TL: Some additional things I want to talk about after the read more button.

Let me start off with a colored sketch where I decide the general lighting and design.

sketech 2

Technically a gambeson (thick padded cotton armor) isn’t supposed to look like that because it’s sewn in a quilting method, but if I’m going to do that then there’s going to be too many details to draw later on. It’s a thick shirt for now (lol).

Once I’m done with this drawing, I’m probably going to take a look at coding to have next/back buttons for my series and see how it goes from there.

Next topic. Donations.

This isn’t a merchandise, or a freelance contract or even an offered service of sorts.

This is what I hope my readers do to show goodwill to me, where you show your support in helping me with my electricity/coffee/artbooks/games. If you expect something like a service/contract from me, then I’m telling you now that I’m not offering that at all.

I understand my readers are reading a wide variety of webnovels and the priority to help me out is low. That’s fine, but I hope you guys understand where I’m coming from about donations.

Any donations received after this would be queued after the arc.

Next update will come tomorrow.

Medissa was approximately forty meters away, charging straight into a group of Lizardmen wielding crossbows. When she turned around she spotted a disturbance on the ground and realized something was amiss. She immediately warned Brendel and Scarlett, while she urged her unicorn back towards them. The unicorn leapt into the air and she raised her lance and timed it together with the unicorn’s descent—

“Vortex Strike!”

When Brendel turned back, he found Medissa making her move on the enemy with a loud yell. The air around her lance immediately manifested into a distortion which condensed the air and released it as a blast of wind, sweeping the Lizardmen off their feet like they were fallen leaves. When she thrust her lance forward, an invisible path immediately emerged in front of her, destroying all the obstacles in front of her. Wood splinters flew everywhere and the enemy that was behind Brendel immediately retreated to the side.

The shockwave caused a large fissure to appear on the ground.

Brendel looked at the deep scar and felt a sheen of cold sweat on his body.

[My lady Medissa, can you be a little more gentle? Even if the enemy was a Gold-ranked fighter trying to backstab me, I can still parry it, but receiving your boss attack means I might die from it....]

He felt himself trembling a little before he recomposed himself and observed the enemy. He already knew the identity of the monster.

A gigantic creature with the size of three fully grown adults was writhing in front of him. Despite the quick reactions against Medissa’s attack, it did not escape unscathed. Its long left arm clutched its right shoulder as blood flowed freely from the wound.

It was a humanoid that looked partially like a wurm, and there were three mismatched sections that seemed like they were sewn together. The head, the chest and the abdomen were sections covered in a grayish-yellow carapace that were inches thick and fortified with the blessings that came from the Blood of Gods.

[It’s definitely harder than steel. The rating from the system is giving it A+ in defense. The Acolyte of Earth is a level 55 boss, so that’s going to add 15 defense to it. It’s on par with a full tank class.]

Brendel groaned wistfully.

The limbs that it had were like an insect’s appendages, although the hands that it had resembled a human. At the area on its abdomen was a pair of eyes and another set of appendages in the form of a scythe. Its long thighs were shaped weirdly and adorned with full of barbs. Any normal human that got swept by it would certainly have gashes big enough to see the bones. Its head was something of a cross of a beetle and ant, with a pair of long antennae and large mandibles, and there was a pair of huge eyes that could see in low light places and capture motion well.

Brendel was glad to see that it did not have wings as it meant that it did not have flight yet. This was the only good news.

[This is third boss in this world after Ebdon and the Golden Demonic Tree. Even though it’s not at its final form, it’s already level 55 and has an unsealed Element. Comparing it with the previous bosses I faced earlier won’t be right.]

Brendel took a deep breath as he realized this was going to be the hardest battle yet. If Scarlett and Medissa were not here to help him, he would have pulled out of this area and left as far as he possibly could.

He did not have much time to think about it because there was a loud metallic clash somewhat far away. When he turned around, he saw Scarlett’s spear pushing down on a steel gauntlet. When he traced the defending hand back to the owner’s face, he discovered that it was a young man whom he had not seen before. Electricity danced around his hand, but was immediately pushed away from some unseen force and did not hurt him at all.

“Well, well, isn’t this our lovely Scarlett? Did you seek a new lover and betrayed our organization so quickly? That Blood of Gods from that man can’t be relied on after all. Don’t worry my dear, I killed you once, I can kill you again and send you to meet up with your dead companions—” The unknown young man sneered loudly.

Scarlett’s teeth were clenched so tightly that they were grating noises coming from her. She glared at him with incredible hatred and desired nothing more than to run her spear through him. That young man brushed off the spear and retreated a few steps, and she immediately chased after him.

However, it was a rash move and she immediately felt her feet sinking into the ground when she chased after him. Her heart skipped a beat as she lowered her head and saw a layer of black fog surrounding her feet, making it impossible to move.

“Magic!” Scarlett felt her blood ran cold as she realized he was some form of Magic Swordsman.

But her reaction was too late. Conrad’s taunt to make her angry was for the sake of making her fall into a trap, and he would not let this opportunity slip by. He opened up his fingers into a claw shape and thrust them towards her heart. The vitality of an Acolyte was exceedingly high, but the Blood of Gods was contained within the heart. Once it was damaged, even if the Acolyte did not die in that instant, their strength would diminish greatly.

Conrad knew that he would have great difficulty to defend himself against two Gold-ranked fighters, so he did not hold himself back and used his full might from the start. His target was clear. Even though Scarlett had the strength of a Gold-ranked fighter, she did not possess any combat experience. She was not the weakest amongst the three enemies in front of him, but in his eyes she was the easiest to take down.

His lips twisted into a smile as his fingers inched closer to their target. Success was literally in his hand, but right at that moment, a longsword blocked his fingers’ path with impeccable timing.

Brendel had thrown out his sword without any hesitation the moment he saw Scarlett trapped.

[I probably won’t hesitate even if this sword is the former Thorn of Light, right?] Brendel thought to himself as he threw out his common longsword.

During the battle, he saw much clearer as to what was happening than Scarlett did. Conrad was leading her into a magic trap.

[To think that the leader of the Paper Cards is a Mage Hunter. How peculiar, I rarely saw any NPCs in the game reaching above the Gold rank level in this profession. Although it is quite true that the profession is quite formidable, the path to leveling it up is really tough. It’s quite the PVP profession and unquestionably good for PK.]

He took a moment to admire Conrad’s ability to set up the trap. It was rare for anyone to fool his eyes, and he nearly failed to spot Conrad’s trap. Even having high proficiency in the skill alone would not be mislead him, so he thought that Conrad must have some form innate talent within him.

[This bastard must have combined his talent with some form of chantless ability as well to speed up the process. In addition to that, there’s probably another passive ability attached to that trap.... I’m sure it’s a hypnotizing effect. He must have made Scarlett angry in order to hide it. Handling this bastard is a little tricky.]

Conrad’s attack from the start was well executed, wasting no time in his attack for Scarlett’s heart the moment she fell into the trap. When the sword blocked his attack, he swiped it away and attempted another thrust, but Brendel had ran up to her and dragged her away by the elbow, as Conrad’s steel claws barely missed the front of her chest and drew a little blood from her.

“.... Thank you.” Scarlett said.

“Cut the crap, you’re lucky that I was fast enough. What were you thinking to lose your head like that!” Brendel yelled at her, but did not lose his eyes on Conrad who was ready to attack again.

The latter realized Brendel must have somehow seen through his illusion-based magic trap. Scarlett could not move when she stepped into the trap, but it was nothing more than an illusion. The hypnotizing ability from Conrad was the real thing that immobilized her with a suggestion. This was the trick to the Mage Hunters but it was clear that Brendel saw through it with his reply to Scarlett.

There were very few Mage Hunters in Aouine, and Conrad was recognized by his peers as highly skilled in the profession and even attained the level of a Gold-rank. It was at his level where he realized the advantages of his profession. Not many knew about the Mage Hunters, and even fewer people understood how they fought. He had fought against many of his enemies that were stronger than he was, and emerged victorious with bizarre attack combinations. However, he did not expect—

To meet his match today.

[This bastard must die!]

Conrad’s steel gauntlets swung in front of him, frightening Brendel so much that he immediately activated the Charge skill and retreated even further away.

Even if he activated Power Break to defend against Conrad’s attack, that would be 50 OZ vs 80 OZ strength, and would certainly meet his maker if he tried to fight him directly.

Under the Charge ability, he reached over 132 OZ worth of agility and vanished from where he stood. At his speed, he could even outrun a speed based Gold-ranked fighter with the Electric Element.

Conrad’s claws lashed out into empty air and a loud bang could be heard. The decayed leaves in a circular radius of ten meters in front of his claws were turned into dust, and the ground sank deeply to form a large depression. When Conrad raised his head up, he saw that Brendel was already twenty meters away.

[What.... is that speed? Who the hell is this guy?!]

Conrad was so surprised that he forgot to chase after Brendel. Even though the latter had reach the Silver rank at such a young age, Conrad himself was a genius who reached the Gold rank and did not think much of him. His target, Eke, was also rumored to be a genius, but Brendel certainly fell short of the rumors he heard when he fought against the Lizardmen.

But that short exchange made Conrad realize that the Silver-ranked bastard in front of him had combat prowess that defied common sense. Each attack that he made was only a stalemate against his defensive maneuvers.

He felt his palms slightly sweaty. He had learned various skills and had a wealthy experience against many enemies, and was even confident he could fight peak Gold-rank fighters. But he did not even gain any advantage over a little Silver-rank fighter.

[That explosive speed.... A Sun Knight?]