A full-fledged insane person…

That was how Shiva viewed Feng Bujue then.

“I have miscalculated…” Shiva found cover and mumbled as he caught his breath. “I didn’t expect that the element to distort the ending of this Killing Game would not be Understanding Death or King of Shadows but this Feng Bujue, who seems to have popped up from nowhere…”

Being heavily injured by Feng Bujue had completely disrupted Shiva’s plan. Since he entered the scenario, he had used more than four health potions. Initially, he planned to use them after dealing with Feng Bujue, but before the battle even finished, he had already used all of them. This difference might seem small, but it would have huge consequences.

Using the same recovery item multiple times in a short amount of time would decrease its recovery effect greatly. This was one of the darkest settings of the game; even if the player was loaded and bought the largest inventory and a truckload of recovery items, when it came to real battles, the only useful potions would be the first few bottles.

Before the end of the battle, drinking one potion meant pushing one’s bottom line several inches forward, and that was something Shiva was unwilling to do. Since Feng Bujue had removed the bomb, Shiva’s attitude had changed. He saw hope again; the bloodlust from before also slowly calmed down. One would understand it after giving it a calm thought. The reward of this scenario was too important. Shiva believed that with his power, if he gained perfect level equipment, he might overtake the player ranked first on the ranking.

Currently, perfect equipment in Thriller Paradise was extremely rare. There were fewer than five in the Auction House, and they were sold for crazy prices. There were quite a few in the Thriller Box, but the players could not afford them. There were forum posts every day saying that the Thriller Box was almost becoming a museum. The players could not afford the good items, and the players were unwilling to buy the not-so-good items because most players wanted to collect more Skill Points to buy a good item directly.

Even though Shiva was ranked second on the combat stat ranking, aside from level and mastery, material-wise, he only had a full body of elite equipment and a bunch of skills and consumables. The buff from the outfit was negligible. As the leader of a club and a player who had been in the industry for many years, he understood better than anyone else what being first represented.

Like Shanks said, “First is first; second is nothing.”

That was the cruel truth.

Every second that Sky Swallowing Phantom Dawn and his Regulation Guild tag sat on top of the leaderboard was a nondescript collection of resources. If getting a perfect equipment could really help Shiva overcome the man, then the victory of this Killing Game was far more meaningful than a scenario, equipment, or a difference in ranking. Because of that, Shiva had tried to negotiate with Feng Bujue earlier, but he did not expect the man to suddenly become so irrational.

Shiva reassessed Feng Bujue again… and realized that he could not understand the man. The kid was clever but was also very absurd; he was occasionally very cautious yet at times rash and lacked concern; he could seriously come up with an accurate and convincing persuasion yet at the same time would say things that had no sense at all. This kind of opponent that could not be assessed the regular way gave Shiva the biggest trouble he had ever faced.

“I have to say, your Sorcery Weapon is very convenient,” Feng Bujue said as he leaped away to avoid the laser. This bout of attacks was just suppressive fire. Shiva was trying to limit Feng Bujue while he figured out a solution.

“You seem to have good sleuthing mastery too. Even without taking a look, you can know most of the situation around you,” Feng Bujue observed. “But after leaving your sight, the accuracy and agility of the stone plates conspicuously fall.”

As he spoke, he tossed a grenade toward the cover where Shiva was hiding.

“Don’t push it.” Shiva knew that something was coming his way without seeing. He took out a cold piece of steel and whacked the grenade away like a baseball. The grenade exploded like a signal, and with that, Shiva leaped out from the cover and rushed toward Feng Bujue at high speed. But as he appeared, he was faced with layers of golden light flying at him.

“Skill? No… Sorcery Weapon!” Shiva’s fighting instinct kicked in then. “He couldn’t tell which direction I would come from. At most, he could predict when I made my move… so… this sorcery weapon can trace its enemy.”

Many thoughts crossed his mind, and the cards were already inches close.

“Get out of my way!” Shiva growled and hit with a skill.

———

Name: Spirit Smash

Skill Property: Active, Permanent

Skill Type: Fighting

Effect: Hit out the collected sorcery energy (Cooldown three minutes and needs cold steel to unleash.)

Consumption: 200 Stamina Points, 20 Sorcery Points

Learning Requirement: Fighting E, Sorcery E

Remark: Has extremely weak damage on pure physical objects like machines but has excellent damage on targets with spiritual attachment.

———

The choice of this skill was suitable, and the weapon Shiva had matched this skill perfectly.

———

Name: Obsidian Hammer

Item Type: Weapon

Quality: Excellent

Offense Point: Medium

Element: None

Special Effect: Purification of Evil

Equip Requirement: Fighting D, above Level 23

Remark: Obsidian is one of the seven treasures of Buddhism. It can cleanse demonic energy and destroy them.

———

Whenever it was a haunted scenario, Shiva’s skill worked every time. Other than bosses and elite monsters, as long as they had something to do with the supernatural, they would be killed in one shot by this combo.

Feng Bujue shot out ten Death Pokers, the combo of Big Cannon. It exhausted him a lot, so naturally, it was quite powerful. However, this time, Shiva used his main skill with the idea of breaking a fly with a weapon. In comparison, Shiva’s skill was more powerful. With a bang, the cards became shreds of lights and exploded like fireworks. Shiva successfully defended this swift attack, and Feng Bujue was cornered. Even though Shiva was slightly held back by the Death Poker, as Feng Bujue reentered his sight, Shiva’s Sorcery Weapon became accurate again. Therefore, when Shiva broke the cards, Feng Bujue was shot at from six directions. The angles were from everywhere, and Brother Jue had issues evading it. If he did not die, he would be seriously injured.

The lasers shot out and left holes in the cement roof and broke two rails, but Feng Bujue was unscathed…

He used an unimaginably strange and hard to describe movement to avoid all the lasers. In that moment, his joints as if loosened, but his limbs were fast and agile. If one had to describe it, it was similar to an extremely agile marionette doll. With the string pulling it, it could swiftly twist its body into impossible positions. It was impossible for a normal human to replicate that.

“Nani!” If Shiva was a villain from Japanese comic, he would say that in shock, but he was not.

As shocked as he was, Shiva’s attacks did not stop. The stone plates would all go into cooldown after shooting lasers, but that bought him very important tactical space. At that moment, Shiva’s Life Points were ninety percent full, and he had half his Stamina Points left. He still had two fighting skills to use, and he had successfully approached Feng Bujue.

On Feng Bujue’s side… with the exhaustion from the Body Enhancement Spell, his Life Points dropped down to forty percent, and he had 188 Stamina Points left. He had put the guns away, and he was holding the Death Poker, which was not good for close combat.

“What the hell?” This came from Feng Bujue himself. “The attack really missed…”

With a howl, the hammer came again. Feng Bujue moved to the side and tilted his body upward like he was stretching to evade the swing with ease.

“This is too much… Have I accidentally cleared the conception and governor vessels?”

“It should be me asking that question!” Shiva spoke as he used another skill. This time, it was a kick. A blue-bladed shadow kicked out from Shiva’s leg, and it flew toward Feng Bujue, who was one meter away from him.

“Is this the legendary Rankyaku?” Feng Bujue gasped as he moved into the classic action from Matrix. He leaned his body backward and evaded the attack.

“You have been making us underestimate you on purpose, haven’t you‽” Shiva roared angrily. He also did not know where his temper came from. After he calmed down and thought about it, he realized that the anger was because he realized that the enemy’s physical ability was better than he thought.

“How am I supposed to answer a question like that?” Feng Bujue replied while also searching for an answer internally.

I thought avoiding the spinning kick was a coincidence, but now it does not look like it. The lasers earlier and the wing of the hammer and the kick… is it really the effect of Body Enhancement Spell, or has the enemy’s movement slowed down?

No wait… the difference between us is still there. Be it strength, speed, or mobility, he is stronger than me. But… for some reason, I can reproduce highly-difficult, imaginary actions in the game, and I can assume them accurately. What kind of phenomenon is this? Is it because I have gotten some buff that doesn’t show in the game menu? Hmm… Doesn’t look like this. Wait a minute, I’ve experienced this before… Could it be…

When he was thinking, Shiva put the hammer away and used his bare fists to unleash high-speed punches. In that moment, the shadow of fists covered the sky. Two figures weaved in and out, one advancing and the other retreating. They moved out from the roof and ’walked’ down the side of the building vertically, fighting from the roof to the street.

The superheroes arrived one after another then. Todd did not follow. He was not in the same gang as the people from the Network, so he had left silently. When they saw this situation, the people from the Network were astounded.

“Should we contact the headquarters of Justice League?” Squire asked.

Damian looked at her, took out the phone, and said rather woodenly, “Let me ask Oracle…”