Novel Full Chapter 1285 A Ray of Hope
“Wha—?!”
“How—?!”
At first, when SeventhShield and the others saw Valyr conjure a barrier around Darklight, almost all of them immediately thought that the young man was just planning to delay the inevitable.
In fact, when they saw Darklight dismiss the barrier as if it was just some simple obstacle he could overcome, the despair they felt at that moment pretty much remained the same.
After all, what could someone at Level 10 do against a player that was not only at the peak of Rank 1, but also seemed to own a class that was far stronger than the classes the others had.
Apparently, a lot more than they initially thought.
Bang!
With the young man’s barrier remaining unscathed even after Darklight decided to go all out, the despair within the group’s hearts began to diminish as they finally began to see a bit of hope that they’d be able to salvage the situation.
Of course, the key to this whole thing was none other than Valyr, prompting SeventhShield to recall the feeling he got near the beginning of the dungeon where he thought having him aboard was a good thing.
‘And to think that it was,’ thought the man to himself as he inwardly let out a self-deprecating chuckle, still blaming himself for the fact that he’d put his friends and Valyr into unnecessary harm.
Nevertheless, the fact that the barrier Valyr conjured still remained standing against Darklight’s attacks made him and the others curious as to what kind of skill allowed him to do such a thing.
After all, to surmount such a massive gap like that, almost all of them had a strong feeling that the young man paid quite the hefty price just to keep Darklight within the barrier.
Was it an incredibly rare skill? Was it a special class that disguised itself as the usual Rank 0 class?
Whether or not they entertained such thoughts in their mind, all those ideas immediately came to a grinding halt the moment Valyr responded to Darklight’s final taunt.
Bang!
Dealing a damage figure far greater than any of them could even muster, SeventhShield and the others felt like their eyes were on the verge of popping out their sockets as the four-digit number made itself known.
Unsurprisingly, even Darklight was completely left at a loss for words after that, getting the feeling then and there that he might have targeted the wrong group of people this time around.
‘Even if he can only deal that much damage after resting for some time, the fact that I’m trapped within this barrier only means he’ll hit me with that attack at some point!’
Confident in the gut feeling he felt the moment he saw Valyr deal with the hobgoblin mage in just one blow, Darklight decided to consume all his strength and energy without hesitation.
All for the sake of escaping the hell he’d put himself into.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
However, no matter what attack he used, no matter what skill he used on the barrier, none of them even made a sizable dent on the barrier Valyr had conjured around him, causing the man to finally feel some of the despair the others had been experiencing all this time.
Though, that despair only worsened after Valyr turned around to look at him.
“I’ll give you guys a good explanation once this is all done.” Feeling SeventhShield and the others look at him with both curiosity and fear in their eyes, Valyr inwardly let out a sigh as he apologetically smiled at them.
Then, while continuing to keep [Three Revolutions, Nine Cycles] active, the young man moved closer towards the trapped Darklight as his expression turned solemn.
“Did you ever think to yourself that there’d eventually come a time where it’ll come back at you?” Looking at the man with a hint of amusement in his eyes, Valyr asked the man a question.
“If not, I think now’s a great time to think about it.”
Fully understanding that Valyr was the one now calling the shots in their current situation, Darklight let out a faint sigh as he responded with the words he felt like the young man wanted to hear.
“Alright, I do admit that I’m the one at fault here,” said the man, his gaze towards Valyr containing a hint of sadness. “I’m sorry for having thoughts towards all of your items.”
“Are you really sorry?” Valyr raised his eyebrows as he looked at Darklight with suspicion. “Or are you just saying that so I can free you from the barrier?”
“Mostly the latter,” replied Darklight with a wry chuckle. “As long as you free me from the barrier and let me leave, I promise not to do that to you guys ever again. In fact, I promise that I’ll avoid you guys from this point onward.”
“Oh, really now?” Getting the feeling that Darklight uttered all of those words half-heartedly, Valyr focused a bit more of his aura towards the man as he let out a bit of his killing intent. “What if I wanted to give you a small punishment before letting you go?”
“Don’t push it, Ataraxia.” Unsurprisingly, Darklight’s demeanor changed the moment those words left Valyr’s words. “I’m not even planning to continue what I set out to do anymore. Just because you’re the strongest here doesn’t mean you can’t stop me from leaving the dungeon.”
“Quite an ironic response, especially from you,” replied the young man with a chuckle, letting out a bit more of his killing intent as he moved closer. “If I didn’t show off my true strength just now, what do you think would’ve happened?”
“Would you have let us be? Would you have allowed us to kill the boss without worrying about anything else?”
“Or better yet… would you have let us leave the dungeon peacefully without paying a cost?”
“…”
“…No, right?” Seeing that the expression on Darklight’s face turned grim as he asked those questions, Valyr finally put the final nail in the coffin as he glanced at the man with disdain.
“You never planned on letting us go scot-free in the first place.”
“In fact, I’m confident you wanted us to give you all of our items before we’d even be able to leave the dungeon.”
“…And what about it?” Darklight looked back at Valyr as he looked at SeventhShield and the others like they were beneath him. “As long as I’m stronger than them it’s only right that they give me their items when I ask them to.”
“Does that include me, then?” asked Valyr, slightly curious if his train of thought from the beginning of the dungeon was correct.
“But of course,” replied the man with confidence, the fear that he felt from the young man now replaced with slight disdain.
“So what if you could deal that much damage?”
“So what if you could conjure a barrier I couldn’t break?”
“I’m still confident that I could kill you in one hit. After all, nothing changes the fact that you’re still Level 10.”
“…I see.” Finding the man’s arrogance more amusing than ever before, Valyr decided to enter the barrier where Darklight was trapped, causing SeventhShield and the others to immediately feel a bit of fear as to what might happen next.
As for Darklight, he began to feel great joy the moment Valyr entered the barrier, still confident that the words he spouted were things he’d be able to achieve.
Yet, when he looked at the calm smile that hung on the young man’s face, the man began to ask himself.
What if the things Valyr had shown them so far… was merely just the tip of the iceberg? Continue your journey on empire
Slightly shuddering in fear as he felt that it was possibly the case, Valyr continued to look at Darklight with a calm expression. “Since you say you could kill me in one hit, I’ll give you the opportunity to do just that.”
“No barriers, no dodging, no counterattacking, no anything. I’ll just stand here, while you wallop the hardest attack you could muster at me.”
“…If I kill you, what would happen?” Feeling a hint of shock from the young man’s words, Darklight knew that this was his opportunity to free himself from greater harm.
Nevertheless, that did not diminish the anxiety he felt from the situation overall.
“Then you’re free to leave,” replied Valyr with a shrug, only to then glance at SeventhShield for a bit. “You won’t stoop so low as to extort the others after you kill me, no?”
“I… wouldn’t,” replied Darklight with a shake of his head. Though, at the same time, he inwardly told himself that he was definitely gonna do that if he was indeed able to kill Valyr.
“Go for it, then.” Valyr faintly nodded in response, spreading his arms out in the process. “Give me your strongest attack.”
‘But you still haven’t told me what would happen if I failed to kill you,’ thought Darklight in response to Valyr’s sudden actions, only to realize that the young man had already made his answer obvious from the very start.
“Huu…” Coming to this realization, the man gritted his teeth as he mustered all of the remaining strength and energy in his body.
Then, redirecting all of it towards the shadows below his feet, he soon conjured a large dark bolt that looked to have an infinitely sharp edge.
“[Pierce the Veil]!”
Whoosh!
Swiping his hand forward, the bolt swiftly acted upon the intent Darklight put into it as it whizzed through the air.
‘Die! Die from my attack!’ Seeing as Valyr truly had no plans of avoiding the attack he’d sent out, a bit of hope began to blossom deep within Darklight’s body, thinking that there was still a chance he could turn things around to his favor.
Puchi!
Seeing that the bolt pierced directly through the young man’s upper torso before jutting out the other side, a wide grin appeared on Darklight’s face as he knew he dealt a terrifying amount of damage to Valyr.
Though, just as he thought the young man had wholly succumbed to his attack…
“…Man.”
“Is this really all you’ve got?”