Orbis Online
247. The Battle of the Dragon and Man VII

   "Huh?"

The pain that pierced through his chest made Reus' eyes suddenly look in disbelief as he realized a curved blade was hitting him from behind.

Though his opponent was a few meters away in front yet, he actually got an attack from behind? Does that make sense?

   "Hmm, seeing your reaction my guess just now doesn't seem wrong. You're used to fighting enemies that are easy to guess movement patterns and skills so that when faced with a surprise attack like this makes your movements dull, right?"

Reus wanted to reply to the figure's words but thanks to the continuous pain in his chest made Reus unable to say a word. He could only grimace before looking back at the figure of his attacker and finding a two and a half meter tall humanoid-shaped black shadow holding a giant scythe.

   "Shadows...? Sickle...?"

   "Newly aware? Looks like you're slower than I thought."

The masked figure laughed cynically hearing Reus' reaction. He can't see the expression behind his mask but he learns that Reus is being attacked by surprises that he's never faced.

Reus could not get a good word to respond to the words of the masked figure but even if he found a good response sentence, the pain in his chest blocked his voice out.

Seeing Reus seemingly unable to do anything else, the shadowy figure pulled his giant scythe from Reus' body, making the silver-haired player fall to the ground without energy.

Reus wanted to move as soon as his body was free but he lost control of his body. His body felt like it was being restrained by something invisible.

   "Can't move? Feeling stung? The bleeding won't stop? Hihihi, no one can escape once hit by the Shadow Reaper's fatal attack."

While saying so the shadow sat as if hovering near the masked figure. Reus can now surmise the secret behind the mysterious two-way attack earlier.

The shadow figure called Shadow Reaper was not floating but a type of Magic Skill that could turn the shadow of its user into a sickle holder. It could be seen from the lower body of the shadow connected by the shadow extending from the foot of the masked figure.

Reus did not know for sure but the reach of the shadow figure was not less than ten meters and every time the shadow appeared then the shadow of the masked figure would extend first.

Reus can also see that he is currently exposed to several Debuffs in the form of Stun, Bleeding, Shock and the status of foreign Debuff symbolized skulls that he never knew. Debuff Bleeding made a few percent of Reus' HP continue to decrease every second, while Shock seemed to blunt Reus's movements through a strange sustained electric shock.

He could not feel his body as if his entire body was numb except for the eyes and mouth area.

   "These skulls...."

   "Ah, did you get hit by that Debuff? I'm lucky."

The masked figure laughed out loud before explaining the skull-symbolized Debuff was one Debuff that could not be removed or healed, a Debuff most hated by players, Everlasting Curse.

Everlasting Curse is hated by players for its effect that can negate the resistance of the target to Debuff, the, as well as making another Debuff that still has effects before or after the Everlasting Curse hit the target will not be cured until the victim is dead.

According to his own explanation, the Everlasting Curse was the effect of his Shadow Reaper skill but the possibility was so low that it could be active against Reus like this indicated he was very lucky.

   "In short, no matter what I do, with Stun lying motionless and Debuff Bleeding reducing my HP gradually, I will still die?"

   "If you don't want me to take your life sooner."

The masked figure mocked Reus who could do nothing more, while the silvery-white-haired player gave a dry smile realizing the situation. He never expected to face two deaths in the near future.

Even so, at least Reus' death this time sounded more worthy than dying from drinking too much alcohol. He also felt quite satisfied after trying and witnessing the strength of his strongest skill combination.

Reus was actually still thinking of some way to get out of this situation but looking at the Everlasting Curse as well as some Debuff who seemed not to disappear until he died, Reus let out a heavy sigh.

   "Well, at least I managed to pave the way for Bailendra Kingdom's army and know a little about the strength of Special-class players other than me."

The masked figure raised next to his eyebrows heard Reus mutter. He could guess Reus was a player with a rare Special-class from the start because it was impossible for ordinary players to be able to face him who was currently receiving a certain status increase from his considerable skill.

   "It looks like you accepted your death easily. If you don't mind, can I know your name and level? I'm gonna put your name on the list of players I need to look out for."

   "I thought you were a player. Why are you pretending to be an NPC?"

   "You used a mask to make your identity as a player unknown, right? What's so weird about that?"

Reus wanted to pat his forehead unaware of such a trivial thing but his body could not move, in the end he just smiled dryly at his stupidity.

Reus refuses the wishes of the masked figure. Although now he could not move he did not want to divulge the identity that he had been hard-earned to hide.

   "Well, it doesn't matter if you don't want to tell me. All I need to do is take off that mask and your identity can be instantly seen by me."

The masked figure walked up to Reus about to take the skull mask that covered the silvery-white-haired player's face but it seems he had mistaken Reus's acceptance of death.

   "Hollow Swords!"

The five pseudo-black-colored swords appeared intending Reus' body and moved to attack his opponent. The masked figure did not expect Reus to still want to fight in such a state that Reus managed to put some attacks on his opponent even though it was not too deep.

The masked figure reflexively leaped back avoiding the fifth slash of the semi-translucent sword but just as he was intent on taking it a step further, his body was suppressed by something invisible.

He widened his eyes feeling surprised and stupid to have forgotten this one Reus skill.

   "Damn it! You set me up!"

   "Feel the delicacy of my beloved swords!"

Without being able to feel or move his body, Reus deployed Psychokinesis to restrain his opponent's movements before pushing his five Hollow Swords' swords towards the masked figure's body.

   "Little trick! Shadow Reapers!"

A black-cabbed shadow figure emerged from the shadow of the masked figure. The shadow managed to protect the masked figure from the threat of the five flying swords of Reus but instead, the shadow instantly disappeared.

   "Huh, a skill like this can't hold me!"

The masked figure exclaimed loudly and successfully broke the pressure of Psychokinesis Reus who managed to make the silvery white-haired player lying on the ground was wide.

Yet all this time no opponent has managed to free himself from his Psychokinesis. It is likely that this happened due to the high level difference between them. Reus thought that this masked figure was level at least above the 300s.

   "This time I'll make sure you die! I don't care about your name or your level anymore! You're too dangerous for a beginner!"

   "really? Then you'll have to wait a little longer to see me turn into a pixel grain."

"uh? Whatchu mean?"

The masked figure put on a face of confusion for a moment did not understand Reus' words but before long, he could feel the threat from the direction of the sky.

Sure enough, from the sky darted two high-speed people while swinging their swords smashed into the huge scythe of masked figures that made his forehead bulge violently. Unfortunately, the strength of those two people's strengths was not comparable to that of a masked figure.

He could easily throw the two men and launch a massive attack turning them into blue pixel grains.

   'Two—no, the same three people?! How can?!'

The masked figure glared at Reus who was now putting on a big smile. He wanted to finish off Reus as soon as possible but again he was confronted by another figure similar to Reus.

He wanted to curse and curse Reus but he was put off after cleaning up this new bully. He pushed his scythe with all his might against Reus' other figure, but just as he was about to swing the weapon several magic attacks shot towards him made him forced to take a defensive position.

   'Sword and magic?! Swordmage or Swordcaster?! Plus illusion skill—no, it seems that it is not just an illusion.'

The masked figure screamed inwardly cursing Reus who didn't seem as simple as he thought. He had indeed guessed the Reus class was Swordmage or Swordcaster, a class of sword and magic user but given their previous fight, he felt Str Reus' status was too high for that physical and magical half-class.

Not only were the two figures identical to Reus before, and then the addition of another who had just launched a magic attack, the masked figure could not analyze Reus' class or ability anymore.

The masked figure immediately prepared for the next attack but he had not had time to change his position to alert, the twin-like figure of Reus had advanced first and floated six extremely powerful black misty slashes with both swords.

The six slashes of Reus's twin sword managed to be held back by the scythe of the masked figure with considerable difficulty. He wanted to counterattack but as if he did not give a gap, the twin figure of Reus immediately twisted his body and swung his two swords together.

   "Swings! Dragon Smite's! Double Anchors!"

One such attack managed to get the masked figure to crash several steps back. He had indeed resisted the attack just now but the power of his slash was slightly stronger than the previous two people.

The masked figure was beset by questions about the twin figure of Reus and their strength but as if the surprise had not been completed, the masked figure could feel the threat from behind. Sure enough, the other two figures of Reus were launching another attack with a sword.

   "Continue popping up! Are you an ant?!"

The masked figure leaped upwards dodging two dangerous attacks from behind but as he thought it had already dodged the fatal attack, it was a fatal one, his sight caught a shadow plunging from the sky with both swords covered in 10-meter-long black fog raised high.

   "Sunless Sky!"

Not being able to do anything in the air made the masked figure could only lift his scythe to defend.

A pair of swords and a scythe clashed against each other above the air creating shock waves as well as a sizable explosion, shocking everyone who watched the fight from afar.