Chapter 791: Battle of the Best
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Zhang Yang was not the kind of man that would take a beating without giving one back.
In fact, he was on the lucky side since he had managed to score a real superstar and have her to carry his potential son in her belly! Still, the entire experience of it was like coming out of the fire and scoring a damsel. The problem was the fact that someone had set him ablaze. That was the real beef he had with Zhong Xiu Hua. There’s a saying in the Chinese culture. You’re not a real man if you don’t right those who wrong you.
Zhang Yang did not care about what Sun Xin Yu warned him about. He did not care about her family background or where she stood it the political world. All he knows that Zhong Xiu Hua had stuck first, and he will strike back. The hammer of justice shall be swift. He hired many private investigators to find any possible information regarding Zhong Xiu Hua that he could use it to Zhang Yang’s advantage.
Zhong Xiu Hua’s father will soon take over the top ranks of the nation. If he does, Zhang Yang might not able to do anything to topple him then. However, the target of his vengeance was only Zhong Xiu Hua. It’s not like he was an untouchable prince or something. There is something called a network. With the power of cyberspace and relationship with people, Zhang Yang could do anything to topple him down! The best and most efficient way to bring someone down is to dig out his past, especially the "dirty" ones and release them into the internet. Once the government officials know about it, the game will then begin.
All the things he planned were all step by step. It will, in the end, take up a long time to accomplish. At most, the things he did was to buy information. There will always be a limit to how much he can do on his own.
Back to the gaming world. There were many daunting Assassin players around that had dared to assault them. In non-party conditions, Han Ying Xue, Wei Yan Er, and even Sun Xin Yu would not dare to step outside to grind on their own. If they are unlucky to stumble upon a patient hunter, they will then strike when you’re most vulnerable. Although Thief class do not have the greatest DPS, and were unable to solo kill monsters on their own, heal, nor farm dungeons on their own, they were still considered to be the deadliest players in the open-world. A true killer. The Wilderness King!
A good Thief will always hide in the shadows and wait like a viper until the right time to land the killing blow.
Perhaps, the only class that would have no fear of Thieves would be Guardians like Zhang Yang. In normal circumstances, asides from fighting a boss, a Guardian would always have their HP maintained at 80% or higher. Zhang Yang had Felice by his side. If he senses danger, he could have Felice to heal him while Zhang Yang takes care of the assassins. But, if he does encounter a whole gang of Assassins, he could simply escape with an array of Invincibility and Invisibility skills. He could also simple outrun them by flying away with the Phoenix! It was a simple as that.
However, even for Zhang Yang, it would be best for him and the other guild members to grind their levels in dungeons. Although grinding in dungeons would be the safest zone, the grinding speed will never rival that of the open-world. Hence, whenever Zhang Yang comes online, the entire gang will join him in the grinding spree. All except Sun Xin Yu and Lost Dream. Those two were natural-born Assassins. It would be a sin of a lifetime if they were to be caught by other Assassins.
Zhang Yang came online and brought the party to the Mountains of Kael Gus. The map was a Level 180 – Level 210 map. Among all the same Level map, that was the further map from the further conquered Territory around. Technically, the number of players in the map should be the lowest count. With fewer players around to disrupt the monster kill, it would be the best for them to start their grinding spree.
For normal players, going out into the open-world to grind will take time and money. Supplies will run out, equipment will require fixing, recovery items will run dry. All and all, they would have to travel all the way back to a Territory or main city to recuperate. The journey itself took up most of their time. Hence, the importance of a Territory. Like a train station, they would simply use the Teleportation Circle to travel back to the main city easily.
For Zhang Yang’s party, as long as the healers in the party could last, they would not have much problem grinding. All they had to bring along with them were MP pots and snacks. With an endless supply of MP, they could support the entire party to continue their grinding spree.
As for equipment durability, Hundred Shot got it covered. He had already managed to acquire blueprints for a repairing robot which allowed players to pay a higher cost to have their equipment fixed at anywhere, anytime. Despite the heightened price of fixing, it was recompensed back in the time of traveling back and forth.
Zhang Yang planned to grind at the map for some time. While he planned it that way, the entire party had steeled their decision to not go back to the main city until everyone reaches Level 200. They will give it all they had to make sure that everyone owns the top 10 spots!
Truth be told, Zhang Yang’s party was not he only one that had set up shop in a map. Many other guilds might not have something like a repairing robot, but they had methods to allow their members to camp at a map for a long duration. Some were practicing good sportsmanship where they saw Zhang Yang had already occupied the map and leaves them alone without even trying to negotiate. Some were malicious enough to kill all the players in the field to dominate the map.
All in all, the most important thing then was to stay online for as long as possible. That, and making sure that no one can jump on you while you are grinding. Once you’re killed, that’s sayonara to continue the race.
For the next two months, everyone had faced much trouble to main a sane state of mind. The constant fear of being ambushed while grinding at their fastest speed for long duration was incredibly taxing to one’s mind. No one could let down their guard since most professional players were racing with all they had to win the Level 200 race. Who knows, someone might overtake you at any time at all!
As such, everyone will pause for a second to check the Level Ranking Board once in a while to confirm their own rankings. If they rise in rank, it was good news for them and a sort of encouragement for them to continue the race. If they find their rank has dropped, it was also a form of encouragement to push them further.
The race continued on like the world cup football fever. When the server engines running tirelessly to spawn monsters for players to grind, there were a few bunch of players that did not care about it. Those were players that were too under leveled or greenhorns that had just joined the game. It was not Level 200, but Level 300 that they had set their targets for.
As such, the entire game’s Level Ranking Board was as follows.
1. Zhan Yu, Level 193
2. Frost Night, Level 192
3. Heart of Destruction, Level 192
4. Hourglass Figure, Level 192
5. God’s Left Hand, Level 192
6. Drizzler, Level 191
7. Snow Seeker, Level 191
8. Longrich, Level 190
9. Little Snow, Level 190
10. Daffodil Daydream, Level 190
11. Lost Dream, Level 190
12. Captain America, Level 190
13. Seductive Wild Pussy, Level 190
14. Scholar Musou, Level 190
15. Dusk Phoenix, Level 190
Although Hundred Shots and Fatty Han were also Level 190, they had lesser % in their experience points gauge. Hence, they were pushed off the ranking list. Never underestimate the difference between 1% and 99%. Most players in their Level 190 range would need to take close to 9 days in real life to reach 98%!
As such, not even Zhang Yang was able to lower his guard even for a minute. There were four Level 192 players that were following him closely. Even if it’s a small chance that they will overtake him, Zhang Yang had accepted it as an absolute certainty that they will overtake him! After all, it had been only recently since Zhang Yang had reached Level 193. There could be a possibility that those four were at Level 192 with 99% experience points.
He would not mind it if Sun Yu Xin overtakes him, but not others. Never.
As such, it had shown the greatest impact Zhong Xiu Hua had done to him. His personal matters had affected his in-game performance so badly that he was pressurized then. If none of the rumors or Lou Yu Rou had befell upon him, he would have been four Levels ahead the current players!
The grinding fiesta continues on for 30 days…
At then, most of the parties that spent a whole month grinding in the wild had run out of supplies to continue their fiesta. Zhang Yang’s party was different. With the marvelous tool of the [Party Summon Order] and the [Lover’s Charm], Zhang Yang’s trip to resupply the entire party was as easy as a click.
A fully efficient party would need to return to the main city to restock their supplies once every 3 to 4 days. Compile those numbers and they would have to return to town at least 25 to 30 times. The traveling time alone was more than enough for Zhang Yang to gain 50% of his experience bar gauge.
Hence, with such efficiency at hand, Zhang Yang had managed to stay in the first place while Wei Yan Er, Han Ying Xue, had managed to gain ranks. Even Hundred Shots was able to reach the 15th rank!
At then, when they were able to engage onto the next monster. Both Zhang Yang’s and Sun Xin Yu’s eyes twitched. Both of them turned around and cried out loud in the party channel.
"There’s a Thief!"
Zhang Yang shouted louder and said, "Don’t engage yet. Feign ignorance while I think of a plan."
"Hehe. Looks like someone is being jealous of us!" said Lost Dream.
"Hmph! Such a pitiful guild. How could they use this sort of malicious play when they themselves could not keep up the efforts!" said Wei Yan Er as she made her way towards Zhang Yang.
"Tell me, noobie tank. Where are they, so that I can cleave their skull and smash their brains if they had any!"
Zhang Yang smirked. "It’s just a sixth sense thing. I know they are here with us, but I can’t tell where. Don’t worry though. I have a plan. Their goal was to kill us, isn’t it? Then, let’s give them a chance or they will pussy out!"
With Zhang Yang executing the plan to bait them out, Han Ying Xue and Fantasy Sweetheart had slowed down their healings and joined in the DPS output. At then, only a few of the party member will take damage. If they were about to die, Zhang Yang had three life-saving skills that he could use instantly to protect anyone.
Just then, seven objects came out of thin air and struck Daffodil Daydream who was busy activating [Hell's Scorch] amongst the bunch of monsters. [Hell's Scorch] was her newly acquired skill which released flames in all directions and dealt AoE damage. Although the damage was extremely powerful, it placed the caster in a dangerous situation since they would need to stand close in the middle of the monster swarm. Also, while the monster will take damage, the caster will also receive fire damage by the skill. It’s was exactly like the Seven Fatal Wounds Palm. (1)
{Lure}!
Zhang Yang immediately pulled all the monsters away from Daffodil Daydream to remove the monsters’ threat, to provide a breathing room for Daffodil Daydream to dodge all the players’ attack. If he had not, she will inevitably take damage from both sides. At that moment, she had less than 32% HP left!
{Charge}!
"Took you guys long enough to reveal yourself!" Zhang Yang slid across the battlefield and stunned one of the players around. Instantaneously, he swung his axe and triggered {Horizontal Sweep}!
‘-672,322!’
‘-1,372,448!’
‘-698,072!’
…
All seven targets received more than 600,000 damage with the axe swing and were instantly killed at the spot without fail. At then, Zhang Yang’s DPS was so strong, he could instantly kill any non-tank player that had not activated their Transformation skill and had equipment tiers lower or equal to Holy tier. He was wielding an Ascended tier axe, paired along with his own Book of Revelations damage boost aura, and Wei Yan Er’s {Strength Aura} as well! It would be weird that if he could not instantly kill a Thief!
After all seven players fell, 10 more shadows jumped out and attack from behind Han Ying Xue. There was more than one wave, and the second wave of attackers had more players with them!
"Haha! I had never expected that you would use such a lame technique to divide and conquer!" Zhang Yang merely thrust his palm out and cast {Sacrifice} on Han Ying Xue.
"Hah! Eat my axe!" Wei Yan Er charged towards one of the attackers and struck. She had been killing only monsters for more than 3 months of in-game time. As such, Wei Yan Er had been itching to kill players for a change! When the opportunity came to her doorstep, the little girl could never been happy!
Although Wei Yan Er took the initiative, the rest of the party members had landed their AoE skill, killing the fragile Thieves in a flash.
Translator Note:
Seven Fatal Wounds Palm: Also known as the Seven Impairments Palm Technique. It is a punching skill which requires one to wound themselves to inflict severe damage to the opponent.