Chapter 47

44

"Right, a duel to the death, we have a precedent for that..."

Alpha pointed at Charles, who was puffing and glaring, but before he could finish, Charles had already unleashed a [Scorching Ray], a fiery red beam shooting towards Alpha like lightning.

The [Scorching Ray] was indeed known for its high firing speed, reputed to be impossible to dodge. Even with Alpha's maxed-out agility and level 16 [Dodge Mastery], he had no chance to react, and was hit directly by the [Scorching Ray].

-301!!!

"Damn... You attack without even a word."

Alpha shuddered from the heat, the burning pain being more unbearable than other types of pain.

Charles's [Scorching Ray] had taken away more than two-thirds of Alpha's health. As expected, Charles's [Scorching Ray] dealt far more damage than usual; a typical level 20 mage's [Scorching Ray] would only cause about a hundred points of damage.

However, Alpha was not panicked by losing two-thirds of his health. In fact, as long as Alpha had even 1 point of health left, he had nothing to worry about.

Alpha gritted his teeth and rubbed his chest where he had been hit, then waved his hand at Charles, who was preparing to cast another spell:

"Hey, hey, you can't attack me, that's against the rules, Great High Priest."

"Evil mage... must die!!!"

Charles's second attack was a fireball half a meter in diameter.

The fireball moved slowly, but from Charles's gestures, it was clear that the fireball's movement was under his control. This was a 2nd-level spell, [Blazing Fireball], which could deal extremely high fire damage. Its drawback was its slow movement speed, but it could change its trajectory under the caster's control, compensating for this weakness.

A wave of intense heat rushed towards Alpha. He knew the fireball's power was not to be underestimated, but he had no intention of dodging.

"King Ranus cannot participate in the duel to the death, so King Ranus cannot attack me during the duel. If King Ranus cannot attack me, neither can you!!!"

Alpha almost shouted these words, speaking so fast that the fishmen were left in shock, standing still as they tried to process what Alpha had said. Even Charles, who was baring his teeth and eager to kill Alpha, was stunned, forgetting to guide the [Blazing Fireball] to attack.

Old Joel gently twirled the short stick in his hand, his face showing realization, then a barely noticeable smile.

The [Blazing Fireball] was so close that Alpha's face felt tight from the heat, and the burning pain made him frown. Fortunately, he was not yet within the fireball's damage range, so he only felt the heat without taking any damage.

If Charles now made a slight gesture, the [Blazing Fireball] with its lethal flames would engulf Alpha completely.

Even by player standards, the base fire damage of [Blazing Fireball] could reach nearly 200 points—after all, this spell did not hit enemies as efficiently as [Fireball], so its higher damage was understandable. With Charles's elite boss template...

—Alpha was confident that if he were touched by the intense flames, he would be instantly killed without a doubt.

The massive, lethal fireball was so close that Alpha could see the fierce flames on the [Blazing Fireball], which were now flickering wildly, much like the confused thoughts of the fishmen trying to process Alpha's words.

After a full half-minute, as the intense heat and the large fireball completely dissipated,

it was clear that the Blackwater fishmen had accepted the rules of the duel to the death. Since King Ranus could not participate in the duel and could not attack Alpha, all Blackwater fishmen of lower status than King Ranus could not attack Alpha either.

Looking at the [Blazing Fireball] that had dissipated into nothing, Alpha breathed a deep sigh of relief. His attempt had worked...

...Yes, this was exactly Alpha's attempt to change the task again, or rather, a gamble.

The attempt was based on the information Old Joel had previously revealed: the Blackwater fishmen were the only fishmen who followed the chaotic neutral alignment, and they had a rule that subordinates could not attack enemies if their leader did not attack. Using this rule for a duel to the death against a dummy was the perfect strategy.

—As long as King Ranus did not personally participate in the duel, the Blackwater fishmen, who followed the chaotic neutral alignment, could not attack Alpha during the duel.

"King Ranus cannot participate in our duel to the death. If King Ranus does not attack me, you cannot attack me, Great High Priest."

Alpha smiled and re-explained the rules of the duel to the fishmen, who looked at each other, including King Ranus, unable to find any reason to refute Alpha. They were trapped in a deadlock within the constraints of their own alignment.

Alpha and Charles's duel meant that others could not intervene, and if King Ranus did not attack, Charles could not attack Alpha.

"Annoying lawful alignment..."

Alpha was both pleased with his successful trick and grateful for his wise choice of the chaotic alignment, otherwise, he would have been plagued by the so-called order.

"Charles... cannot... attack... evil mage!!! Duel... begins..."

King Ranus, as the leader of the tribe, reluctantly announced the start of the duel to Charles. However, Alpha was clearly not satisfied with just setting a clearly unfair rule for the duel. He waved his hand again:

"Hold on, it's not over... Great King Ranus, I request that the number of participants in the duel be expanded to all Blackwater fishmen present except you. Will the Blackwater tribe accept my challenge?"

"Roar!!!"

Alpha's shameless behavior made King Ranus roar in anger—King Ranus was not stupid, just not very intelligent. He clearly understood that Alpha was using the rule that Blackwater fishmen other than King Ranus could not harm him in a duel to challenge multiple opponents.

Even Old Joel found Alpha's actions a bit too shameless. If Alpha really slaughtered the Blackwater fishmen, King Ranus would definitely go mad.

"Do the Blackwater fishmen dare not accept the challenge of a mage apprentice?"

Alpha ignored Old Joel's disapproving look and continued to provoke King Ranus. Facing such a shameless challenge, few could respond like King Ranus, shouting, "Blackwater fishmen... do not fear... challenges."

Knowing that his subordinates would stand and be slaughtered, he still had to agree, which was the nature of the lawful alignment.

Of course, what changed was not just the rules of the duel. As Alpha had expected, the system's [Duel] task was also changed.

"Received task [Duel]: Kill the fishman priest Charles and 40 Blackwater fishmen warriors. Task level: C-."

The task level only increased by one tier, perhaps because Alpha's method was too clever, so the system's evaluation of the task level and the corresponding rewards were limited. The system would reward Alpha for discovering the fatal flaw in the Blackwater fishmen's duel, but not excessively.

Of course, even without the task level increase, Alpha still had a good deal—killing 40 level 20 elite Blackwater fishmen warriors would rocket his level. Killing 100 ordinary Blackwater fishmen on the Blackwater mudflats had already made Alpha level up five times, and the experience from level 20 elite monsters was far greater than that of ordinary Blackwater fishmen.

This was clearly one of the reasons why Alpha wanted to challenge 40 Blackwater fishmen warriors.

However, Old Joel did not know all of Alpha's thoughts. Even with high intelligence, NPCs' thinking was still different from players. They could understand data, experience, and attributes, but they did not think about these things constantly like players.

In fact, Old Joel's thoughts were clearly from another perspective:

"Cough... You should know that the Blackwater tribe has existed on the Blackwater coast for hundreds of years. You can't expect to make them disappear overnight. Using this method to gain military merit in the Silver Moon Alliance is not cost-effective. You should know that the Silver Moon Alliance's attitude towards the Blackwater fishmen is not aggressive, which is why they have been allowed to live on the Blackwater mudflats without interference.

—Moreover..."

Old Joel moved closer to Alpha and whispered, pointing to the gem on Charles's coral staff. Coral and gems were underwater specialties and the most popular luxury items. A large portion of Old Joel's trade with the Blackwater fishmen was in these deep-sea jewels. If Alpha destroyed the Blackwater tribe, it would cut off Old Joel's source of income.

"...The Blackwater fishmen are my major clients. You can't do this."

"Do you think King Ranus will let you off during my duel?"

Alpha smiled, looking at the priest Charles and the Blackwater fishmen warriors who had come to be cannon fodder, ignoring Old Joel's advice and speaking to himself.

Old Joel was taken aback, then his face turned bitter. Alpha's crazy provocation had already revealed everything. Now King Ranus was red-eyed, and since Alpha and Charles were in a duel and King Ranus could not intervene, Old Joel would definitely become the target of King Ranus's anger.

Sure enough, as soon as Alpha finished speaking, King Ranus pulled out a hammer with a faint glow and swung it at Old Joel.

Old Joel sighed at the charging King Ranus, nimbly sidestepping to avoid the powerful blow. At the same time, he flicked his silver short stick, and a dark red light burst from the tip of the stick...

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