The Mysterious Black Magician

"Where does Silent Killer go?"

One of his friends asked the question when he noticed that he rushed away.

"I saw him running towards the private room!" Said the other while pointing to the private section of the Citadel.

The private section was where most of the Ranker who wished to battle would go. It was a comfortable, secluded room with an auto-adjust air conditioning system to adjust the temperature based on the Ranker's body.

A Ranker who wishes to use it would have their body floating above the single size bed. The bed was a magic-based item. It came up with different kinds of reinforcements spells. One could only experience a comfortable feeling while on it.

Most of the Rankers who came to chill and loitered inside the Citadel would often use the private room whenever they received an unexpected challenge invitation or if they wanted to challenge someone they wished to fight.

"Could it be he received a challenge invitation?" The third person in Silent Killer's group of friends guessed.

"Perhaps, because I saw him grinning broadly," replied the first person.

"Holy guys! The one you are looking for is there!" The second person in their group pointed to the monitor in front of them. In one of the many channels in it, they saw Silent Killer materialized in the middle of the forest.

"Fuck! Silent Killer's favorite place!"

"That guy will torture his opponent!"

The second and first person in their group exclaimed with a can't be helped expression on their faces.

"Damn, another easy win for him!" Said his friend with his palm on his face.

"That dude slipping in silent! Who could be his opponent this time?" Asked the third person.

They were noisily conversing while waiting for the opponent to show up.

Their wait for Silent Killer's opponent to show up didn't take long. But their eyes almost dropped on the floor when they saw who it was.

"HIIIIMMMMM??!" A loud voice reverberated in the Citadel when the person was so shocked to control his voice. It was coming from one of the Silent Killer's friends.

"Dammit! That Silent Killer is so lucky!" followed another member of them.

"Puwahahaha!" The third person failed to contain his laughter and burst out amid the crowd.

The others glanced at them, seemingly curious about what the fuss was all about.

Then they saw on the monitor 2 Rankers were about to face each other.

Weirdly though, the other one was so obvious a newbie! And wait! Most of them recognized him! 

He was the newbie who fought with another newbie just recently.

Everybody gawked in disbelief after realizing who he was. Then murmurs of different kinds of gossip and unintended insults were fired at him. Though, the person himself had no idea what was happening at the moment inside the Citadel.

"How damn!"

"That newbie has so many guts!"

"Hahaha! He's one of a kind!"

"Pssshh! Let's pretend he's a level 100 Ranker!"

"Puwhaha! Nice comment you have there, brother!"

They were making fun of the newbie's gallant challenge against a higher level Ranker. Everyone could tell that the newbie was the one who issued the challenge.

Although many people inside the Citadel were making fun of the newbie, some of them were just riding the fun while some just didn't care about the commotion and were watching another match at the moment. 

In the forest where Silent Killer found himself, a grin was uncontrolled on his face.

"Hehe, now let's wait for that idiot to pass by," Silent Killer said after planting a hidden trap.

"This trap would be triggered when that person passed by…"

"...and when the trap was triggered, it would cause an explosion that will take his vision."

"After his vision is rendered useless, that's when the fun stuff is going to happen. Hehehe!"

Silent Killer planned out his ambush. As someone like him, who was adept in ambushing his enemy, the forest was a better place.

But wait, why would he lay such a trap for a newbie enemy? 

The answer was simple. Silent Killer knew that the enemy, although only a newbie, had extraordinary speed and strength!

In terms of equipment, no doubt his iron armor was more durable than his beginner's garb. Even his two daggers were better than his barehanded.

However, the fact that his enemy had an exceptional raw ability, was already a good reason for him to not take on him lightly.

His armor had burst his defense, and his weapon increased his attack power. But his raw strength wasn't as good as his enemy.

Good thing that his 5d-Seer was able to consume a higher rank mutated beast. Its beast's soul gave him a buff that increased his speed. It was a speed-type mutated beast with the rank of BB. A cat-like beast with yellowish eyes and a pair of two tails.

The beast's soul also gives him an additional 10% damage at any surprise-attack he did to the enemy. It was one of the reasons why he needed to ambush him.

The trap was hard to discern using ordinary eyes. It was a coalition of magical energy that was hidden 1 foot below the ground, and it had a diameter of five meters.

So whenever the enemy stepped around the range, it would trigger the trap. He named this trap of his as--

"Woah! Look at that! Our brother Silent Killer is so cautious!"

"Right! He was even laying his favorite trap. Wait, what he called it again?"

"Oh, that technique of his?"

"Yeah!"

"He called it as-- Brother Don't Cry!"

"Dammmmn! So cooooool!"

"Rip him! Brother Killer!"

"Shred that presumptuous newbie!"

"Too bad, you can't even loot the newbie as it has trash equipment!" One person shook his head in regret. If only the newbie had expensive equipment. Brother Killer could loot his equipment.

The gung-ho crowd was ever so silent inside the Citadel.

It wasn't only below the ground that Silent Killer planted his traps. Honestly, inside a tree, or even in its branches, the traps were lying. They were scattered all around the place.

After his preparations were done, he hid in the bushes while waiting for his opponent to come. He made sure to lay the traps in the area where the enemy would have a high probability of passing by. 

To make sure that the enemy would pass by in the area of traps, he cut one of the trees around using a strong strike of Slicing The Heaven Technique.

The technique was passed down to the descendants of his family. But not all would receive it. Only the select few would.

Fortunately, he was one of the lucky descendants who received the technique. It enabled him to increase his attack and sharpen his blade for five seconds.

Silent Killer waited for quite a few minutes. He even lowered his presence if ever the enemy could perceive magical energy from a person. However, the chance was low.

Creak! 

Silent Killer squinted his eyes when he heard a cracking noise. His mouth twitched and formed a smile.

He was peeking in the direction that he believed the enemy would come out. Not long after, the creaking noise becomes closer and closer. He readied the weapons in his hands. He would attack him the second that the trap takes its effect.

Based on the sound, he believed that the distance of the enemy from his trap wasn't far by now. 'A few seconds later, this newbie will be crying out of shame because of the things I planned to do to him! Hehe!' He thought inwardly.

While he was thinking of some funny outcome that his enemy would embarrass himself, later on, he suddenly felt a dull sound from his back.

"....."

A puzzled expression appeared on his face when his body fell to the ground. He was having a blank face while staring at the ground and-- feet

For some reason, he could not move his body! Puzzled at what was happening, his pupils moved to the corner of his eyes, to glance upward.

And there he saw the white-haired Encan starting down at him with an expression of---pity?!! Pity towards him!?

'Dammit! What was happening!?' His eyes trembled as he shouted in his mind. 

"....."

He could not even summon his strength to his body and limbs. It seemed like he could not feel his body at all!!!

"What--?" His eyes turned white when a headless body fell on the ground beside him.

Wait! He could identify the body! It was his body! But why was his body lying beside him?!

Before his mind could process what was happening, a foot came stepping on his face.

He wanted to shout-- out of pain, but no voice came out of his throat. The pain of having his skull crushed to pieces was felt by him in full.

The next second, he found himself staring at the white ceiling. It was a familiar ceiling of the private room in the Citadel.

How come?

Ding!

Just right after asking, a notification popped up in front of him. Saying that he lost in the match against The Mysterious Ranker.

Eh?

It wasn't only him that was stupefied; everyone watching their battle was gaping in disbelief. Especially his friends. They suddenly fell silent with shocked faces.