Peniel who saw the glowing plate, exclaimed, "That is a recall plate!"
"A recall plate?" Jack asked.
"It is a consumable that summons the owner when a specific condition happens," Peniel explained.
"What specific condition?"
"It depends on the owner of that plate. The condition was inputted into the plate before it was sent or given away."
Before Jack could ask any more questions, the plate exploded with bright light. Jack hurriedly jumped a few steps back. Where the plate was, now stood a man. Or, something that looked like a man.
It was a humanoid with heavy armor. The reason Jack was not sure if it was a man was because of its face. Behind the helmet was a face with dark skin, white eyes without a pupil, and... no mouth?
"He is of the Ethereal race," Peniel informed.
'Ethereal? Oh! That's one of the seven main races of this world. The one that dominates the Liguritudum Realm,' Jack thought. He was rather surprised with himself to have remembered the name of the country.
Another point was, his radar showed a black dot, which meant the person in front was an enemy player, not a native. There was also a God-eye monocle on the ethereal. Jack used inspect on the person.
Master (Warlock, level: 34)
HP: 5,060
Guild: World Maker
'Master? Isn't him the one that World Maker people keep on referring to? So he is an Ethereal?' Jack thought. He looked at the person. This was the leader of the group that had been targeting him. He looked around. No one else was appearing? Did the boss come here all by himself without bringing any minions?
Still, one thing puzzled him. What the deal's with this man's HP? Isn't it too high for a player? It almost doubled his own. Not to mention this master's level was lower than him.
This Master was looking at the dark sky above. "Sangrod Empire?" Jack heard a deep voice in his mind. He didn't see Master making any facial movements but Jack somehow knew the voice came from the man. Peniel had informed before that the Ethereal race communicated by projecting their thoughts telepathically.
Master then looked down at the recall plate that had now broken in two.
"Useless dolt. So he had died. Well, that was expected, he is only good for tracking," Jack heard the telepathic voice again. Master must be referring to Sinful. The Recall Plate was probably set to activate when its bearer died.
Master finally laid his eyes on Jack, "Are you Storm Wind?" He asked.
Jack replied with his mouth. "I am. You are the boss of the group that has been giving me trouble?"
Instead of answering Jack's question, Jack heard his opponent's voice again, laced with unconcealed disdain, "Just like a thief, you hide your information from others. Now, I will give you a chance to redeem your sin. Follow me back willingly and surrender the Lightning God Blessing. I will let you retain your levels and other possessions."
"Sorry, I am not in the habit of following any pompous schmuck who speaks and acts like they are larger than life. So you can choke that ostentatious attitude of yours up your f*cking arse!"
"Heh... I will enjoy ripping that Lightning God Blessing out of you," Master said.
Jack didn't just taunt Master, he had been giving a silent signal to Heathcliffe, who had been away to pick his mace. That companion of his was currently creeping behind Master. When Heathcliffe was almost in range, he jumped out and swung his mace at Master's back.
Master moved his one hand to the back as a shield appeared and blocked Heathcliffe's attack. Jack didn't expect Heathcliffe's sneak attack to succeed, that Master had a God-eye monocle, after all. When Master was blocking Heathcliffe's attack, Jack had used Charge to arrive before him.
A large sword appeared in Master's other hand and clashed with Jack's sword.
"So, you have dual-class as well," Jack said. Considering his opponent's data was a Warlock while he used a sword, shield, and wore heavy armor, it was a safe bet. Jack used Flame Strike. Master did the same.
Power Strike and Flame Strike met. It was Jack who was pushed back several meters away. At the same time when Heathcliffe was going to take another swing, Master's shield glowed and slammed at Heathcliffe, pushing him a fair distance away as well.
Jack was astounded, both he and Master didn't suffer any damage, so it was unclear whose damage points were higher. However, one thing was clear. Master's strength stat was higher than him.
'That just now was shield bash, an exclusive skill from Knight class. Which meant he officially have a melee class aside from being a Warlock. A dual-class like you,' Peniel explained and confirmed Jack's previous words.
"Impressive, you didn't receive any damage. That means my damage didn't eclipse three times yours. Did you upgrade your Power Strike to the max as well?" Master asked.
"Probably," Jack said. His voice was calm, but he was warier now. Perhaps Wilted Tree's warning was warranted, but Jack didn't plan to leave just yet. His opponent was just one man. If they both were on the same playing field, no reason for Jack to be at a disadvantage.
Jack's Magic Weapon's duration had ended after the fight with Sinful, the falchion on his left hand had turned back to a magic staff. He replaced his magic staff with a random rare sword. He started to execute Formless Flowing Sword style.
"Enough with this farce!" Master declared. His sword disappeared, replaced by a magic staff. A spell formation was formed at an unbelievable speed.
Jack felt hot mana forming, he had no choice but to jump back just as a ring of fire circumvent Master. Another spell formation formed. The earth behind Jack rumbled, he turned and saw a very large hand made of earth was about to grab him.
Jack immediately used Shooting Dash to run away just as the titanic hand clamped down at where he was standing before. He couldn't get to Master because of the flame ring. He sensed very strong mana from those flames, he didn't think he would only get little damage from it.
Heathcliffe, on the other hand, was determined to get into a melee fight. He forced through the ring of fire. Flame coated his body and he suffered persistent damage of 100 points per second. But before the native could reach Master, another staff appeared on Master's hand, replacing the shield. Two spell formations were cast simultaneously.
'Dual casting!' Jack thought.
Magic Bind held Heathcliffe's movement while a large fiery lizard suddenly appeared near his feet. The lizard climbed onto Heathcliffe's body and stuck on him. The flame that was already on Heathcliffe's body raged even fiercer with the lizard's influence. The damage number increased.
Jack re-equipped his magic staff and was currently using it to shoot at Master from outside the fire ring. But all the shots hit Master's Magic Shield.
Jack used Shredding Fang while his left hand cast Arcane Turbulence. Master cast Barrier to black Jack's Shredding Fang with one hand while the other hand shot Mana Bullet at Heathcliffe. His Mana Bullet was larger than usual, when it hit Heathcliffe, it produced an explosion that threw the knight away.
Jack thought that Mana Bullet was even more powerful than Scarface's version. Master's staff that cast Mana Bullet produced another rapid spell formation that was completed just as Jack's Arcane Turbulence formed below him.
Master's body abruptly floated up just as the Arcane Turbulence take place.
"Flying spell!" Jack exclaimed.
"That is just floating," Peniel corrected.
Anyway, because Master was floating, he was out of melee reach from both his opponent. Jack could only use burst standard ranged shots at Master. His attack, though, was blocked by Master's Barrier. Since Master's HP was very high, his Barrier also could endure a lot of hits.
Two spell formations were formed again on both Master's magic staffs. One had four runes while the other had five runes. The four-rune spell formation was completed and a dark-red flaming whip shot out and caught Heathcliffe who had just managed to beat the fire-lizard off his body. He was now immobilized by the whip as the lizard breathed fire at him.
The five-rune spell was completed and suddenly a warrior appeared in front of Jack.
"A companion?" Jack yelled, but the one in front of him didn't look like a human. Its face was blank, without any eye, nose, or mouth. Jack felt like he was like looking at a mannequin. Very much like the one who he fought during his Blade Dancer test, except this one wore armors. This mannequin also carried two sabers on both hands.
"It's not a companion, it's an avatar...," Peniel said.
The avatar moved and attacked Jack with its two swords. Jack clashed with it using his sword and staff. Although he was using staff on his left hand, Jack could still use it as a make-shift sword to play his sword art.
While Jack was dealing with the avatar. Master was using his one free staff to cast another spell. A huge fireball flew down at Heathcliffe who was still bound by the dark-red whip.
"I... I don't think he has only two classes," Peniel uttered.
"What do you mean?!" Jack said while crossing swords with the avatar.
"He... He has exhibited skills and spells from at least four classes..." Peniel said.
