Guild Wars

Hah?

Elle felt like hear ears were failing her at this time. She had to consciously clean them thoroughly and prompt Shadowheart to repeat his words, before her expression became strange.

So because of alcohol, those two fellows were born rivals…?

How the fuck did that make any sense?!

"It's complicated. It has to do with their innate talent, beliefs and willpower." Nightwalker chipped in to explain.

"For example, myself and Brother Shadowheart are also fellow seekers of the Dao of Alcohol, but our tastes lie in different sub areas. I prefer cognacs, whereas Shadowheart likes whiskey and wine." Nightwalker continued while taking a sip from his trademark flagon.

"Cough, but those two are pure hearted beer and mead lovers. With their talents for alcohol being similar and their passions running deep, it is imperative that one must defeat the other in order to absorb all his accumulation and achieve a breakthrough in the Dao." Nightwalker coughed as he swallowed his potent brew and concluded.

Shadowheart picked up and sighed. "These two could have been the best of friends on another day, but fate is cruel. How could such perfectly equal powers in the Dao appear? It can't be allowed to happen. Now that they have met on the battlefield, only one can survive and go forth, while the other is destined to forever rmeain mediocre."

Misery and AP_Berzerker circled each other, their weapons ready and their bodies taut. Immediately, they both burst forth and clashed in the middle, Misery glowing with the red light of both Gae Bolg and Rho Aias while AP_Berzerker glowed with the ethereal blue lights of Xingtian's war axes.

Like two thunderbolts collided repeatedly, the arena got ravaged by sparks of power, shockwaves' strength and sounds that were no different from thunderclaps right beside your ear. The intensity from the get go was enough to make anyone's heart beat frantically.

A red light and a blue light crisscrossed all over the stage so quickly that the human form attached to them could no longer be seen. It felt like a magical scene occurring, as if somebody had added strange special effects to real life, but the onlooking core members besieged by the after effects knew that this was an intense battle going on.

Eventually, the two split apart and dug a small groove in the floor of the arena as they slowed their retreat.

In terms of classes, perfectly equal!

It couldn't be helped, both their classes were pure battle types that were meant for frontline fighting and empathized the one-man army style. It didn't matter what active skill or passive skill they relied on, both men knew it would yield no effect on the other, since the other could bring forth power of the exact same level.

However, they were reluctant to jump into a battle of bloodlines just yet. Misery and AP circled each other cautiously, their eyes focused and looking for weaknesses in the other's stance.

Finding none, they could only dash back into their brawl, clashing furiously. This was a battle in which their very souls were quivering, their spirits on the verge of materializing.

There was no hate or anger, just pure deadly force. Misery, a trained veteran from the US army who had been exiled from the Merlin Lineage due to his actions of 'choosing the wrong side' and AP_Berzerker, a youth from Supernaturals' Werewolf clan that had been a runt who had evolved into a Sigma Werewolf.

He had been acting battle crazy ever since, ending up in fights with everyone he could, with only Tunder able to suppress him back then. Now, with the power of Xingtian, the Chinese God of War, he was like a tiger given three clones!

… what do you mean 'ackchyually the correct saying is 'like a tiger given wings' ? Why the fuck would you give a tiger wings? What would be the bloody point? If it was faster than you, it had no need for wings, and if it wasn't, then would some feathers make any sort of difference?

On the other hand, if you give it clones. Well, you might be able to fend off one beast, but good luck doing it while its clones gang up on you!

Misery himself was now more adept in his skill ever since joining this game. The AI had tapped into the depths of his bloodline and heritage, allowing him to see his beloved Nanna again, even if only for a while.

It had also allowed him to reach Tier 4 Control, which had the added effect of helping him finally break through to a 6th Order Magus. His peak powers were no less daunting than any God Serpent or Pangu Avatar Inheritor, not just because of his talent, but because of the spells he had access to.

He hardly ever used the conventional spells of the bloodline that Merlin had scribbled down into their genetic code, but rather the augmented and improved ones his Nanna had taught him.

And we can all agree that any spell made by Scathach was probably not something anyone wanted to be at the opposite end of.

Misery grunted as he deflected a blow from AP using Rho Aias, then stabbed out with his spear, aiming for the Werewolf's throat. The God of War simply grinned and let it pierce, but the damage dealt was minimal, and Misery could only tsk as he pulled out his lance.

Immediately, the wound healed as if it was never there and AP's HP regenerated back to perfection.

This was not just a matter of stats and class, but had to do with the traits of Xingtian himself. Xingtian was not like Kratos who had flashy quick-time button combos to finish bosses, nor was he like Ares who could summon armies and manifested all of a battlefield's weaponry at will.

Rather, Xingtian's biggest strength was his ability to regenerate from a drop of blood. The God of War belonged to the Undying King Inheritance, the part of the Pangu Lineage that granted them insane defense and a real undying body based on bloodline purity.

If, in the Horned Demon Inheritance, the Four Horsemen were pinnacle generals just behind the statue of the Demon Supreme, then Xingtian would be the one right behind whatever the statue for the Undying King Inheritance was!

He was that unreasonable in terms of survivability!

In fact, Xingtian's reputation and legend were cemented by the fact that he had successfully regenerated after being turned into atoms by a misfire.

One time, on a battlefield in space, Pangu had unleashed a heavenly palm so huge that it was enough to shatter one part of the moon completely. His target had been Lucifer, who had smiled mischievously and used his Dark Angel abilities to swap places with Xingtian who had then been fighting Orochi.

At the time, it had already been too late for Pangu to retract his fist, so he could only allow it to strike Xingtian head-on. As predicted, the entire area turned into less than atoms, not even a trace of the fellow had been left behind.

Angry at being played with - as usual - by Lucifer, Pangu roared and was about to unleash another strike when he felt bloodline energy flow out from his body in torrents. He then turned and, to his shock, saw Xingtian's literal atoms coming back together to patch themselves up.

In seconds, the God of War was back to normalcy and rushed back into battle with a speechless Orochi, ignoring Lucifer who was standing right beside the serpent, his mouth wide open from disbelief.

Alright, the fellow was so arrogant that he didn't even fear Original Humans for as long as Pangu had Bloodline Energy, he could regenerate from anything and everything, even being reduced to atoms.

AP_Berzerker also had this power, but it was too much for him to replicate with his current bloodline purity. Until the White-Haired Duo rescued the Pangu girl, returned her bloodline to her and upgraded it to 100%, he would not have enough energy supply to do so.

However, it was enough as it was. With these cockroach like abilities, killing AP would be a Herculean task if he decided to keep living. This was quite a horrifying thought if AP were totally an asshole who loved to be a menace to society.

Such a person could be as wicked and unreasonable as they wanted, and what could you do about it? Gonna cry?

Luckily, Brother AP was not such a wicked, cruel and unreasonable fellow, hahaha!

"Trying to kill me? Can you even?" AP_Berzerker sneered as he taunted Misery.

"Easy peasy if I really wanted to, but I don't want to. I want you to always understand that I am one step ahead of you, so I will proceed to beat you until you are convinced." Misery roared as he activated his Spear Shadows skill.

Hundreds of spear shadows formed and rushed at AP cruelly, each one able to deal enough damage that altogether, they could probably kill him if the stars aligned properly. Sensing the threat of death, AP no longer played around.

He also activated his Divine Summon skills, which created an army of True Spirit warriors from ages past who charged ahead. The army of True Spirits met with the spear shadows and brutally canceled each other out, leaving the arena wrecked far more than it was initially.

Misery sighed internally as he had predicted this. It wasn't a joke when he felt that any usage of such Divine skills would yield a draw in most cases, but he wanted to test it for himself and be sure. Now that his assumption had been confirmed, it was time to look to the next bit.

AP grinned and tossed his axes forwards, using his Axe Throw skill. Misery sneered and used the Light Cannon active skill, a Rare rank skill for the Lumenmancer class. However, as the Shadowy Hound, he was dual physical and magical, unlike AP who was purely physical.

After all, his class represented the powerful prowess of Cu Chulainn and Scathach. So far, he had been showing the Hound of Culann's side, but it was time to show The Shadowy One's side. Misery did not stop there,

Rapidly casting various precious rare and above skills in succession from his class. They took more than 70% of his mana, but his regeneration was not poor, and he did not majorly rely on mana anyway.

AP though, was surprised by the sudden change. His axes collided with the first spell and were displaced slightly, before the others came and dispersed the skill. AP sighed and used Axe Recall, which also allowed the axe to strike up to fifty targets on its way back.

He designated the incoming spells as the targets, and the axe that had fallen behind the spells sped through each of them, clashing and dispersing them before landing in AP's hands once more.

If Misery had previously realized the futility of their head-on fight, AP had just now realized the same. This was going to be a long one unless something different happened.

Thinking like this, AP's eyes flashed with cruelty. He put away his axes and smirked at Misery who was still in a battle stance with his Legendary spears and shield.

Misery couldn't help but feel his heart thump, and his sixth sense told him that something extremely agonizing was about to happen to him, but he couldn't tell what just looking at AP_Berzerker standing there casually.

Suddenly, AP pulled out something from his inventory, something that made Misery freeze in place with shock.

A few weeks ago, there had been an Umbra Player Auction and many good things had been sold. One thing that had attracted Misery and many others was a Semi-Divine Rank Brew, created by the Main Plane's best Grandmaster Brewer.

The fight for it had been brutal, but it had been taken away by a mysterious man in one of the VIP rooms for almost 600 million platinum. Misery had been unable to eat and sleep well for days and nights after losing the bid by only 2 platinum coins, which he had kindly tossed to a beggar on his way to the auction.

If it was not for the presence of his two little brats who had comforted him, he might still be bedridden.

Now, that same brew was being held casually by AP, shocking Misery.

"You! It was you!!" Misery roared with realization.

"Hahaha, that's right, it was me!" AP roared with glee as he pointed to himself with his thumb.

"Why? What use do you even have for it?" Misery demanded with a look of anger.

"Hmph, why can't I buy it to look at it? Don't I also like alcohol? It's perfect for rotting in the depths of my inventory, hehe." AP mocked Misery coldly.

"Y-You…!!" Misery sputtered with rage.

Misery closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then abandoned his hostile stance.

"You are right, it is rightfully yours. At least, the brew is in the hands of a fellow Daoist, so I can accept this outcome. Just make sure to use it well."

Misery's concession did touch AP deep down, but he also frowned unhappily.

What was this reaction? This wasn't what he wanted! He had brought this thing out to unbalance and torture this fellow, but he dared to accept it?

No, this was not the end!

AP gritted his teeth and his eyes became bloodshot as he had a severe internal battle, but in the end, the evil side of him won. He raised the bottle before himself and called Misery's attention before uncorking it.

"If you claim to be a true Daoist, then watch me as I consume this brew!" AP taunted, shamelessly using the unspoken rules to bully Misery.

Misery could only sigh internally, but he was a lawful fellow who respected his Dao. As such, despite knowing the pain it would cause, he didn't back away.

"Damn, at first I didn't like that Merlin guy, but I have to admit, he's got big dick energy." Nightwalker exclaimed with surprise.

Shadowheart also nodded with approval. "He's a very talented and qualified fellow in this Dao, and his future is limitless."

AP lifted the bottle to his lips, watching Misery the entire while with schadenfreude. Misery clenched his jaws tightly, so much that they were visible in his skull as they ground together, but he did not look away.

Suddenly, AP jerked his head and let the brew pour onto the ground, disappearing between the cracks in the arena's tiles. Seeing this, everyone froze for a second in shock, not having expected this outcome at all given how things were going.

Misery roared with madness as he charged forward, imbuing his maximum power into this strike.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

AP simply sneered and placed the half of the brew left in between himself and Misery's strike, which forced Misery to stop his attack seconds before he struck the bottle. Seeing how effective this was in controlling him, how could AP_Berzerker not understand?

"Hehe, you weakling. You'd actually sacrifice yourself for the brew? The Dao of Alcohol states that the brew is meant to serve man, not man to serve the brew!"

"Rubbish! Such shallow convictions! Man is supposed to serve the brew, not the other way round!" Misery bellowed his ideals outwards with full force.

AP was forced to take 10 steps backward due to the backlash from meeting one with stronger ideals in the same Dao, but it wasn't much. While Misery was more sympathetic and understandable, the Dao was heartless.

In its eyes, both Misery and AP were right, each following their own sub-Dao. However, Misery was slightly stronger due to his intense emotions at the moment.

AP was angered by this, but still held up the Semi-Divine rum. "Hmph, at the end of the day, you're still a brewhugger. Then drink this rum from the floor if you like!"

AP cruelly poured the rest down the side, watching Misery with an evil smile all the while. Misery looked like a person forced to watch his loved one being killed right before his eyes, unable to do anything about it.

After all, the two were largely equal in power, so he couldn't snatch what remained from AP easily. In fact, it might turn out that he would end up destroying the remainder with his own two hands, which would yield a far worse punishment to him personally if he did so.

"STOP! STOP THIS INSTANT!" Misery yelled as he looked to be in agony.

"Hahaha, why should I stop? Suffer! Scream! Cry out for your beloved rum that will never touch the lips of any man!" AP shouted back as he poured everything to the last drop-down, tossing the bottle behind and letting it shatter on the tiles.

Misery fell to his knees with his eyes lazed over, his mind reeling for them spiritual damage dealt to him. He could only watch where AP had dumped the rum as it trickled down into the depths slowly, his heart like dead ashes.

"Why? You are a fellow Daoist. Why would you do something so… cruel? So unprincipled?" Misery asked slowly, his voice low as his gaze remained on that spot as if it could bring it back.

AP shook his head and folded his arms behind his back. "To prove a point."

Misery's eyes lightened a bit as he raised his head in confusion. "A point? What point?"

"Man should not be tied down by the quality, taste or look of the brew, but rather what value he can obtain from it. Making or buying brew does not always mean one has to consume it. All other uses for the brew are valid so long as they achieve your goals." AP explained his sub-Dao while raising his head to gaze into the sky.

His current posture and words made him sound like a renowned sage, and even Misery was dazzled slightly. This allowed the fellow to regain his wits as he rose to his feet and smiled strangely.

"You're right. I can feel that your sub-Dao has been validated by the main Dao itself. Even though my opinion differs, I have learned a lot from your point of view."

AP smiled. "It's good you understand,,. That way you can-"

AP was interrupted by Misery who raised his spear to point at him. "It is because of that same understanding that I can see that our prior way of fighting is simply unsuitable to truly decide who is right!"

"Richard Hertz, I, Nicholas Spencley, hereby challenge you to a drinking contest! May the Dao of Alcohol judge who among us is right!"