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Chapter 292: Labrador

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While everyone else was feeling the shock, the one with the fastest recovery speed was Zelga.

In fact, his surprise only lasted upon the first word that Elder Blue spoke and for the rest of the things he had said, he became confident.

—confident that Elder Blue Draco was referring to him as the ‘Best of the Best in the Crop’.

Because of him having the Intel he gained from his past *avatar, he came to know at least 90% of the past King Candidates’ information since The Legion was pursuing two very special S-ranked Quests (1st is the Knights of the Round, 2nd is The Providence Quest) which had some form of connection with Altair’s legacy. (A/N: *Life? LOL, reincarnation?)

His overall facial features was a slight alteration of his real-world face and as such, he was positive that no one will be able to point a finger at him and say that he was Volga from The Legion.

Besides, as much humiliating as it is, he knew that angry and demeaning fingers and words will be sent his way once he came back to The Legion as a defeated Volga and so, swallowing his pride and his ego, he set out to eradicate The Legion by using the Wall of Jeremiah Knight Order’s uniform, or better yet, issuing a Blacklist Bounty Mission by being the next King of Jeremiah.

“Not only that, I also have to make her my woman no matter what!”

Despite his anger and prejudice against Kladis, he also had this great ambition that’s fueling his desire… and more than his hate against Kladis, he detested Siva more because of the simple fact that he get to enjoy Scion’s pampering.

In his mind, just thinking about that guy, that devil-skinned, abominable existence, Siva, ravaging her body at night and then she’d happily accept him and even wish for another round while making an adorable pouting face –the very things he himself had experienced before with the many different women he’d played with as both Prince Volga and Prince Zola, his blood will always boil in rage and he’d always lose composure and start to activate [Elementis] without his control.

Well, in the first place, he really does can’t even control how this [Elementis] work.

He found out that its effect was magnificently not just good but brilliantly awesome, with its only big drawback being a [PASSIVE] ability.

Zelga found this really irritating. Is this the price he had to pay with this ability? An ability he can’t control at will is as good as a useless ability. What if it came to a life and death situation and he can’t even activate it at will?

Should he have just chosen something NOT from the [Spirit] stat then?

Just thinking about how Siva became a famous name with his [Killing Zone], another reason why Zelga felt his blood boiling in rage as he, again, found himself behind Siva’s footprints, trailing only on his dust clouds on both controlling their Unique Abilities and also in women.

As such, while he was seated there, basking in his personal glory in his mind, at the moment that his thoughts wandered in this direction, his smile of confidence vanished as [Elementis] activated all on its own.

Zzzzzuuuuuuu….

Just right above Zelga’s head, accompanied by a buzzing seething sound, small bluish white Portal-of-sorts vortexes numbering twelve in total burst out from thin air.

The vortexes had a swirling mirror-like center as they formed there in a seemingly grand display of might, establishing a 12-point Magic Circle.

POOF!!

Right after the popping sounds, the vortexes became 12 different symbols with differing colors and glows.

If Magic Scholars could see these 12 runic symbols, they would jump in joy to actually witness such a formation because these unique and very mysterious runic symbols were what make up what the Terrans call the [Circle of Life]:

Four [Mortal Elements]

----- Earth

----- Wind

----- Fire

----- Water

Two [Earthen Elements]

----- Metal

----- Poison

Two [Eternal Elements]

----- Nature

----- Lightning

Three Universal Grand Magic Laws

----- Gravity

----- Space

----- Time

And lastly, the [Eternal Sphere of Balance]

----- Yin (Dark) and Yang (Light)

These are the twelve aspects of the Circle of Life that also ultimately translates to what Scholars call as the building blocks of “Magic”; the very thing that Enchanters are trying to create when they embed these symbols into talismans. (A/N: I’ll be sure to always replay this information to the succeeding chapters that these details will be mentioned, for references. And by the way, Black Element, the hardest physical element, used primarily as main material for BlackTech, is under Metal Element… to avoid confusion. Read footnote [1] later on for a bit of elaboration regarding this confusing plot element… some readers were actually demanding me to elaborate on them so I will use this chapter to do so…. albeit just a bit.)

Elementis is an ability that absorbs the Mana of an attacking magic —no, to put it correctly, as long as Zelga is hit by anything imbued by an attacker’s Mana, as long as the conditions are right, it will go and absorb the Mana and then initiate Elementis.

And the effect…

WHOOSH!!

After the seething buzzing sounds, the vortexes all connected to each other and made a single Magic Circle behind Zelga.

This is a 12-layered magic spell hovering behind Zelga’s head!!

XIUUUUUUUUUUUUUU……!!!

An ear-tingling seething sound rung behind him; it was like the constant compression of hydraulic shock-absorbing shafts or the nonstop fuming of exhaust gasses from a large geyser!

From the moment the vortexes appeared, and the moment when it turned into Runes, it only took for it half of a single second.

And from the time the symbols connected into the Magic Circle they are seeing now, it also only took half a second less.

In just a second, a grand magic circle of very high standards formed behind Zelga and he himself wasn’t aware that he had activated his Ability, Elementis, as a coincidental reaction to his agitated emotions and the still lingering Mana that Elder Blue Draco’s voice delivered to his body.

What more, this is not an ordinary magic spell.

It was a summoning circle!

If Coralline was here she would be surprised for this Magic Circle was similar to her most powerful Magic Spell that was made up of Tier-4 Talismans, the «Penta-Hadron Annihilating Barrier»!!

Though “Spirits” doesn’t exist in RPG: Terroa and that the so called ‘summoning’ is but an illusory result of the World Altering Phenomena (A/N: the official RPG: Terroa’s Humans’ scientific term for Magic), these ‘phenomena’ still takes the forms of creatures and sometimes even humanoid beings.

“What?!!”

“That’s a—!!”

“By the Gods…… is that Labrador?!!”

“Dragon! Why’s that blasted True Dragon here?!!”

“Zelga!”

“Hohoho… interesting.”

Of course, as NPCs rich with battle experiences, these old men were the first to recover and react to their senses.

Elder Blue Draco just caressed his long beard and laughing while saying ‘interesting’ all the time….

All these happened in the next second where a translucent-bodied monster with four limbs that looked like a cross of a panther and a dog, with a scaly body and spiky bony protrusions on its limbs and back had croc-like bladed long tail, it jumped out and shook its body as if it had just taken a dip in a river, then roared mightily, filling the space of the entire hall with its deadly might.

On Zelga’s vision, a series of prompts appeared:

[Elementis had been summoned!!]

[Elementis had taken a form as Labrador True Dragon!]

[You have entered a half-state of being in contract with a True Dragon!]

[The “True Dragon’s Contract” is in half-effect!]

[Dragon’s Blessings had been granted. Penalty applied because of authenticity issues. All the blessing’s effects have been halved!]

[All stats will only improve by 10% due to penalty!]

[Elementis - Labrador cannot be unsummoned until it is either killed or the ability is cancelled.]

[Ability cooldown time will start after the ability is dispelled.]

[Elementis – Labrador has locked on target.]

“Hm? Locked on target? That’s new.”

Majority of the prompts he saw were new to him although he had read them before or is aware of it because of his past connection to The Legion in the past.

“And I can touch the prompt… I wonder if…”

“Hohoho…”

In the outside, Zelga could be seen as if he was in a daze. Before Zelga could even think about on pressing the glowing blue prompt saying [locked on target], a short Santa-laughter drifted on his ears and made him aware of the surroundings.

Some of the people inside panicked while some of them froze in shock, staring at the creature that jumped out of the summoning circle.

Dragon!

A True Dragon!

Its aura, its appearance, those eyes, those pair of dreadful blade-like wingtips, that presence… all of the old men were familiar with it while the seven other King Candidates were all frightened by it.

Although for a True Dragon, it was similarly small being just 10m long, 4m wide, and 7m high, it is because it was inside this hall right now.

If Elementis – Labrador were to get outside, it will immediately assume its original size and will have an easy 4km-size or perhaps even more!

Elder Blue Draco was more familiar with it.

He had killed Labrador before and so he knew perfectly well its real might.

The reason why the King Candidates were all scared is because although they were in a city, if Elementis – Labrador were to be released here, then the city will undergo a [State of Calamity] that will cancel the “Safe Zone” effect, rendering everything inside the wall of the city vulnerable to destruction……… just like what happened to Dragona back then!

This is Elementis……. a Spirit Beast, and it takes the [form] of the strongest creature the owner of the Mana had slayed. The strength of the «Spirit Beast» depends on the peak of power that the creature was in when it was still alive.

[Elementis] is a very powerful ability but it has its seven major drawbacks:

>>>> 1) it can only be used once every four days;

>>>> 2) the ability consumes 99% of Mana pool;

>>>> 3) the summoned Spirit Beast (as it is currently) cannot be controlled;

>>>> 4) it can defend and counter anyone that will attack Zelga, but can never initiate an assault to the surroundings —aside from annihilating who Zelga recognized as his “enemy(ies)” upon the ability’s activation;

>>>> 5) since the strength of Elementis depends on the last peak state the summoned creature has been before its defeat on the hands of Zelga’s attacker, it only means that Zelga had to actually survive the attacker’s Mana-imbued strike for him to be able to trigger Elementis and summon the Spirit Beast as his protector;

>>>> 6) while Elementis is summoned, Zelga can’t recover his Mana unless he dismiss the ability or the summoned creature dies; and

>>>>7) once Elementis is defeated, the one who killed Elementis can get the [Form] as a whole carcass in his loot inventory.

So in a way, Elementis is like a double edged sword that could cut both the wielder and the very owner of the ability —subjective to the current state of circumstances.

It depended on many things like the strength of the defeated monster while it is still alive; the strength of the player who dealt the last blow; the fact that his opponents can kill the current [Form] of Elementis and use it as monster resource for use; but at the same time having a dependable ‘protective’ instinct.

“Interesting… very interesting ability…”

Seeing this creature, Elder Blue Draco couldn’t help but beam widely as he saw, after so many years, the “Dragon” that gave him his title of being a Dragon Slayer, and the very creature that had, at times, plagued his dreams and became a bane.

WHOOSH!!

After another second passed, the seven other King Candidates recovered and jumped out of their seats to retreat as far away from Zelga as possible.

They had all understood at least the advantages of this [Initial Ability] and how, during the Knight Exams, he directly received a magic attack from another Knight Candidate and summoned a Lapis Lazuli who rampaged and trashed every opponent he had in the entirety of the exams.

*****

Elder Blue Draco was not a magnanimous fellow.

If something, he was a calculative and ambitious snake in Terran clothing.

He received his seat and place as a Grand Knight in the Knight Order not because it was bestowed to him but because he schemed for it.

In terms of actual combat ability, he was the least tad qualified to wear one of the only three Grand Knight Insignias. Yet because all of the previous Grand Knights had died during their missions outside the headquarters, all of the three highest-ranking Senior Knights at the time had to step up and take the role of leading the Knight Order.

He was the 3rd highest-ranking Knight back then.

And even during that time when Labrador attack a city under the jurisdiction of The Wall, only after 70% of his Knight Division had died to weaken the creature did he step up and dealt the killing blow.

In a way, his title of “Dragon Slayer” wasn’t earned with his own blood and sweat.

The moment he saw this small-scaled Labrador True Dragon 7m high and 10m long being warry of the surroundings but still serving as Zelga’s protector, hints and flashes of schemes instantly formed in his mind.

It was his character. His ambitions were high. If Olaf, no, Carl from PANORAMA CORP. would see this NPC, and if only the PANORAMA CORP. will could take back their control over the Janus System, then they would immediately recognize the AI thought-pattern of this NPC to be way off the ‘standard’ intended scale.

This was an example of the now ‘many’ NPC’s that had already gained sentience in the world of Terroa, and ultimately is a bane since it has the very potential to grow in strength alongside the players.

—meaning, if given time, if it grows stronger than this current level, then based on his personality algorithm, his greed would lead him to liquidate players and create high-levelled events that will in turn create dissatisfaction from the player crowd that will in turn affect their entire business charts.

Draco looked at the expression of the confident new guy in the Knight Order and he saw there the same look of ambition and shrewdness he always see in the mirror everyday.

A smile broke on his lips then, “You’re Zelga?”

Upon being called, Zelga stood up and patted the head of [Elementis Labrador] to calm it down. He wasn’t a stupid and blind person and because he himself grew up in a battlefield of schemes where politics is but a walk in the park, it wasn’t hard for him to see through the perceptiveness radiating off the smile of the old knight.

After giving a knight salute, Zelga introduced his name and then said, “I apologize for my reaction on your speech earlier, Sir. It’s just that my ability is reactive to all Mana and because it was really a huge surprise for me to actually have the honour of being at your presence, I just had to show off a little to impress the great panel led by you, Sir.”

Zelga bowed not too low and not too shallow.

His tone and choice of words indicated his smart personality and experience in politics.

Complementing the other party before taking the chance to insert a bit of ‘character’ to imprint a bit of impression in their minds —a basic tactic in the art of negotiation!

His actions looked very humble to the eyes of the other people but Elder Draco was happy because it seems that the two of them had come to an unspoken understanding.

Draco’s smile became even wider.

“Ahahaha… I like your attitude, kid.”

After he spoke here, he looked at the eight as a whole and spoke as an official, “You know, in this year’s King Tests, supposedly, there should only be one Council Elder that will preside over it, but after careful deliberation from the Council, we have decided to put in two Elders instead. And it just so happens that that other Elder is me. Yet as a Grand Knight of my Knight Order, although I am a little bias to judge my verdict in favor of my own faction, it is still up to His Majesty, The King’s, tests to decide who will be King so what I can only do is train and prepare you young lads so that you will not disappoint our faction.”

While he was speaking, the other 18 Division Commanders, the Senior Knights of The Wall, all looked at him with differing expressions.

Some were incredulous, some were smiling; some were indifferent; while some were angry.

Draco ignored it and continued, “Still, I am here in front of you lads not as a Council Member but as one of your Senior Officers. My task here is for you all to receive your training guides.”

After this, Draco waved his hand and multiple pop-up windows appeared in their visions; they were missions they have to complete and almost all of them were B-Ranked with a few being even higher than that… with even two continent-shaking S-Ranked missions.

Such scale, and it was only preparation missions.

The seven of them were having a hard time trying to catch their breaths, but not Zelga. He wasn’t a bit concerned by the missions in his panel because right now, he was reading a personal message from Elder Blue Draco.

[Lad, I heard your ability can be used as monster resource if they defeat it. Are you interested on building a partnership with this old man? I will not mistreat you and I can even prepare a contract so you can have my word. What I only desire is the monster resource and upon so, we get 50% each of the harvest. I will do the hard work, of course, to save you the trouble. How about it? Are you interested?]

.

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Draco….. a strong villain entered the fray!!

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