Zhan Long

Chapter 55 - Struggle Between Life and Death

“What?!”

Wang Jian raised his sword and said angrily, “Isn’t Xiao Yao Zi Zai a strength type healer? This…how can a healer with .5 growth in strength use a Level 4 [Combo] to oneshot Bai Qi?!”

Li Mu pointed at me with his sword and yelled, “Stop talking and kill him already!”

I got hit by two more arrows in my back and lost 400+ HP. General Lian Po’s archery was way too strong. Facing me, Li Mu thrust his sword towards me with exceptional speed! The player ranked just second to Yan Zhao, he was indeed strong!

……

Clang!

I powerfully swung my sword as I stepped backwards into the shallow water with my Silver boots. Li Mu’s sword was forcefully knocked away with a clang. The surprise in his eyes became very obvious, he was mistaken to think that a healer’s attack damage and strength could be enough to knock him away.

Although I knocked the edge of his sword away, Li Mu reacted quickly. He bent and suddenly leaped forward, and he kicked my chest with his boot!

“171!”

I rolled into the water with a dull feeling in my chest. I clenched my fists and thrust them into the surface of the water. A row of chains broke through the water, encircling Lian Po.

Whoosh!

General Lian Po got bound by the chains for 2.1 seconds. At the same time, Baby Bobo also appeared behind him, buzzing around while a golden hexagram started to appear on his stinger.

“Ah d*mn…”

Lian Po cursed, and fell on the ground, killed within moments.

Bang!

As I was focusing on killing Lian Po, I received yet another blow from behind and multiple pets started chasing me around. Wang Jian came rushing at me with the edge of his sword glowing, indicating a [Combo] cast, and the only thing I could do was keep backing away. While doing that though, I waved my hand, and cast [Heal]!

“+600!”

Li Mu appeared at my side and attacked together with Wang Jian. Although my body was in the game, I flicked my Jade City Sword out of reflex and with a bang, it hit Li Mu’s wrist. At the same time I yelled loudly, and the wind concentrated around my blade. With a teal glow lingering on my sword, I quickly slashed towards Wang Jian’s shoulders.

“Careful!” Li Mu yelled out.

Wang Jian frowned and backed away quickly and calmly. He saw the wind gather at my blade and backed away immediately. As soon as the strike finished preparing, I slashed at him but only managed to scratch at his shadow; a huge “MISS” popped up. I stared wide-eyed at the empty space where Wang Jian was. Damn, the [Wind Blade] strike missed. What kind of reaction time did Wang Jian have?!

At the same time, Li Mu leaned forward. His shoulder heavily bumped my exposed side. With a bang, I lost balance and entered a state of immobility. I couldn’t do anything for 0.5 seconds!

Li Mu steadied himself and leaned down again. A ray of light appeared on his feet and pushed away the water, creating a small whirlpool. It was the beginning of a combo! Damn it, this guy also learned a combo?

“Absolute Authority!”

Li Mu yelled out loud. His body and the sword seemingly combined as he stabbed my chest. After that was a slash, then followed by a stab and then another slash. After 4 continuous strikes, he bellowed and threw his entire body and sword straight at me. With a bang, he flung me into the air, and I lost all control!

Li Mu twisted his body, and the edge of his sword started glowing. The last attack, [Twisted Strike]!

At that time, the damage numbers of the 6 strike combo, [Absolute Authority], finally popped up——

“79!”

“81!”

“76!”

“84!”

“197!”

“514!”

……

That last attack, [Twisted Strike], was really strong. The length of [Absolute Authority] was 1.9 seconds, and the combo itself was pretty original. I didn’t feel too much regret, getting killed by such a great combo.

After a sharp pain, I died and became a corpse. I respawned in soul form in a nearby graveyard.

I quickly opened my bag and checked my items. Ahh, I didn’t drop any of my equipment, but I dropped back down to level 31. I also dropped a few batches of [Chilling Wind Pill]. Quite a shame, those were equal to shining white silver coins!

Still, the happiest people would be those Generals huh? Kill me once, and they get a bounty of 1000 gold. They made quite a big profit.

I clenched my fist, and muttered to myself. I couldn’t let this go. I needed to retaliate or else the Generals would think I was like a plate of food that they could trample over whenever they wanted.

I ran towards my corpse as I thought about the coming battle. Those 4 Generals were all attack classes, so they had no healer. So I needed to use more reasonable tactics; that would give me higher chances in succeeding. First, I needed to avoid the attacks of Li Mu and Wang Jian. Out of the four of them, those two were the deadliest. Wang Jian could easily dodge my [Wind Blade], and Li Mu had his strong combo.

Or maybe I should be kill Li Mu first, then face the others? If I focused hard, I might be able to dodge Wang Jian’s attacks. I also had [Heal] and health potions, so I shouldn’t die.

Yep, I would do that!

……

I returned to the [Desolate Cloud Swamp], and of course, Li Mu and the others were watching over my corpse, while chatting——

Li Mu said, “Actually, I feel a bit sorry for Xiao Yao Zai Zai. For 1000 gold coins, we grouped up to kill him. I feel like we’re giving the General Family a bad name…”

Wang Jian frowned, “Boss, when we are weak we have to bow our heads. For those 1000 gold coins, we do what we need to do. What else is there to say? After getting the gold coins, we’ll publicly apologize to him. Besides, Xiao Yao Zi Zai helped [Prague] kill us and steal the boss. Killing him is perfectly reasonable.”

Lian Po held his bow, and said with a slight smile, “ Even with the four of us combined, he still killed two. Xiao Yao Zi Zai is very strong. Li Mu, do you think you can win in a 1v1?”

Li Mu muttered, “Without pets, I can win. With pets, I will lose. I heard that Xiao Yao’s pet is a Bee Overlord, 5 star in attack, with 97% excellency…”

Bai Qi took a deep breath, “Gah, that’s really OP……”

Bai Qi slapped his leg and said, “Well, we’ll kill Xiao Yao Zi Zai one more time and then scram. We shouldn’t stay in this area for too long…”

“Mm!”

……

I waited silently for a good 20 minutes. I didn’t want to rush and revive recklessly. I would make my move when they started to get twitchy. I needed to finish the job in a split second!

I looked at Li Mu, Bai Qi and the others. Their gray name status lasted for 30 minutes, and it was just about to end. I needed to start soon! I silently started countdown, preparing my counterattack after reviving——

“3!”

“2!”

“1!”

I revived, and it was time to take revenge!

Whoosh!

I revived right behind Li Mu, and I immediately drank a health potion to fill my HP up. I summoned Baby Bobo and pointed towards General Lian Po, telling Bobo to attack him. Finally, I dropped down and punched into the water heavily.

Clang!

Chains suddenly broke through the water’s surface, and bound tightly around Li Mu’s feet. For 2.1 seconds, he couldn’t attack or defend, and he was not even allowed to drink a health potion.

“Damn it!” Wang Jian reacted quickly, and his sword came flying over.

But, I was prepared for it. I spun around and positioned myself behind Li Mu. At the same time, a golden hexagram started to form on my sword as I combined the level 4 [Combo] and [Wind Blade] to attack him!

Li Mu widened his eyes, and muttered, “I’m done for…”

“228!”

“231!”

“229!”

“418!”

……

I struck 4 times, and Li Mu’s 900 or so HP drained completely as he slowly fell over. Shortly after, he exploded with health potions and a faintly glowing necklace!

I stretched out my hand, grabbed the necklace out of midair and stuffed it into my bag. I took my sword, crouched low, and dashed towards Wang Jian.

Wang Jian widened his eyes, shocked, “Damn, this guy… he’s a sword expert!”

Still, even while facing my attack, Wang Jian didn’t hesitate. He faced the edge of my blade with his chest and, with a whoosh, the Jade Sword cut into his shoulder. But Wang Jian grabbed onto my sword hilt, and with his other hand, his sharp blade started glowing with a golden hexagram, [Combo] + [Heavy Strike] combined!

“233!”

“301!”

“218!”

“+600!”

“357!”

Thankfully I pulled off a [Heal] in the middle of the combo or else I would have been killed right there. Directly behind me, Bai Qi bellowed. I could almost feel the flames from his axe burning my back!

I clenched my teeth and put power into my feet. I leaned down and kicked Wang Jian’s leg. His whole body lost balance, and rolled into the mud with me. That also allowed me to dodge Bai Qi’s attack, and as I continued retreating, I looked at the cooldown on [Heal]. There were 3 seconds left, hurry up and get off cooldown!

Whoosh!

“274!”

Lian Po’s arrow struck again, and I saw the end of my HP bar. Luckily, Bobo didn’t fail his mission and killed off General Lian Po with his combo. Meanwhile, Wang Jian and Bai Qi’s pets, one of them was a Killer Bee and the other was a Green Water Insect, continuously banged on my armor. My HP would drain in the blink of an eye at this rate!

Grief consumed me as I saw my HP plummet. I could only watch as Bai Qi’s battleaxe fell on me while one second was left on the cooldown of [Heal]. No, that won’t do. I must fight to the death. I countered Bai Qi’s [Fiery Axe] + [Heavy Strike] with my [Combo] + [Wind Blade]. Under the violent attacks, I felt a hot pain in my chest as my HP completely depleted. Simultaneously, the Jade City Sword sliced open Bai Qi’s chest. He died as well with blood spurting out!

“Die!”

Bai Qi looked at his own health as it disappeared. He was as sad and angry as I was, “How was he able to kill me too…?”

Wang Jian clenched his fist and stood off to the side with a heavy mood, staring at Bai Qi and I as we went into soul form.

……

Whoosh!

I returned to the graveyard again in my soul form, and checked my equipment first. Mm, Jade City Sword, Armor of the Earth, and the Helmet of Cruelness were still here. I only dropped a white tiered cloth leg protector. That was fine. Oh yeah, Li Mu dropped a necklace for me, let’s see what kind of gift he left me. I took the necklace out of the pack and looked. My mood instantly got better——

【Necklace of Bravery】（Bronze-Tier Equipment）

Strength: +21

Others: Equipper gains 50 HP

Level Requirement: 30

……

Very nice! Added 21 strength and 50 HP. They were just the stats I needed!