The entire chamber shook with the impacts of the rocks falling from the ceiling, and when everything finally quieted down, Tonwor was buried under dozens of rocks and rubble.

Kaizen smiled, almost unable to believe that his plan had actually worked.

A few minutes ago he was being cornered by Tonwor, who was pressing him with his stamina and frightening vigor, and was not finding a way to deal with the half-giant without killing him, so he could copy his ability. And the more time went by, the more out of options he found himself.

Now that everything was working out, he was more relieved than after any of his other battles in Rise Online.

Approaching the mountain of stone rubble that had formed in one part of the chamber, Kaizen bent down a little and pulled out a medium-sized stone, revealing that Tonwor's face was underneath this.

''Damn, that's hurting, you fucking idiot!'' Tonwor exclaimed when he saw Psyker.

The half-giant tried to move, but his legs were completely stuck. Tonwor was not at all weak, not even a warrior without skills, but he knew at that moment that he could not fight against those rocks that barely let him breathe.

"What are you going to do, coward! Tonwor shouted.

"If you honor our battle agreement, I promise I will help you get out of there."

Looking into someone's eyes from the bottom up for the first time in his life, Tonwor couldn't tell if this boy was bluffing or not.

However, even the half-giant, a battle-fanatic idiot as he was, was also smart enough to know that he had no other options, because there was no way to free himself from this pile of rocks on top of him. So he sighed and stated:

"All right, since I am a legitimate warrior, I will honor our agreement. A request, isn't it? What do you want from me? That I release the Skogsr?? Or that I join you to fight against The Eye of Hermodr?"

"Neither option. I just want you to apologize to me."

The half-giant's eyebrows frowned as he looked at Psyker, confused.

"But what do you mean 'apologize'? You've won. We have nothing to do with each other. Unless, of course, you want to kill me now. Even then, it wouldn't do any good for me to apologize to you. I'm not a child who's done something wrong.

"You don't have to understand, you just have to do as I ask.

"And if I don't

''Then you will stay here until I change my mind.'' Kaizen said, looking at the half-giant.

For the first time in his life, Tonwor saw how oppressive a cold stare coming from above could be, and it convinced him more than the player's words.

"Me... I'm sorry... for trying to kill you?"

[You have reached the conditions.]

In front of Kaizen, a playing card formed with dice particles. On the back of this card, there was a large closed fist and on the other back the copied skill.

[You have successfully copied the skill 'Giant's Lungs (B)'].

,m [Do you wish to save this skill, YES/NO.]

[The copied skill is saved in the Apograph deck.]

[Skill: Giant's Lungs

Giants are a legendary race with a central role in Ragnarok. Knowing how to use their powers requires more than just a great sense of responsibility, it also requires a great duty of the fate of the world. When you use this skill, you will double your Agility and Vitality attributes.

Duration: 5 minutes.

MP Cost: 110.

Acquisition Difficulty: B.]

This was the first skill Kaizen had obtained that improved his attributes momentarily, so it cheered him up.

"Now hurry up and let me go, man." Tonwor ordered.

Kaizen looked at the half-giant with contempt. "Um. Just wait it out lying down for that."

Tonwor's countenance revealed his nonconformity.

"You promised that you would release me if I kept to the agreement! Keep your word as a warrior, man!" He exclaimed, infuriated.

Without any concern, annoyance or guilt, Kaizen just chose to ignore the half-giant, who continued to spout insults and more insults.

Seeing that Ravastine was still dealing with some of the servants of The Eye of Hermodr, Kaizen approached the battle, leaned against a wall and began to watch, without interfering.

The princess's movements were very refined, practically flawless. Kaizen had already noticed this during her fight against Leohorn, but up close this fact was much more impressive and frightening, considering that she was so young. There was no doubt that she had great instructors during her training, even though she was a bastard of the royal family because of her stepmother. However, she was also obviously inexperienced with real battles, because she couldn't read what her enemies were talking to each other with looks and gestures.

It wasn't as if Kaizen was very experienced in battles either, but he knew the real world, which was enough to know many habits of the enemies within the game as well and also always be in readiness for the dangers of the modern world.

"To the right, Ravastine!" Kaizen warned her.

Thanks to that, Ravastine realized what the enemy to her right intended to do and was able to block a sword strike.

"Thank you, Kaizen!" She said, jumping back and using the distance to pull herself together.

'She seems to be a good fighter. But she's still not good enough.' Kaizen thought. "Between attack and defense moves, look around you, look into the eyes of your enemies. That will tell you more than you can imagine!"

Happy that she was getting tips from Kaizen, the princess became more excited for this battle and began to do exactly what Kaizen told her to do.

Obviously, looking sideways during a fight was not something that was easy to get used to, not for her, nor for anyone else.

Turning her head from side to side during battle should be something that was instinctive and acquired with a lot of training time, so when Ravastine did it was still a bit robotic. Even so, she could already feel a huge difference doing it. It seemed that before she saw the battle inside a tunnel and now her whole vision had expanded. Her sharp instinct, which helped her to block and dodge some attacks, was now much sharper.

Although she was still a little slow to do that head turn, Ravastine was able to block and even dodge some blows that she normally couldn't. At first, she thought it was pure luck, but the more attacks that came her way, the more this weird feeling she felt.

"What's happening? Why can I block and dodge everything?" She asked, perplexed.

"You're just not used to seeing the attacks before they happen." Kaizen said, smiling proudly at her.

Soon, Ravastine finished off all the remaining enemies, so she turned to Kaizen and asked:

"I did it? Did I pass your test?"

"I don't know. We still have things to work out here." Kaizen looked at the cage where the Skogsr? were, "The bars of the cage won't break by themselves."

When Kaizen approached the Skogsr?'s cage, some of them, who were sitting down, stood up. With a single hand movement, Kaizen made the iron bars bend and thus created a hole for them to climb out of.

All the Skogsr? were beautiful and their bodies stunning, but Kaizen was still trying to remember that they were supernatural creatures, and mostly NPCs, so he tried not to feel attracted.

The moment the first Skogsr? stepped out of the cage, the first thing she did was look at Kaizen with admiration. "You are a Psyker, aren't you? Yes, I'm sure you are!" Her eyes sparkled as she leaned toward him.

Kaizen was surprised. "Yes, I am a Psyker. How do you know?"

N0 v el Next. CoM

"That aura... it is unmistakable, incomparable, and also frightening." Another Skogsr? who came out of the cage said. This one also quickly approached the player.

Ravastine was red with shyness at seeing so many beautiful women practically naked except for a few leaves covering their privates, and also shocked that Skogsr? really existed. However, when Kaizen was given the title of Psyker by one of them, and he confirmed that she was right, the shocked expression on the princess' face became even more evident.

She had never stopped to think that this would be possible, but now it made sense that Kaizen was trying to help supernatural beings and had faithfully believed that Skogsr? existed.

"You... are you really a Psyker?" Ravastine asked with trembling lips.

Kaizen turned her body towards the princess and while she smoothed the back of her neck nervously, smiling she said:

"Yes, I am. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I had forgotten that little detail."

'Little detail!?' All the women around him wondered at the same time.



Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

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