Black Online-Chapter 196: Favorable Outcome
At a rooftop, just right across the bar, which was barely outside the Risk Zone, a couple of players were watching the fight.
"...Are you sure we shouldn’t stop the fight, Anna? Your brother might be in quite a bit of trouble."
Nick asked.
"..."
Anna didn’t answer.
She was watching her two brothers duke it out, and honestly, she had no intention of stopping it.
’I knew that Brother Raikou would get mad at Raon for no reason at all. He has always hated him. I’ll let them fight it out.
’And when Raikou is at the verge of killing Raon... I’ll swoop in to save him. I also wouldn’t mind if that Rock guy happens to die. One person less to worry about.’
Anna thought.
Inside the Risk Zone, Fang Raon pressed a couple buttons at the holographic screen in front of him, and he equipped his new weapons.
Instead of the transparent chainmail armor, he was now wearing the heavy King’s Battle Armor, and on his right hand, he had the King’s Shortsword, and on his left, the King’s Shield.
’With this thick armor, it should be harder for Assassin such as Raikou to injure me, but I should be very careful still.’
Fang Raon thought.
"You think that armor will do anything to save you, Raon? I thought you were smarter than that!"
Raikou smirked, and as he swiped his dagger, Fang Raon’s shadow suddenly started to move on its own.
In that moment, Fang Raon’s own shadow wrapped around his ankles and his arms and even wrapped around his neck.
"Shadow Bind!"
Raikou smirked.
’He can... control my shadow?’
Fang Raon thought with a pale face.
His own shadow was squeezing around his throat—as if it were a rope—and he couldn’t breathe or move.
"Swallowing Ground!"
At that moment, Rock summoned his interesting-looking grimoire.
Its leather was made of a dark, rugged material that seemed to be alive. Its cover had the mouth of a hound that was dripping with saliva and sharp teeth.
It opened with a bang and flapped through the pages until it arrived at the page with the skill "Swallowing Ground" written down.
The ground beneath Raikou’s feet disappeared. It was replaced with the massive mouth of a hound. It was about to swallow him whole.
"Shadow Leap!"
Raikou jumped high into the air, black smoke trailing behind him, and he thought he was out of danger’s way.
In that moment, the massive hound that was seemingly stuck in the ground suddenly jumped out towards him.
It then closed its mouth and happened to bite off Raikou’s left leg!
"?!?!?!"
Raikou watched in shock as suddenly his left leg disappeared and started gushing with lots of blood.
The hound munched on the leg. It then sank back to the ground. It disappeared immediately after.
The ground returned to normal.
"Tch!"
Raikou landed back on the ground, but since he was missing his left leg, his balance was completely off.
"Great Heal!" 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚
At that moment, one of his guild members cast a healing spell, and Raikou’s left leg grew back from the bloody stump.
However.
The left leg didn’t have the shoe and the pant leg, since they couldn’t regenerate like his leg could.
Fang Raon also wasn’t bound by his own shadow anymore.
’What the hell am I supposed to do? I have to be wary of my own shadow when fighting against Raikou. Is there anything I can even do in this fight?’
He wondered to himself in anger.
It angered him to no end that he was completely useless, and it was only Rock who was doing something.
’I will not... Let him have his way!’
Fang Raon angrily pushed off the ground, his heavy boots skidding across the ground, a crazed look in his eyes.
"Don’t!"
Rock shouted.
It was too late, as Fang Raon was already launching a full frontal attack.
"Heh!"
Raikou smirked.
In that moment, Fang Raon whispered "Hard Slash" under his breath and swung his sword at Raikou.
Raikou suddenly sunk into the shadow, and thus, the swing of the short sword completely missed the intended target.
Then...
Raikou jumped out of Fang Raon’s shadow—just like before—and infused his dagger with some black smoke.
’Even the toughest armor can’t stop this attack!’
He thought with a smirk.
"Aurel’s Blade Dance!"
At that moment.
Fang Raon bent his body in a way that made it look like he was about to smash his face into the ground, but in reality, he was just swinging his sword from a very strange angle.
The short sword came for Raikou’s face.
"Hmph!"
Raikou swung his dagger at the sword and pushed it away effortlessly.
It wasn’t every day that a dagger could push a sword away, but the difference in their strength was so vast that it was possible.
Fang Raon pulled himself back up and started swinging at Raikou.
Heavy, slow strikes.
With a smile creeping into his face, Raikou effortlessly parried each one with the dagger.
Clang~ clang~ clang~!
"Hound Su—"
Rock was about to give a helping hand, but then he felt a chill and instinctively pulled his head back.
A flying arrow flew right past his head.
"Raikou doesn’t want to fight you, old man. If you want to fight... We are more than glad to entertain you."
Kennedy of the Bastard Men said coldly, and behind him, the other members of the Bastard Men stood up.
They didn’t look like they were going to fuck around, and even though they were all drunk, they were a force to be reckoned with.
After all, they were a core group of the 7th-ranked guild in the tower!
’Damn it...’
Rock thought with a heavy expression on his face, but he had few trump cards, and he didn’t mind using them if he had to save Fang Raon’s life.
"Don’t you remember our father’s teaching? Do not overextend your attack. You’ll exhaust yourself and make yourself... open for attacks!"
Raikou smirked, and once he again parried one of Fang Raon’s sword swings, he suddenly sprang forward.
The dagger started smoking black, and then he stabbed it into Fang Raon’s armor, which should be able to stop it.
However.
For some reason, the dagger went straight through the armor and pierced through Fang Raon’s chest.
SWOOOSH~
The black smoke pierced through Fang Raon’s chest and exited from his back.
"Urgh!"
Fang Raon’s eyes shook, and he coughed blood, with his health dropping drastically from the attack.
[-335 HP]
"Black Knife~"
Raikou whispered his attack’s name, gleeing in joy at the sight of Fang Raon’s weakened state.
"You disappoint me, brother!"
Raikou suddenly grabbed Fang Raon’s hair, then pulled him down, and kneed him squarely in the face.
Crack!
Something definitely broke, and Fang Raon’s head snapped back with a bloody nose, but he wasn’t reacting.
Fang Raon’s expression didn’t change even though the blood kept trickling down his face.
"With this pitiful strength, if you use the name of Fang, you’ll embarrass the whole family. At least show some dignity and fight back!"
Raikou screamed and started attacking.
The quick and sharp dagger slashes scratched the brand-new armor, dropping its durability, and wherever there was a gap, Raikou found a way to exploit it with precise strikes.
Slowly...
The health trickled away.
[Closing Sequence Activated!]
’...I had been waiting for that.’
Fang Raon thought with a cold, yet calculated, expression on his face.
He knew that he didn’t stand a chance against Raikou in combat, and he was just going to get his ass kicked.
Therefore.
He did need some luck.
And while Closing Sequence wasn’t an omnipotent skill, as he had to find the opportunity by himself, at least it gave him a chance.
’What opportunity do I have? Think, Raon, think!’
Fang Raon gritted his teeth, and he then raised his shield and blocked Raikou’s constant dagger strikes.
He didn’t bother dodging those dagger slashes just now, as he wanted to drop his health for the Closing Sequence to begin.
Closing Sequence began when the fight was nearing its end, and with his health nearing zero, it meant that the fight was most likely nearing its end.
But now.
He couldn’t afford for his health to drop any longer, so he put all his effort into defense.
’The fight should become more favorable to me... But how... Nothing has changed yet.’
Fang Raon thought with a frown.
With a smile on his face, Raikou kept attacking furiously, as if he were trying to break through the King’s Shield.
He didn’t bother to injure Fang Raon.
It was obvious that he was just planning to destroy his items first for some reason.
"Raikou..."
With a new voice entering his ears, Raikou’s eyes shook, and he stopped his attack immediately.
Everyone turned around to look as someone walked into the Risk Zone, and when he arrived, nobody could believe their eyes.
"...No way..."
"...It’s him..."
The players whispered.
"Ah... B-B-Brother..."
Raikou whispered.
With a cold look on his face, Raizen looked at the two of them and didn’t look like he liked what he was seeing.
’Raizen... I thought he was just on the 55th floor... How the hell is he already here?’
Fang Raon’s eyes shook.
And at that moment he realized that this was his "favorable outcome" coming from the Closing Sequence.
