Volume 10 Bugs Chapter 52 The Impossible Fourth Arrow
Although the opening game ended in a humiliating defeat, our opponents did not seem to be too frustrated. It was as if they had long been accustomed to the Shadow Followers' weak fighting power and had not held any expectations for her performance from the beginning - of course, in fact, this idea was also very wise - after calmly accepting the loss of the first game, they quickly sent out the next player.
The second one to come on stage was the level 49 vampire Fallen Knight. Similar to the Shadow Follower, the Fallen Knight was the only special class in the Doomsday Empire that was transformed from a warrior, in contrast to the Paladins of the Falvi Continent. Compared to the Paladins, the Fallen Knights did not have many recovery spells blessed by the Supreme God Darimos, nor did they have so many magic skills to enhance their own defense effects. However, the goddess of darkness and death, Tevri Milans, gave them the cold and sharp war blade, which allowed them to greatly increase their attack power in a short period of time and cause the opponent to have various unfavorable negative states when attacking. In addition, as an auxiliary means of attack, the Fallen Knights also mastered a series of long-range attack shadow magic, which could meet various different combat needs.
The name of this fallen blood knight is "I Love Sunbathing". Such a fierce and weird name made me look sideways in surprise - imagine if you saw a pale, chubby blood baby with two small fangs sticking out of his lips on the street, with a scary name like "I love to rinse my mouth with garlic juice", "I love to wash my butt with holy water" or "I love to poke my heart with a sharpened oak stick" displayed on his head, I believe your reaction would be the same as mine.
Although he was the lowest level among all the people present, the excellent equipment made up for the weaknesses of this young vampire knight to some extent: he wore a "Shadow Dragon Bone Breastplate" that could increase more than 360 points of defense and more than 220 points of vitality; the fiery red "Guardian of the Night" helmet on his head could increase 126 points of defense and 110 points of magic power; the luxurious cloak called "Embrace of the Moon Goddess" draped on his back could not only increase more than 80 points of defense, but also emit light at night or in dark caves. The light increases the range of vision; and the most eye-catching thing is the "Shadowfang's two-handed greatsword" in his hand. This heavy weapon, which is as heavy as a long-handled battle axe, is forged from an unknown metal. The whole body is a thick, dull and uniform black color, as if it has absorbed all the light around it, and even the sharpest edge of the blade does not reveal a trace of luster, but the whole body exudes a sharp aura, making people feel that the dull black metal is emitting a sharp light that is invisible to the naked eye, and the invisible brilliance is so bright that it is impossible to look directly at it.
A crisp bell rang, announcing the start of the second battle. Before the bell rang, I Love Sunbathing dragged the double-edged, serrated, dark black two-handed giant sword with both hands, and strode towards Xiange Yayi. The dull sword edge rubbed against the stone slab on the ring, making a disturbing noise all the way, as if a monster was grinding its teeth, and couldn't wait to bite the enemy's flesh - it seemed that he didn't intend to use his half-baked shadow magic in this battle, but put all the chips for victory on the melee advantage of a heavily armored warrior.
"Xiange Yayi is going to be in big trouble now!" Looking at the indomitable and resolute momentum of the Fallen Knight of the Vampire Clan, I couldn't help but shook my head and sighed softly. I was very worried about the outcome of this battle for our elven partners.
"Not necessarily..." Perhaps my negative emotions caused strong disgust among some people. Miss Feiyin glanced at me coldly with her eyebrows raised, and said questioningly, "...Xiao Xianzi's consumption in the last game was not too great, and this opponent is three levels lower than him. It is still very likely that he will win two games in a row."
I spread my hands and shrugged my shoulders, wisely giving up arguing with our president. I just nodded towards the ring, signaling her to verify with her own eyes whether we were right or wrong.
As we all know, every fallen knight can cast some basic shadow magic, such as the level 30 spell "Shadow Blade". Although this is only a low-level attack spell that can only cause less than 100 points of damage to the opponent, it is an instant magic that does not consume any casting time. Therefore, this spell is also the preferred skill of almost all fallen knights to seize the initiative and kill the opponent first in battle. Among all the fallen knights I have seen, there is no one who does not use this magic as the opening skill of the battle. For most fallen knights, using a "Shadow Blade" to kick off the battle is not even a tactic - it is more like a tradition, a habit, and even a fixed ritual that is old-fashioned and cannot be changed.
Not only that, the Fallen Knights also have many long-range attack spells such as "Shadowfang Assault" and "Shadow Sword". The power of these magics may not be as great as the lethality they unleash in close combat, but before approaching the opponent and fighting with all your strength, they are an important factor in weakening the enemy and gaining an advantage for yourself - even if these advantages are not so obvious, but in the battle of life and death, even the slightest advantage may determine the life and death of two brave souls.
The left hand hides the brilliance of magic, while the right hand holds the sharpness of a warrior. In the treacherous shadow of magic, he advances towards the enemy step by step, and will eventually win the reputation of the victor with fierce fighting - this is the battle of the fallen knight, walking between insidiousness and courage, covering a fiery fighting spirit with black magic clouds, and sticking to the knight's path that belongs only to him with the fallen soul of an alien race.
But now, the young vampire named "I Love Sunbathing" on the ring violated the combat routines usually followed by the fallen knights: he completely abandoned the convenience of long-range attack magic, allowing the oncoming arrows to tear his flesh, but forbade the thought of hasty counterattack, and paved a bloody road to kill the enemy with his perseverance. His performance was not like that of a fallen knight who practiced both magic and martial arts and had a clear plan for advance and retreat, but more like a pure melee professional. He was more like a determined warrior than a warrior, and more like a brave berserker than a berserker.
Standing in the enemy's position, I can feel more clearly that he did this not because he was stupid. On the contrary, he did this to fully prove his sobriety and wisdom, or to go further, the courageous decision of this fallen vampire knight showed his deep understanding of this five-on-five duel - he was the lowest level among the ten people present, but this did not make him a weak person in the ring, because in my opinion, he might also be the most far-sighted one among the ten people present, which was enough to make up for his slight gap in level and make him a key figure active in this ring.
The Blood Knight knew exactly what he was doing. He had accurately assessed his own strength and knew that he had at least a 90% chance of defeating the Elf Archer, who had already consumed nearly half of his strength. However, this record was already the limit of his ability. There was no way he could defeat the next opponent with wounds all over his body after a fierce battle with Xian Ge Yayi. The gap in level and combat power could not be eliminated by relying solely on courage or brains.
Faced with such a situation, he actually has two choices. The most common choice is: to make defeating the opponent the first goal, to exert the maximum combat power at all costs, to defeat the enemy as quickly as possible, to preserve his own life to the maximum extent in preparation for the next battle that is bound to be lost - this is also the choice that most people will make: to kill the enemy and preserve oneself. The endless mutual hunting between the Alliance and the Empire warriors has allowed this simple, plain, yet reasonable combat concept to penetrate into the hearts of almost every adventurer, and then become a fighter's instinct, seeping into the blood of every hunter and prey.
However, this fallen vampire knight named "I Love Sunbathing" did not do so. He abandoned the skills that were more convenient for him, and at the cost of most of his life value, he approached the enemy with all his strength, and entered the melee combat he was good at at the fastest speed, transforming every drop of magic into the greatest destructive power, trying to defeat the opponent in a more dangerous and "thrifty" way. This tactic may greatly increase its life loss, but the benefits are also obvious - he can preserve his magic power to the maximum extent.
Between more vitality and more magic, he chose the latter without hesitation, which was the wisest thing about this young vampire. He keenly discovered the huge difference between this five-on-five competition and the common one-on-one duel: in this arena, what we have to do is not just to knock down an opponent in front of us, but to consume the opponent as much as possible, even if there is no hope of winning, we must maximize the damage and create more favorable conditions for the teammates who will play later.
For I Love Sunbathing, without the support of magic, even if he saves more vitality, he can only hold on for a little longer against the next opponent. The lethality of magic attack skills is simply incomparable to that of ordinary attacks. Instead of doing this, it is better to risk his life and fight hard in the next fight, which can cause more damage to the opponent. This should be the decision .
Two whistling arrows tore open the belly of the fallen vampire knight. A large amount of blood splashed onto the ground and quickly seeped into the cracks in the stone slabs on the ring, staining the ground dark red.
I love to bask in the sun without any hesitation. Every time he took a step, the metal boots would make a decisive clanging sound because of the force of stepping on the ground. This decisive clanging sound connected in a series, like an indomitable front, pointing directly at the elegant music in front of him.
Facing the fierce opponent, Xiange Yayi seemed to have no intention of backing down - in fact, although the arena looked very spacious, once you start to retreat, you will soon be forced into a dead end, as was proven by the Shadow Follower who had just been easily defeated - he pulled out another feather arrow from the quiver behind him, lightly placed it on the bowstring, and shot it steadily, hitting his opponent's thigh.
Three arrows, more than 500 health points, I love to bask in the sun at such a high price to approach to the position of about five steps away from the song of the string. This distance is close enough, so close that as long as he stretched out his hand, the shadow tooth giant sword could be chopped down on the head, giving the opponent a fierce blow.
Three arrows, this seems to be the limit. At this distance, even a skilled and experienced archer can only shoot three arrows. After three arrows, the initiative of the battle will change hands, and the melee warriors wearing heavy armor will have the opportunity to show their powerful military strength.
Only then did Xian Ge Ya Yi seem to feel some fear. He quickly turned around and retreated, while hurriedly pulling out another feather arrow, preparing for the next attack .
However, the Blood Clan Fallen Knight would no longer give him a chance to shoot calmly! I Love Sunbathing took a step forward, swept his hands, and the Shadowfang Greatsword immediately spun out a black shadow, swiftly moving towards the back of Xiange Yayi.
Everything seems to have been decided.
But is everything decided?
not yet!
Just when he was about to be engulfed by the sharp shadow, Xiange Yayi suddenly stopped - no, not only stopped retreating, the elf archer was like a cunning and ferocious wolf, swiftly arched his back, bent down and turned back to approach the center of the shadow. His movements were so swift that when I loved to sunbathe, Xiange Yayi had already of him, and the distance between the two was so close that even an assassin holding a dagger would feel a little oppressive.
At some point, the feather arrow in Xiange Yayi's hand had been put on the bowstring. The bow was opened, like a full moon, held in front of his chest. An arrowhead gleaming with a terrifying silver luster was tightly attached to the jaw of the fallen knight of the vampire clan.
I guess he has never seen an arrowhead so clearly...
In an instant, a brilliant light suddenly bloomed from the impenetrable darkness, like a meteor streaking across the sky, instantly illuminating the night shrouded in dark clouds.
Another sharp arrow left the bowstring and fiercely pierced the target made of flesh and blood, then it was covered with a layer of hideous red light and flew straight into the sky.
When everyone thought he had reached the end of his rope, Xian Ge Ya Yi shot his fourth arrow.
Almost at the same time, two huge blood flowers splashed all over the sky, and it seemed as if a red rain fell in the center of the ring. The two people immersed in this bloody rain cried out in pain at the same time and staggered back a few steps.
I believe that for most of the people present, this was the first time in their lives that they saw a heavily armored knight being repelled by a frail archer in hand-to-hand combat.
No other archer could be as accustomed to close combat as Xian Ge Yayi, even a warrior or a wanderer could not adapt to this kind of fighting close to the opponent's chest like him. The dark experience of having to survive from the wolves' kisses and cats' claws again and again due to the limitation of vision made him have a kind of tough and almost numb calmness towards the approaching enemies, and he had a subtle sensitivity to control the distance and speed in this kind of close combat that was far better than that of ordinary warriors, which allowed him to seize this lightning-fast opportunity and shoot the impossible fourth arrow in the nick of time.
The arrow shot head-on pierced the Vampire Knight's jaw and cheek, leaving a bloody wound on his face. More than 270 health points were wiped out with the arrow. The chain helmet forged from fine iron was torn apart easily like a piece of tattered leather, and the broken iron rings made a "squeaking" sound, as if they were trembling because of the extremely dangerous arrow just now.
At this time, I Love Sunbathing showed admirable fortitude and decisiveness. Even though he suffered an unexpected and fierce counterattack, he did not hesitate at all, raised his huge two-handed sword and rushed forward. As he thrust his sword forward, a dark purple magic fire suddenly appeared, attached to the sharp blade burned coldly.
This "Flame of Punishment" is only a small spell of level 15, and its only effect is to add a certain degree of fire damage to the fallen knight's weapon. But at this moment, for this cold-blooded young man, this is the most affordable and practical spell.
"-167", "-213", "-159"... a series of bright red numbers jumped out of Xian Ge Yayi's head as the black giant sword was swung continuously. I love basking in the sun. In this unequal melee, I showed the most cruel side of my race's bloodline vividly. The black two-handed giant sword was like a hungry tongue, greedily sucking the blood from the opponent's body.
But at the same time, he was firmly implementing his firm fighting philosophy. Straight slash, storm slash, violent cleavage, chain stab... He had always used these simple and direct attack techniques that consumed less energy, and never wasted a single bit of magic power on those seemingly gorgeous and powerful but not practical skills, truly converting every bit of his magic power into maximum damage to the opponent.
Brutalism and calmness, these two seemingly contradictory qualities, now seem to have been perfectly integrated into this fallen vampire knight, making it difficult not to feel deeply unfortunate for his opponent.
Our elf friend seemed a little exhausted after the initial viciousness. Although he also made a commendable counterattack, his efforts were not enough to change the rule that long-range attack professions were doomed to suffer in close combat, not to mention that from the beginning of this battle, his health was nearly half that of his opponent. After a few rounds, after struggling to shoot the last arrow, he was knocked down on the ring by a heavy blow from I Love Sunbathing, and ultimately failed to continue his victory to the second round.
After the first defeat, we didn't give the opponent much time to celebrate. While I was standing by the ring, shouting and showing off my hard-earned victory to my teammates, our second candidate was already walking slowly towards the ring. He held a one-handed war hammer with sharp spikes in his left hand, and a small dagger with a gleam of light was swiftly flipped between the fingers of his right hand, creating bright knife flowers. As his feet rose and fell heavily on the ground, the fat on his chest and abdomen kept shaking, and then rippling with circles of undulating "fat halos", making people worry whether he had enough physical strength to climb this half-man-high ring. As soon as he stepped onto the ring, the originally spacious arena suddenly became a little cramped. The eyes of everyone on the sidelines seemed to be attracted by a magical power and instantly gathered on him - to be precise, when this guy appeared in your sight, it was really difficult for your eyes to make room for more things. I remember that an alchemist named Newton once proposed a novel theory, that is, the heavier an object is, the greater its attraction is. What is happening in front of us now seems to confirm the correctness of this assertion.
Of course, the person who could instantly become the focus of the arena with such a shocking gesture could not be anyone else. That's right, the half-orc shadow thief Yangtze River Delta, he is the next opponent that the vampire fallen knight needs to face in the arena.
