Chapter 22：Raging Sea of Blood's Ambush

Sometimes, seemingly difficult problems could be solved with simple solutions!

Da Fei's ballista was surrounded by walls on three sides. This was positioning! However, the positioning was not perfect, as enemies could still attack him from the front. Hence, he needed to form a wall in front of him as well. Normal zombies were the best meat wall!

Normal zombies had 1 Attack point and 1-2 Damage per hit. How much damage could they inflict on a ballista with 10 Defense points? An almost 10-point difference between the Attack and Defense meant that the effective damage would only be around 2/3 of the base value. In other words, they would only do 0.6-1 damage per hit! That was completely negligible when compared to the damage of the BOSSes!

As long as I let five small zombies crowd in front of the ballista, the BOSSes behind won't be able to approach. They can only stare at me! How do I keep the BOSSes back? The Knock Back effect from the ballista! Once the BOSSes are knocked back, the small zombies will come forward to fill in the gap. Since the BOSSes are so tall and huge, the ballista can shoot over the small zombies and still hit them in the head!

Hence, Da Fei laughed loudly and collected his headshots on the BOSSes. In the meantime, five small zombies did their jobs and crowded in front of the ballista as they waved their clumsy claws to inflict damage on the ballista.

It's just a drizzle now!

—Boom! Finally, a BOSS's head was completely blown off.

—System Message: You killed an Assault Zombie! You obtained 4,000 EXP! You obtained item, "Key to crew cabin". You obtained item, "Firefighting Tool Axe"!

—System Message: You improved your information collected about the Assault Zombie!

—System Message: Your progress in "Lonely Hero 10 Straight Wins" improved to 3/10.

Haha! Wahahaha! I'm a pro! Da Fei was overjoyed and checked the information on his Information Bar. The other attributes were still question marks, but the HP attribute was available now, 200 HP!

What the heck! So much HP yet they still have the Intermediate Defense Skill. I need five to six shots just to kill one. Are you trying to overwork me to death? Come on then, try your best! You little scums delivering free EXP, free Achievement, and free room keys! Wahahaha!

On the deck, it was a sunny day. The skies and sea were a beautiful blue, and Raging Sea of Blood was happily slaughtering zombies.

Suddenly, he heard rumblings from within the ship itself. Raging Sea of Blood frowned. What was that? The waves? After he killed a few more zombies, Raging Sea of Blood felt like something was off! There's no way that's the sound of the waves, right?

Raging Sea of Blood put his ears to the floor of the deck and listened carefully. The sounds grew louder now! Furthermore, there was a rhythm to the sounds!

Raging Sea of Blood was completely stunned! What's that? This sounds like the sound of the shots taken by the currently trending playstyle, the ballista-style players!

Raging Sea of Blood hurriedly ran to the starboard and looked down. Nothing. He ran to the port and looked down again. Nothing! He jumped into the water and placed his ear against the body of the ship. The sounds were even clearer now! That's right, these are the sounds produced by a ballista! I hesitated between the Ballista Skill and the Attack Skill for so long when I was creating this account back then!

What was going on?

Is an NPC monster shooting? Impossible! Player! Must be a player! Can it be that random player Da Fei? Or did the System assign new players here when I was distracted?

Raging Sea of Blood hurriedly pulled out the game's inquiry system to search for player information!

—System Message: Dear respected player! It costs 10 credits to perform each search on player information! You have an insufficient credit balance!

"F**k you!!! Even this cost credits. You're way too greedy!"

10 credits cost 10 dollars. Money was not an issue to Raging Sea of Blood. However, the top-up process was way too troublesome! Raging Sea of Blood only topped up 1,000 credits per machine for the lottery. After that, he ran out of credits. Wasn't it frustrating that he had to use his online banking just for 10 credits?

Fine! Raging Sea of Blood gritted his teeth and topped up 10,000 credits. Then, he searched for the player "Da Fei".

—Search Result: Da Fei. Human training novice. Level 9. Online.

Level 9!!! Raging Sea of Blood could not believe his own eyes! I thought he logged off because he couldn't survive! How did such a weak Pikeman like him get to this stage? I spawned as a Level 3 Shield Defender, and I have not stopped killing monsters since then. After a whole day, I'm only at Level 6! Yet, he's at Level 9?! Did he sneak into my turf and get a ballista to level up so fast? This feels like my girl is getting f**ked by someone else! I can't tolerate this!

"F**k you!" Raging Sea of Blood rushed into the cabins below! So what if he's a Level 9 Pikeman? That meant at most 26 HP. I'll still kill you with two strikes! I'll camp his spawn point and keep killing him until he's back to Level 0!

…

The second level below deck of the wrecked ship. As Da Fei killed the third zombie BOSS with a headshot, a ray of golden light covered his body. Level 9!

At this moment, Da Fei had taken 16 shots, and the five zombies in front of him had landed 18 hits on the ballista. They already took off 80 HP from the ballista. By the time he got rid of the remaining 3 BOSSes, the ballista would probably only have a few dozen HP left. That meant he could not fight any more major battles after this. Hence, he had to hurry and end it!

Da Fei immediately took out the War Machine Skill Book. A flash of golden light appeared.

—System Message: You used one Skill Point and learned Intermediate Study of the War Machine Skill!

—System Message: Your ballista gained +5 Attack, +5 Defense, +1 Base Damage, HP Limit +100.

Currently, the ballista attributes under the Intermediate Study of the War Machines Skill were:

Attack: 15, Defense: 15, Base Damage: 3-4 (Total Damage = Base Damage * Total Hero attributes), Health: 120/300, Attack Speed: 5, Movement Speed: 1, Special Skill: Knock Back, Puncture.

Da Fei had 8 attribute points in total. Hence, the Total Damage would be 24-32. Since the Ballista's 15 Attack points and the BOSSes' 2 Defense points had a gap of 13 points, it meant that his damage inflicted would increase by 65%. However, the zombies' Intermediate Defense Skill reduced their damage taken by 20%. Therefore, the final damage inflicted by the ballista on each BOSS per shot was 31-43! This was worlds apart from the 15-23 damage per shot just now! The damage was almost doubled!

The final conclusion: The BOSSes with 200 HP that took five to six shots to kill previously would only require three shots to kill now! Furthermore, now that the Ballista's Defense improved by 5 points, each small zombie's average damage against the ballista was less than 1 point!

This was the Study of the War Machines, nicknamed "BOSS Killer"! Every upgrade to the skill would bring about substantial improvement!

Da Fei felt all kinds of emotions. Why didn't I choose this ballista as my starting skill?! However, if I really chose this, the examiners probably wouldn't have assigned me here, right?

Of course, these sentiments were just his thoughts. His actions did not stop for a moment. After taking care of these remaining BOSSes, I can level up to Level 10. Wahahahaha! All the free EXP for me! Godly Hero's trial grounds. Amazing!

After a while, Da Fei heard hurried footsteps from above. His heart skipped a beat! Raging Sea of Blood! F**k. You could've come earlier or later, yet you chose this moment! I'm in trouble! What should I do! Da Fei frowned as he stared at the remaining BOSS and the small zombies clawing at the ballista!

That's right! Raging Sea of Blood was here! As he rushed down to the first cabin, he realized that the BOSS who killed him last night was gone! However, the small zombies were still there. The trash in the cabin behind the BOSS gave him the answers! He could roughly figure out what happened!

D—a—m—n!

The infuriated Raging Sea of Blood jumped down into the cabin on the second level below deck and looked right at Da Fei blocking the monsters at the entrance of the staircase! Raging Sea of Blood was so stunned that he stood completely still!

Da Fei, who just finished reloading, turned around and smiled brightly. "Hey! Have you eaten?" Da Fei tried to communicate in a friendly manner with him.

"Die!!!" After figuring out the situation, Raging Sea of Blood immediately drew his weapon. He did not give Da Fei any chance to waste his time with any more bullshit!

What the heck! He harbors such hatred for me! It's as if I murdered his father or took his crown! Fine, if there's no way out, I won't shy from a fight. I've played games for so long. Wins and losses are nothing to me! If I really waste time talking to him, my ballista will be destroyed!

Da Fei was well-prepared and immediately struck with his pike! He could not lose the advantage of having a long-range weapon as a Pikeman!

The pike struck like a poisonous dragon. Boom! "-5!" At the same time, Raging Sea of Blood was stopped dead in his tracks! Paralytic toxin!

—System Message: You have purposely launched a hostile attack against a player from the same faction as you, Raging Sea of Blood. You will receive punishment in the form of losing reputation.

Ah, what?! Are you serious?! I'm the victim here, alright?!

The duel started. A comparison between the two sides' attributes:

Raging Sea of Blood, Level 6. Attack: 8, Defense: 8, Damage: 7-10, Health: 30, Attack Speed: 13. Master Attack Skill raises damage by 50%. (Raging Sea of Blood's War Blade +3 Attack, +3 Damage. Equipment from spawn +8 Personal Defense)

Da Fei, Level 9. Attack: 8, Defense: 3, Damage: 4-6, Health: 36, Attack Speed: 10. No Battle Skills. (Da Fei's Broken Leather Armor +3 Personal Defense)

So, Raging Sea of Blood could do 13-19 damage per hit on Da Fei. It would only take him two to three strikes to kill Da Fei.

On the other hand, Da Fei's 8 Attack points and Raging Sea of Blood's 8 Defense points canceled each other out. He had no additional Battle Skills. Hence, his final damage was still 4-6. To kill Raging Sea of Blood with 30 HP, he needed at least five to eight strikes!

The difference between their weapons and their skills caused a huge gap in the two sides' combat prowess! Under normal circumstances, there was no way Da Fei could defeat Raging Sea of Blood.

However, everything changed because of this heart of the Demonized Venom Sea Anemone King and its paralytic toxin effect! Toxins usually carried negative special effects. Even though that special effect was not obvious when he fought against zombies, it would certainly show up against other players. Da Fei needed to rely heavily on this to turn the game around!

Just then, Raging Sea of Blood stared in bewilderment at the System Message!

—System Message: You have been hit with a paralytic toxin. Your movement is temporarily restricted. Attack -1, Defense -1, Attack Speed -1, Movement Speed -1, Maximum Damage -1. Effect remains until the end of this battle.

All his attributes reduced by one point! This was like being hit with a weakened version of the Dark Curse! My movement has been restricted too! What did this random scum steal from me?!

Da Fei was also stunned by the System Message! However, he did not hesitate and quickly continued his attacks!

At the same time, Raging Sea of Blood regained his freedom of movement and continued rushing at Da Fei!

Under normal circumstances, a Pikeman's long weapon would give him the advantage of striking first. Then, when he drew back his pike, the opponent would reach him, and the battle would start. However, since that strike restricted Raging Sea of Blood's movement, Da Fei managed to land a second strike before being hit! Hence, his long weapon gave him the advantage of two free strikes!

—"-5!"

—System Message: You have been hit with a paralytic toxin. Your movement is temporarily restricted. Attack -2, Defense -2, Attack Speed -2, Movement Speed -2, Maximum Damage -2. Effect remains until the end of this battle.

I see! You can disrupt my attack and my movement, and the effect accumulates continuously just like the Plague Zombies' Special Skill! However, my damage is so much higher than yours. Even if it's reduced to its minimum base value, I can still kill you in three strikes!

After thinking everything through, Raging Sea of Blood laughed coldly. "You're dead!"

Da Fei, who also did the calculations, replied coldly, "I have more HP!"

"How will that help?!" Raging Sea of Blood struck again after recovering. His Attack Speed was faster than Da Fei's. Hence, Da Fei could not interrupt his strike this time. -16!!!

Terrifyingly high damage appeared on top of Da Fei's head. Da Fei's eyelids jumped from the shock while Raging Sea of Blood laughed wildly!

Then, Da Fei landed his third blow. "-6!"

—System Message: You have been hit with a paralytic toxin. Attack -3, Defense -3, Attack Speed -3, Movement Speed -3, Maximum Damage -3. Effect remains until the end of this battle.

Raging Sea of Blood ignored the System Message and laughed. "Die!!!"

Both of them had 10 Attack Speed now, and both struck at the same time! "-12", "-6" appeared above their respective heads.

"Not dead yet?" Raging Sea of Blood had no idea that Da Fei completed a small achievement for 10 HP earlier. After the initial shock, he yelled angrily. "Take another strike!"

Now that Da Fei only had 8 HP remaining, there was no way he could survive the next attack. Raging Sea of Blood also had 8 HP remaining! No matter what, it would take two strikes to kill him! Even though Da Fei had an advantage of 1 point in Attack Speed now, Raging Sea of Blood could still land his next strike before Da Fei landed two! There was no way he could win!

Hence, the only thing that Da Fei could do now was to step on the trigger of the ballista that he had been preparing during the entire fight—"Boom! Boom!" After two explosions, the final BOSS died from the two headshots. A flash of golden light covered Da Fei from above!

—System Message: Congratulations, you have reached Level 10! You obtained 1 Strategy Attribute, 1 Skill Point, +2 Health Points, +1 Command Power, +1 Base Damage, +1 Tactical Position.

I leveled up! Full HP! This is my final trump card! Wahahahahaha!

Just then, Raging Sea of Blood's attack landed on Da Fei and inflicted 11 damage as he stared in bewilderment!

"Sorry!" Da Fei now had +1 Attack and confidently struck. "-8!"

Raging Sea of Blood faded into a flash of white light!