Legacy of the Betelgeuse

Chapter 158 - Episode 158: Battle Of Shazjae. (9)

I'm squinting my eyes and then looks at the wall of tissues.

"No wonder it made such a massive explosion back then, they used black powder and they used a lot of them. I wonder who brought the black powder and how did they get this many because black powder isn't something that a player can get easily."

I grab my chained sickle and start tearing the wall of tissues apart. I can hear grumbling coming from around me, I guess Shazjae must feel the pain from what I'm doing to his insides. After knowing that, I keep tearing and slicing everything around me so he can stop release those balls of light to Azrael.

I manage to enter the narrow path after I tear the tissues in front of me. These things are so thick that I have to use everything to destroy them. There's an exit in front of me, but when I'm about to walk in, there's an invisible barrier that prevents me from going further. I guess this path will be open when he comes back to Orion later, I think what's inside this path is very important, and maybe destroying whatever is inside this is the fastest way to defeat him. I look around and there's no other way in, and so I walk back to the wall of tissue.

*Ding!*

Chelsea messaging me.

[Trev! Your Amruchi is panting really badly, I think he's running out of stamina. We are going down very soon, and Shazjae is still targeting us! What am I supposed to do?!]

-

[Give me a minute, I will distract Shazjae now.]

-

[Hurry!]

I'm running to the exit as fast as I can. I don't think doing damages to Shazjae from the inside will stop him from targeting Azrael and Chelsea. I need to be seen by him so he will be distracted.

I start climbing up while slicing his neck, and that alone is enough to piss him off. His left hand is trying to grab me, but I keep moving away while slicing his neck. It really annoys him that he starts to look at his shoulder and trying to grab me. I keep climbing up to the top of his head. I stick my sickle on his scalp and drag it while running to the front of his head. When I reach the end of his scalp, I jump down while holding the chain. I grab my scythe and I'm hanging in front of his right eye.

"Looking for me?"

I throw the scythe into his eye. I use [Blink Strike] and the sickle is dragged to where I'm at and rip his forehead. I slash his eye and blue blood and some kind of liquid are splurting out. It smells really bad. Shazjae is roaring in pain. I look back and his hand is coming toward me, so I jump off and hook my sickle onto his nose and go down to his mouth then swing to his left jaw and land on his left shoulder.

I look up and turn around looking for Azrael. I see him flying down to the ground so slowly. I'm glad that both of them are okay. Since they both are safe, I can focus on playing with him. We have less than 16 hours until the invasion is over, and I can't wait to see what's going to happen when the time runs out.

Chelsea gets down from Azrael and she starts rubbing his head gently.

"Thank you!"

Azrael smiles and nods.

Chelsea looks at Shazjae smashing his own body to get rid of Trevor from his body, but then a shockwave pushes them both as far as the shockwave goes. They both are thrown outside the city and rolling over on the road. They both are weakly standing up and see a notification in front of her.

[Shazjae released [Limit-Zero] aura around him that last for 7 hours]

[All passive skills are disabled] 

[Player's status value is reduced to 1]

[Regeneration and Recovery spells and items are reduced by 100%]

[Once the player received the debuff once, the player will not receive another one after the first one disappeared]

[If the player died during the [Limit-Zero] debuff, the player will be freed from the debuff, but cannot be resurrected or respawned for the next 12 hours]

Chelsea is groaning.

"What the hell... he used it again?!"

Rumbling sounds are coming from behind Chelsea, she turns around to check what are those sounds. Chelsea's eyes and mouth are wide open and gasping in disbelief. Ivonna and Kingstar are walking side by side with the others following them from behind. What surprises her is not them, but hundreds of thousands of knights from differents kingdoms are following them from behind with thousands of ballistae and catapults.

Ivonna runs toward Chelsea and checks her condition.

"You're alive?!"

Chelsea nods.

"Yeah, Trevor saved me from the blasts. It's thanks to his Amruchi, he carried us away from the blasts."

Ivonna looks behind Chelsea and then looks at Chelsea.

"Where is he?"

Chelsea shakes her head and then pointing at Shazjae.

"I don't know... he was on top of Shazjae's body, but it was before Shazjae used another Limit-Zero debuff aura! I think he might be dead because the shockwave was strong enough to fly us away from the city..."

Kingstar approaches them both and looks at Chelsea with disbelief.

"What did you say? He used that debuff aura again?! How is that balance?! We can't keep on waiting and doing nothing like this! Trevor won't be able to survive for the second time!"

Leo and Hans approach them. Hans looks at Shazjae.

"I think Trevor will be fine. He wasn't affected by the aura for some reason back then. So don't worry about him..."

Suddenly another shockwave is released. Everyone is surprised and looked at Shazjae with confusion. Kingstar shakes his head and looks at the others.

"What was that? Has he used it again for the third time now?"

A small dot is flying in the sky and it's coming towards them. They're all squinting their eyes to see what it is. The closer the object, the clearer what it is, but then everyone's eyes are wide open and Ivonna immediately runs to catch it. The others are also running and following Ivonna from behind. That object is flying past them. All the players are looking at it and then...

*CRACK*

*BOOM*

The sound of the object hitting the tree and lands on the ground. They're all approaching it and as soon as they see it, they're covering their mouths because it's Trevor and he's dead from the fall damage. Ivonna tries to resurrect him, but a notification appears.

[Player cannot be resurrected for 11hrs 58mins 22secs]

Ivonna looks at the rest and she shakes her head.

"He can't be resurrected because the debuff was on him before he died."

Kingstar is scratching his head while groaning in annoyance.

"F*CK!"

Everyone is startled because he screams so suddenly. Leo is looking at Hans.

"You had to jinx it, huh?"

Hans is laughing nervously.

"Uhh, sorry?"

Ivonna is carrying Trevor and she looks at everyone.

"I will ask Grisell to keep him safe until he can be resurrected. Let's bring him to Grisell."

They all nod and follow Ivonna from behind.

All the players are looking at Ivonna, and they're all covering their mouths because they see Trevor is dead in her arms. They're checking his condition, and his armor is broken except for his gauntlets. Everyone is looking at Trevor with disbelief because the strongest player in Orion is dead for the first time, and his death is very gruesome.

Michael and the others are covering Ivonna so the players can't see Trevor's body. Kingstar is walking next to Ivonna with Queenstar beside him.

"What are going to do now? I hate to admit it, but without Trevor, we can't do much."

Kingstar sighs while shaking his head.

"We are this close to end the invasion, but then this happens..."

Ivonna looks at Trevor's face and then looks at Shazjae that is coming towards them.

"We can still win this. All we have to do is to survive until Trevor is alive and that's it. We try to hold Shazjae down for 12 hours either we like it or not. We must... hold Shazjae... down..."

Everyone is listening to Ivonna and they all nod with understanding.

Ivonna gives Trevor to Grisell, and then Grisell is carrying Trevor on the cart. Grisell then leaves and runs as far as she can with Azrael is following her from behind.

Ivonna grabs her shield and lance while walking in the middle of the players who are standing in line.

"We are going to fight him here. I know what you guys are thinking, and I know what you want to say, but I want you to know. If we don't hold him here, we are going to fail and that's the truth. We won't be able to use everything we have because Shazjae currently has a debuff aura on him, and as you all know, it will make our stat value to 1."

Ivonna is tightening the shield on her hand and fixing her armor.

"We are going to go into the battlefield with nothing but our own pure skills. Nobody will help you, and nobody will think about you. You need to take care of yourself and that's it. If you die, you die. If you live, then keep living for as long as you can."

Ivonna grabs her helmet and puts it on.

"Retreat is not an option, and we are in this together. I want all of you to do your best. I don't care if you die in the first few hours, few minutes, or even a few seconds, but if that was the best you can do, I thank you all from the deepest of my heart and thank you for trying."

Ivonna stops moving and then turns around and looks at the players.

"It's do or die! Everyone! Ready your weapon!"

Everyone is holding their weapon firmly and their eyes are focused on Shazjae. Ivonna looks at the ballistae and catapults. Everything is ready. Ivonna turns around and looks at Shazjae.

"May the Betelgeuse bless us all!"

Ivonna lifts her lance and points it at Shazjae.

"Fire!"