Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The number of people that gave Li Yi a tough time in his past life was few and far between. Bloody Rose was one of them.
There were personal grudges between them and they had never interacted before. The only cause for enmity was that they had belonged to two different camps.
Bloody Rose was a loner and Li Yi was unaware of her having any friends. His opinion of her rested on only three words.
‘Weirdo! Weirdo! Weirdo!’
It was common for players of opposing camps to kill one another as there were no punishments. Additionally, they could earn some honor points as well. This was a staple within the game’s rules, and it was also the main motivator for players to level up.
There was nothing wrong with killing players from different camps. However, Miss Rose was an exception. Li Yi remembered the first time he met her. They were in the Eastern Continent and at that time, Li Yi was carrying out an escort mission. Halfway through the quest, he was ambushed and killed by Bloody Rose. The escort mission required at least a day to complete, and it was only natural to grieve in that scenario.
Li Yi was infuriated, he revived himself, only for Bloody Rose to kill him every single time. Finally, he accepted his defeat and decided to lie on the floor.
After five hours, Li Yi revived himself and right as he picked up his Return City Stone, he was instantly knocked down by Bloody Rose. It turned out that she had never left his side and camped his corpse the entire time.
After ten hours, Li Yi attempted to revive once more, only for him to die again…
For an entire month, Li Yi was constantly pursued by Bloody Rose. No matter where he went, she followed. He had lost at least ten levels on that month and the grief he experienced was too much to be mentioned.
Li Yi had made a lot of enemies, so it did not bother him to be killed. However, to be continuously persecuted by Bloody Rose for a month was truly maddening. Even more so when he heard Bloody Rose’s reason for killing him.
“Miss, please answer me. You’ve been hunting me down for more than a month now, is there any reason for our deep-seated grudge?”
“No vengeance, no hate!”
“Then why hunt me this way?”
“To serve heaven’s justice!”
The phrase had sent Li Yi bawling in laughter, but he soon realized that the World’s Best Thief was telling the truth. Whenever she sensed oppression, she would not hesitate to intervene. Wherever injustice was brewing, she was there. She was a true heroine.
‘Weirdo, she was definitely a weirdo. Just because she heard that Li Yi was a cheater, she came over to the Eastern Continent to hunt him down for an entire month…
Certainly, she was not discriminating towards Li Yi in particular. Wherever injustice appears, she would be there. For example, Undefeatable Legends’ Vice Guild Master, Not Gray Wolf had a quarrel with his wife, Red Wolf, even a matter between husband and wife had become her business. She hunted him down and killed him without mercy, stopping only after a month of carnage.
Her personality and actions were hard to decipher. Using the word ‘monster’ to describe her was not an understatement whatsoever.
…
“Why did you pull me down from the sky? Do you have anything against me?” Li Yi stared at Bloody Rose, annoyed.
“No vengeance, no hate!”
Bloody Rose’s ice cold voice emitted from the mask. Soon after, her presence vanished…
“Is it because we’re from different camps? Or is it something else altogether?” Li Yi used Beast Soul’s Possession to morph into Lightning Leopard, followed by summoning Lightning Leopard. Together, they went into Stealth-Mode.
Bloody Rose vanished and so did Li Yi and Lightning Leopard, both the humans and the beasts had entered Stealth-Mode.
“To serve heaven’s justice!” She spouted the same icy-cold words.
“Hm? What crime did I commit?”
Li Yi moved as he spoke. Bloody Rose was searching for his position, whereas he was looking for Bloody Rose’s.
“Rape!”
Bloody Roses’ words had almost startled Li Yi out of Stealth-Mode. He smiled wryly and asked, “Since when did this occur?”
“If you want to debate, the evidence is right here! My blade only hunts evil-doers!”
‘Alright fine, this heroine has gone bonkers. However… Who on earth did I rape?’
Pew!
A snow-white arc of a blade was swung in mid-air, accurately hitting Lightning Leopard and breaking its Stealth.
The dual-blades slashed furiously and in the short span of three seconds, Lightning Leopard was already dead.
Bloody Rose had two paths, the main one being the Cyclone Path and the second one being the Explosive Path. Although she paled in comparison to Li Yi’s triple paths, she had mastered the majority of the skills within both the paths.
When combined, the Cyclone Path’s speed and the Explosive Path’s lethality were an impressive force to be reckoned with.
When Bloody Rose was slashing at Lightning Leopard, Li Yi lunged forward, clawing her. However, the damage was insignificant, it did not even reduce her HP by 50.
Li Yi retreated and dispelled Beast Soul’s Possession. He raised his bow and used Chain Arrow Skill.
Bloody Rose rolled forward. As she dodged the arrows, she went straight toward Li Yi’s feet. With a single slash of her dual blades, she stabbed into Li Yi’s crotch.
Li Yi jumped upwards, activating Fly as he returned fire in mid-air.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Li Yi was like a massive bird, he somersaulted thrice in the air and fired three arrows.
Bloody Rose dodged the first two arrows but had failed to dodge the last. The arrow struck her shoulder, dealing 3,213 damage.
In the instant that Li Yi landed, Bloody Rose moved like a phantom and Flashed behind him. The dual blades wrapped around his neck, and she exerted ‘Strangulation’!
Tch—
[−5622]
A fountain of blood gushed out of the wound. This was the result of Bloody Rose’s full-powered, five Skill Points strike!
She had already landed a blow, but Bloody Rose did not stop. She hopped slightly and used her elbow to deliver a blow to the back of Li Yi’s head.
“Bonecrusher!’
“Crack!”
[−35]
Bonecrusher’s lethality was low, but it has a Disorient effect, disorientating its target for six seconds.
“Survival Instinct!”
Li Yi activated the Rocket Propellant and retreated.
Archers were suited for mid-long range combat. If he were to battle a thief in close-quarters combat, he would definitely lose.
Bloody Rose tailed him like a shadow, her body becoming a blur as she gave chase to Li Yi. She was incredibly fast due to the Advanced Cyclone Step skill that came with the advancement into the Cyclone Path.
Tch—
Halfway through the chase, Bloody Rose’s body was frozen like a popsicle. This was due to Li Yi laying down Frost Trap as he fled.
Before Li Yi could strike, Bloody Rose used Shadow Cloak to dispel the Frozen status. Then, she used ‘Vanish’ to enter Stealth-Mode once more.
“Heart of a Clear Mirror!”
Li Yi had activated his Buffing Skill and a red blip immediately appeared on his minimap. The blip had revealed Bloody Rose’s position.
“Boom! Boom!”
Li Yi shot his arrows at the red blip as he jumped backward. However, the red blip dodged swiftly, causing both arrows to miss.
With a blow of his whistle, Li Yi summoned Violent Bear King. Following that, he got on Holy Light Warhorse and released Group Repentance as he charged towards the red blip.
Heart of a Clear Mirror was truly terrifying, it could reveal the location of the surrounding targets, and as long as he launched his attacks precisely on the red blip, the accuracy would always be 100%.
The Stealthed Bloody Rose was struck with Repent. The red blip had seemingly mirrored her condition as it flickered in brightness.
Li Yi shot two more arrows, one being ‘Crippling Shot’ and the other being ‘Eliminate’.
Pew! Pew!
[−2367]
[−5367]
The two arrows had hit, and with it, dispelled Bloody Rose’s Stealth.
Bloody Rose faded into a blur and appeared before Li Yi, swinging her dual blades with all her might.
Pssh!
[−1566]
This woman was insane. Li Yi had taken nearly 8,000 of her HP and adding it up with the previosu 3,000 HP attack, had put the damage to a total of 10,000 HP. However, she was still going strong and was in the midst of launching a full counter-offensive…
Bonecrusher! Knee Kick! Strangulation!
A beautiful chain of combos had been unleashed and had depleted Li Yi’s HP instantly. Fortunately, Li Yi remained calm during the danger. He used Violent Bear to shield him and had recovered his HP in a flash.
“Shoot at Random!”
Li Yi drank a bottle of Hegemonic Body Potion and willed Holy Light Warhorse to spur forward as he used Shoot at Random.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Li Yi activated his major skills and so did Bloody Rose. Her silhouette split from one to two, and from two to four, giving the illusion of four Bloody Roses. Her skill was akin to Shadow Clones, surrounding Li Yi and unleashing a fervent barrage of blades.
“Thousand Shadow Kill!”
They were at a standstill!
Based on offensive prowess alone, Li Yi had the upper-hand. However, the main asset of Cyclone Thieves was their speed. For every arrow that Li Yi shot, Bloody Rose was able to release two strikes. Thus, the damage they dealt were nearly equal, making it hard to determine the result.
Time to go all-out…
When players battle one another, they are unable to see their opponent’s HP. Thus, they were unable to make precise movements like during boss battles. Instead, they had to give their all until the opponent falls.
Li Yi’s Shoot at Random had dealt a Critical Hit, whereas Bloody Rose’s finishing blow, Strangulation had used up all five Skill Points at the same time. Both of them had seemingly stopped at the same time.
Shoot at Random had stopped and Thousand Shadow Kill had disappeared.
They still wanted to carry on, but Li Yi’s mana had been depleted and Bloody Rose’s HP was almost gone…
Li Yi spurred Holy Light Warhorse forward. He hacked viciously with Wind Sword and Bloody Rose used her dual blades to intercept it. However, Li Yi soon realized that for every contact her dual blades made with him, green healing letters would appear above her head.
[+170]
[+180]
[+250]
`D*mmit! It’s a Draining Weapon!’
Li Yi cursed mentally and used the additional skill from Herbalism, Life Blood to replenish his health.
He had made a misstep this time. Bloody Rose’s equipment’s attributes were all hidden. Judging by the looks of her equipment alone, he hypothesized that they were all purple-colored equipment. However, there were many purple-colored equipments that looked similar within King of Pantheon, and each of them wielded their own special effects.
The Bloody Rose in his previous life had wielded ‘God’s Blades’. Although they lacked the special effect of Draining, the divine weapons possessed the ability to reduce the damage taken by their owners by 70%. The weapon on the main hand reduced the damage by 40%, whereas the one off hand would reduce damage by 30%. The effect was only active if the owner wielded both of the blades…
‘Level 50 epic purple-colored weapon ⸺ Blade of Culling! For main hand and off hand!’
Based on the dual blades that Bloody Rose wielded, Li Yi was able to determine the Draining Weapon she was using.
Each Blade of Culling’s Drain effect was fixed at 5%, but when used together, the Drain effect would be increased ten-fold to 50%. Aside from its slight lack of offensive prowess, the weapon was the absolute best for a thief below Level 100, putting it far above any others.
Li Yi had regarded the Bloody Rose before him as the one from his previous, which was obviously a mistake.
“Punishment Windstorm!”
The situation was getting dire and Li Yi no longer had the luxury to contemplate on other problems. Both of the windstorm’s special effects activated simultaneously and it launched Frost Arrows toward Bloody Rose.
Li Yi had reserved Punishment Windstorm as he was worried that Bloody Rose had kept a few tricks up her sleeve. If the Archer did not possess the skill to control Punishment Windstorm and was unable to utilize it properly, there would be no possible follow-ups to the attack.
As Punishment Windstorm acted on Bloody Rose, the one thing that Li Yi feared had occurred.
“Dark Devour!”
Wisps of black energy rose from Bloody Rose’s body, instantly devouring all negative statuses. Like Li Yi, she had a few tricks kept up her sleeve…
