Only after 5 seconds did the Dragoon fell from his short flight ended right on the ground. He wasn’t dead but 2 of his ribs and his right arm were already done for.
« Mana: 149.800/150.000 »
I only used 200 mana, and he is already down. How pathetic!
“Alright, so who is next?” → Shen
Shen said with indifference in his eyes while looking at the other people. Everyone had faces of dread and terror.
“What are you looking like that for? You came here to rob my place, right? You should have been prepared the moment you cut the first tree in my forest.” → Shen
No one knew what to say. Not only Shen was so powerful but he was also merciful for a field-boss. He didn’t kill that destroyer even though he could’ve done so easily. Everyone was suspicious whenever Shen was truly a field-boss or not but even so, his powers were undoubtedly those of one. However, before anyone could ask something, Gario commanded.
“You idiots! Fight together! Going alone is like asking to be killed. If the cooldown is out, then use your ranged skills!” → Gario
“WOAAHH!!”
Cooldown? Do they still care about that?
Shen was confused for a second and looked at the magic barrage flying toward him with apathetic eyes. This was no more a game and something like cooldown depended only on one’s endurance and power. For max levels like them, the cooldown was already something they shouldn’t care about anymore.
Everyone moved, they used their ranged abilities together. When Shen saw that, he just waved his hand and a stone wall rose from the Earth right under him rising him in the air, making everyone baffled for a moment.
“What kind of skill is that?!”
– BOOM BOOM BOOM –
Having just as much of a ridiculous strength as Shen or even more, the spells destroyed the wall only after the first wave. Shen jumped from the crumbling wall and looked for a place to land.
“There, they are. « Gravitational Push »” → Shen
Shen placed both his hands at his back and activated the skill, sending himself flying like a bullet toward a group of 4 Soul Seers, 2 Elementalists and 2 Magic Swordsmen.
“« Seismic Step Giga »” → Shen
Shen commanded the five stones to go right where he was landing and start vibrating, waiting for his shockwave to reach.
« Mana: 149.050/150.000 »
– BOOOM – CRACK! –
“Woah!”
“Guuh!”
“Buagh!”
“Kya!”
All kinds of screams were audible from the battleground. The shockwave was so strong, the eight players near Shen were sent flying 7 meters in the air and 30 meters away losing their consciousness while the others fell down.
Thanks to the energy stones, I don’t need to use as much mana as before, but…
“…This is much more boring than I thought.” → Shen
That Infernal Gorilla could have killed them all in less than a minute… Are they really the same players as me?
These words made the players’ faces turn red. They were having all kinds of emotions, shame, anger, frustration. All kinds of mixed feelings were visible in their eyes.
Good thing that I have the stones. Like this, I won’t have to waste my mana for every upgraded skill I need.
Shen was inside a crater of 2 meters in diameter with the Earth everywhere around being cracked, showing the might of the destruction he caused.
“Was that « Seismic Step »? What is this ridiculous power?”
Another Spirit Fighter looked with a horrified face at Shen. He couldn’t comprehend how in the world he was able to make such damage with only that one skill. Even if it were with the help of the fall, it was still impossible.
“[Sliding Step]”
“[Forward Sword]”
“[Charge!]”
“[Smashing Jump]”
“[Shadow’s Dance]”
“[Swift Step]”
Sword Masters, Sword Warriors, Spirit Warriors, Destroyers, Thieves and Martial Art Masters activated their forward skills to appear right in front, behind and at the sides of Shen. In total, around eight other players rushed toward Shen.
They only used the minimal of mana. Are they going easy on me?
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” → Shen
He stood there unperturbed by the fact that eight players rushed at him with killing intent. Shen still didn’t know about the fact that not everyone had thought of push past the limit of their abilities. Even though they were still destructive for this world, they stood no chance for Shen’s upgraded skills.
“[Stone Cane]” → Shen
-Phow-Phow-Phow-
All around Shen, stone canes with round tips appeared, pointing exactly at the charging players.
“Woah!”
“Ugh!”
From the eight players, four of them entered straight into the stone canes and got at least one rib broken from the impact. They were still unable to control their own powers, ending up making such silly mistakes. The other four were able to sidestep in time going around the stone canes while rushing and striking forward. The strikes were simple, normal attacks with no chi or mana being imbued.
“[Iron Body]” → Shen
Shen enchanted his skin, using more mana than normally required.
-Clang!-Ding!-Dong!-Deng!-
All of their attacks struck Shen but only to feel like they attacked an iron pole.
“Wait! Not even a scratch? How is that possible?!”
“What is this? How is his skin so hard?”
Everyone was perturbed. A normal slash was enough to cut a medium trunk while a normal smash or punch was enough to smash it to the ground. Seeing no damage inflicted made all of them stunned for a second. And that second was exactly what Shen needed.
“[Energy Whip]” → Shen
From his inventory, Shen took out an Energy Stone and transformed it immediately into a whip.
-SWISH!-
With only one swing, he pushed everyone around him away.
“Gugh!!”
The four players that were able to touch Shen had now an ugly diagonal dent on their chests. Luckily, they wore iron chest-plates. They looked at the dent on their armor and felt the dread inside their hearts.
“If it weren’t for this chest plate, I would’ve been on the ground spitting blood now.”
Every player started to sweat.
“Had enough?” → Shen
“!”
Shen’s words made everyone wake up from their dazed state. They looked into his eyes and felt like running away. The pressure coming from him together with that blue snake levitating around his shoulders made him look like a warlord.
« Mana: 147.000/150.000 »
Mana: -1
Mana: -1
Mana: -1
One point of mana was consumed every second for keeping the energy whip under control.
Haha~ that’s really cheap. But if this continues, then I won’t be able to laugh for long. It’s time to end this game.
“This is the last warning. Leave now.” → Shen
Shen said while inserting five more Earth Stones inside the Earth.
What a pain… I never thought of that spiritual test as a challenge before, maybe because I was in that kind of world… Now it’s different and is damn tough.
“Gulp.”
When they saw Shen inserting some shining yellow stones into the ground they felt like something big will happen.
“Surround him and use your ranged abilities! He can’t block against those!” → Gario
Gario was anxious. He was also perturbed by Shen’s ridiculous abilities.
‘How is this player so strong!? Just what has he done to acquire such power?’
“Yes!”
Six players, including Gario, rushed to surround Shen. When they had a distance of only 10 meters in front of him, they started to shoot out their ranged skills.
“[Sword Aura]” → Sword Master
“[Earth Wave]” → Destroyer
“[Explosive Kunai]” → Thief
“[Energy Beam]” → Spirit Warrior
“[Exploding Fire Ball]” → Elementalist
“[Lightning Sword]” → Magic Swordsman
The ranged abilities were shot out almost at the same time after everyone positioned themselves.
“[Stone Wall x10] [Stone Wall – Regeneration]” → Shen
Shen commanded the 10 Earth Energy Stones to surround him with walls in all four directions 10 times thicker than normal.
-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!-
The skills crashed on the walls, making them crumble and crack all around but even though the spells had power enough to destroy one, the regenerative power was stronger, filling the holes back with stone or dirt. Before the second wave of ranged skills could start, Shen activated the spell that needed time to charge.
“[Stone Mace x1.000]!” → Shen
« Mana: 143.000/150.000 »
– Rumble, Rumble, Rumble –
The Earth shock and the number of maces Shen wanted to create was so ridiculous, the stones needed first to release the energy before making them sprout from the ground. Even though what he used was only the stones, he still had to waste energy to control and command the stones. The more ridiculous the commands, the bigger is the cost.
“S***! Every one, activate defensive skills, now!”
Everyone rushed toward the elementalists and magic swordsmen. They activated the barriers and stacked them over one another. The underground was just as sealed as everywhere around making for an impenetrable bubble of mana. The others activated their own defensive skills in a hurry.
“[Iron Body]” → Spirit Fighter
“[Cloaking]” → Thief
“[Stone Skin]” → Destroyer
“[Sword Field]” → Sword Master
All kind of defensive abilities activated left and right.
That stupid cat infuriated me too much, I have to pay him back a little.
Shen thought while focusing some more maces under Gario.
– BOOM! –
The Earth vibrated at first then exploded for a radius of 50 meters around Shen. Thousands of stone poles of 2 meter of height and 25 centimeters of thickness suddenly rose from the ground at the same time.
– CRRACCK!! THUD! –
The barriers were shattered instantly, not being able to resist more than 10 stone maces. The players were sent flying for 10 meters in the air with blood dripping from their mouth.
“Bugah!”
Everyone spat out blood. The knocked out players weren’t spared, they were sent flying the same way as the other uninjured six, going for more than 8 meters in the air then crashing on other stone maces and only after that hitting the ground, not moving anymore.
Every player was hit by at least two maces when they were sent flying, then another one or two when crashing on the ground. Gario was an exception, he had to endure five maces in one go.
“…”
Shen stood tall on top of a stone mace, looking down at the ones that either were lying on top of the maces or were on the ground beside them. All of them were unconscious with more than two bone fractures and blood slipping from their mouths.
“Hm?”
Shen looked toward the right part of the entrance where the trees were fallen down. There, the maces sprout in a different manner than in other places, looking like they surrounded something or someone, not harming them but at the same time closing them with no exit.
Shen was able to identify everything on this battlefield and would not harm someone who didn’t attack first. He jumped from a mace to another then he looked downward. He saw two girls inside a barrier. A Dragoon and a Fairy, not moving from the very beginning of the battle.
“…You don’t have to be so on-guard, okay? It feels like I’m bullying you or something…” → Shen
Well… I can’t say what I did wasn’t bullying, but they asked for it.
“…”
Bonny deactivated the barrier and looked with some anxiety and fear at Shen.
“I-I know you don’t want to hear any words from the ones who invaded your home, but can you please hear me out?” → Bonny
Even though she was scared of angering Shen, she felt like another chance to talk with him won’t appear again.
“Hmm? Well, seeing how you didn’t really feel like wanting to come, I’ll give you the liberty. But first, why didn’t you let that fairy strike, back then? It seemed like she was prepared to make a fireball just now.” → Shen
Shen said while looking at the fairy with cold eyes.
“!”
The fairy trembled and almost started crying, she did so just because the others did the same thing. Being just a child, she ought to do what the adults do.
“I-I-I’m rea-really so-sorry….” → Fairy
The fairy stuttered, not being able to speak the right words. While seeing the fairy like this, Shen was a little bit surprised.
“Oh, how old are you?” → Shen
“T-Twelve, s-sir.” → Shen
She really wanted to cry but had no courage to do so. Without knowing, Shen was still emanating a battle aura and with his top naked body, revealing the scary scars especially the one on his arm, he really looked like a warrior ready to battle.
“!”
Twelve?! What the hell?! How retarded are they? Bringing a child to a battleground is madness!
Shen was furious. His brows furrowed and his aura started to pulsate.
“Eeek!”
The little fairy and Bonny started to tremble. They misunderstood Shen’s sudden fury for their guts of trying to attack him.
“Sir Shen, I implore you to forgive this child, she didn’t know what she was doing, I’ll take responsibility for her.” → Bonny
She was shocked at the fact that Shen was able to tell about the fairy wanting to use magic. The more she found out about him, the more she knew that he was not ordinary at all. While Bonny was thinking about this, she realized Shen was looking deep into her eyes.
“S-sir?” → Bonny
She was a little scared by his wolf-like green eyes that looked as if trying to see through her.
“Hmm… I can tell you’re not a person whom could get controlled by her own desires that easily. More like, I can see some maturity and a pure soul but why in the world is a person like you together with idiots like these? If you’re trying to change yourself for the people around you, then you’re a bigger idiot than these trashes.” → Shen
Shen said everything that was on his mind. Bonny was dumbfounded by his words.
He can read the soul? Is he a Soul Seer? But even if he is! I am a Soul Seer too and I can only see some colors around the people when I’m looking at them…now that I think about it… why is his aura of a white-golden color? → Bonny
For curiosity, Bonny activated her [Soul’s Eyes] which could be used to read in a living being aura. In-game, it was used to see the weakness of the mobs but now it would show much more than just that.
“Hahaha, I know what you’re thinking but if you want to talk about that then we’ll have to do so after this mess.” → Shen
Bonny woke from her daze then she looked at her teammates.
“Ugh…”
Everyone started to wake up. Even though the injuries seemed to be serious, they had a body-strength of an Energy Master or even Grandmaster, such injuries would heal after not even 2 weeks had passed.
After everyone woke up, they looked at the forest of stone poles with dazed faces. Shen ordered the Energy Stones to retract the maces except for the one on which he stood. The ten stones then rose from the Earth and spun around him. Having flying yellowish crystals spin around him made Shen look more divine.
Players looked at him with terror in their eyes. A single man defeated a group of 20 people in less than 2 minutes, none of them could stay calm after such a feat. A bear-man with broken glasses got closer to Shen and asked.
“From your conversation just now, I can understand you’re not a field-boss…?”
He asked while having his guard up.
“The fact that you’re still alive is proof, don’t you think?” → Shen
“Ugh…”
The bear-man retreated while looking a little bit embarrassed.
“Listen up everyone!” → Shen
Shen’s voice boomed, making some of the closer ones to cover their ears.
“I am just like you all, a player. I got on this planet just like you lot and I am trying to adapt in my own way. What you idiots must remember is this is not a game and the idea of death hiding beside the next corner is ten times more real, no, hundred times more real in this world than on Earth! Understood?!” → Shen
Shen shouted out first to relieve some stress, after that he continued with a calmer tone.
“The fact that you lot are still alive is just because your opponent was me. If it were a true field-boss, then by now your friends and teammates would be busy with gathering your remains and burying them. This is no more the game we used to play, there are no set of rules made by the programming system, we have now the power and authority to create and upgrade our own skills the way we want! And about going back home…” → Shen
Shen’s eyes shone with some frustration.
“Nobody knows if we’ll be able to go back on Earth or if there is a way in the first place! Get used to the idea that we might remain here forever! As for these abilities, we got summoned into this world already powerful. We have powers beyond our imagination and our minds are too weak to support them. Because of this, most of us players will misuse the strength we were given for our own greed… However, if you wish to grow stronger, live with a clean conscience and be proud like warriors under the Heavens, then start training and discipline yourselves!” → Shen
Shen already had a vision about the future, but that future was a dark one if the players continued to use their powers however they wished.
“Strengthen your minds and leave the worldly desires in that other world! … Power comes with responsibility, and the moment I find out any of you misuses their powers, I will have to cripple you and take that power away, for your own good and for the others. Now show me your resolution, throw away your past self and bring forth the inner warrior.” → Shen
Even though he wouldn’t wish to do such a thing as crippling, he still wanted to take their heads out from the clouds and wake them up from their thoughts about this world being a novel-dream. This was the reality, their powers were real and the ones who will suffer because if their incapability will also be part of this reality if they won’t discipline themselves.
“……..”
Everyone was stunned. Nobody knew what to say after hearing the speech that hit them like lightning. Their eyes shone with fear, sadness, and despair. However, after seeing Shen’s eyes, full of vigor and a spirit of iron, they could no longer let the weak feelings inside their hearts take control over them. They manned up and roared together.
– RHOAR~! –
This roar was the strongest roar they ever released in their lives, a roar that tried to scare away any weakness and negativity, a roar that reached the heavens and shook the ground, scaring away even the birds atop the mountains around. After this, everyone stood in front of Shen and bowed while saying together.
“We’re sorry!”
“Aye? If you’re sorry then just leave what you have and turn back home. I’ll put at good use those armors of yours.” → Shen
Shen said with a grin while laughing like a devil, his evil eyes made everyone think he was up to no good. Everyone remained dumbfounded.
Is he really the God of War from just a few minutes ago?
