MMO: Pierce Heaven Til' It Breaks

Jiaojiao had been killed after she was lured to the waterside. This was not the first time, either; she had been consecutively killed seven times by now.

The bright blade appeared behind Jiaojiao, and with two thuds, the newly-resurrected Jiaojiao once more.

Now this was the eighth time…

“We’re both women, so why would I make things harder for you? It’s not like I want to kill you, I just wanna remind you that that Dark Wing over there may be all smiles, but you can tell with a glance that he’s a mean one. If you keep sticking with him, you’ll regret it sooner or later.

The female Thief dressed in red, Bloody Rose, stood beside Jiaojiao’s corpse and advised her sincerely.

It was a coincidence, really. She did not come to the Underwater Remnants to look for Li Yi; instead, she was just here to farm Tidal Throne. Unexpectedly, however, she bumped into Jiaojiao underwater, and her heroine spirit flared immediately. She decided to advise Jiaojiao to leave Li Yi, and the result was perfectly predictable.

“Sister, there are plenty of better fish in the sea. Putting aside the Western Continent for now, there’s this Violent Warrior called Wang’er in your very own Eastern Continent! Now there’s a rare gem. Not only is he strong in combat, he’s really gentle to girls too. Sure, he may not look like much on the outside, but on the inside…”

Bloody Rose just kept singing Scumbag Wang’s praises endlessly.

Jiaojiao had long since become so angry that she had no idea how to react. She was utterly stumped by Bloody Rose’s words.

If Li Yi were here, he might have an inkling of understanding. The heroine had a very one-track mind, so people that she considered evil had to be heinous, and those she considered good had to wonderful.

Jiaojiao corpse-ran back but she chose not to resurrect again. Instead, she stood beside her corpse and waited for Li Yi, her reinforcements.

“Sister, the ocean of regrets is endless, but you can still turn around. If you leave that pervert now, you won’t be too lost to be found.”

“Whoosh—”

An arrow cut through the air, spinning, and headed straight for Bloody Rose.

Bloody Rose raised her weapon with both hands and pulled out her sword, knocking the spinning arrow away.

Mentally, she may seem out of the ordinary, but her reflexes made her worthy of her title as a powerhouse.

“Dark Wing, it seems we meet again.”

Bloody Rose looked coldly at the young man who was walking out of the water. Holding her swords back-handed, she rushed at him.

“Karma is a vengeful bitch, the heavens dictate your reincarnation. Look up if you think that a kitsch, who can escape its observation!”

“Whoosh-whoosh—”

There was the sound of a rustle, and Bloody Rose vanished using Stealth.

Li Yi hurriedly placed a Frost Trap before him and summoned the Lightning Leopard.

“Heart of a Clear Mirror!”

He activated the status buff and a small red dot appeared right in front of him on the mini map.

“Smack! Smack!”

Li Yi lifted his arms and shot two arrows ahead.

The red dot moved and Bloody Rose activated Cyclone Step, approaching Li Yi rapidly along an S-shaped path.

Li Yi turned around, drew his bow, and shot into the air, revealing his back to Bloody Rose.

Although Bloody Rose was in Stealth mode, Li Yi could still tell her every move with Heart of a Clear Mirror. The reason he turned around and shot into the air was so that he could confuse his opponent and mislead her into thinking that he could not see her.

As expected, Bloody Rose fell for it. Instead of coming at him in an S-formation like before, she pounced straight at him. When she was within three meters of Li Yi, he suddenly turned around and leaped back, unleashing an arrow at him.

“Repelling Arrow Skill!”

“Smack!”

Bloody Rose had no time to defend against that even if she wanted to. They were just too close together. This arrow hit her straight-on and the Stealth effect vanished. She could not help but retreat.

“Crippling Shot! Eliminate!”

“Smack! Smack!”

While Bloody Rose was being forced back by the Repelling Shot, Li Yi immediately followed up with two more arrows. Gold-colored words appeared above his head–Combo 3!

Any class in King of Pantheon could deal combo blows, but combos were relatively difficult to achieve. Not only did the player have to master the skill and special effects, they also had to know how to space out the timing. It could not be too fast nor too slow. At the same time, there was an element of randomness to it as well, so combos had always been limited to powerhouses only.

Combos were continuous, so while a player was being hit with a combo, they would be unable to fight back. They could only stop the combo with specific skills, such as the Holy Shield Spell and Phantom Footprints.

Only the Violent Warrior’s Violent Combo 7 was more difficult to achieve than the Archer’s combo. For example, the Repelling Shot’s repelling effect was not guaranteed, and the skill could only achieve a combo when the repelling effect was triggered, sending the target into an involuntary retreat. Otherwise, the combo would break.

Distance was another matter. If the two sides were too far apart, the repelling effect would have vanished by the time the second arrow was unleashed. The combo would not work that way, either, because the target would simply dodge aside once they were able to move again.

Achieving a combo required different methods when the target was too close or too far away, so it was relatively difficult.

[−9865!]

Li Yi’s combo of 4 ended, and only then did huge golden-colored words float from the top of Bloody Rose’s head.

That woman’s DEF and HP had increased again!

Just then, the Lightning Leopard darted forth and bared its claws at Bloody Rose, scratching her.

Bloody Rose unleashed her Shadow Cape and her figure vanished again. Suddenly, there were two thuds, and the Lightning Leopard took two slashes, losing 1,800HP.

Bloody Rose’s weapon had a Drain special effect. Li Yi knew that things were getting dangerous for him, so he immediately dismissed the Lightning Leopard. That way, it would not become her portable HP bottle.

“Whoosh!”

“Whoosh!”

As Bloody Rose avoided Li Yi’s arrows, she activated Cyclone Step and ran quickly along the bank. The bright white gleam of her blade flashed occasionally. Her target was not Li Yi, but the small animals around them.

The small yellow-named animals without much ATK, such as the crabs, mice, and shrimps, all fell to her sword.

Although her thought processes were utterly baffling, her ability to adapt was truly astonishing. Her weapon had Drain, so each time she killed a small animal with a slash, she would regain 100 to 1,000HP. All it took was a few tries, and soon she recovered all the HP she had lost to Li Yi.

“Pfft! Pfft!”

Of course, Li Yi was not going to sit back and just let her drain their HP. He also switched his targets, killing the small animals nearby before she could so that Bloody Rose had no HP to absorb.

“Go, Dark Wing, shoot her dead! Shoot her in the chest, shoot her in the face!”

Jiaojiao ran to Li Yi’s house and massaged his shoulders, cheering him on.

Having been killed eight times in a row, Jiaojiao was now more than a little furious. It was not because she just was not as good as Bloody Rose, either, but because her current level meant that she could not demonstrate her true power as a Black Paladin.

Bloody Rose rushed at him again. While the Heart of a Clear Mirror buff was still active, he activated God Mode.

“God Mode!”

The enormous projection of a goddess appeared behind his back, and Li Yi’s arrows immediately rained down like shots from a machine gun.

His skills had no cooldown and could be unleashed endlessly!

“Repelling Arrow! Repelling Arrow! Repelling Arrow! Repelling Arrow! Repelling Arrow!”

This time, Li Yi did not use Eliminate. Instead, he just used Repelling Arrow to test out its effects.

Nobody was born a powerhouse. The ones called powerhouses had all honed their skills through tireless training and first-hand experience.

Bloody Rose avoided the first arrow, the second one hit her but did not repel her, and the third followed the second closely. This time, the repelling effect worked, so it was followed by the fourth arrow, and the fifth…

Bloody Rose just kept falling back, and Li Yi kept pressing forth, shooting one arrow with every step until he shot her dead…

“Who asked you to be so cocky? Huh, we’ll shoot you dead, shoot you dead!”

Jiaojiao was overjoyed. She kissed Li Yi on the cheek and before Li Yi could react, she had already skipped her way home.

“Hey, you took advantage of me! Come back and let me kiss you too!”

“In your next life, maybe! Hahaha…”

Jiaojiao returned home, went online and resurrected. She wanted to corpse-camp Bloody Rose, but Li Yi stopped her.

Jiaojiao’s level was too low, so it was too dangerous for her to camp Bloody Rose. Bloody Rose could probably kill her with one blow.

“Then you camp her! We mustn’t let her go without first killing her eight or ten times!”Jiaojiao was still angry.

Li Yi smiled. Even if Jiaojiao did not say that, he had never planned to let Bloody Rose go. This woman was covered in treasures, and any one she dropped would save Li Yi a lot of time.

“Perverted Wing, she called you the Demon King of all Pervs, but why?” Jiaojiao asked Li Yi, winking mischievously.

“Who knows?”

“Tsk, where there’s smoke, there’s fire! Flies won’t surround a fresh egg without cracks.” Jiaojiao harrumphed coldly, kicking the ground.

“I’ll egg you in the face.”

“C’mon, I’d like to see you try.” Jiaojiao beckoned him coyly.

“One more word from you and I’ll go to your house this very instant.”

Jiaojiao covered her mouth with her hands.

As the two of them were talking, Bloody Rose’s corpse stood up. Without even using Stealth, she pounced at Li Yi with Cyclone Step…

“Pfft! Pfft!”

Li Yi was ready for her. He lifted his arms and unleashed two arrows, shooting Bloody Rose dead on the spot.

“Drop your equipment, do it! Why don’t you drop something? That’s just unfair,” yelled Jiaojiao from the side, frustrated.

Li Yi felt helpless about it too. “It’s all luck, her luck’s just too good. I can’t believe she hasn’t dropped anything even after I killed her so many times.”

Back then, that famous Unfortunate Fool of a player had dropped all of his equipment after being killed just once, and ended up completely naked. That had caused quite the uproar.

Just then, Bloody Rose’s corpse suddenly stood up again and rushed at Li Yi once more…

“Pfft! Pfft!”

Li Yi shot for two more arrows. He calculated how much health she would have left accurately, and he also knew that she would not be able to dodge, but unfortunately this time, he got one thing wrong.

The two arrows found their mark, and the numbers [−1565] and [−1765] rose from the top of Bloody Rose’s head, but somehow she did not die. Instead, she continued charging forth, and when she reached Li Yi, she stabbed forward with her twin blades.

“Assault!”.

Li Yi’s body stiffened. If the Assault skill worked, the target would be paralyzed for one second.

“Trip Throw!”

Bloody Rose lashed out with her foot and brought Li Yi down slightly. She immediately followed up by bringing her swords into an upward slash, using Scrape.

“Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!”

Pillars upon pillars of blood sprayed from Li Yi’s body. Bloody Rose was moving as fast as lightning, her body almost a blur as her blades flew up and down from her hands. Using both her hands and feet, she beat Li Yi into a flurry, and he could not fight back at all.

It was a combo!

Bloody Rose was now using the extremely difficult Cyclone Thief continuous skill, the Cyclone Combo 16!

If was only slightly less difficult than the Frantic Combo 7. Li Yi had once used this combo to instantly kill Unending Unmatched, which just went to show how strong this combo was.

When Bloody Rose reached the fourth hit, every subsequent attack would be a Critical Hit!

With this many Critical Hits, letting her complete the combo would spell certain death for Li Yi!

Archers had no invincibility skills and no skills that could interrupt the combo. Li Yi was very surprised as well, because this time Bloody Rose had resurrected with full health instead of corpse running and resurrecting weakened.

This woman must have obtained a special item like the Light and Darkness Talismans for her to be able to pull off a trick like that…

“I’ve been had…”

“Pfft-pfft-pfft-pfft!”

Li Yi rapidly lost HP, and he knew that he was done for.

When Bloody Rose reached the ninth consecutive hit, however, something unexpected happened. Beside them, Jiaojiao barked out loudly and reached her little hand for Bloody Rose. She stretched out her hand and pulled it back, and a purple thread shot out from her palm, pulling Bloody Rose toward her.

“Death’s Grasp!”