Chapter 46: A Powerful Foe
Before my eyes is the last opponent I need to defeat to win the event match. However, he is currently on the ground in despair after I had rejected his confession to me.
In the first place, why did he even confess to me here out of all places? And secondly, what made him think I would say yes?
While I was just looking down at him, Zanny gritted his teeth and yelled.
"Shut up, chat! Stop giving me the kekws!"
"Who are you talking to?" I asked him.
Then he got up, looking all better.
"I'm live streaming right now. You can't see them but my chat is laughing at me because of my failed confession."
"You confessed to me live!?"
This guy is bolder than I thought.
"Darn it. And I thought it would work."
In what world!?
"Oh. And by the way, the chat's also asking you to show your feet."
"Why!?"
I was genuinely confused as this conversation has gone in a weird direction. Although, it was soon interrupted when my bug friends moved in to attack Zanny because of my command to them to eliminate my opponents.
Zanny reacted quickly and drew his two swords on his back. But before anyone engaged in combat, I turned and told my bug friends to "STOP!"
And they did. Pausing in midair before withdrawing a few steps back.
"Oh wow. You really are controlling them. How did you do that?" Zanny asked me, looking impressed by how I commanded my bug friends.
"It was the Monster Tamer skill. I made friends with all of them that way." I answered his question.
"Wait... All of these were done by the Monster Tamer skill?"
"Umm... Yeah...?"
Why was he so surprised about that? But then again, I kind of was too when I was able to befriend these many with them.
"Seriously...? Just how many of them did you have to beat into submission before taming them?"
Uh what?
"Whoa whoa whoa! What do you mean 'beat into submission'?" I was astounded by what he'd just said.
"Well, you can't tame a monster before lowering their health. Everyone knows that." Zanny answered as if that info was a naturally known fact. "Did you not do that?" He then asked me, realising that I have not.
"No. These guys were already non-hostile thanks to the Bug Admirer skill I have. Taming them was possible after that because of it."
"B-Bug Admirer? What kind of skill is that!?"
"It's a skill that has a chance to make Bug-type monsters non-hostile upon encountering it. I got it after head patting one, so then it evolved from the Bug Lover skill which you can get by head patting your Lamp Bug."
"You... gave bugs a head pat?"
"Yes. They are pretty cute, don't you think so?"
"In what way!?"
Zanny then sighed. "You know... I think it's about time we end our chat here. We still have a fight to complete and we're the only two living players left."
"Is that so? Well you can surrender anytime now. I'm willing to accept them."
"Surrender? Hah! You must be joking, Yoru. There's no way I'm surrendering. Not when I can simply beat you to win!" Zanny declared his intention to fight, as I clenched onto my staff tightly and pointed it at him.
"Do you think you can?" I said, as tensions rose.
Zanny pointed one of his swords at me too. "Of course. I wouldn't be showing my face to you if I thought otherwise."
Without saying another word after that, the duel between us has been established. Zanny lowered his sword, turned around and walked a few steps away from me. Giving me the appropriate distance between us before the fight begins.
"Children of the Light! Here we have it!" All of a sudden, we heard Jael's voice speaking to every player in the game. "The final showdown between our hero, Zanny, and the villainess witch, Yoru, is about to begin!"
Hold on! Why am I the villain here!?
Regardless of what I wanted to protest, I needed to focus on Zanny right now since there is one thing I could tell seeing him now.
He's strong.
And so, as we stared at each other's eyes for a few seconds in silence. The first flicker of the flames then marked the start of our fight.
"Haste!"
Zanny buffed his speed and rushed towards with a sinister smile on his face.
"Buzz!"
I then called for my hornet friends as they grabbed hold and carried me out of Zanny's range and into the air as he swung his two swords but missed.
"You guys, attack!" I commanded my bug friends as I retreated, causing the whole wave of them to assault Zanny from all directions.
Their number may have decreased because of the other players, but there were still many of them and only one of Zanny. Despite that fact, I know that I mustn't let my guard down because it's him.
"Frenzy Hacking!"
I heard Zanny's voice yelling and was able to barely see him slicing and dicing my bug friends while being untouched himself. The movement of his arms and swords were so fast that I was certain it surpasses Gaius's attack speed.
It would be bad if I continue to let him do as he pleases, so I attacked.
"Multi-Explosion!"
Many explosions occurred at the spot where Zanny and my bug friends are. My bug friends should be fine because there's no friendly-fire. But Zanny must've taken some serious damage after that.
At least that was what I thought, but when the clouds were cleared, Zanny was gone from that spot.
Where did he go?
I looked around, trying to find him. However, that's when I felt a sense of danger coming right below me and looked straight down to see Zanny jumping up to my location in the air, about to strike me.
"Moon Walk!"
I teleported away with Buzz and evaded the attack. Then I drank an event potion and quickly countered with my own attack.
"Multi-Firebomb!"
My spell travelled towards Zanny who was dropping in the air. However, seeing the attack coming, he then yelled.
"Recoil Slash!"
Zanny used a skill to slice the air, which pushed him out of the path of attack as he landed on the ground.
As soon as he evaded, however, the bugs charged at him once more. Their numbers have noticeably decreased after that brief moment when Zanny started hacking them away.
They won't last for long. Most likely, I can only use them as distractions at least one or two more times before all of them besides Buzz are gone.
I also don't know how he evaded my Multi-Explosion earlier. So it's possible that he might have used a skill for that.
The moment Zanny started attacking my bug friends again, I attacked him as well.
"Thorn Bind!"
First, I immobilize him successfully. Then...
"Multi-Explosion!"
I do it again, invoking a large explosion at his location and drinking another event potion after that.
If the attack hits him, then it's fine. But if he still managed to avoid that, then he would likely appear from one side of the clouds and charge at me.
While carefully keeping an eye out for Zanny, an unexpected turn of events happened.
"Aura Blade..."
I heard Zanny's voice behind me and in that instance...
...Buzz was killed. Their heads were cut off.
What!?
With the death of Buzz, I fell to the ground. However, instead of getting up immediately, I quickly pushed myself on the spot and rolled, avoiding another attack on me which I felt was coming.
Then I checked the spot I was at and saw that the ground was sliced. I looked at where it came from next and saw Zanny standing there with his swords now emitting a blue aura.
How did he get there without me noticing?
"Looks like you've lost your wings, Yoru." Zanny spoke with a smile. Then he swung both of his swords and sent a cross slash flying towards me.
Is that what the blue aura is!?
"Multi-Magic Shield!"
I quickly deployed several to defend and three of the shields were broken instantly.
But Zanny wasn't done yet and continued sending flying slash attacks at me, which forced me to be on the defensive and continue deploying Magic Shields to defend.
"Multi-Magic Shield! Multi-Magic Shield! Multi-Magic Shield!"
As I was defending against Zanny's onslaught, the rest of my bug friends went to attack him again. Forcing him to stop and change his target to them again.
But the moment his attacks stopped, I began to charge at him too.
I don't know how he did it, but he can dodge my spells if I attack him from a distance. Therefore, the best way to make sure my attacks hit is by blasting him from a point-blank range!
The moment my bug friends and I got close enough to him, I shouted.
"Smokescreen!"
A black cloud of smoke was created to blind Zanny, which even he looked surprised to see. Following up with the next move, I swung my staff down at him.
"Power Blow!"
It didn't do much damage, but Zanny was knocked to the ground. And now that he's down, I stuck my staff onto his chest and yelled.
"Multi-Ex—"
"Moon Walk!"
I heard it before I had casted it, Zanny used a skill that I have and teleported himself out of his predicament. He reappeared behind me and blindly struck me in the smokescreen.
"Power Blow!"
I was sent flying out of my smokescreen. Despite my magic buckler activating, the damage was still a lot more compared to when I Power Blowed him.
Dammit.
"Aura Burst!"
I then heard Zanny's voice again from within the smokescreen as a blast of energy was emitted which cleared the smokescreen and eradicated the rest of my bug friends.
Now... I am all alone.
Zanny's swords were no longer emitting the blue aura after that as well.
"Now we can have a proper duel." he said, walking up to me.
So you're saying that wasn't a fight just now, is it?
I took out another event potion and drank it. Zanny did not move during that time, as if he was allowing me to do so.
"So you've soloed The Jackson, did you?" he started a brief chat with me.
"You too, I suppose?" I replied.
"Of course I did. The Jackson got some great skills as drops. But from what I have seen so far, it looks like you don't have all of the skills it drops, huh?"
"Yeah... I don't..."
"Well, that's a shame. After all, I was able to get the jump on you because of one of those skills."
So the reason I didn't notice him appearing behind me was because of that, is it?
"Alright then, let's end the small talk now and continue with our duel."
"Sure."
And so with the chat over, we resumed our fight...
But not without applying buffs first.
"Haste. High Wisdom. Magic Booster. Magic Amplification."
"Haste. Weapons Booster. Aura Blade. Iron Will. Titan Strength."
Buffs have been applied. And now...
"Let's do this, Yoru!"
"Come at me, Zanny!"
...Fight resumes.