The Innkeeper

Chapter 2424: Forced to fight normally

The battle, in the beginning, was following the trend of Lex gaining overwhelming momentum. No matter how Daekol tried to fight back, his attempts were too feeble to affect Lex. His ultimate weapons, which would have otherwise greatly affected Lex, only barely harmed Lex.

On top of that, Lex’s own attacks kept pushing Daekol to the point where he genuinely felt like he was in danger. His techniques were seen through, his defenses failed him and his life was in danger. It wasn’t a fair fight at all.

Yet the moment Daekol began to use his system, the momentum of the fight changed, and quite drastically at that. Accruing debt suppressed Lex on a fundamental level. The fact that Daekol was his debtor automatically made all of Lex’s attacks against him weaker by a fixed and undeniable 20%.

Lex was more sure than ever that a system had been used against him, but the issue was that he didn’t know the details of how it had been done. He didn’t know if what he had done was repeatable. A strict 20% deduction in his attack damage was something Lex could bear, but if the percentage continued to increase then he’d be in real trouble.

If the percentage doubled to a 40% deduction in his attack power, Lex would directly have to retreat! This was not a video game or novel where sheer willpower could allow one to overcome such immense odds. If his attack power was nearly halved, Lex wouldn’t even be able to damage Daekol anymore, so what would be the point of fighting?

Of course, Lex also wasn’t going to just sit around and wait for Daekol to attack him. Based on his experience with the Galactic Sovereign turtle, and other, weaker system users, he knew that others could externally influence a system. Since that was the case, there was no reason Lex couldn’t influence Daekol’s system too.

In fact, the stronger his Sovereign realm became, the greater his chances were of influencing Daekol’s system, whatever it was.

Dragon-Lex narrowed his eyes and unleashed his Domination in full. Domination, which was originally inspired by Dragons Might, was naturally much more powerful in his Dragon form.

"You gain the slightest bit of ground, and suddenly you’re filled with confidence," said Dragon-Lex as he put away Narka and raised his fists. "I have the cure for that too though."

The reason Dragon-Lex opted to fight barefisted was not just because it would be so satisfying to punch that face.

No, he needed Domination to be as thick and condensed as possible to affect Daekol’s system, which is why he needed to fight as close as possible. That, of course, increased his own risk as well but that was a price he was willing to pay.

At the same time, Dragon-Lex could not help but smile. Since he had been weakened, he’d need to punch him a lot more to do the same amount of damage. That meant he could enjoy beating him up much longer.

The fight resumed, and though it appeared as if they were exchanging physical blows, it also took place in the realm of laws and Lawcrafts. Lex was much too used to ending a fight in a couple of hours because of how overwhelmingly strong he was. But against Daekol, every step needed to be measured, every advantage needed to be snatched with great effort and retained with careful consideration.

For the first time ever, Lex was facing an opponent who was forcing him to adhere to the usual format of fighting among immortals.

While all of that was happening, Lex was also trying to use his Domination to suppress Daekol’s system, all the while continuing to build more Karma between them for an ultimate upset later on. Yet Daekol too was slowly building up debt for his counter attack.

Even if it wasn’t so simple to directly transfer all his debt to Lex, he could take on debt to help him gain the advantage in a fight. He had the patience to continue this fight for a long time. The process did not matter - only the result.

No matter how this fight would end up, it was quickly becoming obvious that it would not reach a resolution quickly. Even though Lex was in a hurry because he wanted to go find Z, he would not let that rush him and lead him into making a mistake.

As it happened, however, within the Midnight Inn, two armies had finally gotten ready to go and rescue Z. Considering the faster flow of time, they had much more time to prepare than Lex, however this mobilisation was still quite rushed.

If it hadn’t been for Velma’s critical intel supplemented by Anita’s battle experience and Hera’s logistical expertise, it would have been difficult to make everything happen so quickly. Of course, just because these three women were leading the administrative charge for the upcoming rescue, it did not mean the men had nothing to do.

The first army ready to rescue Z was, naturally, the existing Midnight battalion. A second, temporary battalion had also been formed during this time, all under Gerard’s oversight.

While Gerard took up the position as battalion leader for the temporary battalion, Luthor adopted a much more specialised role. He was a team leader for a small yet powerful strike team. Leadership was never Luthor’s strong point anyway - his strengths were better demonstrated on the field.

Many, many others had also helped. Brother Chen and Lily, some of the earliest guests of the Midnight Inn, and owners of one of the largest businesses inside the Guild room, openly and readily sponsored the second battalion, using up many of their personal resources to contribute to the army.

Of course, each army member had far more wealth than they knew what to do with, and were more than willing to contribute as well. However, their wealth was mostly in the form of MP. Brother Chen and Lily, however, directly contributed in terms of resources.

Geeves was more than happy to accept those resources, for his requirements for the suits to be worn by the battalion were skyhigh. He even used up his personal stock of rare resources that he usually gathered to use in suits for Lex.

The entire Midnight staff took to heart Brother Chen and Lily’s contribution, even if they claimed it was just their way of repaying the Inn for everything that they had gained from it. Their aid and generosity would not be soon forgotten.

Countless others had also helped, and now the two armies stood ready to depart. Velma, however, was not there yet for she was meeting with one more person who wanted to help them.