Chapter 972: Some Breathing Space
Translator: Sean88888 Editor: Elkassar1
The headgear man looked like a WWE wrestler. The most impressive thing about him were his bulging muscles, which shined as if they had been smeared with olive oil. The bumblebee pattern on his headgear looked very life-like.
The black flag he planted was called the duel flag, the kind that needed a rather high level of authority to exchange for - at least a rank of Reserve-duty Major General. The guy was not that simple-minded after all. Besides threatening them with force, he also displayed his strength so as to avoid unnecessary fighting.
(TL: Major < Lieutenant Colonel < Colonel < Colonel Commandant < Major General < Lieutenant General < General )
But Brother Black was totally unperturbed. He very arrogantly strode over to headgear man with a cigar in his mouth and jabbed the muzzle of his gun on headgear man's head as he said, "Hello, anyone there? Do you have muscles for a brain? Are you retarded? Sanzi is already our man. Why are you betting with us with our man as the bargaining chip?"
After jabbing headgear man's head with his gun muzzle, the next step was probably to jab his cigar on the guy's forehead. It was obvious that Mogensha wanted to humiliate headgear man.
Everyone's patience had a limit. In the party called Poison Stinger which headgear man belonged to, all the core members knew that Sanzi was a member which they could never let go of. While it was necessary to exercise appropriate caution, too withdrawn an approach would simply be labelled as cowardice.
Headgear man roared furiously. He looked so angry his eyes almost popped out of the sockets. He got in Mogensha's face and spat out these words: "Do you have a death wish? Then pull up the flag. I'll beat you up so good you won't be able to eat shit afterwards even if you want to."
Mogensha simply puffed some cigar smoke on headgear man's face, and with a flick of ash, said with scorn, "And what's in it for me? If you want to fight, no problem, but only if we bet 20,000 per round. Do you dare?
At this time, headgear man naturally wouldn't back off. He flashed a sinister grin at Mogensha and said, "Deal. Since you insist on giving me money, of course I'll take it."
Mogensha immediately signed a realm contract with him so that he would not be able to go back on his words. After the bets were placed, Mogensha grabbed the flag. The sound of rumbling drums could instantly be heard within the realm. A smoke-like darkness spread from the flag and wrapped them inside it, before they disappeared in place.
The settings of betting matches were a bit unique. It was clear that the realm did not wish others to view the battle process. That's because every person's abilities were the secrets which they relied on to survive. Of course they could not be displayed so easily.
Time was probably sped up in the duel arena, because not long after the battle began, the two men came back out. Headgear man's face was livid with rage. He instantly threw out another 20,000 utility points and said through gritted teeth, "Do you have the balls for a rematch? You won't be so lucky this time!"
Mogensha laughed and shamelessly said, "Once is enough to teach idiots like you a lesson. If I teach you more, won't I just help you get smarter?"
Headgear man's eyes bulged so hard they looked like they would burst. He rushed forward and blocked Mogensha's path to stop Mogensha from walking away. Mogensha's response was to raise the bet. 40,000 per round, no bargaining! If headgear man was short on utility points, he could use his equipments as collateral. Sheyan, who was watching the battle from the side, could see Mogensha's careful planning in setting up the trap. As long as headgear man put one foot into the trap, he would sink deeper and deeper!
After the second battle concluded, headgear man came out with a twisted look on his face. By now, he had been cheated of 60,000 utility points by Mogensha! Even for the backbone member of an ordinary party, this was a huge sum. As a result, headgear man didn't dare to let Mogensha go, or he wouldn't be able to explain himself to his party!
The party called Poison Stinger had received the news and had rushed over to the scene. When they saw Sanzi there, they immediately understood the situation. It was clear that Sanzi had found a stronger team and was here to exact revenge.
But the Poison Stinger party also realised that Sheyan's side had only five people including Sanzi. They were thus extremely unwilling to give up on 60,000 utility points and Sanzi without even putting up a fight!
Since Mogensha held the initiative, he set the high price of 30,000 utility points per battle. He also clearly stated that as long as the other side could win three battles in a row, they would get Sanzi together with 200,000 utility points!
Under the temptation of such enormous profit, Poison Stinger members lined up to take on Mogensha. They finally formed a thorough understanding of Mogensha's ability after three battles and defeated him in the fourth.
And then....
And then, it was Zi's turn....
And that was the end for them.
Zi had mastered the 'Titanium Mesh Magic Barrier' by now. Coupled with the insane properties of the Ndipaya set, her frontal defence was even higher than Reef with a shield! Zi did not need any strategy at all. She just stood there and exchanged blows with her opponent. The opposing side simply gave up after two tries.
The reason was simple. Zi, who was obviously a mage contestant, was even hardier than Poison Stinger's MT! The two people who challenged her were the ones with the strongest attack in the party. When they came back out after their defeat, they likened the experience to biting hard on a steel plate and had the force rebounded back on them. Not only were they stunned, their teeth fell off too!
The reason for this was simple: the equipment gap between the two sides was simply too wide.
Under such an unfair condition, it was a basic requirement to be one rank higher than Zi in order to stand a chance against her (for example, an Awakener is one rank higher than a Growth Hunter). To defeat her, her opponent probably needed to be two ranks higher. Would the Poison Stinger party have anyone that's 2 ranks higher than Zi? One could not entirely eliminate the possibility, but the chances were so low that they were negligible.
At this point, the party leader of the Poison Stinger party stepped out. She was called Queen Bee, a pretty unique name. True to her name, she had a queen bee's plump hips and a queen-like demeanor. The woman stared at Zi for a while, then turned towards Sanzi.
"If I promise to treat you well from now on, will you give me another chance?"
Sanzi heart was slightly moved looking at the woman whom he used to be very infatuated with. But before any idea could form in his mind, Sanzi immediately saw Sheyan from the corner of his eyes.
Sheyan, who was smiling peacefully.
In the face of more than ten years of interdependent brotherhood, Queen Bee's charm was nothing!
So Sanzi gave her a resounding "NO."
Queen Bee was very decisive. Although her party had lost almost everything and was on the verge of bankruptcy, she chose to leave without a word. She knew that if they kept going, the party she had put so much effort into building may very well disintegrate!
Queen Bee had a special ability. She saw with her own eyes, a dark golden glow on Sanzi's body. A party that could easily fork out a piece of dark gold equipment to bribe people was definitely not someone her Poison Stinger party could go up against at the moment.
With the extra 150,000 utility points scooped from the Poison Stinger party, Party Ace finally had some room to breathe. After enough preparation, Sheyan tried to complete the main mission of the Bloody World.
Because he did leave the Bloody World with enough invitation letters, the mission was judged to have been completed, while at the same time, he had to submit the invitation letters to complete the mission, but Sheyan could not do so. This led to a so-called BUG, but, of course, it was not enough to cause a blue screen crash restart. However, Sheyan was still directly affected by the BUG, in the way that the system also gave him a BUG-like response.
Sheyan was judged to have completed the relevant main mission, but he would not receive any reward. It was a better result than previously expected.
A quick calculation showed that Party Ace possessed 350,000 utility points and 30 potential points. As always, money comes and goes quickly.
Brother Black wished to complete his blueprint, which cost the most among the various projects, so he was allocated 150,000 utility points.
The upgrade of Zi's 'Magic Barrier' to lvl 7 had consumed 10,000 utility points and 25 potential points.
And Reef was a servant to his servant. He needed at least 80,000 utility points. Since Sheyan had ample funds on hand, he couldn't deny Reef's request. So that's another 100,000 utility points gone.
In the end, Sheyan was left with less than 100,000 utility points. Fortunately, Sanzi was used to living in poverty. 1,000 utility points would have made him happy. So, Sheyan didn't need to consider Sanzi's needs for the time being.
Are 90,000 utility points a large sum? A single recharge of his gloves would already consume almost half of his remaining fund. In addition, he needed to set aside utility points for the Ukiyo-e to summon Melody, and also for the cost of using the 'metal nut' mission item to enter the Terminator's world. Therefore, Sheyan could be regarded to be in a state of poverty.
Battle power was piled up with money. This sentence rang true.
They split up to perform their own tasks. Sheyan once again went to the Hall of Merit in the upper level. After becoming a Lieutenant Colonel, he had a personal office of sorts there, so he never had to queue up again. He sat down in his designated place, turned his wrist, and in the palm of his hand sat an extremely ordinary metal nut.