Rivalry: Infinite Buff

Chapter 13- Winner

Holding the Heart of Dharma, Ivan clenched his fists and felt his energy refill. He decided he wouldn’t hold anything back when he healed Mr. Logan. There was no way for him to keep the Heart of Dharma if they lost the battle, not to mention the rest of his debt. The Heart of Dharma ensured him up to 100,000 MP so began to heal. 

+10

+10

......

System: Proficiency +5

System: Proficiency +5

......

Ivan was thankful that Mr. Bowen enhanced the skill before he left, so the increasing proficiency value of his skill was double that of general players. More importantly, the higher level of player Ivan tried to heal, the more proficiency he could gain.

In less than 60 seconds, Ivan's Heal went up from lesser to average, and the process continued as he kept healing Mr. Logan. 

"Good job! We’ll make it!” Mr. Logan exhaled deeply and then turned back to battle with Mirage again.

“Fire Star,” Mr. Logan shouted out again!

Mirage and his new set of doppelgangers fought hard to find a way out but failed under the damage of Fire Star from all directions. Kudos Blade, while powerful, had a huge MP consumption.

"Ahhhhh…” Mirage roared painfully after the five doppelgangers were gone with one attack. His main character was not in a pristine condition either, his gorgeous clothing was burned with countless holes, some places were still on fire and his purple hair was turning gray. 

"Illusionist forever! Everyone here has to die!" Mirage screamed angrily. Despite his serious injuries, Mirage roared, and glowing blood-red stars burst out of his body. All players and NPCs stood there shocked, having no idea what was happening in front of them.

Mr. Logan became even paler as she watched the scene unfolding, "No! No! He's turning to a dragon.

Look at the weird blood-red color! I bet he's burning his HP to summon something more powerful! We need to finish this…”

Before she could say anymore, an ugly dragon appeared out of nowhere, waving its huge wings in the air. The dragon was covered with a strange blood-red skin and had dreadful tentacles protruding from its head. When its foul breath reached the players and NPCs they had to hold their breath or else they would have thrown up. 

"Mirages! Show yourselves!" Mirage opened his b****y mouth. It stretched further than Ivan ever thought possible. There was one, two, three… ten dragons crawling out of Mirage’s mouth. 

ToughBlazer was left speechless and Mr. Logan could only sigh. Ivan was too scared to move. 

The five Mirages they destroyed were replaced by ten dragons, Ivan could clearly see the same look of desperation on everyone’s face. 

Ivan wiped away the cold sweat from his forehead and got up from the ground. He laughed embarrassedly after healing Mr. Logan again, "No worries. I promise I’ll come back no matter how many times I’ll die. I know the bind well...haha…”

ToughBlazer rolled his eyes, "You know we’re NPCs, don’t you? There’s no restart for our game.”

Mr. Logan, "Um…"

Ivan spread his hands, looking at Mr. Logan, "All right, then I have a proposal. How about giving him that fragment? You’ve spent so many years in the game, I don’t have to tell you the principle of life, right?”

Mr. Logan was stone-faced as she looked into Ivan’s eyes, "We Loda’s people will always fight until the last second!"

As if she was throwing her announcement in Ivan’s face, she turned back to Mirage and tried to empower the Fire Star with the last bit of her strength.

"No one will leave here alive today! No one!" Mirage coughed, “Kudos Blade!”

Following his demand, ten dragons rushed to the highest point of the sky and then flew down toward   Leaf Town from different directions. Anywhere the dragons passed overfilled with dead bodies and blood. An old farmer who was working in the field was cut straight down into two parts, a hard-working woman who was at home cooking was blown to pieces, and the innocent children who were playing were injured by a collapsed house.

......

Under the shroud of blades, Ivan closed his eyes and when he opened his eyes again, he found himself at the bind again. He clicked on his stats, staring at the figures with a cold expression

XP: 0

Level: 2

Standing at the center of Leaf Town, Ivan looked around, devastated cries, and screams echoing in his ears. Blades with fire tails flying everywhere turned this peaceful town in former days into a living hell. Ivan was completely outraged even though he knew that was just a game. He could not understand why all of the innocent citizens had to go through such misery. The worst part was that the people wouldn’t even know who to blame, maybe brutal Mirage, selfish Mr. Logan, or the HP fragment. 

"It's just a game, Ivan, it's just a game, don't take it seriously!" Ivan closed his eyes to avoid looking at the horrific sight. He was starting to think as a Priest without even realizing he was doing it. 

......

Ivan returned back to the battlefield. As he expected, Mr. Logan was still muttering to summon Fire Star, while, on the other side, ToughBlazer picked up whatever he could find and then threw them at  Mirage.

"Ivan, cheer up! Since when do you think like this?“

Hearing the comment, Ivan rejoined the team and began to heal the others. However, about twenty seconds later, Ivan died again. 

Level: 1

XP: 50

He clenched his teeth and rushed out of town again.

......

Ivan couldn’t remember how many times he was killed and woke up at the bind. Finally, after he contributed his last equipment in the bag, the rusty knife, Mirage finally fell back down to Earth with his MP running out and his nine doppelgangers disappearing. He struggled on the ground as if he was trying to gather strength for one more attack. 

Mr. Logan, ToughBlazer, and others were sitting on the ground, desperately gasping to catch their breath after the brutal fight. 

Ivan looked at the battlefield and asked, "What should we do now? I’ve run out of weapons.”

Hearing that, Mr. Logan reached for her storage ring, then handed a gold-colored magic paper to Ivan, “Kill him with this.”

Ivan took the paper, opened it, and then gave it back to Mr. Logan,

He rubbed his nose with embarrassment, "It’s not my level.”

Mr. Logan coughed heavily before opening the paper and reading the spell. As her last words trailed off, the paper burned to a crisp and a huge ax appeared by Ivan’s feet. 

Ivan picked up the ax and tried to lift it over his shoulder but it was much heavier than it looked. After three failed attempts, he finally decided to drag it and walked slowly toward Mirage. When he was standing in front of Mirage he tried to lift the ax again, miraculously he was able to pick it up with ease. He tried to put it down when he spoke to Mirage but suddenly he didn’t know how to put it down, “Do you have anything to say before you die?”

Clearly, Mirage couldn’t accept such humiliation, "Stupid human being, Mr. Dark Dragon will come back to you...All of you!"

Ivan wondered what he had got himself into but he wielded Frozen Axe at Mirage anyway.