Chapter 447: 447
“hmm?” At that moment, another ROOT raised her head to look at the sky. Suddenly something dawned on her… in few seconds, her expression changed, “What’s happening!”
Warning: Discovery of high energy reaction
Data Analysis: Pegasasu Ryūsei Ken!
Tactical defence option: ???
Survival Rate: 0 percent
“How is that…” The ROOT with the energy ball gasped in shock. “That kind of trashy skill… has a 0 percent survival rate?”
“impossible…” The other ROOT added, “His many points are at their bottom. He is so seriously injured that he has difficulty breathing. How is it that he can use any skill…”
“Blasphemous!” ROOTs growled and whipped her arm forward. The energy ball soared towards the sky. At that moment, everyone stopped their battle… they all turned in unison to the sky. Even the audience in the livestream held their breath to see this moment. But, the expected light explosion… did not happen.
“It disappeared?” Including the two ROOTs, everyone was asking this question.
Of course, this kind of attack would not evaporate into thin air… it was merely… consumed by the energy latent within the body of the universe.
…
Several seconds passed…
In the night sky, among the stars, that bit of light, soared like a shooting star.
“Heroes… will never admit defeat…” The man who was bludgeoned beyond repair mumbled as he fell, pulled by gravity.
“Heroes… will never give up…” It drained him deeply to even speak but the determination and passion in his eyes never wavered.
“Is it the awakening of Soul’s Eyes?” The two ROOTs said in unison. The shock on their faces was also perfectly replicated. “Such ridiculous Soul’s Eye should not exist! The calculation and formula does not add up!”
“Ah!!!” Pegasus burned through the last store of his energy, worked his arms and shouted loudly. “Pegasasu Ryūsei Ken!”
It was still that same skill because the man only knew that one skill. But does it really matter in the end?
For heroes, the skill never mattered in the first place.
…
“Hue hue hue hue… Well, this sure is surprising…” Woody in the conference room looked at the livefeed and laughed. “The one person that no one betted on somehow became the key person in this scenario…”
“Hah… These human beings are always full of surprises, aren’t they?” Vincent continued.
Sid who sat to the side counted on his fingers and said, “Then… the miscalculation has been corrected right?” He paused. “Xu Huai Shang that did not get into the final and Yama who has already used dragon slave, the responsibility that they had basically had been completely by Pegasus alone.”
“Hue hue hue… not entirely.” Woody replied. “Actually, the name list of the ‘ten’ is merely a safety precaution to raise the success rate of the plan. Base don the players’ different skill, item, character status and playing habit, an overall calculation and analysis had been done… to select these ten people to specifically counter the ten different forms that ROOT would have.” He explained further. “Theoretically speaking, it does not even matter even if none of the ten got into the final. As long as one of the players, the anomalies or the NPC manage to destroy one of ROOT’s forms with their own power, then the result that it will lead to will be the same.”
“I am very curious… what if a wrench was thrown into the plan, and caused ROOT’s intention to dominate the world to succeed?” Sid asked.
“Hue Hue hue… then it will be even more interesting to observe…” Woody pushed on his glasses. “What kind of world will the human world turns into…”
“Hey… you did not really answer my question, did you…” Sid pressed. “That just sounds like I do not care ‘what will happen to this world’.”
“Perhaps that is exactly the attitude that he holds…” Vincent offered. “After all, this is not a mission given by Satan, to be frank, it does not matter who wins… It does not matter what is the result…” He scoffed. “First the man went to ROOT to tell her, ‘this is the stage that I have provided for you Origin, have as much as fun as you can.’ Then after the match-making has been messed during the Battle of the Butterfly, the man went to unload on Feng Bujue…”
“oh… so I have been seen through all along…” Woody gasped in fake shock.
“Naturally…” Vincent said, “The excuse that you used, ‘it is to prevent Feng Bujue from digging further into the secret of Wang family that I had no choice but to interact with him’, that just sounds like a blatant lie on the surface… you really think Simon can’t see through that? He was just too tired to care about it.” His finger knocked several times on the table. “The bunch of people from Heaven… had just done something guilty so they did not dare to stand forward to question you for what you have done… but what they did not know what you have been hoping for them to do exactly that and you have been allowing them to do that because it worked perfectly into your own plan…”
“Hue hue hue…. Fine…” Woody shrugged. “It does not matter that I am exposed or not… no matter how the situation is laid down… the most important thing is whether the ‘process is interesting or not’ right?”
“Perhaps.” Vincent looked a good long look at Woody and then he turned his focus back to the screen.
…
And now back to the battle in the city…
On the sky above the battlefield, the silvery white punches fell like cats and dogs. They were like lightning, hails, sparks of pure energy lighting up the battlefield.
It was the same skill of Pegasasu Ryūsei Ken but the damage and the accuracy were increased for multiple times. Every single punch landed on the two ROOTs precisely and accurately. There was not one punch that strayed from the target and there was not one trace of energy that was wasted. ROOTs in her fifth and sixth form was covered in a shower of light and there was nowhere to run. They were melted into liquid form under the pressure of the fists… and the twin mode was announced a failure.
But… after using the last instance of Pegasasu Ryūsei Ken, the small universe within Pegasus had flickered out of light and the man stopped breathing after completing his mission.
“The young man from Celestia did quite a good job…” While Zen Dream weaved his blade to deal with the enemy, he looked down the distance to say, “And in comparison… if we continue to waste time here, it will look so bad on us…”
“Ah… indeed, it is quite a shame that we still can’t take this enemy down even though there are 3 of us against one of him.” Flashes of Sword said, “Why don’t… you two take a rest?”
“You should have said that sooner!” Hearing that, Red Iron took on his offer immediately. He used a sneak attack and then pulled out from the fray. Honestly… he had been wanting to retreat for some time already but he was afraid once he did that, the two players would not be able to handle Quick Bell on their own so he had been holding on to help them.
Obviously, the punch that ROOT delivered through his chest was much more serious than it looked on the surface. If one had to make an analogy, his injury… was like a computer whose system file had already been corrupted, if he continued to use this machine, the monitor might shut down at any moment.
“Then I shall accept your offer…” Zen Dream added and soon withdrew from the battle. He shrunk back for several steps and already moved more than 10 metres away. Then with a kick underneath him, he flew into the air, twirled his body around and reached out to grab Pegasus who was falling down from the sky. Unfortunately, Zen Dream soon realized the thing that had landed in his arms… was already a dead body.
“Flashes of Sword… don’t you think you have overestimated yourself?” The murderous glint grew under Quick Bell’s goggles. “And to make it even more incendiary is that… those two really think you can deal with me on your own…” he sneered. “Do you think you are…” Quick Bell said what he had to say when the daggers in his hands shone in many layers and the aura from the cold steel rode on the wind and cut towards Flashes of Sword.
The latter though did not appear to panic or worry. His body moved gracefully like a dragon and the blade came alive in his grasp. He either used evasion or blocking to slowly counter the opponent’s attack one by one. The rebound from Quick Bell’s daggers swept the surrounding, leaving behind deep gashes in the surrounding walls and ground but none of them was able to injure Flashes of Sword.
“Hmm… This feels much better.” Flashes of Sword raised his brow and smile. He said mockingly. “The stylistic of your attack is too simple and brash. If not for your advantage in speed… you are nothing…” What Flashes of Sword pointed out was indeed Quick Bell’s fatal weakness. Indeed Quick Bell had a speed that even ROOT could not rival but… in terms of strategy and skill in battle, he was just above average. The blow that bounced Red Iron back was the best proof of this. Because they had crossed path in the past before, therefore, Red Iron already knew all the routine that Quick Bell would normally use. This time, Red Iron only used a small test and he realized… the dwarf was still using the same routine. And an opponent like Quick Bell was exactly the type of opponent that was right up Flashes of Sword’s alley.
When we talk about close quarter combat, Flashes of Sword was undeniably one of the best at it. When he faced Feng Bujue for the first time, he did not have the advantage in speed but he managed to corner Brother Jue easily. If not for Brother Jue’s sudden awakening of his Sorcery Weapon, Brother Jue would be a dead meat already.
And in this moment, in his duel with Quick Bell, Flashes of Sword had gained even more experience than before. Zen Dream who was a master swordsman himself, knew this so he retreated because he knew Flashes of Sword would be able to handle this adversary on his own.
“I am nothing, is it…” Quick Bell said darkly, “Then I will let you see something…”
The sentence ended and the man disappeared. In this blink of an eye, Quick Bell disappeared from sight.
[Teleportation?] This was Flashes of Sword’s first reaction. But he was wrong.
Xiu xiu xiu…
Sharp and gruelling slashes started to spread out in a circle with the spot that Quick Bell had just disappeared as the centre…
In the shortest amount of time, half of the street was ravaged by this bladed tornado, raising up dust and earth.
Flashes of Sword made a mistake. Even though he managed to counter Quick Bell when he was fighting with him using a normal dagger skill but this kind of method that relied purely on mere strength and pure destruction was something that he could not handle. At this moment, the distance between the power level of the player and a level 1 anomaly was showcased most directly and openly. In terms of pure strength and speed, they were not even on the same level.
Flashes of Sword’s face blanched as he raised his blade and tried to block against the endless blows. However… he was a body of flesh with a blade of only several inches, it was like trying to dam against a tsunami using a sandbag. Rocks cracked whenever the tornado moved fast. Instantly more than several blood gashes appeared on Flashes of Sword’s body. He was being thrown into a pool of man-eating piranhas. He stood in the eye of the storm, being cut into pieces little by little. Flashes of Sword died eventually with not even a full body. The hail of wind stopped and the dwarf showed himself again.
“Ha ha ha ha ha…” Quick Bell who stopped attacking vented the rancour that he had been holding in. He could not help but enjoy this moment. “Where is that arrogance that you were showing earlier! Ha ha ha ha ha…”
Pa!
Suddenly, a hand grasped on Quick Bell’s head. And his laughter choked in his throat…
Then the owner of the hand grabbed Quick Bell up by his head like a basketball and swung him 180 degree around. Quick Bell’s sight was thrown upside down and soon a person appeared in his line of sight, it was a woman covered in blood…
So.. about 10 seconds later, Not a Scaredy Cat saw the mortal danger Flashes of Sword was in and she was desperate to go and help. She swung the Storm Spear heavily around and forced back the 5 Anomalies who had surrounded her. Then she lost sight of everything else and charged towards Flashes of Sword with everything that she got. Unfortunately, she was still unable to save Flashes of Sword, if anything, she was attacked by the tornado from the back and at that moment, she was also on the last leg of her life.
“Shortie… do you know how long I’ve been waiting to do this…” Not a Scaredy Cat’s hair was dishevelled and she had not looked worse in her life. But her eyes were burning like amber like a pair of red eyes. Fury was palpable around her and it practically materialized around her. “If you have appeared with the contrition of ‘oh, I am so sorry to be breathing the same air as the rest of you’ or find a corner to care about yourself like most dwarves in popular fiction… like perhaps I would have forgiven you…”
“Put me down this instance!” Quick Bell hated being picked up like this the most. He instantly pulled out his double daggers and plunged at Not a Scaredy Cat’s neck. Even though she avoided the attack by pulling back her neck, two deep gashes still left on the sides of her neck and blood burst out like fountain.
“Fine, if you have asked for it so politely…” Not a Scaredy Cat grimaced in the face of banshee and she did not seem to register the pain and the loss of blood in her mind. When she spoke, she tossed the Storm Spear in her left hand to the side and then using both of her arms, she used her ultimate!
This skill was called a rapid spin pile driver!
There was no skill description… because this was not a skill. It was merely one of the many skills that she had been trying out on Flashes of Swords in the past…
In any case, the level 1 Anomaly J1-Quick Bell gave the last of his breath after taking a blow from this classic WWE tactic.
And Not a Scaredy Cat was unable to stand up anymore after using this skill.
…
On the other side of the battlefield, after putting down Pegasus’ body, Zen Dream rushed to Uncle Worthless’ side and joined him in battle. By then Ambitionist was already dead and Red Iron had retreated to the side. These two players were the last defensive line on the battlefield. Earlier, the two saw Flashes of Sword and Not a Scaredy Cat sacrificed themselves one after another but there was nothing they could. The amount of revives ROOT had aside… even the closing circle of the several level 3 Anomalies, they already had a difficulty to deal with. Thankfully… there was a chance of event at that moment.
Suddenly four shadows darted out from the street. They moved like water, and their attack fiery as fire. They cut through the circle of Anomalies and it did not take long for them to deal with the group of Anomalies and gave a new breathe into the battle.
“You’re finally here….” Seeing the arrival of reinforcement, Uncle Worthless could not help the sigh of relief that escaped from her lips. He went down on one knee and the breath sounded hollow in his chest…
After such a long continuous battle, and he was dealing with 10 Anomalies on his own, even Uncle Worthless could only hold on for so long. The revive ability through the sunglasses could not be used repeatedly within a short period of time so at this moment, he could not receive any more fatal damage.
“I am sorry… we ran into quite some resistance along the way and that gave us quite some delay…” Shiva said as he took a quick around. He looked at the dead bodies that were ravaged beyond recognition but based on their guild logos, he could have a good guess of who they were.
“Even Smiling Divine Question is…”
“Not only him… even our Lying Drunk is dead.” Zen Dream got the chance to catch his breath and the first thing he did was to pull out a cigarette, dangle it on his lips and light it up. “But his carcass is so chopped up that you won’t be able to see it.”
Hearing that, Shiva’s face shifted. He looked around for a few more seconds before he asked, “Where is Phantom Dawn?”
“He flew away.” Zen Dream replied. “But he is… probably still alive… so he will… eventually return.” He took out a can of beer and tossed back a generous gulp. “Burp… Hopefully we will be alive until then.”
“I have great suspicion…” ROOT’s voice returned as they expected. “…with regards to that.” This time, she had turned into a giant, metallic looking snowflake.
“What the hell is this?” Shiva asked.
“This is the leader of the Anomalies that we have encountered all over the scenario.” Uncle Worthless answered. “In any case… she seems to possess many different forms and every time she dies, she will transform into a different form.”
“And this is her…” Shiva prompted.
“Fourth form.” ROOT helped Uncle Worthless answer this question, “and the end of your life…”
“Ha ha ha…” Uncle Worthless laughed drily for three times. Then, he suddenly focused and turned on the offense without warning. “Mafuba!” This attack was indeed suddenly. Before the pool of green light appeared, no one suspected anything. Actually… the few seconds of relaxation that Uncle Worthless showed earlier was done purposely to numb the enemy. The eyes under his sunglasses had never left the movement of his enemy. Even when he was being surrounded by the other Anomalies, his eyes had been following ROOT. The gaze that Lying Drunk had before he delivered his fatal blow was fresh in his mind. Uncle Worthless knew that if he was able to seal the enemy with this skill, then the battle would be over. Therefore, this was a bet that he was willing to place his life on.
Hong..
The sound of energy collision signified that Mafuba had hit its target. But… the color drained from Uncle Worthless’ face. It was like he had turned into a ghost. That was because he did not hit ROOT but he hit a normal Level 3 Anomaly. This Anomaly from Origin from very close to ROOT. When the light beam from Mafuba rushed towards his leader, he leaped into the attack and managed to successfully block the attack.
“Damn it…” Uncle Worthless sighed weakly. Since he had already hit a target, there was nothing he could do about it but to finish the skill that he had already started. He pushed his palms together and then threw them open and with a swing of his arms, shoved the Anomaly into the rice cooker. Uncle Worthless wanted to run towards the rice cooker to slam the lid close but at that moment… his life point dropped to zero.
“I am so… sorry… I…” Uncle Worthless was unable to finish his dying words. With a trip, he crumbled to the ground and his sunglasses shattered into blinding shards.
Zen Dream turned around and with a dart, moved to close the rice cooker by stepping on the lid. “Aiz… so be it…”
Hmm hmm hmm hmmm…
“Move your leg…” ROOT’s voice came from inside the giant snowflake. At the same time, a hexagram prism the size of a palm materialized before her and it was buzzing like a thousand of bees. “…Away!”
Tsk hmm…
With this strange sound, a light beam shot out from the hexagram prism. When Zen Dream realized what was happening, the part below his right knee had already been severed…
To be able to amputate Brother Zen without him realizing it, that went to show the immense speed of this light beam. At that moment, Zen Dream did something that surprised everyone, he laughed. He laughed like he had no care in the world.
“Ha ha ha ha…. Run….” He said, as he tossed another gulp of beer into his mouth. When the moment his leg was cut off, Zen Dream came to the realization of many things. It was why he would come up with these dying words.
Tsk hmm—another sound echoed.
There was a hole about the size of a bowl that appeared on the centre of Zen Dream’s chest. Even if he had two complete legs, he would not be able to avoid this attack much less when he only had one leg remaining.
“Even Quick Bell has been killed…” ROOT said. “Looks like you guys are not as weak as I thought, thankfully I have made all the preparation already…”
The four from Brahman naturally did not understand what she was talking about. Of course, even if it was someone else, they might not understand her either. The ‘preparation’ that ROOT mentioned referred to the level 3 Anomalies that had currently surrounded them. Naturally, they did not come here because they heard or saw the commotion of the battle. If that was the case, they would have arrived when ROOT was fighting the leader of the demons. In reality… the Anomalies gathered at this place because ROOT gave them the command to do so.
Before ROOT pushed Phantom Dawn down the horizon, she said something along the lines of ‘since it has already been decided that it will you… then things will be much simpler,’ it was at that moment that she gave all the Anomalies from Origin a silent command through her mind telepathically—instantly kill or escape from the enemy that you are fighting at the moment. No matter the enemy is a player of an NPC, return to the Blast Tunnel from the east side to help with the battle as soon as possible.
It was also at that moment that Red Iron had just shown up and the players had just finished her in her twin form. Even though ROOT managed to deliver a heavy blow on Red Iron given the first chance she got but she still had this reservation left… the main reason was to prevent something like Mafuba. Theoretically, she needed to eliminate any possibility that might cause her plan to fail. And thus the situation that happened earlier happened.
The four from Brahman was already way past their optimum status. While they were on the way here, they had been ambushed many time by many level 3 Anomalies and a level 2 Anomaly. To deal with them, they had exhausted quite some skill and Life Points.
Currently, they looked to be surrounded by more than 20 enemies and that included ROOT in her fourth form and this was already the worst of the worst. However… that was not even the worst that it could get. The other Anomalies from Origin were still hurrying here from the other parts of the city. In the few minutes after the four had arrived, about another 5 to 6 Anomalies had joined the fray.
And with regards to Red Iron… The man had lost without a trace after he disengaged from Quick Bell, who knew where he had gone into hiding to deal with his injury.
And with the situation could not getting any worse… suddenly…