Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

For the longest time ever, there had been this common consensus among the players—anyone who was involved in any kinds of Dark-type activities would become really super powerful within a short time…

The term “dark” had become a synonym for Satan. As long as one was willing to go to the bad side, they would get great powers unfathomable by anyone, and pwn those players who practiced hard by normal methods within the game!

However, there was a price to be paid: one’s religion or beliefs. In The New Age, there was a wide array of religions and belief systems for players to choose from: the Holy Light, Elemental Beliefs, different deities, and gods… in fact, attributes like freedom, peace, kindness were also considered as human players’ beliefs. However, once they decided to embrace the Dark in order to gain great powers, they would lose all the rest that they once owned.

To give a vivid example, let’s look at the issue of Prosthesis. In the real world, with the advent of technology, it wasn’t difficult to undergo a full prosthesis replacement procedure whereby a person’s limbs were being all replaced with artificial parts, which would never tire and stay strong forever. In fact, when this technology was announced, it caused a great uproar—people could see how powerful their countries’ military forces could get if all its soldiers were to undergo the full prosthesis replacement surgery, and some immediately started this experiment. However, all the soldiers involved in this experiment were reported to have committed suicide eventually. This was because the price for getting strong was to lose touch with humanity, and no one person was strong enough to withstand this.

The same went for those who decided to embrace the Dark in the game. People who lost their beliefs and kindness could only seek joy from killing others—and this would be the greatest tragedy.

As such, while Dark Magic had jaw-dropping effects, it also had terrifying side effects.

Just like opium poppies, it held a deadly attraction to anyone who dared to meddle with it.

With the buffs offered by Gilian, Lin Jie was able to fight one-on-one with the Yeti without any restraints. He forwent his usual techniques of parrying and dodging attacks. As soon as he received a punch from the Yeti, he would stab his swords back. This invigorating combat style allowed Lin Jie to vent out all his suppressed strength!

The Demonic Armed Blessing and Demonic Armor Blessing provided Lin Jie with immense Attack Power and Defense. Meanwhile, the Dead Spirit Healing Spell, which took effect every five seconds allowed Lin Jie to recover his health points at a faster speed than the Yeti’s attack speed!

“Wow, it’s so exhilarating to combat in such a manner with a Level 40 Elite,” commented Lin Jie as he thrust Broken Blade consecutively into the Yeti’s chest. Its blood flowed out to form bloody, grotesque patterns within the snow.

‘Army Obliteration!’

-1,029!

-1,129!

-1,027!

-1,154!

After Lin Jie blasted four great bloody holes into the Yeti’s body, it stopped moving and fell down to the ground. After which, the Dead Spirit, which was following behind Lin Jie emitted black halos and refilled his depleted health bar.

Ding~

——”You have killed the Yeti Victor. You received 180,000 EXP.”

As this was an Over-level Kill, the drop-rate of the Elite Yeti was considerably good. Lin Jie got a complete set of Yeti’s Back Fur which was around one and a half-grown man’s height, and a rounded, meatball-like snowball.

Yeti’s Heart: This is a Throwing Object. Hitting a target within a 3 X 3 meters area with the Yeti’s Heart will blind the target for 30 seconds. (If the target cleaned up the snow immediately, the blinding effect timing may be shortened by 1% to 99%.)

Squeezing the Yeti’s Heart in his hands, Lin Jie noticed that the Dead Spirit hovering beside him had disappeared too—the healing effect was gone. However, the penalty for dying in the game was still effective. It seemed like Lin Jie could not die in the mission that followed, or else he would suffer a serious penalty.

“You can tuck in now,” said Lin Jie as he observed the murals on the cavern’s walls. He required the help of the Silver-Feathered Eagle to observe the pictures at the topmost parts of the cavern, which he could not see.

“Is this a hidden map?” a gloomy voice asked.

“Yep, it’s my mission destination…” Lin Jie was answering this question subconsciously when he finally realized something was wrong. His pupils constricted—who was that?!

A gruesome and terrifying face was revealed in the snow. This person was previously camouflaged on the plains as he had donned a whole set of white armor—he was Baizhan Yusheng!

Baizhan Yusheng did not leave any footprints behind him—it seemed like he had some skill or equipment that could allow him to travel light. Furthermore, his armor had helped him escape the Silver-Feathered Eagle’s inspection from the skies, and hence, he was able to creep up behind Lin Jie without being discovered!

Lin Jie threw about 30 Identify spells on him while cautiously sizing him up. It was too difficult to bring up the proficiency levels of the Dwarvish Identify spells, and the Stats which Lin Jie got from the spells were almost the same as using the Inspect spells. However, Lin Jie was still able to roughly piece together Baizhan Yusheng’s Stats from all the information he gathered.

Baizhan Yusheng (Human, Shield Specialist)

Level: 20

Health Points: 2,900

Rage: 0

Attack Power: 130-248

Defense: 824 (Shield Defense: 300)

‘Such strong Stats!’ Lin Jie’s heart skipped a beat. Not even Mixed Breathless could reach a Defense of 800 points! Although a Shield Specialist’s abilities were not decided by his Defense capabilities, it was still good for them to get as high a Defense capability as possible.

Baizhan Yusheng did not bother to spare him any other words. He whipped out a black shield from his back and held onto it single-handedly with his right hand. As if like a cobra hissing at its prey, a sharp spur sprouted out from the middle of the shield.

“Smash!” With a loud cry, Baizhan Yusheng collided into Lin Jie. His burly body was his best weapon—the strong collision force sent Lin Jie flying out! Since he started playing The New Age two months ago in this life, this was the first time Lin Jie actually lost out to somebody in the game in terms of Strength Judgement!

However, Lin Jie was also not any ordinary player. Broken Blade drew a deep, hideous scar on the ground, and leveraging upon the reaction force from the sword with the ground, he steadied himself and activated Hunter’s Forward Charge! Both the Thunderbolt Sword and Broken Blade thrust out at Baizhan Yusheng’s eyes. With the huge prowess of Demonic Armed Blessing, as long as Lin Jie could hit his target, Baizhan Yusheng would be crippled even if he was not killed instantly!

“Hmph,” Baizhan Yusheng curved up his lips at this moment. His left hand made a turn in mid-air and captured Lin Jie’s left wrist accurately. With a twist and a turn, a sharp pain rose up from the web between Lin Jie’s thumb and forefinger. He released his grip, and the Thunderbolt Sword fell into Baizhan Yusheng’s hands!

This was… the Disarm skill!

Disarm: This skill is ineffective against Druids. You can snatch your target’s weapons and keep it for 10 seconds. Within this period, your target cannot change equipment, and he will lose any additional attributes given by his equipment.

Disarm was a skill that was used by Warriors and Bandits in common, and could make a target’s weapon disappear temporarily. However, not many people would use this skill during battles, as the Disarm skill required great Strength Judgement points. Though it could be activated within half a second, it required a skillful player to be able to operate this skill.

The weaponless Lin Jie was stunned momentarily. At this stage, it would take an expert within the experts to use the Disarm skill to snatch away his weapons! His expression turned grim, and he held onto Broken Blade with both his hands, observing cautiously every single move Baizhan Yusheng made.

Hunter’s Forward Charge!

Forward Charge!

The two iron-like Warriors collided into each other crazily, like two rhinoceros in combat! Sparks flew from the collision of Broken Blade against the shield! Baizhan Yusheng revealed a wide grin, and before Lin Jie could make another response, the spur in his shield which was holding off Broken Blade originally suddenly twisted around and stabbed into Lin Jie’s chest!

-425!

“Hehehe…” A cold smile spread on Baizhan Yusheng’s face. The spur was retracted and went back onto the shield.

However, the 400 damage was too little to cause any real harm to Lin Jie. After all, his health bar would not lose out to any Shield Specialist!

“It’s my turn now,” Lin Jie shook his wrist, and activating Army Obliteration, he stabbed out at Baizhan Yusheng’s head!

How could any blow dealt out by Lin Jie using his most familiar Broken Blade be a simple blow? The four shots of the Army Obliteration skill were aimed at Baizhan Yusheng’s head, both shoulder blades, and chest. As long as he hit the target, he would activate another Combo Attack of Weakness Exploit and Blood Light Multi-Slash skills!

Clang—

Clang—

Clang—

Clang—

Four crisp clashes were heard. Baizhan Yusheng’s shield appeared accurately at each of Lin Jie’s target spots, and parried off his attacks!

-254! (Blocked)

-239 (Blocked)

…

Several ‘Blocked’ figures floated up. Just when Lin Jie stopped himself and was preparing to launch another wave of attacks, Baizhan Yusheng’s spur had accumulated enough power, and it stabbed into Lin Jie’s chest again!

‘He’s planning to buy time for himself and waste all my energy until he kills me!’ Lin Jie’s eyes gleamed—he finally understood Baizhan Yusheng’s intentions. As long as Baizhan Yusheng could fend off Lin Jie’s attacks with his superb Defense capabilities, and repeat the process of dealing out 400 damage points using the spur for around seven or eight more times, Lin Jie would be killed!

This logic worked the same as a Paladin’s attacking style of dealing out Flat Cuts then activating the Regen skill. Though this combat style was irritating, it was indeed a good choice of combat style for a Shield Specialist! After all, Shield Specialists were not godlike figures who had the ability to fend off strong attacks and also deal out high damage at the same time—since the day they decided to become a Shield Specialist, it would be destined that they had their worth of shortcomings!

Shhh…

There were some slithering sounds heard. Lin Jie’s pupils constricted—Baizhan Yusheng had aid coming his way!

‘But of course, this fellow couldn’t have come here all alone!’

“Such a disappointing turn of events,” Baizhan Yusheng’s ears twitched, and the corners of his lips, which were cracked and divided into three sections by a huge scar, turned down. He looked at Lin Jie and said, “Consider yourself lucky, I will let you off this time round.”

Lin Jie drank a Health Potion secretly and replenished his empty health bar. He did not think that this Baili Xuanyuan’s guard would be as kind as he said.

“No matter when, I, Baizhan Yusheng, will never allow anyone else to help me.” Baizhan Yusheng sneered when he saw Lin Jie’s action. “I am giving you three seconds to get out of my sight now! You won’t be as lucky the next time you meet me!”

With this, he actually turned his back to Lin Jie and placed his arms behind him.

Lin Jie looked at the Thunderbolt Sword which had returned to him after the Disarm skill’s effect wore off and took another glance at Baizhan Yusheng’s back. He secretly places a label on him: this guy’s a serious chunnibyou 1 !

However, truth to be told, when Lin Jie faced such an unguarded back… it’s indeed tempting to launch a secret attack now.

Lin Jie gripped tightly onto Broken Blade.