CHAPTER 58: “END OF THE BATTLE”

 

“You would do that? Thank you so much!” LemonRush forced his voice to sound friendly and grateful even though he felt like laughing.

Though the mage girl offered to help him, there was no hiding the sly glint in her eyes. It wasn’t hard to see. Even so, LemonRush continued the charade.

“I was getting worried. Me and my partner have this spell that binds us, you see. It boosts our stats but unfortunately also binds our lives together. If he dies, I die. So you understand why I need to find him quickly.”

GlassyDiamond nodded happily, her grin growing wider. “Yes of course. We’re on opposing sides right now but don’t worry, I won’t attack you. After all, there’s no rule against helping each other out a little bit.”

LemonRush replied to her gleeful remarks with his own. “You’re so kind. But don’t force yourself. We might not find him.”

The mage laughed. “No sweat. This treaty of ours will last even if we don’t find your partner.”

LemonRush glanced at the bottom of his name. There was a symbol of a hand there now, telling him that their plan had been a success. 

“Should we go now?” 

LemonRush gave the mage a comforting smile and nodded. He walked past her and allowed her to follow behind him. It seemed like she didn’t notice anything, too caught up in her devious little plans to notice anything.

It didn’t take long at all before the little mage fired her fireballs at him. Fortunately he was prepared so he swiftly dodged the spell without a scratch.

GlassyDiamond laughed out loud as she prepared another spell, this time her lightning spell. “You’re even stupider than your partner. Who trusts a stranger in the middle of a fight?”

LemonRush didn’t respond to her remarks. He stood in place and watched as she swung her hand to cast the lightning spell. This time, he didn’t make any attempts to dodge the attack. He let the lightning spell approach, as if he was accepting of his end. Yet he didn’t look down or spiritless, instead there was a triumphant grin.

GlassyDiamond’s gleeful face slowly faltered. The lightning spell she cast didn’t kill or even incapacitate the player at all! The offensive spell lurched and fettered off as it got closer to the other player, only dealing a small fraction of what it should’ve dealt. She glanced at her hand then back at the player, disbelief etched on her face. “What did you do?!”

It was then that she heard the flutter of notifications on her [Thought System]. 

 

You have broken an agreement decided under a [Mediation Session]!

You have been inflicted with [Broken Deal] debuff.

 First Warning: Please follow through the agreement!

 

She glared at the other player once again, her eyes looked incredibly murderous. If this was real life, there was a real chance that she would’ve tried to attack him for real.

Once again, she casted another spell to attack him, but was once again given the same warning.

“You broke our agreement.” LemonRush shrugged. “So it's fitting that you get punished, no?”

“What skill is this?!” The mage shrieked. “An archer doesn’t have this kind of skill!”

It was then that Ai decided to pop out of his hiding spot. It was getting harder to breath and the branches poked his skin. Once she saw his face, she looked like she was ready to charge at him but remembering the warning she was given, it might not end well.

“Whatever!” She spat spitefully. “I can easily remove this kind of debuff.”

That was true. Though the [Broken Deal] debuff couldn’t be removed easily, GlassyDiamond_234 was still a mage who excelled in creating a multitude of spells with varying uses. It wasn’t impossible for her to have a spell that could remove any kind of debuff no matter how complicated. But…

“With what MP?” LemonRush chided. “That blast you casted before must’ve taken the MP you needed.”

If you can get her to cast that spell, she wouldn’t be able to do much after. That thing costs so much MP after all. That was what LadyMaia had told them about the spell. To make sure that GlassyDiamond didn’t remove the debuff, it was important that they managed to take out half her MP in a short amount of time. The big blast she casted did exactly that.

This should be enough, Ai thought to himself. She had managed to trigger two stacks of the debuff. Normally it would only reduce the stats by 40% total, but with the buff he got from the garden, two of her highest stats were reduced by 80%. 

The mage seemed to want to retort further, but before she could, LemonRush took out his bow and delivered a shot. The arrow flew and quickly disqualified the mage before she even spoke another word.

Just then, the information of the arena changed. There were now two teams remaining, meaning that Morion and LadyMaia had taken out Elain quickly. Ai wasn’t surprised, with 80% stat reduction, it would be hard for Elain to hang on.

LemonRush gave Ai a slap on his shoulder and a friendly grin. “Well, that’s the end of that. Great job fellow guild member.”

Ai laughed awkwardly. He still wasn’t used to being considered part of a group, but nevertheless he was glad the whole event was over.

 

***

 

LemonRush didn’t follow him back. Ai returned to their base alone. When he reached there, LadyMaia wasn’t in sight either. He assumed the two met up to let him and Morion have their win.

When Morion spotted him, the other player gave him a big wave. Ai returned the gesture and approached him happily. However, his joy quickly turned to worry and shock when he noticed Morion’s stats.

“Your HP!”

The max number was already low enough and now it reached below 100 points. One gust of wind would’ve been enough to send Morion tumbling down. Hurriedly, Ai took out a major HP potion and handed them over.

“Heavy armored players are really not my type of opponent.”

Despite being close to death, he seemed relaxed and calm, which lessened Ai’s worries just a little bit.

The two didn’t have time to chat because they were soon enveloped by a bright light that was similar to when they first transported here.

When they opened their eyes, they were standing in a room decorated with red banners and balloons. There was even confetti falling everywhere. It felt very celebratory. In front of them were two glass cases and a banner hanging on the wall that said “CONGRATULATIONS” in a big red font.

The two of them stepped in front of the glass cases and gently opened it. There was nothing in them but a notification soon flashed by.

 

Please choose your prize.

 

And below that there were three things listed. A skill, a weapon and a special item. Each of them could choose what they wanted, each item being specialized towards their class.

Ai studied the things in front of him. He wasn’t too interested in the weapon since he could only equip it in his sub slot. It seemed like a waste to only use the passive of a weapon that was specialized for the mediator class. The skill was surprisingly an offensive skill. It was tempting since he had no way to actually deal damage without damaging himself. 

Ai reached towards the skill but then his eye glanced at the special item presented to him. It was a compass. It looked rusty and old, not at all appealing. Carefully he read the description.

 

[Compass of Pathways]

A special compass made just for a Mediator!

Directs the player to the nearest hidden quest.

Cooldown: 15 days

 

Without hesitation, he took it. The cooldown was quite long, but hidden quests were worth it. They always gave interesting rewards because of its rarity. Excited he selected the item

 

You have chosen the [Compass of Pathways]

Confirm?

Yes.