The fight with the Eight Absolutes.

The outline of the quest was quite clear now.

Although Ian’s curiosity raised the difficulty of the quest a little more, it wasn’t a quest that would drag on.

Once the battle with the Eight Absolutes was done, the quest would end.

‘Okay then, the eight battles will all be over by today. I can join the war after I finish this quest.’

That was all Ian needed to do.

The difficulty of the quest was slightly increased since he asked for information about the users.

Woong-!

[After 10 seconds, the first opponent will appear.]

[Prepare for battle.]

[The first Absolute of the Desert Tribe, ‘Kaizek’ of the Magellan Tribe.]

After seeing the message, Ian took a deep breath and waited for his opponent to appear.

There wasn’t much to prepare for the battle.

The only weapon that he could use was the ‘Judgement of the Spirit King’ and the only skill that he could use was the ‘Selamus Warrior’.

‘By the way, the name Magellan sounds a bit familiar…’

Ian was able to realize why the name Magellan was so familiar.

Magellan was the desert tribe that the DarkRuna guild was associated with during their first arrival on the Central Continent.

The Magellan was the only desert tribe that remained so far.

‘The Absolute of the Magellan Tribe… its class would likely be a warrior or an assassin.’

Ian tackled the Magellan tribe countless times, which was why he could make a rough guess about the opponent.

After a while.

A white light appeared, and a typical assassin came out as Ian’s opponent.

[Selamus Warrior, Prove your worth to me!]

Woong –

A voice resonated within the white fog that was spreading into the surrounding.

Ian nervously looked at the movements of his opponent.

‘Assassin. The toughest class right in the beginning.’

When he was with Kaka, there was no reason to fear the assassin class.

With Kaka’s inherent abilities, even the most powerful of the assassins were useless.

But now, Ian didn’t have Kaka, so there was no way he could relax.

‘My opponent’s level and basic information are all hidden. Should I test the waters a little bit first?’

Whilst Ian was thinking, his opponent, the assassin quickly ran towards Ian.

Thwatt – !

Ian’s spear and Kaizec’s swords clashed.

Their confrontation made Ian smile.

‘What is this? This guy is weaker than I imagined.’

It was because the power that he felt from Kaizec’s swords when it came in contact with his spear was weaker than he expected.

That increased Ian’s confidence by a lot, making him wield his spear with pride.

Kkang- Phuk-!

Ian’s spear went through his opponent’s sword and was able to hit Kaizec’s shoulder.

Unless there was a difference in skill, there was no way Ian—even after having the range advantage because of his spear—could’ve managed to hit an assassin with two swords.

The moment Kaizec’s shoulder was pierced with Ian’s spear, he disappeared like a mirage.

Phat-!

However, Ian didn’t panic.

Since his opponent was an assassin, he knew the possible tricks his opponent could do.

‘Back…!’

The skills that Kaizec used, was a class that Ian knew well about.

It was one of the hidden skills that many assassins have, space.

It was a skill that allowed one to move to their desired location in a short distance if activated at the moment of receiving damage. It was a technique that was preferred by assassins who prefer a technical battle style.

Since the skill’s cooldown time was short and the consumption value was small, it was possible to use it constantly if the user had great control.

However, there was one flaw to this skill. If the opponent had a good visual acuity, their position could be grasped.

As soon as the skill was activated, the after image of the one who used the skill would shake.

That was the skill’s biggest flaw.

Srrrk-!

When Ian felt the space distort, he turned the spear and pulled it up.

He turned around and strongly swung his spear.

The location where Kaizec moved was right behind Ian, and Ian just pushed his spear by predicting accurately where his opponent would show up.

It was a move that couldn’t be stopped.

Nor could it be avoided.

Kwang-!

[Fatal damage was done to the Desert Absolute Kaizec.]

[Kaizec’s vitality has been reduced by 275090.]

Being struck by the spear, Kaizec bounced onto the floor.

What made that happen was Ian’s precise blow.

Yet he didn’t leave Ian.

Thwatt –

Ian began to move around along with Kaizec.

He thought that if he could keep hitting his opponent then, he could win.

However, Kaizec wasn’t that easy to deal with.

Kaizec, who regained his balance, just as his name—Absolute—implies, quickly responded by lunging at Ian with his swords.

Ian was a little flustered, but he remained calm and held onto his spear.

He used the lower part of his spear to block Kaizec’s attacks.

When Kaizec’s sword met with Ian’s spear, it made a blunt sound.

The distance between them opened up instantly.

Kaizec, who felt that his attacks were unsuccessful, kept moving.

They were getting close to each other.

The two of them gazed at each other and checked the distance between them.

Kaizec suddenly decided to speak.

[Great. A warrior who can challenge the Absolute.]

Ian looked down and answered him.

“Thank you for your kind words.”

Kaizec continued.

[By the way, did you know that the Absolute of the Selamus has never appeared after Eos?]

Kaizec’s question made Ian think for a moment.

He remembered what he heard from Eclipse.

“That’s right. I heard that there was only one Absolute in the Selamus Tribe till now.”

[Then, did you know that there were way too many Absolutes for the other tribes? Even our Magellan Tribe produced around 5 Absolute after me.]

“Ah, That was something I wasn’t aware of.”

[Other tribes, except the Selamus had a minimum of two Absolutes so far. Ah, the descendant of Seril came not long ago.]

Ian started to listen closely to what Kaizec was trying to say.

He didn’t think that his opponent would attack in the middle of a conversation, but he was prepared if that would happen.

[Why do you think is the reason there hasn’t been any Absolute for the Selamus till now?]

“I’m not sure.”

[The reason is simple. For a long time the summoners have been training to develop their combat capabilities through their pets which get sealed rather than developing their own combat abilities.]

“Aha…”

[As a result, the arrival of the second Absolute of Selamus was much later than the tribe of Illuosin, a tribe of priests. The gateway of Sky is the only gate through which you must pass through.]

“In the end, this game is against summoners, isn’t it?”

[Nothing of that sort. A wizard or priest isn’t much different than a summoner. They also get skills sealed in the gate. The warrior and knight classes are advantageous classes, but it would be wrong to say that summoners are the most unfavoured.]

“Hearing that makes sense.”

Ian wondered what Kaizec wanted to talk about.

After a moment, Kaizec spoke again.

[But you seem different.]

“Wha.. what was it?”

[You are better than any summoner who has ever come through the gate.]

Kaizec held his swords and made a stance.

“…?”

Ian was looking closely, waiting for Kaizec to speak.

[Normally, I don’t do this… but I will do my best. Even if you don’t win, you’ll still be able to win the next three battles with your skills.]

Hrrr-!

A black thing spread from Kaizec’s entire body.

He picked up his swords hanging on his back instead of his daggers. He put his daggers onto his waist.

Ian spoke while pouting.

“Ah, can’t you just fight normally?”

Kaizec smiled and said.

Not the voice from the air, but the voice from his mouth could be heard.

“I can’t do that. I just met an opponent who managed to bring out the long lost passion inside my heart. But it won’t be the first for you.”

Chuk- Chuk –

Kaizec’s demeanor changed. He now started approaching Ian and said.

“I don’t think it will, but if you win, I’ll give you a very reasonable reward.”

Kaizec started to wield his black swords.

* * *

Bae Cheol-Hoon, an ordinary 30-year-old worker, was rushing to work after taking his meds.

Bae Cheol-Hoon was sitting on the subway chair with stooping shoulders while tapping onto his phone.

However, his expression was kind of revitalizing.

“Huh, these are the only ones?”

He was swiping his phone’s screen up and down.

What appeared on his smartphone was ‘Betting Kailan’.

It was kind of a Sports app in a way for the large scale war that was happening in Kailan.

Bae Cheol-Hoon recently made a lot in Betting Kailan.

The maximum amount of bet was 3000,000 won, and the amount he earned in the last two weeks was around 8 million won.

It was due to the defeat of the high ranked guilds that he succeeded

‘Keu, thanks to Lotus Guild, I’m now a salary picker!’

In fact, he was never earning that much in betting.

Due to his personality, he liked to choose between those whom he liked and even those whom he didn’t.

It was the same for this bets too.

The Lotus Guild’s Guild Wars attracted the attention of many users.

Cheol-Hoon betted on Lotus Guild till their 7th consecutive win.

On their 6th war, he was a bit tiled to support the opponent, but he eventually decided to walk along with Lotus and it was a huge win.

Today was the day for betting on the 8th war that would be held tomorrow.

He didn’t hesitate to bet 300,000 cash on Lotus today as well.

It was around 15 times the dividend, and the users’ opinion didn’t seem so good. However, he still decided to go with Lotus.

‘What the hell? Did anyone guess that Lotus would win the 7th and 6th war?’

On the 5th war, the thought of Lotus winning seemed hard for anyone to accept.

There wasn’t any disdain towards Lotus, it was just that most of their troops were consumed in the war.

Even in the current war, there was a shortage of troops inside the Lotus Guild, so the dividend went up.

‘Yeah, this is what has happened. I’ll place the bets carefully on a tie from 8th to 12th.’

He stopped momentarily and went to another window.

He placed all his bets on Lotus.

There wasn’t any basis on why he did it.

If he would bet like that, there was going to be a chance that not even a single penny would come back to him, but he would earn a lot if he wins.

“Keu, yeah! This should be enough!”

He put back his smartphone into his pocket.

If he wins, then he would earn a huge amount with his 300,000 won.

There was no ground for it, but for some reason, the god of gambling seemed to be helping him.