Chapter 113

Just from that brief clash, nearly two hundred users were logged off instantly. It was unbelievable that such a brief spell could be so strong, but Mahashah had expected the spell to be even stronger. She thought that it would take care of the thousand or so users who were immediately around her and buy her some time to prepare her main spell. But to her surprise, when her spell took effect on the users, its magic power had substantially decreased. The spell’s effect was only one-fifth of what she had originally expected.

‘An Energy Field. They’ve made an energy field around them through their battle formation.’

Battle formations allowed a group to combine their power to create a force greater than the sum of its parts. However, all battle formations had their limitations. No matter how much practice and connection a group of individuals had, battle formations were still composed of individuals who were all specialized in different areas.

Thus, in the world of martial arts, the most effective battle formation was one comprised of identical twins. Though identical twins weren’t the same person, it was the closest one could get to maximizing the effectiveness of a battle formation. Still, this had its own limits; namely, the number of people. What were the odds that hundreds of identical twins would be in the same place?

‘No, it can’t simply be chalked up to their battle formation. There’s a deeper reason for this.’

Though the gathered users were using a battle formation, it wasn’t like they had practiced beforehand. It didn’t make sense that their spontaneous use of a formation in the heat of battle would be so formidable. A battle formation only heightened a collective power; it did not introduce any new power. Despite this, Mahashah couldn’t deny the tremendous amount of pressure and magic power that was originating from the middle of the battle formation.

Mahashah’s magic power had failed to produce its intended effect. The spiritual qi of the users within the battle formation interweaved like a net, tightly defending all the open spaces.

Ting!

Mahashah’s eyes shone bright as she observed the surrounding spiritual qi. The users’ bodies and souls were ‘protected’ by the DIO system, so even she couldn’t see into them… but the spiritual power that was oozing out of them was still visible to her.

“I see.”

She now understood. It was what she had expected. There was a spiritual connection amongst the users. This connection was awakened by the users’ fighting spirit to protect themselves and overcome a perceived threat. The effect wasn’t noticeable when there were only two, five, or ten gathered users, but once their numbers tallied a hundred, a thousand, or even more, the effects of this spiritual connection became more intense.

In other words, [the more users banding together], the greater the effect of the spiritual connection.

There were over a hundred thousand users already gathered in the square, and there were more flowing in every second. Their numbers were likely closer to two or three hundred thousand now.

“This… doesn’t bode well for me.”

Mahashah realized that she needed to escape. Though she was a transcendent being, her life would be in danger if she chose to stay and fight. She was able to continually mow down the users around her to keep them at bay, but since they did not fear death, other users would quickly fill up the space where their compatriots had fallen. Mahashah wanted to rise up into the air and just send out ranged attacks from the relative safety of the skies, but the energy field pressure from the users’ battle formation was so strong that she’d most likely be pulled right back down. If she wasn’t careful, the pressure would bury her deep into the ground.

“Spell Counter! All mages, conduct Spell Counter!”

“If there are any Level Nine priests, even if it’s troublesome, please cast Holy Blessings!”

“For those who can cast Magic Pillar spells to counter casted magic spells… oh wait, the Magic Pillar spell can only be cast by Master level users… darn it! Why aren’t there any Masters!”

The users shouted in frustration. Though DIO’s time flowed twelve times faster than real life, the game had only been open to the public for less than a month, so the truth was that Master level users were extremely rare. Moreover, even if there were Master level users, they wouldn’t be able to play DIO twenty-four hours a day due to the recent login time restrictions. Additionally, users who had the potential to attain Master level would inevitably have lives outside of the game that they needed to tend to – as these users were probably just as talented in the real world to possess the potential to become a Master in DIO – so it would be difficult for them to invest everything they had into the game.

“Wait, aren’t all the guards Master level beings?”

“Oh yeah…”

The initial group of guards that had confronted Mahashah had taken on the brunt of her initial attacks, so many had already been eliminated. However, since the users had joined the battle, about thirty or so guards were still alive.

“Aria 56! Since you’ve come to help, please cast Magic Pillar spells!”

“Oh, okay…”

“Gane 4’s! We’ll provide cover fire and support from the back, so make a formation at the front! You guys know how to do the 108 Shaolin battle formation, right?”

“…”

Among the chaotic screams and orders, the guards couldn’t help but make dumbfounded expressions as they found themselves pulled along by the users. Each of the guards were extremely powerful beings, but the center of this battle’s attack was the users. Also, the users greatly outnumbered the guards, so they had no choice but to listen to orders.

“Hmm… I guess there’s no other alternative.”

At that moment, Mahashah smiled as she extended her right palm in front of her. In response, the four fantasy stones that revolved around her stopped and formed a line in front of her. She was aiming in the direction where Arthur and Sungmuk were.

“Get down.”

“What…”

Mahashah shot out a large beam of light.

Whoosh!

It was definitely light, but the way it pulled users towards it and shredded them made the light seem more like a high-speed revolving mass of quicksilver.

“Oh my.”

Arthur, who was just about to put the finishing blow on Sungmuk, did not have time to take proper evasive action. He watched as the beam of light approached him. Though Sungmuk had crouched down to avoid the beam of light, he wasn’t going to be affected by the beam anyway; Mahashah had noticed his presence and didn’t want to cause him any harm. If Mahashah had not noticed him and Sungmuk had still crouched down, he would have been incinerated before he could even scream.

“Monarch!”

Whoosh!

The space in front of Arthur opened and revealed a five-meter-tall Metal Dinosaur. The Metal Dinosaur wrapped around itself to form a shield, blocking the beam of light.

Boom!!!

Mahashah’s Sinister Cannon, one of her ultimate spells which could only be cast once her fantasy stones were aligned, inflicted tremendous damage on a countless number of users. The spell had been cast instantaneously, without even a chant. The beam’s diameter was over a hundred meters, and it had passed right through the middle of the crowd of users.

“What the hell! Over two-thousand users died instantly!”

“What was that? Even if she is a great mage, how could she possibly launch such a powerful spell without even chanting?”

Users who could cast a Count spell and those who were looking at the population figures on their minimap were the first to cry out. Of course, even if one wasn’t privy to the exact number of deaths, it was clear that Mahashah’s spell had wreaked havoc. The gold-colored smoke that arose from the users’ deaths filled the air like a fog. The gold-colored smoke that arose after a user’s death only lasted a total of three seconds, but with the sudden decimation of so many users, the smoke was thick that it had blocked the users’ visibility and momentarily shrouded Mahashah’s whereabouts.

And at that moment…

“Checkmate!”

Following the path created by her Sinister Cannon, Mahashah was able to move to the center of the city square. She swung her hand at the Guardian Tower. The movement of her hand was graceful and light, yet held enough power to cause the Guardian Tower to crack.

Crack. Crack.

The users, who had been relentlessly attacking her, froze after the smoke cleared. They watched helplessly as they recalled the description of what would happen if the Guardian Tower was destroyed.

[If the Guardian Tower at the center of the city is destroyed, regardless of how the destruction occurred, DIO will be shut down for a period of 24 real-time hours.]

…

“Ha… Hahaha. T-this must be a joke, right? It must be… right?”

“Right. The game company is a business that needs to make money, so they wouldn’t shut down the servers just because we lost to an in-game monster…”

Crack!

A crack appeared in the sky. For a game that emulated reality almost perfectly, the scene looked completely foreign and out of place. The users couldn’t help but sweat.

“T-they’re serious? Really?”

“N-no…”

Seeing the unthinkable unfold right before their eyes, the users were filled with a feeling of despair. However, this wasn’t the end.

Crack!

Mahashah continued to rip the cracking tower apart. At first glance, the action seemed superfluous, as the world of DIO’s [Closing] process seemed to already be underway, but then, the users recalled another description in the quest.

[If the monster touches the Guardian Stone within the Guardian Tower, the DIO shutdown time will be extended. The projected time is 168 real-time hours. In other words, DIO will be down for one week, real-time.]

“Oh shit! Stop her!”

“Does she have some sort of vendetta against us?! She’s beautiful and all, but that doesn’t mean she can do this!!”

“Ah, but she really is beautiful.”

“She’s so beautiful that anything she does might be forgivable…”

“Eh?!”

A number of users who had quickly realized what Mahashah was doing desperately rushed towards her. However, most of the users were slower to assess the situation, so the attack was not nearly as powerful as before. As Mahashah raised her hand once more to destroy the Guardian Tower, a shot was fired from the group of users that rushed her.

Boom! Bam!

The shot was fired at Mahashah’s head, but before it could reach its intended target, it was blocked by a rainbow-colored barrier. Though the shot possessed a considerable amount of aura power within it, it was unable to pass through the seven-layered barrier. It had only managed to get through two layers.

While holding Ascalon in his hand, Arthur shot himself upwards, following the path of the shot. He still had to deal with Sungmuk.

“Cut through, Dragon Slayer!”

It was Ascalon’s ignition phrase, or Trigger Voice. Responding to the Trigger Voice, one of the four magic spells that was stored within Ascalon was released. A hostile magic power revolved in eight directions around Ascalon. As if a dragon’s neck had formed in front of it, Ascalon emanated a terrifying aura.

Sungmuk quickly countered. “Cry, Red Sparrow.”

The moment Arthur swung Ascalon, a burning wave of fire collided against it with an equally powerful force. This proved that Sungmuk’s Divine Red Sparrow Sword and Arthur’s Ascalon were both of a similar tier of advanced magic items.

“I guess it can’t be helped,” Arthur muttered under his breath while flying at Sungmuk.

“Sorry.” Arthur spoke to Sungmuk while mid-air.

Sungmuk chuckled amusedly at Arthur’s apology. “I told you to use full force from the start.”

At that moment, a bracelet that hung around Arthur’s wrist unfurled and shone brightly, morphing into a long, silver sword.