The Achievement Junkie

While Halmut and the two intruding gods mentioned each other's terms, all eyes were on them. The holy gods were on standby in case Halmut gave an order. They kept their focus on Moranti and Sterfen as well in order to not be surprised by the duo. No one had anticipated that Jin, the broken man in Halmut's clutches, would be the first to act and without a word. Everyone only learned of his actions after noticing the blood dribbling out of Halmut's mouth.

As Halmut was about to dispute over the terms with Moranti and Sterfen, Jin refused to be useless.

Six illusory arms appeared out of Jin's back, each taking a katana in hand. All six katanas were then driven into Halmut, but not without stabbing themselves clean through Jin's body first. The beaten samurai showed a joyful smile as he coughed blood all over Halmut's chest. A seventh illusory arm was used to toss Jin's storage ring toward his companions, after instantly storing the six katanas.

"Now, it's a fair trade…" Jin chuckled with his dying breaths. "A corpse for a corpse… And no EXP for you, Halmut…"

Halmut didn't roar. His anger was far too much for a simple roar to suffice.

With the deal at a standstill, Halmut already knew that getting the enchantment key wasn't going to happen in that exchange. The Sun Dragon thought he was thinking a few steps ahead and imagined slaying Jin to make the trade simple, also letting Halmut steal the items and weapons off of Jin's corpse beforehand along with gaining some good EXP. But his own decisiveness failed to outshine Jin's.

Sterfen sighed and shook his head. "Well… Given the change of circumstances, I think we've got a fair trade. One's deities corpse for the other. Take it or leave it."

"... Hand over the sword as well…" Halmut grumbled, no longer in the mood. He just wanted the scenario to end as quickly as possible.

"Fine…" Moranti groaned.

Holy aura washed over Halmut and healed his wounds. At the same time, he walked forward toward his fellow negotiators. Moranti and Sterfen did the same. The three men walked within arms reach. Sterfen shook Halmut's hand, feeling the dragon's anger through his tense grip. Then, the exchange was made.

Both parties backed away with a new corpse in hand, along with a heated sword in Halmut's case.

"It was a pleasure…" Sterfen added just before Moranti teleported them both out of Olympic Chateau.

"NAPARN!!!"

Halmut's roared echoed across all of Olympic Chateau. Such fury and anger were rare coming from the eldest dragon, but he couldn't contain himself and sought to find the person with the most blame. And with Naparn being in charge of the Maldor-Aazoon battle that meant Naparn was responsible not only for the loss of the sword but also for the death of Sybin.

Having his anger momentarily overpowered by Halmut's rage, Naparn shrunk in his seat. He was silent as Halmut rushed back to the table with clenched fists and glowing eyes.

*****

Moranti and Sterfen reappeared in front of Lunara and Dragas, only gone for a few minutes.

Neither Dragas nor Lunara asked about what happened. They both noticed Jin's corpse, as well as the six stab wounds littering his body. With their knowledge of Jin, they figured something like that might have happened.

"He really did such a thing?" Dragas chuckled and shook her head.

Sterfen laughed as well, "You should've seen Halmut's face. He healed immediately but was completely caught off guard by Jin's move. Even in death, Jin refused to give Halmut any satisfaction."

"Sounds like him, alright…" Lunara sighed. "But doesn't this mean--"

"Yes, Jin will have to start over. But he chose that so we'll just blame him. Besides, I'm sure Jin will take the blame for his loss, even if he got overpowered," Sterfen added, tossing Jin's lifeless body to Dragas. "Would you mind?"

"Sure."

Holy light left Dragas's hand and flooded into the corpse. Gradually, the six stab wounds sealed themselves and pink returned to Jin's cheeks. With a few coughs of stale blood, Jin found himself very much alive, again.

"Oh… So he agreed?" Jin asked, looking to Sterfen and the others while still being held up by Dragas.

Shaking his head, Sterfen chuckled. "You're reckless idea worked like a charm. Of course, Halmut would never accept a fair trade and requested Naparn's sword as well."

"Right… How did you get that, anyway?"

Sterfen replied, "We'll explain later when Eedaj and everyone gets back. For now, let's watch Bowzer kill his first dragon."

The four gods contacted Eedaj and informed them of Jin's return, but they didn't want to miss the show taking place below. Smiling, Sterfen was excited to see the newly-leveled-up Bowzer take on and overpower the lv. 87 Magma Dragon.

On his separate battlefield, Bowzer was confused and excited at the same time. Earlier, he had suddenly gained two and a half levels. The fox was unsure as to why but he was glad to have the sudden boost. And moments ago, he gained another level and a half. Now, Bowzer was at the top of lv. 85 and about to enter lv. 86.

The Magma Dragon was cautious as ever but felt more uneasy. It could tell that Bowzer's attacks had gotten stronger not once but twice. Unable to know about Bowzer's radical, uncommon leveling, the Magma Dragon went all out.

Lava cascaded along the Magma Dragon's body as it roared and charged the Hell-flame Fox head-on. Even greater plumes of lava rocketed out of its mouth.

Black and withe flames grew larger as Bowzer also charged ahead. The fox was unafraid of the potential impact. Bowzer knew how his flames held up preciously at lv. 81. Now that he was lv. 85, Bowzer showed no hints of fear or hesitation. More of his small fireballs collided with the lava, overpowering the magma and threatening the Magma Dragon.

While the Magma Dragon was shocked by such a drastic change in Bowzer's abilities, it was too late. His charge met Bowzer's not even a second later. The black and white flames battled the heated magma, overwhelming it and enveloping it.

Roars and cries rang out as the Magma Dragon, for the first time in its life, experienced what it was like to be burned.

More and more sand melted as Bowzer cranked up the heat as much as he could. Bowzer bit into the Magma Dragon's throat while the Magma Dragon tried to claw and force Bowzer to release it. But Bowzer growled and released fireball after fireball into the Magma Dragon's neck at point-blank range.