Chapter 459: Clear Requirements
[Clear Requirements]
>[... their conspirators]
OR
>[Maintain Top Score]
OR
>[Kill the leaders of all involved parties]
The last one, that was surely there for the sake of the "conspirators," or in other words, Sylas and Nosphaleen.
However, what did it mean by all leaders?
'One should obviously be City Lord Orciulius. But the fact they're multiple should mean...'
He looked toward the portal. There had to be another power on that side.
'Since it's a portal to Earth, it's most likely either a particular government or Legacy. But there's no way to confirm unless I actually go there. That said...'
Sylas looked off into the distance, and City Lord Orcilius was rushing over. It wasn't just that, but he had a great number of elites with him, ten Generals, a hundred Colonels, and much of the city's army converged.Nôv(el)B\\jnn
They organized almost cartoonishly fast, but Sylas also had to realize that much of the army were humans spawned for this purpose and this purpose alone. They were disciplined to a fault, and finding a gap in their rigor would be nigh impossible.
That was when Sylas saw that there was a beacon above City Lord Orcilius' head. By extension, whoever the other leaders were, they should have beacons above their heads as well.
This gave Sylas a huge advantage. He was in the dark while all of them were exposed. It was the complete reverse of the Arctic Emperor Cobra situation.
However, this didn't put him at ease. If anything, it made him frown. Even if the system showed favoritism, it definitely wouldn't be to this extent. There had to be a catch somewhere.
He realized what the catch was not even a moment later.
City Lord Orcelius didn't even make a move, just standing there while he scanned the region with sharp eyes.
Sylas wasn't the only noble watching from on high, and because he was somewhat hidden, the City Lord didn't notice his presence immediately.
And even if he did, there was nothing he could do about it.
Unless he had probable cause, he couldn't just attack a sitting Noble like that.
The Dukes would revolt against him and he would be usurped, making Sylas' task all the easier.
However, that wasn't the important part. What stuck out to Sylas was the fact that although the City Lord didn't make a single move...
His points began to skyrocket.
That was when Sylas understood what was happening.
First, the easiest way to gather points was by killing beasts. He assumed that another method would be killing the members under the other "leader" as well, but he had yet to confirm that.
And second...
The leaders he was meant to target gained points not just for personal kills, but also for kills their subordinates made.
That meant one thing...
There was absolutely no way Sylas could win through the second condition. How could he alone outscore thousands?
That was just the most obvious problem too.
If he started killing beasts and his name popped up on the leaderboard, he would be exposing himself as the hidden third party that everyone had to focus on killing.
That meant that he had to somehow find a way to kill the opposing leaders while they were being protected by thousands, but he also had to maneuver around this battlefield without getting any confirmed kills himself.
The more Sylas analyzed his situation, the more he realized that things were veering well off the course he wanted them to follow.
It seemed that while the system might show some slight favoritism, it would never be the point of blatant nepotism.
However, by the same token, if he could pull it off...
Sylas' gaze turned cold. After he finished analyzing the situation, he realized what he had to do, and the embryo of a plan began stirring in his mind.
If he was going to succeed, he had to do this. Otherwise, he would have no chance at all.
[Rolland Orciulius (???)]
[Level: 38]
The System City army began to set up a perimeter. However, at that moment.
ROAR!
A massive beast appeared and its roar shook their hearts as a violent swirl of ice and poison shook the air.
The beast must have been at least 20 meters from head to tail, its scales reflecting a gorgeous pearly white etched with complex runes of blue.
[One Kind For Me]
[Level: 8]
[Experience: 0/12800]
[Path Talent: Beast Totem Lv8; Insight Lv8]
-
[Beast Totem (Path Talent)]
[>Suppress <F-rank> Serpentes Beasts by <85%>]
[>Forms Hibernation Realm where recovery increases by <12800%>]
[>Increase Fusion speed by <800%>]
[>Buff Contracts by <160%>]
-
[Insight (Path Talent)]
[>Observe Gene Sequence of Contract]
[>Sense Evolution Triggers]
[>Comprehend Contract]
[Arctic Emperor Cobra (FFF+)]
[Level: 19]
-
[Physical: 2449]
>[Strength: 2795]
>[Constitution: 2660]
>[Dexterity: 2054]
>[Speed: 2135]
[Mental: 2425]
>[Intelligence: 3960]
>[Wisdom: 2161]
>[Charisma: 1417]
[Will: 2590]
A Beast Totem loomed over Sylas' head from the shadows, his eyes flickering with a dense light. He didn't hesitate to pour 6400 of his remaining 10,000 Experience into One Kind For Me, increasing the Arctic Emperor Cobra's buff from 140% to 160%.
Then, using his visualization range, he summoned it just outside the portal, making it look as though it had just walked right out of it.
The appearance of such a powerful beast made even the City Lord's pupils constrict. And as expected, he had no idea that this was Sylas' contracted beast.
It was for this very reason that Sylas had been cautious with how he used the Arctic Emperor
Cobra.
However, this was just the first step.
Commands flew through his intention, bearing down on the Arctic Emperor Cobra's psyche.
The Insight Path was the vaguest of his Path Talents, but also, arguably, the most useful.
Not only did it allow him the ability to understand how to help his Contract evolve, but it also helped him understand it in an almost spiritual sense.
Meaning.
he knew exactly how to "speak" to it so that it would understand, especially after his Dual Class Constitution made his feel for his Profession even stronger.
Still, somehow he was going to have to win while keeping two things in mind.
First... he had to find a way to lure the City Lord out of the city no matter what. Within these
limits, even the Arctic Emperor Cobra was no match for him.
And second...
He somehow had to do it without killing because any points the Arctic Emperor Cobra gained
would count for him.
Chapter 460: Fish
Sylas immediately eliminated several things.
Using would be foolish.
They would just end up dying to the poison in a few seconds.
The attacking spells were a decent option because the Arctic Emperor Cobra had never had great attacking ability.
They would only do 100-200 Damage a piece, and so long as he controlled them well, it might be fine.
But the problem with that approach was that the Damage of the Arctic Emperor Cobra wouldn't stop there.
He had even made it far too strong.
The residual Ice-Poison effect would accumulate after the fact.
So unless he used Rune Soul to expel the attack every time, they would eventually die to accumulated Damage as well.
Sylas hadn't thought that he would ever run into a problem where his cards were too powerful for the situation, but here he was. If he was careless, he could ruin everything.
Even if he tried to use the Arctic Emperor Cobra to bulldoze its way through everything, just its Physical stats alone were too ridiculous.
He would have to ask it to hold back.
But if he did that, then it would be obvious that there was a scheme or ploy at hand here.
There was no way an existence like the City Lord wouldn't be able to tell a beast wasn't using their Physical to its full potential.
That was doubly so considering this City Lord definitely had experience outside the bounds of what Sylas could understand. After all, he was a Sylph.
All of these thoughts flashed through Sylas' head in an instant.
Since he had dared to do this... he had his own plans.
Suddenly, the aura of the Arctic Emperor Cobra dimmed considerably, before shooting up again, and then being repressed once more.
The wild fluctuations of the Arctic Emperor Cobra's aura caught the experts off guard. Although they didn't understand what was happening, they realized that this beast wasn't nearly as dangerous thanks to this.
It was then the Arctic Emperor Cobra let out a bellow, the confusion in its eyes disappearing as it charged forward.
...
Sylas sat in perfect silence on the rooftop of a building in the distance. His eyes were closed and he was in a perfect state of focus. From time to time, his own aura would fluctuate as well and his control became more finely tuned.
At the moment, he seemed to become the Arctic Emperor Cobra. Its sentience was far beneath that of the Basilisk King. As such, it practically let him step into its body like a puppeteer.
He subconsciously used <Madness Control> before he could even realize that it likely wouldn't work... only to be shocked when it actually did.
A part of him realized that this might very well be the breakthrough in <Madness Control> that he needed. After all, he still hadn't forgotten the mission he received to create a better version of it.
Unfortunately, now wasn't the time to consider it.
The wild fluctuation of the Arctic Emperor Cobra's aura was, of course, due to the Beast Totem.
His Beast Totem could now suppress Serpentes beasts by 85%. With the Arctic Emperor Cobra's current prowess, that meant that under Sylas' suppression, it would barely be able to exhibit around 370 Physical.
However, that was only if one ignored the fact that the reason the Arctic Emperor Cobra had such high stats to begin with was because of the 160% boost he could give it.Nôv(el)B\\jnn
When Sylas flipped the switch from buffing to debuffing, the Arctic Emperor Cobra couldn't even muster up 150 points of Strength!
And that was exactly what Sylas was doing now. He was carefully controlling the Arctic Emperor Cobra, buffing and debuffing it at a rhythm that seemed erratic on the surface, but was actually a series of perfectly timed maneuvers.
Every time the Arctic Emperor Cobra was about to suffer a great blow, he would bump up the buff, allowing it to benefit from its full 2660 Constitution.
Or when he needed it to carve through some distance or an opening bubbled up, he would allow it to use its full 2135 Speed.
However, every time he had it attack someone, he would perfectly control the descent of its stats.
Giving it just enough power to deal a strong blow, but not enough for a lethal one.
Everything was within the purview of his calculations, and he found that he could perfectly fine-tune the Effectiveness of his Beast Totem, measuring exactly how much he wanted to suppress the Arctic Emperor Cobra and exactly how much he wanted to buff it.
As expected, around this time, City Lord Orciulius was observing every little thing. He already had his own conclusions about what was happening here, but most importantly... there was a light of greed in his eyes.
Such a powerful Level 19 beast with such an odd curse-like affliction wasn't something you came across every day. The odds that it had Silver Genes were also quite decent.
However, the City Lord didn't make a move immediately.
The battlefield was a mess because of the Arctic Emperor Cobra, but there were a large number of other beasts pouring out as well.
Although he didn't fear them, there was no easy way to take down the Arctic Emperor Cobra.
By the same token, Sylas was patient. So patient, in fact, that it didn't even seem like he was breathing very frequently at all.
He bided his time like he was playing a game of chess, slowly pushing the Arctic Emperor Cobra up the board until it seemed like it was being lured closer and closer to the City Lord.
Then the fish bit.
Rolland gave out a command and two of his Generals swarmed toward the Arctic Emperor Cobra.
They were certainly no joke. They were both Level 36s and had eye-watering stats.
For the first time, Sylas began to allow the Arctic Emperor Cobra to suffer some wounds.
mostly because he didn't even have a choice in the matter.
These Generals were certainly strong enough to deal Damage even if the Arctic Emperor Cobra was at its best.
However, with the Hibernation Realm in his back pocket, Sylas went all in.
Beneath his closed eyes, two slits seemed to split his irises apart.
Comments
Post a Comment