Chapter 70. Gambling
He saw everyone doing the same thing again and turning to his back. He also saw the boss monster sitting on his throne with a glass full of red liquid in his hand.
It seemed as though the boss appeared the moment he came back in time, because if he had been there the whole time, then the people in the boat surely would have noticed him, but as Orion looked at them going about their own things, it didn't seem so.
At that moment, Sam quickly came running to him when he noticed that this guy had become somewhat thin again and thought that it must be related to the use of talent and didn't think much else.
"Orion, what are we going to do?" Sam asked hurriedly. "We are going to die at this rate. All of us."
"I know," Orion said with a frown. "But I have one last card up my sleeve, and I want to see if this will work or not."
As he finished his words, Orion looked at the boss monster, who himself had been looking at Orion and Sam the whole time.
"You have a card up your sleeve?" The boss monster became amused as he looked at Orion. "Alright, I will give you a chance. Show me what you can do."
As he said those words, everyone in the boat took notice of him, and they were surprised to see someone else appear on the boat without their permission and without them knowing.
Meanwhile, Orion shook his head at the boss monster.
"That's not what I meant," he said, looking at the boss. "I just want to fight you in the bronze rank. A fight to death. Are you up for it? Surely a god wouldn't cower to fight a mortal of the same rank, would he?"
Orion was gambling here. If it were a normal situation, the boss monster would definitely ignore his proposition and kill him without a second thought. But that wasn't the case here.
He was the luckiest man in the world right now, so if he wanted to escape from this sure-death situation, he would have to gamble here, and considering his luck, he didn't think the boss would reject him.
He could also ask the boss to just let them go or leave them alone, but he doubted it would work. According to Isis, the situation would have to be something that would cause the boss monster to think about it for the luck to work. If it were an impossible scenario, then his luck wouldn't help him.
As he asked the question, the boss observed him closely for a moment before he gave his response.
"Interesting, really interesting," the boss monster laughed lightly. "It has been a while since I have fought someone equally, and now that you are asking for a beating, I can't say no, can I?"
"But how do I know you won't use your full power in the middle of the battle when you are about to lose?" Orion asked.
This had been Orion's main concern. He thought that even if he were to dominate the god in the same rank, no one would stop the boss from using his godlike power and killing him instantly. Therefore, as much as this situation sounded good for him, it was a double-edged sword that could hurt him too.
The boss monster pondered for a moment before he took out a red stone from somewhere. He held it in his right hand and murmured something when the red stone glowed with a brilliant red light before it returned to normal.
"Take it," he said, then threw the stone at Orion. "It's a sealing stone. I have sealed all my powers inside that stone, and my current strength is only limited to bronze rank. For me to use my full strength again, I will have to crush that stone. So, now we can call it a fair battle."
Orion caught the stone in his hand as he heard the boss monster talking.
'Is he lying?'
He didn't know if it was just a bluff or if he was telling the truth.
"It's true. Without the stone, he won't be able to use his powers past the bronze rank."
At that moment, he again heard the voice of Isis in his head, and after hearing her, he felt sure.
"Alright, we will battle in ten minutes," he then said to the boss monster.
He wanted to use his luck in curse hunting to see if he could get better curses for himself. This would also make him stronger by using the power of the new curses, giving him quite a few options in the battle.
"You can have your sweet time before you die by my hands again," the boss monster sneered at Orion.
Orion didn't say anything and turned to look at the confused bunch of people on the boat. They didn't understand a thing about what Orion and the boss monster talked about.
"Are you sure you can defeat the boss monster in bronze rank?" Sam asked Orion at this moment.
"I am not sure," Orion said, shaking his head. "We will just have to wait and see how this will play out."
"Let's go and tell them everything," he then said to Sam. "They at least deserved to know what's happening here."
Sam nodded as he followed Orion towards the group of confused people in the boat.
*** Nôv(el)B\\jnn
A few minutes later, Orion and Sam revealed to them everything that had been going on since their first deaths, and when Runo and the others heard that, they were shocked.
They couldn't imagine they had already died four times without even knowing.
As they pondered over their fate, Orion sorted out the curses he got this time and found that he got three useful curses. Although he got only three, they were powerful ones.
[Unyielding Encasement - Whenever the cursed individual attempts to activate their force field, it forms an impenetrable barrier around their body, encasing them in a cocoon of condensed energy. While this barrier provides protection from external threats, it also immobilizes the individual, rendering them unable to move or escape. As the force field tightens around their body, the cursed individual experiences a sensation of suffocating confinement. The pressure exerted by the condensed energy compresses their chest and limbs, making it difficult to breathe and causing intense discomfort and pain.]
He copied this curse from Rena, but after seeing its effects, Orion felt that he could only use this condensed barrier-type thing around him, but the encasement had to have physical contact with him. He couldn't separate this from his body, like how Rena enclosed him in a condensed sphere.
[Energy Overload - The curse of Energy Overload afflicts individuals who absorb excessive amounts of energy, overwhelming their capacity to contain it. This curse manifests as uncontrollable bursts of energy, power surges, or even explosive releases of energy, wreaking havoc on both the individual and their surroundings.]
This curse was from one of the pirates who had the talent of Energy Absorbption.
[Equilibrium - The curse of Equilibrium enforces a cruel balance upon its victims, where every action they take is met with an equal and opposite reaction of torment and suffering. Just as Newton's third law of force dictates, for every attempt to exert control or influence, there is an opposing force that brings chaos and misery in return, leaving the cursed individual trapped in a perpetual cycle of agony and despair.]
The last one came from a guy who had the talent for Force.
'With these three curses, my chances are high. Talking about chances, my luck is also with me, so I think I won't lose, but the battle will be a difficult one.'
He thought as he mentally prepared himself for the battle.
Bonus Chapters Goals:-
100 ps/30 gt - 1 bonus chapter 200 ps/60 gt - 2 bonus chapter 300 ps/ 100 gt - 3 bonus chapter
A/N: My friend said it works but I don't believe it.
ShinGotLost
Creator's Thought