The sharp blade could be seen penetrating the man's skull from side to side. Behind the hilt of the sword, one could see a huge smile. The grin was as large as a rogue having learned that he wasn't the father.
"I finally did it! I finally succeeded. I've finally had my revenge. All these days of suffering endlessly at your hand, but now look at you. Cold and lifeless, you lay there as —"
"You done yet?" The victim was already back alive. The monk was showing an exasperated expression. "You barely just managed to defeat me, why are you so goddamn happy?"
Dale understood it logically. This victory wasn't much in the grand scheme of things. But, it felt so damn good! He had been toyed with by the monk all this time. It was both a matter of salvaging his wounded pride and the clear proof that he had in fact been improving.
"Alright, let's go again." The monk wouldn't accept such an outcome.
Dale nodded as they resumed their duel. Every time, they kept switching weapons randomly. They did this to be able to use anything that dropped from the Tower.
Both of them were now evenly matched. Dale had finally learned how to deal with the monk's crazy feints. Their fighting style was extremely lively. They kept using true and fake strikes alike, slowly grinding down their opponent.
The intensity at which they were fighting was actually very impressive. The monk had been following Josh's ridiculous training plan. Then, Dale had somehow done the same not to be outdone.
Their goal was high and lofty. They both couldn't stop dreaming about eventually being able to resist Josh's serious attacks. Yes, that much was almost unreachable.
It wasn't that he was that strong in terms of raw power. No, he was simply unreadable and unfoolable. He would exploit every single tiny mistake. They didn't know how, but he did.
Right now, he was doing some kind of training. He seemed to be in a meditative stance. After that current duel ended, they exited briefly to check on him. Was he ready for the tournament yet?
"Ah, I feel quite satisfied by today's training so far." Dale was happily smiling.
"You should really wipe that silly grin off your face, you know?" The monk was frowning.
"Why?" He seemed to be taunting his training companion.
"Because you're level 24 and I'm only level 2. You managing to barely match me…" The monk stated the obvious.
Oh shit! Dale had been seeing him as an equal and rival recently. He had completely forgotten that detail. How crazy strong would this monk become as soon as he leveled up? Actually, why wasn't he climbing?
But they soon stopped bickering. The previously completely full room was now empty. What the Hell? Where was everyone?! Where was Josh?
They began wandering outside trying to find him. They couldn't help but smile wryly at each other. They were just hanging around Draconic without any supervision whatsoever. Had people forgotten they weren't actual members? Was this fine?
Before long, they found his location. He was talking with some analyst? They quickly made their way toward him, knocked, and entered.
The room was relatively small but filled to the brim with electronic equipment. There were charts and live data showing on the screens, updating in real-time. What was all this? It looked extremely complex.
Josh and a man wearing a cheap suit were busy talking. Both newcomers naturally stood by the side, trying not to be disruptive. But, the more they listened the weirder their expressions became.
"Are you sure you really want to try this?" The analyst looked extremely serious.
"Yep, why not?" In contrast, Josh sounded so casual, as if he was discussing tonight's meal.
"Well, it could work but…" The analyst showed hesitation.
"So we're all good then."
"Let me put it this way. This plan of yours feels almost as insane as entering an active volcano to train one's heat resistance."
Entering an active volcano? Who would do such a deranged thing? But of course, soon came Josh's answer…
"Oh yeah, I've done that in the past. Gotta be careful not to go down too far. Just the air itself is enough to cook a human being and—"
"Okay, bad example. Let me say it straight. Anyone else in this world would consider this plan insane. There is a high chance you'll die. Then it will be my ass on the line, won't it?" He cautioned Josh.
Die?! A high chance of death?! What were they planning?!
"I'm pretty sure it will be fine. I shouldn't perish instantly if we play our cards right. Then there are also plans B and C."
How many steps were there to this thing? So many contingencies and yet it remained so risky?! Dale's face was shocked and filled with worry.
"You do realize how much chaos plan C would bring to Metropolis-C, no the world, right? Actually, human extinction could very well happen too. Maybe not directly, but…" The analyst began explaining.
"Oh yeah, no biggie. I'll be awaiting the good news." Josh offhandedly replied.
Bringing chaos to the world? Human extinction?! What?! How was that not a big deal?! Josh would just be awaiting some good news. How could he say that with a straight face in such a situation?!
"Fine. You better hold your end of the deal. This is vital! Otherwise, I wouldn't even risk it! Also, you know that this will take a while, right?"
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What kind of deal was worth risking humanity itself?! Why was the monk by the side just nodding as if this was expected? Wait, had he been serious when calling Josh the devil himself?! Dale began questioning life.
"Of course, I'm aware. In the meantime, I'll try Climbing. Also, I'm a man of my word. You know I once promised death to some people and later—" Josh's story sounded so ominous.
"I get it! I can imagine very well what happened." That's when the analyst turned toward the two spectators. "Any need to silence these two?"
Oh fuck. Was Dale dead? He would have left long ago if he knew this would happen. He wasn't even sure what he had heard. What kind of madness was this all? He was shellshocked.
"Naw, no need. It's not like they actually know any of the details." Josh lazily answered. Instantly, Dale couldn't help but relax a bit. It looked like he would survive.
"Yes! I don't know anything!" Dale happily chimed in, before shutting up real quick. The analyst just nodded as Josh brought them outside.
Dale couldn't help but glance at the other two that somehow looked completely serene. Like master, like disciple indeed.
He hesitated a bit before finally opening his mouth. "Say, Josh. Do you need help with anything? I'm not that strong but there are some things even I can do." He was extremely solemn.
"No worries. Back there he was just exaggerating. More like he was only talking about possibilities. Say, do you know about the butterfly effect?" Josh mysteriously asked.
"Is that a new item set ability?" Dale hesitantly said.
"God no, haha." Josh began laughing. "It goes like this. A butterfly just flapping its wings could somehow cause a chain reaction that would generate a tornado someplace far away."
"Oh! You mean the turtle effect! They say that a rolling turtle could provoke disasters that way. So you are saying that…" Dale's tone showed relief.
"Yes, his assessment of the danger goes way beyond what one could realistically expect. So, don't worry, I'll be fine." Josh reassured.
"I understand. Sorry about earlier, I didn't mean to eavesdrop. It's just—"
"I know, don't worry. Anyway, what's up with you both? I thought you guys were training." Josh couldn't help but wonder what brought them here. Honestly, he had expected them to quit way before.
"Ah, right! We wanted to check on the result of your cool training earlier. Well, that and participate in the competition too." Dale informed him.
"What cool training? I was just pondering over something. Anyway, when is it starting?"
"It has begun actually."
"Already?!" Josh thought it would have taken longer.
"Well, the preliminaries."
"Alright, let's go! Right, did you train to a half-decent level at least?"
Dale could be seen fidgeting. He still vividly remembered how he barely matched someone that was fighting a whole league under him.
"I wouldn't get my hopes up too much, Boss. He's struggling so much against a level 2." The monk could be seen chuckling on the side.
"You! Why are you backstabbing me like that?!" Then Dale Sighed. "Well, he's right. Hopefully, the true geniuses don't register. I'm pretty confident in fights at the A-Rank level."
"Guess we can just participate and hope for the best now. So, how does the whole thing even work?"
"Well, remember when we registered, they gave us identifiers. We just have to connect to the dueling network using it. That should put us in the preliminaries. Then, we'll fight whatever opponent is available, sorted by leagues of course." Dale patiently explained.
"All of the matchups are random and based on luck?"
"Luck?!" The monk showed a horrified expression for a second.
"Yes and no. Overall it should relatively be fair because there are many contestants." Dale reassured.
"A bell curve, right? Well, for us it doesn't matter. We'll have to fight the champions either way. The stronger the opponent we fight now, the better. Hopefully, we get a feel for our enemies. Well, there is only so much that last-minute training can accomplish anyway."
The three could be seen making their way to an unoccupied VR room. Good thing Dacconic didn't lack VR capsules, a perk of an elite guild.
As Josh logged in, he couldn't help but become speechless. He had agreed to let Dale decide the name of their team. He really hadn't expected that. Also, what was up with this weird intro cinematic?...
Creator's Thought
They both heard our conversation. Dale was totally going crazy. Meanwhile, the monk didn't care at all. It's fun to wonder what makes someone act and reacts how they do. For instance, the monk was just used to ominous-sounding curses so he could easily retain his cool.