Zhan Long
chapter-46

“You’ll take responsibility? ”

Yan Zhao Warrior suddenly looked at me and said in a low voice: “Xiao Yao, I know you and Qing Qian have a good relationship, but as a man, you shouldn’t involve others in your disputes. When seeing that Qing Qian wanted to take people to help you, you should’ve tried your hardest to prevent her from coming, rather than raising hostility between [Prague] and [Wrath of the Heroes]!”

Facing the aggressive level 31 Swordsman, I, with a robe and a staff, looked straight into his eyes and fearlessly said: “Being a man, I only know how to aid my friends when they are in a difficult situation. I know Qing Qian is my friend, and I will not allow anyone to bully her. I also know that being a leader, one should bear the fault of his subordinates instead of aggressively holding them responsible. Uncle Yan Zhao, do you deserve to be the leader of [Prague]?!”

……

It was so silent, even the sound of a pin drop could be heard.

Yan Zhao Warrior was the top player in Ba Huang City, the leader of Prague, and even created his own combo, [Peerless Strike]. No one had dared to challenge him yet!

Qing Qian was standing there with a silly expression. Looking at my back, she muttered: “Xiao Yao …”

Wei Liang’s pair of beautiful eyes were filled with worry as she whispered: “He’s dead, Xiao Yao is about to understand the wrath of Uncle Yan Zhao. He is really going to die …”

……

Yan Zhao Warrior’s eyes were about to pop out while looking at me. After a full minute, he suddenly reacheed behind to pull out his sword and said: “Xiao Yao, I am really happy that Qing Qian has you as a friend, but do you know the consequences of your actions? Come, show me the strength of the best Healer in Ba Huang City. Let me confirm if you’re worthy enough for Qing Qian to be kicked out of [Prague] over. If you have no strength and only empty words, I can only see you as a worthless kid! ”

Pa!

A blood-red flag fell on the ground –

“Ding!”

System Notification: Player “Yan Zhao Warrior” issues you a challenge. Do you accept? (When the player is killed, there are no item/stat losses)

……

I raised my hand and waved my staff to accept the the challenge while my left foot stomped the ground. A golden-hexagram shone and Baby Bobo came out on my right, buzzing and ready.

“Brother Xiao Yao… …” Qing Qian saw me accept the challenge, her delicate shoulders were trembling and her eyes were red almost as if she was crying.

I closed my eyes and the voices around me disappeared. My entire body entered a state of meditation and my senses became sharper than ever. I might be able to win against him if I wasn’t a Healer. Everybody knew how strong Yan Zhao Warrior was, and even if it was Lin Wan Er, the odds of winning may only be 50%. The odds for me to win were basically non-existent.

My mind went through countless tactics, and finally I chose one: I would first kill Yan Zhao Warrior’s 74% excellence Killer Bee and then use level 3 Heals to keep my health from falling and use Baby Bobo’s strong attacks to kill Yan Zhao Warrior. I could win with this tactic!

System began countdown while thousands of eyes stared at us-

“3! ”

“2! ”

“1! ”

Begin!

Sure enough, right when the battle began, Yan Zhao Warrior summoned his Killer Bee to fly forward while he ran to the left, trying to avoid Baby Bobo. He was making sure to keep his health at a decent level before going in for the killing blow!

……

Baby Bobo flew to the Killer Bee and the two pets both used their combo skills! Baby Bobo triumphantly cried out as his three strikes connected, each hit dealing more than 300 points of damage, while the Killer Bee’s attack against Baby Bobo only did 600 damage. To make things better, with one cast of Heal, Baby Bobo’s health was full again!

“Flip … …”

Yan Zhao’s Killer Bee fell to the ground, becoming a dead wasp. The players gathered let out a gasp. Who would have thought, Yan Zhao Warrior’s pet would die in a blink of an eye!

“Ding……”

A piercing sound emerged as the tip Yan Zhao Warrior’s sword glowed with a golden hexagram: a Level 4 [Combo]! A Level 3 [Combo] had a 50% chance to hit 3 times, while the Level 4 [Combo] had an 80% chance to hit 3 times. Additionally, it increased the damage dealt per strike!

Seeing that the opponent’s blade was about to fall, I immediately tried anticipate the direction it would come and tried to dodge. I slid backwards to the rear, while raising my staff across my chest to parry!

“Bang……”

Sparks appeared around my staff. With the monstrous power behind the strike, I almost lost my balance. Consecutive numbers appeared on top of my head –

“MISS! ”

“147! ”

“+160! ”

“374! ”

……

Even though the first strike of the combo missed and the second blow was parried, which lowered the damage, if I hadn’t used [Hemostasis] after parrying the second strike, the third strike would have killed me.

Yan Zhao Warrior showed a surprised pair of eyes: “Eh?” It was hard for him to believe that his first strike missed, but as a veteran of many battles, he didn’t dwell on it and did not wait for me to adjust my off-balance stance, and raised his sword and a blood-red glow appeared, Lv.4 [Heavy Strike]!

Lv.4 [Heavy Strike] increased the damage of a single strike by 4%. Yan Zhao Warrior’s base damage was already extremely scary to me since my defense was only 85, but with the addition of 4%, his attacks were a nightmare!

Heavy Cut took 0.5 seconds to prepare so I thrust my staff straight out, using it like a sword, and quickly spliced, split cut, rammed, then sliced again in a continuous attack. Unfortunately, it was not a combo, but it still did 280 damage and knocked Yan Zhao Warrior back a half step and his [Heavy Cut] was interrupted.

Yan Zhao Warrior’s face turned purple in anger and he swept his sword forward!

I saw an opportunity and dropped my body, the sword edge narrowly missing my forehead. Keng! It cut the city wall behind me, causing sparks and gravel to fly out. I got nightmares thinking about how much it would have hurt if that actually hit me.

I smoothly rolled to the side and used a Lv.3 [Heal] to go back to full health. I commanded Baby Bobo to fly back and use [Sting], which hit heavily on Yan Zhao Warrior’s shoulder!

Ding Ding!

“297! ”

Gee, his defense was really high!

“DIE!”

Facing Baby Bobo, Yan Zhao Warrior did not hesitate to use a killing skill, he used [Peerless Strike]!

[Peerless Strike] was a combo composed of a straight thrust, slice, slice, kick, and finally a straight cut. The first three attacks were too fast and could be interrupted, but there was a 0.3 second gap before the kick. I figured this out after I repeatedly watched videos of his combo skill. The only weakness that I could find was the gap between the kick which was probably why his combo skill was only evaluated as an A rank by the system!

Utilizing the 0.3 seconds’ gap, I flew forward before Yan Zhao Warrior began his kick and stomped heavily on his foot!

“BAM! ”

The airflow became agitated and Yan Zhao Warrior’s last two strikes disappeared! Baby Bobo’s health was low, but he just needed to land a critical hit and Yan Zhao Warrior would perish!

“Brush! ”

“254! ”

Unfortunately, it was not a fatal blow, and Yan Zhao Warrior had about 200 health left. He landed a hit on Baby Bobo, and Baby Bobo died buzzing. My two healing skills still had 6 seconds on cooldown, so I had no way of saving Bobo, or the outcome of this match.

“Go to hell! ”

After killing Baby Bobo, Yan Zhao Warrior jumped forward, his sword blowing past my defending staff, and two consecutive strikes hit my shoulders!

“365! ”

“331! ”

My body was sent flying back with a BANG and landed heavily in the corner, lowering my health to 0!

“Ding!”

System Notification: Player “Xiao Yao Zi Zai” has lost the challenge. “Yan Zhao Warrior” Wins!

……

“Beautiful! Leader won. Such a beautiful win! ”

“Uncle Yan Zhao is really the best in Ba Huang City! ”

“The [Combo] skill strikes and Xiao Yao is dead! ”

[Cleaner: these guys are idiots -__- ]

Everybody congratulated Yan Zhao Warrior, but his face showed no sign of happiness. Instead, he glared at me and then suspiciously looked at his sword. He seemed to be very puzzled as to how I broke his combo. This duel seemed to be a big deal, but although no one said it, a fight between a Healer and a Swordsman was not a fair fight. Yan Zhao Warrior missed his first combo, and his [Peerless Strike] was cut off. It could be said that this was his defeat even though he won the duel!

“Rustle … …”

Qing Qian stepped forward and reached out to take my arm. Looking at me with her red eyes: “Brother Xiao Yao, I’m really sorry… … really sorry. It’s all my fault … …”

I shook my head and whispered: “It’s my fault, I caused this mess … …”

Qing Qian almost cried: “Brother Xiao Yao, why are you so nice to me?”

“Because Qing Qian is also good to me?”

Qing Qian: “……”

……

Yan Zhao Warrior stood there and coldly looked at me: “Xiao Yao, I don’t care what kind of relationship you have with [Wrath of the Heroes], but remember, do not to involve [Prague] in personal matters. We will not participate in any of your feuds. Qing Qian might be your friend, but do you even know how to cherish friends?”

I stood up and slapped the dust off, and said: “Uncle Yan Zhao, as a friend of Qing Qian, in fact, I suggest that she should permanently leave [Prague] guild and if I had a guild, I would ask her to join! ”

“You!” ”

Facing such a poacher, Yan Zhao Warrior’s face turned green. He pointed his sword directly at me: “Xiao Yao, you’re no match for me, so what makes you say that? ”

I took my staff with me and said: “I may not be a match for you now, but that does not mean I will never match you in the future …”

TL: Going for 3 chaps today 😛