Chapter 350: The Invincible One (1)
The sound of fireworks and fanfare that had filled the arena gradually faded, and even the cheers of the crowd, which had seemed like they would go on forever, began to quiet. They all looked at Katherine, who had begun to break into a cold sweat, tilting their heads in confusion.
“What’s going on? Why’s the Undefeated Empress acting like that?”
“Beats me. From this angle, I can’t see Banish’s face... and she’s not undefeated anymore.”
“Oh, right. So should we call her the One-Loss Empress now?”
As most of the spectators murmured among themselves for a moment, those seated directly in front of Kai rubbed their eyes and stood up from their seats.
“Am I seeing this right?”
“What is this? Some kind of prank video?”
They could clearly see the face of the man behind the mask, and there was no way to mistake him. After all, he was one of the most famous players in MID Online.
“I-it’s Unknown... Unknown!”
“It’s Kai!”
“What? Are you serious?”
The news spread like wildfire throughout the audience.
“Banish was Kai?”
“Well, no wonder Katherine lost then...”
“But why would Kai even be here?”
“Who knows.”
“Ugh. So I guess the only way to handle a veteran is to bring in another veteran.”
“Eh, I don’t think so. A bunch of newbies who came after Banish are already showing great results.”
“Hmm. Whatever the reason, his appearance definitely revived the dying Duel Arena.”
Amidst the surprise, cheers, and questions, Kai clicked his tongue as he looked down at the broken helmet on the ground.
Tsk. It got split exactly in two.
Of course, it was a piece of gear whose stats had deteriorated to the point of being unusable. Even so, he still felt a sense of attachment. He couldn’t help but feel sentimental about it, recalling the crises he had overcome with just that mask during his time as Unknown.
Well, there’s nothing I can do. I’ll just have to take it to Libertia and ask Camilla or one of the dwarves to fix it.
As Kai sighed and picked up the helmet pieces to store in his inventory, Katherine remained frozen in place.
She whispered to Reload, who was supporting her, “W-what do I do now? He clicked his tongue and even sighed...”
“Why do you always get into these messes and then ask me what to do?”
“Because that’s your job.”
“I’m the guild’s vice master, not your babysitter.”
“Come on, help me out! Listen, do you think he’ll let it slide if I bow to him?”
“Sigh... Do you want to shame the entire guild?” With a faintly resentful look at his guild’s Master, Reload let go of her and walked toward Kai. “Hello. I’m Reload, Vice Master of the Limitless guild. It’s been a while.”
Kai gave a brief nod in return.
They had already met once before during the Battle of the Bir Plains.
“I never imagined that Banish would turn out to be you.”
“I didn’t expect my identity to be revealed either.”
Reload cautiously observed Kai’s mood as he said, “I sincerely apologize for that.”
At that, Kai was about to say it was fine, since it hadn’t caused him much trouble.
... Wait a second.
But he suddenly clamped his mouth shut as the special title Champion came to mind.
The Champion title disappears the moment I’m stripped of the Champion rank.
Naturally, that also meant the absurd +1 to all stats effect would disappear too.
I don’t really plan on coming back to the Duel Arena, which means...
Eventually, someone would take the Champion title, and he would lose it, and that made the current situation extremely appealing to Kai.
First off, Katherine and Reload clearly don’t want to worsen their relationship with me.
So far, there had been four major guilds with which he had bad blood. Crimson Sunset, Crimson Fist, Black Bee, and Titan. Though they had no initial connections, they all ended up sharing one thing in common. They were guilds that had been destroyed by him.
That’s probably why Limitless is avoiding conflict with me.
A falling out with the player who was currently ranked first and someone who had already taken down two of the world’s top ten guilds was far too ominous to dismiss as a mere incident, as the presence and power he currently possessed were simply too overwhelming.
In that case, I’ll set the tone first.
Kai furrowed his brow and deliberately showed displeasure. “To be honest, I’m feeling a bit... no, very displeased. Why do you think I entered the Duel Arena while hiding my identity?”
“That is... I’m truly sorry,” Reload gulped and bowed his head deeply.
Kai looked over Reload's shoulder to meet Katherine's eyes. She flinched with a gasp and quickly lowered her eyes. After seeing their submissive attitude, Kai nodded.
A good start, but this location isn’t great. Negotiations should tighten when they must, and loosen when the time is right.
Kai said in a slightly calmer voice. "Let’s go somewhere else first. Bowing your heads in front of so many people doesn’t look great."
“Th-thank you for your consideration.”
Perhaps they hadn’t expected Kai to be so attentive to such details.
Reload nodded with wide eyes. “Let’s head to the waiting room, then.”
As Kai followed Reload toward the players’ waiting room, it became even quieter than before. As if intimidated by that silence, Reload and Katherine said nothing, simply staring intently at Kai’s lips.
I know this kind of situation well.
It was like those moments when his parents were about to scold him—when they stayed silent and just sat there with a heavy air, making his heart stop. Didn’t everyone experience that as a child? Thus, Kai knew exactly how to use that kind of atmosphere.
He let out a deep breath and sat down on the bench for players, head dropped low.
Katherine and Reload silently glanced at each other, waiting for Kai to say something.
This atmosphere is good.
The longer the silence dragged on, the heavier it would press on their shoulders. However, silence that lasted too long wasn’t good either as humans were creatures of adaptation. Sooner or later, they would adapt to the emotions they were feeling, and then they would start overthinking.
Kai didn’t want to give them time to think which was why he began speaking at the perfect time.
“First of all... I didn’t want to reveal my identity. If I had, I wouldn’t have worn a helmet in the first place.”
“We understand,” Reload quickly replied.
“But in the end, my identity was exposed, and the reason, of course...” Kai trailed off, looking at Katherine.
He could see her flinch ever so slightly as she felt his gaze.
“It’s because Katherine destroyed my helmet.”
At those words, Reload once again gave Katherine a resentful glance.
“I-I said I was sorry for that.”
As Katherine mumbled in the quietest voice, Kai nodded.
“Well, it’s fine. Even though my identity was revealed against my will, the Limitless guild did help me back during the Battle of Bir Plains, so I can't keep being harsh with you.”
Katherine’s eyes widened as she asked, “Really...?”
“Yes. So I’d like to ask a small favor in return.”
“A favor? What kind of favor?”
“Since you’re the former Champion, you would know the effects of the Champion title.”
“Of course. It raises the level of all your skills by one.”
“Exactly. Honestly, I want to keep that title, but I don’t want to live in the Duel Arena constantly just to maintain it.”
“That’s true.”
Katherine understood exactly what he meant. In fact, she had been living and eating at the Duel Arena herself, never knowing when she might be challenged.
“It’s really exhausting, and sometimes it’s just downright annoying.”
“Exactly. And I’m ranked first. To be honest, I’m a very busy person.”
“What, how annoying—sorry, so what are you trying to say?” Katherine began to speak angrily, but then quickly changed her tune.
“As compensation, I’d like one year of in-game time. During that period, please do not challenge me.”
“What? A year is too long!”
“If you challenge me before that period ends, I’ll take it as a declaration of war from Limitless.”
Kai stared coldly at Katherine. As she and Reload gulped, the tension in the air began to grow more tense.
After the whip, comes the carrot.
Kai broke the tension with a gentle voice, “Think about it. Honestly speaking, you have no chance of winning against me right now.”
“Ugh...”
Katherine wore a frustrated expression, but it was the truth. In fact, even today, she had been utterly defeated without being able to avoid a single one of Kai’s sword strikes.
The level difference is too great.
On top of that, Kai’s swordsmanship would have become even better with the effect of the Champion title. Even if she challenged him multiple times, it was obvious she wouldn’t be able to win.
In the end, Katherine accepted Kai’s condition. “Fine... One year of in-game time. I won’t challenge you during that period.”
As soon as she agreed, Kai smiled and said, “Thank you for accepting the proposal. And as a bonus, I’d be grateful if you could act as my shield during that time.”
“What? Shield?” Katherine’s eyes narrowed. “If I’m not mistaken, are you telling me to block all the players who try to challenge you?”
“You understood perfectly. My rank point is now 2,742. So I’d like you to handle players reaching 2,242 in my place.”
“No way. I already paid the price of my mistake with a whole year.” Katherine's attitude suddenly turned sour after settling her debt.
Well, I guess it didn’t make sense to accept all these conditions just for breaking a single helmet.
Of course, Kai didn’t expect her to do it for free.
“This is a separate proposal. I’ll compensate you properly.”
“What can you offer?”
“Money,” Kai said bluntly.
Katherine furrowed her brows at that. “Even if the number of our guild sponsors has dropped, I’m still rich, you know.”
“Advance payment of 20,000 gold. After that, I’ll pay 1,000 gold for each challenger you block.”
An upfront payment of 2 billion, and 100 million per blocked player. Even someone as wealthy as Katherine couldn’t help but flinch at those figures. And since she was no longer the champion, she wouldn’t be receiving the extravagant match fees she once did. Considering that all that, Kai’s offer was quite appealing.
Besides, it’s not even a loss for me.
After all, he had earned over 300 million in fight money through the wager with Katherine, and an additional 4 billion through betting. If he could use the money earned in the Duel Arena to enjoy the tremendous benefits of the Champion title, it was a cost that wasn’t wasteful at all.
“You can’t challenge me for a year anyway. So during that time, warm up and earn some money. Isn’t that a great deal?”
Katherine silently looked at Reload. He shrugged as if to say, make the decision yourself.
After thinking for a while, Katherine finally said, “Fine. But give me 22,000 gold upfront.”
Pfft.
Kai couldn’t help but smile at the cute negotiation. “I’ll give you 25,000 gold.”
Katherine, who hadn’t expected the deal to be settled so smoothly, gave a reluctant expression as she offered her thanks, “Th-thanks.”
Kai handed her a pouch of gold and reminded her, “I’ll see you again in one year of in-game time then.”
“Sure. I’ll guard your title until then.”
“Yes. I’ll be counting on you.”
With the deal done, Kai left the waiting room.
***
Kai collected all his betting gold and fight money from the administrators and left the Duel Arena. At that moment, his message window chimed with perfect timing.
“Hmm?”
Kai tilted his head as he opened the message window because the sender was an unexpected person.
[Minerva: Kai, did you commit a crime or something?]
Kai hurriedly replied.
[Kai: No? Why?]
[Minerva: Then I wonder why... Lately, there have been occasional rumors circulating in the Order that people from the main church of the Church of Solaris and from your territory have been going around, trying to dig into your background.]
[Kai: They’ve been looking into me?]
[Minerva: Yes, and surprisingly, among those people...]
Just as Kai read up to that point in the message, a blazing fireball dropped over his head.
[Minerva: Apparently the second-ranked Wizard, Chris, is among them.]