novelClash, Part I
| ← Ch.082 | Ch.084 → |
Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
There were five others in the room with me: Shin, Ebonene, Rahema, Edwifu, and Naika, the head of Intelligence. They all took their seats.
"We're short on time, so I'll go over the checklist one more time. I'd like to also thank Mr. Lee for joining our fight against the Blood Prince, " Naika began. I gave her a small nod.
We first began with the Blood Prince's demands. He warned the Myth Guild that if they refused him a third time, he would cast Fear upon the entire guild, which would decrease all guild members' abilities by 15% for a month.
"He wants to fight to the death, and if he wins, he wants us to stay out of Egypt for the next five years." It was because of these demands that the Myth Guild had refused a full-on battle twice before.
The Myth Guild already had all of Egypt under its control and had no reason to fight under such conditions. But now, the guild had lost much of its control due to the Blood Prince's guerilla tactics.
"We only have one shot at this to come out victorious. Our roots lie in Egypt. It's where we were raised and where the bones of our ancestors are buried. The only way we lose it is through death!" Shin spoke to all of us in a quiet voice, but I could hear her desperation and determination clearly.
"I, no, the entire Myth Guild have put all our faith on you, Mr. Lee."
"Well..."
"I'm not saying this to overburden you. You're only enemy is the Blood Prince. You don't have to win the fight. I just ask that you buy us enough time."
"We will provide you with a healer and supporter. We can deal with the rest as long as you keep the Blood Prince focused on you. Can you do it?" asked Naika.
"Umm..." I had to think for a second. A month ago, I was able to hold out for more than ten minutes against the Blood Prince. I was also sure that he hadn't used all of his moves then. But a month ago, I was 100 levels lower and only had a Rank 3 weapon. I was level 300 now with a Rank 8 spear. I'd grown much stronger in a single month. Could the Blood Prince have gotten stronger as fast as I had? No! It was impossible.
"I can do it." I was confident. I just had to hold out with a healer and supporter backing me up.
"I knew it!" Edwifu, who was seated next to me, seemed the happiest.
"Ah, we need to properly pay you back for helping us out, don't we? Expecting you to put in all this work without properly compensating you would be rude and selfish on our part." Shin then gestured to Ebonene who took then took out something from his inventory.
"First, we have seven Recovery Gems." Ebonene laughed."I suppose it's a way to tell you not to worry about anything and fight with your all."
"Ah... I see." I didn't laugh at Ebonene's dry humor.
"Next, we'll give you 10, 000, 000 golden rings. And take this as well." After handing me the 10, 000, 000 golden rings, Ebonene took out a third item and handed it very carefully. I took the red item with equal precaution. It was a Rank 8 item.
"Item check."
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[Bracelet of Eternal Fire (Rank 8)
A bracelet holding the wick of an ever-burning candle. All that remains is the wick but the flame never goes out.
Increase all stats by 100 points
Increase VIT by 500 points
When HP reaches 0, HP is restored back to 35%. (Eternal Fire's Last Breath): Once activated, user must wait 30 days before being able to use effect again. ]
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I stared at the bracelet in shock. I expected it to be powerful, but that was one hell of an effect. It was like having an extra life!
It was difficult for normal devas to recover from death penalties. Wealthy devas didn't care; they could just buy as many Recovery Gems as they wanted. Those Gems cost anywhere from 500, 000 to 1, 000, 000 golden rings each. Normal devas preferred to spend that money on skills to make up for their loss rather than buy a Gem. They could also buy items that could raise their stats by 100 or 200, and not worry about losing 10 stat points from dying once.
Rich people probably didn't need this bracelet even if it were a Rank 8 accessory. So what if they died? They had the funds to quickly recover. But then I remembered something from the past.
-What happens if you die in the middle of a boss raid? What would happen if you had this during the greatest battle of your life?-
Just dying was worse than the death penalty. It was pretty simple and easy to recover from at least one penalty, but it'd be such a pain to die during an important event.
"A deity offered us 2. 9 billion golden rings for it, including other investments and benefits."
"Oh..." I recalled what Sunghoon told me yesterday. Deities had no easy way to recover from a single death penalty; dying was way worse for them. Deities would definitely do anything they could just to get their hands on the bracelet.
"The price is only set to go up even more as well."
"That's...true." I didn't know what else to say. I believed it.
"If you can successfully hold off the Blood Prince for us, then we'll give that bracelet to you. The Blood Prince wants a full-on death match; he won't come out right at the beginning. All you need to do is bide your time until he shows himself. Just buy us some time for us to deal with the other seven deities that are with him.
"Why don't you take it for now?"
"Excuse me?" I asked in surprise. The battle hadn't even started yet!
"I believe you understand what we're all thinking and feeling right now. We do not accept defeat. As I've said before... defeat means our death, " said Shin.
I didn't say anything in return. They gave me so much; this was a lot of pressure. I came here ready to nip this in the bud, but now I knew this was nothing to scoff about. I had to put in everything into this fight. It wasn't because I wanted to keep the Bracelet of Eternal Fire. I wasn't in this for the 2. 9 billion golden rings. I was in this to not only defeat my biggest rival so far, but to also prevent the destruction of a reputable guild. I definitely did not have any... ulterior... motives. I gripped the bracelet in my hand harder.
==[You have received a guild invite from the Myth Guild. Accept?
Yes/No]==
I selected Yes.
==[You are now a member of the Myth Guild. You will receive your guild benefits in 3 months. ]==
I never expected to join a guild that had disappeared from existence in the past.
-I guess history is about to change. -
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Five hours later...
I still had 2 skill points from when I reached level 300, but decided to save them. It wasn't because I wanted to be loyal to Anton or anything. There was a skill I wanted to learn that cost 3 skill points. I needed to save them for now since leveling up was getting to get even harder now.
-It's also not like having another skill is going to make much of a difference against the Blood Prince...-
I was moving through Old Cairo with the main army. There were twenty thousand of the Myth Guild's own members, forty-five hundred mercenaries and five hundred members of Fate. We were waiting in silence for the Blood Prince and his army to show up until...
"They're coming!"
"The Blood Prince is here!" I heard the scouts call out.
The Myth Guild was stronger in numbers. The Blood Prince's army consisted of mainly mercenary devas and the so-called traitor devas that joined for the sake of collecting scraps.
That was how the Myth Guild managed to kill the Blood Prince once, and another deity three times. That was also why the Blood Prince sieged the Myth Guild with guerilla warfare and forcibly applied the Fear debuff. He was going to take advantage of the guild's weakened state and attack head on.
"Don't be rash; wait. It's going to be an all-out guild war anyway."
We watched the Blood Prince and his army leisurely march towards us and waited for the right moment. All Hell was about to break loose. We needed to time our attacks perfectly.
"It looks there are about seven or eight thousand of them."
"They brought the bare minimum to this guild battle."
You needed to match at least thirty percent of the enemy's numbers in order to participate in a guild battle. The Myth Guild had around 25, 000 soldiers. The Blood Prince needed a minimum of 7, 500.
"They're all either mercenaries or some random devas they managed to drag into this mess, " Ebonene said to Shin in a disdainful tone.
The attackers challenged them to a guild battle because they were confident that they could win. They even got to set their own conditions and demands. That just pissed Ebonene off more. All the defenders were able to do was increase their numbers by twenty percent.
The Blood Prince stopped his army a hundred meters away from the Myth Guild and stepped forward.
"The time for my revenge has come! The true champion of Egypt stands before you!"
"Cut the crap!" Shin yelled back. The Myth Guild's soldiers stepped aside to make a path of Shin. It reminded me of the tale of the Red Sea.
"Hah! That's rich coming from a coward that rejected a guild battle twice."
"Why the hell would I agree to a guild battle with such ridiculous conditions? You spent your entire life groveling as a street rat. I don't care if you're a deity; you have no true power and I don't need to put up with your classless bullshit."
The Blood Prince laughed."Hah! Street rat? Classless? Have you been living under a rock? Have you any idea how many live in envy of deities?" he said, spreading his arms and looking around him. He stared into Shin's eyes.
"I was chosen unlike you. I was granted this special power as a deity. Power like this. Blood Explosion!"
The Blood Prince suddenly launched an attack right at Shin. The ground at Shin's feet began bursting with geysers of blood.
"Blessed Descendants!" The sky flashed bright for a second. A giant, orange beam of light then shone straight down on Shin. The orange light healed the wounds on Shin's leg and burned away all the blood that was pouring out from the ground. The ground soon returned to normal.
"Cheap, cowardly bastard!" yelled Shin.
"Zombie bitch!" the Blood Prince yelled back.
Every time Shin stepped forward, the pillar followed. It looked like a spotlight following the main actor on stage.
The Blood Prince didn't attack her again. He knew that she wouldn't take damage as long as she was in that ray of light.
Shin stopped right in front of the Blood Prince.
"Let's finish this!"
"I was thinking the same thing. I, Um-nefer, guild master of the Blood Federation hereby challenge Shin, guild master of the Myth Guild to a battle of guilds."
"I, Shin, guild master of the Myth Guild hereby accept the challenge of Um-nefer, guild master of the Blood Federation to a battle of guilds!"
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