The Gamer's System

Chapter 270: Enter the Monarch of Time

There was at least two minute's worth of time before Zeke could lose consciousness. His health pool was rapidly dropping as well as every other member of the team.

[80%]

[78%]

[75%]

Instead of staring at it and wasting his time, he decided to observe the new enemy in front of them. As expected, [Analysis] only showed [???] on the enemy's stats. But Zeke knew he could still gain some information simply by looking at his enemy's overall features.

A young man with a black slip - back hair. He was well built but not too muscular. On his head were two horns that resembled that of a dragon's while on his back were wings and a tail which completed the said look.

His eyes were dark purple, lazily gazing at Zeke and his allies like they were not even worth his time. Gripped to both his hands were swords resembling the hour and minute arm on a clock. As soon as their enemy moved this, Zeke felt another stab at his heart. Making him cough more blood.

It was only Vask who quickly responded to the situation. Trapping their opponent in the middle of two black holes. Vardus simply looked at these with the same lazy expression as he made a cross shape with his swords.

"What the hell?" Zeke said as an anomaly occurred.

Both black holes suddenly disappeared and Vask was back to his attempt at casting it. Vardus didn't allow it this time around, stabbing Vask two more times and sinking him down the ocean floor. However, this was not the only thing that happened.

Vardus coughed out blood which he sighed at. Making the gamer understand that, under normal circumstances, this was not supposed to happen.

[Information: Due to the effects of "Gamer's Mind" you retain memories of events that have already passed even if you go back in time.]

There was another [Notification] but Zeke muted it for a while. He was observing the fight that was far from finished as, even Vardus was pulled down the ocean as well. Vask then came up, with all of the blades already removed. His chest had flames on it and his health was rapidly being restored.

All of this happened within the span of ten seconds. With both Monarchs delivering rapid blows against each other.

Vardus didn't even stay in the ocean for long. Without both Zeke and Vask noticing it, the monarch was back up again. Kicking his opponent in the gut and sending him flying to Horizon.

Of course there were others that tried to act on impulse. But Zeke was too late to even tell them to stop as the enemy cut off their hands. Again, there was no way to react to the blow as nobody even saw it coming. It was not a matter of speed because, time itself was not slowed down. It was stopped.

Yet the enemy was too relaxed for his own good. The gamer didn't miss this opportunity to use Samael who was nearby - Actiavting [Grand Chariot] and capturing their enemy within a subspace.

"Not yet." Zeke removed the weapon that stabbed through his heart and healed himself immediately using [Phoenix Flames].

No matte how strong their opponent was, [Grand Chariot] could not be disabled as long as Samael had mana to spare. Zeke could not give him any more than what he already has as, the subspace separates the dimension. But it was all the time Zeke needed to perform what was needed.

"Wide area cast - Phoenix Flames."

Unlike all other skills owned by Zeke, [Phoenix Flames] actually consumed more mana simply because the healing was the fastest there was and, would even recover stamina as well as take off all negative effects.

"Don't." Zeke said as Vask was just itching to fight back.

"The hell are you on about? He's going to escape that prison you made soon."

"He isn't. Grand Chariot works like a separate realm. I don't know how that Monarch's powers work but, I'm sure that there are certain restrictions to how he can activate his skills. Specifically, he could probably only apply it on whatever realm he is in.

This was all the explanation which Vask needed in order to finally calm down. It was also a good thing that he did because, the Monarch was starting to affect the other members of the team. The gamer then proceeded to ask because, just like Vask, he didn't want to waste time.

"So how do we defeat him exactly?"

"Normally he would have no openings because of the nature of his power. But, since he is mortal at the moment, there would be certain limitations to his power. The only problem is that I don't know what those are."

"I see." Vask thought that the gamer's reaction was normal. After all, from the beginning of that fight they were already at a disadvantage. That is why he was taken aback by what Zeke said next.

"That actually makes things easier."

"What?"

"If we don't know his limits, then we should keep on attacking and measure those out ourselves."

"How on earth do we do that exactly? We may have a chance at determining the intervals when he stops time but, when he rewinds it is another matter altogether."

"I agree plus, what if he decides to go for our heads this time around? I'm pretty sure we can't heal through something like that." Quinn furthered.

"It's not that we're against the idea Zeke. Just that, fighting him under these circumstances seem foolish." The Monarch furthered.

"Do you have any solution to offer then?" Zeke asked and, unfortunately the Monarch wasn't able to say anything.

"Whatever happens we need to take him down now. If we escape and leave him be, then he might be able to strengthen himself up and, honestly speaking, things are already difficult as it is. Running won't give us victory, it'll just provide a slower defeat for us."

"I agree with Zeke." Allesiah finally came up and said it. Everyone was frightened about an opponent who could stab their chests as easily as he blinks but, all the gamer said made sense.

It wasn't that Vask and Quinn were wrong in what they said. It was just that, between the options presented, Zeke's was the better bet. After all, there was truly no other option than what the gamer presented.

"If that would be all, I suggest we begin preparing. There isn't much time before [Grand Chariot] shatters." As soon as Zeke said this, the skill got destroyed completely.

Instinctively, Jake initiated the assault; raining down spears on their enemy. Merlin and Zane then fired hydro and electro charged mana orbs in order to create a stronger damage. Through all of this, Vardus decided to dodge instead of activating any of his skills.

The next set of attack came from the melee combatants. But before they could even come close to Vardus, their enemy vanished into thin air. Without even a second passing by, all their arms were taken off. Making them scream in agonizing pain as Vardus reappeared next to the mages.

He then stabbed them quick and threw away their staffs in the ocean. Nobody could shoot at this point because Vardus was holding on to both Merlin and Zane. He then performed the same trick, disappearing and reappearing. This time right in front of Gawain who already had the swords piercing his chest as the monarch made one sideward swing. Slicing through the left side of the archer's chest.

Zeke immediately gathered all the wounded through his [Conjures]. They were brought back to him for healing while Vask and those remaining tried to fight. Again, Vardus was not able to do anything against this.

Slowly but surely, Zeke was piecing together the data. The fight itself was a torture for all his allies of course. They were fighting with the knowledge that they would lose and that, they would be subjected to an immense amount of pain. But it was all that they could do for the gamer to finish gathering every piece of information.

"Event Horizon."

Vask activated the only skill that was sure to work against their opponent. If there was one thing which Vardus couldn't do, it was to dodge all of the distortions on space made by Vask without turning back time itself. Something which Vask knew to be impossible at the moment because if he did, then all the damage he caused to the enemies will also be reverted. Adding to this was the fact that, with his unleashed form, Vask was able to maintain the same invisible armor around his body.

"That's some good decision making." Zeke thought to himself as he finished healing the elites who all felt weird that their body parts could come back just like that.

"Be careful this time." Zeke told them as they went back to fight.

Vask and Vardus were already fighting at this point. It wasn't much of a fight as Vask could mover with ease while Vardus was doing his best just to keep up.

Their enemy then casted another [Emperor's Time]. The same skill that allowed him to stop time momentarily. However, he never reached Vask as he took too much of its duration navigating through the distortions in space.

When time came back to normal, Vardus was simply on a different area. And although this did surprise Vask a bit, he nevertheless was able to pivot his body towards his opponent. Just before the moment of impact between the two, Vardus casted [Emperor's Time] again; with the body of his enemy floating near him and waiting to get sliced in half.

However, as his blade went for the head of Vask, he was hindered by the space distortion created around Vask's body. No matter how strong his swing was, it couldn't reach through Vask's armor and as time went back to normal, Vask was the first one to deliver the blow. Stabbing right through the side of Vardus.

"You're a lot weaker than I remember my lord." Vask said, waiting for the Grand Monarch to say anything. But instead of Vardus responding, it was Zeke who commented through the [Voice Chat].

"Look at you. And to think that you were hesitating earlier." Zeke commented, seeing how well his temporary ally was performing.

"Oh shut up and continue gathering data." Vask replied as he and Vardus clashed once again.