Volume 10 Bugs Chapter 12: The Loser Didn’t Lose
This was a very troublesome duel.
Originally, no matter from which perspective, I had to lose this battle: my lifelong pursuit of my dream required calming the emotions of the guild members, the Hammer of Punishment Knights needed the honor of a victory, we needed to save our own lives, and we also had to find a way to reconcile with our opponents, which meant...
Damn it, it seems like everyone is expecting me to lose!
If it were just this, it would be fine. Although I am a warrior with a strong sense of honor, I am not a dull and stubborn person. I would not do such a stupid thing as to betray the good intentions of pursuing my dream all my life and ruin my precious life just for ridiculous vanity. It's just a harmless failure, I can accept it completely.
But the most troublesome thing was Foxiao's advice: I wanted to lose, but I couldn't lose too obviously. I had to let my opponent feel that I took this duel seriously, that I had tried my best, and that I would eventually lose in a fair fight and fall down with dignity. I couldn't let him find out that I was actually absent-minded, and that he would feel that we despised him and feel humiliated instead...
In response to this request, Foxiao gave a very profound explanation, which roughly meant: This is called retreat in order to advance, by creating a delicate situation on the battlefield to ease the atmosphere so that the enemy and us can reach an understanding and win the initiative in diplomatic negotiations, etc...
To put it simply, my mission is: not only to make the lifelong dreamer win, but also to make him win happily; not only to make him win happily, but also to make the members of the Knights of the Hammer of Punishment happy to see him win; not only to make them happy to see him win, but also to make sure that they are not too embarrassed and feel good for the sake of face.
Then I discovered very painfully: if everything goes well, everyone can be happy, and only I will be unhappy - nonsense, if I stab you to death with a knife and then ask you: "Brother, are you happy now?" would you nod your head contentedly?
The heavy psychological burden made me upset and it was difficult to concentrate. I didn't even know how this "duel" with a clear outcome began. When I realized that I was being attacked, the hammer that I had been obsessed with my dream for a lifetime was already less than an arm's length away from me. The heavy hammer head drew an arc in the air, making a low roar and heading straight for my head.
In panic, my whole body immediately fell backwards, and I raised the shield in my left hand to meet the incoming hammer. A thunderous roar exploded above my head, and I felt that the hammer did not just fall on my arm, but on my heart, smashing my remaining confidence and courage into pieces, making me even more confused.
Under this blow, I completely lost my balance and fell heavily to the ground. The armor on my body rubbed against the ground, making a harsh friction sound like a cat's claws, which sounded very embarrassing. At this critical moment, I didn't even think about how to deal with the opponent's attack. Instead, I subconsciously looked in the direction of Foxiao and the others, feeling deeply uneasy: What bad luck, I was knocked down in the first blow, is it too embarrassing? Will the opponent think that I let him go on purpose? What should I do?
I saw Foxiao holding his forehead with his right hand and shaking his head helplessly, as if he was very dissatisfied with my performance. I became more and more flustered and didn't know what to do.
In fact, compared to the trance in my heart, the loss of health points was insignificant. Countless battle experiences allowed my body to react in time and correctly. A simple "block" skill deflected the heavy blow, and my health points only decreased by less than 30 points - in the words of Xiange Yayi, this was simply a minor skin injury that "even a Band-Aid would be a waste."
Worried that my passive behavior would be misunderstood and lead to some serious "diplomatic conflict", I rolled on the ground, half-raised myself, raised my left hand shield to protect my upper body, and suddenly thrust the long sword forward in my right hand, piercing the thigh of someone who had been obsessed with his dream all his life.
"Puff..." A flash of blood splashed, and one hundred and fifty points of life rushed out.
Oh no - I immediately started to wonder - was this a bit too much? If I had known I would not have used any skills, I would have just used a normal attack. What if I hurt the opponent too badly and made him angry?
I glanced again and saw Xian Ge Yayi frowning and pointing at me, as if she was accusing me of something.
I couldn't figure out what he meant, and I felt even more uncertain. With my attack speed, I could have stabbed him one more time, but because I was afraid of making a mistake, I missed the opportunity.
You can imagine how much torture the next few rounds were for me. Every time I attacked, I was hesitant, afraid that if I hit too hard, my opponent would be unhappy, and I was afraid that if I hit too light, he would think I was humiliating him; similarly, every time he attacked, I was very hesitant, not knowing whether to dodge the attack as much as possible, or to honestly show my butt and take the hit.
Fortunately, although the defense of the Paladin, an adventurous profession, is particularly tough, its attack power is not very commendable. I have fought with Yu Meng several times, and we have only lost about one-third of each other's lives. There has been no diplomatic tragedy in which I accidentally killed him or he accidentally killed me too easily.
Even so, my situation was bad enough. I found myself trapped in a vicious cycle that was difficult to escape: the more panicked I became, the more I couldn't help but look at my companions' opinions; and their frustrated or angry expressions did not help me to calm down, but only made me more panicked.
This situation certainly won't last long. Soon, I lost my rhythm in the panic and didn't know how to deal with the current situation. When I just witnessed the violent reaction of Changgong Sheri, I turned around and found a huge black shadow covering my head...
"Bang..."
I'll bet anyone knows what it feels like to be hit in the face with a big, heavy hammer better than I do.
At first, I just felt that the whole world was shaking violently - in fact, only my head was shaking - and then a strong and stimulating tingling sensation went along my nasal cavity and drilled into my skull, making me feel salty, spicy, sour and painful, as if someone was forcing a large bottle of "Coca Explosive Mustard Sauce" into your nose one by one, or as if someone was stuffing a "Celebration Sky-High Fireworks" into your nostrils and then setting it off, or even as if someone had stuffed a large-scale orchestra into your nose, playing a thunderous Stellar dance at the highest volume, and also came with a 200-person choir, pouring the sky-high noise directly into your head.
This is a "pungent" pain, and believe me, it is definitely much more unbearable than those "piercing" pains you know.
I couldn't stop shedding miserable tears, and I envied the appearance of the orcs more than ever before - these ugly green guys had big nostrils, which were almost parallel to their mouths, as if two holes were drilled directly in the middle of their heads, and they almost didn't have a "nose bridge", a handsome, upright, but fragile and cumbersome organ. So I can assert that if they were hit by a war hammer like this, they would definitely not be as painful as I was.
But I changed my mind and felt better: Well, luckily I am not a minotaur...
This heavy blow caused me to be dizzy for a short time, during which my left shoulder was hit hard again. Fortunately , because my nose was hurting badly, this attack did not cause me much pain - of course, it seemed that there was nothing to be thankful for.
Then, the pain in my nasal cavity did not disappear, but moved to my forehead, converging at the point between my eyebrows. I felt that this constant oscillation of pain was desperately expanding, almost wanting to burst my skull. I didn't know how to relieve this extreme pain, so I could only hold my head and scream loudly:
“Ah…”
My scream was so loud that even I was startled. It was then that I realized that I subconsciously used the skill "Fearful Roar" when I screamed. Fortunately, I was able to temporarily stop the lifelong dream from continuing to pursue me, and bought myself a moment of recovery.
The fighting spirit in my body kept surging with the "roar of fear". I don't know if it was an accident or just my illusion, but I seemed to feel a huge force going upstream and hitting my forehead with great force, like a sledgehammer, constantly hitting my forehead which was causing me unbearable pain. The sense of pain was squeezed hard, doubly stimulating my nerves. I clearly felt that my head was getting more and more painful, but I felt that this feeling was very comfortable and it didn't make me more painful.
Suddenly, I felt a surge of force pressing upwards, and then my forehead seemed to be really stretched and exploded.
There was a crack in my head! At first I was horrified.
No, there was a crack in my mind! Then I touched my forehead, which was completely normal, and made the right judgment.
As this crack opened, the countless pains that were choking my head and driving me crazy seemed to have found a way to vent, as if they were sucked out by a vacuum, and disappeared completely in an instant, and the depression that felt like a huge rock squeezing my chest also disappeared. My mind felt clearer than ever before, and even my eyes and ears became extra sharp, as if I could sense some profound and mysterious philosophical thoughts from the swaying of a tree's branches...
Thanks to his lifelong persistence in dreams - although it is unlikely that he did it intentionally - this blow awakened my mind and freed me from those troubling thoughts, as if I had suddenly realized the truth.
Simply put, this hammer opened my eyes.
I suddenly figured out one thing:
The one I’m fighting with is the president of the first guild in the Continental Alliance, a brave man who has experienced hundreds of battles, and a paladin of the same level as me!
He is not a low-level rookie who can be killed by me!
Look at the armor he is wearing. The golden armor is the "Knight of Justice" suit that belongs exclusively to the Paladin. At our current level, this is already a rare and top-grade equipment. Even a master above level 50 may not be able to put together such a dazzling armor.
Let's take a look at his weapon. This "God's Punishment" hammer, like Niu Baiwan's obsidian pillar, is a temple reward for this brave Paladin during the server-merging war for his brave performance. It has many attributes, and his shield is also of excellent quality and extraordinary attributes. In addition, his rings, necklaces, cloaks... are all enviable high-end goods, which makes me, a nouveau riche who just earned more than 10,000 gold coins, envious.
Even if I put all my strength into fighting him without reservation, I might not be his opponent. How could I still be thinking about "not hurting him too badly" or "not letting him kill me too quickly"?
This is totally wishful and arrogant thinking!
Face the reality, I have no ability to control the outcome of this duel!
If that’s the case, I have nothing to worry about!
Fight him!
I slashed with my backhand, and I saw a dark green light trembling in my hand, and then it scraped the paladin's chest fiercely.
He had also gotten rid of the influence of "Roar of Terror" by now, and the huge hammer hit my ribs.
Ninety-five to one hundred and thirty, in this exchange of metal and blood, it seems that I am at a disadvantage.
However, this is not the case . The attack speed of a long sword is much faster than that of a warhammer, and I chose this "Rattlesnake Wind Blade" because of its swift speed.
Another sword swept past, and Lifelong Clinging to Dreams lost another 107 points of life. Not only that, the poison attached to the sword had taken effect, and his life was continuing to drop at a rate of more than 20 points per second.
It can be seen that the president of the First Guild is extremely confident in his own defense, and has become accustomed to this kind of fighting method of charging and attacking recklessly under the attack of the opponent. In fact, his equipment is too luxurious, and no matter who he meets at this level, he will have some advantages.
However, the person he met was me - a forsaken person who was outside the laws of the gods.
And in my hands, I also hide a piece of heaven-defying equipment that goes against the will of the gods: boxing gloves.
The extra 40 points of attack power may not seem like much, but it increased my attack power by almost a quarter. One or two strikes may not make much difference, but after a few rounds, it accumulates into serious damage that cannot be ignored.
Finally, in this rough and fierce fight, the persistent Yu Meng showed his cowardice. He was surprised to find that I could cause him quite serious damage and gain the upper hand in the head-on fight. When I had more than 400 health points left, his health points had dropped to about 300 points.
Moreover, the gap is still widening...
