Chapter 2273 – Advanced Fused Bloodline
As soon as s.h.i.+ Feng chose to evolve the Frost Iron Bloodline, the 100 Bloodline Power he had acc.u.mulated transformed into a purple and gold gas that flowed throughout s.h.i.+ Feng’s body. As the gas spread throughout his body, s.h.i.+ Feng felt as if he were being burned alive. His heart, however, remained icy cold. At the same time, divine runes began to appear on his body.
Initially, the divine runes seemed fragmented, but as the purple-gold gas fused with s.h.i.+ Feng, the divine runes completed.
After 10 seconds or so, the gas had fused with s.h.i.+ Feng, and a set of complete divine runes had tattooed his body. His aura had changed slightly, as well. If s.h.i.+ Feng had felt like a mighty wolf before, he was now as imposing as a majestic lion. His strength had undergone a qualitative transformation.
There’s such a huge difference between the Frost Iron Bloodline’s Basic and Advanced versions? s.h.i.+ Feng was a little surprised when he sensed the changes to his body.
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(Frost Iron Bloodline (Fused Bloodline))
Increases player’s compatibility with melee Skills and reaction speed. Mainly improves Strength and Agility, followed by Endurance, Vitality, and Intelligence.
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Statistically, the Frost Iron Bloodline had barely changed, yet s.h.i.+ Feng could feel the difference in him quite clearly.
Currently, he had ma.s.sively improved in various aspects. His Strength Attribute was now only slightly lower than that of a Grand Lord of the same level, and his reaction speed had risen to rival what he had enjoyed in his previous life as a Tier 3 Sword King.
s.h.i.+ Feng immediately unsheathed Killing Ray and executed Shadow Blade. The moment he did, however, he was stunned.
Before his transformation, he had been able to produce 12 sword lights with Shadow Blade, yet now, he commanded 14 sword lights. His Skill Completion Rate had climbed to 105%, 2% more than his previous limit, as well. The improvement was frightening.
It was incredibly difficult to increase a Skill Completion Rate by a single percent after reaching 100%. It was even more of a challenge than raising one’s Completion Rate from 99% to 100%. After nearly two weeks in the Tower of Four G.o.ds, he had only increased his Shadow Blade Completion Rate to 103%, and he still couldn’t hit that rate reliably.
And yet, s.h.i.+ Feng had just achieved a 105% Completion Rate with Shadow Blade. Why wouldn’t he be surprised?
Moreover, every sword light was as powerful as a Grand Lord’s attack. If he combined all 14, he could even severely injure a Grand Lord of the same level.
Level 90-plus Grand Lords possessed very high Defense, and their physical bodies were incredibly tough. Even a Berserker would have a hard time injuring a Level 90-plus Grand Lord. At best, the Berserker’s attack would leave a small scratch, not weakening the Grand Lord’s combat power in the least.
After examining the effects of evolving the Frost Iron Bloodline, s.h.i.+ Feng walked toward Crow Byson.
He hadn’t been a match for the NPC Hero since his Basic Attributes had been slightly weaker than his opponents. Crow Byson was a bona fide Tier 3 existence, and every one of his Skills was at Tier 3. s.h.i.+ Feng’s reaction speed had also been slightly lower than Crow Byson’s.
However, the evolved Frost Iron Bloodline gave s.h.i.+ Feng a Strength advantage, and he could now execute his Skills with a 105% Completion Rate. In terms of raw power, s.h.i.+ Feng’s Tier 2 Skills were in no way inferior to Crow Byson’s Tier 3 Skills. s.h.i.+ Feng had also become Crow Byson’s equal in terms of reaction speed. His chances of defeating the Tier 3 Hero had definitely improved.
You still refuse to give up, young adventurer?” Crow Byson frowned as s.h.i.+ Feng returned to the platform. “You are only Tier 2. The Tower of Four G.o.ds’ third-floor trial has been prepared for Tier 3 beings.”
“Of course, I refuse to give up. This is the third floor’s final trial. Once I clear it, I’ll have cleared the entire floor and receive the reward for doing so. Why would I give up?” s.h.i.+ Feng replied.
In the Tower of Four G.o.ds, rewards were based on the number of floors the challenger had cleared, and the difference between clearing two floors and three was ma.s.sive. To put it into perspective, it was akin to the difference between Dark-Gold Equipment and Epic Equipment.
“Fine, then I have no choice but to send you back!” Crow Byson said.
Crow Byson’s figure blurred immediately, and in the blink of an eye, he loomed above s.h.i.+ Feng, swinging his pitch- black greatsword in a downward arch.
As the greatsword descended, Crow Byson split into three identical copies. As a result, three attacks soared toward s.h.i.+ Feng, converging toward a single point. The power of this attack tore apart s.p.a.ce itself. It wasn’t any weaker than a Mythic monster’s attack.
Was he holding back? s.h.i.+ Feng wondered, his expression darkening as he watched the incoming blade. Crow Byson had perfectly incorporated a combat technique and Skill in this attack.
First, the Hero had used the Tier 3 Skill, Mountain Splitter. He then used an Advanced Combat Technique to combine the three attacks, stacking each attack’s Strength. Not even Domain Realm experts could use this move.
Mountain Splitter was an AOE Skill. Thus, Lifesaving Skills, such as Defensive Blade, couldn’t block it. Only Invulnerability Skills could stop it.
Unwilling to expose weakness, s.h.i.+ Feng executed Purgatory Pentaslash to counter the attack.
Each of Purgatory Pentaslash’s strikes was stronger than the last, and s.h.i.+ Feng executed the Skill with a 104% Completion Rate, combining it with the Strength Combination technique. All five strikes merged perfectly as the cut through the convergence point of Crow Byson’s three attacks.
Boom!
As the blades clashed, a ma.s.sive explosion shook the arena. The resulting shockwave threw Crow Byson, who had been suspended in the air.
Although s.h.i.+ Feng hadn’t taken damage, he had depleted a huge chunk of his Concentration due to the difficulty of combining the Skill and the combat technique, leaving him sluggish. If he hadn’t evolved the Frost Iron Bloodline to Advance rank, pulling off that move would’ve been impossible.
Fortunately, s.h.i.+ Feng was currently in the Tower of Four G.o.ds, which was full of Eternal Energy. As a result, he had recovered a significant portion of the lost Concentration before Crow Byson had even hit the ground.
Just before the NPC Hero landed, s.h.i.+ Feng executed Wind Blade and charged forth.
It wasn’t easy to move while suspended in the air, leaving one vulnerable to attack. Naturally, s.h.i.+ Feng wouldn’t miss this opportunity. Achieving a 105% Completion Rate with Wind Blade, s.h.i.+ Feng only needed an instant to cross the 20 or so yards between them.
As soon as s.h.i.+ Feng reached Crow Byson, he brandished Killing Ray and executed Lightning Flash. Since Lightning Flash was a combat technique, he didn’t need any preparation time to use the attack.
As s.h.i.+ Feng swung Killing Ray, his attack felt smoother than ever before.
Previously, s.h.i.+ Feng hadn’t been able to perform Lightning Flash’s 16th slash, yet now, 16 sword lights flew toward Crow Byson like an all-encompa.s.sing net, each carrying enough raw power to force a Grand Lord to stumble backward.
Crow Byson had reacted very quickly and performed a defensive combat technique. Unfortunately for the NPC, Lightning Flash was a full offensive technique. Even with only 15 slashes, the technique had enough power to rival ordinary Bronze Combat Techniques. Now that s.h.i.+ Feng had performed the 16th slash, the Hero could only nullify five of the sword lights when focusing on defense, and the remaining 11 attacks struck him squarely.
Crow Byson immediately lost over 1,000,000 HP.
However, Crow Byson was not an easy opponent. The Hero launched a counterattack the moment he landed, his black greatsword releasing an endless darkness that devoured all light around him.
The NPC Hero sent nine slashes at s.h.i.+ Feng, and like the darkness around him, the attacks surrounded s.h.i.+ Feng. Even with his sharp senses, s.h.i.+ Feng couldn’t sense the attacks’ trajectories and had to rely on Sword’s...o...b..t to protect himself.
Even with the technique, however, two of the attacks struck, dealing more than -100,000 damage. To With a maximum HP at 630,000, s.h.i.+ Feng could only afford to take six more of those hits.
What an amazing move! Shocked, s.h.i.+ Feng stared at Crow Byson.
As a Domain Realm expert, he no longer had to rely on his sight to sense incoming attacks. However, Crow Byson’s previous move robbed him of more than his vision; his other senses had significantly weakened, as well. If he hadn’t had the reaction speed of a Tier 3 player, he would’ve lost half of his HP from that attack.
It seems this will be a battle of attrition. s.h.i.+ Feng adjusted his approach and activated Twilight of the G.o.ds and Twilight’s Shadow.
Since these abilities would lower his Basic Attributes, s.h.i.+ Feng hadn’t bothered to use them during the first fight with Crow Byson. Widening the gap between their Basic Attributes wouldn’t help him defeat the Tier 3 Hero. However, now that he had an edge with his Strength, his doppelgangers1 strength wouldn’t be as high as Crow Byson, but the difference wouldn’t be so vast. They could, more or less, contend with the Hero.
With the help of his doppelgangers, s.h.i.+ Feng focused on offense and traded blow for blow with Crow Byson.
Crow Byson was just too powerful, however, and by the time he had finished off one doppelganger, s.h.i.+ Feng had only dealt a little over -800,000 damage in total.
After another two minutes, the NPC Hero still had one-third of his HP remaining. In contrast, s.h.i.+ Feng’s HP was nearly at zero. At his current state, he’d only last three more moves against Crow Byson.
“It seems this is my limit.” Looking at Crow Byson, s.h.i.+ Feng smiled and said, “Let’s start the second round, then!”
He then activated the Aura of Water’s Life Domain, and he began to recover 20% of his HP each second. Unless Crow Byson could kill him in one hit, the Hero couldn’t defeat him while Life Domain was in effect.
This was the final trump card s.h.i.+ Feng had saved throughout the fight. It would only last 30 seconds, after all.
s.h.i.+ Feng charged at Crow Byson, repeatedly executing Lightning Flash and not giving the Hero an opportunity to activate a Skill. He rapidly shaved away the NPC’s HP.
But Crow Byson wasn’t a fool, either. He focused on his defense, slowing his HP loss.
As Life Domain’s 30-second duration was almost over, Crow Byson still had 7% of his HP remaining. s.h.i.+ Feng, however, adjusted his footwork as he activated Instant Strike, the Tier 2 Taboo Skill he had reserved.
He gambled the last of his Concentration to execute Lightning Flash.
The ma.s.sive Attack Speed boost Instant Strike provided allowed s.h.i.+ Feng to execute the combat technique perfectly.
Seventeen sword lights flew toward Crow Byson with such speed that the Tier 3 Hero had no time to defend himself while executing a Bronze Defensive Combat Technique. As a result, the combined power of the 17 sword lights slammed into Crow Byson, devouring the last of his HP.
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System: Congratulations! You have defeated the Hero, Crow Byson, and cleared the Tower of Four G.o.ds’ third-floor trial.