In less than ten seconds, Shiva was chased by the beam, and instantly, his whole person was encased in ice. The ice block was medium-sized and like a coffin. It covered Shiva from head to toe, but this did not mean that Feng Bujue had won.
The seven plates of the Heavenly Hourglass split apart. Three stayed with Feng Bujue while four flew back to Shiva. The three plates shot nine lasers from the same angle at the barrel of the Freeze Ray Gun. The barrel was pushed aside and forced Feng Bujue to stop the attack. The four plates shot twelve lasers accurately at the ice that bound Shiva’s limbs and broke part of the ice. For Shiva, as long as he regained control of his four limbs, it was not hard to escape from the shackle. He destroyed the ice around him in two or three blows and escaped the area before jumping into an alley.
“You are similar to me, Feng Bujue,” Shiva said from behind the wall. “You can see through the enemy’s tactics in one glance and understand what kind of combat style will lead you to victory.”
“I shall take it as a compliment since that comes from the player who is ranked second on the combat ranking,” Feng Bujue said as he pushed forward. But since he was wearing the armor, he was slow, and each step created a resounding boom.
“Being praised like someone like me, other than being happy, you should be more afraid.” As Shiva spoke, seven plates flew into the corner he was hiding and temporarily escaped Feng Bujue’s view.
“Afraid? Ha… Why?” Feng Bujue laughed.
“Is it so hard to understand?” Shiva answered. “Then I will make it clearer. Having a talent similar to the top player is not a good thing because…”
He leaped out from the corner, and behind him was a large, floating hourglass.
“If two men ride a horse, one must ride behind.”
At that moment, the hourglass glowed blue, and a blast of energy rushed out.
Seeing that, Feng Bujue knew that it was one of the enemy’s ultimate abilities, and he could not be too careful. However, he was wearing heavy armor, and that limited his movement. Furthermore, he held guns in both hands and could not summon Death Poker to block. Therefore, he decided to take this blow head on.
At least on a physical level, the cold armor’s defense was definitely higher than the Shield effect. As long as the man did not use a strange, non-physical attack, Feng Bujue believed that he had an eighty percent chance of surviving.
But Shiva used a mental attack.
He had already seen the defensive power of the cold armor and was cautious of the bomb on Feng Bujue. With these two reasons, using brute force was not wise. Therefore, he used the Heavenly Hourglass’ Water effect, Purification. Ignoring physical defense, it could mentally corrupt an enemy and add a ’purified’ status to the target for thirty seconds. Based on the target’s Terror Points, they would lose a corresponding ratio of Life Points, the least being one percent. After use, the plate of water would crumble and would recover when he returned to the log-in lobby.
From the players’ perspective, even though Shiva could not discern the authenticity of the bomb, one thing he was sure—the idea that the so-called the bomb would explode if he lost consciousness was definitely a lie. Once the player lost consciousness, they would morph into white light and disappear, and the items on them would leave the scenario. If the item would not leave the scenario, then as a non-plot consumable, it would stop working and return to its passive state, allowing other players to use it. It would not explode. This setting was to prevent players who knew they were going to die from planting traps maliciously before they left the scenario and thus affect the future progress of the scenario. Shiva, who knew the rules, naturally understood these details, so he used the ultimate that he planned to keep for Seven Kills on Feng Bujue.
If this mental attack successfully killed the man, and the chance of that was high from how Shiva saw it, not only would he gain Mr. Freeze’s armor and gun, he might even obtain the very power fuel air explosive. Then, the use of Purification would have been worth it.
“This skill is quite impressive,” Feng Bujue said in a strange voice. At that moment, Brother Jue could only see balls of shadows and strange scenery. There were wails and pleas echoing in his ears and shrill screams that would chill one’s spine. The effect of Purification looked similar to Scarecrow’s fear gas, but they were different. Scarecrow used the innate fear in humans while Purification used the most direct ’fear’. It was an external biological stimulus.
For example, when someone heard fingers clawing at glass, they would feel goosebumps because the frequency was high and it affected their eardrums, so the brain would react in response. In this mentally-connected game, even if it was a stimulus beyond the normal five senses, it could be replicated by the simulation.
Normally, when a player got hit by this skill, no matter how calm and rational this person was, there would be a biological reaction to cause the Terror Points to rise. Under the influence of Purification, most people would be rendered defenseless. When their Terror Points dropped to fifty percent, in another ten seconds, their Life Points would drop to the bottom.
Seeing Feng Bujue standing where he was, Shiva scoffed and said confidently, “Humph… It’s over now.”
He opened the game menu and could not wait for the man’s status to turn to ’Dead’.
And he waited… for thirty seconds…
Half a minute later, Feng Bujue still stood there unscathed and said, “Is that it?”
“Hey… hey hey hey hey!” Endless curses rose within Shiva, and he turned around and started to run. He’s not dead? How is that possible? Those who get hit by that skill shouldn’t be able to survive no matter how many health potions they down…
“Hmm… And I wondered how powerful this skill would be. It just took all thirty percent of my Life Points, and that took thirty seconds. Ha!” Feng Bujue commented with condescension. “The disruption to the senses is not bad, but since I am wearing the armor, you did not follow it up with an attack. That is where you have failed. You shouldn’t have slacked off.”
Hearing that, Shiva’s own Terror Points rose, and he thought, What the f*ck! There has never been anyone who survived Purification before! You only lost thirty percent Life Points? That is the lowest amount you can lose theoretically. Your Terror Points have been retained at zero all this while? Are you a human?
“I apologize. Since the start of the scenario, I have underestimated you… I didn’t expect someone like you would exist in this world…” Shiva’s eyes changed, and he turned serious. “Feng Bujue, facing a player at your level, I should employ another attitude.”
“Oh? And what is…”
Before Feng Bujue finished, his expression shifted, and his pupils expanded in that moment.
Shiva had morphed into a shadow and blasted at Feng Bujue at an explosive speed. He had a murderous grin on his face. “An attitude where it would be fine to die together with you.”