Chapter 224: Rewards of the Duel

As soon as his voice echoed, a ray of light flash from above and one of the eight members of the Alcides Guild was instantly reduced to ashes, not even having the time to scream.

Right at the same time, a large shadow of a fist slammed another member and a large descending sword chopped another member in two.

On the next moment, a fourth member was just about to rescue the three but he was then turned into a meat paste as a dark spherical net made of wind surrounded him.

At the same time, the leader of the Alcides was just about to move but he was shocked to discover that his body wasn’t listening to his orders.

Then, he his vision blackened… and a single phrase appeared on his vision, explaining what had occurred.

[Game Over]

In just two moments, five members of the Alcides Guild died, including the Guild Leader.

Still, Mefisto remained uncaring, his gaze fixed at the old man.

The only members of the Alcides with a name that survived were Isis, Malecite, and Kurimaw.

All three were still stunned seeing their leader with a hole in his head falling on the forest below their feet.

At that moment, four figures hovered behind Janus, A twin, an Archer, and a Mage.

The twins came from the north and the south area, the Archer above, and the Mage below.

Janus stayed calm as he faced the outnumbered Alcides Guild members. On his opinion, the only one who’s a threat to their side was Mefisto.

“Killing me isn’t going to be easy.” He said and Mefisto attacked.

*****

Siva cursed and kicked the ground, punched the puppets, and clobbered the secretly surprised and still gravely injured Kladis. Then, he heard his final “Guh!” and Kladis’ strength was gone.

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Siva pulled the knife and there was no reaction.

He had lost all interest to torture Kladis and so he used Black Tech to finish him off.

Deep in his mind, he asked, “Why am I not flinching while doing this? Have I really been warped by this game?”

This is a really menacing and frightening thought.

RPG: Terroa showcases violence and freedom and on that regard, there were players like Kladis who wanted to experience the game in its full blast of ‘alternate reality’ rendering, choosing to disable any ‘limiters’ that confined that exciting experience.

People like them just wanted to live another life inside the game!

“Sigh…”

After he had vented enough, he breathed out a deep breath and then, he looked at the horizon towards the direction of the city.

“Dead.” He murmured, somewhat… regretful. He really wanted to torture him to death.

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And just as the thought of ‘torturing’ Kladis came into his mind, for some reason, he also realized… that that very notion itself… didn’t originally came from him.

It was suggested and he accepted it…!!

“Wh-What happened to me?!” Siva could feel that that something that wanted to free itself from his chest was rather disappointed when the subject of his hate was taken away from him.

His breathing became short and he was soon panting, holding his face with his left hand, using one of the puppets as support to hold himself.

“I’m really… I’m really changing…”

His mind is in a chaos, it shook him greatly to realize –yet again– that this world had been influencing him so much more than he can imagine.

It’s like there were two people in his mind that shared the same memories, mannerisms, history, problems, and even emotions.

The only difference is perhaps the personalities.

While the other one is a violent, aggressive bull with a short temper, the other one was a small-time schemer and a curious engineer.

“Calm down, me, calm down… let’s put things into perspective first…” when this thought entered his mind, he looked around him and saw the Legendary or maybe Unique Blade lying 10m away from him and then that special fire gun, 30m away from his location.

Since they aren’t on his inventory, these items were immediate loot items!

The difference between the two was physically small but conceptually worlds apart.

Loot Inventory Items are reward items from the opponent’s inventory. Immediate loot items are items you picked up on the battlefield and can be used immediately.

On this regard, why do you think it was possible for players who were hunting MODs to steal the MOD as soon as it appeared after the battle?

It was because of this very feature itself that the War of Two Powers begun!

Siva used his Auricle’s scan-function to check the stats of the sword and weapon and was actually surprised to discover the secret that these two possesses.

“Who would’ve thought? So that’s why these two items were that powerful, especially this gun.”

DING!

======================================

«Hand of Midas»

Type: Equipment

Rarity: Unique

Weight Units: 18we

Inventory Slots: 7 slots

Durability: 96/100%

Materials: Fire Emblem, Space-rending bloodstone, Gold Trinket, World Tree Branch Powder, Alpine Timber Wolf Jack, Mana Stone

Manufacturer: Sublime Empyrean Empire

Weapon Description:

Midas was once a great emperor with a wise mind and a kind heart. One day he declared that everything in the world is his and as such attracted quite an attention which resulted in him catching the sights of Dion, God of Wine and Fertility. As Dion himself is quite fond of his character, he uncaringly bestowed Midas’s right hand a gift that everything he touches will turn into gold… which the emperor should use to help the people of the land. Alas, the emperor became too greedy and abused the power that soon ignited a catastrophe. So a wandering hero sliced off his hand and departed, never to be seen again. It was said that this weapon was the very hand of that emperor himself who had been lost in history. Only the [Fire Emblem], which is a rare pure Fire-aligned Sacred Item, could cancel out the great curse that could summon a catastrophe. As such, when Mana is fed to the weapon, the Mana will be forced to be turned into projectiles by The Hand and will be shot forth with the properties of Flame Element to burn any enemy.

Grants:

Shattering Incendiary Bullets (PASSIVE)

Ignore Distance (max 1km) (PASSIVE)

No Reload (PASSIVE)

Channel (PASSIVE) [LOCKED] [0/1000]

DEX +25

POW+5

Restrictions:

Can only be used on the right hand

======================================

“Unique Item! Hahahaha! A sniper and a pistol in one, how oddly unique indeed!”

Siva couldn’t help gasp. But then, he saw that phrase again, ‘[LOCKED] [0/1000]’ and his face became serious as he thought back to the rewards he got from that S-Ranked Mission against the Guardian of the Forest where he got his curse.

“Just how should I deal with this? The Sword of Triune has all of its useful abilities locked as well and its numbers are also insanely high when compared to this gun. Just what are these numbers and how do I unlock them? It’s such a waste to not be able to use these items’ full abilities…”

While he pondered for these things, he also scanned the other item he had picked up.

DING!

======================================

«7th Frozen Heart Blade»

Type: Equipment

Rarity: Legendary

Weight Units: 30we

Inventory Slots: 13 slots

Durability: 91/100%

Materials: Jotun Heart Blood, Gold Trinket, Mana Stone, Deep Sea Rock Metal Shard, Black Flame of Grand Lotus

Manufacturer: Emperor Gabriel Etrama de Raizel

Weapon Description:

Long, long ago… the Grand Empire of Tiara was suddenly struck by a calamity in a form of an other-worldly creature born in the deepest depths of the frozen lands of the northern-most area of the frozen continent. This creature turned entire cities into ice sculptures and thus summoned the ire of the Almighty Emperor Gabriel who twisted space and rent the fiend into a countless number of shards of meat, only preserving its still beating heart after the battle. He forged a set of nine swords with the same properties and shapes using this heart’s blood and gave these swords to the Nine Noble Knight Clans of Tiara at the time as a symbol of their status as the protectors of Tiara.

Grants:

Freezing Frost Aura (PASSIVE)

Diospada (ACTIVE)

ENDURANCE+10

POWER+15

======================================

Siva’s breathing was becoming ragged from his surprise and shock. It turns out that Kladis was a fat sheep… a really, really fat sheep.

“What about his armor?” Siva thought, excited.

But just as he turned his head at Kladis, his body armor suddenly flashed and vanished leaving his body lying there face first in the dusty ground.

Siva was shocked but he at least expected that there wasn’t too much reward in a single instance.

There should be a limit to how much he can get.

“Rune Armor, huh?”

He understood too little with Rune Armor. Even the term was as unfamiliar to him as the stars.

So he didn’t pursue the fact that the Rune Armor Kladis wore vanished right in front of him. He knew that they are very magical items… perhaps much like the armor that the Guardian of the Forest wore which he made Siva choose with along with the Sword of Triune.

DING!

[As per the agreement on the duel, winner takes all of the agreed items aforementioned in the contract, including…]

Right after this notification window appeared in his vision, a list of items that were itemized and even categorized from high-rank to lower-rank, became a scroll of miscellaneous words that was arranged in Siva’s lower right corner vision.

These were his looted rewards from Kladis’ own inventory. Yet, Siva paid little attention to that as he dialed a call and contacted Volt and Thorn.

His mind was on a different matter. He has one hour to get ready before that Blackmailing Immortal named [Alexander] come knocking on his doorsteps.

Siva would never trust a blackmailing buffoon!

And so, as much as possible, he had to settle some important issues before that said duel.

DING!

“Siva! The battleship had stopped attacking. Did you win your duel?” Volt was the first to speak.

But Siva’s expression was far from the joy of a victory as he shook his head lightly, enough to give the two men the impression of a grave matter at hand.

“Guys, the cover have been blown.”

“…!!”

In the conference call, Thorn reacted more surprised than Siva had anticipated as the former gasped and his expression grim. After all, he was with the acolytes.

“Shit! It was too soon! How did that happen?”

“More than that though…” Volt cut Thorn. “What was that booming voice earlier? Why did it call you?”

“That’s something I wanna know as well. But just as important as that is Amanda. We also need to secure her first. And on doing so, I also need to clear the confusion of The Legion and put a dot on their doubts before those ideas leads to me.”

Looking at the horizon, on the direction of the castle base, Siva hissed seemingly irritated.

“I’m just outside the area of the castle base, around 3km away from it. I won the duel against Kladis but I feel like this matter is not finished yet. Thorn, I need you to hurry and find Amanda as soon as possible. The people aren’t blind. They saw me use Mjolnir and the puppet reapers just now so it won’t take that long before they realize that I am Siva. Also… Volt.”

“What?”

“I get the feeling that something is happening in the city. Can you find something out from the control room of the Battleship? I feel that that voice is not friendly towards me since it called me a vessel of Siva as if I was a villain.”

The other two looked at him. They both have different thoughts about the crux of the matter but their concern for Siva’s sake, and his goals, are all genuine and true.

It’s just that thinking about the cruel fates that the two worlds he belonged to are throwing at him, not even the cruelest man in the world could inflict such gruelling tragedy to someone’s life.

“I’m already heading there.” Volt replied with a passion. “Oh, yeah, by the way, I was actually just about to contact you as well regarding something I heard the crew of this ship talked about earlier.”

“And that is?” Thorn asked.

“I think the reason this particular Battleship is in this location is not because they are actually ordered to bombard and destroy the shield dome of the city, but because they are actually waiting for some people to arrive from the city.”

Siva thought for a moment and recalled how weird Kladis talked and attacked earlier. Bluntly speaking, Siva had a tingling sensation as he thought of Kladis holding back his punches.

Their duel would have ended a little sooner if Kladis had not held back that domain and that magic where he used his gun as the medium to fire a high concentration of energy.

If Kladis had used it earlier than he did then Siva wouldn’t have been able to summon his puppets and he wouldn’t have been able to win the duel the way that he did.

Adding Volt’s news, it all adds up a few layers of bricks to his tingling sensation of doubts.

Siva nodded, “Whatever it is that he’s waiting for in the city, it must be important enough that he’d risk that duel against me. If not, then he would have just teleported away as soon as he saw me eradicate his fleet right in front of his eyes. I was even 100% positive that he, asking for a duel all of a sudden, was not actually to prove his pride and himself against me, but for something else.”

Volt nodded, “I have the feeling that it’s a person or a group of people. If that is so, then I’d wager that the reason they attacked Alexandria is more than just them demanding for Jack Stone.”

“Jack Stone…” Siva hissed the name with hatred.

Volt couldn’t help it for he was also there when that guy plotted against them and even tried to assassinate them using his trusted man, Karim.

“If it’s an object, I’ll try to steal it. If it’s a person, then I’d at least try to interrogate him or maybe get a few useful information.”

Thorn smiled and nodded at him, “That would be for the best… but… can you actually do it? I mean, interrogate someone? What if they’re a group?”

“Uhh…”

“Ahahaha… Just kidding.”

“Don’t sweat the small stuffs. I’ll trust you with that mission then.” Siva added.

“I’ll just do my best.”

“Ayt. Siva, we’re about to enter the lower region of the castle base as well. I’d keep my video feed active so you can watch the process. I already called FlowerLord and she said that she already spoke with Scion to be online to make the extraction more easy.”

“I’ll keep mine active as well.”

Volt and Thorn held their calls on mute and kept the video feeds active.

While Thorn and Volt carried out the tasks on their missions list, Siva flew high up in the air and went straight towards Apus Epirus.

He was actually conflicted.

In his heart, he wanted to investigate who that mysterious person –that self-acclaimed exalted Immortal– from the city was.

On the other hand, Amanda and Baron’s safety was his priority at the moment.

He has no time to satiate his curiosity.