Chapter 39

"I… Lost." Hank seemed to find it difficult to accept the reality that appeared in front of him. However, when he felt the emptiness in his right hand, he finally realized that his weapon had been cut in half.

But what had destroyed Hank's will was not the fact that his weapon broke. It was just an elite grade weapon. Even though the weapon was pure iron, it was still inferior to a magical weapon. Therefore, when it broke, it meant that there was a gap between the two weapons. It had nothing to do with their strength. However, Hank had completely suppressed the entire time they had been dueling. No matter how strong he was, he had not been able to produce any results if his opponent was not attacking him head-on. The materials of the weapons could no longer determine the gap between them.

What had destroyed Hank's will was the fact that his skill, the Hammer Shockwave, which he was so proud of, did not affect Sean!

When it failed the first time, Hank could think of it as an accident. However, he was at a complete loss when he witnessed the failure for the second time.

He could not figure out why the skill had failed.

Also, what was the residual shadow earlier?

Sean slowly placed his long sword back into its sheath. He turned around and walked towards Cecilia. Sean knew that Hank was now completely useless. The moment he threw in the towel, his will attribute fell to "10(13)''. He had rejected all the effort he had put in over the past years. He would never be able to rise again from the ultimate self-negation.

There were two ways that the attributes could weaken. One way was the weakening of personal attributes. That situation was probably only temporary. When a person encountered a significant setback or other problems, it would weaken their attributes. However, as long as they survived, the attribute would be able to increase again. The second scenario was more serious: the growth limit was weakened. That was Hank's present state. The negation of his character made it impossible for his attribute to improve again.

Of course, there were exceptions to everything.

Sean looked at Cecilia. The surge in her wisdom and will attributes was still a mystery. However, Sean did not think that maggots like Hank could be compared with Cecilia.

"How did you do it?" Cecilia looked up at Sean, her eyes filled with curiosity.

"It's a small secret." Sean smiled and patted Cecilia on the head. He only showed his gentle side to her.

During the early days of the game ''Miracle,'' Hammer Shockwave was considered an invincible skill. Because of the skill, more than half of the warriors in the game had chosen to change their profession to [Hercules] when they reached rank three.

However, was the skill that invincible?

In reality, it was not. The skill was described as destabilizing the center of gravity. In other words, as long as the person was not moving, their center of gravity could not be destabilized. The only method left was the dizziness effect that worked within 30 centimeters of the attack. Later, some players found out that when the heavy hammer hit the ground, they could become immune to its effect by using any skills that allowed them to move at a fast speed. Similarly, it was also effective during the casting phase. It allowed the players who were not [Hercules] to avoid the most devastating attack they had.

The sprint that Sean displayed happened to be a skill that allowed him to move quickly.

That was how Sean had avoided Hank's two attacks. It was a straightforward solution to an otherwise tricky problem.

During the decade Sean was playing the game, PVP was a battle of wills unless the gap in strength of skills, equipment, and level between the two sides were too big. Due to the special features of all the classes, the necessary combat skills and even equipment attributes reached a level that could be seen by the naked eye. Therefore, whoever revealed their weaknesses first would die first.

That was why, even though Sean's current strength was relatively low, his field of vision was extensive, and his knowledge was broad. Even someone with a class above rank eight might not have been able to compete with Sean. Sean would just be able to find their weakness and exploit them.

"Humph! If you don't want to tell me, then forget it." Cecilia hit Sean's hand away angrily. "Here I was all worried about you."

"I know." Sean smiled. Sean had felt the magic fluctuations floating through the air earlier. It was nice to know that Cecilia cared about his safety even if he could hold his own.

Apart from deciphering the knowledge of the skills, Sean had also gained the "Mysterious Sword Skill," which was a passive skill.

However, Sean was able to confirm that the ''Mysterious Sword Skill'' was not just a passive skill. Although the skill was introduced like that, in reality, as long as he had control of the sword, he would get a mysterious feeling. He felt like the sword skill had been engraved into his bones and soul. The first time his and Hank's weapons collided, Sean had used the ''memory'' of the sword skill that was left in his soul to concentrate the strength of his entire body onto the tip of the sword. Through that, he was able to create a powerful impact.

It was also because of the memory from the sword skill in his soul that Sean was able to draw the sword so decisively during the second blow. He had not given Hank a chance to hit him or reveal his weaknesses. Even if Hank had not used the Hammer Shockwave a second time, Sean would have still had the confidence to destroy Hank's weapon in one minute. The result would not have given Hank such a heavy blow, even if he had lost.

Fox glanced at Hank, then sighed lightly. Fox waved his hand, signally for someone to take Hank away.

It was not difficult to see that Hank had been destroyed, but what could he say about such a thing? He did not know anything that was business-related. He was not even very good at negotiations. All he knew was combat. However, his job was to take care of Ron's safety.

He nudged Ron, whose mind had been wandering after the conclusion of the duel. The push brought Ron back to his senses.

Compared to Fox's field of vision and insight, Ron knew nothing about combat. Although he was talented in business, he was still young and lacked negotiation skills. However, at the very least, he was not as terrifying to look at as Fox.

As soon as Ron came back to his senses, he immediately went up to greet Sean. He did not forget to say to the other guards around him, "This is Mr. Sean, your new commander. Mr. Sean is now in charge of the next battle against the dog-headed people's tribe."

The remaining dozen or so people looked at each other, but no one said anything. They had seen the battle with their own eyes. Even though Sean was only a rank-two warrior and was not in the official class, Hank had lost. He was considered the strongest among everyone there. Therefore, was there even hope of a victory for any of them?

"Young master Ron, even if you say so…" A brief silence and eye contact did not mean that everyone had accepted the result. A young man said, "But does Mr. Sean know how to fight a war? We are not going to round up a group of dog-headed people. We are going to attack a tribe of dog-headed people. There are crucial differences between the two."

"Trust me. I know the dog-headed people better than they know themselves." Sean turned to look at the young man. The young man seemed to be in his twenties, probably a few years older than Sean himself. However, judging from his strength, he was a rank three [Shieldguard]. "I know you guys have just suffered a terrible loss, which has left a shadow on your body and mind to a certain extent… Don't be surprised about why I know. I can see the unnatural expressions on your faces."

"But what I can tell you guys is that all your humiliation can be washed away, as long as you are willing to take up your weapons again and advance with me."

"Of course, there are some things that I must say first. Anyone who does not want to follow my orders does not need to participate. I don't need anyone who is pretending to be interested. I don't want to put the other members of the team in danger because of just a few people." Sean's eyes swept across the ones who were not injured or the ones who had injuries that would not affect their performance in the battle. However, most of them did not dare to look back at Sean.

Back when Sean had been playing the game "Miracle," his teams had been wiped out through various methods because of a few members on the team who had other motives. However, reality was different from the game. In the real world, if a team was wiped out by accident, then their fate was easy to imagine. Therefore, Sean would rather have fewer members on the team than bring some who were forcing themselves to participate.

To Sean's slight disappointment, there were only a few people who dared to look back at him directly. They were all middle-aged men. The younger men who would take over as elite guards of the Black Cat Business Guild in the future had all flinched.

Sean did not need a lot of people, but the more people there were, the more security they provided. After all, they were in the real world, so it was impossible for a dungeon that limited five or ten people to appear. When they went through the Starfall Forest, he had insisted on ten people due to safety reasons. If the team had too many people, they would have become a meal for the demonic beasts before even getting to the Land of Black Earth, which would have caused plenty of problems for a big group alone.

However, the ''Gathering Place of the Dog-headed People'' was a bit different. Although it was located within the fog that formed the Starfall Forest, the dungeon was not part of Starfall Forest. At best, it had occupied a bit of the gray zone. That was the strangest thing about the dungeon. The dungeon was very different from the Starfall Forest. Even though there were many small monsters, they were not very threatening. Also, because the living creatures were humanoids and not demonic beasts, the dog-headed people were more like human beings. Therefore, it was not very confusing to plan how to battle against them. Hitting any of their vital areas would be fatal.

Also, the most important thing was that the dog-headed people and the pioneering force of the Black Cat Business Guild had already fought against each other. Both sides had suffered losses. Therefore, there would not be many dog-headed people left inside the camp. Looking at it from another perspective, it reduced the amount of energy consumption and the danger for Sean. However, if there were a few rank three [Thieves] in the team, then it would make it much easier for them to pass the dungeon.

However, before all of that occurred, there was something else that Sean had to do.

Sean turned towards Ron and grinned. "It is now time for us to talk."

"Talk…Talk about what?" Ron suddenly felt a shudder go down his body from Sean's smile.

"It is about the payment, of course."

There was a smile on Sean's face. He thought that it was his most elegant smile. However, from everyone else's point of view, it was an evil smile.