Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

“Who’s there?” asked Kaizen loudly, his voice echoing through the quiet hall.

The silence remained for a brief moment before a cold, mocking voice resounded through the hall. “Ah, Kaizen… You have finally arrived. What a pleasure it is to finally meet you.”

From behind the throne, a figure emerged from the shadows. It was a woman of supernatural beauty, with long black hair and bright eyes that seemed to reflect the darkness of the night itself. She was dressed in a dark cloak and held an ornate staff in her hands.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” questioned Kaizen with a serious and cautious expression.

The woman replied in a soft, hypnotic voice, “My name is Elara. And let’s just say that I am a wandering sorceress, in search of knowledge and wisdom.” Her tone was serene, but there was something unsettling in her gaze.

Moreover, she was a player, this was clear because Kaizen immediately used <Analyzing Eye>. However, he couldn’t see what her attributes or skills were, because she was more than 50 levels above his level.

“You may have overpowered the king and caused chaos, but I will not allow you to continue!” declared Kaizen, raising his scythe with determination.𝑶𝒱𝐥xt.𝒞𝒪𝔪

“Kaizen, Kaizen…” She shook her head negatively and began to click her tongue as if disappointed. “You know better than anyone that I am doing all this out of interest. You understand me… If it was to your advantage, you’d be helping The Eye of Hermodr too, wouldn’t you?”

“Are you kidding me? Of course not.”

Elara let out a sinister laugh. “Oh, Kaizen, don’t play the role of naive in front of me, that way it will only diminish my admiration for you. However, seeing you in person now, maybe you are just some spoiled brat with hero syndrome…. Do you think you are in an anime to be the hero of the kingdom? And then what are you going to do? Build a harem that includes both princesses? Isn’t that a little bizarre?”

Despite her words, Kaizen smiled cheerfully. “Seriously, are you going to keep blabbering provocations to try to buy my time or are you going to stand up to me?” He inquired, relaxing his posture.

Kaizen surprised the woman, who arched her eyebrows in surprise. “You…you are good. I thought I could gain at least another five minutes, perhaps by having him ask about our plans or what I, as a player, could get out of The Eye of Hermodr.”

“Come to think of it, that wouldn’t be a bad idea. You’re right… What are your plans? Why are you trying to buy time?” Kaizen inquired.

Elara smiled and said:

“If you insist on knowing, I can tell you, but for that you…”

Before Elara could finish her first sentence, a pop erupted throughout the throne room and by the time Elara opened her eyes after only a blink, Kaizen had already shortened the distance between by more than a 2/3. Elara quickly raised her staff and conjured a magical barrier to protect herself from Kaizen’s impending attack. The barrier quickly appeared, enveloping Elara in a sphere made of multiple hexagons and was a vibrant purple color.

The impact of the Able Fury Spear against her barrier was so powerful that the throne room shook with the force of the collision.

Despite this, the barrier remained intact, causing Kaizen to retreat.

“You are fast, Kaizen, but you underestimate my abilities.” said Elara, with a challenging smile on her face.

Kaizen took a few steps back, assessing Elara’s magical barrier. He knew he could easily break such a barrier with the Ragnarok Sword, only the reason not to use it in this place was that the mere swing of it could put the entire palace on the ground, and if the King and the princesses were still in the palace, it would kill them.

“I do not underestimate you, Elara, but I will not allow you to cause more chaos in this kingdom,” Kaizen stated with determination.

“Here you go again with your hero syndrome.” She stated.

While Elara maintained her magic barrier, Kaizen concentrated and began channeling his <Psychokinesis>. Since with this ability he could do almost anything according to its description, he wanted to test a new idea. Suddenly, Kaizen quickly raised his hand with his fingers open and aimed to launch a wave of mental energy towards Elara, seeking to destabilize her concentration and break through her defense. Impressively, this worked a little and Elara felt a slight discomfort in her mind for a single second, but that was enough for her barrier to fail as well.

The sorceress struggled to keep her concentration on her barrier, but the strange sensation of pain was overwhelming.

Kaizen threw the Spear of Able Fury as she saw the opening appear, and the spear cut through the space between them at the same speed as a harpoon shot. However, Elara managed to recover more quickly than expected from her state of confusion and noticed the Spear flying towards her. Thus, fearful that Kaizen would launch another mind attack if she erected a barrier to protect herself, she just raised her staff and launched a shower of energy spells, which were like laser shots.

One of the shots hit the spear as she expected, which changed the trajectory of the spear, but not only that, the others created explosions and damaged the columns, which were still under renovation from the last battle in this place.

Kaizen skillfully dodged the attacks, using his agility and sharp reflexes to avoid Elara’s spells, and finally managed to find cover to protect himself behind one of the columns. He knew he needed to end the battle as quickly as possible, but he also knew that it would be very difficult to defeat a mage with the speed he needed.

‘Hang in there, Andrew…’ Kaizen thought, cheering internally.

…

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

More character images in:

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