Chapter 1533: Contest of Strategies

"The arrogance! The fucker thinks he can kill Lu Chen without going into stealth?!" Li Chengfeng exclaimed with widened eyes.

Candlelight Shadow also sneered but didn’t comment on it.

……

Thud thud…

Strong vibrations resounded from the withered planks of the arena as Farewell Song dashed toward me like a shadowy arrow. He didn’t have a mount, but he was moving faster than when I was flying with the Ancient Divine Dragon’s boosts active! It was truly astonishing!

I raised two fingers before my forehead and cast Myriad Swords Obliteration on top of myself. At the same time, I leaped toward the back to put more distance between myself and Farewell Song. The assassin looked a little surprised, but he was able to circle around the skill and continue advancing toward me. Unfortunately, there was one skill he couldn’t dodge, and that was the wider Summon the Storm!

Swhoosh!

Farewell Song shuddered and lost a huge chunk of HP—972,763!

However, he remained calm as some sort of green shield surrounded his body. It was the Anti-Magic Potion. Now, magical skills like Summon the Storm wouldn’t work on him anymore.

Bang!

Bits of wood erupted from Farewell Song’s feet as he launched his true assault. His two daggers struck three times in rapid succession!

I steadily raised the Dihai Shield and the Xuanyuan Sword to parry the attacks. I was able to parry the first two strikes, but the Devil’s Kiss still managed to sink into my shoulder on the third hit. An assassin’s attack speed was way higher than a warrior’s, so even I couldn’t parry it perfectly.

628,334!

It was a painful blow. Neither Farewell Song nor I had had a bard to buff us. We were only fighting using our stratagems and cards. I had less than 9 million HP, and Farewell Song, less than 5 million. With so little HP, victory or defeat could be decided in a single moment. Moreover, I hadn’t increased my Defense by 300% using Profound Armor, and Farewell Song’s main and secondary dagger together had a combined total of 40% armor penetration. Even my super Defense wasn’t too big of a problem to him.

Back to the present, I responded to Farewell Song’s aggression with Burning Blade Slash!

I could use Profound Armor now to improve my chances, but I didn’t. I didn’t want anyone to say that I was "bullying" Farewell Song later. I didn’t even use Heavenly River Transformation. I was going to kick his ass without the advantages of a divine player!

I made sure to fire each sword aura of Burning Blade Slash from a different angle. It was to deal with players with incredible evasion abilities like Farewell Song.

"Hmm?"

Farewell Song grunted in surprise as my skill slammed into his daggers and drove him backward, dealing a total of 1,028,773 damage. That was 40% of his HP gone just like that.

A pair of hands stretched out from the darkness and grabbed onto the Xuanyuan Sword’s blade. Then, the daredevil pulled himself toward me, circled around my back before I could react, and stabbed me in the back using the Bloody Backstab skill!

972,774!

Even with the Cloak of Divine Fervor to reduce 50% of my damage received, I still lost a lot of HP. Farewell Song was also able to absorb around 240k HP because he had a total lifesteal of 24%. His equipment was seriously powerful.

The backstabbing wasn’t over yet, however. Farewell Song ran around me like a shadow as I attempted to turn toward him. I bet he had killed countless top-tier warriors in the champion arena like this.

Ambush!

I shivered. I was stunned for 1.8 seconds!

Farewell Song ripped through my back before ending his combo with a devastating Blade Vortex. This time, it was my turn to drop to 50% HP. In fact, Farewell Song had regained almost 1 million HP and was now sitting at 80%.

I would have to change things up to win this!

I stomped my foot and crushed the wooden plank beneath it. While spinning around to face Farewell Song, I parried away his Devil’s Kiss before extending my left hand toward an empty space. Farewell Song’s leather boots passed by the area exactly as I predicted it would, so I was able to catch him and pressed him to the floor. I made my sword disappear as I mustered the Magic Piercing Punch with my right fist!

Bang!

813,276!

The skill dispelled whatever it was Farewell Song was planning to do. While he was still stuck in the hole I had created in the ground, I resummoned the Xuanyuan Sword and unleashed a lightning-fast Universe Break + Pardon + basic attack combo toward his chest. A series of damage numbers rose from his head—

1,982,773!

MISS!

1,867,632!

As mentioned earlier, victory or defeat could be decided in a single moment. This was it. Farewell Song died and was sent back to the city to revive. At the same time, a red dagger—it was none other than the Devil’s Kiss—dropped to the floor.

……

"Shit, the Devil’s Kiss!" Warsky hurriedly clambered up the arena.

I grabbed the dagger and glared at Warsky. "Get down. I’m dueling Farewell Song, not you."

Warsky stared at the dagger in my hand and tried, "Lu Chen… that dagger… we agreed…"

"Agreed on what? I won’t repeat myself. Get down."

Warsky gritted his teeth as October Rain pulled him down the stage.

Speaking of below the stage, everyone was cheering right now. No one was expecting a classic warrior versus assassin duel to be this exciting. If the assassin got caught by surprise by the warrior, then they would be deleted off the surface of the battlefield in an instant. However, if the warrior got chain-stunned to infinity by the assassin, then they wouldn’t be able to lift a finger until they perished. This was especially true for a top-tier assassin like Farewell Song. Killing most warriors was almost as easy as killing a mage to him.

……

Farewell Song returned a minute later as a Level 254 assassin. He stared at me coldly after he leaped up the arena.

I tossed his dagger back to him and said, "Again!"

Once more, the atmosphere felt positively stifling. The first round had been decided in just 10 seconds, and neither of us had had the time to down a health potion. I had a suspicion that the next two rounds would be pot-free as well.

Again, I didn’t activate Profound Armor or Battle Astral Wind for the upcoming fight, and I definitely wasn’t planning to use the Xuanyuan Art. I just waited for Farewell Song to finish regenerating his HP and launch his challenge again!

Swhoosh!

This time, the assassin faded into nothingness before the countdown had even finished. It was impossible to detect him with Dark Pupils due to the Ghost Lake Mirror, but Summon the Storm’s AoE was wide enough to cover the whole arena. I could reveal him anytime I wanted to.

Chiang!

I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and watched my surroundings warily. Already, the blade was glowing with the power of Summon the Storm. I was going to use it the second the countdown hit zero. Farewell Song was a top-tier assassin with an excellent grasp of the maps and terrains he was fighting on. He also strived to minimize the amount of noise he made whenever he was moving in stealth. I wasn’t going to give him the chance to play games with me at all.

Suddenly, I regretted my decision. Farewell Song must realize as well that I could break his stealth with Summon the Storm. This meant that there was only one thing he could do: move behind me and attack me the second the countdown hit zero!

I immediately cast War Crush!

Bang bang bang!

Farewell Song ate all the damage and lost nearly 2 million HP in total. However, he was able to score an Ambush on my exposed back and stunned me for 1.8 seconds.

Crack crack crack…

The fucker managed to hit me 6 times in less than 2 seconds. That dagger’s delay between attacks had to be lower than 400 milliseconds!

I counted down the time mentally as I waited to launch my own counterattack. I needed to drive Farewell Song away, or this would be a difficult battle.

However, Farewell Song and his energy gauge flashed across my vision as he rotated in front of me. Then, he landed a frontal Gouge that not only dealt a lot of damage, but also stunned me for another 2.1 seconds.

A high-level assassin’s stun rate was tied to their Agility, and only Farewell Song knew exactly how much Agility his equipment gave him. At the very least, he was able to stun me 100% up until this point even though Unusual Physique had greatly increased my resistances.

Gouge’s stun would be removed the instant the target was attacked, which was why Farewell Song planned to make good use of it. He moved behind me again and began charging his entire body with red energy. My heart sank. This was probably a new skill I hadn’t seen before…

As I thought, he charged his energy for about 1.5 seconds before thrusting both his main and secondary dagger forward. A cross-shaped blade aura slammed into my back!

Cold Blood Mad Strike!

4,876,278!

The ridiculous damage number caused my heart to skip a beat. It was a critical hit, but even so, I couldn’t remember the last time I lost almost 5 million HP to any enemy that wasn’t a boss! I shot a glance at the combat log. Apparently, Coldblood Mad Strike was a skill that cost 70% of the assassin’s Energy and had a 1.5-second channeling time. It had a 60%-increased critical hit rate, which was almost 100% if combined with Farewell Song’s base critical rate.

My HP saw red in just the blink of an eye. Who would’ve thought that even 9 million HP wasn’t enough to tank an assassin’s combo? No wonder Warsky became so arrogant as of late; Farewell Song was practically the guardian deity of his guild!

……

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

I took another hit after the stun had passed. When I opened my eyes again, I was treated to a poison sac to the face. This one inflicted the Blind status condition!

Swhoosh!

My vision blackened once more, and the combat log informed me that it was going to last for 7 seconds. However, I could still move like normal!

Swhoosh!

I hurriedly lowered my sword to what I thought was an appropriate position when I heard the sound of something cutting toward me. It was a successful parry. Immediately, I raised my free arm and elbowed Farewell Song in the chest. 7 seconds was more than enough time to kill me even if I had multiple lives!

Right now, I was relying on my Domain to pinpoint Farewell Song’s position. I raised my arm and dropped Ancient Seal directly in front of me. Then, I cast God Binding Art toward the right and activated Thunderous Charge!

Swhoosh!

I could clearly hear and feel Farewell Song dodging toward the side with supernatural speed. I abruptly canceled the skill, planted the Dihai Shield on the wooden floor, and cast Mad God Lunge!

Farewell Song knew of Mad God Lunge’s 100% stun rate, so again he swerved out of my path. This time though, I was close enough to strike out with Magic Piercing Punch!

"Shit!"

Farewell Song grunted. I could hear that his footsteps were a bit disjointed.

I waited to hear a thumping noise. Bang! Wonderful. This meant that Farewell Song had slammed into the Dihai Shield I had left behind earlier. Without hesitation, I fired Burning Blade Slash at him!

1,102,987!

1,428,874!

1,823,762!

A stomp of War Crush later, Farewell Song dropped to his knees before the Dihai Shield.

……

It took another 4 seconds before my vision finally returned to me. Farewell Song was gone as a matter of course, though my shield was still stained with his blood. Although I had won, I couldn’t help but recall Farewell Song’s chain stun strategy with trepidation. Thank goodness he had chosen to use a long-term blinding item that didn’t immobilize me instead of a short-term blinding item that did, or that really could’ve been GG for me. Farewell Song probably wasn’t expecting me to keep my cool so well even though I was blinded.