Black Online

Chapter 273: Battle Between Brothers

Raizen looked at his little brother and noticed the grave seriousness on his face, a familiar sight to him.

Many, many players have gotten discouraged after seeing the insane gap between Dead Redemption and the rest of the player base.

"When I first met Leon, I also got depressed for several months. To me, that strength didn’t seem real. I thought he was hacking."

Raizen laughed self-mockingly.

’...Hacking?’

Fang Raon raised his gaze at him.

"What you saw in the stream was nothing. It was just Leon showing off. Once he gets serious in a fight, he’s on a whole different level.

"It’s strange too how he got this strong.

"When some of us were training under Rock, he was the least talented among us. Even Rock said it.

"Average swordsmanship, not that high combat IQ. But it was him who became the strongest."

Raizen wryly smiled.

"So the Dead Redemption wasn’t yet formed when you guys were training under Rock?"

Fang Raon asked.

"No. That was the first meeting between some of us. There were also others that eventually got kicked out of Dead Redemption because they got replaced.

"I never thought about joining anyone’s guild. I was planning to create my guild with Raikou as my right-hand man. The plans eventually changed, and I decided to follow Leon so that I could become stronger."

Raizen said.

Fang Raon only listened.

To him, it sounded like Raizen had already given up on trying to become the strongest. Leon’s overwhelming strength had also discouraged him.

While most of the player base got discouraged after seeing how strong even the weakest member of Dead Redemption was, Raizen was also in the same boat.

He had gotten discouraged after seeing how strong the strongest player was.

"Can I fight you?"

Fang Raon asked.

"...What for?"

Raizen asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I want to see how far I am from you."

Fang Raon said with a serious expression on his face.

"It wouldn’t be an accurate assessment if we fought in the real world. We would need to duel in the game."

Raizen said.

"Then let’s do that. Let’s head over to the sixth floor and have a duel there under the rules of the Mutual Combat Law."

Fang Raon said with a serious look on his face.

He wasn’t joking. He really wanted to fight him.

"..."

Raizen looked at him silently, and then he dropped his head and made his way to the kitchen door.

As he opened the swinging kitchen door, he stopped walking and said.

"The roof of the Macarena Building, the sixth floor. I’ll be waiting."

With those words, he walked out.

"...Whoo."

Fang Raon took a deep breath, and his eyes turned serious.

...

6th floor, the roof of the Macarena Building, late at night, so even the birds had gone to sleep by now.

Creak~! A door creaked open as Fang Raon, holding a King’s Shortsword in his hand, stepped onto the roof.

Leaning against a wall, Raizen stood there, his beautiful spear leaning against the wall beside him.

A man of strength. A man of conviction. A man of no defeat.

Fang Raizen was widely known as one of the strongest Warriors in the game and, without a doubt, the greatest spearwielder of them all.

Players feared him. Players respected him. Players admired him.

Many people considered Fang Raizen the second-in-command to Leon, and his fame was equal to that of the strongest player.

’I am dueling against quite an opponent.’

Fang Raon thought, and then with his other hand, he pulled his shield from the inventory as well.

With the sword and shield in hand, it meant that he couldn’t really use Aurel’s Blade Dance, but that was fine.

He wasn’t good enough with Aurel’s Blade Dance to use it against an opponent like Raizen, and if he used it recklessly, he would just get pierced by the spear.

"Ready?"

Raizen asked.

"Yes."

Fang Raon said.

He lied. He wasn’t ready. But he doubted that even if he waited for three hours, he wouldn’t be ready enough.

Raizen pulled open a holographic window of the Mutual Combat Law and sent a challenge over to him.

"I’ll accept."

Fang Raon said.

[Mutual Combat Law is in effect!]

[Fang Raizen vs. Fang Raon]

[Rule: Fight till the last point of health]

’The fight will end once one of us reaches one health. You cannot accidentally kill the person because with this rule, the game stops you from accidentally dropping to zero.’

Fang Raon thought.

With a deep sigh, he moved his neck slightly to loosen himself up, and then he moved to his stance.

The shield was slightly raised in front of him, and the sword was over at his hip side.

"I won’t use Five Pillars of Power."

Raizen said, and he grabbed his spear and took a step forward, and his aura of power began to intensify.

To Raon, it felt like he was facing a wild beast in the wilderness with nothing but his bare hands.

"Please do! I want to fight you at your full strength!"

Fang Raon shouted.

He didn’t want his big brother to go easy on him, or it would make the fight completely pointless. The fight’s point was to see just how far he was from the top.

"...As you wish."

Raizen tapped his foot to the ground, and suddenly he crossed the distance between them in an instant.

At one point, he was like fifteen meters away, and the next moment, he was right in front of him.

"Godspeed."

Raizen whispered, and then he thrust his spear forward, and it seemed like it was going to impale Raon’s waist.

’Move... move!’

Fang Raon’s eyes turned red, and he screamed, "Basic Parry," and lifted his shield upward just in time.

The shield pushed the spear to the side, barely grazing his arm, but he managed to avoid a fatal blow!

’I did it! I actually managed to parry his attack!’

Fang Raon thought with excitement.

Raizen’s expression didn’t change, and he immediately followed with a side sweep of the spear and clashed with Raon’s shield.

While the shield managed to block the blow, Raizen’s strength was too much, and his feet started sliding across the paved roof.

"Urgh!"

Fang Raon gritted his teeth as he forced himself to stop.

Raizen didn’t waste a moment. He immediately rushed at him. The spear was once again ready to strike.

Fang Raon reacted by putting the shield in front of him, and at that moment, Raizen drove his spear forward.

"Maxima!"

Raizen’s spear clashed with the shield, but with the Maxima-infused blade, the spear stabbed through the shield!

The spear continued its course, and it pierced through Fang Raon’s shoulder and destroyed the shoulder blade in a shower of sparks.

"Ahh!"

Fang Raon cried out, and because he lost all feeling in the shoulder, he was forced to drop his shield.

The shield was useless either way.

[Durability: 0/0]

[King’ Shield has been destroyed!]

"Basic Slash!"

Fang Raon swung the sword, trying to force Raizen into a defensive stance for a moment, but he just nonchalantly parried the attack.

It looked effortless, like he was fighting a child.

"Sword Stab!"

Fang Raon drove his sword forward, but Raizen brought his spear down on his blade and pushed it aside with a powerful strike.

"Hmph!"

Raizen pinned his spear between his elbow and armpit, and he took a strange spear-stabbing stance.

"Fast Spear!"

He thrust it forward with speed and momentum!

This was it. The final strike as he intended it to be. This was going to end the fight.

However.

Seeing the spear heading for his chest, Fang Raon lowered his sword, as if he were resigning to his fate.

But then...

He reacted purely out of instinct, and he spun—just enough to graze past the spear’s blade—it was the ballerina’s pirouette that he’d been training!

At the same time, he moved the sword with the help of the spin, adding extra momentum, speed and power into the strike.

The sword headed for Raizen’s neck!

It looked like it was going to make contact, but then Raizen strangely moved his spear, and the butt of the spear hit the sword’s blade, stopping it in its tracks.

’Damn it, so close!’

Fang Raon gritted his teeth.

"...Not bad."

Raizen shrugged his shoulders, and then he grabbed Raon by the back of his collar and flipped him over.

Fang Raon dropped to the ground, and at that moment, the spear grazed his cheek and stabbed into the ground beside him.

"...Ah."

Fang Raon’s eyes shook, and he turned his gaze slightly to the left and saw the spear embedded in the ground.

If Raizen wanted to, he could’ve easily just pushed the spear through his skull, and the match would’ve ended.

"...I forfeit."

Fang Raon said with defeat.

[Winner—Fang Raizen!]

Raizen pulled the spear from the ground, wiped the blood off the blade, and then tossed it inside his inventory.

He then moved his hand towards Raon. It looked like he was offering his hand to him. Raon looked at the hand briefly.

Then.

Raon grabbed the hand, and Raizen pulled him back to his feet.

"...Thanks."

Fang Raon said.

It felt strange to him that his big brother, Raizen, was acting somewhat kindly towards him, as he wasn’t used to that.

"Rock is training you, correct?"

Raizen asked.

"...Yes."

Fang Raon nodded.

"He’ll make you stronger. I can’t promise you that you’ll reach Dead Redemption. But you’ll get stronger."

Raizen said.

Fang Raon nodded.

"...Are you aware of the Legacies?"

At that moment, Raizen changed the topic of conversation and brought up an interesting one—the Legacies.

"Yes, kind of."

Fang Raon said.

It was something that Rock had mentioned to him a while ago, and even till this day, he had only met one Legacy user.

Ragnar.

"I also have Legacy. So does every member of Dead Redemption. Having Legacy is pretty much a must if you want to reach this level of strength."

Raizen said.

"...You do?"

Fang Raon said in surprise.

"If you want to, I can take you to Player Market. It’s a place over at the 29th floor where the strongest players gather to trade and sell items.

"I can get you a Legacy skill. If you upgrade the Legacy skill to level 3, you get sort of a "ping" where the legacy of that skill is.

"If you then successfully pass the trial of that legacy, you’ll receive that legacy."

Raizen said.

"...29th floor? I’ve only reached the 16th floor."

Fang Raon said with a troubled look.

"That’s fine. There is a way. There is a smuggling route between the floors that is used mostly by locals to move between floors.

"It is forbidden to players, but some players still use them."

Raizen said.