba threw themselves at Eon Covenant as a distraction while Dragrath flanked from the side. The arena was the polar opposite of the forest landscape. The heavenly ring was perfectly flat with no environment to use, except for the fall to the death at the edges, lacking guardrails. Knocking players off of the map would lead to an instant win. The marble floor would be hard enough that crashing to it would cause serious damage. Perhaps due to the map, VeilShot stayed close to his team.

He loaded [Dual Arrows], and waited just a moment for CinderLight's [Infernal Blast] to force Hibana into a [Shadow Dash]. He fired the arrow. Hibana was head-shotted and killed instantly, and the second arrow landed on SwordShiba's thigh. He gritted his teeth and cast [Lunging Strike], but was killed by a follow-up [Homing Arrow] that he had no tools to deal with.

"He makes that look so easy," I said. Veyra and I required minutes to kill the two. Eon Covenant disposed of them as if being Dragrath's apprentices was just a funny title. Granted, Hibana and SwordShiba were too underleveled that their options for dealing with end-game arrows were none. To the side, a slash resounded as Dragrath's katana ripped through DukeOfChaos, oneshotting him.

"What?!" Veyra blurted out. Dragrath's outfit [Burned] red, giving him a 35% damage increase from his ring's effect, [Throne Of Ash]. A dagger poked out of Duke's falling corpse, having applied [Fracture] to turn the tank into paper. With the help of Moonlight Katana's 300 pure defence penetration, that was enough to bring Duke's defence to zero. The result was absolute destruction of amplified damage, reaping Duke out of the game. Dragrath pressed the advantage, throwing a shuriken from his belt at Lrekk.

MoonTurtle landed an [Arcane Parry], and the shuriken clung to the ground. I raised my eyebrows at that, and was even more surprised by Lrekk's counter-attack. His sword met Dragrath's for an even exchange. The look in Lrekk's eyes was fear more than concentration. If this went on for even two more exchanges, he'd die. But by blocking just one attack, he had done his job; the supportive bombardment from his allies came, starting with [Whirlwind Of Fire].

[Shadow Dash] went through as Dragrath passed through Lrekk, his three split katanas materializing on CinderLight's face. The fire mage had no counter and was cut in half, dead in one blow. Now surrounded by the three remaining players, Dragrath's recovery took a fraction of a second. A fraction that was enough for VeilShot to counter-attack. With three arrows nocked, [Quickshot] landed on Dragrath's shoulder, thigh, and stomach, dropping his health to 23% instantly.

If not for [Tormented Bloodline] storing 30% damage, he would have died instantly. That 30% would be delivered as [Burn] damage in the next three seconds. Dragrath activated [Revenge Of Torment], bringing his lifesteal to 300% and ran for MoonTurtle. One hit would be all he needed to bring himself to full and quite possibly dismantle the remaining guild.

She stumbled a panicked step back, clutching her staff tight as she finished casting [Medium Defence] on herself: a quick skill to buff her defence by a minor amount. That wouldn't make any difference if Dragrath landed [Fracture]. He used the same combo he'd hit me with—dagger to the lower body while simultaneously swinging with his sword. The katana went straight through MoonTurtle's upper body, but a cling resounded as another perfect [Arcane Parry] rebounded the dagger.

"Holy shit!" I said, springing up from the couch. MoonTurtle lived, her health falling to 23%. Despite a katana cutting her with a critical strike, the amplified defence and lack of [Fracture] kept her just barely alive. Dragrath's lifesteal, however, healed him to 100%. He was forced to turn around to deal with VeilShot, while MoonTurtle stumbled backward. With Dragrath's new ring giving him insane fire resistance, VeilShot chose his thunder ultimate, [Arrow Of The Thunder God], combined with [Homing Shot].

Dragrath dove to the left, and with utterly insane movement, the arrow that should have never missed flew past, crashing against the ground, where an explosive strike of lightning charred the ground. Lrekk dashed into block, locking Dragrath into an exchange once again. MoonTurtle shot [Binding Illumination] at the apex of Dragrath's swing, which forced him to [Shadow Dash] just as it came off cooldown, turning his slash into a dash and slash at VeilShot.

The katana clung against Veil's bow, knocking the archer back. A [Fractured] dagger landed on his foot. MoonTurtle missed the parry by an inch. Having missed, she began casting [Dream Of Salvation] with no hesitation: one of the support mage's ultimates that cast a heal on her entire party. VeilShot was forced to use his bow for blocking with no time to draw his dagger let alone shoot an arrow. Dragrath hit him again, fully knocking him to his back and to the ground.

VeilShot's health at 21%, Dragrath threw a sneaky shuriken, intending to finish him off before turning 180, sword sideways to block Lrekk's overhead swing. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Everything moved so fast I could hardly keep up, but [Dream Of Salvation] came through just in time. The shuriken landed, but VeilShot had been already healed, and what was supposed to finish him brought him to 18%.

Lrekk was already losing, forced to focus entirely on defence. He stepped—practically hopped backward, forcing Dragrath to commit far away from the ranged players. Dragrath had no time to waste cracking the defence, not even five seconds. The next closest target was MoonTurtle. He turned around, and in a quick burst of speed, his katana was aimed at her head. She stumbled back, dodging the katana by falling backward on the ground. Dragrath thrust his katana at her forehead.

A slash came, but not before MoonTurtle completed a quick-casted [Binding Illumination] aimed straight at Dragrath's chest. It collided, and bright tendrils wrapped Dragrath's arms, [Snaring] him into place. VeilShot finished off Dragrath, who was incapacitated from dodging." MoonTurtle, oh my god!" Tasteful roared just as the final slash came." MoonTurtle brings it home! She parries, she saves with her heals, and she has just snared the number one assassin player in the world!

Eon Covenant wins three to zero, advancing to the group of eight!" Veyra and I stared at the TV with our mouths open.

"Dragrath is out?" I asked in disbelief.

"Holy..." Veyra said.

"How many parries did she land? Did she just get lucky? What rank is she?"

"MoonTurtle is like rank two hundred," I said.

"That was insane." Veyra smirked at it, impressed, but I could see concern in the expression, too. Our next opponent would be Eon Covenant, and it seemed their roster was looking much stronger than we'd envisioned. Rebecca and Tasteful were going absolutely crazy about the same thing. Tasteful said, " Who is this player? I've never seen anyone other than Merami land parries against Dragrath! Even Merami struggles!"" I certainly have a lot to ask in the post match interview,"Rebecca said."

Everyone, give it up for our winners, Eon Covenant!" The five players got out of their pods to resounding applause. VeilShot looked cocky as ever with his self-satisfied grin, as if he'd been the sole reason that Dragrath was defeated. Lrekk tapped MoonTurtle's shoulder with a grin, while the girl herself rubbed her cheek, her head nervously low. She was even smaller in real life with the same short hair, but black. Veyra and I stayed on the stream to watch the interview.

VeilShot stole the first questions to himself, of course, until Tasteful finally put a question directly to the star of the show." MoonTurtle. I have to say, that was an incredible final battle. Today might be the first time many people in this arena will remember and keep track of your name. I'm awed." She received the cheers with a timid smile and a quiet, " Thank you."" Is this a result of extensive practice? Should we keep an eye out for similar performances in your next match as well?"

She took time to think about her answer. Enough time that VeilShot answered instead." As I've said, we practiced a lot for this match, my support mages included. Specifically, I told her to practice parrying the Fracture daggers. Even one parried dagger would make the difference in a match. That turned out to be the correct decision." Veyra frowned.

"Let her speak!"" It was just luck…" MoonTurtle said, while awkwardly rubbing her cheek." Luck or not, that was an incredible match!

"Rebecca said." As one final question: Who do you think will be your opponent tomorrow in the round of eight, and what are your thoughts leading up to the match?" VeilShot snorted." Tomorrow will be a much easier match for us. It doesn't change much regardless of who we fight. If the Solo Mage duo wins, we'll have an easier replica of today's match. One show-off mage with a much worse assassin won't change anything." The crowd lightly cheered at that. Rebecca laughed awkwardly along."

Thank you very much, Eon Covenant, and congratulations for your victory! Maryland, we will return to you after a short break with your next round of sixteen match: Team Solo Mage versus Black Lilium!"

"Looks like we'll need to go," I said.

"You need to warm up?"

"I think we're good," Veyra said.

"It's just SpellDao. We beat him ages ago." I nodded. If we were eliminated to a random team now, I would quit the game. The predictions were 60% to 40% in our favor. Even the audience believed we'd win the next one. We logged off of Movie Night Simulator. Without a designated assistant, I was responsible for Veyra. I stretched and walked to her pod, ready to take her to our match. Except, her wheelchair that I'd left folded and leaning to her pod wasn't there anymore.

Instead, a backpack had been tossed on the same spot. I paused. The fuck?

"Aiden?" Veyra asked through the tempered glass. I looked around for a bit, spotting nothing, until I said, "Someone took your wheelchair."

"Uh, what?" The room had been empty when we arrived early. Now, though, a security person stood by the door, and it looked like five of the pods were occupied, probably by Black Lilium members. I waved at the security guard. He came over.

"Is there an issue?"

"Someone, uh, stole a wheelchair here? It's been replaced by a backpack." He raised his eyebrow. For a moment, we stood there, wondering what on earth had happened. Loud laughing came from outside, and our attention drew there instead. VeilShot walked in with a proud grin on his face. He spotted me, and the expression fell slightly. He walked up to us.

"My backpack, please," he said. I frowned back at him.

"Did you move something here?" He snorted, shaking his head.

"The wheelchair? It's behind the pod." Behind the pod? Sure enough, Veyra's wheelchair had been pushed aside and hidden behind the game pod to make room for a backpack. I stared at VeilShot. This fucking guy. What in the world had he done that for? He could have left his backpack literally anywhere else. Then I remembered that I was faced with a man who had already been banned for a year for starting a fistfight against FireBrand after a match. Lrekk sighed, walking next to VeilShot.

"Let's not fuck around, Veil. We can fight them tomorrow. Could we get the backpack, please?" Still frowning, I handed the backpack to them, not wanting to start a fight. I then unfolded the wheelchair, checking it for damage. Thankfully, I didn't spot any scratches.

"I'm rooting for you today," VeilShot said.

"We're looking forward to tomorrow." He finally turned around without looking back. Lrekk, as he passed me, pressed his hands together and whispered, "Sorry." The other members followed without glancing in my direction. MoonTurtle was last. Her face was red.

"Wait," I said. She paused.

"Well played. You were the MvP there."

"Oh. Thank you!" she said with a quick smile before rushing after her team. I sighed and with VeilShot gone, I deemed the room safe enough to let Veyra in without ruining her mood. Although, she had heard what happened.

"What kind of high school bullying is this, I swear to god…"

"Yeah…" I frowned at the security guard.

"Is that acceptable?"

"I apologize. We'll have a word with him." From his expression, it looked like our burly security guard was just as tired of VeilShot's nonsense as we were. We absolutely couldn't lose tomorrow.