MMO: Pierce Heaven Til' It Breaks

“Red light! Physical attackers, halt!”

“Green light! Magic attackers, halt!”

The color changes of the Obsidian Giant followed a fixed rhythm in Normal Mode. Since Li Yi’s team was composed of the elites among elites from every major guild, they no longer made any more errors once they got the timing down.

That was, except for Sister Windcloud Nine. She had only attacked it for twenty or so seconds when she was ‘reflected’ to death.

The Obsidian Giant had 200 million, and its DEF was extremely high. As such, the attacks from purely physical attackers such as Warriors and Archers were like peanuts hitting an iron board. In other words, they dealt measly damage, and that was extremely dispiriting.

Compared to the physical classes, the magic classes were racking up a much better damage score. They easily surpassed ten thousand damage, and this was especially true for Ouyang Qian, who wielded the Orange Quality Scepter that raised her magic damage by 30%. Coupled with her raw skill, her DPS skyrocketed and she remained uncontested as the number one damage dealer in the ranking board.

Aside from Li Yi, who was the only physical damage dealer capable of catching up to Ouyang Qian’s damage statistics, the others had all been left in the dust. Even Li Yi’s apprentice, the Assassin Archer Fang Jie who had a great track record as one of the top 5 damage dealers all the while, immediately plummeted in the rankings upon encountering the Obsidian Giant who had an iron defense.

Fortunately for Li Yi, he had the Orange Quality Bow which possessed the special effect, Armor Strip.

After ten or so arrows, Obsidian Giant was effectively now a paper tiger in Li Yi’s eyes. Were it not for the red-green light rotations, his damage could reach even greater heights.

“Haha, you’re going to lose for sure!”

Obsidian Giant’s HP had dropped by 50,000,000, and Ouyang Qian was steadily in first place, trumping Li Yi’s damage by around 800,000. This was not a small gap by any means, and should it progress any further, Li Yi was bound to lose.

Li Yi smirked, “The battle has yet to be concluded. It’s still too early to decide the victor.”

Now that Ouyang Qian had gained the upper hand, she took on a pompous tone. “As long as you make do on your promise, you can say whatever you want.”

“As long as you make do on your promise, you can say whatever you want.” Mimicking her tone, Li Yi returned her own words with a smile on his face.

Ouyang Qian drank an Advanced-level INT Potion, and her damage was raised even higher. In a blink of an eye, she had surpassed Li Yi’s by a million or so.

“Even if you use your killer moves, do you think that you can catch up to me?”

“I can’t.”

“Hahaha.” Ouyang Qian was jubilant.

Just as Ouyang Qian was reveling with joy, Li Yi hurled another sentence to her. “However, I don’t need my killer moves to beat you.”

“Keep dreaming.”

“So, about tonight…”

“You brute!”

Seeing that the damage gap was growing, panic stirred within Li Yi’s heart. He chugged down one Advanced-level Fury Potion after another, increasing his Crit Rate, and massively boosting his damage.

900 thousand, 800 thousand, 500 thousand…

Li Yi relentlessly attacked, but no matter what he did, the damage gap constantly wavered around 500 thousand.

“No killer moves allowed.” Li Yi’s desperate effort was starting to make Ouyang Qian worried.

“As a true male, I stay true to my words.”

“Fine, whoever that uses their killer move is a b*tch.”

…

As its HP continued to drop, the color rotation of Obsidian Giant’s lights sped up. Compared to the initial rotation, the party members were starting to feel the heat.

The rotation no longer followed a fixed rhythm. At times, they would shift only after 5 seconds, and at times they would shift after 1 second. As such, the issue of time management had become a huge deal as players required longer channeling times to unleash more damaging skills.

The Wizards were now at a disadvantage. They could no longer use long channeling skills, as a slight mistiming would easily cause their attacks to be reflected back.

On the contrary, the Archers had no such troubles. Most of their skills could be used at a moment’s notice, and even the only skill that had a channeling bar, Powered-up Arrow, had an unlimited charge time, allowing players to fire at will.

Ouyang Qian’s damage plunged, whereas Li Yi’s steadily grew. Both sides were now on equal footing.

“That’s not fair!”

“As long as you make do on your promise, you can say whatever you want.”

“You…”

“Haha.”

What goes around, comes around. Earlier it was Ouyang Qian who was celebrating, but now, it was Li Yi’s time to shine.

“Meteor Fire Shower!”

Boom! Crash! Bang! Bang!

Ouyang Qian observed the timing closely. The moment the red light was shown she immediately unleashed her wide-area meteor magic, successfully making a comeback and overtaking Li Yi.

The skill was extremely risky, as even a delay of 0.5 seconds would instantly cause the damage to be sent back, killing her.

“Impressive!”

“Haha.”

“Meteor Fire Shower!”

Now that Ouyang Qian had discovered an exploit, she chained her meteor magic together and unleashed them one after another. Her damage skyrocketed and increased their damage gap once again. Li Yi was now 300,000 damage below Qian’er.

Ouyang Qian cheerfully remarked, “Lil Yi’zi, you’re definitely gonna lose.”

“What did you just call me?”

“Lil Yi’zi. Isn’t that how Lil Jiao addresses you?”

“Yeah, it is, but that nickname is reserved for my girlfriend. Since you’re calling me Lil Yi’zi, could it be that you want to become my girlfriend as well?”

Ouyang Qian choked on her words. She hurriedly raised her scepter and attacked, to soothe the awkwardness within her.

Just as Obsidian Giant’s HP was lowered to 90,000,000, a new development occurred.

At that point, Ouyang Qian’s damage had already surpassed Li Yi’s by 1,900,000, and should things carry on any further, Li Yi would no longer stand a chance in beating her, even if he activated God Mode.

Unfortunately for her, Obsidian Giant’s HP was too high, sitting at a hefty 200,000,000. Due to its DEF, the magic classes had the upper hand against the physical classes during the early phase. However, as the battle progressed, the magic classes’ lack of endurance had caused them to become dead weight.

Without mana, they were unable to cast any spells; and should that happen, what should they do? Lift up their staffs and charge ahead? Would their hits even exceed a hundred damage?

The Archers were delighted. For long-ranged physical classes like them, whether or not they had mana would only hinder their damage slightly. It would not affect their overall performance.

A normal arrow from Li Yi already dealt around 7,000 damage. Should Qian’er hack the boss with her staff, she would at most deal 50 damage.

“This is unfair!” Ouyang Qian was forced to witness Li Yi catching up to her. Due to her moment’s panic, she accidentally let the words slip out.

“I don’t care whether it’s fair or unfair, just make sure you don’t go back on your words.”

Li Yi’s damage output was rising, whereas Ouyang Qian’s was constantly plummeting.

In combat, one’s WIL would affect one’s mana regeneration. The Wizards prioritized INT, whereas the Priests prioritized WIL. However, when it came to mana regeneration, the magic users would always be a step above the physical classes.

Ouyang Qian cast Awaken, and after 8 seconds, she had regained half of her mana.

Awaken was a unique skill available to only wizards. It had the function of replenishing 50% of the user’s mana reserves after channeling for 7 seconds. However, it had a downside in that it could only be used once every 5 minutes. For Wizards who required large amounts of mana and aggressively spammed skills, that amount of mana was like using a cup of water to douse a burning vehicle.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Li Yi’s fired his Orange Quality Bow at an insane speed, and by the time Ouyang Qian had ‘Awoken’, his damage had once again caught up to her.

“Not fair! Not fair!”

“Are you regretting your decision?”

“I haven’t lost yet!”

Ouyang Qian carefully observed the giant, with the intent of counterattacking with Meteor Fire Shower. However, she never would have imagined that Obsidian Giant had a gimmick up its sleeve. Its red and green lights flickered non-stop, and at times, they looked as if they have merged into one another. She had zero chances to attack.

“Be careful guys! The red and green lights are appearing together now, we can’t attack.”

Just as the red and green lights appeared together, Sister Windcloud Nine who had collapsed onto the ground let out a yelp.

Even in death, Sister Windcloud Nine was unique. Others would usually die with their face gazing upwards, but not her. She died with her butt cocked, her hands hugging her staff, and she was half kneeling and half leaning over.

Aside from the healers who were replenishing everyone’s health, everyone else was not doing anything.

Obsidian Giant’s rapid light switch lasted for a whole minute before it finally settled down and stabilized again.

“Continue attacking!”

The party got back to work, and both Li Yi and Ouyang Qian were back in action.

Thud-psst!. Thud-psst…

Due to Ouyang Qian’s turbulent feelings, she made various blunders, causing two of her huge fireballs to be sent back towards her. Fortunately, Little Elf from the Magical Realm had a quick hand, and she restored her HP right before the second fireball made contact. Otherwise, she would have died right then and there.

“Don’t rush, you’ll need to calm down if you want to beat me.”

Obsidian Giant’s HP steadily decreased, and when its HP was around 10,000,000, it started playing tricks again. The red and green lights switched rapidly, sometimes they lasted for 1 second, and sometimes below 1 second. It continued switching in this manner for quite some time, and it was hard to get a grip on its timing.

The Wizards had halted their attacks. They had no choice, after all, even the lowest level of fireballs required 1.5 seconds of channeling time, and there was still the flight time to consider. So, how would they be able to time their attacks correctly?

“Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!”

Most players had stopped attacking. Li Yi was the only one who inched closer to Obsidian Giant and constantly fired arrows into it.

No skills were used, as all his shots were normal arrows.

Among the three main tanks, Brother Windcloud Nine and Mad Dragon had stopped attacking. Only Unending Unmatched continued to push forward. Just like Li Yi, he only took an instant to get down the timing. He did not let a single opportunity go to waste.

This time, the rapid switching of the lights had lasted even longer. It took a whole 5 minutes before it reverted to normal.

“This is insane. Is this Normal Mode? Why does it feel like Hell mode?” Someone in the party remarked.

“God damn, thank god we’re only playing Normal Mode…”

Li Yi shouted, “Stop the chit chat and get back to attacking. Give it your all! The boss is about to go berserk!”

Once the boss went berserk, it would be mean the party’s annihilation. With a shock, everyone hurriedly attacked.

After 5 long minutes of normal attacks, Li Yi’s damage had now greatly eclipsed Ouyang Qian’s. However, even ignoring him, Fang Jie’s damage was starting to catch up to Ouyang Qian’s, and he was currently ranked at third place.

“That’s not fair!” Ouyang Qian complained as she unleashed a fireball. She then glared at Li Yi before firing another fireball, and upon release, she glared at Li Yi once more…

Judging by her expression, the lady was treating Obsidian Giant as Li Yi when she attacked it.

Right now, Li Yi’s damage was 1,500,000 higher than Ouyang Qian’s, whereas Obsidian Giant was only left with 3,000,000 HP.

In theory, even if Li Yi stopped attacking, Ouyang Qian would not be able to catch up to him.

The battle between them had already been decided, nothing else could be done.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding…

A string of dings rang out of Obsidian Giant’s head, and by the time it was around 30,000 HP, the rapid switching of the red and green lights had returned.

Each rotation did not even last 0.5 seconds. Li Yi observed carefully before firing an arrow, but it landed when it was a red light. He had lost half of his HP.

“How are we going to attack?”

No one in the party attacked. They looked around in confusion.

[It will become berserk in 30 seconds…]

At that instant, the warning system issued an announcement.