MMO: Pierce Heaven Til' It Breaks

Hiss…

[−2531]

The power of a Thunder’s Wrath that only consumed 100 Fury points was mediocre. Additionally, once it was cast, the user would enter a hit recovery state for around 3 seconds. However, what the skill brought to the table was a powerful special effect, Guard Break.

Within an interval of 10 seconds, all of the user’s attacks would ignore the target’s DEF!

Just when everyone thought Thunder’s Wrath was Unending Unmatched’s final blow, his body which was still in hit recovery state suddenly moved and plunged his blade into Amber Sword Heart.

“Ferocious Strike!”

“Splurrtt—”

Amber Sword Heart was pushed backward, while Unending Unmatched recovered from his Hit recovery state. He raised the sword in his hand up high and valiantly attacked.

[Eight Combos! Nine Combos…]

Since Ferocious Strike had dispelled his hit recovery state, Unending Unmatched could begin his combo attacks anew. Once again, he chained a series of attacks together from beginning to end.

Meanwhile, Amber Sword Heart, who had zero DEF and no means to guard himself, was forced to take significant amounts of damage…

“Double Retaliation! Double Retaliation! Double Retaliation!”

Once his Fury gauge was full, Unending Unmatched unleashed three strokes of Double Retaliation in quick succession, driving Amber Sword Heart backward, and causing the spectacular damage numbers to pop out from his head.

Dozens of damage numbers popped out simultaneously, causing Amber Sword Heart’s health to decline rapidly. Before long, his HP had reached zero…

“Victory!”

The first match had been decided, with Unending Unmatched as its victor.

Jiaojiao spat her tongue out, “Can you repeat what you said just now, Lil Yi’zi?”

Li Yi did not respond. He was staring at Unending Unmatched in disbelief.

He did not imagine things going this way…

Li Yi shook his head at Jiaojiao. “There’s still the second round.”

Ferocious Strike was not a Warrior’s skill, and instead, it was a special skill. The greatest advantage of this skill was its ability to be used before an animation lock, allowing the user to forcefully attack during their recovery frames and causing its target to have a hundred percent chance of being pushed back. (Affected by hit recovery points)

Unending Unmatched’s clean victory over Amber Sword Heart was in large part, due to Ferocious Strike’s effects. With it, he was able to chain his combos over ten times, enabling his Double Retaliation to reach a multiplier of nearly 5 times…

The curtains raised on the second match, and just like before, Unending Unmatched immediately ‘Charged’ ahead.

“Charge!”

Amber Sword Heart responded with a Charge of his own. The two tank gods slammed into one another and entered a Disoriented state.

They both recovered at nearly the same time, and upon doing so, they thrust their swords at their opponent.

They both ran circles around one another, constantly shifting positions, and attacked the other’s back whenever they had the chance.

Unending Unmatched stabbed in a straight line, but Amber Sword Heart side-stepped and stabbed Unending Unmatched’s ribcage with his sword.

As long as one’s hit recovery points was not above 100, their bodies would still carry out follow-up actions whenever their vital points were hit. Such animations include shutting their eyes if they were punched or getting pushed back when kicked. By utilizing these follow-up actions perfectly, one would be able to carry out a combo attack.

The moment Unending Unmatched was struck, his body instantly bent over. Using this chance, Amber Sword Heart used ‘Flick’, and flipped Unending Unmatched’s head upwards.

“Heroic Strike! Muscle Rupture! Shield Strike!”

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Unending Unmatched’s body flew sideways. That combo alone had cost him one-tenth of his health pool.

Amber Sword Heart inched closer and applied more pressure, launching slashes and slices from left and right.

Truth be told, Unending Unmatched had indeed matured. Despite the heavy pressure inflicted by Amber Sword Heart, he did not carelessly use his skills. Instead, he parried carefully and watched for a chance to counterattack.

After exchanging countless hits and suffering major HP losses on both sides, Amber Sword Heart suddenly launched a straightforward stab.

Unending Unmatched brought up his shield to block it. With a ‘Clang!’, Amber Sword Heart’s sword slammed into the shield, dealing no damage to Unending Unmatched.

However, just as Unending Unmatched was pulling his shield back, Amber Sword Heart lifted his sword up high, and a 1-second channeling bar appeared above his head.

“Divine Radiance!”

“Blam—”

A ray as bright as the sun shot down, similar to the Holy Light Impact of Holy Paladins. Since Unending Unmatched’s animation for pulling back his shield was still not complete, he had no way of preventing the light from entering his eyes.

‘Divine Radiance’ was a special skill which caused its targets to enter 15 seconds of Blindness.

In order to do their best in the Brawl King Tournament, almost all participants had armed themselves with one or several special items. The only exception to this norm was the god-like player, Li Yi. He did not have a single special item on him, as he had sold all of them off.

By combining the class skills that the players were accustomed to with special skills, they were able to achieve unbelievable results. It happened in the previous match where Jiaojiao faced Tyrant Sword King the Fifth, and now, it was happening in the match between Unending Unmatched and Amber Sword Heart as well. This scenario happened over and over again.

“Shield Wall!”

After getting hit by Divine Radiance, Unending Unmatched could no longer see anything. As such, he hurriedly activated Shield Wall, to lower the damage he took as much as possible.

Amber Sword Heart circled behind Unending Unmatched, only for Unending Unmatched to spin around and hack in his direction. Though Unending Unmatched could not see, he was able to predict that Amber Sword Heart’s next move was to attack from his behind.

Amber Sword Heart had already circled around three times, but not only was he unable to land a hit on Unending Unmatched, but he had also taken two slashes from Unending Unmatched, losing around 2,000 HP.

Jiaojiao was starting to grow anxious. She tugged at Li Yi’s arm, and asked, “Brother Yi, who do you think will win?”

“Amber Sword Heart!”

In that instant, Amber Sword Heart sucked in a deep breath and stood rooted to the spot.

He had already noticed that Unending Unmatched was only blindly whirling around. As such, he chose not to circle around him anymore. Instead, he waited for Unending Unmatched to spin around so that he could strike his back.

Just as he had expected, Unending Unmatched had turned around once more and was slashing randomly.

Delighted, Amber Sword Heart pushed forward with his shield in hand and struck Unending Unmatched’s back.

The instant Unending Unmatched got hit, a series of attacks would rain down. Even if Unending Unmatched did not perish, his HP would be considerably reduced. Alas, Amber Sword Heart’s hopes did not come to fruition this time.

Just as Amber Sword Heart’s sword was about to stab into Unending Unmatched, Unending Unmatched suddenly turned around and used his shield to block Amber Sword Heart’s Heroic Strike. Following that, coils of electricity ran down Unending Unmatched’s one-handed sword as he thrust it forward.

“Thunder’s Wrath!”

Kra-koom—

Amber Sword Heart reeled back. He was struck by Unending Unmatched’s Ferocious Strike.

“Heroic Strike!’ Muscle Rupture!”

[1 Combo! 2 Combo! 3 Combo! 4 Combo! 5 Combo!]

Just like last time, once Unending Unmatched started his combos, there was no end to them. After using all his skills, Unending Unmatched expended all 100 points of Fury and unleashed three Double Retaliations, bombarding Amber Sword Heart’s defenseless body.

“Wham!”

Amber Sword Heart flew backward, with only two-thirds of his HP remaining.

Li Yi gasped. He finally understood what was happening after pondering for a considerable amount of time. “He wasn’t Blinded.”

Unending Unmatched had taken Divine Radiance straight to the face, but even so, he was not Blinded. Whether it was due to luck, or due to an extremely high Abnormal Status Resistance, Li Yi was not sure.

“Mountain Crushing Strike!”

If Unending Unmatched had run, there was absolutely no way for him to reach Amber Sword Heart’s body. However, it was possible to reach it using his skills.

Suddenly, Unending Unmatched took out an action that left Li Yi speechless. A golden glow enshrouded Unending Unmatched’s body, and he used out a skill that belonged to Violent Warriors, Mountain Crushing Strike. He vaulted upwards and chopped down at Amber Sword Heart.

The moment Amber Sword Heart landed; he was sent flying again by Mountain Crushing Strike. Below him, Unending Unmatched threw out two blows, by casting Double Retaliate followed by Shield Strike.

This chain of attacks was beyond anyone’s expectations, and as such, it was hard to swallow.

Li Yi gaped, “When did he learn Violent Warrior skills?”

“Do you think that you’re the only one who can play three paths? Who the hell… Why’re you looking at me like that?”

The moment Li Yi heard Jiaojiao’s words, he was stunned.

‘Do you think that you’re the only one who can play three paths?’

‘Oh yeah, this life is no longer the same as the previous one. Back then, Amber Sword Heart was indeed the strongest main tank, but that was when the ‘Territories’ were first implemented, not now.’

Li Yi came to the realization after seeing Unending Unmatched pressuring Amber Sword Heart on the platform.

His return to this era had not only changed his situation but the ones around him as well. Everything had changed, and it went without saying that Unending Unmatched was one of those affected.

He was not ‘Blinded’, but he had pretended to be affected. By doing so, he baited his opponent into attacking pre-emptively, and once that happened, he gave his opponent no breathing room. He piled on the pressure and beat back his opponent viciously.

Back on the stage, Amber Sword Heart was unable to keep up with Unending Unmatched’s pressure and fallen tragically.

“Unending Unmatched is victorious!”

Thunderous applause erupted beneath the stage as Unending Unmatched’s iron-willed fans cheered with all their might. The scene that played out was as if Unending Unmatched had already claimed the title of Brawl King.

Jiaojiao smirked, teasing Li Yi, “Lil Yi’zi, it seems that your eye for talent is growing weaker.”

While staring at Jiaojiao’s little Adam’s apple, he replied, “Yeah, it really is.”

“Scram!”

Unending Unmatched emerging victorious was beyond Li Yi’s expectations. However, he denied that it was an error in judgment. Rather, it was his previous life’s mindset that had mucked his judgment.

Just as Li Yi’s thoughts were drifting away, Unending Unmatched excitedly scampered over. “Guild Master, I won!”

Li Yi gave a thumbs-up. “I saw it. It was very impressive.”

Unending Unmatched was feeling slightly embarrassed by Li Yi’s praise. “Haha, I was actually sweating buckets just now.”

“You must’ve spent a lot of money on the special skill, huh?”

Unending Unmatched nodded. “Yeah, Ferocious Strike cost me 500,000 Gold Coins.”

“Sell it once the tournament is over. Ferocious Strike is only useful for PKs, it doesn’t help at all in dungeons.”

“Alright.”

Jiaojiao scooted over and brought her mouth to Li Yi’s ear. “I know you have no use for special skills since you’re powerful and all, but why are you telling Unmatched to sell his special skill?”

“You want to know? Then, tonight…”

Jiaojiao glared. “Can your brain think of anything else?”

“It can, tonight…”

“Uwahwah! How did I even fall for a big pervert like you? I-I …”

“So says the famous H-novel author, Savage Lil Chili. Please don’t call the kettle black.”

“Hmph! Hmph! That’s just a hobby.”

…

The fourth tournament bracket had been announced.

Li Yi was still not selected. Instead, the battle was between Fengxi and Faded Cloud Breeze.

“I’ll use Stealth to approach you, then I’ll attack from your left, using Chisel, Scrape, followed by the coup de grace, Split. If you still aren’t dead by then, I’ll throw a bomb at…”

Just like always, Fengxi declared his actions to Faded Cloud Breeze before the battle had even begun.

“Whether or not you’ll triumph, we’ll see about that!”

Faded Cloud Breeze slammed his staff onto the ground, unleashing a pentagon-shaped magic circle and summoning the massive Firelord from it.

…