Updated: 2014-02-11
"Shengun! How many horns now?" the Overlord asked. Knowing that Lin Zheng was also doing a quest, they decided to help him hunt the Ore-Eating Beast after they finished their own quest. Of course, the main reason was that they thought leveling up together was efficient. Lin Zheng opened his quest log and saw that he already had 97. "Only three more, it'll be quick! What about your quest? Is it done?"
"It's already finished, just waiting for you!"
"Hehe! That's so embarrassing!" Lin Zheng said with a laugh, though not an ounce of embarrassment could be seen on his face. Suddenly, Lin Zheng's expression changed, and he shouted to the Overlord, "Careful!" Before the Overlord could react, an arrow flew over with a "whoosh!" and hit the Overlord squarely in the back.
"Overlord!" The others cried out in surprise. Soon, Xiao Miao reacted and quickly healed the Overlord, preventing him from dying from being surrounded by monsters and ambushed.
"Everyone, pay attention, it's those guys from Pride Sword!" the Overlord immediately shouted. As soon as he finished shouting, more than a dozen players suddenly darted out from the nearby bushes, all with names prefixed with 'Pride Sword'. The leader was Ao Jian Zhonghua, a Swordsman, with a fierce look on his face, as if he had a deep hatred for Lin Zheng and his companions.
Lin Zheng and the others quickly killed the lizards around the Overlord, then gathered together to confront the Pride Sword group. Lin Zheng quietly asked Tifa beside him, "What's their background?"
"The Pride Sword family, they're quite famous in Tianshuang City. Yesterday, a few of them tried to snatch our boss, but we counter-killed them, so that's where the grudge started!" Tifa said with innocent eyes.
"Oh—so they're not a good bunch!" Lin Zheng understood. In games, snatching a boss is normal. But if you can't snatch it and then bring a large group to retaliate, that's a bit despicable. Lin Zheng found this kind of bullying behavior very annoying. What made Lin Zheng even more furious was that the damned guy actually registered the name he wanted to register! Ao Jian Zhonghua, such a grand name, it should have been his! How hateful!
"Overlord Heavy Armor, you killed several of our brothers yesterday, how do you plan to settle this debt!" Ao Jian Zhonghua shouted loudly.
"Bah!" the Overlord said disdainfully, "So much nonsense, if you want to fight, just come. Don't look for such shameless excuses. Don't think we're afraid of you just because there are many of you!"
"You're asking for it! Get them! Kill them!" Since the pretense was dropped, Ao Jian Zhonghua stopped talking nonsense. He waved his sword, and the players around him shouted and charged towards Lin Zheng's party.
"Leave that Ao Jian Zhonghua to me, charge!" Lin Zheng growled, gripping his dagger and rushing forward. The Overlord and the others followed closely, beginning their attack. "Ding!" Lin Zheng's dagger parried Ao Jian Zhonghua's sword. Ao Jian Zhonghua looked at Lin Zheng, his face grim, and said, "Kid, you're not with them, are you! I advise you not to meddle in this mess, leave quickly, and I won't bother you!"
"Who says we're not with them!" Lin Zheng grinned. Just as Ao Jian Zhonghua's expression changed, Lin Zheng, after bouncing back, extended his left hand and punched him, knocking him back. Before Ao Jian Zhonghua could steady himself, Lin Zheng had already rushed forward and kicked him in the face. As soon as his foot landed, it was instantly a Stomp, and several guys who tried to reinforce him were all hit and, unfortunately, stunned! Lin Zheng was delighted! Current players had no stun resistance, so a 5-second stun was completely unreduced. Thus, with Ao Jian Zhonghua's face turning green, Lin Zheng smirked and stabbed him a few times with his dagger, each hit dealing several hundred damage! After a few stabs, Ao Jian Zhonghua roared in anger and fell to his death. Ao Jian Zhonghua did not immediately revive after falling. He watched with his own eyes as Lin Zheng swiftly stabbed to death his subordinates who came to support him, so frustrated he almost vomited blood. At the same time, Ao Jian Zhonghua was also a bit surprised; his current HP and defense were considered good, yet he was stabbed to death by Lin Zheng in a few hits. This guy's attack power was too high. When did such a person appear in Tianshuang City!
"Hehe, I just happened to be low on mana, and you guys delivered it right to me!" Lin Zheng triumphantly picked up a few small blue bottles from the ground. These things were quite expensive! One bottle, which restored 100 mana, cost 10 silver coins. They were usually kept for emergencies, but Lin Zheng's killing spree actually dropped quite a few bottles, making the remaining Pride Sword members who hadn't revived yet feel their hearts ache!
Just as Lin Zheng finished picking up items and was about to help the Overlord and the others, a figure suddenly appeared beside Lin Zheng. It was a hidden trap hunter who had been lurking for an opportunity. Lin Zheng had been alert for enemy ambushes while picking up items, but after finishing, he had relaxed his guard. In that instant, the trap hunter appeared and stabbed his dagger towards Lin Zheng's throat!
"Son of a gun!" This sudden appearance of the hunter gave Lin Zheng a cold sweat. The tip of the blade had already pierced the skin of his throat. Fortunately, he managed to block it with his dagger at the last moment. Failing to land a hit, the hunter immediately retreated, quickly moving out of the combat zone. As soon as he exited combat, he stealthily disappeared again.
Watching the enemy disappear before his eyes, Lin Zheng couldn't help but curse, "Damn it!" Just as Lin Zheng was cursing, another hunter appeared beside Longya and Xiao Miao. They were both cloth armor professions, with low HP and thin skin. Longya was almost instantly killed. Lin Zheng was anxious and immediately rushed over, stabbing the hunter with his dagger. -930, damn it, a critical hit! The hunter's face was filled with disbelief as he fell dead. At this moment, a pleasant notification sound rang out! Lin Zheng checked his skill status—perfect! The cooldown for Explosion was finally over! These guys deserved their bad luck!
"Hooah!" Lin Zheng roared, stomping towards the Pride Sword members who were ganging up on the Overlord and Chun Feng. Seeing his attack, someone immediately shouted, "Careful! It's the Swordfighter's Explosion! Get out of the way quickly! Damn it! Too late! Priests, prepare to heal!"
"Boom!" Flames erupted everywhere, and vivid red damage numbers floated above the heads of all the surrounding Pride Sword members, each exceeding 1500 damage. It was pathetic; they guessed the beginning but not the end. The priests, who were just thinking of healing, were stunned by the sight of a ground full of corpses. Fortunately, a clear-headed Archer quickly shouted, "Run for it!" Otherwise, they would have all been wiped out there.
"Haha! Awesome! As expected of the best class for group combat!" Lin Zheng stood amidst a pile of corpses, laughing heartily, looking very much like a demon king of slaughter! The others rolled their eyes.
"Sorry, Shengun, for dragging you into this! Actually, you should have just left earlier. Getting into a feud with these guys will be very troublesome!" Chun Feng said apologetically.
"What nonsense are you talking about! Do I look like someone disloyal?" Lin Zheng said, annoyed. "Besides, we have legs, so even if we can't beat them, can't we run? There are so many main cities in this game, it's not like we have to stay in Tianshuang City!"
"So you were planning to run away!" Tifa said, blinking her big eyes, though the playful look in them was obvious to everyone. Lin Zheng stared at her speechlessly, thinking, Miss Tifa, when did I offend you? Just then, Xiao Miao happily said, "Running away is good! These guys are so annoying, I don't want to run into them again! Let's go to Moonlight City, I heard it's very beautiful there!"
"Thump!" Lin Zheng knocked Xiao Miao on the forehead and said, annoyed, "Nowhere to go! I'm sticking with them to the bitter end! If I get scared off now, how will I ever make a living later? Besides, didn't you see? We slaughtered them!"
"Alright! It's settled then. We'll deal with whatever comes our way. Besides, Tianshuang City is so big, with countless players. I don't believe there are no guilds that can deal with Pride Sword! Speaking of which, if we few still have to fight tooth and nail, then this Pride Sword isn't that impressive!"
"That's true!" Chun Feng said, stroking his chin. "Although these Pride Sword people are annoying, they probably aren't in the mood for deliberate revenge, at least not for now. That means running into us this time was just a coincidence. But seeing that we were few, they probably wanted to take revenge anyway, and they must have had other objectives!"
"That makes sense!" Tifa murmured. "If they were just looking for a place to level up, their numbers are too many. Based on their team's composition just now, they're almost certainly going to attack some boss! Speaking of which, is there a boss nearby?!" As she spoke, Tifa's eyes lit up. Not just Tifa, but everyone else's eyes lit up too!
"Quickly get Shengun's three horns, then we'll find where the boss is!" Longya said impatiently.
"How about this, you guys go look first, I'll hunt by myself. It's just three horns, I'll be done quickly!" Lin Zheng said. This would save more time, to avoid the Pride Sword people coming back later and having another PK session. Moreover, since Lin Zheng's high damage output was already known to Pride Sword, the next PK wouldn't be so simple; at least the idea of using Explosion to wipe out a large group of people was out the window. The others thought Lin Zheng's suggestion was good, so they nodded in agreement, leaving Lin Zheng to kill lizards while the others went to find the boss.
Less than 5 minutes after the others left, Lin Zheng had also collected his three horns and began searching for the boss with the others. Soon, he heard the Overlord shout in the team channel, "Found it! Come quickly! Good heavens, this boss might not be easy to kill!"
Upon hearing the news, the others' spirits lifted, and they all opened their maps to find the Overlord's location and headed there. Lin Zheng was the last to arrive, and when he saw the boss the Overlord had found, he couldn't help but wince! Standing before them was a three-meter-tall tiger-headed man, clad in golden armor, wielding a massive double-bladed axe. Even the bulky Overlord looked like a child next to him.
"No good! Can't see its level! Good heavens! It's at least a level 22 boss!" the Overlord exclaimed. He was the highest level here at 16, and the detection limit was no more than 5 levels higher than the player. This showed just how high the boss's level was. Hearing the Overlord's words, Lin Zheng immediately took out his black crow mask, put it on, and then investigated the boss.
Qingfeng Patrol Guard: Level 25 Golden Boss, Physical Attack 658-825, Physical Defense 510, Magic Defense 450, HP 34000. Skills: Roar, Berserk. The overlord of Qingfeng Forest, its powerful might intimidates the outer regions of Qingfeng Forest.
Damn! Lin Zheng grimaced as he relayed the detected information to the others. They were stunned after hearing it! With an attack as high as 825, even the Overlord's HP couldn't withstand many hits, plus 510 physical defense! Only Lin Zheng could break through its defense here, and its magic defense wasn't low either, which meant Longya wouldn't be able to deal much damage. This boss, for their small team, was an incredibly tough nut to crack!
To fight or not to fight? If they were to fight, how should they fight? Just as they were considering this, a sound of battle came from not too far away. They exchanged glances, guessing that the Pride Sword people had returned. After all, a boss was very rare, and Pride Sword wouldn't give up easily.
"Let's hide first and see how the Pride Sword guys fight. If there's an opportunity, we'll fish in troubled waters!" Lin Zheng suggested. The others nodded in agreement. Anyway, they basically couldn't kill this boss, so preparing to be the mantis stalking the cicada was a very good choice now! So, they quickly hid in the nearby bushes, quietly waiting for the Pride Sword people to arrive. Before long, the Pride Sword group appeared in Lin Zheng and the others' line of sight, and their numbers were surprisingly much larger than before. If they were to PK with them now, it would be a losing battle!