Amidst the pandemonium, Arlo found himself powerless against the cloud-like Sven.
"BOOO…" "HA…HA…"
The jeers and ridicule amplified, causing the entire arena to tremble under Cloud Sven's wild celebration.
To Arlo, everything he perceived was a blur.
'How can I turn this around? Why am I still so powerless? Agnes, I need your guidance,' Arlo pondered in trepidation.
Arlo was known for his brute strength against weaker foes and his cunning against stronger ones. But when confronted with an insurmountable obstacle, he would retreat. Now, he was on the verge of fleeing from Sven.
'Let's throw away the sword and kneel to ask for forgiveness,' Arlo considered, contemplating capitulation.
'Don't you dare surrender,' Aya's voice reverberated in his mind.
'Sorry, Aya, I see no way out of this,' Arlo lamented internally.
Suddenly, his sword gleamed, and a message appeared before him.
[Ulysses Wrath]
[Inscription: Ulysses crafted this sword in memory of his son, Ian Ulysses; this sword embodies every ounce of Ulysses' fury and affection for his son.]
[Activation: Blood Sacrifice]
[Consume:
Endurance 8 per use
Strength 5 per use
Dexterity 11 per use
HP?]
'Blood sacrifice! For what purpose?' Arlo, clinging to his last shred of confidence, decided to seize this final chance.
Arlo slashed his left wrist, allowing his blood to drip onto the cloud floor.
The bloodstain on Arlo's sword seemed to ignite a red glow on his blade.
Sven gestured his doppelgangers to hold back, as he wanted to witness Arlo's final futile attempt before his downfall.
A black portal began to materialize in front of him.
"GRRR!!!"
A growling sound echoed through the clouds. A figure emerged from the clouds and stood upright.
Clad in a tattered outfit with a half-shattered sword, his entire body decaying and face skin melting onto the cloud, a potent stench of decay pervaded the arena. His eyes were completely shrouded in red and black. Arlo could discern that the sword had summoned an undead.
The figure kept glancing sideways as if in search of someone. Arlo assumed it was seeking its target. He bellowed, "Straight ahead! The one seated on the throne—you must eliminate him!"
Sven glanced at Arlo and smirked at his naive attempt.
Suddenly the undead turned towards Arlo and began to sniff.
"SNIFF!" "SNIFF!"
As Arlo struggled to comprehend the situation, he kept shouting, "Look behind you, not at me, eliminate him!"
Unexpectedly, the Undead charged towards Arlo and swung its sword at him. Arlo parried it, but the Undead persisted in its attack.
The undead even attempted to bite him. Arlo repelled it with a kick.
Sven snapped his fingers, and suddenly the cloud version of Sven inside the battle cloud vanished. He remarked,
"Fascinating. What a idiot, you summoned a Visor Undead without understanding its mechanics."
"HA…HA…"
Sven and his doppelganger began to laugh at Arlo.
"What is he talking about?" Arlo grunted as he barely held his ground against the undead.
Arlo had never encountered such a mindless creature before. Even all the monsters he had battled before had a certain attack pattern or a weakness he could exploit, but the undead, despite being riddled with weaknesses and being one of the weakest monsters he had ever faced, was proving to be extremely challenging due to Agnes's Divine Shield blessing. It seemed that Agnes's Blessing was more of a curse at this moment.
The undead continued its relentless assault, aiming solely at Arlo's throat as if that was its only objective. Arlo was still puzzled as to why it was only attacking him. Suddenly, a message appeared.
[Ulysses Wrath]
[Activation: Blood Sacrifice]
[Summoned Visor Undead Ian]
[Inscription: Ulysses' son Ian was slain by Ulysses' adversaries. Subsequently, he forged this sword while reminiscing about his son. This sword embodies Ulysses' seething vengeance against his enemies.
Ian Ulysses is blinded by rage; he cannot see anything but sniffs out the target and will persist in his attack until the target is eliminated.]
[Target Activation: Cut the target with the sword and soak the target's blood on the sword.]
[Consume:
Endurance 8 per use
Strength 5 per use
Dexterity 11 per use
HP 1 per use]
Upon reading the message, Arlo felt disheartened.
'Ian, Ulysses' son! How could this transpire! I thought my own blood was the sacrifice, but I needed to use Sven's blood. How could anyone decipher this when the description is so vague?'
Sven, with a hearty laugh, declared, "Now you comprehend, brat. Then perish by your summon."
"AHHHH…" Arlo's throat was bitten by Undead Ian as he failed to maintain his guard, the undead pounced on Arlo and tore away his throat skin.
As Arlo was more perplexed about why the divine shield didn't function than about the pain from his throat, suddenly a message displayed:
[The Hypocrisy of Life:]
[Activated: Agnes bestowed her Divine Shield.]
[Weakness: Agnes' blessing is weak against underworld beings.]
Arlo was trembling to his core as his body began to dread Ian. Without much choice to attack or defend against the Undead, his only option was to flee.
As Arlo turned to escape, suddenly, a multitude of portals began to appear on the cloud ground.
"GRRR.."
More undead began to emerge from the portals. Arlo was enraged and looked at Sven, who had a broad smile on his face and declared,
"This is the proper way to summon Undeads. Learn from it."
"HA…HA…" As the cloud Sven's laughter overwhelmed him.
Suddenly, he discarded his sword, knelt down, and pleaded.
"Please end my life painlessly."
[End of Chapter]