Realm of Myths and Legends

But, Mirage was not the only one among those targeted who experienced an unfavorable encounter. Midnight and even Qi Jiguang were killed!

Though Midnight was the most unfortunate as he was hunted down not once, but three times! This meant that the number of event lives he had was on the brink of extinction!

As for Qi Jiguang, he did not go down easily. He fended off two Grandmasters along with a group of Masters and ended up killing both Grandmasters as well as more than half of the Masters who attacked him.

However, a third Grandmaster appeared who specialized in traps and ended up stalling Qi Jiguang until the other two Grandmasters recovered.

In the end, the two Grandmasters returned after their Soul Weakness ended and Qi Jiguang fell.

Putting in so much effort to take down such a monster left a bad taste in everyone's mouths--especially the two Grandmasters that died to him. In truth, they wanted to target him again; however, the number of losses they suffered from a single hunt was already too devastating and cost them more than the actual bounty was worth!

Ultimately, they may have won the battle, but they lost the war in regards to profit!

And, as for Valentine and Fan Guang...

...

...Wooom! Zeeeut!

The instant Valentine heard the sound of the faint pulse, he activated the skill Blink and teleported away from his position.

Right after he did so, the ground where he stood caved in and formed a smooth surface as a crushing pressure descended in that location. But, it did not stop there as the wave of attacks continued.

...Wooom!. ...Wooom!

Every time the serpent's eye flashed blue, a new convergence of energy would take place near its eye. After building up and concentration all that force to one point, the serpent would expel it into a fearsome attack that crushed anything it came into contact with--even the pressure from a level five Gravity Pocket could not compare!

However, this was all Valentine was able to analyze during a short period of time as Fan Guang gave him no room to breathe.

The only bright side of the situation was that Fan Guang seemed unable to create another one of those massive serpents. In fact, ever since she conjured that serpent, there were no sights of any other entities formed by her spiritual force.

Valentine activated the skill Stride of the Nimbus as a small gust of wind appeared under his feet, propelling him into the air to avoid the two attacks from the serpent.

Stride of the Nimbus was similar to the skill Flight; however, it required certain conditions in order to be used. Also, it held a slight advantage over Flight in terms of general outlook.

Flight was a skill that allowed one to freely soar through the skies. It was a skill that many players dreamed of learning one day.

Stride of the Nimbus lost to Flight in terms of speed and maneuverability, but it made up for it with a different effect.

The serpent's left eye landed on Valentine as he took to the skies. Its eye flashed blue as it sent out yet another surge of crushing force.

...Wooom!

Valentine adjusted his position in the sky to evade the incoming attack.

But, even though he successfully dodged the virtually invisible blast, the air near Valentine was forcibly expelled from its location by the serpent's attack, causing him to spiral out of control.

Valentine was able to regain control of himself in a couple of seconds. Unfortunately, the second he did so, he was greeted by the serpent's attack.

By now, Valentine managed to grasp the basic timing for the skill; however, there was always the possibility that the serpent could launch a barrage of attacks or that Fan Guang could alter the timing to throw him off.

"I guess that's one idea out the window. Although I did not expect it to be that easy, I was still somewhat hoping it worked." Valentine internalized.

In truth, Valentine hoped that the serpent would be unable to target him in the skies with his new form of mobility.

"All of its power appears to be focused within its gaze. If that's the case, I need to find a way to stay out the range of its eye." Valentine said to himself as he glanced over at Fan Guang, who calmly hovered in front of the massive serpent.

The lower part of her face was hidden by a mask; however, the expression in her eyes was serious. And, the golden flames within the orb at her chest were... That's it!

"I see... I should have noticed much sooner." Valentine thought to himself as his lips curved into a slight smile.

Valentine abruptly stopped mid-air as he placed the staff in his hand at his side.

"What are they up to?" Fan Guang muttered to herself when she saw Valentine's unusual action.

"Hmph, whatever it is, I won't give them time to prepare. Helkali--it's time to finish them." Fan Guang stated, referring to the massive serpent she conjured.

Helkali was the only named being among Fan Guang's creations. That's because while its body was crafted using her spiritual force, its eye was a different matter.

Beast of the Nine Isles, Helkali--a creature that once ruled over the distant Nine Isles. The power contained in its eyes was capable of crushing anything within its gaze. Its venom was also ranked among the top twenty serpents in the world!

However, according to a certain O'Tohelm tale, Helkali was subdued by a hero who cut out one of its eyes and stabbed its mouth shut with his holy weapon.

Due to a fortuitous encounter, Fan Guang came across the remnants of Helkali's left eye and used her class, Spiritual Weaver, to create a temporary body for the serpent that allowed it to display a small portion of its previous strength.

"I won't let him drag out this fight any longer." Fan Guang thought to herself as she narrowed her eyes.

At the same time, as the energy near Helkali's eyes began to gather, something bizarre happened.

When the gorgeous staff by Valentine's side left his hands, an intense wave of magic energy was released throughout the surroundings. The high degree of purity in this magic energy was enough to leave other magic casters puzzled.

"Zarkox Fifth Sequence: Fragmentation."

The next moment, an amazing phenomenon took place on the battlefield that caused even Fan Guang to be left speechless.

Everything, the sky, the ground, even the air itself, had become like a mirror that was suddenly shattered! It made it nearly impossible to perceive things in a typical sense!

"What is this? What did you do?! No... It doesn't matter. Regardless of what tricks you play, it is impossible to fool Helkali's gaze!" Fan Guang scowled.

...Wooom!

The surge of energy erupted from Helkali's left eye and headed straight for one of those fragments with Valentine on its surface. However, just as the fragment shattered, Valentine appeared at a different one several meters away.

Valentine sighed as he inwardly shook his head. He wanted to avoid using Zarkox Sequences in his fight against Fan Guang. He believed that this approach would give him a better chance of finding inspiration for his own magic, but...

"I'm still uncertain what type of energy you use; however, I can tell that you are approaching your limit. I must admit, it is an interesting mana type, but for the magic I plan to create--it's still not enough in its current state." Valentine stated as his voice echoed throughout the battlefield.

He then continued, "That's why... I'll end this now."

Suddenly, the fragmented world snapped back into place as Fan Guang and Helkali were struck with an overwhelming stream of mana as an effect of Valentine's Zarkox Fifth Sequence: Fragmentation. But, it was not over just yet.

"Zarkox Fourth Sequence: Boundary."

The next moment, a massive magic barrier formed in the shape of a sphere, covering the entirety of the battlefield and even reached the skies above.

Fan Guang's eyes widened in shock as she watched the magic barrier expand. She had never seen such a gigantic barrier created by a player! How much mana would it cost to create something on a scale this large?!

115 gold coins for the first kill? What a scam! This person was worth twice--no, at least several times that amount!

However, Fan Guang was not the type to give up without a fight!

"It will take me at least half a day to recover and I'll end up losing out, but it's useless to try to conserve my spiritual force in this situation. I'll finish this with every last drop of my remaining spiritual force!"

...BOOOM!

Out of nowhere, the golden orb at the center of Fan Guangs chest cracked opened as her spiritual force spilled out and was drawn into Helkali!

Fan Guang was going all out. She planned on ending things with her next strike!