Chapter 185 Ruincrest Range
Eric drew his sword, a flash of silver, and sheathed it just as quickly.
A shriek of pain tore through the air, echoing off the surrounding buildings.
Valkor Titanhelm stared at Eric, his eyes wide with a mixture of hatred and dawning terror. One attack. One simple Slash, a basic Swordsman skill, had decimated him. His arrogance, his confidence, shattered like glass.
He watched in numb horror as his health bar plummeted, dropping to a single, solitary point in the blink of an eye. The duel rules prevented his death, but the shock was no less potent.
As reality crashed back in, he finally understood Eric's earlier words, his dismissive comment about the fight being "boring." At the time, he'd mistaken it for arrogance, for ignorance. Now, he realized the truth...
"No!"
His level, his precious level, was plummeting, dropping with terrifying speed until it hit rock bottom: level 0. A scream of rage and despair tore from his throat.
Duels might not have death as a consequence, but the penalties for losing were still severe.
The very punishment he'd so gleefully wished upon Eric was now his to bear. The map, his prized possession, vanished from his inventory, transferred to Eric's by the uncaring System.
He'd not only shot himself in the foot, he'd blown off his entire leg.
"Rosewater, now that this distraction is dealt with, shall we resume our discussion?" Eric turned back to Rosewater, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips.
Valkor Titanhelm, consumed by hatred, glared at Eric's back. His teeth ground together, and with a roar of fury, he grabbed a scroll from his inventory, a Tier 1 magic scroll, and unleashed it upon the unsuspecting Eric.
"Black Flame, die!"
The scroll, Spear of Flames, erupted in a blaze of fire, a powerful single-target spell aimed directly at Eric's back. He'd lost everything; he had nothing left to lose. Let the guards come! Let them imprison him! He could always delete his character and start over. But if he could take Eric down with him, it would all be worth it.
"Look out!" Rosewater cried out, her warning echoing in the sudden silence.
Eric hadn't expected such blatant disregard for the law. Shadowwing Citadel was not a place for such reckless actions. By the time he registered the threat, it was too late.
The Spear of Flames slammed into his back, engulfing him in flames. Valkor Titanhelm laughed, a harsh, grating sound.
This was it. His trump card. Two thousand points of fire damage. No matter how strong Black Flame was, he was still just a Swordsman. How much health could he possibly have? A thousand? Twelve hundred at most? He was dead.
As the flames dissipated, Eric's health bar began to drop, rapidly at first, then slower...slower...until...
It stopped.
"Why? Why aren't you dead?!" Valkor Titanhelm stumbled back, his finger shaking, his voice a hoarse whisper.
"That's not for you to know. But attacking someone within Shadowwing Citadel? You've earned yourself a rather unpleasant punishment," Eric said, his voice calm, even as he patted out the remaining flames on his armor.
The Spear of Flames would have obliterated any level 14 player. But Eric wasn't just any player. Twenty points of fire resistance, coupled with the passive boost from Enhancing Physical Resilience, which granted a hidden magic resistance bonus, and his rather impressive 1840 health points, rendered the attack painful, but ultimately survivable. A Tier 1 spell, even a powerful one, was simply not enough to bring him down.
"Impossible..." Valkor Titanhelm breathed, his face ashen. That had been his strongest attack.
"No way..." Rosewater echoed, equally stunned. To withstand such a powerful fire spell...what kind of defense did he have? Was he secretly a Shield Warrior? A Guardian Knight, perhaps? But even they wouldn't have emerged unscathed.
As they reeled from the shock, the heavy tread of armored boots announced the arrival of the city guard, the Darkwarden Sentinels of Shadowwing Citadel.
Shadowwing Citadel operated under a strict code of conduct, far stricter than any town or city. The penalties for breaking those laws were swift and severe. In his past life, Eric had never witnessed anyone foolish enough to cause trouble within the city walls. To attack someone, especially a Demonbane, was practically suicidal.
And that was why Eric hadn't retaliated. Valkor Titanhelm had just earned himself a one-way ticket to punishment.
"Valkor Titanhelm, you have violated the laws of Shadowwing Citadel by attacking Lord Demonbane. You are hereby sentenced to fifteen days imprisonment. Upon your release, you will suffer a ten percent reduction to all attributes for a period of ten days, and your experience gain will be reduced by twenty percent." The Darkwarden Sentinel's voice was cold, devoid of emotion as he pronounced the sentence.
Rosewater gasped. The punishment was far harsher than she'd anticipated. Fifteen days! Even with the support of Echoes of Dusk, fifteen days at level zero, followed by a twenty percent experience penalty, would cripple Valkor Titanhelm's progress. It would take him a month, at the very least, to catch up, and that was assuming he didn't sleep.
"Black Flame, you may have won this round, but I'm not afraid of your System! I was going to delete my character anyway!" Valkor Titanhelm spat, his voice trembling, but his defiance unwavering.
"Is that so? Then by all means, delete your character. I look forward to seeing you start over." Eric smiled, a knowing glint in his eyes.
He could shatter the foolish boy's illusions, but where was the fun in that? Valkor Titanhelm clearly believed Divine Realms: Legends was a simple game, a playground where actions had no consequences.
In his past life, many players had shared that naive belief. They treated Divine Realms: Legends like any other game, committing atrocities against NPCs, engaging in reckless behavior, believing they could simply erase their sins by deleting their characters and starting anew. But the consequences, like shadows, followed them. Unless they abandoned Divine Realms: Legends entirely, the punishments remained, no matter how many times they hit the delete button.
Divine Realms: Legends might be a virtual world, but it had rules. And those rules were absolute. Those who dared to break them, to test their boundaries, did so at their own peril.
Valkor Titanhelm, with a final glare, logged out, his parting words echoing in the air.
Eric, dismissing the foolish boy from his mind, turned his attention to his prize. He opened his inventory and examined the map, the key to the Godslayer Title.
It was blank. No markings, no writing, no indication of its purpose or location. A player unfamiliar with the game would be baffled by its lack of information. To make matters worse, the official website had yet to release a world map for Divine Realms: Legends. It was no wonder Valkor Titanhelm had been so quick to wager it.
Unfortunately for him, Eric was no stranger to Divine Realms: Legends, even its hidden corners.
Over the years, many guilds had taken it upon themselves to chart the vast world of Divine Realms: Legends. ShadowForge Studios, in particular, had compiled an incredibly detailed map, a testament to their dedication and resources. As a guild leader, Eric had committed it to memory, along with countless others.
This map, however, was a challenge. The terrain depicted was complex, intricate. It took him a few moments to find a match, a location that mirrored the map's contours.
Ruincrest Range.
A place forbidden to humans.
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