A bright symbol sparkled across Frosty Night"s shoulder. It was the emblem of a vice leader. The fact that the formidable Tear Stain decided to promote him to his current position proved how strong he actually was, at least individually. I had fought him myself during War of Dawn City, and I knew how difficult it was to kill an archer who knew his limits well.
The countdown began, and Frosty Night clearly looked nervous. He knew full well that his opponent was the man who single-handedly held back millions of players and defended Dawn City for several hours—
3!
2!
1!
The moment the countdown hit zero, I immediately ran forward at top speed. I zigged and zagged at random to avoid getting shot and to make predicting my position as difficult as possible. As a melee fighter, one of the best ways to deal with an archer was to cause them to hesitate. A momentary lapse of concentration and shooting was the perfect moment to rush in and kill them.
Frosty Night backpedaled from me while grabbing an iron arrow from his back. He notched the arrow, drew his bow to full length, aimed at me and cried, "Arrow Blade of Light!"
The skill flew toward me like a lightning bolt, but I was able to deflect it with a swing of my weapon. The damageless parry generated a bit of astonishment in Frosty Night"s eyes and very obviously shook his confidence.
He didn"t give up though. Still moving away from me, he notched another arrow and used Dawn Rapid Shot, a seven-arrow skill way more powerful and concentrated than Volley. It took him just slightly over a second to fire all seven arrows, which meant that it was impossible for me to parry them all. I was fast, but a perfect parry required me to be more than human. For a parry to be successful, one must consider the angle, the strength, and the speed at which the sword was swung. To do this 7 times in a row required the person to exceed 1500 APM and perform over 20 mental actions in a second. It was an inhuman feat. Even the extremely talented Lin Yixin only had a peak APM of around 700.
I raised the Dragon G.o.d s.h.i.+eld and Guarded right before the arrows were about to hit me. The attack rocked my arm a little, but only dealt 10k+ damage per hit because Frosty Night didn"t possess Beiming Xue"s insane armor-piercing abilities. The game was still on.
I checked where Frosty Night was before removing my s.h.i.+eld without warning. Then, I fired Thousand Ice Slas.h.!.+
"Ah!"
Frosty Night knew he was dead if my Thousand Ice Slash froze him, so he had no choice but to Leap 20 yards away from his original position. That was exactly what I was hoping for. I had already been channeling Charge before he used Leap, so we moved at almost the same time!
Unfortunately, my prediction was a bit off, and I arrived about 8 yards away from my opponent. It didn"t matter though.
Swhoos.h.!.+
A towering flame appeared around the Purple Ying Sword"s blade, and Burning Blade Slash swept across the field like a tsunami. Thanks to Great Earth Transformation, the range of the skill was almost double of what it had originally been. The flaming auras exploded where Frosty Night was and threw up a cloud of dust, gra.s.s and soil.
Thud…
Frosty Night dropped to his knees as expected. Guard or not, he was dead the moment he ate full Burning Blade Slash to the face. Just to be on the safe side, I threw the Purple Ying Sword at him and used Coiling Dragon Revolution. The skill was very effective against Guarding targets, so he was dead even if he somehow survived Burning Blade Slash. The hurricane of energy easily tore his body into pieces.
The individual score turned 1:0. It was a fairly easy battle despite Frosty Night"s secret cla.s.s because warriors generally countered archers. In my case, I was a Divine General, an incredibly offensive warrior, and my Defense was almost as good as a top-tier magic knight"s thanks to the Dragon G.o.d s.h.i.+eld. Of course he was going to lose to me unless I f.u.c.ked up real hard.
The battle room was soundproof, and I was in VR, but I could still hear the crowd"s applause and cheers vaguely. My fighting style was the dream style of all fighters: overwhelming, merciless, and unstoppable. Every time I employed a maneuver or a technique, it was to kill my enemies faster, not to survive longer.
Less than half a minute later, Frosty Night reentered the battlefield with an ugly expression on his face. Not only that, I saw a glimmer of bewilderment in his eyes, as if he didn"t know what he could possibly do to beat me. Maybe he was right. In his shoes, I couldn"t see any hope of defeating myself. Skill, equipment, abilities, domain; I was superior to him in every possible way.
As expected, Frosty Night drew his bow and shouted the moment the countdown hit zero, "Skypiercer!"
A hail of arrows fell toward me, but I wasn"t afraid in the slightest. Sticking to my own pace, I charged 20 yards in a straight line toward Frosty Night until I was only 10 yards away from him. Then, I weaved around two icy arrows before launching an a.s.sault from his right. My choice of skill was the exact same as before: Thousand Ice Slas.h.!.+
Frosty Night went all out. He raised his bow and attempted to Guard the skill!
Chiang! Ice scattered all over the place, and miraculously Frosty Night managed to propel himself away to safety at the cost of 40k+ HP. Not only did he escape my attack range, he even saved his Leap cooldown.
Well, you play the hands you have been dealt. I flicked my sword at the guy"s direction and used Dragon Slaying Slas.h.!.+
Frosty Night managed to dodge the skill by taking two steps to the right, but he quickly realized that an even more dangerous skill, G.o.d Binding Art, was falling down on his position. Despite being caught by surprise, he was able to react in time and Leap away right before the divine arms could trap him. It was pointless though. The moment he landed, he saw a blood-red cloak flas.h.i.+ng across his vision. The cold light of the Purple Ying Sword turned his heart into ice.
Crack!
After Universe Break pierced Frosty Night"s torso, I swung the weapon sideways and used Burning Blade Slash. The guy had almost 130k HP, but it was nowhere near enough health to withstand the flaming auras tearing his body from his inside. After his body parts. .h.i.t the ground, they transformed into white light and flew out of the arena. A few seconds later, I was teleported out of the arena as well.
Swhoos.h.!.+
After I returned to the girls, Beiming Xue"s cheerful voice entered my ears. "Heehee, I knew that big bro"s round would be the most secure. That Frosty Night never stood a chance. The match is ours once you take out that Blazing Pulse, Sister Eve!"
He Yi broke into a smile. "I"ll do my best. It"s all up to the heavens though!"
"We believe in you!" I encouraged her.
"Mn!" He Yi gave me an affirmative nod before teleporting into the arena.
……
Blazing Pulse appeared in the arena at almost the same time as He Yi. The Korean a.s.sa.s.sin had been famous for a while now, and it was said that he was among the Top 3 best a.s.sa.s.sins in the Korea server. Naturally, his strength was no joke.
However, He Yi had a cla.s.s advantage over Blazing Pulse. Magic knight was the tankiest cla.s.s of all in the game, and a.s.sa.s.sins didn"t do well against metal armor. a.s.suming that the a.s.sa.s.sin didn"t have sufficient energy and armor-piercing or armor-breaking skills, the magic knight could take a break, activate War G.o.d Recovery, and maybe even smoke an entire cigarette and still be alive at the end of the "a.s.sa.s.sination" process.
He Yi wisely summoned her Dragonscale Beast and rode it. He Yi had a snow white cloak flowing down her back, a Seven Star Veluriyam Spear gleaming in her hand, and the mark of the Dharan City Ruins Barrier floating across her left arm. It didn"t take a genius to figure out that her Defense was only a tad weaker than mine. Blazing Pulse instinctively wiped the sweat gathering on his forehead because he knew how much effort it would take to kill her.
Rustle rustle…
Blazing Pulse slowly walked to the back and melted into thin air. The map was a rainy desert oasis, advantageous for the a.s.sa.s.sin because there was enough foliage to conceal some of his footprints.
When the countdown hit zero, He Yi rushed forward and took a tentative sweep across the s.p.a.ce Blazing Pulse had been a mere moment earlier. Unfortunately, she wasn"t able to force the a.s.sa.s.sin out. After that, she simply stood there, watched her surroundings and kept her ears on alert for any unnatural sound.
Pop!
A strange sound came from the right, and He Yi rushed toward it and swung her spear. However, all she managed to hit was thin air. Realizing that she had been duped, she exclaimed, "Dammit!"
As expected, a red flash appeared on the opposite side of the sound. Blazing Pulse was a smart guy alright. He had thrown a tiny rock to fool our beautiful guild leader!
Thud!
After Ambush hit He Yi and stunned her, Blazing Pulse followed up with Blade Vortex + armor break skill that deleted over 30% of her HP. Right before she was about to recover, Blazing Pulse moved in front of her and swung his dagger upward, using Gouge!
"f.u.c.k!"
I clenched my fist and m.u.f.fled my curse. After everything Blazing Pulse used to hit He Yi, he needed to gather some energy to unleash Gouge. Therefore, there was a 0.2-second gap where He Yi was free to counterattack Blazing Pulse before Gouge stunned her again. Unfortunately, she wasn"t able to grasp that opening.
Even with He Yi"s HP, being chain-stunned by an a.s.sa.s.sin was a death sentence. In the end, she only managed to hit Blazing Pulse one time before losing. It was worth noting that that one hit almost one-shot the a.s.sa.s.sin though. It certainly caused him to break out in cold sweat at least.
……
Swhoos.h.!.+
After He Yi returned to us, she complained a little, "0.2 seconds is too small a window…"
I gave her an encouraging smile. "Predict if you can"t react. Act when you feel that the time is right!"
"Got it!"
He Yi performed much better during the second round. She took my advice to heart, predicted the timing successfully and landed a five-hit Purgatory of Ice and Magma during the 0.2-second gap between the end of Ambush"s stun duration and the arrival of Gouge, scoring a point.
Unfortunately, He Yi failed to maintain her form and ultimately lost the third round, but at least she could trade back and forth with a top-cla.s.s a.s.sa.s.sin now.
……
The loss brought the score to 2:2. This meant that the final 2v2 match would decide it all!
Beiming Xue and I, a warrior and an archer, would be facing off against Tear Stain and Enlightened Heart, two magic knights. This would be an interesting match for sure!