Chapter 27: Chapter 27 – The Hunt Begins
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“What on earth is that? It looks so sophisticated.” The eyes of Truth Invincible practically popped out of his head as he looked at the Fire Hawk Crossbow.
“This is clearly of High Elf design, a military-grade crossbow, it’s mad! Someone was actually able to assemble this. Unbelievable! If you capture this well, I guarantee the video will go viral. And your promotion to an official reporter should be a piece of cake,” Shadow Trace muttered, “Take good pictures, guide the camera angle professionally, and show it from different angles. ”
Truth Invincible immediately brightened up and asked curiously, “Really? It’s just a crossbow assembly, is it really that special?”
Shadow Trace sighed with a hint of disappointment, “I asked you to have a deep understanding of this game, but you didn’t listen. You probably haven’t read the materials I gave you, have you?”
“Well, I’ve been too busy.” Truth Invincible admitted, feeling embarrassed.
“You see, this game has policy support and is incredibly complicated. Learning each profession requires a complex series of tasks, and it’s meticulously organized into several stages, each stage harder than the last. Thus, to date, few players have managed to learn a secondary profession. Everyone is waiting until they reach level 10 and have more time to learn it.”
After hearing so much, Truth Invincible was still puzzled, “Although it’s difficult, there are billions of players out there, especially the powerful guilds who are fully fostering life players to learn secondary professions, there are not a tew who can assemble crossbows.”
“How can you not understand? Take engineering, for example. Early on in the game, having some knowledge in engineering is basically useless. You can produce some powder, fireworks, iron pipes, screws, etc. As far as I know, no one can increase their engineering skill to an intermediate level at this stage. Reaching 900 proficiency points is the limit. And you still need ores for the remaining 100 proficiency points, even the large guilds don’t have many of those. That’s nearly 20 gold coins’ worth of ores!”
“Really? Spending 20 gold coins just to make these useless things?”
“What did you think? Moreover, this crossbow is military-grade equipment. Judging from the information I’ve obtained, it belongs to military engineering. This kind of information is classified, it’s not taught to players and monsters won’t drop such blueprints. But look at him, skillfully disassembling a pile of old crossbows and assembles a new one in a few minutes. I bet there’s only one of these in the game. Isn’t the footage we’re capturing worth something?” Shadow Trace asked while continuously adjusting the camera angle and earnestly observing Li Yao.
“Wow! So he’s really impressive. Shadow, you really know a lot.” Eyes gleamed with excitement, Truth Invincible said apologetically, “I’m sorry, brother Shadow. You asked me to read a lot of information. I thought you were just hazing the newbie. I heard other newbies have it easier. I didn’t understand earlier. You have been guiding me and sharing your knowledge, I misunderstood your intentions.”
With a smile, Shadow Trace replied, “It’s nothing. The accredited journalists always look down on us game reporters. They call us amateurs. My mentor used to say this to me. I didn’t understand back then, but now I do. Observe and learn diligently, don’t let those physical entity journalists look down on our work.”
“I’ll work hard. I’ll go through all those documents when I log off the game tonight.” Finally realizing the importance and value of those documents, Truth Invincible was fully convinced and admirative of Shadow Trace.
“Don’t rush. Take it easy,” Shadow Trace patted the shoulder of Truth Invincible.
Truth Invincible earnestly nodded; his heart full of enthusiasm.
But he still had no way to know that he would eventually ascend to become a pioneering game reporter, a major journalist on the global stage.
Inside a spacious cavern, Li Yao wound up the heavy crossbowstring with a winch, and a huge arrow more than two yards long with a cold and shimmering arrowhead emitting a murderous aura, had begun to protrude from the crossbow.
Li Yao adjusted the angle of the crossbow after which a hologram of the Boss’s data appeared in the corner of his eye.
Mechanical Puppet Rank: Level 5 Low-Rank Boss
Health: 5000
Skills: Oscillating Hammer Shock, Furious Lightning, Mad Slash, Death’s
Flying Wheel. Superweight Stomp. Furious Tearing
Moka
Rank: Level 5 Low-Rank Boss
Health: 3000
Skills: Barrel Toss, Time Bomb, Deadly Shot, Death Grenade
Indeed, a living being was controlling the Puppet, but it had gone mad due to the corrosive energy of the Sunwell. Its life had fused with the puppet.
To defeat this boss, you have to disintegrate the puppet and kill Moka inside it. The fight against the boss is divided into two phases.
Considering that the Wandering Art Studio could not even pass the first phase, let alone the more challenging second one. Plus, the Boss’s total health was 8000, enough to cause despair in a 25-person team.
Although they managed to defeat the first phase and saw the true Boss pop out from the scrap metal, I wonder if they would be so scared they’d faint.
“Damn, he’s aiming. Is this the boss fight? Is he crazy? One person can’t fight a boss.” Truth Invincible was in disbelief.
“Watch closely now, find the best angle. I think we just struck it rich,” Excited, Shadow Trace had not expected someone trying to solo a boss, even if he fails, this would shock the players just with the use of military-grade equipment.
Fine-tuning his aim, Li Yao saw that the accuracy of this crossbow was lower than a bow and arrow. Despite his strengths, he dared not be careless and made meticulous adjustments requiring vast experience and sharp judgment.
The red area appeared in the joint seams of the massive Mechanical Puppet’s arm in his sight, Li Yao had to shoot it with the giant steel arrow.
The game creators ensured that their fight system was as realistic as possible. For instance, if you were able to shoot an arrow into a puppet’s joints, it could impair the Boss’s mobility.
The greater the arrow’s size, or the tougher its material, the better its effects. Like the steel arrow that Li Yao was currently using, which was almost as thick as a child’s arm.
Based on Li Yao’s past experience with military crossbows, he conservatively estimated that this steel arrow could jam the joint space of a Mechanical Puppet of 4-5-yard height for about 2 to 3 minutes.
What he needed was to disable the Puppet’s arm wielding the hammer, as the Furious Lightning it releases is a locked-on skill which is impossible to dodge. As for the chainsaw arm, Li Yao was quite confident about his evading skills.
This Puppet did not move swiftly.
Clang, clang, clang…
With each step the Puppet took, Li Yao’s heart pounded harder, as if resonating with the Puppet’s footsteps.
As the Puppet got closer to Li Yao, its steel arms swayed rhythmically.
Finally, at around 150 yards away from each other, Li Yao’s pupils contracted slightly.
“Now! ”
A shrill, piercing sound echoed.
A steel arrow whistled through the air.
Stab…
The huge steel arrow penetrated the joint of the Puppet’s arm, instantly jamming the initially swinging joint. Following this, the immense force caused the Puppet to suddenly spin halfway around.
-456
An incredibly astonishing figure emerged. Even Li Yao’s eyelid twitched. This single hit had taken away a tenth of his health.
It’s a shame I can’t stay near the crossbow. Otherwise, after one attack from the boss, the crossbow would be ruined.
Li Yao thought regretfully.
As the harsh screeching sound filled the air, the five-yard tall gigantic puppet fell to the ground causing the entire Shandong hillside to rumble.
As Li Yao exhaled, he quickly wound the crossbow using a windlass and loaded the arrow shaft.
Just then, Li Yao heard a voice, “My God, that’s awesome.”
Li Yao’s heart sank as he quickly looked towards the sound.
Swiftly pulling out his bow and arrow, he took a shot at the crevice, revealing a person who’d been hit by the arrow.
“Misunderstanding, misunderstanding, ” Shadow Trace quickly cancelled his stealth mode, preventing Unbowed Facts from revealing the truth. He said, “Don’t misunderstand, we’re reporters, game reporters. This is our work permit issued by the System. We didn’t mean to interfere. We just recorded Leisure Workshop, but we don’t have any connection with them. Please, continue your game; we won’t disturb you. I promise.”
“I’ve also started recording.” Li Yao activated his recorder, capturing their words and work permits. If they dared to interfere with the players, he would provide this evidence to the official authorities who would penalize them based on the severity of their misconduct.
“I understand. Please carry on,” Shadow Trace quickly said. Then through a private chat message, he asked, “What’s your problem? Don’t you know how to message privately?”
Unbowed Facts said woefully, “I was too astonished, I forgot! Who would have thought that one could play like this? And with so much precision too.”
“Forget it. Just be careful next time. If we encounter a hot-tempered player and they kill us, we won’t have any recourse, and we’ll also lose our material.”
“I understand, it won’t happen again,” Unbowed Facts quickly apologized, his attitude considerably better than when he first arrived.
Knowing that the other party were reporters, Li Yao no longer paid them any mind. Even if he stopped them, it would be pointless since reporters had recording rights. He was just momentarily surprised before quickly regaining his composure.
Crack, crack, crack…
Li Yao distanced himself trom the crossbow. Three Arrow Towers were released, although the Puppet was still lying outside their range in the tunnel.
He tried to maintain control on the other side of the hall, preserving the crossbow. If it were destroyed, he wouldn’t be able to kill the boss.
Li Yao held a heavy crossbow in his hands, slightly aiming before firing an arrow.
Thud…
The huge impact of the steel crossbow arrow hitting the Puppet’s body resulted in a burst of sparks. -120
“Such insane defense.’
Watching the Puppet standing up, Li Yao threw the golden metallic dragon that had appeared on his arm at his feet.
The metallic dragon circled around Li Yao then gradually disappeared into thin air, leaving behind a trap. Once released, it would hide itself.
Only Li Yao could see it. He directed the little dragon to hover into a corner.
This was a Poisonous Snake Trap he had made, originally designed to resemble a snake, but while creating it, he had included arcane essence powder, which dropped after the death of a mana float dragon, and the essence sphere of a mana float dragon- a globe created when it curled into itself after death.
The result was a three to four-yard long metallic dragon. This Poisonous Snake Trap could move by itself. Even though Li Yao had added toxin to it, its most distinctive feature was that it could bind and entangle opponents.
Li Yao liked this mobile Poisonous Snake Trap and released it to test its effect.
Creak, creak, creak…
The Mine Puppet stood up again. Because one of its arms was temporarily disabled, its walk was skewed, appearing rather comical.
Li Yao switched to his homemade bow and fired a Concussive Shot to slow the boss down again. He then managed an Arcane Shot, followed by a Charged Shot.
The arrows from the Arrow Towers, placed in different locations, started darting out.
For a moment, sparks flared around the Mine Puppet as arrows hit its body.
-98-99-100-145…
“Damn dwarf, you’ve infuriated Moka.”
Along with the whirring sound of the saw, a rotating Flying Wheel was furiously thrown out by the Mechanical Puppet. The huge Flying Wheel scraped against the tunnel.
Sparks flew as the Flying Wheel cut a deep mark on the wall of the tunnel.
Li Yao continued firing arrows while timing the Flying Wheel’s impacts. When the Flying Wheel was about to hit him, he dodged using a Shadow Roll.
Creak, creak, the Mine Puppet trudged towards Li Yao, its steps weird and disjointed. Li Yao held his breath, he could not afford any mistakes. If he were hit, he’d certainly be killed instantly…