Chapter 146: Yardpirun

Circulating qi throughout this body before he even arrived, Sila wasn’t affected by the qi, magic, and psychic power filling the atmosphere of the teleportation zone.

The middle of the town was the spot where players appeared when they revived in that region or teleported in. Thus, it was a very important spot, and that was why most players gathered around this place to protect and take advantage of it.

“Hey, you, don’t get in the way. If you are done with reviving, just move away.”

Although players came from various groups, when some of their members died, they would have to wait around this spot to pick up their comrades. As a result, it was very crowded.

There was another area that was very crowded with people, and that was in front of Bronze’s weapon shop, where players took advantage of the automatic vending machine to maintain their health and energy.

True, there were some groups of players who fought on their own, but the number of groups like that was quite low. They must be very confident in their abilities to dare to fight a pack of werewolves without relying on help from other groups.

“Hm?” Sila was curious. He had fought against Marquis Rank monsters before, so he had anticipated that they would be very threatening and that the situation would be quite chaotic. However, at first glance, these groups of player were coping very well.

In fact, even though it was true that these werewolves gained their power from Eternal Onyx and became Marquis Rank monsters, their original Rank was Squire. Monster Soul wasn’t too harsh on players, so these werewolves who suddenly became stronger were like children with high stats. Even if their stats were Marquis-level, their movements and insight were lacking. Thus, a group of skilled players could handle them relatively easy.

However, the instant that Sila arrived, the situation changed. Once the Eternal Onyx was nearby, its conceptual ability, Evolve, triggered and accelerated the speed of the werewolves’ learning ability.

“Argh!!” Several cries echoed throughout the town. Many players began to lose in a fight against werewolves.

“Everyone, be careful! They suddenly became stronger!!” One of the players yelled to inform his comrades who were dying at a quick pace under the werewolves’ claws.

The werewolves nimbly jumped from one roof to another and hunted players under the starless dark sky. They were no longer sticking to direct confrontations and changed their tactics to depend on their higher speed and attack the players’ weak link. Whenever the player lost their focus, they would be attacked by a group of werewolves within three seconds.

“We meet again, Mister Sila. You’re quite the troublemaker,” A familiar voice entered his ear, so Sila quickly turned his gaze to the uninvited person.

“You again? Who are you?” Taking one step back, Sila confronted the woman in a light blue coat, whom he had met yesterday.

The woman didn’t reply to his question but extended her delicate arm to him. “Please hand me the Eternal Onyx.”

“Eternal Onyx?” As he frowned, Sila wondered how this woman came to know that he owned the Eternal Onyx.

“Don’t worry. I just want to help by sealing it. Based on what’s happening, I’m sure that you don’t have the Seal skill, right?”

“What are you talking about?”

Hey eyes flickered with wisdom. “The ability of the Eternal Onyx is ‘Evolve’. Just so you know, each Gem of Catastrophe possesses a unique ability that can be exerted in special circumstances. Anyway, the Eternal Onyx is one of the Gems that is easily triggered. So, if you plan to collect the Gems of Catastrophe, the first skill you need to possess is the Seal skill.”

Sila looked at his surroundings; the battles, the damages, the chaos, and the Town of Beginnings engulfed in fire. “You mean... all of these are...?”

“I’m not someone who likes to console others, so, to be honest, everything that is happening here is your responsibility, Mister Sila. Now, hand me the Eternal Onyx. Otherwise, the werewolves will continue to become stronger. All of them might even be promoted to Lord Rank if you don’t hurry up.”

No more hesitation. If all of this was his fault, then he would need to fix it. The Eternal Onyx appeared on top of his palm. It was a black gem with a reddish light in the middle, strangely similar to the color of the sky at this exact moment. He extended his hand to her and she lightly tapped the gem, causing the light being emitted from it to fade. With this, Sila took it back into his system window.

Sila wasn’t surprised that she didn’t have to say the name of the skill. He was aware that high-level psychic-type players can activate skills without having to say the name.

“With this, the werewolves won’t grow stronger than they currently are. Next, you will have to defeat their leader to remedy the situation.” She explained what he had to do casually, as if defeating a Lord Rank monster was a simple chore.

“In the end, can you tell me who you really are?”

“I won’t tell you my identity, at least for now. But you will find out once you take me to Lost Grea City after you are done clearing up this mess of yours. Well, you can call me Yardpirun, or Yard.”

Surely, he had never met or known her before. “Yardpirun? Is that your name?”

“Yeah, I guess?” She said with a playful smile. Sila felt that she and Sangdao were quite similar.

“And why should I take you to Lost Grea City?”

“Let me just say that I’m asking you to take me there. I have something to do in the city, but Lost Grea City is quite difficult to enter. So, I would like you to take me with you. You will be repaid with my identity once we arrive. Deal?”

Thinking for a moment, Sila accepted her deal. He would like to know who she was and it wouldn’t be any loss for him to take her there.

“That’s fine.”

“In that case, I will wait for you in the teahouse there. Please come to pick me up when you finish defeating the Werewolf King.” She pointed to the teahouse nearby.

“Eh? Won’t you help me defeat it?”

“The person who caused the problem should be the one to fix it, don’t you agree? Why should I help you?” As she finished speaking, she slowly walked to the teahouse.

Looking at her seemingly non-existent presence, Sila was very curious about who she was. Not a single werewolf came to get her even though she was full of openings and walking casually. It was as if he was the only one who could see her.

The teahouse was relatively fine. Going to the second floor, she sat down on one of the chairs. It was at that moment the waiter seemed to just realize there was a customer, as he hurriedly went to bring her a cup of tea. With this, Sila ensured that at least she really existed.

“Big Brother Sila, what’s wrong?” Aek’s voice came from the teleportation spot.

Sila approached the team and listened to Tiger’s plan that he formed after analyzing the characteristics of the werewolves.

“The werewolves are quick, nimble, and can deal a powerful blow. Be aware of its attack style that can sometimes be tricky. Our objective today is to gain battle experience, not grinding for levels or collecting items, so we will use the full defense formation, is that clear?”

Everyone nodded as they understood. Sila didn’t doubt Tiger’s leadership. He also thought that Tiger’s plan to focus on being defensive was decent. Even though the team consisted of low-level Knight Rank players only, their teamwork would compensate for the gap in stats. They should be fine if the werewolves came one or two at a time.

“What about you Sila? What will you do?” asked Tiger.

“I will go around on my own, I guess. You don’t need to worry though.” Sila shrugged.

Looking at the formation of the Tiger Team, Sila could see that Tiger had separated their members into a three-layered circle. The inner circle consisted of Jund, Pond, and Alice. The middle circle had Aek, Tod, and Pim, while the outer layer had Tiger and Luna.

To let Tiger Team move more freely, Sila jumped away from them before shifting his gaze to the mysterious woman in the teahouse. She was still there, and even waved her hand at him as if she noticed that he was looking at her.

‘Another strange woman.’ Still curious about her identity, Sila was relieved to know she didn’t have evil intentions, since she would have attacked him or left the Eternal Onyx unsealed.

Anyway, it wasn’t the time to ponder about her. He had to focus on the task at hand.

‘The werewolves have a similar physique to humans, just slightly bigger, so Nine Sun-Melting-Fists will be the most effective. I can only exert sixty percent of my usual power so I need to rely on martial moves rather than raw power.’

With this thought, he jumped to one of the roofs and activated Galaxy Eclipse. However, the radius was limited and the things he sensed were mixing together so much that he couldn’t tell anything apart.

Nevertheless, the important thing was him being alone in the open. Noticing Sila, two werewolves rushed at him.

Their attacks were easy to read, but qi was constantly strengthening every part of their body so even Sila would be in a bad spot if he was hit directly. He shouldn’t underestimate the power of a Marquis Rank monster.

Cladding qi reinforcement into both arms, Sila was prepared to defeat the incoming werewolves. He wanted to save his power for defeating the Werewolf King, so he didn’t plan to go all out. It would be best if he could migrate the opponent’s power to work against them.

He stayed motionless until both werewolves entered his range, their claws coming at him at high speed.

Using his superior speed, Sila struck one of the werewolves a dozen times in the blink of an eye. He used the martial moves of Nine Sun-Melting-Fists with the application of Six Moon-Grabbing-Claws; aiming at its joints rather than vital points, to weaken its movements.

The first werewolf experienced the symptoms of its qi being jammed. As a result, its qi dispersed.

Sinking the tips of his fingers into its abdomen, Sila pulled its body with his qi and brandished it to block the other werewolf’s attack.

With the tips of his fingers digging into its skin and the claws of its fellow werewolf raking its back, the unfortunate werewolf cried out in pain.

The werewolf’s scream drew everyone’s attention to Sila. Ever since the fight started, none of the werewolves had screamed, so they wondered how Sila managed to do that.

In fact, this wasn’t strange at all. With Blood Wolf Qi, the werewolves could maintain qi reinforcement all over their bodies for a long time. It was a trait that caused their defense and their pain tolerance to be significantly high.

However, Sila had infused Weapon Subduing Fist into the first dozen attacks. It was enough to render the amateur fighter, a werewolf, defenseless. Thus, this combination attack of Sila and another werewolf was very lethal.

Completely ignoring the cry of its comrade, the second werewolf scratched its friend’s back with its claws. Sila did something similar to its front, causing the misfortunate werewolf to scream in pain again. The claw marks appeared on both its front and back, and it was still unable to unleash qi.

Another attack was aimed at Sila, wishing to sever his neck. Rotating his ankle using both his body and qi circulation, he lifted up the body of the badly injured werewolf to take another hit in his stead; its shoulder was struck rather than his neck. In the meantime, Sila relied on Twelve Celestial-Traveling-Steps to shift his body into the second werewolf’s blind spot and struck it with his hand.

The attack wasn’t effective. Only a bruise was shown despite his intention to cut off its arm. This meant, if he didn’t weaken its qi first, sixty percent of his power wouldn’t be enough to deal significant damage with basic attacks.

Tiger Dragon Qi was circulating all over his body as Sila brought out the dragon attribute and injected qi into his right fist. His punch naturally moved with the flow of qi, and Dragon’s Fist slammed into the werewolf’s side, creating a loud noise.

Based on the impact, Sila could tell that its ribs were broken and its internal organs were damaged. He was relieved that Dragon’s Fist worked on the werewolves. This meant Tiger's Palm should work too, not to mention Genesis Punch.

The werewolf coughed out blood from its mouth. Strengthening his grip, Sila threw both injured werewolves with his Hidden Weapon Firing skill; the severely injured one was thrown to Tiger Team while the other was thrown to the teahouse, where Yardpirun was casually sipping her tea.

Wondering how she would act, he deliberately sent the less injured one at her.

Yardpirun showed a gentle smile while moving her hand toward her waist as if she was about to draw an invisible sword. Then, her wrist flicked at a very high speed, though it wasn’t to the point that Sila couldn’t follow her movements. He had seen Zero perform a faster attack.

The werewolf was beheaded, and the woman continued to enjoy her cup of tea as if nothing had happened.

With her actions, Sila concluded that she must have materialized a sword using psychic power. However, her mastery over Mind Concealment must be very high, as he couldn’t sense her psychic sword at all.

‘Her concealment of both her presence and her attack are top class, the best out of everyone I have met. I will have a difficult time fighting her if I don’t know her attack range.’

Shifting his gaze to Tiger Team, he found that the werewolf could begin to use qi again. However, with its injuries, its movements were sluggish. He was sure that Tiger Team would have no problems taking care of it.

“I will leave it in your care.” As he finished speaking, Sila closed his eyes to heighten his concentration, attempting to find the location of the Werewolf King.

“So badass. He just fought against two Marquis Rank werewolves like they were nothing,” said Tod.

“You now realize how much Big Brother Sila held back in the mock battle against us, right? I told you,” added Aek, while deliberately looking at Pim and Pond who just witnessed Sila’s true battle prowess for the first time.

“So cool... I will become as strong as him one day,” muttered Pim, while Pond was quite shocked to see Sila’s power, which was a normal reaction.

Even Jundtrathep who had seen Sila fight before felt that Sila had become abnormally stronger than the last time they fought together. She believed that, if the current Sila were to encounter the Earth Dragon Python again, it would die before Sila even broke a sweat.

Tiger was aware of Sila’s intentions. Sila had thrown the severely injured werewolf at them to heighten their morale by killing it. Actually, Sila could choose to kill it himself, but he instead chose to send a lump of experience points at them. Thinking this way, Tiger’s grip on his longsword tightened. He wouldn’t let Sila down. The experience they gained today would surely let them grow stronger.

In the meantime, Sila had become the center of attention on the battlefield. Many pairs of eyes were fixed on him, not wanting to miss what could be an important moment. As a result, some made mistakes and died under the werewolves’ merciless claws.