Volume 1: Chapter 6 – Out of Danger
The fine iron dagger was 76 centimeters long, its blade was very sharp, faintly gleaming in the light. The fine two handed iron axe was more than 1.2 meters long. Its body was made completely of a pitch black metal, and the axe blades themselves were extremely thick and heavy. At this moment, the two already had a huge advantage over other players!
Fatty brandished his axe, the resulting wind blew dust off the ground uncontrollably. Fatty revealed an ecstatic expression. “Good, such a fine axe. I like it!”.
Many monsters were beginning to wander around outside the iron gate, waiting for the Mysterious Merchant to leave before beginning their a.s.sault.
Zhang Mu, observing the surroundings, pa.s.sed a can of gasoline to Fatty and pointed to a few buses. He gave his orders, “You see that car, the one next to it and the one over there along with that other group of cars? Quickly go and open up their gas tanks and splash gasoline over them.”
Fatty followed his instructions. Meanwhile, Zhang Mu used the opportunity to examine his recently acquired skill book.
[a.s.sa.s.sination, Level 1], F+ ranked skill, highest level: 3, increases attack speed by 50% when facing a specified target. Can be used in synergy with other skills. Mana cost 2 points, cooldown time of 10 seconds.
[Quick Step, Level 1], F ranked skill, highest level: 3, increases movement speed by 25% to charge forward up to 100 meters. Can be used with other skills. Mana cost 2 points, cooldown time of 10 seconds.
Cla.s.s F was the lowest rank of skills, and most of them would be gradually phased out in a couple of months. However, these two skills did not have fixed values but, instead, made an impact based on percentage and could be used with other skills. Therefore, they would still be useful in the future. Although they might not directly enhance damage output, one could increase attack and the other could increase movement speed, indirectly enhancing overall damage output.
Zhang Mu proceeded to use the skill upgrade scroll, raising the level 1 G.o.d’s Blessing to level 2.
G.o.d’s Blessing [LV2]: A rank skill, maximum level: 9, consumes 45% of user’s mana to grant 1.5 seconds of invincibility, complete the cooldown time on any skills under rank S, and increases user’s attributes by 30% for 140 seconds. Cooldown time: 57 minutes.
The skill level up increased the invincibility duration by 0.5 seconds, reduced the consumption of mana, improved the duration of the attribute buff by 20 seconds, increased the effect by 5%, and reduced the cooldown by 3 minutes.
The skill had amazing growth potential. One could only imagine how powerful it would be when raised to its max level of 9.
Fatty poured the gas before coming back, having exhausted the two barrels of gasoline that Zhang Mu had prepared.
“Time is up, I should be leaving now.” The Mysterious Merchant smiled and said, “I hope to be able to do business with warriors that have high potential, but sometimes, luck is also important. Therefore, if you are able to encounter me again within thirty days, I will give you a small gift.”
Random quest, [Lucky Reunion] triggered!
“Quest Content: Encounter the Mysterious Merchant again within 30 days..”
“Successful Completion award: +40 goodwill with the Mysterious Merchant, and a mysterious reward.”
“Failure Penalty: -20 goodwill with the Mysterious Merchant.”
As the Merchant spoke his last words, his silhouette slowly faded into the night. Outside the bus station, the monsters emitted terrifying roars.
Fatty was scared to the point of trembling. “Boss, this is way too creepy!”
Zhang Mu calmly took out a Zippo lighter, “Once the Mysterious Merchant departs, the monster will jointly attack us.”
“Then what should we do?”
“We will kill our way out out.”
Fatty was almost stupefied, he nervously stammered, “B-b-boss, you aren’t messing with me right? Can the two of us k-kill our way out?”
“Most of the monsters have entered the parking lot. I will ignite the gasoline on the ground to blow up those vehicles. A dozen buses exploding will emit a significant amount of explosive power, and it will definitely wound or kill a large portion of them. First, go and hide in the waiting room to avoid any accidental injuries from the explosion. Come out only after the first wave of explosions. We will use the carnage of the explosions to kill our way out. Remember, do not dawdle. The explosions will attract monsters that are further away. We have to breakthrough the monsters before the arrival of those other monsters. We must move extremely quickly. When slashing through the monsters, do it fast. Do not expect me to stop and rescue you. “
“Aren’t you scared of the buses’ explosions ?”
“I have a skill which grants the effect of temporary invincibility, the explosion will not be able to kill me.” Zhang Mu popped open the lighter with a “Pa” sound, the gentle flame reflected in his deep dark eyes, “I want to ignite the flames, go in.”
The Mysterious Merchant had already become completely transparent, and after another two or three seconds, he disappeared completely.
Fatty stumbled, “Wait, don’t set it alight yet!”
The ground was coated in gasoline, the surrounding buses fuel tanks were fully opened. Their fuel tanks were also splashed with gasoline. As soon as Zhang Mu ignited the gasoline on the ground, the flame would spread rapidly to the surrounding cars, causing them to blow up and create a ma.s.sive explosion!
Roughly 6 or 7 seconds later.
“Boom!”
Suddenly, from the bus station, there came an earth shattering roar!
Zhang Mu carried his dagger with him as he escaped the raging fires of the explosion by vaulting from the walls of the bus station. Fatty exited behind him, his axe in hand. The two of them had their faces covered in soot, their hair lightly scorched. They had just climbed over the wall when they came face to face with three goblins.
The goblins issued frog-like croaking sounds, and ran towards the two men.
Quick Step!
Zhang Mu launched the new skill. Like stepping on an invisible skateboard, his feet moved at an alarming speed. He appeared next to a goblin on the right, his right hand flashing out in a dull grey light. The goblin had just raised his stick when his neck was slashed open. Its green blood ejected several meters high, its health abruptly dropping to 25%. Zhang Mu made a backhanded strike with his knife, killing it.
Another Goblin rushed in from the side.
a.s.sa.s.sination!
Zhang Mu struck as fast as lightning, his blade a blur as it pierced the goblin’s heart. With the current 16-point attack and a critical hit, the damage applied was very impressive, causing the goblin’s life to deplete immediately. Zhang Mu waved his arm, the dagger’s blade sliding across the goblin’s neck as its body fell lifelessly to the ground.
“Brutal collision!”
Fatty’s body discharged a red light that wrapped around his body like a burning flame. His legs strained under the immense power generated, cracks forming with each step he took as he crashed into the goblins like a runaway locomotive. In the face of such a brutal a.s.sault, how could the goblins small physiques handle it? They flew away like a kite with its strings cut, their bodies broken, they fell heavily to the ground ten meters away, struggling briefly before they stopped breathing.
Ten meters of ground was covered in cracks, a trace of the prior red energy still lingering in the air. Fatty had shocked himself, stunned on the spot.
Zhang Mu cried, “d.a.m.nable Fatty, what are you looking at?! Hurry and go!”
Fatty hurried to keep up with Zhang Mu, feeling his shock slowly wear down before something clicked in his mind. For the first time, he felt like the occurrence of this disaster, perhaps might not entirely be a bad thing!
The sound of the buses exploding was too loud, and it quickly attracted all the monsters in the surrounding area. Therefore, it was unfeasible to continue running around blindly because no matter which way they went, they would only find hordes of monsters lying in wait. Thus they could only find a sufficiently safe place to hide.
The two dashed into a small alley, not far from a medium-sized hotel which covered a small area and was built three stories high.
Zhang Mu shouted, “We will go to that building to hide!”
They quickly ran towards the small hotel. Zhang Mu’s eyes fell on a tree in front of the hotel, and quickly like a monkey, he climbed the tree branches in two, three steps. Jumping three meters each time, he clung onto the windowsill of a room on the third floor, smashed it open with a backward swipe of his dagger, and prepared to dive into the room.
From below came Fatty’s desperate shout, “Boss, boss, wait! help me! Ah …… my b.u.t.t!”
Zhang Mu glanced backwards to see Fatty hanging onto one of the tree branches. The tree branch bent dangerously under his weight as he struggled to climb with an axe in one hand. Coincidently, there was a short gnome wielding a crossbow, releasing a bolt with a “whoosh” sound. The bolt’s sharp head embedded itself in Fatty’s nice plump a.s.s.
“Truly stupid! Keep the axe in your backpack!”
Fatty stored the axe in his backpack. One would wonder if it was the lack of the burden of the heavy axe or the bolt buried in his a.s.s which inspired Fatty’s potential as he, like a big fat worm, quickly slithered up the tree. Learning from Zhang Mu, he jumped towards the window sill. His 100 kilograms of meat was just like an artillery sh.e.l.l, heavily falling on the window.
“Get in!”
Zhang Mu supported Fatty, pushing him in first. Fatty rolled onto the floor, landing on a few sharp pieces of shattered gla.s.s and causing him to shriek in pain. Zhang Mu was about to follow him and jump in when he realised that three Cat-men had followed them up, one of them jumping directly to the tree and taking the lead by pouncing across.
Zhang Mu used a.s.sa.s.sination, striking as quick as lightning. His blade was as slippery as a snake as it chopped towards the Cat-man’s neck, cutting its neck open and forcing it to desperately fall off the ledge in a mist of its own blood.
At that moment, another Cat-man had also jumped onto the wall and lunged over from the left, its speed too fast for Zhang Mu to dodge or block. Its two claws left deep wounds in his back as it bit towards Zhang Mu’s neck. Zhang Mu hurriedly turned his body, narrowly avoiding the crucial attack and causing the Cat-man to clamp onto his shoulder. Its canines embedded itself all the way down to the shoulder bone, leaving his whole arm numb.
Just in the nick of time.
Zhang Mu shot out the dagger from his right hand; it rotated a few rounds in the air before landing in his left hand which was plunged into the Cat-man’s eye. Before he had pulled out the dagger, there was a shrill “Meow -!” The third Cat-man appeared, jumping down from the roof and lunging towards Zhang Mu like a giant dark bird.
“Ah -!” Fatty roared from within the room, his chubby, blood-coated face was twisted and grim. His heavy axe chopped just above Zhang Mu’s head, snapping the thick stainless steel window sill with incredible force as the blades heavily slammed into the Cat-man’s body. This slash tore apart the Cat-man’s belly, and they could only watch as the Cat-man plunged downwards wailing and spilling its blood and intestines all over the ground as it fell.
Zhang Mu used his left hand to grab the support ledge and dexterously rolled into the room.
Fatty frantically asked, “Boss, your wound…..”
“I’m fine, I still have 42% health left and I am nowhere near dead.”
Zhang Mu did not spare a glance towards his b.l.o.o.d.y wound. He quickly walked inside and blocked the windows with a round table. With Fatty’s help, he hurriedly piled a dozen solid wooden chairs blocking off the entrance. In regards to the monsters downstairs, most of them could not climb, and after not seeing the two for a considerable period of time, they quickly lost interest and disappeared.
“Finally safe…” Fatty released a sigh of relief, gingerly feeling his b.u.t.t before sounding out, “Eh, how come I don’t feel anything from my b.u.t.t?”
“There is a paralyzing toxin.” Zhang Mu reached out and pulled the wooden bolt from Fatty’s a.s.s, “You’re lucky. If it had been a little closer, the chrysanthemum bloom may have been necessary.”
Fatty realised that his lower body was gradually losing feeling, and could not help but panic, “Poison arrow!? I won’t die, right?”
“The effect will only last for a few minutes.” As Zhang Mu threw away the b.l.o.o.d.y wooden bolt, his ears picked up on some noises transmitting from outside the room, the colour on his face quickly changing. “Be careful, there is something out there!”
The door of the room suddenly burst open as several tall figures rushed into the room.
They were led by a brawny guy with a shaved head who was about thirty or forty years old with an unruly expression on his face, while his companions were also dressed very suspiciously. It was almost short of writing “I am a bad guy” on their faces.
Fatty could not help but relax upon seeing other people.
Several disgruntled youngsters rushed over and kicked at the partially-paralyzed Fatty, forcing him directly onto the floor. Another one also attempted to a.s.sault Zhang Mu, but before his fists could reach his body, Zhang Mu had kicked at his knees as quick as lightning, giving him a brutal uppercut before locking his arms behind his back and pressing him down on the ground, taking him down on the spot.
“You better not f.u.c.king move!”
The Baldy pulled out a black pistol, its muzzle pointing straight at Zhang Mu.