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Chapter 23

~ The Knight in a Shining Armor ~

SW/SW/SW

“Where’s the boar?” Elvaria looked around but found nothing except the birds chirping. “They should be around here somewhere, right?”

“The game implements some realism factors so no matter how hard you try the monsters won’t show on the map,” Ace explained.

“So we have to use everything we got to find the monster we are looking for? Like traps and such?"

“Yep. For that purpose, Bestiary is important. It stores information of any monster we’ve encountered so far. If you feel stuck and don’t know what to do, just open it. You’ll learn useful tidbits there. More complete information can be accessed in GeaOnline wikia.”

Elvaria stared at Ace in awe. Subconsciously she clapped her hands.

“Ha! Praise me! Worship me! My knowledge is never-ending!” Ace laughed in vain, “I’m a sage when it comes to stuff like this!”

“A sage, eh?” a foreign voice broke their private moment.

Elvaria gasped at the familiar faces that showed up behind the bushes. She screamed, a hand pointing at them, “Ah! Y-You’re the PKs from the lake!”

Reeve laughed and sneered, “Yeah, so what?”

“What do you want?” Ace spat, his grip on the staff tightened.

The vampire looked at his draconian friend, “What do we want, Shabu-Shabu?”

“A tea time.”

Reeve turned to look at Ace and Elvaria. There was a nasty gleam of murder in his eyes, “Right, a tea time… with your blood in it!”

As soon as he finished his words, Reeve charged at Ace, his weapon in hand. As he was stronger than Ace, his agility was much, much higher and Ace dumbly just stood there unmoving. Thankfully, Agriella acted fast and saved his life in a pinch.

“Master, what are you spacing out for?! I know his speed is worth admiring, but it’ll be over if you’re dead!”

Agriella’s scream broke Ace’s trance. In a mere second, he was focused.

Reeve clicked his tongue, “This Summon Beast again… It was her at that time and now it’s her again. Don’t you want to get a new Beast? She’s so damn useless.”

“Don’t you insult her!” Ace snarled, “she’s been protecting me all this time and I don’t want to hear any insult coming from you!”

Agriella was easily pushed aside. Reeve pulled another blade from his inventory, a mocking smile on his face, “What kind of Summoner are you? Do you intent on using just one Summon Beast forever? What an idiot.”

“Yeah, so what?” Ace taunted, repeating what the vampire said.

Reeve took the bait and it meant both good and bad thing. While he was in anger, it would be easier to toy him to Ace’s content, but at the same time Reeve would never target anyone but Ace.

Burning with rage, the vampire unleashed his combo attacks. Before he could reach Ace, Agriella leaped between them. She could follow his movement and defend, but couldn’t retaliate since he was too fast.

Meanwhile, Elvaria was busy dealing with the draconian. He slammed his two-handed sword at Elvaria, who at that time successfully evaded the attack. Seemed like he went easy on her.

Ace had to fight back, but it sounded pointless. Their level gaps were way too far and one hit might kill him.

Ace shook that thought out of his head. Agriella was fighting for his sake and it wasn’t fair that he just stood there watching.

“Thunder Ball!” thunder spell was Ace’s strongest magic, but against someone like Reeve, it was useless and dealt only one damage.

The vampire laughed, “Is that the best you’ve got?! Ha! This is why I love killing newbies!”

Ace cast another Thunder Ball, but it was in vain. The armor seemed to have high magic resistance. Shocked that his attack did no damage, Ace’s hands trembled.

We are going to die…

If only I had a legendary weapon…

“What are you daydreaming of?!” Reeve’s punch landed in Ace’s face, sending him flying several meters ahead to a tree. Reeve’s strength was overwhelming that the tree was knocked down.

“Ace!!” Elvaria shrieked, unbeknownst to her that a sharp edge was falling from the sky…

Blood splattered everywhere. Ace screamed as Elvaria’s body was shredded into two. Intestines naked, shown to the whole world and Ace felt a sudden urge to vomit.

Stop this…

Stop…!

What’s wrong with this game…?

Don’t they see her blood…?

A moment later Elvaria’s body disappeared in an instant, her remain was cleansed.

“Got 50 points,” Shabu-Shabu the draconian grinned ear to ear. “Be quick, Reeve.”

“I know. I’ll stop playing around,” the vampire took a new stance. It was a stance that meant to kill.

Ace trembled. His end was near… he’d die a painful, yet quick death. No, GeaOnline didn’t support pain… yet.

He saw Agriella slithered closer. She stood in front of him bravely as if she had no fear of dying.

Stop… you’ll die…

Forget about me and run…

“[Phantasm Nova]!” Reeve shouted a skill Ace didn’t know and his body was enveloped in black haze. Red electric sparks occasionally could be seen and the blade of his swords changed into deep red.

The vampire leaped, his demonic look sent a chill down Ace’s spine. Swirling dark energies made him sick and he felt so weak that he couldn’t move…

This is the end…

We’re going to die…

Ace heard clang of sword and followed by a loud boom. Opening his eyes, he gasped as he saw a big crater before him. His knees trembled under the great relief.

Somehow the vampire missed…

No. It wasn’t like the vampire had missed his target. He couldn’t hit him because of an intervention.

There were two figures in the crater. One was Reeve and the other was a familiar green-haired guy in a shining armor.

“DPS…” Ace murmured in awe.

0000

DPS withdrew his other sword. It was a sword of black and white.

“S-Soul Slicer! How…” Reeve screamed in disbelief, but a moment later he regained his composure, “I see! So it’s true that you cheated! Ha! The great DPS cheated to get a Soul Slicer! The forums are talking about you! Let’s see how you handle my attacks, cheater!”

Reeve’s swings were so fast that his hands looked like a blur. However, DPS apparently was stronger than Reeve. He easily dodged and parried his attacks. Composed and ever focused, DPS found an opening and dished out a combo attack after another.

The vampire was down with DPS’ sword at his neck, HP nearing zero. In front of DPS, he couldn't stand a chance.

“…I’m the strongest, but why…” he rasped, “I’m 255! How could I lose to a cheater like you?!”

DPS stabbed his neck. It was a critical hit. Reeve’s body disappeared from the crater. He probably was respawned in Dragonis, might be losing a level or two.

“…I’m 291, vampire,” DPS murmured before turning around. He looked up to see Ace waving at him. He couldn’t sense the draconian, must’ve been fleeing the scene. Too bad.

A pop up window appeared and he was given random rare loot from defeating a PK. Nice. He closed it and escaped the crater with a jump.

0000

Silently Ace cursed himself why did he choose to be a Summoner. If only he could turn back the time, he’d be a fighter instead just like DPS. He wouldn’t be so weak and could protect everyone.

If only he could turn back the time…

“You okay?” DPS asked after dismissing his dual swords.

“Thanks… you saved me… but Elvaria, she’s…”

“She’s in Dragonis, already respawned,” he turned around, “I’ll walk you back to town.”

Ace followed DPS quietly. He bit his lower lip.

If only he was a fighter like DPS…

“Something wrong?” DPS stopped walking. His red eyes implanted their gaze deep into Ace’s heart. It was as if he knew what Ace was thinking about.

At first, Ace was reluctant to talk about it. He was uncomfortable at sharing his problems with others thanks to his stupid parents, “I… I want to be like you.”

A line appeared between DPS’ brows, “Meaning?”

Ace averted his eyes, “…I want to be strong like you so I can protect my friend. Elvaria was… she was killed because of me. If only I had the legendary weapon, if only I was a fighter like you…”

DPS spent quite a time analyzing Ace, as if he was appraising a gemstone. Then he turned around seemingly uncaring and apathetic, and Ace felt like an idiot for telling him the truth.

“Ace,” DPS called, “I don’t know what kind of circumstance you have and I’m not the type to burn your ears by preaching.”

Ace went mute.

“…I started out weak. Those PKs targeted me. I died so many times I forgot to count. I rose and I fell. I tried, failed, but learned from my faults.”

“All I can say is…” he turned his body half-way to meet Ace’s eyes and spoke, “…power doesn’t come to those who wait quietly. You obtain power through struggles no matter where you are—in the real world or in the game world.”

Ace’s eyes widened a bit.

…power doesn’t come to those who wait quietly.

You obtain power through struggles.

That was right…

All this time he was waiting, sitting, doing nothing. He was waiting for a savior to change his life without trying to do it by himself. He depended too much on others that he demeaned himself.

He believed that he was worthless. The words he kept repeating on and on eventually became a reality when he was bullied. He didn’t retaliate, he didn’t fight back, he didn’t resist since he had a belief that he was unable to.

Thus he was weak. He was worthless. He was a coward.

Ace felt something growing deep inside him. It wasn’t hatred, it wasn’t fear.

It warmed his heart…

Placing a hand on where his heart was located, the warmth spread through his hand. It slowly went to his arms, to his torso, feet, and finally his mind.

You obtain power through struggles…

Ace took a good look at DPS.

The knight was enjoying the scenery before him. His white armor shone majestically under the sun. Posture straight and ready, anyone could see that he was clearly a veteran player who had unparalleled skills. He spoke so little, yet it wasn’t just blathers. It had weight...

…and it moved him.

Never before Ace respected and adored someone this much in his life…