Swhoosh swhoosh…
A fiery light shone from the Crimson Dragon Arm. It was its pre-activation visual effect. It needed not be said that Little Piglet was planning to drop Candlelight Shadow’s Ghost Armament, the Dragon Tooth Arm, because it was the only way he was going to survive this duel. He might have the Heaven Suppressing Necklace and the Crimson Dragon Arm, but he didn’t have defensive Divine Armaments and Ghost Armaments like my Cloak of Divine Fervor and Rising Cloud. There was no way he could take 9 times the damage from Candlelight Shadow and survive.
Candlelight Shadow was raising an arm and shouting to the Candle Dragon players behind him, “Halt! I will test Little Piglet’s mettle myself! He is a man who killed Blue Sky Scar and grievously injured Ye Yuse right before my eyes. I will now see the man who dared to challenge Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance is truly as fearsome as appears!”
The tamers, mages and archers immediately stopped their attack, returning much silence to the battlefield.
Candlelight Shadow then extended a hand and said, “I will wait until you’ve returned to full health, and your cooldowns are ready. I won’t be riding my fire dragon as well. I won’t let you say I took advantage of you when this is over.”
Panting heavily, Little Piglet closed his eyes and stood there quietly for about half a minute. Then, he looked up and said, “Let’s go. Martial God Candlelight Shadow, you may be feared by a lot of people, but not me. Whoever you may be, I will make you regret standing in my way!”
“Good!”
Candlelight Shadow smirked. “I like experts like you. Now come. Don’t die an early death and disappoint me. Also, I won’t use the Dragon Tooth Arm unless you force me to, so you have nothing to worry about. It’ll be an incredibly dull duel otherwise!!”
Little Piglet gritted his teeth and uttered, “Cut the bullshit and come at me already!”
……
Little Piglet buffed himself with Strength of Divine Arms to increase his Attack by 20%. He then tossed a light blue-colored card into the sky and caused a 50-yard snow terrain to appear out of nowhere. It was an extremely rare terrain-type card. Usually, cards like these would be used to kill bosses. I had no idea that Little Piglet was collecting cards like these, and that he would use it to kill Candlelight Shadow.
Candlelight Shadow remained calm even though his movement speed had been reduced by 25%, stomping the ground to activate Wind and Cloud Domain. The domain reduced the Attack of all enemies within his domain by 20%, which was a good counter against Little Piglet’s Heaven Suppressing Necklace. Without sufficient Attack, Little Piglet might not be able to lifesteal enough HP to offset the damage he received.
Thud!
Little Piglet was the one to make the first move, swinging his sword lightly as if he was making a tentative strike. However, the moment he got close to his opponent, he abruptly sped up and executed Ice Blade Shatter. He succeeded in catching Candlelight Shadow off-guard!
717,236!
Despite scoring the first hit and deleting much HP from Candlelight Shadow’s health bar, Little Piglet wasn’t surprised with just this. He followed up with an Ice Ray Flurry that cut off the Martial God’s retreat.
Without a word, Candlelight Shadow withdrew unto himself and raised his sword defensively. Guard!
Bang bang bang…
Ice Ray Flurry shook his body and knocked him a few steps backward. While bits of ice were still flying everywhere, Candlelight Shadow abruptly rushed toward Little Piglet and executed a lightning fast Blazing Purgatory Slash!
“Hmm!?”
The skill was a triple-hit skill, and each hit flew toward Little Piglet from different angles. The Cold Wind Swordsman frowned, shifted his left foot half a step backward to steady himself, and tried to parry. He managed to parry the first hit, but not the second and third hit. Moreover, all of Candlelight Shadow’s slashes were targeted at the throat, so he took a lot of damage!
1,018,271!
992,673!
Faster than even Little Piglet could retaliate, Candlelight Shadow leaped into the air and knocked his Guard stance apart with his knee. Then, he executed a fiery Shattering Sword and Shield!
1,451,272!
Little Piglet let out a cry of pain as he fell backward. During this time, he ate another two basic attacks and dropped to low health.
The skill “Second Wind” surrounded Candlelight Shadow as he ran across the snow, healing him for 5% HP per second. He was clearly favored to win this duel.
……
Pa…
Little Piglet ate a kick from Candlelight Shadow and was sent rolling across the snow. After halting his momentum by stabbing his sword into the ground, he pushed with his left hand and launched a kick toward Candlelight Shadow’s lower body.
Candlelight Shadow dodged it with a perfect zigzag and responded with an Outer Flame!
Little Piglet hurriedly downed a health potion and to survive the Divine General Skill. At the same time, he executed a near instantaneous Ice Ray Flurry + Ice Break Shatter combo before activating Heavenly River Transformation following up with his S Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Divine Arms Slash once more!
3198374!
It was a critical hit. This time, it was Candlelight Shadow’s HP who was nearing rock bottom!
“Bastard!”
Candlelight Shadow narrowed his eyes at the same time his Dragon Tooh Arm began glowing. It was clear that he was preparing to use his killer move. There was no way Little Piglet would survive if he managed to land the empowered attack.
……
In the sky, Lin Yixin’s mouth fell open, “Oh no, Little Piglet’s about to die…”
“No he won’t!”
Faster than my own words, I descended from the sky like lightning and lashed out with the Xuanyuan Sword. The domain-empowered strike cut the ground right in front of the Martial God and forced him back a step. The light from the Dragon Tooth Arm had faded as well.
“You!”
Candlelight Shadow stared at me grimly and said, “What is the meaning of this, Lu Chen? I am dueling Little Piglet right now. You know it is not right to interfere, right?”
I pointed my sword at him and said, “It’s simple. I think of Little Piglet as a friend, so I won’t allow you to kill him with the Dragon Tooth Arm. If you are a man, then don’t get in the way of another man’s revenge, Candlelight Shadow.”
Candlelight Shadow stomped the ground and refreshed his Wind and Cloud Domain. Clearly, he was planning to fight even me. The corners of his lips turned up as he said, “Is that so? This one man’s revenge will affect millions of Purgatory Mad Dragon players’ lives; Chinese players. Surely I don’t need to tell you the stakes involved in this matter?”
I gritted my teeth. “So what? These people are willing to join a guild like Purgatory Mad Dragon. They are scumbags who value greed over compassion and revel in bullying the weak. Are we going to ignore all the horrors Purgatory Mad Dragon’s people have committed in Sky City? Are we going to pretend that countless people aren’t criticizing Purgatory Mad Dragon’s action on the forums every day? Isn’t it enough?”
Candlelight Shadow replied indifferently, “I don’t care if Purgatory Mad Dragon is good or bad. All I care about is killing Little Piglet to appease Purgatory Mad Dragon and all the Chinese players who have died to Dark Mercenaries. Long story short, Purgatory Mad Dragon is under my protection today, and anyone who dares to hurt them will face my wrath!”
Thud!
I abruptly tossed the Xuanyuan Sword toward the ground and replied just as indifferently, “Well, Little Piglet is under my protection as well! You will have to wipe out Ancient Sword first before you can lay a hand on Little Piglet!”
The sound of hooves thundering against the ground resounded as the Dragonlight Cavalry led by He Yi and Li Chengfeng arrived. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that two dragon knights and tens of thousands of Dragonlight Cavalry equaled a massive amount of fighting strength. Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon’s players certainly looked apprehensive as they muttered, “Shit, Falling Dust must’ve gone insane! Is he really going to fight against Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance for one Little Piglet?”
I looked at Candlelight Shadow, and he looked at me. Perhaps we were the only two people in the world who truly understood that there would never be a “we” between the two of us, at least not in this game. It was either me or him!
……
Suddenly, Little Piglet let out a chuckle and produced a Vassal Challenge Token from his pockets. The next moment, we were all informed that Dark Mercenaries had challenged Purgatory Mad Dragon’s main guild to a guild challenge. The battle would begin 60 minutes later, and the loser would lose their guild, be unable to rebuild it, and lose 3 levels across the board. It was a battle no one could afford to lose!
“Motherfucker!”
Candlelight Shadow uttered in a frigid tone, “You are a fearless man if nothing else, Little Piglet! Even if you aren’t afraid of offending Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance, do you realize how many Chinese players you’re harming with this act of yours??”
Little Piglet replied indifferently, “I know that. It is why I do regret my decision. However, I still must see it through, or I won’t ever be able to look myself in the face!”
……
Little Piglet looked at me and said, “Lu Chen, you are my friend, so I’m asking you now to allow me one final dignity. I don’t wish to leave under another’s protection even if it is the protection of a friend!”
I nodded solemnly and flew about a hundred meters to the sky. Then, I said, “I will respect your choice, Little Piglet!”
“Thank you…” he nodded.
The next moment, Candlelight Shadow and Little Piglet crossed each other’s path, and the Dragon Tooth Arm flashed. Two massive damage number floated above both their heads—
1,226,321!
13,219,155!
……
Little Piglet let out a groan and dropped to the ground. Not only did the guild leader of Dark Mercenaries die, he even dropped the Crimson Dragon Arm.
Swhoosh!
I descended right on top of the Crimson Dragon Arm and knocked Candlelight Shadow back with a strike before saying, “No one is getting Little Piglet’s loot while I’m around!”
Candlelight Shadow uttered through gritted teeth, “You’re a goddamned busybody, Lu Chen!”
“As if you’re not one yourself! Who’s the one helping Purgatory Mad Dragon to attack Little Piglet?” I countered.
I then crouched down and picked up the Crimson Dragon Arm.
Blue Sky Scar had already revived at this point. He said resentfully from behind Candlelight Shadow, “Candlelight, Ancient Sword has gone too far this time. Do we attack them?”
At Warsky Alliance’s formation, October Rain was frowning lightly and saying, “Candle Dragon is going to attack. While I like Lu Chen a lot, it will be bad for all of us if Ancient Sword continues to dominate the scene. Attack Ancient Sword’s flank when Candle Dragon makes their move. We’re gonna destroy these Dragonlight Cavalry before their Holy Mages arrive!”
Warsky Alliance gripped his Immortal Blade tighter. “You said my thoughts!”
……
I looked toward He Yi and nodded once. “Fight!”
It had been a very long time since our three guilds fought one another, and everyone was itching to test their mettle. Moreover, everyone here was a high-level player, meaning that the winner of this battle would prove themselves to be superior to the other guilds. It was something everyone was eager to find out.
……
Buzz!
A few minutes later, Candlelight Shadow abruptly rushed toward me with his wristguard shining brightly. Clearly, his Dragon Tooth Arm was ready to unleash its devastating power once more. The moment the equipment’s cooldown was ready, he didn’t hesitate to use it on me and score first blood for Candle Dragon!
