Chapter 36: Emperors’ Power

Although he was the one who started using a trump card, Cross was currently at loss of how to efficiently make a move. Qi-type players would be vulnerable toward these many Killing Psychic Swords of his, but it’s another story for magic-type players as they are usually armed with wide-area skills. To be concluded, Zero was absolutely in an overwhelming advantageous position.

“Kuku. Why don’t you hurriedly use that trump card of yours? I’ve already said before. Use it now or you won’t be able to do so.” Zero broke the silence.

Clueless of what to do, Cross decided to order tens of swords to strike. They were to measure Zero. All of them charged at Zero as their target. They were all shaking violently as if they could explode at any given time.

“Night Lance.” Zero waved his hand once. A silver ring on his middle finger weakly flashed. The air around Zero was distorted and turned into spears. Their number was exactly the same as the number of Cross’s charging swords.

All black spears charged at each sword. Upon contact, they absorbed the swords into nothingness, preventing them to explode.

“Dark element,” muttered Montra. He now realized that Zero was needed to be eliminated. The sooner the better.

Dark-elemental magic users are focused in destructive and absorption power. They don’t possess many defensive spells but are superior in offensive ability. The most powerful magic spell currently in the game is also the dark element. Montra’s concern wasn’t baseless. He noticed that Zero was able to cast a spell while moving with qi. With Zero’s terrifying speed, who would be able to stop his casting?

In Monster Soul, anyone could learn low-tier magic skills even if they aren’t magic-type player. However, without the supporting skill; Basic Magic; low-tier magic skills would be rendered useless as they can’t deal much damage. Next, mid-tier magic skills can be learned only among magic-type players. They have to choose a specific element in this phase though. They can still learn multiple elemental skills as long as those elemental skills are closely related to what element they choose. Lastly, high-tier magic skills are exclusive. One can learn only magic skills of the chosen element and cannot learn magic skills from other elements.

T/N: Although author has named it “Basic Magic,” it would be easier to understand if you think of it as “Magic Mastery” which passively increase the power of all magic-type skills. The same concept also applies to “Basic Qi” and “Basic Psychic.”

For the record, I decide to stick with the original names as changing them would result in “Qi Mastery” that would sound weird when MC circulate it. (Not to mention Basic Qi has evolved to Intermediate Qi and that would bring further confusion.)

For Montra, Zero choosing the dark element was a scam. Usually, magic-type player tends to choose fire element over a dark element. As the powerful ability of dark element is traded by becoming very vulnerable to an attack. However, Zero has no weakness in this aspect. He was a qi-type player. He simply wasn’t vulnerable to common-level attack.

Zero’s name was immediately marked as number one in Montra’s must-eliminate list.

“Now it’s my turn to attack. Be on guard, Cross,” said Zero.

Cross’s expression was gloomy. His enemy even told him he was going to be attacked. This was pure humiliation.

It was unacceptable. He is Sword Emperor Cross. Not run-of-the-mill player to be humiliated.

Zero put his palms together. Both of them were glowing with black qi. Upon putting his palms off, there was a black paper-thinned chakram floating on his hand.

“I call this Soul Seeking Chakram. If you are hit by it, you won’t get away with just a small injury as it’s infused with curses. Dodge it well, Cross,” said Zero. He opened his palm. The chakram was spinning by itself in high speed.

Cross was terrified. He ordered his swords to block the path between him and Zero. He also ordered some of the rest to keep attacking Zero.

Since he had used Infinite Sword Tomb, Cross was keeping his distance from Zero. Although he is used to fighting at close range, with Zero’s speed, he would be at disadvantage. Thus, he abandoned his usual fighting style and attacked in a long-range instead.

Meanwhile, Zero was an all-rounder. He was contrary to Sila who focus only on his strong points to make his weak points seem smaller. Zero instead used several methods to cover his own weaknesses. He is high-speed, strong in close-range combat. Although his attack power wasn’t on par with Lone Wolf, his attack instead harder to predict. He was packed with not only head-on attack but tricky ones. He even used a throwing weapon to cover his old weakness that he hadn’t possessed long-range attack skill. And now, He evolved even further by wielding magic skill to compensate for his lack of wide-area offensive ability.

Sila was awed. Zero reminded him of what his in-game teacher said when Sila had chosen Qi of Little Bird over Qi of Little Turtle. At that time, his teacher had disagreed with his choice but didn’t give much comment. He was waiting for a day Sila could realize his choice himself.

People like Zero must be the role model in Sila’s teacher mind. The Shadow Emperor might not have heaven-defying power but this man showed no weakness. Moreover, with only two of Qi of Little Divine Being, Zero could become one of top players as he was excellent at using them to a terrifying degree. Sila, on the other hand, possessed three of them. But his mastery of them was very lacking.

A core principle of qi type is to cultivate. Starts simple and grows step by step. He who obtained many qi skills too fast should be careful as it was a double-edged sword. He might have good skills. But his lack of understanding was fatal. While it was true that he could fight well against a low-leveled enemy, he would be less than a dust comparing to an expert.

His teacher Mora always tell Sila that the important thing is basic.

He instead became arrogant just by possessing many high-tier skills. Giving it a thought, in fact, except for Intermediate Qi, he had no other supportive skills.

A house without a strong base, no matter how splendor it is, it is bound to collapse easily. Sila knew it well. Despite that, he still didn't give it enough attention.

For now, he could only keep this thought in his mind. He decided to train himself again. This time from the basic.

The duel went on. Many of the swords charged at Zero, which he could easily dodge. Meanwhile, his thin Soul Seeking Chakram was separated into ten of it. They got thinner to the point that they became crystal clear and almost unable to see.

Zero flicked his wrist. All the chakrams flew around. Some flew right while some flew left. Some flew straight and some flew spinning around Cross.

Cross gritted his teeth. He controlled his swords to fend off chakrams. Nevertheless, chakrams were avoiding his swords as if they were a living being. Cross had to order his swords to self-explode, hoping for the blast to destroy chakrams. Unfortunately for him, even with that, there were still two chakrams left spinning at him without delay.

While the chakrams were inevitably going to hit Cross, something unexpected happened.

Chakrams missed their target. They just scratched Cross’s armor, leaving a trail but no damage to the flesh.

When everybody turned their head to look at Zero, they discovered a reason. Next to him were tens of light swords buried into the ground.

“Didn’t you say this is a one-on-one duel?” said Lone Wolf. His eyes were glaring at Montra.

The truth was revealed. Just now, when the winner of the fight was closed to be decided, Montra saw an opportunity and fired light swords at Zero, aiming to eliminate him here and now. However, Zero was a first-class player. Even when his focus was on the duel, he still was able to circulate Qi of Little Fish to barely evade Montra’s sneak attack. Unfortunately, with his focus shifting to dodge an attack, his control on chakrams was then cut off, resulting in a miss.

Although Montra would be glad if Cross were to die, right now wasn’t the right time. If Cross died, Zero and Lone Wolf might decide to combine their attacks on him. Thus, for now, Montra needed to save Cross’s life.

“There’s no need to keep my promise against the wrongdoers. This is a battlefield. Anything can happen,” replied Montra.

Sila was full of fury. Montra was the one who proposed for a one-on-one duel. But, when things seemed disadvantageous, he then despicably changed his mind and performed a sneak attack.

“Is that so? Then, don’t blame me for making my move,” coldly replied Lone Wolf.

“As I said, this is a battlefield. Everyone is free to make any move.”

Lone Wolf started expanding his qi and walked several steps forward. The atmosphere instantly became hotter.

“All of you, don’t pay attention to Lone Wolf and Zero. Go kill Sila,” ordered Montra. With that command, the Heavenly Dragon Guild members’ focus immediately locked onto Sila.

Lone Wolf frowned. He knew Montra wanted to distract him.

“Zero, please handle these guys. As for Montra, let me…” said Lone Wolf.

Halfway through the sentence, Zero had already made his move. He charged at an army. Both his hands glowed with black aura. He used a dark-elemental spell to create black fog, blocking his opponents within, and then jumped into that fog himself.

The screams echoed from within. No one could tell whatever happened in there as there was no escapee. The cries continued non-stop.

“As for you, Little Brother, if anything happens, you need to protect yourself,” said Lone Wolf, which Sila nodded.

Lone Wolf stepped forward to confront against Montra. Meanwhile, hearing the word protect made Sila concerned about Lookhin. He wondered whether it was getting better inside a ring.

“Release Lookhin.”

A light emerged from a ring. A little sparrow appeared on the floor. It twitched in pain. It seemed like the damage it had taken was fatal. Even high recovery rate within a ring couldn’t heal it well enough.

Sila didn’t think much. He took another pellet given to him from Lone Wolf and fed it to Lookhin.

Upon eating, Lookhin’s body was glowing with gold light. Its injury was completely healed.

A system alarmed.

[Monster Brown Sparrow Lookhin has achieved a certain condition. Its rank is promoted from Squire Rank to Dark Brown Sparrow, Knight Rank, Level 1.]

Sila had to look closely to see that there’s some black color on its fur. Its body size also seemed a little bigger from before.

Lookhin stood with its two little claws. It flew onto Sila’s head as if nothing was wrong with it. Sila felt glad that it was fine. He looked at a bottle of pellets Lone Wolf given to him. There were only two pellets left.

“It’s a very good item. I need to buy it myself later,” thought Sila.

Unbeknownst to Sila, he wouldn’t be able to obtain these pellets easily. These pellets are called Emperor Qi Pellet. Hermit could only produce five of them during his lifetime. Thousands of ingredients and more than 50,000 gold were spent into producing them. It was not an exaggeration to say that an enormous sum of Victorious Wolves Sect’s money was invested into these pellets. He gave them to Lone Wolf to use exclusively. Its effect was top-notch. It heals injuries and generates health point together with qi point. Maximum qi point is also increased tremendously. More importantly, it allows a creature to unconditionally, except being in qi-type, promote rank if the level has reached 1000.

Lone Wolf had eaten one of them before he went to fight against the Silver Griffin to promote his rank from Knight to Marquis. Hermit would cough up blood if he knew that Lone Wolf had given such precious pellet to Sila. He would even fell into a coma if he knew that Sila fed it to a sparrow.

In Monster Soul, increasing level wasn’t that hard. It just needed grinding. Rank promoting was much harder. Many players had ended up in Squire Rank, level 1000, while skilled players were struck at Knight Rank, level 1000. Even Lone Wolf was struck at Knight Rank for years until recently. Thus, the ability to promote the rank of Emperor Qi Pellet was priceless.

Sila looked at Zero’s fog direction. It was now starting to cover Royal Armament Guild’s members together with the Heavenly Dragon Guild’s. The cries still continued. Then, he shifted his sight to witness a fight between Qi Emperor and Magic Emperor.

There was hot vapor emitting from Lone Wolf’s body. This was a phenomenon causing by his famous qi.

Sun God Qi.

“I don’t have much time so allow me to unleash my full ability,” said Lone Wolf.

Montra didn’t answer. His body was glowing with white aura. Eyes of dragon locating at the tip of his mage staff were flashing continuously. Hundreds of magical light swords appeared around him.

Witnessing light swords’ number, Sila was concerned about Lone Wolf’s safety. Lone Wolf seemed to guess Sila’s concern. Thus, he turned his back to tell Sila something.

“Don’t worry. Do you forget that I also obtain a reward from the Mansion of the Seven Deadly Sins as well as you did?” said Lone Wolf. He paused for a while before privately sending a sound transmission to Sila, “If things turn out dangerously, please quickly flee from this place.”

Sila then remembered. He had obtained Greed Card and Lone wolf had gotten Pride Card. Although he didn’t know what ability it possessed, if Lone Wolf said so, he might really don’t have to worry.

Montra didn’t have a clue about conversion between the two. It seemed both Lone Wolf and Sila had gotten some reward from a place called the Mansion of the Seven Deadly Sins. Anyway, if it was a reward that Sila, a noob player, can obtain; such a reward shouldn’t be something big.

As if to prove that Montra’s thought was wrong, Lone Wolf opened his palm. Pride Card was floating on it. Both Sila and Montra looked at it with curiosity.

“Pride,” softly said one Wolf.

A card shattered into particles. Lone Wolf’s body emitted a golden, intense light. A system sound alarmed throughout the area.

[[Warning to all players. Lone Wolf, Emperor Rank, Level 1000 has appeared. those killed by Lone Wolf will have their levels decreased by 1000, all equipment will be destroyed, all money in possession will be lost, and it will take them 52 hours to resurrect. Given the difference in rank, an evacuation is strongly recommended.]]

At the end of an alarm, the silence was filled throughout a battlefield. All eyes were glued at Lone Wolf.

His body was still emitting gold light. His eyes were reddened as if he was berserk. His shirt was scattered due to a gust of powerful qi surrounding him.

The peak that expert among experts could reach currently was Marquis Rank. But now, Lone Wolf soared surpassing that limit. An Emperor Rank. It is a final rank that nobody had experienced before.

There was a slight change in Montra’s expression, but he was still confident. Meanwhile, Cross who was recovering his psychic point looked at both Zero and Lone Wolf at a loss for word. His trump card was nothing comparing to them.

“Get ready, Montra,” roared Lone Wolf while charging at Montra at high speed.

All magic swords rushed at Lone Wolf. But with only one wave of his hand, all of them were dispersed without anything left.

Montra was hurried to cast another high-tier spell while Lone Wolf threw a punch at his chest. Strangely enough, Montra didn’t try to dodge. His body was hit and he was turned into a white light.

“Win… already?” murmured Sila. The fight ended too fast. Montra lost in one punch. There was a strange feeling in his mind. Witnessing Montra died before his eyes didn’t help him to feel better in any way. Sila was starting to feel confused. He came to this game to revenge. Why is he not happy with Montra’s dead? Is it because he isn’t the one who delivers the killing blow?

No, even if he was the one to do so, Sila got a feeling that he still wouldn’t be satisfied. What is it that he really wants to do? Is it something that he can only find in this game?

“It hasn’t ended yet. It’s just a beginning,” said Lone Wolf, disturbing Sila’s confusion.

Montra reappeared, emerging from a light. His magic power seemed to increase from before. He was pointing his staff toward Lone Wolf.

“Purgatory Flame.” An intense flame shot toward Lone Wolf. Its heat was enough to affect Sila, causing him to have no choice but to circulate Qi of Little Bird to leave the spot. Upon leaving, Sila was feeling hurt in his chest. He had to circulate Recovering Qi to relieve his pain.

He looked back at the battlefield filled with the sea of flame, didn’t understand what was happening. Meanwhile, his right arm was shaking slightly.

The title of strongest player in Monster Soul wasn’t given to Montra by chance. The main reason behind it was the fact that Montra was undefeated.

Montra’s ultimate skill, Dragon Heart, was supposed to keep him from dying once. It has a long cooldown of three days. However, in the last year’s war event, Montra was killed more than a hundred times, but he kept self-resurrecting every time. As the war event prolonged, the Heavenly Dragon Guild unavoidably became victorious.

This was Montra’s trump card.

The trump card that caused him to stay at the apex of this game.

***

(S) Pride Card – Level 10 (maximum)

All basic stats increase by 100% when you aren’t in a party.

You have obtained an active skill: (S) Pride.

Upon skill activation, you will have 3% chance to encounter Lucifer – the Demon of Pride.

A chance to encounter Lucifer will increase by 1% every time you use Pride skill.

You will earn only 10% of all experience point from now on.

(S) Pride Skill

No resource is required to use this skill. You can only use this skill if possessing Pride Card.

Cooldown time: 7 days.

Unconditionally promotes your rank and level to Emperor Rank, Level 1000, for 10 minutes.

All skills will be at the maximum level.

During activation, player will not obtain money, experience points, nor items.

There is 14% chance for player to become berserk. The chance will increase by 2% every time player uses this skill.