Chapter Thirty-Seven: A Dominant Spectacle

“Damn it, Nightfall, you bastard!” Furious, Thunder Tiger let out an enraged roar and barked at his underlings, “Go! Get him! Take that bastard down for me!”

“Boss Roar, leave this guy to me!” Eager for credit, the Red-Named Berserker turned and charged at Ye Chen. But before he could take more than two steps, a pale blue longsword materialized before him. Lightning flickered along the blade—it was the Swordsman’s Triple Thunder Slash, unleashed by Sword Tilted City herself.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

It happened so suddenly that Red-Named Berserker didn’t even have time to react before he was struck three times in quick succession.

-290, -285, -312—three blood-red numbers floated above his head, leaving the Berserker with only a sliver of health, despite his formidable vitality. Sword Tilted City, with her all-out offensive build, was truly ruthless; her attack power rivaled, if not surpassed, that of Thunder Tiger.

“Damn it, Boss Roar, it’s an ambush!” The Berserker’s face drained of color. Dragging his axe, he turned to flee, but Sword Tilted City, a seasoned PK veteran, would never let a crippled opponent escape. With a deft step and a thrust of her blade, she stabbed him squarely in the back, sending him straight back to town—free of charge.

“Nightfall, you bastard! So you’ve conspired with those women from Azure Feather! I won’t let you get away with this!” Thunder Tiger watched as one after another, members of Azure Feather Studio appeared out of nowhere and launched attacks on his group, and at once, all his hatred honed in on Ye Chen. In his mind, Ye Chen must have shared his stealth techniques with Azure Feather, leading to their ambush. To Thunder Tiger, all of this was Ye Chen’s doing. Of course, he still didn’t know that Ye Chen was actually one of Azure Feather’s own.

Ye Chen curled his lips into a faint smile, not bothering to explain his relationship with Azure Feather. If Thunder Tiger wanted to hate him, so be it. If he dared to cause trouble again, Ye Chen would simply craft that Nether Pill and use it on him—crippling him for good.

Oblivious to the disaster about to befall him, Thunder Tiger continued to curse wildly, pointing at the last Archer and shouting, “Wipe him out! Take out Nightfall, that bastard!”

But before the Archer could act, Second Sister Drunken Longing emerged from the shadows, her silver-white staff sweeping up. A bolt of lightning crashed down on the Archer.

-869. The might of her Silver Staff was unmistakeable. The Archer didn’t even have a chance to groan before crumpling to the ground.

Meanwhile, the other girls made their moves as well, catching the Thunder Tiger players off guard. In moments, they were all but wiped out. Ye Chen noted that the girls were actually quite skilled at PK; even Lingyue, the gentle Knight, dispatched foes swiftly and cleanly. If not for the overwhelming numbers at first, there would’ve been nothing to fear from Thunder Tiger’s men.

Seeing the tide had turned, Thunder Tiger tried to make a run for it. But Ye Chen had been keeping a close eye on him—there was no way he’d let him escape now. He quickly called out to Second Sister, “Hit him with an Ice Ring, but don’t finish him off—let’s watch the monster take him instead.”

“Great idea—I like it!” Drunken Longing grinned wickedly and waved her hand. An icy halo caught Thunder Tiger, chilling him to the bone. The spell didn’t do much damage, but its slowing effect was devastating. Thunder Tiger now moved as if wading through molasses.

“Come on, everyone, gather round! Lingyue, get ready—when he dies, pick up the aggro.” Ye Chen chuckled, not bothering to use magic himself. Leading the girls, he surrounded Thunder Tiger, watching as he struggled desperately under the Demon Berserker’s attacks.

“Ye Chen, you really are wicked!” Lingyue pouted at him, her face full of playful charm.

Thunder Tiger was nearly faint with rage. As a top officer of Thunder Tiger, he had never suffered such humiliation. He wanted nothing more than to eat Ye Chen’s flesh and drink his blood. Desperately, he tried to attack Ye Chen, but the freezing ring kept him rooted to the spot. Helpless, he could only rage, “Nightfall, if I don’t kill you back to the Novice Village, if I don’t drive you out of Thunder Ridge City, I’ll eat my own name! Just you wait! I’ll make you regret this—regret it!”

As the saying goes, if you treat me as an enemy, I’ll treat you as an ant. Ye Chen couldn’t care less about the curses of an ant—if anything, the fiercer the enemy’s fury, the greater his own impact. When it came to enemies, one should be as merciless as autumn winds sweeping fallen leaves. If anything, Ye Chen felt he hadn’t punished Thunder Tiger enough.

Crack! The Demon Berserker struck Thunder Tiger with a Blood Light skill. With a last, unwilling scream, Thunder Tiger glared at Ye Chen, then his body dissolved into a flash of white light—returning to town, free of charge.

Ding, ding, ding…

As the white light faded, a pile of equipment clattered to the ground. Thunder Tiger had dropped everything—helmet to boots, even his two rings and a necklace. His luck was truly abysmal.

With Thunder Tiger gone, the battered Demon Berserker naturally turned his wrath on the Azure Feather team. But they were prepared. Lingyue leveled her lance and charged, her weapon flaring red as she struck—a bleeding effect, the Knight’s aggro skill, hit the monster squarely.

-96. A blood-red number appeared above the Demon Berserker. Lingyue’s cheeks flushed—her full-constitution, tanky Knight build had pitiful attack power, relying almost entirely on her weapon. Fortunately, her aggro skill was high-level; otherwise, she’d never have held the monster’s attention.

There was no other way. Of all the girls present, only Lingyue could withstand the Demon Berserker’s attacks. Sword Tilted City, though also a heavy armor class, had put all her points into offense, leaving her health only slightly higher than Ye Chen’s. If she tried to tank, one of the Berserker’s combos could finish her instantly.

A word of explanation: the studio girls all specialized in extreme builds. As Sword Tilted City had often said, extremity breeds mastery. So, their builds were straightforward—pure offense for DPS, pure intellect for mages, pure constitution for tanks, pure agility for rogues. There was no middle ground. Judging by their performance, it seemed to be working, though the overall lineup was a bit quirky: high-level Swordswomen with fragile health, tank Knights with abysmal damage, lightning-fast but weak Rogues. Only Ye Chen and the other casters seemed normal, since many magic players went full intellect anyway.

While Lingyue lured the Demon Berserker away, Ye Chen hurried to collect the pile of equipment Thunder Tiger had dropped—better grab it before it despawned or was swiped by a passing invisible rogue.

Checking his inventory, Ye Chen found eight items in all: five pieces of armor, three accessories. Each shone with a radiant blue light—so dazzling and alluring. Looking at the pile of rare-grade gear, Ye Chen couldn’t help but feel a surge of delight.