Four Split Personalities

But he ultimately managed to "receive" the block from his opponent, retracted his hands using the rebounding force as if ready to perform Iaido, crossing the two longswords beside his body, and then, utilizing [Charge], he moved low to Sergei’s diagonal rear, activating [Sword Wind], stepping wrong foot and twisting his body with both swords striking simultaneously!

It was none other than [Dangerous Iai], a Thief skill belonging to the same category as [Ferocious Assault].

Buzz buzz!

The sharp glint of the swords flashed, and Motan’s strike actually tore through Sergei’s protective Qi force, leaving two white marks on the leather armor at his waist.

[You have mastered the skill: Dual Blades•Eagle Wave]

The system notification sounded in Motan’s ear, but he had no time to check the skill he had accidentally mastered. Instead, as Sergei turned around, he crossed the swords in front of his chest and yelled back at Ya Ya, "Sword!"

The next second, the Static Sword and the spare Cold Steel Sword that had been Motan’s secondary weapons since Sky Pillar Mountain suddenly shattered under the quite embarrassing punch from Sergei. Their durability dropped to zero instantly, bursting into many fragments that scattered around and also left several cuts on Motan’s body.

Meanwhile, the extremely reactive Ya Ya had already rushed to the side of the [Heavy Sword•Great Fire], bent down to grab it, and forcefully tossed it towards Motan.

"Seeking death!"

After smashing Motan’s twin swords with a punch, Sergei’s anger hadn’t subsided, and he immediately charged forward with a stride, his left fingers formed a point and slashed towards Motan’s neck with a Qi blade so condensed it wouldn’t disperse. This strike, if it hit, was guaranteed to be fatally damaging, the kind not even ten potions could recover from.

Anticipating this, Motan naturally didn’t plan on letting his opponent easily finish him off. He quickly reached into his pack with his left hand and pulled out a Healing Potion, awkwardly tucking it to his mouth with his elbow jutting outward, attempting to block the attack while regaining health. Indeed the health came back, and he blocked the fatal strike, but his left arm was nearly torn apart by that blast of Qi force within half a second, dropping his health from 40% back down to 11%, with the status bar now showing [Disabled (Left Arm)] and [Bleeding] as two DEBUFFs, and his physical strength value left at only 109.

But Motan was still not dead, after all, Sergei had only disabled his left arm. Neither the system-reduced sensation of pain nor the mere 10% of remaining health could completely deprive Motan of his fighting ability. So he steadily reached out with his right hand, catching the great sword thrown by Ya Ya, and using his last ounce of strength, he launched [Thorn Burst], directly stabbing the spiral-wrapped great sword towards Sergei’s eyes.

Sergei certainly wouldn’t let Motan hit him that easily. In fact, Sergei didn’t regard this strike as a threat at all. Facing this simple stab, he swatted it like a fly, knocking the heavy red greatsword aside and then fiercely smacked Motan’s chest with a Black Tiger Snares Heart move, blasting him over ten meters away.

"Cough..."

Motan, lying on his back, spat out another mouthful of old blood and was completely immobilized, yet the fact that he wasn’t dead was enough to dumbfound Sergei, who had never seen such a resilient Half-Dragon.

Of course, it wasn’t solely due to being tough. Even though ’Mor,’ the character he was known as, did indeed have the sturdiest build among Motan’s accounts, his survival from that strike relied also on the talent [Steel Spirit], gaining nearly limitless defense enhancement under the condition of having only 11% health. This was the direct reason Motan managed to survive that last strike.

Naturally, he was now essentially rendered powerless in combat...

With 3% health, 9 physical strength value, and bearing the [Disabled] + [Bleeding] DEBUFFs, if Xiaoge hadn’t timely dived down and stuffed two pre-peeled tea eggs into his mouth, Motan would probably have been gone in less than half a minute.

The events described took a strain to recount, but they actually transpired in just about two minutes. Motan, having just recharged to full status and rushed over, was nearly beaten to death by Sergei, and the damage he inflicted on his opponent, if converted to data, was even less than 5%.

Was Motan too weak?

It was clear that within players of the same level, Motan’s strength could be considered very strong. If he were to fight against a chaotic neutral version of himself, it would probably take him no more than five minutes to overpower the latter, so he was certainly not weak.

Was it that Sergei was too strong?

That wasn’t entirely true either. After all, he was merely a third-class operative in the Viper Chamber of Commerce. Although being a high-level professional, he was still not a match for the truly powerful. Not to mention someone on the level of Xia Lian, even Scarlan’s General Paula, known for her prowess in the small nation, was stronger than him. When it came to players, Cordova could easily defeat him, and even less powerful strong players like Xiao Island and Double Leaf could give him a fair fight. Given their will, talents, intelligence, and other factors, their chances of winning were generally no less than fifty percent, so Sergei wasn’t truly strong.

The situation at hand was due to it not being a battle of equals at all.

Not to mention NPCs like Ya Ya and Jadka, players like Motan and Xiaoge, who excelled in certain aspects, just needed a bit of growth and development space. In the future, defeating a high-level professional like Sergei would be a matter of minutes. Not to mention the highly talented Motan, just take Xiaoge, who could research explosive tea eggs and the warrior spirit of Kaytlin within less than two months of game time. Given enough time, she could definitely come up with many, if not multiple, ways to comfortably defeat Sergei.

But that would take time...

At least in the current phase, Sergei still held an overwhelming advantage over them.

The issue was not about strength, it was about the difference in level.

"Flame Dance!"

As another chain of fire swept over, Jadka, who realized he couldn’t get the slaves to take shelter in a short span of time, ran over, continuously firing off low-rank flame magic with his smoky magic wand. He had actually rushed over half a minute before, but since Motan was then in close combat with Sergei, the old mage, who wasn’t very skilled in controlling magic, didn’t dare to intervene rashly, fearful he’d accidentally roast his own people. The same concern held Xiaoge back in midair, until Motan was knocked away, did they finally let loose.

The girl who stuffed two tea eggs into Motan’s mouth flew back into the air, in coordination with Jadka’s spells, bombarded Sergei with a barrage of highly explosive, high-energy, nutritious dishes. Whether they were powerful or not was unknown, but they were genuinely toxic due to their taste and fragrance.

Finally recovering, Ya Ya picked up his gear hammer again, constantly harassing from a relatively safe distance, trying to disrupt Sergei’s rhythm.

Thanks to their previous practice in the arena at Sky Pillar Mountain, the trio’s coordination indeed looked formidable, subconsciously pulling off an efficient and sharp combined attack.

However... it was futile.

"Weak flames."

Sergei huffed lightly, lifted his arm, and swung fiercely, instantly extinguishing the two flames that Jadka had barely managed to cast. Then, like a tiger pouncing down the mountain, he charged straight up to the old mage, pushing both hands imbued with Qi force forward: "Die!"

The air exploded, Jadka felt pain everywhere on his body, and then everything went dark, not knowing anything else.

[Rotational Qi Explosion], essentially meant that one would explode the Qi they controlled within a certain range. It was a technique every Martial Monk knew, and in most cases, any low-rank mage over seventy years old being closely hit by this move was definitely doomed. If the one executing it was a high-level Fighting Monk like Sergei, it was decidedly fatal.

Less than thirty seconds after Motan had lost his combat ability, Jadka too fell...

Chapter 491: The End