Chapter 1202: Xing Tian’s Defiance

Translator: alyschu

Whoosh!

Vanguard’s players were all hot-blooded males. They just galloped straight toward the battlefield at full power without bothering to conceal their tracks. Birds took off in fright to the commotion they caused.

I made my Phantom Wolf King and apparition charge together with Who Will Fight Me, before circling to the other side of the battlefield myself. My bottom line here was that the Chinese Ancient Divine Skill Scroll must fall into Chinese hands.

……

Suddenly, a brawny man burst out of the forest beside Vanguard and swung his battle axe, shouting, "Chaotic 27 are all idiots!"

"Roar!"

The roar of a devastating beast rocked the earth, and a cyclone slammed into Who Will Fight Me’s flank and deleted over half of his HP. The newcomer was still roaring and swinging his axe when Who Will Fight Me parried two attacks before shouting in anger, "Why are you attacking me, Chinese? I’m Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand’s friend! For fuck’s sake, does anyone recognize this idiot?"

"Huh? You’re the vice leader’s friend?" The axe wielder stopped what he was doing and asked the way only he could.

I felt like dying. It was High Fighting Spirit of course. I had no idea that he was here, and I definitely wasn’t expecting him to charge a platoon of players alone. His thirst for the world to descend into complete chaos so he could fight forever far outstripped his desire for safety after all!

Thankfully, Who Will Fight Me was a fairly smart guy. He pointed at the Phantom Wolf King and the apparition next to him before saying, "See them? Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand just made an agreement with us to contest the boss's loot together! How are you so… undignified when you’re a member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?"

After seeing the apparition and finally realizing what was going on, High Fighting Spirits shot Who Will Fight Me an apologetic smile before saying, "Ah, sorry, I misunderstood. Please, recover your HP now so we can continue the charge…"

"Hmph!"

Who Will Fight Me hurriedly drank a health potion and used War God Recovery. High Fighting Spirits had single-handedly disrupted the entire offensive. Thank goodness I had chosen to launch the assault when the boss still had 7% HP left, or I would’ve had to resort to drastic measures.

……

Half a minute later, the boss dropped to 4% HP, and Who Will Fight Me had regenerated to 70% HP. This time, we let High Fighting Spirits lead the way. He was the fearless one who always wanted to be in the thick of it anyway.

Pa!

The Dragonlight Armored Horse glowed with the light of Dragon Soul Protection. Its hoof glimmered sharply beneath the moonlight. An instant later, High Fighting Spirits burst out of the forest while swinging his axe.

Some distance away, Tear Stain shot High Fighting Spirits a look and almost froze at what she saw. "Oh no, that’s one of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ main generals! Why is he together with Who Will Fight Me? And that other guy is… it’s Lu Chen in his Fusion Armor! It’s him! Everyone, watch out! Let go of the boss and prepare to face the enemy! We cannot fight this boss while Lu Chen is still around!"

Tear Stain didn’t hesitate. If they continued to fight the boss, there was a huge chance this whole thing would end in one big tragedy. Losing the boss and getting thoroughly wiped by the enemy was an entirely possible outcome.

……

Vanguard and High Fighting Spirits’ frontal assault was about as honest as it got. Xiezhi Howl ready to be unleashed at a moment’s notice, High Fighting Spirits focused on galloping into the enemy group while completely disregarding the arrows and spells they were throwing against him. In fact, he only had 40% HP left by the time he reached his destination. He attracted firepower like steel attracted a magnet. The good news was that the Dragonscale Beast and the Brave General Horseshoe had increased his Defense to the point where he could pull such a crazy stunt and actually survive. In the past, he would’ve died to the focus fire of the first-rate experts a long time ago.

"Kill!"

Who Will Fight Me slashed at an Elephant City’s magic knight three times from three different angles. He landed all three because he had caught his opponent completely off-guard. The magic knight was dead after he ate another two arrow shots from behind Who Will Fight Me.

Tear Stain’s counterattack was just as fierce, however. Her sword darted around like an actual snake, and she had a fondness of stabbing people through the throat. The amount of damage she dealt whenever she struck a weak point was frankly staggering. Three Vanguard players had died in her hands in less than 10 seconds.

As a chaotic battle unfolded across the wide clearing in the middle of the canyon, I finally emerged from my own hiding spot and charged straight toward the enemy’s rear. Tear Stain shouted in horror when she saw my Myriad Swords Obliteration raining down on her group, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is behind us! His real body is behind us! Watch out!"

Buzz!

A Throne of the Wild mage immediately cast Touch of the Dragonkiss beneath my feet. He dealt an incredible amount of 70k+ damage, considering that it was me that he was targeting. When I got closer, the mage cast God Devil Break!

210840!

What a crazy amount of damage! The mage’s Intelligence was over 5000 higher than mine. Two Vanguard magic knights who unfortunately had been standing by my side at the time took 400k damage in an instant and dropped dead just like that. A high-level, eighth promotion mage truly was the nightmare of all metal-armor players!

Who Will Fight Me exploded, "Break his shield for me, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!"

"Okay!"

I locked onto the high-level mage and cast Thousand Ice Slash, shattering his Magic Shield instantly. Then, Who Will Fight Me dashed past the mage and cast Ultimate Strength Break. Since his Blink was on cooldown, there was nothing he could do except wait for death to claim him—

390880!

It was a one-shot. Who Will Fight Me’s Strength was definitely more than serviceable.

……

At the back, Xing Tian was rocking the entire canyon with his angry roar and attacking Tear Stain’s subordinates with relentless rage. Their number dwindled to just six or seven in the blink of an eye.

"Retreat! We can’t hold it any longer!"

Red Ovenbird shouted.

I narrowed my eyes as I sensed an opportunity. I abruptly locked onto the space behind Red Ovenbird and cast Thunderous Charge!

Swhoosh!

Shock flashed across Red Ovenbird’s eyes as he attempted to dodge my Charge by dashing sideways. However, I forcefully altered my trajectory midway before casting Myriad Swords Obliteration behind Red Ovenbird.

Thud thud thud…

Red Ovenbird stopped his movement just in time to miss the skill, but only just barely. Some of the swords literally were literally just inches away from the back of his head. Cold sweat covered his nose when the realization that he was inches away from death hit him.

Unfortunately for him, death was even closer to him than he thought. By the time he turned around to look at me again, I was already pressing my palm against his chest and casting point-blank God Binding Art. Not even god could help him dodge this one!

The moment Red Ovenbird was immobilized, I immediately cast Burning Blade Slash and shredded most of his HP. Then, Who Will Fight Me showed up and cut the oathbreaker right across the torso, killing him instantly!

……

I looked up. Of the 50+ players who kicked off this boss fight, only Tear Stain and her 4 subordinates were able to escape to god-knows-where. Their Chaotic 27 and Elephant City allies were all dead. This meant that their plan to kill the boss had officially ended in total failure.

Who Will Fight Me let out a hearty laugh as he faced toward the boss. "Let’s finish this!"

"Yeah!"

While the archers were attracting the boss's attention, I stabbed him in the eye at the center of his stomach and used Purple Frost Concentration. 0.15 seconds after I zigzagged toward the back, Xing Tian’s Ganqi smashed where I had been mere moments earlier. Thanks to the Ancient Divine Dragon’s speed and turn rate, I was actually able to dodge the normally undodgeable basic attack.

I didn’t stop attacking because I wanted the boss's experience, equipment and Ancient Divine Skill Scroll. “Gotta catch ‘em all” is my motto…

Who Will Fight Me seemed to notice my intention and shot me a reassuring grin. "Relax, we promised that the boss would be yours, and we aren’t ones to break a promise. Just remember to give me that Alexander the Great’s Battle Axe later!"

I nodded back. "Don’t worry, I will keep my promise as well!"

"Good, good!"

……

Unfortunately, that temporary distraction was enough for Xing Tian to score a hit against my head. That was over 300k HP gone just like that. High Fighting Spirits was eager to replace me, but I shooed him away sternly and without hesitation. We didn’t have a priest with us, and with his level of HP and Defense I wasn’t sure if he could survive even one hit from the boss…

Normally, it would be incredibly dangerous to challenge a boss this powerful without a priest, but it was doable when it only had 3% HP left. After losing a Vanguard magic knight, I made the apparition back away and cast Purple Dragon Howl while I cast Rise of the Guardian Dragon + Myriad Swords Obliteration. When the light show was over, the ancient god finally succumbed to his wounds. Even so, he let out an unyielding roar before he met his end!

The second his gigantic body hit the ground, he dropped a ton of equipment and increased my level to 222. He also dropped a golden Ancient Divine Skill Scroll that I caught immediately. Hehe, what an excellent haul this was!

……

High Fighting Spirits, Who Will Fight Me and the rest of Vanguard swarmed around the boss as well.

I glanced left and right but didn’t find anything good. This wasn’t the first time this had happened, so I suspected that the devs had made it so that these ridiculously OP bosses wouldn’t drop anything good. That being said, the Ancient Divine Skill alone was good enough a reward.

I pointed at the boss's body and said to Who Will Fight Me, "You can have the boss's loot. All I want is the Ancient Divine Skill Scroll. Plus, you’ve lost a dozen or so players in this fight. You all deserve some form of compensation."

Who Will Fight Me nodded. "Thanks. So…"

"I know, I know. Just give me a second."

"Okay!"

I checked out the scroll Xing Tian dropped. It was very impressive—

Xing Tian’s Defiance (SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill): Increases user's Attack by 90%. Summon the Ganqi Axe and Shield to hit all the targets within 15 yards in front of you with a cyclone. MP Cost: 50%. This scroll cannot be used by players from the following servers: USA, England, and more.

……

It was yet another AoE skill, and one that increased Attack by 90% too. It was probably on par with Alexander the Great’s Battle Axe, and that was good. I decided to give it to High Fighting Spirits because his temperament and fighting style were very similar to the boss’s.

"Fighting Spirits!" I called out to the brute.

"Yeah, Lu Chen?"

"This one’s yours. Learn it as soon as possible, understand?"

After I gave High Fighting Spirits Xing Tian’s Defiance, I tossed Alexander the Great’s Battle Axe into Who Will Fight Me’s hands and said with a chuckle, "Better move quickly! Whoever learns their skill first will become the second to enter Heavenly River Realm and receive its reward!"

……

In the end, High Fighting Spirits was the one who won, but only because I gave him the scroll almost 10 seconds sooner. Two system announcements rang across the sky in succession.

Swhoosh swhoosh!

A column of light surrounded both players, and the next moment, a pair of golden and bloody wings spread out from behind their backs. It was the visual effect of the Heavenly River Transformation. High Fighting Spirits waved his axe and let out a mighty roar, causing the vengeful spirit of Xing Tian to appear behind his back. He gathered the power of Xing Tian’s Defiance and launched it at the forest in front of him. An entire swathe of trees were mowed down almost like they were made of paper. The destructive power of an Ancient Divine Skill truly was extraordinary!

An excited Who Will Fight Me was also testing out his skill. The battle axe of the ancient conqueror had an attack range of 10+ yards. It wasn’t bad at all considering that the attack ignored Guard and invincibility skills.

1. As I said in 1200 footnote, it gets confusing from now on. I’ll spoil the next chapter here, but Lu Chen says Tear Stain could use it, so it’s not China-exclusive. It was made for Chinese players, usable by all eastern players. After this arc, if there’s nothing to suggest otherwise, we might go back and change it all to “eastern/western countries”. Keeping it vague works. After all, “and more” consists of literally the entire Europe, Africa and Americas