Chapter 53

AN: We are already close to reaching NW. I already finished this Origin battle Arc in pa-treon and already started the intro for another one. But when I looked at my notes earlier, there I just realized that, I have two more arcs left before NW. Damn.

Anyways, to those that are saying that this won't reach NW, F*ck you.

And to those that have nothing to do but ask when is MC going to NW, there's your answer.

The Next two arcs aren't long. So sit tight and chill.

That's all.

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Right now, Sasaki is running through the dense forest of this dark dimension.

The same dimension where he and his friends got summoned to not so long ago.

If anyone would look at him right now, it might seem that he is alone, but in actuality, his guildmates are nearby.

They are running along with him in this forest. It's just that, they're hidden and can't be seen by the naked eye.

Well, making it seem like Sasaki is alone is actually the intended effect in the first place.

This kind of tactic is called "The Lone rabbit trap".

This kind of tactic is actually pretty well known in the whole YGGDRASIL.

Almost all Players at this point, know this and probably used it already at least once.

Though sadly, even though it's a "trap" method, no one uses this for trapping anymore.

Why?

Because it is pretty well known. Like I said, at this point, every Player in YGRASSIL must have used this tactic at least once or twice already, so this method is so overused by now.

Any Player, unless it's a newbie, will know that it's that trap once they see it. Surely, no one will take a bite of it, and the one who used it will just waste their effort in setting it up.

Though it isn't a useless move. For trapping, it is. But for Hunting? It's a different matter.

It's not a good idea to move in big groups whenever you plan to hunt something or someone secretively. But sometimes, you just have to, if the circumstances ask for it.

So, what's the best way to go in groups while making it seems like only one person is present?

That's right, the "The Lone rabbit trap".

And that's why Sasaki and co decided to use this because moving in groups, even though the darkness and the dense forest are covering them, is likely to catch someone's eye.

Scattering is not an option either since they might get picked on one by one. Lessening their already lessened number is the last thing they would want.

At first, after they arrived here, what Sasaki planned to do after they sort the problem with Ryu is to hunt for Raizel and do the first attack.

The [ Watch Tower ] is a kind of spell that gives the User the information of everyone within a radius of 1km. It also alerts the User if someone is using a Spell or a Skill to spy on his location.

This exact spell has been cast while they are having their arguments earlier with Ryu so they know that Raizel doesn't know their location yet since it didn't pick anything up.

But when Ryu gave their location away, everything about that plan is now gone.

A couple of moments ago, they just got attacked by Raizel with what seems to be a Super Tier magic.

They will surely be put in an unlikeable situation if they got trapped in the middle of that spell, but thanks to Sasaki's [ Salvation ], an AOE teleporting skill, they dodged and receive no damage from that attack.

Also, due to them, teleporting out there and being repositioned in another area, they managed to slip past Yuki's vision and once again gain the element of surprise.

And this time, the odds are leaning on their sides since they now have Raizel's position.

Cause before teleporting out earlier, one of Sasaki's skills, a passive skill that activates whenever someone attacked him or launches an attack towards his position, lets him know Raizel's exact position.

When that happened, when his system showed where Raizel is, he immediately used another skill of his to mark Raizel's position.

So right now, in his vision, he can clearly see where Raizel is exactly.

That's the reason why he made his company hide because they need to get close to Raizel as much as possible without being noticed by him. They can only reveal themselves once the time for the attack has arrived.

"... We're getting close, get ready." Sasaki said in a very low voice.

He didn't get any response from it, well it's not like he is expecting anything anyway since he already knows that everyone heard what he just said.

"FOUND YOU."

!!!

But as they were making their way slowly, they heard a weak yet loud voice from above.

"Oh no." Sasaki muttered as he looks towards the sky and found a giant eye, staring directly at their location.

"... We're found, collapse!" Sasaki shouted and immediately after that, his guildmembers started appearing beside him and a formation had been formed.

Everything happened in one quick breath. The way they responded in their current situation without further orders just shows how veteran they are.

But they all know that in front of the true veteran and absolute power, this means nothing.

"... ON ME!" Sasaki and co suddenly heard a shout, presumably from one of his friends that guards their Right flank.

They immediately turned their whole focus on that said direction as they rotated their formation quickly...

"Wait, that's not m-" Too quick in fact that the guy who's guarding the right flank, didn't have enough time to say that he's actually not the one who shouted.

They are all stressed about Raizel's presence that they all move without even thinking and thus, they got fooled.

They hurriedly fortified their right flank without thinking that they didn't even realize that by doing that, they are completely exposing their backs in the opposite direction.

They all realized this fact immediately.

!!!

But they are already too late as before Sasaki could even say anything...

"F*CK! HE'S HER-" A shout suddenly erupted behind them.

They all turned towards the shout's direction as quickly as they can, but the one who shouted is now gone, and in his place, a new Player is now standing.

"... One down, 12 more to go."

No introduction is needed because they are all aware of who this Player is.

"... Raizel you little b*tch!" One of them, who seems to be the tank of the group, rushed toward Raizel with great speed.

Raizel on the other hand, sucked the soul of the guy he just killed and then immediately fired it off at the guy who was rushing toward him.

The tank guy who saw this, put his shield in front, intending to block the attack with his shield, but to his surprise, the attack went through his shield and armors like they were nothing but projections and directly hit him in the chest.

"... F*ck!"

This resulted in a critical strike that almost emptied his HP bar.

Well, good thing that they have a healer in their group that can heal him. All he needs to do right now is just not die.

!!!

*Clank!*

Thinking that he will be quite stunned by what just happened, Raizel sneakily followed that [ Soul Searing ] with an empowered attack using his humungous ax. But unfortunately for him, the tank guy is quite attentive so his ax met with a shield instead.

Of course, Raizel is fighting a whole party so as he made that attack, the other members of the party, immediately move and started attacking him in different directions.

A Player wielding a sword suddenly appeared in Raizel's right corner and made an attack.

He blocked it successfully but he got slashed by a different sword-wielding Player behind him instead.

15- HP

After that, Raizel blocked another attack, he tried countering but another one is coming behind so he choose to jump in the air to dodge it. But as he was in mid-air, he got hit by an arrow, fired at him by a bow-wielding Player.

-12 HP

As he landed, three Players immediately attacked him in three different directions at the same time. He managed to parry one attack, dodged another attack with a subtle move, and cancel the other one by kicking the attacker in the chest.

But suddenly he was sent flying because he got hit by a Hammer-Wielding Player from his blind spot.

-12 HP

Raizel didn't even have time to stand up as a Player he know, Sasaki, suddenly came from above and sent a bunch of flying golden swords toward him. He was about to erupt a shield to block the attack, but a magic circle suddenly appeared below him and stunned him.

The Flying Swords was about to hit Raizel so he immediately look for the stunner, intending to cancel his spell, but unfortunately for him, the other party seems to know this ability of his that's why they hid the caster from his line of sight.

Raizel didn't find the stunner on time so he got bathed by Sasaki's attack with no room for escape.

-25 HP

-23 HP

-43 HP

-21 HP

-28 HP

-54 HP

-26 HP

-23 HP

-16 HP

-34 HP

The damage keeps on coming as Raizel watches his HP goes lower and lower as he baths on the Flying Swords sent on him by Sasaki. But thankfully, due to his extreme durability, he's managing to hold unto his life quite well. Though he knows that this shouldn't go any further than this because more of this will be dangerous even for him.

"... Finally." The stun was supposed to last for a whole 10 seconds, but much to Sasaki and co's surprise, Raizel started moving again when it's only been 4 seconds.

Raizel escaped the entrapment and immediately dashed forward to attack Sasaki. On his way, he casted a bunch of spells to boost himself, making him even faster.

Seeing this, Sasaki immediately stopped his skill and then dashes forward to meet Raizel with his sword.

As the duo clashed in the field with their weapons, Sasaki's guild members immediately surrounded their position, intending to entrap Raizel once more.

But Raizel, as quick-witted as he is, saw this, so he pushed Sasaki backward with a kick and then immediately rocketed himself towards one of the trappers, a Spear-wielding Player.

Since the Spear-Wielding Player plans to attack Raizel in the first place, hence he was running toward him at great speed, he got so off guard by how Raizel suddenly closed the distance between them.

"HA!!" The momentum is pushing him so hard that he can do nothing but meet Raizel head-on, so he tried attacking by thrusting his spear forward, but instead of parrying it, Raizel let the spear hit him.

"Wha-" The spear guy was a bit confused for a quick moment, but he immediately realized what kind of situation he just put himself in.

*Swoosh*

"... Two down."

After Raizel killed the Spear guy, he didn't even take a breather as he immediately sucked his soul then Fire a [ Soul Searing ] again at the Tank guy's direction.

Learning from his experience earlier, the Tank guy didn't try blocking the attack this time, but dodged it instead.

"Oh, shi-" Again, for a quick moment, the Tank guy is confused, but he immediately realized what kind of situation he just created.

Unlike the other members, the Tank guy didn't rush towards Raizel earlier when Sasaki clashed with him, and there's a reason for that.

A reason that Raizel just exploited.

When the Tank guy dodged his attack, the Player behind him, the Player who they're trying to keep from Raizel's line of sight, has been exposed.

It's no other than their one and only Healer. The guy who's in charge of Crowd-Controlling and Team buffing.

Sure, he didn't get hit by the [ Soul Searing ], but just the fact that Raizel can see him now, is already enough.

"No!" The tank guy shouted as he tried getting back in his previous position, but he was already late.

[ Corrupting Gaze ]

Everyone felt it. They all felt that all the Buffing spells within them had been removed. It's like they got stripped naked all of a sudden.

All the protection, strengthening, boosting, and resistance spells within them are now gone.

Obviously, it's the same for the healer itself because he's supposed to be the supplier of it.

So with all his protection spells gone, Raizel immediately used a Skill to pull the Healer towards his position, and since the healer can't cast any spells at the moment, he can't do anything about it.

But Raizel knows that the others won't just sit and watch this happen, so as he's pulling the Healer, he quickly dashed forward to make the process faster.

"As if I let you do that!" The Tank guy shouted as he activated his Skill that will let him swap positions with someone.

From the Tank Guy's perspective, Raizel suddenly appeared in front of him as he swapped places with the healer, but as he was about to ready himself to take Raizel's hit...

[ Terrify ]

He suddenly found his vision gone and his movement became slow.

*Swoosh*

And since this is the case, seeing and defending against Raizel's attack, became impossible for him.

"... That's three."

At this moment, the rest of the Guildmembers finally reach Raizel's position and started attacking at the same time.

But none of their attacks reached him since Raizel's body suddenly turned into countless fly-like insects.

The insects scattered around the area and quickly compressed near the Healer's position.

The healer tried to run but due to Raizel's ridiculous Agility, he got caught immediately.

The others didn't manage to help because there was a bit of a distance between them. All they can do is watch their healer get killed in front of them.

Their tank and their healer are now dead. Everyone knows that without them, this fight will be even harder now.

Feeling his guildmates' tension, Sasaki decided to step up in the front and signal for them to step back.

"... Stack yourselves, I'll buy time. You won't be able to face him without enhancement spells. Go."

When the others heard this, they didn't even argue and just step back. They know that they'll be nothing but a hindrance in this fight without enchantment spells, so with a nod, they just did what Sasaki said.

Now, in the middle of the field, two individuals remain.

One is a Player who's embraced with brilliance while the other one is oozing with darkness.

"... You'll just let that one slide?" Sasaki asked Raizel, seeing that he's weirdly not doing anything to stop his Guildmates' preparation.

"... Well, the fight is more fun that way you know?" Raizel said smugly, which irritates Sasaki for a little bit.

"You are belittling us too much." Sasaki said as he raise his sword upfront, readying to engage at any time.

"... Not really. I mean, after this, fights will surely be boring so... you know, might as well enjoy it while it lasts."

" Oh, you will enjoy this for sure. [ Luminary Blessing ]" After Sasaki cast a skill, a light came from the sky and dawned unto him.

This occurrence didn't last long as the light disappear immediately after a couple of seconds.

"... Here I come!" Sasaki, who's donning a new armor now, an armor that he seemingly got from that light earlier, shouted as he dash towards Raizel with a stunning speed.

Raizel on the other hand, also dashed forward to meet his aggressor.

Then, the two clashed.

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