Chapter 34: Cause of War
 

Sila looked at the sight in front of him with eyes filled with anger. The man in front of him was Montra, his final objective for playing this game, whom Sila desired to drive him into pain and torture.
 
"You"re still looking as weak as before. I can"t believe you follow me into this game," said Montra.
 
"Where is my teacher?" asked Sila. That was Sila"s first question that he had wanted to ask once he meets Montra.
 
"Your teacher? … He is with my teacher."
 
"I"m not interested in whom my teacher is with. I want to know where he is. What have you done to my teacher?" shouted Sila.
 
"I can do anything I want. It"s my business. The loser like you doesn"t have the right to ask," said Montra. "I heard that you would like to kill me, wouldn"t you? Can you really do that though?"
 
He laughed. The people behind him also laughed.
 
Sila"s face was distorted by rage. He tried to circulate qi but it wasn"t effective. His qi needed to be used to suppress "Bomb Lurking Psychic" all the time. It couldn"t be used in combat.
 
"But I"m a kind person. I"ll give you a chance. If you win against me now, I"ll tell you where your teacher is," said Montra.
 
"Are you for real?"
 
"Of course, if you can, though." Montra said that while gesture his hand to prevent everyone to disturb.
 
In real world, Montra"s abilities might be considered just slightly higher than Sila. But in the game that Sila had just entered, it was absolutely certain that Sila couldn"t win against Montra whom had played the game for years. This shouldn"t be called a duel. It was a public execution.
 
Sila didn"t have a choice. If it was about Sword Emperor, Sila would flee once given a chance. But it was different now. His opponent was Montra. Even if he couldn"t stand a chance, he still couldn"t run away. Running away here would affect his confidence in future confrontation.
 
Once he had to fight, he must be able to fight. Realizing that, Sila took out a bottle of qi-recovering pills and poured all the pills into his mouth. An Aura of qi was shining brightly. Sila threw the empty bottle away.
 
The sound of the bottle broken was a starting signal.
 
Sila stopped circulating "Unblemished Aqua." With an overwhelming amount of qi that run through his body right now, the power of "Bomb Lurking Psychic" was automatically suppressed for a while. But this action was like stopping the thirstiness by drinking poison. It only helped his body for a short period. Once his qi depleted, the after pain would be tremendous and his body would be exploded.
 
But this wasn"t the time to care about that. The only thought in Sila"s brain currently was: how can he beat Montra in short period? And the only answer he could think of was hidden weapon.
 
Sila swiftly moved his hands. Suddenly, six red knives flew out of his hands toward Montra with tremendous speed and destructive power. All six of them were fused with both "Qi of Little Tiger" and "Qi of Little Bird."
 
Montra showed a little surprised expression once he saw that Sila could use hidden weapons. However, he didn"t flinch. Montra flicked his robe. Then, the two-meter long unique wand was appeared in his hand. The wand had a shape of a Chinese dragon holding a marble in its mouth.
 
Montra spun the wand and then all the knives were swept away. Nevertheless, once all six of them had been deflected, another more than twenty of them were coming at him.
 
It was Sila who fired another batch of hidden weapons at him with the help of "Qi of Little Fish" as soon as he had finished firing the first batch.
 
Montra lifted the wand into the sky, using magic power to create a shield in front of him. It can easily defend against all the hidden weapons.
 
"Is this all you can do?" said Montra. He flicked the wand and then around 50 fireb.a.l.l.s were appeared in the air, floating.
 
Sila looked at the sight with astonishing. He really wouldn"t be able to dodge them.
 
"Flame Meteor Showe-" Montra was about to release his fireb.a.l.l.s to attack Sila. However, all of the fireb.a.l.l.s suddenly disappeared.
 
Sila smiled. This was his only chance. His remaining time was almost over. He fired another six hidden weapons toward Montra.
 
Montra was still curious as of why his skill had been stopped. But once he spotted the coming hidden weapons, he then flicked his wand to deflect them again while sneering. "Same as ever."
 
But looking closely, Sila had gone. However, an expert like Montra could easily detect that Sila had moved to his right side and was concentrating the power.
 
Montra concentrated magic power into the wand, making the dragon"s eyes on the wand to shine brightly. He turned his body to the right side to handle Sila. However, he immediately sensed "Mental Oppression" behind him. It posed him a threat greater than Sila, causing him to turn his attention to.
 
He was surprised. That threat was actually a small brown ball charging straight at him at high speed. It shone brightly with qi power.
 
At the same time, Sila fired his remaining qi-fusing knives toward Montra.
 
To defend both attacks throwing at him from different sides, it is indeed a difficult task to do. It was like writing with both of his hands at the same time. However, Montra was deserved to be called one of Four Emperors, even with this situation that he didn"t have a time to chant any spell, he concentrated magic power into his wand and spun it around to thrust at the ball, causing it to bounce off. Then, he evaded all the knives in last second.
 
He actually was able to evade them all. But there was a long wound left on his left cheek.
 
His blood was dropping slowly. Montra was looking at the ball he had just hit at and later realized that it actually was a small bird.
 
Sila"s power was completely depleted from his last attack. He was splitting blood. His eyes were filled with regret that his last knife wasn"t able to kill Montra.
 
Since Sila had come out of the ship, he had been keeping Lookhin in his chest for emergency. It was his trump card in case that his body wasn"t in good condition. Previously, at the time Montra released the power of "Flame Meteor Shower" skill, he had ordered Lookhin to activate "Golden Needle" skill to cause Montra a mini-stun. Later that, he threw knives to cause misdirection and then ordered Lookhin with "Mind Connection" to simultaneously attack Montra from both sides. Nevertheless, they failed.
 
"Make me wondered for a moment. But in the end it"s just a weakling and sparrow working together. Well, it seems you were hurt before the battle," said Montra.
 
Sila didn"t respond. He lost again. His plan didn"t worked. Now he could only circulate "Recovering Qi" to delay his inevitable death. He looked at Lookhin that was twitching on the floor as if it was about to die.
 
Sila felt his tear being swell up. Even if this was only a game, his intimacy toward it was real.
 
Sila said "seal" softly to seal Lookhin inside his ring. He remembered that keeping a pet in the ring can help it to recover faster. Sila hoped that it would help.
 
"We are too weak," thought Sila.
 
After this, he decided he would train himself and Lookhin so much more than this. From the previous battle, he was fully aware that Montra hadn"t been serious at all. This was the gap between their ability that couldn"t be filled in short period of time.
 
"I"m sorry, Sila. It seems you will not gain knowledge of your teacher"s whereabouts again. I really pitied you. Anyway, goodbye again." Montra expressionlessly said. It was as if what in front of him was something worthless to be emotional about.
 
Montra lifted up his wand that was empowering by magic. The dragon"s eyes on it were shining brightly again. Sila in current state couldn"t even move his body. All he could do was closing his eyes. Although this was a game, although he can revive upon dying, those facts didn"t make him feel at ease at all.
 
"It ends here," thought Sila.
 
*Crash!!* A crashing sound could be heard across the city port. Sila who was closing his eyes still couldn"t feel pain. Is being dead supposed to feel like this? There is no pain. Only darkness and the utter despair presented.
 
Sila opened his eyes slowly. In front of him was a man standing between him and Montra. That man was wearing wuxia cloth. His body looked strong and muscular. Sila was at his back so his face wasn"t visible for Sila to see. All he could see was, that man"s hand was holding the wand with dragon"s head.
 
"Are you going to interfere with this?" Montra said before jumping back to stand next to Cross whom was showing a serious expression.
 
The man who just entered the scene didn"t reply back. He turned his body to face Sila while handed Sila a bottle of pellets that similar to a bottle that contained qi-recovering pills Sila had just eaten.
 
"It seems we finally meet again."
 
Sila took the bottle and looked at the man. Sila could instantly recognize him. This man was a man who had partic.i.p.ated in duo quest at Mansion of Seven Deadly Sins with him.
 
Lone Wolf, the Qi Emperor.
 
Sila tried to talk with him, but the sudden sharp pain was preventing him to do that. He had no qi left to circulate "Recovering Qi" anymore.
 
"Just take one pellet and circulate "Recovering Qi" first. We can talk later," said Lone Wolf.
 
Sila pour a pellet into his hand. This pellet color wasn"t brown like what he had eaten. Its color was golden and had a faint light spreading around it. Sila didn"t have time to think much since the pain was getting all over his body. He swallowed it.
 
As soon as the pellet entered his mouth, it left the sweet aroma and cold feeling inside. However, as soon as it was being swallowed, his body instead felt warm and hot. It didn"t take long for his qi to replenish. Sila didn"t hesitate to close his eyes and started circulating "Recovering Qi" right away.
 
Once Lone Wolf saw that Sila was in a better condition, he smiled. Then, he turned back to face against Montra and Cross.
 
"It"s unbelievable to see both of you working together," said Lone Wolf.
 
"For mutual benefit, even enemy can become an ally," replied Cross.
 
"I"ll be direct with you. Can you let this man go?"
 
"Lone Wolf, do you know Sila?" asked Montra.
 
"You could say that, but at the same time, we are not an acquaintance."
 
"What does that mean?"
 
"I have met him once. But we don"t personally know each other, that"s it," answered Lone Wolf.
 
Both Montra and Cross felt curious. Why does Lone Wolf have to involve himself for a man whom he had met only once?
 
"In that case, it"s best for you not to get involved, isn"t it? Especially for someone you don"t know." Montra suggested.
 
"I cannot accept that. If you guys don"t agree, I"ll have no choice but to force my way out with him."
 
"Do you really intend to force you way out of the combined forces of Royal Armament and Heaven Dragon guilds? Hahaha." Cross laughed.
 
"But when I forced my way to come here, I wasn"t stopped by anyone, was I?" Lone wolf said with expressionless tone, causing Cross to stop laughing immediately.
 
Based on energy type, qi type is considered the type that provided player the most basic stats. Thus, about Lone Wolf"s speed; although it wasn"t quicker than Shadow Emperor; it was considered quicker than both Montra and Cross.
 
"Why?" asked Montra.
 
"Why everyone is on Sila"s side?" was what he wanted to convey. But he stopped his question mid-way. This situation didn"t just occur once, but twice, including that time.
 
"It"s because I"m not like some kind of people. Do you know why I decide to play as qi-type player? It"s because qi-type players are usually honest and be direct. Even if some are villain, they would call themselves a villain, not claiming themselves as righteous. We"re not like somebody that despite claiming himself as righteous, his behaviors are not different from a bandit, no, even worse than that. We"re also not like someone whom can"t get a girl himself and then take his revenge on others. Why doesn"t he himself realize that the reason he can"t win a girl"s heart is because his lack of ability?"
 
Lone Wolf answered, his eyes were fixated on Montra and Cross.
 
"You…" Cross"s anger surged up. That last comment was obviously directed at him.
 
"I still don"t understand, Lone Wolf. What do you have to dare insulting us like this? If we"re fighting one on one, it might be a close fight. But if we combine our power, with you having Sila as a burden, there"s no way you will survive."
 
Montra said that without being interested in what Lone Wolf had just said about his behaviors being worse than a bandit.
 
"Do you know the reason I"m late?" asked Lone Wolf, and as the two of them didn"t seem to come up with an answer, he continued, "It"s because I have heard that two of Four Emperors were going to gang up on single new player. At first, I didn"t believe this news, as that is the most disgraceful and cowardly action. However, once it"s confirmed, I felt ashamed of my t.i.tle that is grouped together with you guys. Thus, I contacted certain someone whom also felt the same way. Then, we appointed to come here together. That"s the reason why I"m late."
 
Cross was so angry that it was shown on his face. He had endured Lone Wolf badmouthing him long enough. Meanwhile, Montra stayed as calm as ever. One couldn"t say it was because he himself wasn"t care or wasn"t interested.
 
At the same time, a black shadow appeared beside Lone Wolf. Then, a figure dressed in black robe was slowly rising from that shadow. Under his black robe was also a black cloth. His face was covered by skull-shape mask. However, everyone here could tell who this man was.
 
Zero, the Shadow Emperor.
 
"Now it becomes two versus two." Lone Wolf said with a smile on his face.
 
"Zero, are you doing to partic.i.p.ate in this matter? This is completely unrelated to you, isn"t it?" said Cross.
 
Shadow Emperor was the only one among Four Emperors that was an individual player. Besides, among all Four Emperors, his ability was considered inferior only to Montra. These facts mean Shadow Emperor was insanely strong.
 
No one ever knew the face behind that mask. Even Montra and Cross were impressed that Lone Wolf was able to contact Zero.
 
"I just agree with Lone Wolf"s opinion. I"m ashamed to be grouped together with you guys. Your action is very disgraceful."
 
Shadow Emperor was the most volatile among four. He does everything he wants to do without caring the consequence. He was the first to release his black qi to circulate around himself, causing Sila to feel discomfort.
 
Lone Wolf saw that, so he also released his qi to protect Sila.
 
Seeing both of their opponents increasing their power, Montra and Cross also had to release their magic and psychic power to compete.
 
The atmosphere around the city port turned into the worst state. The powerful auras were clashing together, causing the sparking sound.
 
A war that should be happened in five months later seemed to breakout here and now, with Sila being a cause of it.