Chapter 82: Monster Queen

In Sila’s previous matches, since both Fargo and Venom didn’t bring out their pet, Sila also didn’t bring out his own so he didn’t have an unfair advantage. However, at this moment, not to mention that Francine had the title Monster Queen, Sila’s condition wasn’t ready for battle at all. Thus, he didn’t hesitate to release Lookhin.

A light flew from Sila’s ring and transformed into a dark brown sparrowhawk. Its sharp eyes shone a greenish light. The sparrowhawk didn’t care about the enemies in front of it. Instead, it flew to land on Sila’s shoulder and rubbed its head against Sila’s cheek as if it was persuading Sila to play with it.

Francine was a woman in a cloth made of several kinds of monster’s leather. Both of her fingers and wrist were full of rings and bracelets. She was sitting on the left shoulder of a gigantic stone golem.

She looked at the sparrow with eyes filled with curiosity. She didn’t know before that Sila had a pet. It was a sparrow, though its size was twice that of the usual sparrow that is sold in the pet shop.

She wondered why Sila released such a pet at this time.

“Hey, you, why did you release that little bird? Are you underestimating me?”

Sila didn’t answer her. He turned his head to talk to Lookhin.

“Lookhin, I’m sorry for asking this of you, but could you please help me by stalling for ten minutes?” Sila quietly said to Lookhin.

Lookhin nodded. It flew and landed itself on the grasslands in front of Sila. Then, it started pecking itself without any care to the enemies in front of it. Witnessing such a scene, Sila no longer paid Francine any attention and closed his eyes to perform qi circulation.

Even though Sila spoke quietly to Lookhin, Francine still overheard what he said. Her face reddened with anger. A little bird like this, she could easily crush it in a single hit. But what? Sila just ordered it to stall for ten minutes?

Similarly, the commentators also heard what he said. Both Noppakorn and Rattana were doubtful. Nevertheless, as they were the commentators, they began to discuss what seemed to happen to the audiences.

“It seems Player Sila took a severe degree of damage during his match with Venom. That last poison from Venom must have been very potent.”

“By the way, Mister Noppakorn, I just heard that Player Sila has told that little bird to stall for ten minutes. Did I mishear?”

“You did not hear incorrectly as I also heard it. Player Sila indeed said that.”

“But, how is that possible? That bird is likely to be one he bought from the pet shop, though, it has more black lines and its size is slightly bigger.”

“I don’t know whether it is possible or not. However, if this is about Player Sila, no matter what happens next, I don’t think I will be shocked anymore.”

Later, however, when Lookhin started fighting, Noppakorn was still shocked.

Now, the conversation and the shouts on the grandstand were all about cursing Sila. They were saying he was too ruthless to sacrifice the little bird just to gain more time to rest.

“So cruel!”

“How can he be so heartless?”

“Go die by yourself!”

“If you can’t win by your own, just surrender! Don’t abuse the pet!”

And so on.

In the VIP room that Burapha and friends watched the matches from, they were having a conversation about Lookhin too. The only ones that were still as calm as ever were Bow, Poluk, and Sebastian.

“Hey, hey, isn’t Sila too cruel? He is sacrificing his bird to the golem,” said Ratri.

“I have seen Big Brother Sila playing with Lookhin before, but I have never seen him let it join the battle,” Burapha commented.

“Where did he get it? Let’s hope that it’s not the same as the one that is sold at the pet shop,” Ratri asked.

“Lookhin is a bird he purchased from the pet shop. I’m the one who bought it for him. I’m also the one who named it. It shouldn’t be a different bird,” Varee answered the question.

“Ah? The pets that are sold at the pet shop aren’t suitable for battle. Doesn’t Sila know that? Or is it true that he really plans to sacrifice it?”

“Sila isn’t that kind of guy. He might have come up with some plan,” Lone Wolf expressed his opinion, though he himself didn’t know the strategy that Sila was likely to use.

“Maybe Big Brother Sila wants to confuse his enemy? Like Zhuge Liang playing his guqin on the viewing platform,” Burapha shared his own thought.

T/N: In case that you don’t know, this line is referring to the Empty Fort Strategy in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

“Why is the plan needed? Lookhin is very strong.” Bow made a confused expression.

“Strong?” Ratri recited the word. Meanwhile, everyone shifted their gaze from the match to Bow. “What do you mean by it is strong?”

“At least, Lookhin is much stronger than Bow. Well, I don’t know how strong Lookhin is compared to Sebby.” Bow turned her body to ask Sebastian, “Between Sebby and Lookhin, who is stronger?”

Sebastian showed a smile at the corner of his mouth. “If we are fighting seriously, I’m sure I can win against Lookhin although it will be quite a tough battle. Lookhin has a grave weakness. As long as this weakness isn’t fixed, Lookhin will always lose to a skilled opponent. However, I must admit that, even with this level of weakness, Lookhin is one of the opponents that I don’t want to fight against if I can choose.”

“Lookhin’s rank is also higher than Bow,” Bow added.

“What is the rank of that bird?” Ratri couldn’t help but curious.

“Bow is not sure. Bow thinks Lookhin is at Marquis Rank~”

“Marquis Rank? Bow, are you for real?” Varee was the one questioning. She was the one who purchased Lookhin from the shop so she was certain that Lookhin was originally a Level 1 Squire Rank monster. It was a wonder how Sila could raise Lookhin to reach a level higher than himself.

“Lookhin is Level 350 Marquis Rank,” Sebastian supported Bow’s statement. He had remembered information about Sila’s pet.

“Level 350 Marquis Rank? That guy Sila owns a marquis-ranked pet?” exclaimed Ratri.

It wasn’t strange for Ratri to feel shocked. There are many players who utilized pets. However, most of the pets were only at Knight Rank. It was very rare to see a marquis-ranked pet as players would spend time grinding their own level instead of their pet.

“Why are you only now feeling surprised, Ratri? Mister Sebastian himself is a Lord Rank monster,” said Lone Wolf.

It might be due to the fact that Sebastian didn’t seem to be aggressive. Ratri had forgotten for a moment that Sebastian was also Sila’s pet.

“By the way, won’t you go there to help Sila, Mister Sebastian?” Lone Wolf asked.

“I’m about to go, sir, but Lookhin has already entered the scene. I don’t want to show off so I decided to wait for a little longer.”

“Haven’t you guys realized? That man’s spells have been prepared for a while now,” said Poluk.

“You can tell? Could it be that my ability has actually declined?” Sebastian turned to smile at Poluk.

“Fufu, qi-types like me are disadvantaged against magic-types so being able to notice that magic users are preparing a spell is the most basic thing. If I can’t tell at least this much, I would have died a dozen times,” Poluk said.

Lone Wolf was startled inwardly. That was indeed the basic thing that qi-type players like him had to do well. Regrettably, even though he didn’t let his guard down, he was still unable to notice that Sebastian had already prepared a spell.

Poluk seemed to know what Lone Wolf was thinking about. He said, “Don’t be so down, kid. Your ability is very praiseworthy. You are just lacking something to make yourself grow.”

Lone Wolf looked at Poluk. “What is it that I’m lacking? Could you please tell me?”

“A goal,” Poluk shortly replied.

“A goal? I don’t understand. I have a goal. I want to become stronger,” Lone Wolf argued.

“Become stronger, is it? Let me explain this way. Just take a look at Sila. Sila’s goal is not grand nor noble. To win against Montra. It is this simple goal that pushed Sila to where he is. This goal pushed him to enter Monster Soul, to fight an unfavorable battle, to temper himself, suffer, and experience many hardships. Now, what about you? To become stronger? For what purpose? For whom? Although you are blessed with ability, talent, and perseverance, if you can’t answer this question, you would have a hard time reaching a new height.”

Lone Wolf was deep in thought. It had never come to him why he wanted to become stronger. He just wanted to be strong. He had never thought that this fact would one day hinder his growth.

“What about you? When will you go?” Poluk quit giving attention to Lone Wolf and asked Sebastian.

“I’m going now, sir.”

“Please let Bow go with you too.” Bow volunteered.

“My dearest apologizes, Lady Bow should stay in this room. The arena will become much more dangerous from now on. I might not have time to look after milady.”

“I agree with him. Bow, you stay here,” said Poluk.

Bow puffed up her cheeks, pouting, but didn’t dare to offend Poluk.

“When I’m back, I will make you a lot of delicious desserts, I promise,” Sebastian said to Bow, which she showed a big smile upon hearing. Nevertheless, she remembered that she should be sulking for the time being so she quickly pouted again by puffing up her cheeks.

Then, Sebastian’s body disappeared, leaving only his shadow on the floor. Although he was still standing in front of everybody, no one was able to clearly see him.

“Sebby, where are you? Bow can’t see you,” Bow said.

Lone Wolf tried detecting Sebastian’s presence using his qi and found that he could still sense Sebastian, although barely. This somehow put his heart at ease. After he had met with Poluk and Sebastian, he always thought that his existence was so weak.

“I’m still standing at the same spot. It’s just that you won’t be able to see me.”

The dimensional portal appeared below Sebastian’s feet. To be exact, it was more correct to say that it appeared under the black shadow.

Sebastian slowly disappeared from the room. His last sentence was lingering in the room. It was a sound that no one could locate the source of it.

“It’s better not to see me. Only a single kind of person is able to see a grim reaper…”

Everyone in the room except Poluk felt a shiver. No further explanation was required about the kind of people that was able to see a grim reaper.

The ones who are dead.

In the arena, there was a black shadow that appeared behind Sila but no one had noticed it yet.

However, Lookhin had Mind Connection. It sensed that another pet of its owner had appeared so it turned its head to nod at Sebastian.

Sebastian was surprised that Lookhin could spot him. He sent his thought to Lookhin using Lookhin’s Mind Connection.

‘Lookhin, you can defeat the enemies. I will protect Mister Sila myself.’

Hearing that, Lookhin flew upward and stayed in the air in front of the golem, as if to challenge it.

‘Fufu, I better have some fun,’ thought Sebastian while casting a spell.

Sebastian’s spell casting had reached the point that even Lone Wolf couldn’t notice. It was pointless to wonder whether Francine could notice that a spell had been cast.

“Dear Lord Hades, King of the world of the dead. Due to a contract from the ancient era, please grant us the land of the underworld, where death is not the end but the beginning of all things. Even if the body decomposes, the soul will always remain to be imprisoned in the land of death where there is no time. Timeless Enigmatic Magic Domain.”

Once the spell was cast, the light from the sky subsided. Everyone looked up into the sky and saw that the sun was still there. It was as if someone had dimmed the light of the world. Meanwhile, the grass on the entire grassland was withering and dying at a very quick pace.

Francine didn’t know what was happening, but she guessed that this was Sila’s doing.

“Cocoa, attack that bird,” She hurriedly ordered her golem to strike before Sila managed to complete whatever he was planning to do.

Unfortunately for her, she overlooked many things. Firstly, the thing that she thought that Sila was doing had already been completed since Sebastian had finished casting the spell. As for another, this dark brown sparrowhawk duty was no longer stalling for time. Its duty was to annihilate its owner’s enemies.

Lookhin’s body was strengthened by Steel Body Qi and Qi of Little Turtle. Its feathers were hard with the Dragon Scale passive skill. Its hawk-like eyes stared at the chest of the stone golem. It was a vital spot of stone golem that Sebastian had told Lookhin via Mind Connection.

Lookhin’s size was small so it could move very fast. It precisely charged at the target like a bullet. Then, Lookhin pierced through the stone golem’s chest.

Lookhin stayed in midair and spread its wings. The sunlight that shone on it left a majestic shadow of it on the arena.

The entire process from the start to an end was less than five seconds. The stone body of the golem broke and crumbled onto the floor. Francine panicked and jumped from the golem’s shoulder. She stared at the little bird with eyes of disbelief.

In fact, Francine wasn’t the only one that couldn’t accept what had happened. All the spectators were the same. Another round of silence filled the Colosseum yet again. It had happened too many times to count since Sila entered the arena. Now, no one even dared to leave the spot to buy a snack. Even the merchants who sold their products by walking through the audience were watching the match and forgot to collect the money from their customers.

Soon, they started to discuss the origin of Sila’s sparrowhawk. Each of them asked several questions to each other but no one seemed to be able to come up with an answer.

For the record, no one was interested in the corpse of the golem that was lying on the arena without turning into light and disappearing into Francine’s ring.