Chapter 129
In an instant, the scenery around Lollit changed. Somehow, the surrounding area turned back into the training grounds.
Lollit’s skill [Single Combat] had ended.
Drop—
After falling to the ground, Lollit looked up. Right above him was Thal’s face.
“What just…”
The situation wasn’t hard to parse together.
The shattered shield, Thal and YuWon facing off against each other.
In the final moment where YuWon’s fist would’ve hit Lollit in the face, Thal had saved him.
“What that guy’s saying is right.” Thal helped Lollit get up. “From here on, we’ll fight together.”
“I haven’t lost yet.”
“You need to know when to concede. Your shield has broken. And…”
Drip—
Thal looked at the blood flowing from Lollit’s body.
“The penalty has already started.”
“Kugh…”
Lollit bit his lip at feeling the shock of the penalty coursing through his body.
Although this was the world they lived in, it was unavoidable to receive a penalty from the Tower against a player who wasn’t a Ranker.
Although the injury YuWon gave him wasn’t bad right now, due to the penalty, Lollit’s body was worn ragged.
“The penalty won’t be as great if you just focus on defending. I’ll lend you my shield.”
Tang—
Thal took out a shield from his inventory and dropped it on the ground.
It was quite robust, but compared to what Lollit used originally, it was nothing.
“We’ll fight together.”
Lollit would focus on defense, and Thal would focus on attack. This meant that the one who was taking on the penalty would now be Thal.
Although it wasn’t a bad plan, this could be considered the same as hiding behind his teammate.
Crack—
It was a total humiliation.
But there wasn’t any other method to use either.
Lollit picked up Thal’s shield and gripped it tightly.
‘So now comes the main part.’
Taking on just one person wasn’t that difficult. Using [Gigantification] was enough for YuWon to take one down. But the story changed if there were two enemies.
Just like he thought…
Vwoong—
Serious Arcane Power could be felt from Thal’s body.
He probably understood that dragging out this fight would only become more disadvantageous for them due to the penalty.
“We’ll finish this as fast as possible.”
For a moment, it looked as if Thal’s sword was getting longer.
No. It didn’t just look like it.
[Colossal Sword]
The huge sword which was now a few dozen meters long was similar to the [Arcane Sword] that YuWon used, but it was a completely different skill in quality.
Crash—!
With one swing from Thal, a long line was ripped into the floor of the training grounds.
The dug-up ground got flung at YuWon, but rather than block it, he moved to the side to dodge it.
As expected, rather than Lollit with his high defense, Thal was much stronger.
“So, a sword this time.”
YuWon pulled out his sword.
Since he didn’t have a shield, he had no way to stop Thal’s sword other than by blocking with his own.
“Sword against sword…”
Thal’s sword flashed.
“Ridiculous.”
Ping—
The giant, long sword flew like a flash of light, looking as if it was magic from a decent distance away, faster than expected.
Shwack—!
YuWon dodged the sword by jumping upwards.
And in that moment, Thal smirked.
“Got you.”
Bzzzt—!
The penalty on Thal’s body became stronger. It reflected the strength and [Arcane Power] that was being poured into his next attack.
Shwing—
Lines were drawn like spider webs.
It was a sword that looked to be impossible to dodge, but after swinging it, Thal didn’t feel the sensation he expected to at his fingertips.
‘What?’
It was definitely unescapable. There was no place to dodge, and YuWon didn’t block it either.
But there was no slashing sensation either.
Thal quickly found out the reason.
Fwip, fwap—
He saw Yuwon’s form in the air.
There were a few floating-type skills that came to mind, but there was none that Thal knew of that allowed him to move so speedily and freely in the air like that.
[Activating Sky Steps.]
[Your movement speed increases by 100% for 5 seconds.]
[For 5 seconds, you can step on air.]
「Hermes’s Treads.」 Among the items that YuWon possessed, for a very short amount of time, it was the item that could create the most difference.
[Sky Steps,] a skill that let you step atop empty air where there was no foothold. Also, within this short time of five seconds, it had the effect of greatly increasing his movement speed.
‘Two seconds now.’
After dodging the short but incredible attack…
‘Close the distance.’
Flap—
YuWon closed the distance once again.
Thal’s sword moved. And in that moment, YuWon’s shuttered senses opened wide.
[Cinder Eyes reads the path.]
[Activating Sensory Field.]
He could see clearly and feel clearly. The trajectory of Thal’s sword. Even the direction and timing he needed to move.
Shwoop—
He lowered his head to maintain his speed and flew in closer.
Thal drew his sword, and both of them were now within distance where they could attack each other.
“Kugh…”
Thal’s sword slashed downward.
It was long past the time he had given up the thought to slash only one arm and one leg. Now, he swung down with the conviction to slash YuWon’s body in twain. But…
Clang—!
YuWon’s sword actually deflected Thal’s sword upward instead.
‘What is this strength…!’
Although he knew relatively how strong YuWon was as he was spectating on the sidelines before, it really was an idiotic amount of stregth. He could understand how Lollit’s shield was broken so easily like that.
Thal’s body was wide open.
YuWon’s sword thrusted in at that opportunity.
At that moment…
[‘Shield of the Round Table’ protects your target.]
Clang—!
A blue shield blocked for Thal in front of him.
YuWon frowned a little and turned his head.
Lollit’s defense.
If given some time, there was no problem breaking through just as he did before, but it wouldn’t be as easy to do that this time.
“Thal!”
“I know!”
Thal swung his sword again.
One shield and one sword. The two moved as if they were one body.
It was precise. The joint effort of the two felt like facing a monster with four arms, four legs, and two heads.
But YuWon knew of a monster much stronger than this.
‘Compared to Asura…’
He was used to chaotic battles.
Son OhGong and Asura.
YuWon was someone who had already fought against the top fighters the Tower had to offer. On top of that, his condition right now was much better than at those times.
Fwooosh—
[Cinder Eyes predicts the battle.]
One of the abilities of [Cinder Eyes,] battle prediction.
YuWon ignored Lollit’s shield and dodged Thal’s sword.
Although the effects of [Sky Steps] were over, Thal actually felt that the YuWon he was facing now was much faster than before.
‘What is this movement…?’
No matter how he swung his sword, he couldn’t catch YuWon. It felt as if he was facing not a human but a ghost. It felt as if he was swinging into thin air.
He felt contact on his blade sometimes, but he couldn’t erase the feeling that he was just missing.
Of course, it wasn’t just him who was frustrated.
‘How tricky.’
The combination of offense and defense. It was hard to both aggressively or defensively attack this combo. YuWon’s options were either breaking their unity, or separating them. Or…
‘To break through with even greater strength.’
It was a shield that wouldn’t be broken with full-body [Gigantification] alone.
That meant he needed to pull out his remaining power.
A method came to mind.
‘Let’s try.’
A way to increase his strength that wasn’t through a skill.
A smile started to appear on YuWon’s face as he pummeled Lollit’s shield.
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Translator - Jreaming
Proofreader - BringTheRayn
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Lollit’s two legs were firmly planted in the ground.
Bang—!
The shock felt from the sword was definitely extraordinary, but at least he was getting used to it to a certain degree now.
‘Thal will stop his attacks right about now.’
Flick—!
At the continuous sword slashes from Thal, YuWon’s attacks stopped for a moment.
It was expected. Even if YuWon’s strength was great, there was no way for him to push through and ignore the attacks that were aimed for his neck.
“Huuh, huak—”
Drip—
Blood flowed down Thal’s body.
His arm was shaking, and his endurance was running out. As time passed, the effect of the penalty was getting stronger and stronger.
‘I need to aim for a final strike.’
Grip—
Rather than a shield, Lollit grabbed a sword with his other hand. He couldn’t keep defending any more.
In this situation, time was their enemy. The only thing important now was quickly ending this battle.
It was then…
“Lollit.”
Thal, who was breathing heavily, called out to Lollit.
“Just… buy me some time.”
Lollit’s eyes grew wide. He recognized that Thal had put his determination into something.
“How long?”
“As long as you can.”
“Will you be alright?”
Thal’s body was already under too much stress from the penalty. There was a chance that the following final attack could lead to his destruction.
“There’s a chance you might die every time you fight, right?” Thal gritted his teeth. “We need to try.”
“…Alright.”
Bang—!
Lollit nailed his shield into the ground.
In that moment, his shield enlarged with blue mana. It now looked not like a shield but a rampart.
As he activated his skill, sparks exploded out from Lollit’s body.
Bzzt, bzzzzt—!
“Kugh…”
Feeling a level of the penalty he hadn’t felt before for the first time in his life, Lollit grit his teeth. It was a level of pain that was hard to withstand. The will of the Tower was speaking directly to him, telling him to not mess around anymore.
‘I can’t do that.’
Thal had put his life on the line. He, who was directly attacking a player, was probably withstanding a level of penalty stronger than he was.
That meant that Lollit couldn’t just sit around either.
With death on the line, Lollit shouted, “Hurry!”
“I know!”
Rumble—
In the sky above, a huge, transparent sword made of mana fell down.
Thal had grabbed his sword and thrust it into the ground.
If Lollit’s skill was the greatest shield he had, this was the greatest sword Thal had.
‘With this one strike…’
‘We’ll end it.’
Thal used a powerful skill, and Lollit was standing protecting him.
If this ended in failure, the fight would end.
Now, YuWon was the one who needed to block.
However…
Step—
YuWon instead took a step towards the duo.
“He’s… coming toward us?’
“Is he committing suicide?”
The range of the sword was different from last time. Despite taking an intense level of the penalty, this was one of the most powerful skills Thal had.
Even if the skills YuWon had shown were incredible, there was no chance he could face this head on.
“Just what makes him so confident…”
Bzzzt—
An odd air swirled around YuWon. An incredible amount of Arcane Power was felt, enough to make them forget that he was just a player, not a Ranker. A completely different feeling was coming from him.
‘This sensation is familiar.’
‘But there’s no way…’
Step—
He came even closer. The sensation became even clearer, and they had to believe the unbelievable.
One of the rulers of the Tower. The existences that were born together with giants and dragons, those who have a special power.
“Demonic Energy…”
Demons.
Demonic power could be felt in conjunction with Arcane Power from YuWon’s body.
