Zen Dream rushed forward with his blade, as fast as the wind. His skills were hard to predict, and the force behind them was everything he had. Feng Bujue bolted forward in the form of a shadow. Wherever he passed, the cards rippled and shone, the power of his attacks still higher than Zen Dream.
The two knew very well that, facing the Anomaly before them, even if they gave it everything they had, they would not win, so holding back was a pointless exercise.
The two carried on unleashing all their lethal skills. K3 faced two of them alone, but he showed no sign of being cornered at all; his defenses were perfect. In terms of power, he was more powerful than both of them combined; in terms of fighting capability, he had trained since the day he was born; in terms of fighting spirit, every battle could be the last for the Anomaly.
The battle between the three formed a delicate balance. The two players temporarily used their fast and intense attacks to hold K3 back, but they were unable to defeat him. If this continued, in several minutes, Feng Bujue would lose his power, and the balance would be broken. However, they were unable to fight for an early victory.
“You’re slowing down.” During this fierce combat, K3 had the luxury of providing comments. “And your attacks are not powerful enough.”
His aura burst from his right arm, and part of the aura armor expanded to blast Zen Dream’s sword away. Zen Dream felt a dullness affecting his palm. A stream of Qi then surged through his arm, and his grasp became so powerless that the blade slipped away from his hand.
“You’re not bad.” K3 then turned to Feng Bujue and said, “But your fighting experience and mastery is a bit of a mess…”
He leaped into air and used a simple but unexpected move to sidle next to Feng Bujue. Using his elbow, he stabbed right at Feng Bujue’s ribs.
Thankfully, there was the Echo Armor. Furthermore, the buff from Body Enhancement Spell enabled Feng Bujue to come up with a defensive posture before he was attacked. Even though the elbow shot caused him to stagger back more than ten meters, he only lost ten percent of his Life Points. Of course, this ten percent also meant the loss of another twenty-five seconds of his Body Enhancement Spell.
“If you don’t pick up the pace, the battle will be over soon,” K3 said. “I still have four other people to deal with.”
“So, that’s your weakness…” Feng Bujue suddenly chuckled, and his gaze turned sharp and cold.
“What are you talking about?” On the surface, K3 appeared unfazed, but actually, a shred of anxiety curled through his heart. By then, Zen Dream had picked up his sword. He used his left hand to hold his right wrist, to stabilize the arm that was shaking. Obviously, he had not given up. The one skill was not going to make him surrender.
“Even for an Anomaly, you cannot possess unlimited Stamina.” When Feng Bujue spoke, he had regained his composure. He rushed ahead. “You require stamina to maintain the aura armor—that much is obvious—and whenever the exhaustion reaches a certain level, you unleash a skill that is plainly more powerful than your current standard.”
Poker cards flew out from his hands. There was no arrangement to them—he merely wanted to deliver hits on the foe.
“If you kill the enemy, it would be for the best, but if you can’t, the enemy will be forced back regardless, and you can make use of that opening to recover your stamina.” With the aid of ten cards, Feng Bujue once more charged at K3. “You have a high stamina recovery rate, and that determines your fighting method. The more powerful the skill, the closer you are to defeat. When you use your strongest skill, it means that you are finally cornered.”
K3’s aura armor was a kind of automated defensive skill. When he was faced a powerful attack—being hit on the back by a bench obviously did not count as one—it would be triggered automatically to neutralize the attacking force. It was more powerful than Echo Armor because it covered not only the body but every inch of the person. Even if the attack was very close-range, it would not affect the triggering of the armor.
Other than that, the aura armor could be used offensively. Earlier, K3 had already done that a few times like exploding part of the armor or using it to increase the damage of long distance attacks.
However, this kind of convenient and powerful skill naturally had its exhaustion. If the Stamina Points fell under thirty percent, the aura armor’s passive effect would halt, and that would place K3 in danger. Therefore, his fighting style was to turn defense into offence and end the battle before his Stamina Points reached that threshold.
Whenever K3’s Stamina Points dropped below fifty percent, he would employ a very powerful ultimate. Like Feng Bujue predicted, even if he could not kill his foe, he would be able to force them back. While they were recovering, K3 used that opening to recover as well. But an Anomaly’s Life Points and Stamina Points’ recovery rate could not be compared to players’. They were originally a set of data, and the world within the scenario was formed from data. For them, recovery was like taking in the air around them; their recovery rate was at least ten times faster than the player.
Feng Bujue thought back to the last time he ran into X-23, another level three Anomaly. When she fought Pan Feng and Hwa Xiong, she did not appear to possess any big advantage but won the battle stably and easily. However, the enemy this time appeared to be so powerful that one would suspect him of cheating. Even the GM could be killed in one hit.
Yet, Feng Bujue still saw through the trick. This was all an illusion. K3’s fighting style was quite cunning, creating the impression that his power could continue to increase endlessly.
“This must have worked swimmingly for you in the past.” Feng Bujue’s cards were not stopped this time, and they cut K3 from many sides. However, the damage dealt was still limited because the aura armor around K3 was active. “You can transmute your ’Qi’ or presence into a lethal weapon… Most people, when they face an enemy who will grow in strength as the battle continues, will be given the impression of being suppressed, and this feeling will rapidly change into self-doubt and fear.”
When Feng Bujue spoke, the cards that had materialized from thin air flew at the man’s throat.
Zen Dream also made his move then. His sword pointed at K3’s back and stabbed forward silently.
Kiang!
Once again, they were greeted by this sound. This time, the blade itself was bent, but even so, the tip of the blade still could not puncture the aura armor. Zen Dream had already put everything behind this stab. Even though he had not lost any Life Points, to keep up with Feng Bujue’s attack speed, he had depleted plenty of Stamina Points. On the other hands, Feng Bujue’s wrist that held the card was grabbed firmly by K3, so the attack was not successful.
“That is not a bad speculation, and your solution of committing to a continuous attack is not wrong either,” K3 said darkly, and his expression turned severe again. “Unfortunately, you are not powerful enough to carry your plan through.”
With a twist of the wrist, Feng Bujue’s right arm was dislocated and then yanked off. One could see the bones poking out, and naturally, blood flowed. The simulation of pain was very clear. Thankfully, the system had minimized the sensation of pain because if it was replicated one hundred percent, Feng Bujue would have fainted on the spot.
“If it was the two GMs who fought according to your plan, if they’re lucky, they might have a chance at winning,” K3 said coldly. “Of course, I suspect that they would not survive my ultimate.”
He tossed Feng Bujue’s broken arm away.
“And for you two.” He turned back and launched a kick. A footprint materialized on Zen Dream’s shoulder. The latter’s face was filled with shock, and seconds later, he coughed out blood as he was sent flying several meters before slamming into a tree. “I’ve already said, he is not fast enough and not powerful enough.”
K3 turned back to Feng Bujue. “And you don’t even know how to fight. This is a waste of time.”
The red glow around K3’s right arm reappeared, and it was so bright that it clouded up the bloody glow around Feng Bujue. Feng Bujue’s Life Points had reached the bottom again due to the heavy injury and constant bleeding. He could maintain Body Enhancement Spell for another few seconds. Then again, whether the skill was active nor not, he did not think he would be able to successfully evade K3’s imminent attack.
“You are not qualified enough for me to use my most powerful skill.” Based on K3’s movement, he planned to use Red Dragon Fist again. “This punch that you evaded earlier should be more than enough to deal with you.”
He was not wrong. If not for Feng Bujue’s Below-the-belt Shin Kick, this punch would have already ended the battle.
At the last moment, many thoughts flashed through Feng Bujue’s mind.
Should I say something to transfer the plot armor away? I can’t have him ruin any more of my equipment. Or should I just abandon the game? After all, the fight has gone on long enough. I’ve already lost. Even though I knew from the beginning that the chance of victory is low, but to know that the chance of victory is lower than I anticipated, that sure is a sad discovery…
The dragon roared, and the red glow gathered. The red dragon energy rushed out from K3’s right arm and headed right at Feng Bujue’s chest.
Don’t tell me, it’s going to ruin my Echo Armor this time. I’ve been able to use that equipment for less than one scenario…
Bang!
The blast of energy knocked against an invisible wall, but it was not the shield from Echo Armor…
“The data of your Sorcery Weapon has been updated. Your item SCP-500 has been exhausted. Current uses remaining: 19/20.”
“What?” When Feng Bujue heard the announcement, he already had a clear view of the shield before him. It was a golden screen formed by a poker card, the size was about as big as a door and it blocked K3’s Red Dragon Fist.
There were initially three special effects to Death Poker, but at that moment, a fourth special effect had appeared and activated.
———
Special Effect 1: Limitless (At interval of every five minutes, a ruined playing card will be automatically regenerated and this will stop when there is fifty-four cards in the deck)
Special Effect 2: Poker Hands (Using a specific poker hands during attack will increase damage)
Special Effect 3: Soul-Seeking (The cards will always aim at the wielder’s target.)
Special Effect 4: Shield ’Card’ (Randomly exhaust ten cards to create an indestructible shield.)
———
This coincidence was hard to explain. It was hard to say whether it was because Feng Bujue’s mastery of his Sorcery weapon had increased or was the effect of the plot armor. Coincidentally, combining the previous exhaustion and the loss of ten cards to form this shield, there was only one card left.
But the bigger question was, why did SCP-500 get exhausted? Even though it was an all-purpose medicine, it would not recover Life Points.
“How did…” K3 also showed a confused expression.
Feng Bujue followed the man’s eyes, and as he lowered his head, he noticed that his arm was regrowing at an impossible speed. The nerves, bones, muscles, and skin… were reforming on their own. The data gathered around the wound in a pool of green light. The right arm that was yanked off earlier was reconstructed in less than ten seconds, but the sleeve of the shirt was still missing.
The forced consumption of SCP-500 was to reconstruct the broken arm.
“Why won’t you just die peacefully‽” For some reason, K3 was seriously enraged. Ignoring the heavy exhaustion that would affect his body, he gathered his palms together and unleashed his Qi. His fingers were crossed in an X-shape, and a Qi blast in the shape of a net shot out.
After Feng Bujue’s broken arm recovered, the bleeding stopped, so his Life Points did not drop to one percent. They stopped at around seventeen percent. This meant that Body Enhancement Spell’s effect was still active.
Earlier, K3’s Red Dragon Fist had introduced some distance between the two, and Feng Bujue had some space to navigate around him again. Facing the Qi blast, he used a not-so-standard roll to roll to the side, and to everyone’s surprise… he really did evade the attack.
“Tsk…” K3 tutted and said, “Don’t think you will be so lucky every time. I’ve been watching you. You won’t be able to maintain this high-speed state for a long time.”
“Huh?” Feng Bujue replied with some arrogance. “There’s no need for you to worry about me… Before defeating you, I will not deactivate this status.”
He was merely being stubborn. In less than one minute, the skill itself would be automatically deactivated.
“Die then!” K3 roared loudly as he leaped into the air. He launched three consecutive punches. They were fast, smooth, and heavy. These three punches possessed enormous speed, strength, and power; they were powerful, balanced attacks.
“Your equipment, M1911A1 Pistol, has been destroyed.
“Your equipment, Eye of Hostility, has been destroyed.
“Your equipment, Robots-Must-Die, has been destroyed.”
“F*ck!” This curse slipped from Feng Bujue’s lips. Since there were no other players close to him, he would not be punished by the system. This time, his Life Points did not decrease, but since the three punches were all lethal attacks, the system sacrificed his equipment directly.
K3 did not know about the disappearance of the items from Feng Bujue’s inventory. He looked at Feng Bujue in shock. This person was not affected at all after taking on his three punches. “How come you still aren’t dead?”
“Dead?” Feng Bujue’s eyes were blasting out fire. With lightning-like speed, he fished out Mario’s Wrench from his inventory and waved it right at K3’s temple. K3 was standing close to him due to the fight…
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Blood seeped out of K3’s head from the hits. He immediately raised his arms to block, but his arms were injured by the wrench instead.
“Dead! Dead! Dead!” As Feng Bujue wailed on the man, he repeated evilly. “You have wasted too much of my stuff in a short period of time! Huh? Your Stamina Points are finally lower than the threshold required to maintain the aura armor, right‽”
While he waved the wrench around, he did not forget to add a few punches. From the looks of it, he was about to defeat K3 with mere simple punches. K3 was retreating.
The first few heavy hits stunned K3. He did not expect the man to be so energetic and intense after taking his three punches. After staggering and retreating, he was being chased by a maddened Feng Bujue.