Chapter Eighty-Nine: The Hero’s Challenge Tournament (Eighteen)

The page turns out to be a battlefield of players, and a shout rose from the chaos: a player with a blazing red name was charging in, and his equipment looked outstanding. It was Qing Cai Bai Yu Soup. Everyone, move in now! Maybe we can even make that purple ring drop. Go!

Amid the confusion of war, I glanced at my name and, sure enough, it had turned a deep, glaring red. My Dark Sword gave off a faint blood-crimson sheen, dazzlingly handsome—of course, only a lunatic or a murderer would find it beautiful.

While I moved at full speed, more than ten fireballs crashed into me at once, and I broke out in a cold sweat. But when I looked closely, I found that I had lost less than two hundred hit points. It turned out the mages attacking me were far below my level; the highest among them was probably only around level 27, while I was level 35. That eight-level gap was enough for most of their spells to be resisted.

According to my original plan, I was to force my way along the cliff wall at the mouth of the valley. A route that should have taken only ten seconds had become impossibly arduous. Of the dozens of men led by Frenzied Battle, nearly twenty were ranged attackers. Fortunately, there were not many archers who knew Shock Shot, and even if they did have a disabling skill like that, it was still difficult for them to land a hit on me. For the moment, my life was not in serious danger. The large red potions I had bought with gold from the auction house played a crucial role; each one restored a thousand hit points, enough to make up for what I had lost.

Frenzied Battle and several high-level players had originally been stationed at the center of the pass. Seeing me break through from the left, they immediately swarmed toward me.

Whoosh!

A burst arrow detonated on my shoulder in a blaze of fire, instantly taking away 256 hit points. That hurt.

An archer of considerable level had already reached me. I had to break through before his Shock Arrow cooldown ended, or this would become a case of a cause unfinished and the hero already dead.

With one slash, I sent the mage in front of me back to town, nimbly snatched up the staff he had dropped, and then surged forward without the slightest pause. I followed up with a combo, and a high-level swordsman was instantly dealt with as well. A large green greatsword dropped to the ground, and I took it all.

I loved open-field fighting. I loved it.

After cleanly cutting down more than a dozen players in seconds, I suddenly felt the same thrill I had once known in group tournaments, when I had chained ten straight all-kills against my opponents alone. That was the feeling games were made for.

From behind me, Frenzied Battle roared curses. “You bunch of idiots, hurry up and catch him! Archers, use Shock Shot. Mages, use ice magic. Do not let him get through!”

I secretly laughed. These little gangsters were organized like trash. In order to pursue just one person, they all rushed in a straight line behind me, and not one of them thought to exploit synchronized movement attacks. In truth, aside from their numbers, they were nothing more than a pack of rabid dogs that only knew how to bite wildly.

Puff!

An ice frost arrow struck me, and my movement speed immediately dropped.

“Damn it, to get hit by a slowing spell right when I’m about to break out!” I cursed under my breath, then activated Mana Lock. A yellow radiance surged up from beneath my feet, instantly restoring my body’s ability to move, while my hit points began recovering at a rate of 120 every three seconds.

I had only thirty seconds. With ice flowers clinging to its blade, the Dark Sword came down on Frenzied Battle, who was blocking the way ahead. Then I followed with a heavy strike, and nearly a thousand points of damage shocked everyone around me. Unfortunately, their priest immediately restored Frenzied Battle’s lost hit points, and I had no choice but to abandon the mad idea of single-handedly cutting down their boss.

I used another combo. A knight who had trusted in his shield and his high defense was instantly turned into a white flash, leaving behind a level 22 blue shield and a level 25 knight’s spear.

Quickly collecting the gear, I found that no one ahead could stop me anymore. The blood-red glow carried by the Dark Sword looked especially ghastly in the night, and several swordsmen actually retreated a few steps in fear.

Frenzied Battle roared in fury. “Are you fucking scared of a bird? Get him!”

“But boss, this bastard’s health seems impossible to wear down, and his attack is too high. None of us can take more than two hits from him...”

“Damn waste of space! All of you charge him together. Dinner tonight is on me, and you can choose any woman from the Sand-Sifting Tavern. Pick whoever you want and play however you want!”

Perhaps it was money, or perhaps it was women, but those thugs and scoundrels were stirred to battle once again. This time, they showed unprecedented coordination, and dozens of spells along with several heavy strikes from swordsmen landed almost simultaneously on me.

For a moment I went dizzy. When I opened my eyes again, I was shocked to find that more than half of my 2,420 hit points had vanished in an instant. If this went on, how could I survive?

With a swing of my sword, I cut down the nearest mage, then immediately shot through the narrow opening with perfect timing. Nothing could hold me back now. I did not even have time to pick up the dropped equipment and simply sprinted toward the woods ahead, with all kinds of spells and arrows howling after me.

Once inside the forest, the duration of Mana Lock also ended. I finally let out a breath. Those people behind me, with their low agility, could not keep up with me at all. A few thieves trailed from a distance, but none dared to come close.

The moment I opened the communicator, I heard Lu Xuehan’s voice. “Watch the left side. There’s a level 27 thief there. Sister Lin, don’t kill him or you’ll turn red. Xin Yu, use Shock Arrow to pin him down. Huh? Lin Fan has already broken through and gotten in!”

I immediately laughed and said, “See the point where our two positions intersect on the map? Rally there. Bring the thief over to me. I’ll kill him anyway—I’m already red!”

I kept running north for nearly three minutes. When Lu Xuehan, Xin Yu, and Xu Lin finally came into view, I could not help but want to laugh. The three of them were among the city’s top ten experts, yet they looked so battered and disheveled. Behind them followed two men who looked like swordsmen, and there were likely even more thieves hidden in the darkness.

“Lin Fan, block the swordsmen! Xuehan’s mana is almost gone, and we can’t hold out much longer!”

Xin Yu shouted from afar, then immediately drew those two swordsmen toward us. I hurried to meet them head-on. Ice Seal Slash—warmest welcome!

With a combo and one arrow from Xin Yu turning back, the swordsman was instantly killed. The other was no better off. Lu Xuehan’s curse and Xu Lin’s frost arrow quickly blocked his route, and Xin Yu and I then finished him off while he was down. He dropped a green cuirass leg guard.

Swish!

A blood-red glow lit up behind Lu Xuehan. The enemy thief had made his move!