Chapter 328: The Last Strike

Even when steam had covered the entire room, both Revin and Burapha continued to trade blows. The Lamentable Dragon Sword’s howls were unpleasant to hear, also shooting several qi waves outward. The waves were strengthened further by Revin’s fire magic power, pushing Burapha to the edge.

Burapha brandished his lance left and right, reducing the aggressiveness of Revin and the Lamentable Dragon Sword’s combination attacks by using all six techniques of Six Moon-Grabbing-Claws. His psychic power was gradually declining since he had to constantly clad the lance with it, keeping his defense high enough to avoid fatal blows.

Many profound arts shared similar characteristics. Thus, Revin said nothing despite thinking that Burapha’s movements were like those of Six Moon-Grabbing-Claws.

Revin’s Flame-Dancing Dragon Steps allowed him to flash around, making it difficult to track him with the eyes. As a result, Burapha had a hard time defending. Fortunately, the floor was still flooded with water, so he could read the ripples to predict Revin’s movements.

‘I have to take a big loss!’ Burapha made a decision. He opened his black-screened system window.

The black screen couldn’t be seen through. Its sudden appearance made Revin temporarily flinch. Burapha seized the chance to stab his lance through his system window. The stab intimidated Revin, making him take three steps back.

“You really have a bag full of tricks,” Revin sneered.

Twenty wooden boxes, each one the size of a cubic meter, poured out. They lined up, side by side, forming around Burapha like walls.

Calculating that there was no point to avoid them, Revin horizontally swung his sword, sending an energy blade of qi and magic to attack them all.

Lamentable Dragon — Purgatory Fang.

The Lamentable Dragon Sword was a special qi-type weapon. When clad with energy reinforcement, most weapons would unleash the same kind of energy. However, the Lamentable Dragon Sword was quite different. Regardless of the kind of energy one poured into it, it would always unleash qi. This peculiar characteristic enabled Revin to deliver an attack of dual energies by strengthening the unleashed qi with his magic power.

Burapha knocked the end of his lance against the floor, generating a powerful vibration that burst the water surface. All of the wooden boxes broke and the contents inside gushed out. As it turned out, they were containers containing large batches of vials. The liquid in the vials varied in color, with most of them being light-blue.

Activating Water Spirit, Burapha controlled the leaked liquid to form a defensive dome around him.

The scary-looking flame from the Purgatory Fang extinguished once it collided with the dome made of light-blue liquid, being weakened to a simple energy blade. Burapha easily parried it away. The time for him to be on the offensive had finally arrived.

“Wait? What is that?” Revin frowned.

Obviously, Burapha didn’t reply. There was absolutely no reason for him to reveal his trick.

Burapha’s attack was different from Revin’s. He stood still while the pink liquid coated his body, followed by more layers—yellow, then purple. Meanwhile, the light-blue liquid kept assaulting Revin. In total, there were four colors of liquid in the room.

Just a small touch from the light-blue liquid greatly weakened Revin’s Hellfire Dragon’s Scales. On the other hand, he noticed Burapha’s wounds were getting healed at a fast pace despite not being a qi type. In addition, Burapha’s psychic power, which had been almost depleted, was recovering at an unusual rate.

The Dragon Domain constantly lost its power. The steam condensed into droplets as the temperature of the room dropped. The source of the cold came from none other than the light-blue liquid Burapha was controlling.

For the record, those vials were potions sold in Sebastian’s shop, which Burapha had secretly brought from Asura. Given their lazy personality, Asura and Franz often stole Sebastian’s products for themselves. Franz was adept at poisons, so she ignored finished products while focusing on stealing Seven-Form Serum and the main pellets. On the other hand, Asura couldn’t make proper uses out of the main pellets, so he had to be content with stealing potions during the time when Sebastian was injured by Lucifer. At a later point of time, he met Burapha and could tell that the human was interested in trading, so he discreetly sold them to Burapha and obtained some cash to squander on booze during his stay in Belacia City.

Burapha managed to get his hands on many potions at cost price. However, they were stolen goods. Asura forbade him from openly selling them, or Sebastian would suspect where he got many of them from otherwise. In the end, Burapha decided to keep some for self-use and lock the rest of them in boxes, planning to gradually resell them when Sebastian’s goods had circulated through the market.

The light-blue liquid came from Freezing Potions. It was a freezing liquid that didn’t solidify into ice. Its main uses were to preserve food and reduce heat. The liquid could be diluted in plain water, so it flooded the room when the vials broke.

The pink came from high-grade health potions. The yellow came from Strength Potions that could temporarily amplify the consumer’s stats. Lastly, the purple came from psychic-recovering potions.

It could be said that Burapha was emptying his wallet in order to win against Revin.

Burapha no longer intended to engage in direct combat. He changed his approach, using Water Spirit to form some liquid into a clone of himself. His water clone wielded the lance that was two times larger than the one in his hands.

The clone was a mass of his psychic power, so Burapha could strengthen it at will. He was technically using Eastern Sea Sailing Lance Art through a medium.

Even Burapha himself was surprised that this action was doable. Psychic types indeed had no limits. He was thrilled at this new discovery. At this rate, he could just stay in the water and send his clones to fight in his place. It was a fraudulent way to grind levels and farm items.

Revin whistled, feeling amused. Witnessing Burapha’s advancement from a mere merchant to a level where he needed to put his all into the fight, his eyes sparkled with excitement.

He deactivated his Dragon Domain to reduce his wasteful magic power consumption and instead put more power into the Lamentable Dragon Sword. The sharpness of its emitted qi blades increased, bisecting Burapha’s water clone.

Still, the water clone had no fixed shape. As it was falling apart, its splash of water changed shape into numerous tiny lances, flying at the enemy. Revin wasn’t good against attacks that covered a wide area, so he was bombarded by many of them. He had Dragon Scales to reduce the damage, fortunately. Still, his internal organs eventually got bruised from the accumulated damage. He forcefully coughed up some blood, which helped him weaken the level of pressure in his body.

Hellfire Dragon’s spells became essentially ineffective. Revin’s ability to use in-game skills and items proved to be inferior to Burapha’s. Things wouldn’t have gone so wrong if he could use movement arts and wasn’t surrounded by heavy unfavorable environments.

‘I guess I’ll have to take some risks.’

Revin made a decision. No matter how well Burapha had cornered him, the fact that there was a large gap between their levels still stood firmly. Revin’s level was Level 1,000 Marquis Rank while Burapha’s was Level 1,000 Knight Rank. With a gap of an entire 1,000 levels and the fact that Revin was a member of the dragon race, Burapha’s psychic points couldn’t hope to compare to Revin’s magic points. This difference made Burapha be vulnerable to Revin’s full-power strikes. If only one of them connected, Burapha would surely die.

Revin took a battle stance, holding his sword at his waist and pointing the sharp edge upward. He deliberately reduced his power supplying Dragon Scales, receiving greater damage from Burapha’s water lances as a result.

He waited until his health points reached a tenth before he maximized the power of Dragon Scales.

Solaria, as well as Revin who inherited its characteristics, had a peculiar trait that caused its offensive power to explosively increase when near death.

Revin’s eyes gleamed red. He, along with the Lamentable Dragon Sword, let out a war cry. The wavering flames on his skin, which had formerly been extinguished, blazed back to life.

Triple Sky Energy — Triple Peaks.

Triple Sky Energy, as its name suggested, provided its user with three sources of power. Revin usually used one for attacking, one for defending, and the last for regeneration. Now, however, all of Revin’s sources of power channeled into the sword, ready to kill Burapha in one blow.

The sky inexplicably and suddenly turned dark. Still, that wasn’t something that the two cared about right now. The flames lingering on Revin’s skin dimmed while the Lamentable Dragon Sword let out a sorrowful and weeping cry. The blade broke apart as if it were a splashing droplet of tears. Every scattered fragment shone orange. The light reflected on the water in the room, creating an arcane sight.

Flame Phoenix Sword Art — Red Phoenix Soars Through The Heavens.

It was a simple move. Revin drew his sword, no blade attached to it anymore, upward once and remained unmoved afterward. His motion had ended, apparently, but the real move had just started. Under the water surface, the silhouette of a large phoenix caused ripples. Its blurry eyes glared at Burapha with malice.

The silhouette swayed. The heat emanating from it caused the water to rapidly boil. Burapha could no longer stay in the water dome he had created. He was forced to use Psychic Impact twice, performing double jumps while bringing the water dome with him. However, that was exactly what the red phoenix intended.

No one could avoid the flame phoenix in the air.

The phoenix, manifested from Triple Sky Energy, launched itself into the air, leaving destructive trails in its wake. The floor’s stone plates disintegrated while the water vaporized.

Having no room to dodge, this kind of attack would undoubtedly burn Burapha to charcoal. Followed by numerous qi blades which were essentially what the flame phoenix was made of, even his remains would be cut into small pieces.

Alas, man’s schemes are inferior to those made in heaven. Luck wasn’t on Revin’s side, it seemed. When the flame phoenix had reached out to Burapha, already cutting his left leg and burning it to ashes, a mysterious golden flash of light emerged out of nowhere and effectively wiped away all of Revin’s efforts.

Apparently, all of the flames in the room got snuffed out by Sila’s Nirvana Flame.

Revin, now extremely defenseless and worn out, choked and suffocated. Small amount of blood bled from the corner of his eyes, nostrils, and mouth.

Meanwhile, Burapha was far luckier. He was inside the water dome made of liquid. Thanks to the merpeople’s racial ability, he could breathe underwater. Although most of the liquid had vaporized, the remaining amount was just enough for him to survive.

The threatening red phoenix was gone without a trace and Revin was full of openings. It was Burapha’s best opportunity to strike.

Eastern Sea Sailing Lance Art — Mountain-Scouring Wave.

Psychic power spread out in the form of movable walls, smashing into Revin. The man was blown away like a kite that had its strings cut. He crashed into the throne, cold and still.

Poor Revin. If he had made his move just five seconds earlier, the loser of this battle would certainly have been Burapha.

The system notified Burapha that he had killed Revin. It reminded him that the experience wasn’t just a delusion. Overcoming a struggling deathmatch pushed him past his limits, promoting his rank to Level 1 Marquis Rank.

The system also informed him that Revin was just a deputy city ruler. With Montra’s Emperorship of Guardian Spirit, the city didn’t fall into his hands.

The current result was satisfying enough, though. Burapha finally managed to take down Revin, the team’s main target. This victory alone implied that the raid in Zhongsuyuan City ended in the Wicked Union’s favor. All he had to do next was to safely retreat.

Then again, things don’t always go the way humans want them to.

The lamented, weeping cry never died down. Rather, it got increasingly louder as if it represented some kind of curse. The handle of the Lamentable Dragon Sword floated in the air, all by its lonesome. Its depressing cry was so sorrowful and sad that even the most adamant man would feel as if their heart was breaking.

The last and ultimate ability of the Lamentable Dragon Sword was triggered in that manner.

Lamentable Dragon — The Last Blade of the Perished.

If it was broken before its master’s demise, that would be fine, since that would mean it had completed its duty as a loyal sword. However, now that its master had died before it, its grievance intensified and developed into resentment, ready to hunt those responsible for its master’s death to the ends of the earth.

Revin’s body didn’t dissipate into the light as it should have. Instead, his entire being dissolved into a red sphere of fine dust, representing his soul. It flew and fused with the sword.

Formerly he had overcome the quest provided by Anubis and gotten the Lamentable Dragon Sword as a reward. The sword had contained half of his soul. Now, however, each half was about to fuse according to the essence of qi and return to being a single entity.

The result of the fusion was a male human, his long red hair flickering frenziedly. His eyes were devoid of light, constantly bleeding bloody tears. The man was wearing wuxia clothing with flame patterns. Where humans have arms were instead long and beautiful blades.

His emergence was followed by world messages.

[Notice to all players in Monster Soul. The new Demonic Armament—Lamentable Dragon—has been born!

As a matter of fact, the Lamentable Dragon is the first Demonic Armament ever born in the New World. The fact that the conditions for creating Demonic Armament have been fulfilled proves that the New World is ready for the next phase of the game episode. Therefore, the system will unlock seven random Demonic Armaments so that players can compete to conquer them.

All seven Demonic Armaments have been scattered throughout the New World. Each of them possesses abilities far greater than other ordinary S grade items.

Still, please bear in mind that their powerful abilities come with severe drawbacks.]

The overall situation in Monster Soul would soon go haywire. The fact that Demonic Armaments sprang into action in the New World introduced bad omens to the whole world, even including the gaming company that operated Monster Soul Online. Their meeting, which was originally held for the matter regarding the darkness covering the entire Monster Soul, intensified by several levels. The sheer pace of the game development severely shocked the management team.

Even by their wildest predictions, the birth of a Demonic Armament was supposed to occur when at least 5% of total active players had managed to enter the Monster Realm, which was estimated to happen in another fifteen in-game years, meaning three years in real life.

It was especially troublesome that such a drastic change was to occur during the war event. It was worth mentioning that not all players decided to participate in the event. Some logged out before the start of it and those who had died had to wait a long time before they could re-enter the game. As a result, the management team had a hard time providing help to existing players regarding the release of Demonic Armaments, since doing so would be unfair to inactive players. They had no choice but to wait until the war event ended.

The human form of the Lamentable Dragon screeched. He crossed his blade arms, breaking the residence’s roof and tearing the space. Dimensions broke apart, revealing the chaotic views of Zhongsuyuan City projected upside down in the sky. Air and ambient mana poured into Inverse Zhongsuyuan City. He took a deep breath, consuming a large amount of mana, and his entire body was soon bathed with intense qi.

Still processing the new announcement provided by the system, Burapha realized he no longer had the time. The Lamentable Dragon had already locked his eyes onto him.

Looking into the lifeless pair of eyes, no words were necessary. Burapha knew from every fiber of his body that no good things would come from this encounter.