Chapter 700: Act 59 – The Elements of Civilization IV
The power of the Dragon of War!
Malorcha seemed to sense a change in Brendel, and an instinctive awareness of danger made it alert. It resumed its attacking stance, lowering its head and pawing the ground with its hooves, exhaling clouds of white mist from its nostrils. Then, suddenly pushing off with its hind legs, it shot forward like an arrow, abruptly disappearing from view, as if it had vanished into thin air.
But Brendel was different; he extended his hands forward—
Boom! The scene seemed to freeze as Malorcha crashed into Brendel’s hands, like hitting a wall, coming to a complete halt. With a loud bang, it created a gust of wind that expanded the air, lifting the corners of Brendel’s clothing and the hair from his forehead, sweeping past him.
Brendel slid back a bit, finally dissipating the force, but it was no longer a one-sided suppression—he could fight back! He transformed his hands from a shield to a grip, tightly grasping onto Malorcha’s antlers. “Did you think I would only use a sword?” Brendel revealed his teeth, twisted his hands, and with an angry roar, he actually threw Malorcha to the ground.
Boom!
The previously unstoppable magical crystal stag fell like a meteor toward the snow-covered ground of the forest, accompanied by a little fairy’s shriek, launching a flurry of snow into the air, and dragging a deep trench from the snow, exposing the grayish-black soil beneath, depleted of magical energy.
“Roar!”
It let out a painful cry, clawing its way up with its hooves, twisting its neck towards Brendel and swiping its long antlers, sending three overlapping semi-transparent ripples sweeping towards him across several meters. The scythe attack, one of the crystal stag’s basic offensive moves, had surprisingly transformed into a triple strike after being enchanted. This type of attack was practically a nemesis for shield knights; only the most exceptional knight players could perfectly counter it, but for Brendel, it was hardly anything to worry about.
He rolled back, evading the three air blades that struck the snowy ground, leaving behind three nearly one-meter-long, half-meter-deep marks. He landed next to the Earth Sword buried in the snow and grabbed it back up.
Missing its attack, Malorcha reared its upper body, its front hooves lifting off the ground.
Tremor!
Seeing this move, Brendel couldn’t help but feel murderous. This was one of the signature skills of heavy even-toed ungulates, but in Vaunte, the crystal stag was by no means classified as a heavy ungulate, merely a large one. This skill was not something it should possess; it was clearly a result of its magical transformation.
Regardless of whether he liked it or not, Malorcha stomped down heavily with its hooves. With a thunderous roar, Brendel saw the ground beneath it instantly dip, a visible ripple spreading outwards. Then came another, followed by a third.
Caught unprepared, Brendel had to rely on his reflexes to dodge the shockwave. He pushed himself up and leaped into the air, attempting to get closer to Malorcha from above. But as soon as he left the ground, he saw the crystal stag flick its head his way.
The three air blades seemed to appear before him in an instant.
“Damn it!” Brendel knew this creature would try this move with him. He quickly drew the Earth Sword to deflect the oncoming attack, only to be thrown away by the terrifying force.
He crashed toward a nearby Mist Tree, smashing the frosted tree into pieces.
Then the shockwaves struck him sequentially, launching him back down with a force that slammed him onto the ground. Brendel was so annoyed he felt like spitting blood; facing a crystal stag should have been simple enough given his strength and experience, but he hadn’t expected it to be a magically transformed one.
Magical creatures had a myriad of changing abilities, making them the natural enemies of players who relied on experience.
He spat out some snow and dirt as he got back up, but Malorcha clearly didn’t intend to let him off easy. Having gotten into close combat trouble, it seemed to prefer ranged attacks. It swiped its antlers again, launching three vertical air blades toward Brendel.
The three air blades clawed at the ground like talons, whipping up a storm of icy debris and dirt, leaving three deep lacerations. Nearby, Nemeses, holding onto the fairy maiden, couldn’t help but frown slightly at the sight but looked down at her little captive, only to find the latter in distress.
“Are you worried about something?” she asked.
The fairy maiden quivered slightly, quickly putting on a stern face: “N-no, I’m not—”
“In that case, it seems this crystal stag’s magical state does come at a cost; it’s overextending its life, isn’t it?” Nemeses pondered a bit, seemingly grasping the connection.
“You… no, you’re wrong!”
“You don’t need to answer, young one,” she raised her head and said to Brendel: “Brendel, stall for time; it can’t hold out much longer!”
“Despicable!” the little fairy shrieked.
But Brendel had no intention of stalling; he noticed that the swirling black smoke around Malorcha seemed to be thickening. He suddenly realized that it was suppressing the magical state; if that was the case, it would make it easier to deal with.
As the three air blades rushed toward him, Brendel raised the Earth Sword: “Get up! Resonance of the Earth!” With a crack, a row of sharp rocks shot up from the ground like fangs, blocking the air blades. The semi-transparent ripples swept through the forest path but shattered upon hitting the rocks, scattering into fragments.
A cloud of dust and debris exploded.
Malorcha looked up in confusion, realizing it had lost sight of its opponent. Just then, a voice rang out above it, “What are you looking for, little deer?” Instinctively, Malorcha lifted its head but only saw a white light descending to strike at its forehead.
Flash Sword—
“Don’t!” the fairy maiden cried out in horror.
She couldn’t help but close her eyes, fearing to see the blood splatter, but the scene she imagined didn’t occur. A layer of black light suddenly appeared on Malorcha’s forehead; Brendel’s Earth Sword struck against that black barrier and then rebounded. Brendel was taken aback for a moment before stepping back, noticing that only a slight blood mark remained on the stag’s forehead.
Chaotic Shield, a skill common among many powerful magical creatures, could absorb most types of attacks at the cost of consuming dark energy.
Except for holy attacks.
“Damn magical state!” Brendel couldn’t help but curse inwardly, then he saw the blood mark on Malorcha’s forehead quickly close up and fade into a shallow mark. This was the healing power that should belong to the crystal stag, stemming from the water element.
However, after using this power, the dark hues on Malorcha deepened further.
Brendel paused upon seeing this.
“If you keep fighting me, you won’t be able to suppress the dark magic within you. You want to protect this forest, to protect those foolish little fairies, but if this continues, you will become a mindless monster—”
He said this gently, looking at Malorcha with concern, trying to establish communication in this way.
The magically transformed Malorcha shook its head, but its blood-red eyes brightened a bit: “Get out, human! Get out of here; this is not a place for you!”
A thunderous roar washed over everyone’s minds.
“Stubborn fool.” Brendel frowned, reluctantly raising his sword.
“Let me go, wuwu…” Nemeses suddenly noticed the fairy maiden she was holding starting to cry, her eyes shimmering with tears, soon large droplets began to fall, “Wuwu, I don’t want this place anymore, let’s move, Lord Malorcha, let’s find another magical forest, wuwuwu…”
Brendel, hearing the fairy maiden’s cries, was momentarily taken aback. He felt he had grasped the gist of the situation, but it felt somewhat elusive. He stared at the crazed magical crystal stag and made one last attempt:
“Malorcha, we’re not here to cause you trouble. Clear your mind; maybe we can help you—”
But it responded with just one word: “Get out!”
“Damn it!” Brendel saw dark flames ignite around Malorcha again, charging toward him. The crystal stag’s charge inherited the traits of four-legged creatures, making it far more formidable than a human’s charging skills; this was one of its inherent abilities.
The better it was at it, the more familiar Brendel became.
He sidestepped slightly and then gripped his sword, swinging it toward the charging antlers of the magically transformed crystal stag. A resounding clash reminiscent of metal colliding echoed as Malorcha’s head and Brendel’s sword veered apart. The magical crystal stag immediately stomped its legs, skidding to a halt, and turned to deliver a close-range scythe lash.
But Brendel had anticipated this, directly dropping to the ground. He was aware that the stag’s next attack would be a rear kick, decisively rolling beneath it to the other side, where Malorcha indeed used its hind hooves to strike but missed.
“Now, it’s my time!”
Once closed in, Brendel’s terrifying swordsmanship advantage and rich combat experience began to shine. Malorcha quickly found itself trapped in a web, even before it could prepare to attack, Brendel had already set up a complete counterattack routine for it.
Sliver’s invention of side blind-spot attacks.
KUN’s discovery of weakness in the area beneath its horns and shoulder blades.
The fiery left and right swaying tactics.
These tactics tailored for the crystal stag transcended decades, even centuries of game time to arrive in this world, and as the first magical crystal stag to fully experience this set of tactics, Malorcha finally understood what it meant to cheat.
Finally, with a loud crash, the Earth Sword heavily struck the side of its neck. Although a dark glow flashed, it was still sent flying, the flesh of its neck rolling back as blue blood gushed out.
The blood dripped to the ground, instantly forming beautiful crystallized blue blood like a sapphire.
The fairy maiden’s cries abruptly ceased; she gasped slightly, her pale face watching this scene, seemingly on the brink of fainting.
Malorcha struggled futilely in the snow, but the exhausting battle, coupled with the need to suppress its dark magic, had consumed too much of its strength. It cried out in anger, but could not stand up. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please support it on Qidian (qidian.com) with recommendation and monthly votes; your support is my greatest motivation.)
