Black Online

Black Online, 35th Floor, The Battle Forest.

Boom~! Boom~! Crash~! Crash~!

Spells hurled through the air. The weapons clashed. Screams echoed throughout like the cry of a banshee.

This was Battle Forest.

It was outside Safe Zone, and it was where players came to duel to the death, and it was also dubbed as Player Graveyard.

There were several Player Graveyards in Black Online—like the sewers on the 1st floor—but this name wasn’t because of the monsters lurking in the shadows.

It was because players came here intentionally to kill other players.

Why?

It was a special location in the tower that boosted the leveling-up speed, and therefore, with each kill, you get a much higher percentage than anywhere else.

That’s why most players came here to fight to level up quicker.

"...Damn, you bastard!"

Joshua clashed swords with Rubius—they looked at each other with hate—then they split and clashed yet again.

Rubius was an assassin, so he was using his speed and the speed of his dagger slashes to overwhelm Joshua.

Yet.

Joshua wasn’t a pushover, and he parried all of his strikes, and then he suddenly grabbed Rubius from his wrist, pulled him close, and kneed him in the abdomen!

"Ugh!"

Rubius felt it.

Joshua thrust the sword towards him, but then Rubius sank into his own shadow and appeared behind Joshua.

As if he had jumped out of Joshua’s own shadow!

The daggers came for his neck, but Joshua moved the sword behind his back and blocked the daggers without even looking!

It was as if he had eyes on the back of his head!

"Strongman’s Punch!"

Joshua screamed and punched at Rubius—he blocked it with his daggers—it still wasn’t enough.

The punch sent him flying, crashing through trees, and he still managed to land on his feet—but his hands were shaking.

"That stung..."

Rubius looked at his hands, trembling from the impact.

In that moment, Joshua jumped through the air, soaring through the air like an eagle, and brought his sword down.

"SMASHING SWORD!"

Rubius rolled out of the way, and Joshua’s sword cut through the ground like a hot knife through butter.

Rubius turned over and pulled out several knives from his belt and threw them all at Joshua.

Joshua dropped on his knees and smacked the knives out of the air with his sword, and they harmlessly clattered to the ground.

"Hmph."

Rubius scoffed, but then he looked to the side, towards the top of a nearby builder—there was someone sitting on top of the builder.

Writing something in a notebook.

"Who the hell are you?"

Joshua asked.

He was also able to see him.

Even though he was just fighting Rubius, he couldn’t ignore him, because everybody in this forest was an enemy.

"I am a learner."

Fang Raon said, and at that moment, a camera floated next to him—recording both Joshua and Rubius.

’A streamer?’

Joshua frowned.

[Viewers: 4,983]

"Look."

Rubius pointed towards the other side of the boulder, and there were countless corpses there—player corpses.

"You killed them all?"

Joshua asked with a frown.

"I did. You see, I am trying to learn. Would you two be willing to be my training partners? I’d appreciate it."

Fang Raon asked, and then he closed the notebook and tossed it inside his inventory.

"Cut the bullshit!"

Joshua screamed.

In that moment, Rubius pulled out more knives from his belt and hurled them through the air towards Fang Raon.

Fang Raon pointed his hand towards the flying knife.

"Anchor!"

The knives trembled in the air. They even slowed down for a moment. But they didn’t stop and continued flying.

"Ah, damn it."

Fang Raon leaned back, and the knives just flew over him—he dodged insanely casually—like he was just shifting his sitting position on a couch.

"That wasn’t quite it. There was something missing."

Fang Raon pulled out his notebook again and wrote down his findings—his indifference really pissed the two men off.

It was like he wasn’t treating them as any kind of danger—like they were just some fodder that he could easily kill!

"Don’t ignore us!"

Joshua leaped through the air, and brought his sword down on Fang Raon—this attack wasn’t some joke.

It had already split the ground below. It was a really powerful attack. And very, very dangerous.

Fang Raon looked towards the descending sword, and he then stood up on top of the boulder and put his hand in the way.

"Anchor!"

The sword of Joshua’s stopped right before it reached his hand. It stopped mid-air. Like it was frozen in time!

"T-the hell?!"

Joshua gritted his teeth, and he was fighting against invisible force, and it felt like he could still push his sword through.

However.

Very slowly.

"Huff... huff..."

Fang Raon panted heavily.

It took all of his strength to use Anchor to stop the sword—it was wrong—it wasn’t supposed to be this exhausting.

’I am missing something...’

Fang Raon jumped over Joshua, and his sword finally struck the boulder and sliced through it like it was just some apple.

In that moment.

Rubius covered himself with his black cloak, and after spinning around, he turned himself into a large black crow!

He flew through the air towards Fang Raon, and then he turned back to his human self and whipped his leg at him.

"What kind of assassin are you?"

Fang Raon blocked the kick effortlessly with his forearm and saw Rubius struggling to match his strength.

"Go back down to the ground."

Fang Raon chopped on his neck and sent Rubius crashing back to the ground, and with—BOOM—a crater appeared on the ground below.

"Forge..."

He whispered, and hundreds of small knives appeared in the air around him—they were the size of a long needle—and then he sent them flying towards the ground.

"ARGH!"

Joshua desperately tried to block the knives with his sword, but few got through, and they riddled him with wounds.

The knives stabbed into his body—the blood spilled—and his health started dropping like a stone falling from the sky.

The blood trickled down his body.

"Haah... haah..."

Joshua panted heavily, and then he pulled out the knives from his body and turned on his heel to run away.

"Anchor!"

Fang Raon shouted.

Joshua stopped—he was stopped by an invisible force—and he was trying to move, but it was like he was trying to walk through water while being completely submerged.

’What the hell is this?!’

Joshua cried out.

With sweat trickling down his forehead, Fang Raon slowly approached him with his arm extended, and then with his other hand, he pulled out the Blackest Blade.

"Thanks for being my training partner."

He said and then stabbed the sword through Joshua’s heart—the man gasped before taking his last breath.