Chapter Seventeen: Victory?

Huang Hong was sent flying by Gu Xie’s vicious kick. Had Luo Wei not used the Bronze Puppet to catch him, the damage from that blow would have been even worse.

The passive skill in Huang Hong’s custom talent tree allowed his defense to be multiplied before launching an attack. Even so, the shockwave damage from Gu Xie’s strike against his shield had been obvious—and terrifying. Without the shield’s protection, the consequences were unimaginable.

“If it had been one of us, we might have been seriously wounded and left on the verge of death, or even killed outright by Gu Xie.”

Luo Feng frowned as well. Although his health and both defensive attributes were the highest in the team, after seeing the damage Huang Hong had suffered, even he found it difficult to predict the outcome. He turned to Ye Yu and asked, “What were you about to say? Given the situation, we can only proceed with extreme caution.”

Ye Yu merely shrugged at his question. The expression on his face gradually grew solemn as he said, “I feel that this boss doesn’t quite fit with the Ancient Mount Tai Hall before us. Its clothes, its appearance—everything about it is completely different from this place. I don’t understand why its title would be written that way.”

“You still have time to think about that? Let’s deal with the situation first. We can discuss it afterward.”

Huang Hong spoke irritably. That last blow had not been pleasant. Although it was only a virtual projection of the game, the nerves had been integrated into the game as well, so he had still felt the distinct sensation of pain. It had been extremely uncomfortable.

“All right. In any case, we should deal with this fellow first.”

As soon as Ye Yu finished speaking, he drew out his ancient zither and held it horizontally before him. A purple radiance appeared behind him. Ye Yu lightly plucked the strings, launching an attack toward a formation on the wall behind him.

“Snow and Moon Crossing Lights.”

A purple rainbow shot toward the formation. The instant it struck the formation on the wall, a red glow emerged from it, and the formation gradually shattered, transforming into a field of purple radiance.

Gu Xie’s body trembled violently in the distance. Its attributes suddenly weakened, and beneath its name appeared an icon resembling the formation’s symbol, marked with the words: “One Layer Weakened.”

“‘One Layer Weakened’ has appeared beneath Gu Xie’s name. It seems to be the same mechanism we encountered earlier—the settings are exactly the same.”

Huang Hong spoke as he tightly gripped his spear. He thrust it forward, and countless spear images surged forth, attacking the formations around them.

“This one is mine.”

Cup of Wine Traps Heroes stepped forward. The others watched as he formed hand seals and struck both palms against the air. The circular shadow spread across the ground shot toward the locations of the other four formations. Terrifying shadows erupted from beneath the earth like giant serpents, their sinuous forms striking the formations with astonishing precision.

In an instant, Gu Xie’s attributes were weakened once again. Beneath its name, the words “Six Layers Weakened” appeared in clear detail.

However, the weakening only reduced Gu Xie’s attributes. Its health remained unchanged.

At that moment, Huang Hong’s face was already filled with fierce battle intent. He roared and charged toward Gu Xie. Yet a mocking glint flashed through Gu Xie’s eyes. It raised its left hand, clenched its five fingers, and punched toward Huang Hong.

Huang Hong’s lips curved into a smile. He deftly stepped backward, avoiding the blow. Gu Xie’s eyes flashed with surprise, and it swept forward with another punch from its right hand. Huang Hong simply twisted into a sideways roll and evaded that attack as well.

Gu Xie’s fist slammed into the ground. The entire floor collapsed beneath the impact, leaving a clearly defined fistprint as shattered stones sprayed in every direction.

Huang Hong leapt up, stepped on Gu Xie’s shoulder, and vaulted into the air. Turning over, he landed directly behind Gu Xie, then swept his spear across with his right hand, striking viciously toward Gu Xie’s body.

The terrifying spear force formed a crescent-shaped blade filled with piercing power. A dragon’s roar suddenly rang out, shaking the entire ancient hall.

“Roar!”

Huang Hong’s attack carried a binding effect, briefly immobilizing Gu Xie in place. A faint red light began to flicker across Gu Xie’s body. When the light grew dazzling, everyone clearly saw it burst apart like a bomb.

The explosion of red light forced Gu Xie backward several steps before it finally steadied itself.

But Gu Xie recovered almost instantly. It turned and struck toward Huang Hong with a palm. At that moment, Luo Wei controlled the Bronze Puppet and sent it directly in front of Huang Hong. The puppet crossed both arms in a defensive stance.

“Boom!”

The Bronze Puppet was blasted backward by the punch, while Gu Xie was also forced back by the resulting shockwave.

“Fall back, Huang Hong!”

Ye Yu’s voice rang out from the distance. Huang Hong nodded at once and hurriedly retreated, crimson light swirling around his body as he prepared his next attack.

Now it was Luo Wei’s turn to display the power of his Puppetmaster class. After the Bronze Puppet retreated several yards, it suddenly rose and assumed a charging stance. Two more puppets appeared on its left and right. The three puppets hovered in the air and, one after another, charged from behind the Bronze Puppet toward Gu Xie, shooting forward with tremendous force.

Gu Xie raised both hands. Internal energy surged from its body, forming a barrier in an attempt to block the puppets’ impact. The result was naturally useless. After being weakened by six layers, Gu Xie was clearly no longer as formidable as before. The charge of the two puppets struck it and drove it several yards backward.

Luo Wei immediately continued controlling the Bronze Puppet and launched another charge. This time, a conspicuous bronze radiance flashed across the puppet as it crashed into Gu Xie. It came to a halt on the opposite side of Gu Xie, and a mechanical framework on its right arm unfolded, covering its fist with an iron gauntlet.

The Bronze Puppet threw a punch, blasting Gu Xie backward. After retreating more than thirty feet, Gu Xie lowered its head and looked at the sunken fistmark in its chest. Its clothes were already in tatters, and several streaks of blood had appeared across its torso.

“You’ve already started fighting without me?”

Seeing this, Cup of Wine Traps Heroes seemed unable to endure his solitude any longer and joined the battle. Gu Xie was standing within the hundred-yard circular shadow. Suddenly, three black pillars shot into the sky beside it. The terrifying pillars erupted upward and seemed to pin Gu Xie in place, leaving it unable to move.

Cup of Wine Traps Heroes faced Gu Xie directly and began forming hand seals. Behind him, a distinct ancient totem appeared. Once the hideous pattern had fully emerged, a sea of ink-black clouds gathered above Gu Xie’s crown.

Several peals of thunder rolled from within the clouds. Black lightning suddenly descended, forming a massive web that completely enveloped Gu Xie and swallowed its body whole.

A moment later, Gu Xie tore itself free from the web of black lightning, its body covered in numerous wounds. Yet the dark lightning still clung to it, inflicting continuous true damage.

“At this moment, Gu Xie’s speed has been reduced by as much as thirty percent. Its movements will naturally become extremely sluggish.”

Cup of Wine Traps Heroes’ words were clearly a reminder to the others. Ye Yu immediately called out, “Qu Zheng! Huang Hong!”

“Understood!”

“Gladly.”

Huang Hong charged forward with his spear in hand. He thrust it toward the right side of Gu Xie’s back and shoulder. The spear struck instantly, piercing straight through.

Pfft!

Gu Xie let out a low, furious growl, turned, and slammed its left palm into Huang Hong. Caught off guard, Huang Hong was forced to endure the blow head-on.

“Huang Hong!”

Seeing this, Luo Feng raised his right hand. Green radiance spread from the halo around it and gathered upon its surface. Holding the halo, Luo Feng fired a stream of green light toward Huang Hong in the distance.

Whoosh!

The green stream shot into Huang Hong’s body. Gu Xie’s palm had removed nearly sixty percent of his health and inflicted the Weakened status. Luo Feng immediately followed with a healing spell, pulling Huang Hong’s health back up to roughly fifty percent. However, the Weakened effect could no longer be removed.

“My God, this really is troublesome.”

Qu Zheng approached Gu Xie like a phantom. Several of Gu Xie’s attacks missed completely, unable to touch him. Clearly, Qu Zheng’s movement speed and agility had already become too much for Gu Xie to handle.

“Twin-Blade Strike.”

Qu Zheng suddenly appeared above Gu Xie, driving both daggers into its shoulders.

Pfft!

The sound rang out once again. This time, internal energy abruptly exploded from within Gu Xie’s body, using the force of the eruption to send Qu Zheng flying backward.

Qu Zheng’s astonishing agility greatly reduced the damage he suffered from the internal-energy blast, but he was still shaken. If he had not reacted quickly, that collision would have left him in a very difficult state.

By then, Gu Xie’s health had unknowingly fallen to twenty percent, entering the weakened-health range. Even so, no one dared lower their guard. They feared that Gu Xie might still have a hidden trump card capable of unleashing a lethal and despair-inducing attack.

At that moment, Cup of Wine Traps Heroes said, “Watch this!”

Instantly, astonishing black flames surged around his body. In the end, all of them gathered upon his right arm. Even the Witch Armor covering that arm underwent a marked transformation, becoming completely different from the armor on the rest of his body.

Seeing this, Tan Cong’s pupils widened slightly in shock.

“He invested in the Witch Ancestor’s Arm.”

The Witch Ancestor’s Arm was an ultimate skill of the Witch class. In truth, it was something of a useless skill. Once activated, its cooldown exceeded twenty-four hours. Although it could display unparalleled might for a brief period in player-versus-player combat, its cooldown caused most Witch-class players to disregard it entirely.

Yet Cup of Wine Traps Heroes had learned the Witch Ancestor’s Arm.

“Feel my fury, Gu Xie!”

Cup of Wine Traps Heroes leapt into the air and swung his right arm. The five fingers of his right hand slowly curled into a fist. The armor patterns on his arm erupted with pitch-black flames as he brought his fist crashing down toward Gu Xie.

A stream of black energy appeared before Gu Xie, resembling a targeting reticle. The instant Cup of Wine Traps Heroes’ fist descended, the reticle-like stream of black energy shattered, and the punch landed squarely against Gu Xie’s chest.

The nearly twenty percent of health Gu Xie had left rapidly vanished before everyone’s eyes, dropping straight to zero. Beneath the hideous, terrifying mask, its eyes revealed an expression of utter disbelief, as though it could not accept that it had actually been defeated.

Gu Xie dropped to both knees.

At that moment, the formations supporting its enhanced attributes shattered completely. The formations on the walls broke apart, and fragments of stone tumbled to the ground.

“Did we win?”

Crack!

The throne deep within the hall suddenly split apart as Gu Xie fell, breaking into countless pieces. Yet everyone clearly saw a red mist slowly rise from the cracks as the throne exploded.

The instant the red mist rose into the air, Gu Xie, which had collapsed moments earlier, suddenly sprang back to its feet. The hideous mask shattered, revealing an extraordinarily handsome face.

A crimson glint flashed through its eyes. Its black pupils gradually transformed into a blood-red hue, and with a single movement, it flashed directly before the shattered throne.

An eerie laugh came from Gu Xie’s mouth, sending chills down everyone’s spines.

…

…