Ch055-Who Do You Think I Am?
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Despite the meat being raw on the inside, Sylver ate it without any issue or complaint. The air had changed during the few minutes it took for him to glance through the book and further prove he could actually read the writing on the inside of it.
But it was a waste of time, given that Sylver could tell that not a single one of them really knew what was inside of it. They knew it was a guide on how to summon a demon, but they didn’t know what kind of demon, what the frameworks inside did, who wrote it, who edited it, or even which language it was written in.
There was a question that Sylver wanted to ask, but couldn’t since it would result in him being forced to give the book back to them. And although he was roughly 99% certain of the answer, that 1% could be the death of him.
Which he now at least knew wouldn’t be the end of him.
But snapping your neck and getting burned or cut apart were wholly different matters. There was no telling how long it would take for his body to regain function. Or for Sylver’s soul to latch onto his corpse so he could start fixing it.
Or even if his soul would latch onto his corpse. His previous death was too brief for him to do anything that wasn’t completely automatic, or possibly the result of the system applying his traits.
So while the danger was ever so slightly mitigated, it would still be trusting in something outside of his control.
But the alternative was just blindly following along with whatever they are planning/doing, and Sylver felt that his 99 to 1 odds were decent enough.
The worst outcome would be dying. And the best would be settling things with the temple of Ra, getting his rewards from them, gaining four ‘allies’, getting a team to help him summon a demon, and having someone finance the whole thing for him. There was the worry there were hidden messages on the pages, but Sylver couldn’t think of a better plan at the moment, and had to just hope there wasn’t a secret message directly from Aether that would only show up once the book was brought to a specific location. If there was a code in the notes, he would figure it out later.
After reading through the book one last time, and triple-checking he had everything perfectly memorized, Sylver waited for a moment for Wolf to blink, and the pages of the book in his hands turned into ash and fell down onto the floor.
Sylver saw a blinding flash of light.
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“We will continue this later, he’s waking up. Bear.” Nameless said, as Sylver felt the interference amplify to the point even Spring couldn’t survive it.
What little mana Sylver had surrounding his skin sparked and sputtered and dissolved into the surrounding field, leaving him completely defenseless.
“So you didn’t have a copy. Good,” Sylver said, feeling a gust of wind pass harmlessly over him, ruffling his wet and blood-soaked hair.
He opened his eyes and saw sharp nails mere inches away from his face, held back from piercing his head by a much larger hand holding it by the wrist.
Lion let go of Wolf’s hand, and the old man took a few steps backward, rubbing his bruised wrist. A short distance away, Bear had his hands clasped together, the distortion so strong between them that Sylver almost couldn’t see his hands.
“So who wants to start the negotiations?” Sylver asked, looking around at the four people, Wolf positively livid and visibly shaking from anger, Bear as calm and peaceful as always, Lion looking down at Sylver with an expression full of disappointment and something else, and Nameless appearing to be as bored and tired as usual.
“In that case, I’ll start,” Sylver said, struggling to find his footing on account of how dizzy he was, having to use the wall behind himself as support to stand up. He didn’t bother feeling the open wound at the back of his head, because he could feel that it wasn’t deep, only torn from how hard Wolf had hit him.
“I want you to sacrifice a few members to be caught by the temple of Ra, I want 50,000 gold upfront, I want to know where you found this book, and I want my part in everything to remain a secret. You pretend you decided not to meet with me, and forget ever hearing my name. If you can agree to that, I’ll summon a demon and you can all try to make a deal with it. If not, you can kill me here and now, and try your luck finding a demon summoning expert somewhere else.” Sylver said, speaking quickly and calmly, maintaining eye contact with Nameless.
“Demon summoning expert?” Nameless asked, somehow without sounding surprised or disbelieving.
“There should have been a small glass coin shaped thing embedded in the cover. Inside there was a sliver of bright red or very dark skin,” Sylver said, making a circle with his thumb and pointer finger to demonstrate the size of the coin in question. “It’s platinum on one side, with a nine-sided framework etched into it, and a sigil that looks like two fish kissing in the very middle,” Sylver explained.
Nameless just stared at him, reaching into the inside of his shirt and pulling out a small platinum and glass coin he was wearing around his neck like a necklace. Turning it over, Sylver was glad to see the flesh inside was bright red, and not black.
Nameless turned the disk around and looked at the tiny bit of skin trapped underneath.
“I vote we kill him. There’s something off about him, he knows too much, I don’t believe this is a coincidence. Just because he isn’t his doesn’t mean he can be trusted,” Wolf said, as Nameless just looked at the small disk Sylver himself had once made and etched.
“I vote we pay him. A man looking out for his own self-interest, is a man who can be counted on. I think the benefits far outweigh the potential danger,” Lion said, with a faint smile as Sylver stood where he was.
“...” Bear remained silent and somehow managed to furrow his brows even more than before. Sylver could feel the distortion already decreasing.
“Small price to pay if it means saving the world. Right?” Sylver asked, causing Nameless to look up from the coin and look him right in the eye.
Nameless tucked the coin back under his shirt and dusted invisible dust off his shirt.
“[Royal Decree]” Nameless said, raising his hand up towards Sylver.
A moment of tense silence passed.
Then another.
And another.
And another, only the sound of slowly moving sludge breaking up the otherwise tense silence.
“Hmm?” Sylver asked, looking around. “Oh! Some sort of mind control skill, right? Sorry, I’m immune. Same for torture in case that was your next move,” Sylver explained, tapping his forehead.
There was more silence following this, Nameless still standing still with his hand raised towards Sylver.
Sylver clapped his hands and caused Nameless to flinch and step backward and away from him.
“So what are we doing here? Is everyone getting what they want, getting to live happily ever after, or are you going to let a measly 50k and the death of a few nobodies get in the way of your goals? So do we have a deal or not?” Sylver asked, grinning at the completely expressionless faces.
Lion was the only one who made a sound, starting to laugh. “I love this guy! Name, I really think we should just pay him. You can’t fake this kind of arrogance. 50k, that’s what? A sword and 2 rings?” Lion said, walking over to Nameless and putting a hand on his shoulder.
“We should kill him now. If he’s really immune to mind-altering skills, we can’t make him forget us. And there’s nothing to stop him from running directly to the temple of Ra and selling us out. He’s too much of a threat if he’s left alive, regardless of how useful he could be.” Wolf said, placing a hand on Nameless’s other shoulder.
“How did you know about the coin?” Nameless asked, brushing off both hands off his shoulders.
“I knew the man who made the book and the coin,” Sylver answered honestly.
“How? We found it at the bottom of a dungeon, there is no possible way…” Nameless said, letting his words trail off.
“Let’s put it like this, my unique class is really unique. Do we have a deal?” Sylver said, hoping whatever their truth sensing skills are, wouldn’t notice that his unique class had fuckall to do with what he’d said earlier. Even Sylver had trouble working with implications when trying to use sense truth.
“If you give us your word to help us summon a demon, we will agree to your terms,” Bear said, speaking for the first time since Sylver had met him, but going by the reactions of Wolf, Lion, and Nameless, this was the first time they heard him speak too. Bear’s voice was so strangely monotone, it put Sylver on edge.
“His word? As if the word of a-”
“How soon would you want the sacrificial members?.” Nameless interrupted Wolf, now talking with newfound confidence.
“Within 2 weeks. I’m leaving on an errand for a week or so, and it would be good if everything is ready before I get back.” Sylver said, deciding not to question why Nameless was trusting Bear so much.
“Would you take the 50,000 gold in items worth that much?” Nameless asked, ironing out the details.
“I would. But they would need to be items that sell for that much, not just items that [Appraisal] says are worth that much.” Sylver answered.
“How long would it take for you to summon the demon?”
“If you manage to gather everything I tell you to, the process can take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days.”
“How would you hide your involvement in this?”
“I have a special mask that makes it impossible to appraise me. And you’ll have to swear to never tell anyone about me. Anyone asks, you decided against meeting with me and that was that. Do we have a deal?” Sylver asked, taking a step forward, and pausing for only a moment as Wolf tensed up, before continuing to walk forward unimpeded and holding his open hand out to Nameless.
Nameless looked down at Sylver’s outstretched hand, covered in blood, dirt, dust, and muck.
He shook it without a word.
*
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“The more I’m around you, the less impossible the stories sound,” Lola said, very gently packing away the last of the rings and closing the lid on them.
“I said they were exaggerated. I never said they weren’t true,” Sylver said, placing his hand over the box and letting his mana get sucked out to lock it closed.
“You walked into an ambush, faced against people who, in your own words, could squash you like an insect, and walked away with a bag full of rings and daggers worth over 50,000 gold, four new ‘allies’ to help you against Nautis, got them to agree to sacrifice their own people so you can get rewarded by the temple of Ra, and you’re also getting to summon a demon, on your own terms, at your own pace, and without having to lift a finger gathering the ingredients? How much of this was blind luck? Be honest.” Lola said, waving her hand over the box and sealing it shut using her own mana.
“Blind luck? About 5%. That mind control skill was a surprise, but it makes sense in hindsight. It’s the only reason people as powerful as them would follow the words of a snot-nosed brat. I could have guessed it and prepared for it, but I didn’t. The rest is just the result of trusting in my skills, with a lowercase s, and being fast and aggressive, and forcing them to deal with the consequences of my actions.” Sylver explained, rubbing the back of his head where the scar was only just beginning to form. Thankfully the tear was small enough that there wouldn’t be a bald spot or anything back there.
“What if they killed you? Or they had a copy? Or they let their pride get in the way? Or they tried to threaten you to work for them? What if-”
“I would have figured something out. It is very rare that everything goes according to plan, but as long as you act first, and hit hard, you’re still in control of the situation. You can’t win if you’re always on the defensive, and it’s the same for most conflicts. There’s always a way to gain an advantage over your opponent and win. If someone is faster than me, I make it so speed stops being a factor, if they’re more magically capable, I make things purely physical, if they’re smarter, I use brute force, there’s always something you can do, and I am yet to meet someone I wasn’t at least in some way superior to. And if you’re already in the shit, it’s not like whatever you do can make it worse. Especially if it’s a life and death situation, there’s no double death, there’s just death.” Sylver said, walking around the box and pushing it off the table to be caught by Spring and Reg.
“I’m not following.”
“If I just went with them, obediently and quietly, they would have eventually done something to make me unable to disobey them. Like that mind control skill, the kid tried to use. There’s very likely a limit to how many times he can use it, or something to that extent, because otherwise, he would have started with it. So instead they would have probably made me do something against the temple of Ra so I had no choice to side with them to protect myself, or framed me for something, you get the picture. On the other hand, one quick supercharged [Touch Of Decay], and I walk away unharmed, free, and all the richer for it.”
“Not counting the giant gash on the back of your head, and that they could have easily decided to just kill you,” Lola said, leading Sylver up the stairs and into her office.
“But they didn’t. And if they did, it’s not like death is the end for me. From my perspective, it is almost impossible to lose. If I was all alone, I would go as far as to say I’m unbeatable.” Sylver said, as Lola used the small metal bead she wore as a bracelet to unlock her door and let Sylver inside.
“What do you mean if you were alone? You are alone,” Lola said, surprised by the instant hurt expression on Sylver’s face. He spoke before she could.
“Just because I’m not all hugs and kisses, doesn’t mean I don’t care. I might not always say or show it, but you’re very important to me. I risked my life to save you because I thought you would be useful, but after getting to know you, I think we’re more than just deal bound acquaintances.” Sylver said, speaking in an uncharacteristically soft tone.
“No, I didn’t mean… It’s just that… I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. I understand what you meant. I’ll even go as far as to say I’m used to it. It takes a while for people to get used to me, and in your case, we were either so deeply connected that we didn’t need words to communicate, or we were both so busy that we didn’t get a chance to talk. When we get to the auction, do you want to take a day and just sightsee and catch up? I’ve been told they have a whole street dedicated to restaurants from every part of the world.” Sylver asked, looking out through the window and slowly returning to his normal cheerful self.
“I’d like that. Sorry, I’ve got some things to prepare for the auction, and I have an early meeting in the morning. I’m not trying to send you away, but I have a job to do, and I’m going to do it properly. I’m really sorry for what I said, I didn’t mean it like that. I care about you too… I’m just... not sure how to word it...” Lola said, shuffling papers around on her desk and looking down at them so as not to look at Sylver.
“Lola, it’s ok I’m not offended. Neither Nyx nor Adema were the cute and cuddly kind of parent, so I never really learned how to properly show affection to the people I care for. I show affection with actions, I make sure they are safe and sound, and hope that’s enough. I do understand that some people don’t see it that way, but it doesn’t come naturally to me, I have to work at it. Maybe if I grew up under different circumstances and what happened to me didn’t happen, I’d be able to walk around hugging everyone I meet, but I am who I am. I’ll be back tomorrow night, I’ll go to the guild to accept the quest from Sherra.” Sylver said, walking towards Lola’s table and waiting for her to look up at him.
“Seriously, it’s fine. I understand that things are complicated between us, but I want you to know I would burn this whole entire city to the ground if it tried to do anything to hurt you.” Sylver said, looking at the top of Lola’s head.
“Coming from you it’s more of a promise than just a figure of speech,” Lola answered, looking up at him and wiping away her slightly tearful eyes.
“Well for Arda, given the tunnels underneath, I’d just sink it. Map everything out, find the structural weaknesses, and set off explosives to make the whole thing fall deep underground. Between the confusion and monsters having nowhere to go but up, I think the whole city could be wiped clean off the map in under a day.” Sylver explained, speaking with a mixture of a grin and genuinely thinking how he would handle such a hypothetical target.
“I think that’s the first time anyone has ever threatened an entire kingdom for me. Thank you.” Lola said, laughing slightly, but still wiping away tears out of her eyes.
“Are you going to be alright?” Sylver asked, reaching out with a hand and flinching at the raw emotion in Lola’s soul after touching her.
“How do you do it? Wake up in the morning and go do things? Your home was devastated, everyone you cared for is presumably dead, how are you not just crying all the time.” Lola asked, the tears rolling freely and starting to sob. She seemed to have been holding this in for a while.
Sylver pulled her in for a hug and waited for her to calm down for a few minutes.
“I’ve tried sitting around and doing nothing in the past and it didn’t work too well. Throwing myself into work on the other hand takes my attention off things, and I’ve gotten used to not thinking about certain things. And every now and then I get drunk with Salgok and bawl my eyes out. He’s a great listener, even if he doesn’t remember most of what you said in the morning.” Sylver explained, stroking Lola’s back and noticing for the first time that she’s lost weight.
She pushed his arms off and walked around the desk. “Sorry, I’m fine now. I do genuinely have things to do.” Lola said sternly, using the sleeves of her work robe to wipe her eyes and red face.
Sylver stood where he was for a second before turning around and walking out of the office, “I’ll be back tomorrow night,” he said, closing the door as Lola waved him away and rubbed her face inside of her elbow. Sylver could hear her starting to cry again as the anti divination wards started to activate, but just left the building.
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After buying an early breakfast at 5 in the morning, Sylver decided he wasn’t tired enough to sleep and went straight to the guild building. He was only gone for a few hours and left Nameless and his minions a little after midnight.
The guild was thankfully more or less as silent and empty as it usually was at this time of night. Sherra was busy talking to an adventurer that was covered from head to toe in steel plate armor, so Sylver went over to the quest board and took a look at it.
For an adventurer, he had been on an insultingly small number of ‘adventures.’ He took Lola’s D rank quest for a bodyguard/translator, and had it in his hand as he read through the other available quests.
Sylver was just about to reach up to get a quest that involved hunting down a pack of venom wolves, when the paper in his hand was snatched out of it.
Sylver leaned back and saw the unshaven face of a man who was at the very least 4 heads taller than him. The tall man had reached over him and pulled the paper upwards, and was currently reading through it.
“Sorry kid, I’ve got dibs on this.” The man said.
[Human (Elemental Sorcerer) – 58]
[HP-941]
[MP-2,466]
“You took it out of my hand, if anything, I had dibs on it.” Sylver countered, turning around and having to look up to see the man’s face, given that he was unable to take a step back due to the quest board behind him, and blocked off from going to either side due to the decorative potted plants.
“No, I’m pretty sure I saw it first. And you shouldn’t be doing D rank quests like this while an E rank. They always do this kind of bullshit when they want to underpay the adventurers. Cheap cunt.” The sorcerer swore, folding Lola’s quest in half and putting it away into his armored robe.
His robe looked like it was made from very small fish scales, and looked to be as flexible as regular fabric, but significantly more durable.
“I would appreciate it if you just gave me the quest back and we parted as friends. I’ll buy you a drink if you do.” Sylver offered, reaching upwards with his open hand to be handed the paper back.
“I would appreciate it if you fucked yourself back to the hole you crawled out of. Bringing your kind of filth into our city. Where I come from, we burned pieces of shit like you on a daily basis.” The sorcerer said, leaning back for a moment as if he was about to spit.
“You certainly smell like a man who spent his childhood breathing in shit flavored fumes,” Sylver said, snapping his fingers and causing the folded page to slide down the man’s robe and fall down to the floor.
He bent down to pick it up, and froze from disbelief as he felt pressure on his back. Sylver only had to look up slightly to see the man was standing on one foot, and was at a loss for words at what was happening right now.
“You have no idea who you’re messing with.” The sorcerer said, leaning down to whisper into Sylver’s ear, and pushing him down lower towards the floor as a result. He took the page out of Sylver’s frozen fingers.
Sylver quite literally couldn’t form a sentence as he couldn’t believe what was happening right now. He would have been less confused if he was sucker-punched in the face, but this? This was...
The sorcerer seemed to misinterpret this inactivity as fear, and shoved Sylver backward, causing him to stumble and fall against the quest board, shaking it from the impact.
Sylver got back up and looked around the nearly empty guild hall, as if to confirm everyone else was seeing this. Strangely enough, the few other people were keeping their heads down and purposely not looking in Sylver’s general direction.
“What’s the matter? Going to cry for your friends?” The sorcerer mocked, once again misinterpreting Sylver’s reaction.
Sherra appeared seemingly out of nowhere and got between Sylver and the sorcerer.
“I apologize, Samuel, that particular quest was already reserved, it’s my fault I forgot to take it off the board,” Sherra mumbled out, causing even further confusion on Sylver’s part.
“No, I’ve already decided on this quest, and I’m taking it. It’s your fault, so it’s your problem to sort it out with whoever reserved it.” Samuel said, waving the page around and very nearly touching Sherra’s face with it.
“How are you this much of an asshole and still alive?” Sylver asked, speaking in a total monotone, his mind quite literally still trying to accept the fact that someone had stepped on him.
On him!
Stepped on him!
The faint murmurs all around the guild stopped in their tracks, as all their attention was now glued onto Sylver, Samuel, and Shera, the people at the very back having to lean around their friends to see properly.
“What did you say?” Samuel asked, leaning down to the point his head was only slightly higher than Sylver’s.
“He didn’t mean it, I’m so sorry, as his advisor it’s my-” Sherra was about to bow to apologize, but yelped as Sylver grabbed her by the horn to stop her from lowering her head.
“I said, I cannot believe there are cunts like you roaming around, it’s so unreal I’m genuinely worried I’m dreaming. Seriously, how are you standing here taking up valuable air? I mean, I understand some people can be competent and be assholes, but this is a whole another level. This kind of thoughtless retardation is usually wiped out before it gets a chance to grow up to-”
Sylver’s explanation as to why he’d never met someone like this man before, was interrupted by a hard slap across the face.
“Have some respect for your elders, brat,” Samuel said, as Sylver just stared up at him.
The fuck is going on? Did I overdrink Salgok’s bad batch?
Shera once again started to murmur an explanation, and was once again stopped from leaning down by Sylver grabbing her by the horn and pulling her head back up.
“Duels are a thing here, right?” Sylver asked, not even bothering to rub his swelling cheek, and looking straight at Samuel.
Samuel laughed so hard, Sylver could count his teeth from how wide his mouth was open. They were surprisingly perfectly straight, and didn’t have so much as a single cavity.
“I accept! Tomorrow evening, downstairs in the arena! So you can say your goodbyes and sort out your will!” Samuel said, buying himself a tiny amount of favor by being courteous enough to offer Sylver time to sort things out before dying. Although this was a drop in a pool of water, when compared to all the negative things he had done.
“I’ve got stuff to do tomorrow, let’s sort this out now,” Sylver said, only now coming back to his senses to rub his already healing cheek.
“You sure? No one to pass on your boxes full of rotten body parts? All alone?” Samuel mocked, doubling the size of his swimming pool with those two words.
Is this really worth blowing what little cover I had? I had a good thing going, being largely unknown. And this is such a cliche, is he setting me up?
“What about your corpse-turned-sex-doll, don’t you want to go say goodbye to him?” Samuel asked, getting a nervous laugh out of a few of the people sitting around and looking at them.
Yeah… It’s worth it...
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The arena looked like a slightly larger version of the one at the Silian academy, where Sylver had fought against Matheo. The sand was a much darker color, and after picking up a handful and smelling it, Sylver realized that it was partially dried up blood.
Even more surprisingly, he felt that the sand went down quite deeply, well over 25 meters. This was all at the very back of Sylver’s mind, as he couldn’t take his eyes off Samuel and was in denial at what had happened.
People were mean and assholes to him before, especially back when he was weak, but they were never this… Unguarded?
Is that what’s throwing me off? That he doesn’t see me as a threat?
The more Sylver searched around inside himself, the less he understood why this was rubbing him so wrong. He’d heard stories about things like this happening, but had never actually seen it.
Is this the effect of a hero being nearby? I’ll need to be on the lookout for enslaved elven royalty or something of that nature. Maybe a contest or tournament coming up? Right… The Lord of Arda’s daughter’s coronation is coming up… Which means there’s a contest for people wanting to work under her… A tournament….
Staring completely dead-eyed at Samuel, Sylver didn’t hear a single word the referee had said.
“Sorry, do you mind repeating what you said?” Sylver asked, getting a long sigh out of the old woman.
“In short, the fight stops when one of you surrenders or dies. The loser pays the winner 500 gold coins, or in your case, the money is taken from the sale of equipment and assets,” the woman said, making Sylver wonder just how well the Cord had managed to hide and spread out his income for her to think he didn’t have 500 gold.
Maybe I look poor? My robe is pretty tattered. Sylver thought as he nodded absent-mindedly and walked to the edge of the arena, as the referee had instructed.
“Everyone ready! Sylver Sezari?” The referee asked, getting a nod from Sylver.
“Samuel Du’Rodier!” The referee asked, getting a nod from Samuel.
“Begin!” The old woman shouted, walking out of the bounds of the arena and letting the surrounding barrier solidify fully.
Sylver snapped back to reality, and kicked the floor, sending a wall of sand flying up and in front of him, blocking the jet of fire coming towards him. A stream of razor-thin water pierced through it, and slashed to the left, cutting through Sylver’s sand-turned-glass wall, only his robe throwing him in the air stopping him from getting sliced in half by the pressurized beam.
The water traveled upwards, following Sylver, a single hard flap of the robe moving him just out of the reach of the water jet, which once again immediately followed after him.
Sylver jumped upwards off the outstretched hands of three shades, who were immediately destroyed by the water jet, and tapped his boots together, and used a small controlled explosion to flying higher into the air, flipping mid-flight and sticking to the inside of the barrier.
He saw at the very edge of his vision, as Spring appeared behind Samuel and kicked him between the legs, causing the sorcerer to interrupt his spell and having to turn around to face the already disappeared shade.
Sylver had figured out that as long as it wasn’t an instant kill attack, the perk wouldn’t get triggered.
10 shade archers fired a volley of arrows at Samuel, from the top of the inside of the barrier where Sylver was a moment ago, forcing the sorcerer to erect a spherical wall of wind around himself to deflect them. Sylver got the word that the inside was too magically saturated for a shade to materialize inside, and just continued to run on the inside of the barrier.
The spherical wall of wind turned into a cone and the small tip bent forwards towards Sylver, sending tiny rock projectiles flying at him at an insane speed, spinning as they flew by. They bounced off the barrier Sylver was running on, clouding the area behind him from the stones being pulverized.
One hit Sylver square in the thigh, the robe stopping it from going through his leg and severing it, but not powerful enough to completely stop the stone.
Sylver spun slightly to mitigate the force, but had to jump down as the projectiles increased and there was no longer any room to dodge. The beam of almost sound barrier-breaking rocks, adjusted it’s path slowly, with Sylver now a mere 10 meters away from the sorcerer.
Another kick at the floor sent the sand flying up into a giant red cloud, 6 Sylver’s running left, 6 running right, and 3 running straight at the wind ball. The upside-down tornado’s tip split into three, shooting slightly slower and much less frequent projectiles at the multiple clones.
5 on the left were grazed and disappeared in a puff of black smoke, 3 on the right got hit using one curved projectile, and the 3 running straight for the wind ball were hit with three separate icicles, also disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
The dust where Sylver was cleared out, just as the wall of wind did, revealing a small open hole in the sand, very similar to the one right behind Samuel.
Two shades on either side of the sorcerer held his hands down onto the floor, a dagger going right through each palm as the sorcerer screamed in shock and pain, Sylver standing above him and looking down at the red-faced, and blood covered sorcerer.
Sylver made a slight gesture with his hand, and the sorcerer screamed even louder, the daggers piercing his shaking hands twisting and slicing through the tendons.
Two hands came out of the shadows of Samuel’s head, clasping over his mouth and forcing it closed, causing his previously blood-curdling screams to turn into muffled moans of pain.
“Wait… Did she say Du’Rodier?” Sylver asked, only now his mind clearing up enough to allow him to think properly. He reached down and sat down onto Samuel’s chest, his knee pressed hard onto the man’s solar plexus and forcing all the wind out of him.
“She did. Oh shit, I can see the family resemblance…” Sylver said, speaking mostly to himself, but now unable to not see Katia’s nose and eyes on the man’s face.
Sylver remained where he was for a second, thinking about this, and considering who was most likely the boy’s father.
He decided he didn’t care after a mere 2 seconds of thinking about it. If anything he was doing Katia and her family a favor.
But there were too few people watching this fight, so a message would need to be sent.
Sylver got up from the sorcerer’s chest, and walked back a few steps to make sure he was out of the splash zone.
Spring appeared near Samuel’s head, holding a very large and heavy-looking sledgehammer. The hands holding Samuel’s mouth closed forced it open, and Spring very carefully put the head of the sledgehammer inside.
He let another shade hold it, as he walked around to Samuel’s feet and after pulling his right foot back as if he were about to kick a ball, kicked the sorcerer on the underside of the chin, completely destroying the lower jaw and sending teeth, bone, and blood flying everywhere, completely covering himself and the other shades in the bits and pieces.
The disgusting matter slid down their sleek black and yellow bodies, and Sylver walked back to the sorcerer, and held his hand over the man’s now unconscious face.
A couple of drops of black liquid fell down onto the mangled jaw, spreading out and causing it to darken slightly. Sylver did the same for both of the sorcerer’s hands, letting the shades wiggle the daggers around as he did so.
“No more talking shit or slapping, for a few months. If it happens again, there’s be no more playing around, I’ll just straight up kill you,” Sylver said to the unconscious sorcerer, understanding perfectly well the man couldn’t hear a word he said, but hoping one of his friends was among the stands of shocked onlookers and would convey Sylver’s words to him when he woke up.
Sylver placed his hand onto the sorcerer’s neck and absorbed enough health to fix the small bruise on his thigh.
He had to knock on the barrier a few times, before the referee saw he was trying to get out, and let him leave.
I’ll use the 500 gold to buy Leke something nice. Maybe I’ll get a more expensive robe for walking around in, so this doesn’t happen again. Sylver thought as he walked out of the dead silent room, people rushing over to Samuel to start attempting to heal him.
Ch055-Who Do You Think I Am?
-
-
Despite the meat being raw on the inside, Sylver ate it without any issue or complaint. The air had changed during the few minutes it took for him to glance through the book and further prove he could actually read the writing on the inside of it.
But it was a waste of time, given that Sylver could tell that not a single one of them really knew what was inside of it. They knew it was a guide on how to summon a demon, but they didn’t know what kind of demon, what the frameworks inside did, who wrote it, who edited it, or even which language it was written in.
There was a question that Sylver wanted to ask, but couldn’t since it would result in him being forced to give the book back to them. And although he was roughly 99% certain of the answer, that 1% could be the death of him.
Which he now at least knew wouldn’t be the end of him.
But snapping your neck and getting burned or cut apart were wholly different matters. There was no telling how long it would take for his body to regain function. Or for Sylver’s soul to latch onto his corpse so he could start fixing it.
Or even if his soul would latch onto his corpse. His previous death was too brief for him to do anything that wasn’t completely automatic, or possibly the result of the system applying his traits.
So while the danger was ever so slightly mitigated, it would still be trusting in something outside of his control.
But the alternative was just blindly following along with whatever they are planning/doing, and Sylver felt that his 99 to 1 odds were decent enough.
The worst outcome would be dying. And the best would be settling things with the temple of Ra, getting his rewards from them, gaining four ‘allies’, getting a team to help him summon a demon, and having someone finance the whole thing for him. There was the worry there were hidden messages on the pages, but Sylver couldn’t think of a better plan at the moment, and had to just hope there wasn’t a secret message directly from Aether that would only show up once the book was brought to a specific location. If there was a code in the notes, he would figure it out later.
After reading through the book one last time, and triple-checking he had everything perfectly memorized, Sylver waited for a moment for Wolf to blink, and the pages of the book in his hands turned into ash and fell down onto the floor.
Sylver saw a blinding flash of light.
*
*
*
“We will continue this later, he’s waking up. Bear.” Nameless said, as Sylver felt the interference amplify to the point even Spring couldn’t survive it.
What little mana Sylver had surrounding his skin sparked and sputtered and dissolved into the surrounding field, leaving him completely defenseless.
“So you didn’t have a copy. Good,” Sylver said, feeling a gust of wind pass harmlessly over him, ruffling his wet and blood-soaked hair.
He opened his eyes and saw sharp nails mere inches away from his face, held back from piercing his head by a much larger hand holding it by the wrist.
Lion let go of Wolf’s hand, and the old man took a few steps backward, rubbing his bruised wrist. A short distance away, Bear had his hands clasped together, the distortion so strong between them that Sylver almost couldn’t see his hands.
“So who wants to start the negotiations?” Sylver asked, looking around at the four people, Wolf positively livid and visibly shaking from anger, Bear as calm and peaceful as always, Lion looking down at Sylver with an expression full of disappointment and something else, and Nameless appearing to be as bored and tired as usual.
“In that case, I’ll start,” Sylver said, struggling to find his footing on account of how dizzy he was, having to use the wall behind himself as support to stand up. He didn’t bother feeling the open wound at the back of his head, because he could feel that it wasn’t deep, only torn from how hard Wolf had hit him.
“I want you to sacrifice a few members to be caught by the temple of Ra, I want 50,000 gold upfront, I want to know where you found this book, and I want my part in everything to remain a secret. You pretend you decided not to meet with me, and forget ever hearing my name. If you can agree to that, I’ll summon a demon and you can all try to make a deal with it. If not, you can kill me here and now, and try your luck finding a demon summoning expert somewhere else.” Sylver said, speaking quickly and calmly, maintaining eye contact with Nameless.
“Demon summoning expert?” Nameless asked, somehow without sounding surprised or disbelieving.
“There should have been a small glass coin shaped thing embedded in the cover. Inside there was a sliver of bright red or very dark skin,” Sylver said, making a circle with his thumb and pointer finger to demonstrate the size of the coin in question. “It’s platinum on one side, with a nine-sided framework etched into it, and a sigil that looks like two fish kissing in the very middle,” Sylver explained.
Nameless just stared at him, reaching into the inside of his shirt and pulling out a small platinum and glass coin he was wearing around his neck like a necklace. Turning it over, Sylver was glad to see the flesh inside was bright red, and not black.
Nameless turned the disk around and looked at the tiny bit of skin trapped underneath.
“I vote we kill him. There’s something off about him, he knows too much, I don’t believe this is a coincidence. Just because he isn’t his doesn’t mean he can be trusted,” Wolf said, as Nameless just looked at the small disk Sylver himself had once made and etched.
“I vote we pay him. A man looking out for his own self-interest, is a man who can be counted on. I think the benefits far outweigh the potential danger,” Lion said, with a faint smile as Sylver stood where he was.
“...” Bear remained silent and somehow managed to furrow his brows even more than before. Sylver could feel the distortion already decreasing.
“Small price to pay if it means saving the world. Right?” Sylver asked, causing Nameless to look up from the coin and look him right in the eye.
Nameless tucked the coin back under his shirt and dusted invisible dust off his shirt.
“[Royal Decree]” Nameless said, raising his hand up towards Sylver.
A moment of tense silence passed.
Then another.
And another.
And another, only the sound of slowly moving sludge breaking up the otherwise tense silence.
“Hmm?” Sylver asked, looking around. “Oh! Some sort of mind control skill, right? Sorry, I’m immune. Same for torture in case that was your next move,” Sylver explained, tapping his forehead.
There was more silence following this, Nameless still standing still with his hand raised towards Sylver.
Sylver clapped his hands and caused Nameless to flinch and step backward and away from him.
“So what are we doing here? Is everyone getting what they want, getting to live happily ever after, or are you going to let a measly 50k and the death of a few nobodies get in the way of your goals? So do we have a deal or not?” Sylver asked, grinning at the completely expressionless faces.
Lion was the only one who made a sound, starting to laugh. “I love this guy! Name, I really think we should just pay him. You can’t fake this kind of arrogance. 50k, that’s what? A sword and 2 rings?” Lion said, walking over to Nameless and putting a hand on his shoulder.
“We should kill him now. If he’s really immune to mind-altering skills, we can’t make him forget us. And there’s nothing to stop him from running directly to the temple of Ra and selling us out. He’s too much of a threat if he’s left alive, regardless of how useful he could be.” Wolf said, placing a hand on Nameless’s other shoulder.
“How did you know about the coin?” Nameless asked, brushing off both hands off his shoulders.
“I knew the man who made the book and the coin,” Sylver answered honestly.
“How? We found it at the bottom of a dungeon, there is no possible way…” Nameless said, letting his words trail off.
“Let’s put it like this, my unique class is really unique. Do we have a deal?” Sylver said, hoping whatever their truth sensing skills are, wouldn’t notice that his unique class had fuckall to do with what he’d said earlier. Even Sylver had trouble working with implications when trying to use sense truth.
“If you give us your word to help us summon a demon, we will agree to your terms,” Bear said, speaking for the first time since Sylver had met him, but going by the reactions of Wolf, Lion, and Nameless, this was the first time they heard him speak too. Bear’s voice was so strangely monotone, it put Sylver on edge.
“His word? As if the word of a-”
“How soon would you want the sacrificial members?.” Nameless interrupted Wolf, now talking with newfound confidence.
“Within 2 weeks. I’m leaving on an errand for a week or so, and it would be good if everything is ready before I get back.” Sylver said, deciding not to question why Nameless was trusting Bear so much.
“Would you take the 50,000 gold in items worth that much?” Nameless asked, ironing out the details.
“I would. But they would need to be items that sell for that much, not just items that [Appraisal] says are worth that much.” Sylver answered.
“How long would it take for you to summon the demon?”
“If you manage to gather everything I tell you to, the process can take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days.”
“How would you hide your involvement in this?”
“I have a special mask that makes it impossible to appraise me. And you’ll have to swear to never tell anyone about me. Anyone asks, you decided against meeting with me and that was that. Do we have a deal?” Sylver asked, taking a step forward, and pausing for only a moment as Wolf tensed up, before continuing to walk forward unimpeded and holding his open hand out to Nameless.
Nameless looked down at Sylver’s outstretched hand, covered in blood, dirt, dust, and muck.
He shook it without a word.
*
*
*
“The more I’m around you, the less impossible the stories sound,” Lola said, very gently packing away the last of the rings and closing the lid on them.
“I said they were exaggerated. I never said they weren’t true,” Sylver said, placing his hand over the box and letting his mana get sucked out to lock it closed.
“You walked into an ambush, faced against people who, in your own words, could squash you like an insect, and walked away with a bag full of rings and daggers worth over 50,000 gold, four new ‘allies’ to help you against Nautis, got them to agree to sacrifice their own people so you can get rewarded by the temple of Ra, and you’re also getting to summon a demon, on your own terms, at your own pace, and without having to lift a finger gathering the ingredients? How much of this was blind luck? Be honest.” Lola said, waving her hand over the box and sealing it shut using her own mana.
“Blind luck? About 5%. That mind control skill was a surprise, but it makes sense in hindsight. It’s the only reason people as powerful as them would follow the words of a snot-nosed brat. I could have guessed it and prepared for it, but I didn’t. The rest is just the result of trusting in my skills, with a lowercase s, and being fast and aggressive, and forcing them to deal with the consequences of my actions.” Sylver explained, rubbing the back of his head where the scar was only just beginning to form. Thankfully the tear was small enough that there wouldn’t be a bald spot or anything back there.
“What if they killed you? Or they had a copy? Or they let their pride get in the way? Or they tried to threaten you to work for them? What if-”
“I would have figured something out. It is very rare that everything goes according to plan, but as long as you act first, and hit hard, you’re still in control of the situation. You can’t win if you’re always on the defensive, and it’s the same for most conflicts. There’s always a way to gain an advantage over your opponent and win. If someone is faster than me, I make it so speed stops being a factor, if they’re more magically capable, I make things purely physical, if they’re smarter, I use brute force, there’s always something you can do, and I am yet to meet someone I wasn’t at least in some way superior to. And if you’re already in the shit, it’s not like whatever you do can make it worse. Especially if it’s a life and death situation, there’s no double death, there’s just death.” Sylver said, walking around the box and pushing it off the table to be caught by Spring and Reg.
“I’m not following.”
“If I just went with them, obediently and quietly, they would have eventually done something to make me unable to disobey them. Like that mind control skill, the kid tried to use. There’s very likely a limit to how many times he can use it, or something to that extent, because otherwise, he would have started with it. So instead they would have probably made me do something against the temple of Ra so I had no choice to side with them to protect myself, or framed me for something, you get the picture. On the other hand, one quick supercharged [Touch Of Decay], and I walk away unharmed, free, and all the richer for it.”
“Not counting the giant gash on the back of your head, and that they could have easily decided to just kill you,” Lola said, leading Sylver up the stairs and into her office.
“But they didn’t. And if they did, it’s not like death is the end for me. From my perspective, it is almost impossible to lose. If I was all alone, I would go as far as to say I’m unbeatable.” Sylver said, as Lola used the small metal bead she wore as a bracelet to unlock her door and let Sylver inside.
“What do you mean if you were alone? You are alone,” Lola said, surprised by the instant hurt expression on Sylver’s face. He spoke before she could.
“Just because I’m not all hugs and kisses, doesn’t mean I don’t care. I might not always say or show it, but you’re very important to me. I risked my life to save you because I thought you would be useful, but after getting to know you, I think we’re more than just deal bound acquaintances.” Sylver said, speaking in an uncharacteristically soft tone.
“No, I didn’t mean… It’s just that… I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. I understand what you meant. I’ll even go as far as to say I’m used to it. It takes a while for people to get used to me, and in your case, we were either so deeply connected that we didn’t need words to communicate, or we were both so busy that we didn’t get a chance to talk. When we get to the auction, do you want to take a day and just sightsee and catch up? I’ve been told they have a whole street dedicated to restaurants from every part of the world.” Sylver asked, looking out through the window and slowly returning to his normal cheerful self.
“I’d like that. Sorry, I’ve got some things to prepare for the auction, and I have an early meeting in the morning. I’m not trying to send you away, but I have a job to do, and I’m going to do it properly. I’m really sorry for what I said, I didn’t mean it like that. I care about you too… I’m just... not sure how to word it...” Lola said, shuffling papers around on her desk and looking down at them so as not to look at Sylver.
“Lola, it’s ok I’m not offended. Neither Nyx nor Adema were the cute and cuddly kind of parent, so I never really learned how to properly show affection to the people I care for. I show affection with actions, I make sure they are safe and sound, and hope that’s enough. I do understand that some people don’t see it that way, but it doesn’t come naturally to me, I have to work at it. Maybe if I grew up under different circumstances and what happened to me didn’t happen, I’d be able to walk around hugging everyone I meet, but I am who I am. I’ll be back tomorrow night, I’ll go to the guild to accept the quest from Sherra.” Sylver said, walking towards Lola’s table and waiting for her to look up at him.
“Seriously, it’s fine. I understand that things are complicated between us, but I want you to know I would burn this whole entire city to the ground if it tried to do anything to hurt you.” Sylver said, looking at the top of Lola’s head.
“Coming from you it’s more of a promise than just a figure of speech,” Lola answered, looking up at him and wiping away her slightly tearful eyes.
“Well for Arda, given the tunnels underneath, I’d just sink it. Map everything out, find the structural weaknesses, and set off explosives to make the whole thing fall deep underground. Between the confusion and monsters having nowhere to go but up, I think the whole city could be wiped clean off the map in under a day.” Sylver explained, speaking with a mixture of a grin and genuinely thinking how he would handle such a hypothetical target.
“I think that’s the first time anyone has ever threatened an entire kingdom for me. Thank you.” Lola said, laughing slightly, but still wiping away tears out of her eyes.
“Are you going to be alright?” Sylver asked, reaching out with a hand and flinching at the raw emotion in Lola’s soul after touching her.
“How do you do it? Wake up in the morning and go do things? Your home was devastated, everyone you cared for is presumably dead, how are you not just crying all the time.” Lola asked, the tears rolling freely and starting to sob. She seemed to have been holding this in for a while.
Sylver pulled her in for a hug and waited for her to calm down for a few minutes.
“I’ve tried sitting around and doing nothing in the past and it didn’t work too well. Throwing myself into work on the other hand takes my attention off things, and I’ve gotten used to not thinking about certain things. And every now and then I get drunk with Salgok and bawl my eyes out. He’s a great listener, even if he doesn’t remember most of what you said in the morning.” Sylver explained, stroking Lola’s back and noticing for the first time that she’s lost weight.
She pushed his arms off and walked around the desk. “Sorry, I’m fine now. I do genuinely have things to do.” Lola said sternly, using the sleeves of her work robe to wipe her eyes and red face.
Sylver stood where he was for a second before turning around and walking out of the office, “I’ll be back tomorrow night,” he said, closing the door as Lola waved him away and rubbed her face inside of her elbow. Sylver could hear her starting to cry again as the anti divination wards started to activate, but just left the building.
*
*
*
After buying an early breakfast at 5 in the morning, Sylver decided he wasn’t tired enough to sleep and went straight to the guild building. He was only gone for a few hours and left Nameless and his minions a little after midnight.
The guild was thankfully more or less as silent and empty as it usually was at this time of night. Sherra was busy talking to an adventurer that was covered from head to toe in steel plate armor, so Sylver went over to the quest board and took a look at it.
For an adventurer, he had been on an insultingly small number of ‘adventures.’ He took Lola’s D rank quest for a bodyguard/translator, and had it in his hand as he read through the other available quests.
Sylver was just about to reach up to get a quest that involved hunting down a pack of venom wolves, when the paper in his hand was snatched out of it.
Sylver leaned back and saw the unshaven face of a man who was at the very least 4 heads taller than him. The tall man had reached over him and pulled the paper upwards, and was currently reading through it.
“Sorry kid, I’ve got dibs on this.” The man said.
[Human (Elemental Sorcerer) – 58]
[HP-941]
[MP-2,466]
“You took it out of my hand, if anything, I had dibs on it.” Sylver countered, turning around and having to look up to see the man’s face, given that he was unable to take a step back due to the quest board behind him, and blocked off from going to either side due to the decorative potted plants.
“No, I’m pretty sure I saw it first. And you shouldn’t be doing D rank quests like this while an E rank. They always do this kind of bullshit when they want to underpay the adventurers. Cheap cunt.” The sorcerer swore, folding Lola’s quest in half and putting it away into his armored robe.
His robe looked like it was made from very small fish scales, and looked to be as flexible as regular fabric, but significantly more durable.
“I would appreciate it if you just gave me the quest back and we parted as friends. I’ll buy you a drink if you do.” Sylver offered, reaching upwards with his open hand to be handed the paper back.
“I would appreciate it if you fucked yourself back to the hole you crawled out of. Bringing your kind of filth into our city. Where I come from, we burned pieces of shit like you on a daily basis.” The sorcerer said, leaning back for a moment as if he was about to spit.
“You certainly smell like a man who spent his childhood breathing in shit flavored fumes,” Sylver said, snapping his fingers and causing the folded page to slide down the man’s robe and fall down to the floor.
He bent down to pick it up, and froze from disbelief as he felt pressure on his back. Sylver only had to look up slightly to see the man was standing on one foot, and was at a loss for words at what was happening right now.
“You have no idea who you’re messing with.” The sorcerer said, leaning down to whisper into Sylver’s ear, and pushing him down lower towards the floor as a result. He took the page out of Sylver’s frozen fingers.
Sylver quite literally couldn’t form a sentence as he couldn’t believe what was happening right now. He would have been less confused if he was sucker-punched in the face, but this? This was...
The sorcerer seemed to misinterpret this inactivity as fear, and shoved Sylver backward, causing him to stumble and fall against the quest board, shaking it from the impact.
Sylver got back up and looked around the nearly empty guild hall, as if to confirm everyone else was seeing this. Strangely enough, the few other people were keeping their heads down and purposely not looking in Sylver’s general direction.
“What’s the matter? Going to cry for your friends?” The sorcerer mocked, once again misinterpreting Sylver’s reaction.
Sherra appeared seemingly out of nowhere and got between Sylver and the sorcerer.
“I apologize, Samuel, that particular quest was already reserved, it’s my fault I forgot to take it off the board,” Sherra mumbled out, causing even further confusion on Sylver’s part.
“No, I’ve already decided on this quest, and I’m taking it. It’s your fault, so it’s your problem to sort it out with whoever reserved it.” Samuel said, waving the page around and very nearly touching Sherra’s face with it.
“How are you this much of an asshole and still alive?” Sylver asked, speaking in a total monotone, his mind quite literally still trying to accept the fact that someone had stepped on him.
On him!
Stepped on him!
The faint murmurs all around the guild stopped in their tracks, as all their attention was now glued onto Sylver, Samuel, and Shera, the people at the very back having to lean around their friends to see properly.
“What did you say?” Samuel asked, leaning down to the point his head was only slightly higher than Sylver’s.
“He didn’t mean it, I’m so sorry, as his advisor it’s my-” Sherra was about to bow to apologize, but yelped as Sylver grabbed her by the horn to stop her from lowering her head.
“I said, I cannot believe there are cunts like you roaming around, it’s so unreal I’m genuinely worried I’m dreaming. Seriously, how are you standing here taking up valuable air? I mean, I understand some people can be competent and be assholes, but this is a whole another level. This kind of thoughtless retardation is usually wiped out before it gets a chance to grow up to-”
Sylver’s explanation as to why he’d never met someone like this man before, was interrupted by a hard slap across the face.
“Have some respect for your elders, brat,” Samuel said, as Sylver just stared up at him.
The fuck is going on? Did I overdrink Salgok’s bad batch?
Shera once again started to murmur an explanation, and was once again stopped from leaning down by Sylver grabbing her by the horn and pulling her head back up.
“Duels are a thing here, right?” Sylver asked, not even bothering to rub his swelling cheek, and looking straight at Samuel.
Samuel laughed so hard, Sylver could count his teeth from how wide his mouth was open. They were surprisingly perfectly straight, and didn’t have so much as a single cavity.
“I accept! Tomorrow evening, downstairs in the arena! So you can say your goodbyes and sort out your will!” Samuel said, buying himself a tiny amount of favor by being courteous enough to offer Sylver time to sort things out before dying. Although this was a drop in a pool of water, when compared to all the negative things he had done.
“I’ve got stuff to do tomorrow, let’s sort this out now,” Sylver said, only now coming back to his senses to rub his already healing cheek.
“You sure? No one to pass on your boxes full of rotten body parts? All alone?” Samuel mocked, doubling the size of his swimming pool with those two words.
Is this really worth blowing what little cover I had? I had a good thing going, being largely unknown. And this is such a cliche, is he setting me up?
“What about your corpse-turned-sex-doll, don’t you want to go say goodbye to him?” Samuel asked, getting a nervous laugh out of a few of the people sitting around and looking at them.
Yeah… It’s worth it...
*
*
*
The arena looked like a slightly larger version of the one at the Silian academy, where Sylver had fought against Matheo. The sand was a much darker color, and after picking up a handful and smelling it, Sylver realized that it was partially dried up blood.
Even more surprisingly, he felt that the sand went down quite deeply, well over 25 meters. This was all at the very back of Sylver’s mind, as he couldn’t take his eyes off Samuel and was in denial at what had happened.
People were mean and assholes to him before, especially back when he was weak, but they were never this… Unguarded?
Is that what’s throwing me off? That he doesn’t see me as a threat?
The more Sylver searched around inside himself, the less he understood why this was rubbing him so wrong. He’d heard stories about things like this happening, but had never actually seen it.
Is this the effect of a hero being nearby? I’ll need to be on the lookout for enslaved elven royalty or something of that nature. Maybe a contest or tournament coming up? Right… The Lord of Arda’s daughter’s coronation is coming up… Which means there’s a contest for people wanting to work under her… A tournament….
Staring completely dead-eyed at Samuel, Sylver didn’t hear a single word the referee had said.
“Sorry, do you mind repeating what you said?” Sylver asked, getting a long sigh out of the old woman.
“In short, the fight stops when one of you surrenders or dies. The loser pays the winner 500 gold coins, or in your case, the money is taken from the sale of equipment and assets,” the woman said, making Sylver wonder just how well the Cord had managed to hide and spread out his income for her to think he didn’t have 500 gold.
Maybe I look poor? My robe is pretty tattered. Sylver thought as he nodded absent-mindedly and walked to the edge of the arena, as the referee had instructed.
“Everyone ready! Sylver Sezari?” The referee asked, getting a nod from Sylver.
“Samuel Du’Rodier!” The referee asked, getting a nod from Samuel.
“Begin!” The old woman shouted, walking out of the bounds of the arena and letting the surrounding barrier solidify fully.
Sylver snapped back to reality, and kicked the floor, sending a wall of sand flying up and in front of him, blocking the jet of fire coming towards him. A stream of razor-thin water pierced through it, and slashed to the left, cutting through Sylver’s sand-turned-glass wall, only his robe throwing him in the air stopping him from getting sliced in half by the pressurized beam.
The water traveled upwards, following Sylver, a single hard flap of the robe moving him just out of the reach of the water jet, which once again immediately followed after him.
Sylver jumped upwards off the outstretched hands of three shades, who were immediately destroyed by the water jet, and tapped his boots together, and used a small controlled explosion to flying higher into the air, flipping mid-flight and sticking to the inside of the barrier.
He saw at the very edge of his vision, as Spring appeared behind Samuel and kicked him between the legs, causing the sorcerer to interrupt his spell and having to turn around to face the already disappeared shade.
Sylver had figured out that as long as it wasn’t an instant kill attack, the perk wouldn’t get triggered.
10 shade archers fired a volley of arrows at Samuel, from the top of the inside of the barrier where Sylver was a moment ago, forcing the sorcerer to erect a spherical wall of wind around himself to deflect them. Sylver got the word that the inside was too magically saturated for a shade to materialize inside, and just continued to run on the inside of the barrier.
The spherical wall of wind turned into a cone and the small tip bent forwards towards Sylver, sending tiny rock projectiles flying at him at an insane speed, spinning as they flew by. They bounced off the barrier Sylver was running on, clouding the area behind him from the stones being pulverized.
One hit Sylver square in the thigh, the robe stopping it from going through his leg and severing it, but not powerful enough to completely stop the stone.
Sylver spun slightly to mitigate the force, but had to jump down as the projectiles increased and there was no longer any room to dodge. The beam of almost sound barrier-breaking rocks, adjusted it’s path slowly, with Sylver now a mere 10 meters away from the sorcerer.
Another kick at the floor sent the sand flying up into a giant red cloud, 6 Sylver’s running left, 6 running right, and 3 running straight at the wind ball. The upside-down tornado’s tip split into three, shooting slightly slower and much less frequent projectiles at the multiple clones.
5 on the left were grazed and disappeared in a puff of black smoke, 3 on the right got hit using one curved projectile, and the 3 running straight for the wind ball were hit with three separate icicles, also disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
The dust where Sylver was cleared out, just as the wall of wind did, revealing a small open hole in the sand, very similar to the one right behind Samuel.
Two shades on either side of the sorcerer held his hands down onto the floor, a dagger going right through each palm as the sorcerer screamed in shock and pain, Sylver standing above him and looking down at the red-faced, and blood covered sorcerer.
Sylver made a slight gesture with his hand, and the sorcerer screamed even louder, the daggers piercing his shaking hands twisting and slicing through the tendons.
Two hands came out of the shadows of Samuel’s head, clasping over his mouth and forcing it closed, causing his previously blood-curdling screams to turn into muffled moans of pain.
“Wait… Did she say Du’Rodier?” Sylver asked, only now his mind clearing up enough to allow him to think properly. He reached down and sat down onto Samuel’s chest, his knee pressed hard onto the man’s solar plexus and forcing all the wind out of him.
“She did. Oh shit, I can see the family resemblance…” Sylver said, speaking mostly to himself, but now unable to not see Katia’s nose and eyes on the man’s face.
Sylver remained where he was for a second, thinking about this, and considering who was most likely the boy’s father.
He decided he didn’t care after a mere 2 seconds of thinking about it. If anything he was doing Katia and her family a favor.
But there were too few people watching this fight, so a message would need to be sent.
Sylver got up from the sorcerer’s chest, and walked back a few steps to make sure he was out of the splash zone.
Spring appeared near Samuel’s head, holding a very large and heavy-looking sledgehammer. The hands holding Samuel’s mouth closed forced it open, and Spring very carefully put the head of the sledgehammer inside.
He let another shade hold it, as he walked around to Samuel’s feet and after pulling his right foot back as if he were about to kick a ball, kicked the sorcerer on the underside of the chin, completely destroying the lower jaw and sending teeth, bone, and blood flying everywhere, completely covering himself and the other shades in the bits and pieces.
The disgusting matter slid down their sleek black and yellow bodies, and Sylver walked back to the sorcerer, and held his hand over the man’s now unconscious face.
A couple of drops of black liquid fell down onto the mangled jaw, spreading out and causing it to darken slightly. Sylver did the same for both of the sorcerer’s hands, letting the shades wiggle the daggers around as he did so.
“No more talking shit or slapping, for a few months. If it happens again, there’s be no more playing around, I’ll just straight up kill you,” Sylver said to the unconscious sorcerer, understanding perfectly well the man couldn’t hear a word he said, but hoping one of his friends was among the stands of shocked onlookers and would convey Sylver’s words to him when he woke up.
Sylver placed his hand onto the sorcerer’s neck and absorbed enough health to fix the small bruise on his thigh.
He had to knock on the barrier a few times, before the referee saw he was trying to get out, and let him leave.
I’ll use the 500 gold to buy Leke something nice. Maybe I’ll get a more expensive robe for walking around in, so this doesn’t happen again. Sylver thought as he walked out of the dead silent room, people rushing over to Samuel to start attempting to heal him.
