As if sensing the levity of the conversation, the berserker abruptly cracked a joke, "On second thought, maybe it"s for the best if I never found a girlfriend like Beautiful Little Pepper. She almost one-shot me just twenty minutes ago, I don"t think I could hold someone like her down…"
The archer smiled and slapped his shoulder. "Give up. Have you seen Beautiful Little Pepper"s face before? She"s truly one of a kind. Akiho Yos.h.i.+zawa, Tina Yuzuki, Kokomi Naruse; they all got nothing on her. You"d never be able to keep such a fiery, dignified, young and beautiful woman even if you tried."
The priest let out a laugh as he sat down on a sandy rock. He said, "I actually have her poster hung on my bed head. She"s as rare as she"s difficult to be worthy of, although Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand did manage to meet her standards. Not that it"s surprising. How many people can do what he did, fighting millions and millions of players alone in Final Duel Valley while still maintaining a cool head? A weaker person would"ve p.i.s.sed their pants a long time ago…"
The archer nodded in agreement. "That Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is so calm and collected he"s practically inhuman. It"s no wonder that even Red Maple calls him a G.o.d of slaughter. His ability to stay calm far surpa.s.ses other Chinese experts such as Li Chengfeng, Candlelight Shadow and Little Piglet…"
The berserker lifted his war axe and asked with a chuckle, "Say, a.s.suming we ran into Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, what do you think our chances of beating him are?"
The priest laughed. "Ask me again when you"re after your seventh promotion. Anyway, we"ve rested enough and we"ve signed our attendance. It"s time to leave and grind at Soaring Flame Desert until Swallow Ear Canton revives…"
"Yeah."
……
The j.a.panese players left. I didn"t attack them even though I could have. I had my own standards, and one of them was attacking an opponent who was drastically weaker than me when they couldn"t pose a threat to me at all.
The wind carried the archer"s final words to me. "I wonder where Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is right now? It would be nice if he was at the southwest canyon. There are 50+ Descent of the One Hundred G.o.ds players searching for him there, and Asuka Period has 50k Giant Buck Cavalry patrolling the area. Not even he could survive an encounter with an army of that scale!"
I smiled as they vanished from my sight. Thank goodness I hadn"t acted to kill them, or I would have missed the precious information. If I could take out the 50+ Descent of the One Hundred G.o.ds players, the j.a.panese"s morale would definitely suffer a grievous, if not fatal, blow.
The Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a long neigh and raced straight toward the southwest. The canyon was a super dense forest with a terrain that was shaped like a horse"s hoof. The ring-shaped clearing outside the forest was the only place wide enough for a cavalry troop to mount a cavalry charge. There was no way I could survive a battle there, so I was going to slip into the forest as quickly and stealthily as possible.
……
Ten minutes later, I arrived at the southwest edge of Final Duel Valley.
After I arrived at the peak of a tall hill, I looked down and saw tens of thousands of Giant Buck Cavalrymen patrolling the outside of the forest just like the archer had mentioned earlier. The players searching inside the forest were much smaller in numbers and spa.r.s.er, but I wouldn"t make the mistake of underestimating them. Each and every one of them was a Top 1000 expert in the champion arena and a famous player in their own right. Of course, it was only going to make the j.a.pan server"s humiliation even worse than it already was, but I was hardly going to correct them...
I dissolved into several rays of red light and entered the ground. The Phantom Wolf King also let out a soft whine and entered stealth mode. Slowly, we sneaked across the clearing during the patrol"s absence and successfully made it into the forest without any trouble. I then activated Dark Pupils and caused the surrounding players" markers to appear in my minimap.
I counted a total of 62 Descent of the One Hundred G.o.ds players in the forest. Practically everyone who should be here, was. Among them, there were 11 stealthed a.s.sa.s.sins who were observing their surroundings with green eyes. It was the Perceive Weakness skill. Anyone who came within 3 yards of them would be revealed, so I couldn"t afford to act carelessly. Moreover, over half of the players had an invincibility skill that would protect them from danger unless I killed them before they were able to use it. Otherwise, 6 to 15 seconds of invincibility was all they needed to regain their footing and kill me.
The little wolf whined softly, but I immediately silenced it with a look while slowly pulling out the Purple Ying Sword. The terrain here was extremely complex, so I couldn"t ride the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. However, I must keep this fight inside the forest because the Giant Buck Cavalry couldn"t make it inside either. In fact, it was my only chance to win this.
I looked left and right and pinpointed the enemies" positions as fast as I could. I was looking for the best attack angle. The more enemies I could kill while I still had the element of surprise, the easier the subsequent fight would become. Just like before, I planned to use my apparition to draw the enemy"s attention while the Phantom Wolf King and I launched the real a.s.sault...
… or should I? No, I shouldn"t. I already used this tactic more than once, so I"m sure they will be ready for it. In that case, I should switch things up and use myself as the bait, and the apparition as the "real" attack. a.s.suming that the enemy weren"t complete idiots, they would definitely prioritize attacking my apparition first. By the time they realized that something was wrong, it would already be too late for them!
The corners of my lips turned up as I began the operation.
I controlled all three characters at once and moved my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King to the right wing, and myself to the left wing. As I mentioned earlier, the first blow must damage the enemy as hard as possible, or this whole ambush would turn south as quickly as it began. Currently, my plan was to wipe out most of the enemy"s HP with Burning Blade Slash + War Crush combo, and finish the job with Ancient Seal + Coiling Dragon Revolution combo. Moreover, I needed to complete everything in 0.75 seconds tops. None of them should survive unless they were at Lin Yixin, Candlelight Shadow or Li Chengfeng"s level.
While I was searching for an attack angle, Lady Luck suddenly decided to grant me her blessing and put a whopping 24 players within range and angle of my attack. Haha! There won"t be a better opportunity than this!
Whoos.h.!.+
I abruptly burst out of my hiding spot and executed Burning Blade Slash + War crush combo immediately, catching a plethora of warriors, magic knights, mages and archers. The powerful skills shredded both metal and cloth armor equally and killed some, but because I wasn"t riding the Armored Ice Qilin Horse a large majority of them—especially the fighters—were able to survive the combo.
That was fine though, because I was just beginning. Without pause, I fired 17 Ancient Seals in a row and covered nearly the entire forest map with my Divine General Skill. At the same time, I flung my sword forward using Coiling Dragon Revolution and caused bloodcurdling screams to fill the air. Less than two seconds later, the apparition appeared on the other side of the enemy party and used its own Burning Blade Slash + Coiling Dragon Revolution. After it drank an MP potion, it followed up with Purple Dragon Howl!
"Ahhhhh!"
An axe-wielding berserker with bloodshot eyes raged, "Ambus.h.!.+ The people of Era of Strife said that the first Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is fake, and the second is the real one, but what the f.u.c.k is with this damage? Who"s the real one?!"
A magic knight brought his spear to bear and shouted back, "Doesn"t matter, kill them both!"
"Got it!"
I had used the maximum amount of skills I could use at a time, and had to wait 6 full seconds before they would be available again. However, it was absolutely worth it since the ambush killed 27 players right from the get-go.
My mind felt as calm as a lake as I swiftly determined my targets" movement and attack angles. After stopping in my tracks and changing directions abruptly, I was able to avoid multiple AoE skills using the helix maneuver.
Swhoos.h.!.+
Two a.s.sa.s.sins activated Dance of Death and attacked me from the left and the right at the same time. They both started off with Blade Vortex and followed up with a devious Gouge!
I sucked in a deep breath before counterattacking just as quickly. First, I parried their Blade Vortexes before zigzagging behind them. Next, I punched one a.s.sa.s.sin in the back using Magic Piercing Punch and slapped the other guy"s neck with Pardon. Finally, I fired Ancient Seal atop both of them!
"Ah?!"
The a.s.sa.s.sin who got slapped with Pardon could only stare at the Ancient Seal above his head while his feet tried to shuffle away to no avail. He took 182393 damage and died on the spot. Pardon was that good of a damage amplifier. The other a.s.sa.s.sin was much smarter than his peer and was able to survive after activating his invincibility skill.
Pa!
While skidding across the gra.s.s, I abruptly lay down on the ground and rolled like a log just in time to dodge a hail of Shock Arrows. If I hadn"t done so, I might"ve been stunned and killed by the enemy already. These attacks were super brutal.
While I was running for my life, a death squeal came from a different corner of the battlefield. Although I managed to kill two enemy players using the Phantom Wolf King, three a.s.sa.s.sins managed to chain-stun it with Gouge and kill it before it could recover. It was no Divine Beast with inflated stats, and its opponents were all super-tier players. It just wasn"t possible for it to wipe out the enemies in unstoppable fas.h.i.+on.
A few archers chased me into the forest while raining arrows on me. While I could still dodge the Bone Eroding Arrows and Shock Arrows via normal evasion, the same couldn"t be said for AoE skills such as Skypiercer and Spiraling Arrow Blade. The arrowheads kept drilling into my Heaven-burning Armor and eating away at my HP.
Pa!
I abruptly halted in my tracks again and flung my sword at the three archers, killing them with Coiling Dragon Revolution. While skidding across the gra.s.s, I unleashed Ancient Seal + Dragon Slaying Slash combo onto a mage and killed him as well.
Swhoos.h.!.+
Suddenly, a Level 191 high-level mage Blinked behind me and waved their scepter. He was using Ice Blast + Ice Arrow Spell, both skills that could freeze a target!
f.u.c.k!
I swore inside my head as I locked onto a nearby a.s.sa.s.sin and activated Charge, barely evading the combo with inches to spare. The a.s.sa.s.sin reacted quickly by jumping to the back before running toward me again along an S-shaped pattern, dagger searching for an angle to kill. Tsk tsk, every single one of these players was a difficult foe to put down!
Too bad for him, I wasn"t afraid to engage anyone in a skill-versus-skill battle. In half a second, I executed a double helix maneuver and danced around his dagger. After I reappeared behind him, I thrust my sword behind me and killed him without looking.
Swhoos.h.!.+
Another two mages charged me and executed Ice Blast + Ice Arrow Spell, causing the ground itself to become frozen in ice. My scalp turned numb from the sheer amount of danger I was facing. There was no dodging this combo, so I activated s.h.i.+eld of Evening to stall for as long I was able.
The two mages weren"t dumb. They Blinked away immediately after they saw me activating my invincibility skill.
However, I had had a good idea where both of them were going to Blink to and acted accordingly. I slayed one of them with a well-timed and well-placed Coiling Dragon Revolution before killing the other one with Ancient Seal and Dragon Slaying Slash. They probably didn"t know this, but few mages got to Blink in my face and live to tell the tale. It was just like an archer who tried to Leap away within my attack range. I could kick their a.s.s to kingdom come before their feet even reach the ground!
I didn"t let these 12 precious seconds of invulnerability go to waste and killed another 4 knights. During this time, I almost reached the pinnacle of my skills, and I felt like my body was full of energy.
Swhoos.h.!.+
However, I wasn"t perfect, and it only took one opening in one"s defense to kill someone. An a.s.sa.s.sin landed a Gouge the second my invincibility was over, and the 2-second stun could very well be the end of me!