Chapter Eighty: The Opponent's Trump Card

In Elliot’s heart, all contempt had vanished, and his fury was suppressed. He produced a vial of potion, hesitated briefly, then put it away—he intended to first test the summoned characters’ strength. Perhaps they were merely imposing in appearance and not worth wasting precious concoctions.

Gripping the sharp D-grade Damascus steel blade tightly, Elliot saw three super Dark Fighters charging toward him. He quickened his pace, advancing toward the Brute.

His choice was laudable: among the three approaching, the Fat Hippie was massive, obviously specializing in stamina and likely hard to kill quickly; the Short Mop-Head, extremely diminutive, likely excelled in agility and would also prove troublesome; the Brute displayed rippling muscles, clearly a strength specialist. Taking out the power-specialist first would surely lessen the pressure during battle.

Yet, seeing Elliot rush forth, the Brute dodged aside, while Wang Long and Chen Heng came up from behind. Chen Heng’s face was fierce and excited; the Meteor Chain was already spinning in his hand, forming a windmill of gray shadows, then hurled with a thunderous force. The hammerhead, the size of a pumpkin, flew with a “whizz” of air.

Hearing the sharp air-breaking sound from the hammer, Elliot felt a tightening in his chest, realizing the attack’s force was considerable—one hit could cost him life points. He dodged sideways, avoiding the hammerhead, then surged forward, slashing diagonally with the Damascus blade, the weapon flashing white as it swept toward Chen Heng’s chest.

A blue-black rod thrust up, blocking the blade’s advance. One was forged from refined iron, crafted by an old blacksmith; the other, an alloy weapon from the Arab world, both pinnacle cold weapons. As the two collided, a shower of red sparks erupted!

After the exchange, Elliot’s palm went numb. His strength was slightly greater than Wang Long’s, but the blade was far lighter than the Coiling Dragon Rod, putting him at a slight disadvantage. What shocked the seasoned warrior most was that, despite the forceful cut, the rod bore only a faint white mark—no real damage at all.

“A summoned character, yet wielding such a powerful weapon?”

The original Coiling Dragon Spear was a D-grade weapon, comparable to the Damascus blade; both nearly equal in rank and power.

Wang Long, a master of staff techniques, deflected the blade and pressed his rod forward, aiming for Elliot’s throat, while Chen Heng coordinated with another strike from the Meteor Chain. The Short Mop-Head, Brute, and Fat Hippie surrounded him; only Peach Immortal lingered nearby, wearing a sly smile and seeking an opportunity.

Elliot’s strength and agility, at 24 and 18 points respectively, were not high—falling into the suppressed range. Relying on high stamina, defense, and LV7 basic parry skill, he managed to block for a short while, but soon a staff smashed his wrist, and the Damascus blade clattered to the ground.

The Short Mop-Head moved with astonishing speed, his sharp meteoric iron spearhead slicing several wounds into Elliot’s body. Yet, due to Elliot’s abnormal defense, they were shallow, barely bleeding. Wang Long then delivered a heavy strike to his head, causing him to stagger and a purplish-red swelling to rise visibly.

This demonstrated the power of a stamina specialist! Even the Fat Hippie, with 35 points of stamina, would bleed profusely from such a blow. Elliot merely staggered, a blood bump swelling on his head, with almost no drop in his life value.

With over 90 points of stamina, LV9 basic endurance, and LV7 parry, his combined defense was terrifying! Even Bruno, the big boss from the Double Dragon world Wang Ling had recently experienced, could not compare in stamina and defense.

The next second, this defensive monster let out an angry roar. The Short Mop-Head had jumped up, wickedly targeting the swollen blood bump with his spear. With a “squelch,” the damaged flesh could not withstand the sharp point, bursting open as a gush of blood sprayed forth.

The Brute seized Elliot’s body with two powerful arms—his 39 points of strength allowed him to execute the “Ultimate Bomb” throw. Passing the check with a guttural roar, this muscular hulk leapt over three meters high, then hurled Elliot down! The impact created a deep pit in the earth, turning the hardened soil into a network of gray-brown cracks.

After suffering this high-damage throw and being battered in the pit by the Coiling Dragon Rod and Meteor Chain, Elliot’s life bar barely budged, but his anger was extreme. Protecting his bleeding head, he struggled from the pit, only to see a gigantic figure charging at him.

The Fat Hippie activated a skill from Bruno: Cannonball!

His enormous body, like a meatball, crashed into Elliot, sending him flying. Chen Heng’s Meteor Chain knocked him back to the ground before he could escape. Peach Immortal, adept at yoga, finally seized the moment, releasing a scorching fireball tinged with red and white:

Yoga Fire!

Previously, Elliot’s life value had not dropped even a tenth under the group’s attacks, but the fireball caused a noticeable chunk to vanish. This single blow surpassed all previous attacks combined!

Peach Immortal’s intelligence was as high as 36 points, further boosted by basic spell control and resistance, making “Yoga Fire” formidable. Yet, its damage should not have exceeded Wang Long’s staff or Chen Heng’s hammer, both also potent.

The only explanation for such obvious harm was this: physical and magical defenses are calculated separately!

Stamina relates to physical defense, intelligence to magical defense. Stamina also grants high life value but does little against spells—though not nothing, as high stamina means greater endurance and resilience. High life also indirectly improves spell resistance.

Elliot’s intelligence was 27 points—not low, but far inferior to his 90+ stamina. Thus, after being hit by Yoga Fire, he burned all over, stunned to find summoned characters could wield magic.

Yet a single spell was far from fatal. He produced a large shield—normally useless against physical foes—and a vial of gene serum personally concocted by the captain of the Half-Orc Squad: Fox’s Wisdom!

The potion temporarily boosted intelligence by 5 points—not much, but enough to raise his intelligence to 32, a qualitative leap from his previous 20+, and significantly improving his magical resistance.

Shielding his body and using the potion, Elliot ignored the fallen Damascus blade—after all, dropped equipment could not be picked up by others. Now, he focused on mobilizing the power in his bloodline.

This brief battle had been unexpectedly tough; these summoned characters were all strong, able to suppress him in strength and agility!

Elliot possessed one E-grade and one D-grade skill, but no skill could defeat so many formidable opponents. To win, he would have to use his bloodline abilities.

As Elliot summoned his bloodline’s power, an uncontrollable rage surged in his mind. He never expected this rookie to have so many troublesome summons, forcing him to expose his special bloodline under the gaze of countless Dreamers. After this fight, enemies in future mission worlds would surely guard against his bloodline abilities.

Sitting on a log in the distance, Wang Ling enjoyed Blue Moon’s massage, appearing indifferent to the battle, but his mind was fully immersed. The three super Dark Fighters were directly controlled by his consciousness, constantly receiving commands. Without this real-time guidance, their attacks would lose much of their coordination.

Six summoned characters besieged one opponent, who could hardly counterattack; though suppressed, his life value barely dropped, leading Wang Ling to realize: their foe was a stamina specialist.

Just as Bai Feng had relaxed upon seeing Elliot’s stamina specialty, so too did Wang Ling. Stamina specialists were tough but, with numbers on their side, they could wear his life down like fighting a boss.

If their opponent was a power specialist, the danger would increase; if an agility specialist, even more so—he could slip past the summons and attack Wang Ling directly, forcing him to reveal his own strength.

Since Elliot was a stamina specialist, under the current circumstances, the three super Dark Fighters and three martial arts experts could wear him down. The only concern was Elliot’s trump card. Having completed thirteen mainline missions and as the second strongest in his team, he was bound to have something up his sleeve—the question was how many and how strong!

(Faint… The previous chapter finally passed review, so here’s this one. Also, a new week begins—please vote for recommendations. We’re at 9,000 votes; for every 2,000 added, an extra chapter will be posted on the weekend. Looks like the surprise will be delayed—perhaps it will be revealed tomorrow…)