Chapter 34: The Cause of War

Sila looked at the sight in front of him with the eyes filled with anger. The man in front of him was Montra, his final objective for playing this game, the one who Sila desired to drive into pain and torture.

“You’re still looking as weak as before. I can’t believe you followed me into this game,” said Montra.

“Where is my teacher?” asked Sila. That was Sila’s first question he had wanted to ask once he met Montra.

“Your teacher? … He is with my teacher.”

“I’m not interested in whom my teacher was with. I want to know where he is. What have you done to my teacher?” shouted Sila.

“I can do anything I want. It’s my business. A loser like you doesn’t have the right to ask,” said Montra. “I heard that you would like to kill me, wouldn’t you? Can you really do that though?”

He laughed. The people behind him also laughed.

Sila’s face distorted with rage. He tried to circulate qi but it wasn’t effective. His qi needed to be used to suppress Bomb Lurking Psychic all the time. It couldn’t be used in combat.

“However, I’m a kind person. I’ll give you a chance. If you win against me now, I’ll tell you where your teacher is,” said Montra.

“Are you for real?”

“Of course, if you can though,” Montra said that while gesturing with his hand to tell everyone to not disturb.

In the real world, Montra’s abilities would be considered just slightly higher than Sila. But in the game that Sila had just entered, it was absolutely certain that Sila couldn’t win against Montra who had played the game for years. This shouldn’t be called a duel. It was a public execution.

Sila didn’t have a choice. If it was about the Sword Emperor, Sila would flee once given a chance. But it was different now. His opponent was Montra. Even if he didn’t stand a chance, he still couldn’t run away. Running away here would affect his confidence in future confrontations.

Once he had to fight, he must be able to fight.

Realizing that, Sila took out a bottle of qi-recovering pills and poured all of them into his mouth. The light of qi power shined brightly. Sila threw the empty bottle away.

The sound of the bottle breaking was a starting signal.

Sila stopped circulating Unblemished Aqua. With the overwhelming amount of qi that ran through his body right now, the power of Bomb Lurking Psychic was automatically suppressed for a while. But this action of his was like stopping thirstiness by drinking poison. It only helped his body for a short period. Once his qi depleted, the after pain would be tremendous and his body would explode with pain.

But this wasn’t the time to think about it. The only thought in Sila’s brain currently was: how can he beat Montra in a short period of time? And the only answer he could come up with was a hidden weapon.

Sila swiftly moved his hands. Suddenly, six red knives flew out of his hands towards Montra with tremendous speed and destructive power. All six of them were fused with both Qi of Little Tiger and Qi of Little Bird.

Montra showed a surprised expression once he saw that Sila could use hidden weapons. However, he didn’t flinch as he flicked his robe. Then, the two-meter-long unique mage staff appeared in his hand. The staff had the shape of a Chinese dragon holding a marble in its mouth.

Montra spun the staff and then all the knives were swept away. Nevertheless, once all six of them had been deflected, another twenty of them flew at him.

It was Sila who fired another batch of hidden weapons at him with the help of Qi of Little Fish as soon as he had finished firing the first batch.

Montra lifted the staff into the sky, using magic power to create a shield in front of him. It could easily defend against all the hidden weapons.

“Is this all you can do?” said Montra. He flicked the staff and then around fifty fireballs appeared in the air, floating.

Sila looked at the sight with astonishment. He really wouldn’t be able to dodge them.

“Flame Meteor Showe—” Montra was about to release his fireballs to attack Sila. However, all of the fireballs suddenly disappeared.

Sila smiled. This was his only chance. His remaining time was almost over. He fired another six hidden weapons towards Montra.

Montra was still curious as to why his skill had been stopped. Once he spotted the coming hidden weapons, he then flicked his staff to deflect them again. “Same as ever.”

However, looking closely, Sila had gone. However, an expert like Montra could easily detect that Sila had moved to his right side and was concentrating power.

Montra concentrated magic power into the staff, making the dragon’s eyes on the staff to shine brightly. He turned his body to the right side to handle Sila. However, he immediately sensed “Mental Oppression” behind him. It posed a threat greater than Sila, causing him to turn his attention to.

He was surprised. That threat was actually a small brown ball charging straight at him at a high speed. It shone brightly with qi power.

At the same time, Sila fired his remaining qi-fused knives towards Montra.

To defend both attacks thrown at him from different sides, it was indeed a difficult task to do. It was like writing with both of his hands at the same time. However, Montra was deserved to be called one of the Four Emperors, even with this situation that he didn’t have time to chant a spell, he concentrated magic power into his staff and spun it around to thrust at the ball, causing it to bounce off. Then, he evaded all the knives in the last second.

He actually was able to evade them all. But there was a long wound left on his left cheek.

His blood was dropping slowly. Montra was looking at the ball he had thrust and then realized that it actually was a small bird.

Sila’s power was completely depleted from his last attack. He was spitting blood. His eyes were filled with regret that his last knife wasn’t able to kill Montra.

Since Sila had come out of the ship, he had been keeping Lookhin in his chest for an emergency. It was his trump card in case that his body wasn’t in good condition. Previously, at the time Montra released the power of Flame Meteor Shower, he had ordered Lookhin to active Golden Needle to stun Montra. Later, he threw knives to cause a misdirection and then ordered Lookhin with Mind Connection to simultaneously attack Montra from both sides. Nevertheless, they failed.

“Make me wondered for a moment. But in the end, it’s just a weakling and a sparrow working together. Well, it seems you were hurt before the battle,” said Montra.

Sila didn’t respond. He lost again. His plan hadn’t worked. Now he could only circulate Recovering Qi to delay his inevitable death. He looked at Lookhin that was twitching on the floor as if it was about to die.

Sila felt tears swell up. Even if this was only a game, his intimacy towards it was real.

Sila said “Seal” softly to seal Lookhin inside his ring. He remembered that keeping a pet in the ring helped it recover faster. Sila hoped that it would work.

‘We are too weak,’ thought Sila.

After this, he decided he would train himself and Lookhin so much more than this. From the previous battle, he was fully aware that Montra hadn’t been serious at all. This was the gap between their ability that couldn’t be filled in a short period of time.

“I’m sorry, Sila. It seems you will not gain knowledge of your teacher’s whereabouts again. I really pity you. Well, goodbye again.” Montra said with an expressionless tone. It was as if what was in front of him was something unworthy to be emotional about.

Montra lifted his staff empowering by magic power. The dragon’s eyes were shining brightly again. But Sila in his current state couldn’t even move his body. All he could do was close his eyes. Although this was a game, although he could revive upon dying, those facts didn’t make him feel at ease at all.

‘It ends here,’ thought Sila.

*Crash!!* A crashing sound could be heard across the city port. Sila who was closing his eyes still couldn’t feel pain. Was being dead supposed to feel like this? There was no pain. Only darkness and the utter despair presented.

Sila opened his eyes slowly. In front of him was a man standing between him and Montra. That man was wearing Wuxia clothes. His body looked strong and muscular. Sila was at his back so his face wasn’t visible for Sila to see. All he could see was that man’s hand was holding the staff with dragon’s head.

“Are you going to interfere?” Montra said before jumping back to stand next to Cross who was showing a serious expression.

The man who just entered the scene didn’t reply back. He turned his body to face Sila while handed Sila a bottle of pills similar to the bottle that contained qi-recovering pills Sila had just eaten.

“It seems we finally meet again.”

Sila took the bottle and looked at the man. Sila could instantly recognize him. This man was the man who participated in a duo quest at Mansion of Seven Deadly Sins with him.

Lone Wolf, the Qi Emperor.

Sila tried to talk to him, but the sudden sharp pain prevented him to do that. He had no qi left to circulate Recovering Qi anymore.

“Just take one pellet and circulate Recovering Qi first. We can talk later,” said Lone Wolf.

Sila poured a pellet into his hand. This pellet wasn’t brown like what he had eaten. It was golden and had a faint aura spreading around it. Sila didn’t have time to think much since the pain was getting all over his body. He swallowed it.

As soon as the pellet entered his mouth, it left a sweet aroma and a cold feeling inside. However, as soon as it was swallowed, his body felt warm and hot. It didn’t take long for his qi to replenish. Sila didn’t hesitate to close his eyes and started circulating Recovering Qi right away.

Once Lone Wolf saw that Sila was in better condition, he smiled. Then, he turned back to face against Montra and Cross.

“It’s unbelievable to see both of you working together,” said Lone Wolf.

“For mutual benefit, even an enemy can become an ally,” replied Cross.

“I’ll be direct with you. Can you let this man go?”

“Lone Wolf, do you know Sila?” asked Montra.

“You could say that, but at the same time, we are not acquaintances.”

“What does that mean?”

“I had met him once. But we don’t personally know each other, that’s it,” answered Lone Wolf.

Both Montra and Cross felt curious. Why would Lone Wolf involve himself for a man whom he had met only once?

“In that case, it’s best for you not to get involved, don’t you agree? Especially for someone you don’t know.” Montra suggested.

“I cannot accept that. If you guys don’t agree, I’ll have no choice but to force my way out with him.”

“Do you really intend to force your way out of the combined forces of Royal Armament and Heavenly Dragon Guilds? Hahaha.” Cross laughed.

“Well, when I forced my way to come here, I wasn’t stopped by anyone, was I?” Lone wolf said with an expressionless tone, causing Cross to stop laughing immediately.

Based on energy type, qi type was considered the type that provided players the most basic stats. Thus, about Lone Wolf’s speed; although it wasn’t quicker than Shadow Emperor; it was considered quicker than both Montra and Cross.

“Why?” asked Montra.

‘Why is everyone on Sila’s side?’ was what he wanted to convey. But he stopped his question mid-way. This situation didn’t just occur once, but twice, including that time.

“It’s because I’m not like some kind of people. Do you know why I decided to play as qi-type? It’s because qi-typed players are usually honest and straight. Even if some are villains, they would call themselves a villain, not claiming themselves as righteous. We’re not like somebody that although claiming himself as righteous, his behaviors are not different from a bandit, no, even worse than a bandit. We’re also not like someone who can’t get a girl himself and then take his revenge on others. Why doesn’t he himself realize that the reason he can’t win a girl’s heart is because of his lack of ability?”

Lone Wolf answered, his eyes were fixated at Montra and Cross.

“You…” Cross’s anger was surging up. That last comment was obviously directed at him.

“I still don’t understand, Lone Wolf. What do you have to dare insulting us like this? If we’re fighting one on one, it might be a close fight. But if we combine our power, with you having Sila as a burden, there’s no way you will survive.”

Montra said that without being interested in what Lone Wolf had just said about his behavior being worse than a bandit.

“Do you know the reason I’m late?” asked Lone Wolf, and as two of them didn’t seem to come up with an answer, he continued, “It’s because I have heard that two of Four Emperors were going to gang up on a single new player. At first, I didn’t believe the news, as that is the most disgraceful and cowardly action. However, once it was confirmed, I felt ashamed of my title that was grouped together with you guys. Thus, I contacted a certain someone whom also felt the same way. Then, we appointed to come here together. That’s the reason why I’m late.”

Cross was so angry that it showed on his face. He had endured Lone Wolf bad-mouthing him long enough. Meanwhile, Montra stayed as calm as ever. One couldn’t say it was because he himself didn’t care or wasn’t interested.

At the same time, a black shadow appeared beside Lone Wolf. Then, a figure dressed in black robes was slowly rising from that shadow. Under his black robes were also black clothes. His face was covered by a skull-shaped mask. However, everyone here could tell who this man was.

Zero, the Shadow Emperor.

“Now it becomes two versus two.” Lone Wolf said with a smile on his face.

“Zero, what are you doing participating in this matter? This is completely unrelated to you, isn’t it?” said Cross.

Shadow Emperor was the only one among the Four Emperors that was an individual player. Besides, among all Four Emperors, his ability was considered inferior only to Montra. These facts meant the Shadow Emperor was insanely strong.

No one ever knew the face behind that mask. Even Montra and Cross were impressed that Lone Wolf was able to contact Zero.

“I just agree with Lone Wolf’s opinion. I’m ashamed to be grouped together with you guys. Your actions are very disgraceful.”

The Shadow Emperor was the most volatile among four. He did everything he wanted to do without caring for consequence. He was the first to release his black qi to circulate around himself, causing Sila to feel discomfort.

Lone Wolf saw that, so he also released his qi to protect Sila.

Seeing both of their opponents increasing their power, Montra and Cross also had to release their magic and psychic power to compete.

The atmosphere around the city port turned into the worst state. The powerful auras clashing together, causing the sparking sound.

A war that should have happened in five months seemed to breakout here and now, with Sila being the cause of it.