Chapter 84 - 81 : Riddled Dies
Even though he was outnumbered and surrounded with his life definitely on the line, Riddled Tree wasn't that worried at his predicament. Sato's earlier strike was just a regular one and it had only taken out a little above 30 HP from his total Health.
As for the encirclement that he was caught in between, Riddled Tree didn't feel much about it instead, his worries were based on the future results. In other words, to Riddled Tree, even if he were to somehow escape this predicament he still wouldn't be able to escape his death unless he somehow turned the battle around.
Realising that the attacks were already closing up on him, Riddled tree made the decision to face the attack head on.
"[Nature's Enticement]'
As Sato's attack was about to land, Riddled Tree gently knocked the edge of his staff against the floor before yelling out.
Due to the disturbance brought about by [Nature's Enticement], Sato's sword went off mark at the very last moment, giving the druid breathing space and chance. Using this period, Riddled Tree dodged the two arrows from behind however, he still got grazed by one of them. Riddled Tree then retreated a few metres a way to get rid of Sato.
"Impressive." Sato sincerely commented. From an outside person's point of view, Riddled Tree was over, done even. Even though he was surrounded, he didn't give up but simply bid his time for the perfect opportunity. Despite so , he came out from such an encirclement and he only did so was the one move. Anyone would be impressed at that and Sato was genuinely surprised at his opponent's calm and accurate reaction and calculation.
'It looks like this will be more difficult than I expected...'
It was indeed true that Riddled Tree's reaction wasn't totally expected but it would be wrong to say that Sato cowered back because of that. Even though his opponent had dodged their attack, Sato still remained standing, confidently. Dodging and Escaping were two different facts as dodging would only extend Riddled Tree's life a bit where as escaping would definitely save him. However, would Sato give him the chance to do so? Not a chance.
"Take this." Sato struck once again.
The druid class was a supporting with almost next to nothing when considering offensive skills. Being an all-rounder for healing, buffs and control skills, the druid class was one of the most difficult classes to play. The fact that Riddled Tree had dodged the other assault could be attributed to his special class skill. As for whether he could replicate such an deed once more, Sato doubted that. Even if he could, Sato was extremely confident in his attack landing and even if that didn't work out as planned, one would have to remember that Sato wasn't working alone.
"[Entangling Vines]" Riddled Tree turned around and swung his staff towards Sato.
Sato had somewhat expected this as during the raid with Kylian, he had witnessed a few of the druid class' skills. Rather than worrying, Sati actually kept a smile on his face.
Taking the time before he got caught in the vines, Sato leaped from his position towards his right.
*Phew*
Before Riddled Tree could relax and heal himself, a glistening arrowhead greeted his sights at Sato's previous position. Due to the fact that he wasn't expecting anything, Riddled Tree couldn't react and in the end he got hit by the arrow.
"Ack." -27 (Riddled Tree 51/110)
But that wasn't all. Sato, who had previous dodged Riddled Tree's binding, suddenly appeared by his left and hacked at his head but this time, he used a skill.
"[Chop]" Critical Hit -46 (Riddled Tree 5/110)
At this point, Riddled Tree had bore through the pain and regained his focus to realise that he was already in a disadvantageous spot. Nonetheless, regaining his focus wouldn't save him neither would it stop Sato's follow-up attack.
"Please st-" Despite voicing out his pleas, Riddled Tree couldn't stop what was to come.. Sato wasn't a man who would just stop nor hesitate on a decision so easily, just because his opponent had requested it.
The sword sliced through the same spot on his head and due to the previous hit being a critical one coupled with the fact that Riddled Tree's HP was very low, Sato had unknowingly fulfilled the requirements for a gore attribute . What did that entail? Simple, Riddled Tree's head flew off. Oh, blood also spurted off his neck like a fountain.
(Riddled tree 0/110)
With that the player, Riddled Tree was no more as his body began to disintegrate into specks of light with an equipment being left behind.
"You know, I could have died back then?" Sato turned back and glanced at Dream Tiger.
"Hehe. You should be an expert right? If my arrow had hit you, you would only have yourself to blame. After all it was a regular arrow not a skill; it was slightly slower than you." Dream Tiger chuckled.
The turning point in the battle was Dream Tiger's surprise attack which threw Riddled Tree off-course giving Sato the chance to finish him with 2 consecutive attacks. However, Dream Tiger had never actually alerted Sato of his plan. Of course, Dream Tiger's excuse sounded very reasonable but Sato had a gut feeling that the attack was actually meant for him and not Riddled Tree. If not for his quick thinking and quick reflexes, Sato didn't doubt that he would have died back there and with everyone else' attention focused on their various battles, no one would have known that Dream Tiger had a hand in his death. Even if Riddled Tree were to tell the others, Dream Tiger could easily claim that the opponent was trying to lie by playing silly mind games.
'I have to be careful around this guy otherwise, I might die without knowing how.' Deciding on his next course of action, Sato began to walk towards the main battle between the boss and the players.
"What about the loot?" Dream Tiger asked curiously.
"You can keep it yourself." Sato replied sharply. At this point, Sato didn't bring back the topic of the arrow because his 'ally' would still deny it and it would seem like he was making baseless accusations, which of course he was.
Sato also left the loot from Riddled Tree's body to Dream Tiger. Since he had already profited from Devis, Sato didn't bother about Riddled Tree's leftovers but that wasn't the only reason why he did so. Since he didn't know of Dream Tiger's real objective, Sato felt it was better to avoid any form of infighting between him and Dream otherwise, who knows what plot he(Dream Tiger) might have against him.
"What next?" Dream Tiger, who was obviously in a good mood thanks to what he just gained, asked.
Sato stood still for awhile before replying
"What next? We beat the boss."
. . . . .
A few kilometres away from Gnorka was a small desolated mountain range. The mountain range was originally believed to have existed from the Kiro mountains but according to an old tale, the unnamed mountain range was cut off from the Kiro mountains with more than 50 mile gap between them; as for the remains between the gap, it was said to have been brought to oblivion in the process .
The act of dividing the two ranges was acclaimed to a sword-saint who is believed to have lived ages ago, during the Chaos War, but the creation of the unnamed mountain range is most likely to have dated slightly after the Chaos War[1].
Due to the fact that the mountain range was devoid of any resources; be it mineral or even plant life, there was no settlement close to it and it eventually became forgotten. Not even animals or monsters lived on or near it due to the absence of sustainable resources for life.
In a cave in one of the mountains in this unnamed mountain range, a being sat crossed legged with its eyes shut closed. Well, they were a few seconds ago, but for some reason, the owner of the eyes had opened them and stared at the entrance of the cave. There was nothing there, but a few seconds later, a ripple had formed in space and it slowly began spreading out.
"You have finally found me eh?"
AN :
Infinite Facts :
Remember when Bishop Enzo mentioned the Emissary possibly being a 6th or 7th tier being?(Hint: Chpt 43)
Well this is the classification:
1 st tier; Beginner/Apprentice e.g sword-apprentice
2nd tier; Normal e.g swordsman
3rd tier; Master e.g sword-master
4th tier; King e.g sword-king
5th tier; Grand-master e.g sword-grandmaster
6th tier; Saint e.g sword-saint
7th tier; Demigod/Infinite Mortal e.g sword-mortal, sword-demigod, sword-infinite
8th tier; God e.g sword-god
Currently, players are still at the 1st tier.