Chapter 101: Rematch

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As we pressed on, the landscape around us made it clear that we were no longer in the castle but deep beneath the earth. The space here was wide, and it was filled with wandering ogre warriors and ogre champions, with even some ogre leaders mixed among them. Our advance was easy at first, and when thick waves of ogre monsters later came at us, we had no trouble holding them back. We moved forward, relying on Longzhan’s vast body for support.

Roars erupted as we went, and a huge pack of ogre warriors and ogre champions rushed in from every direction. Longzhan thundered like a storm. With each wild sweep of his black sword and each burst of dragonfire, any ogre that touched him either screamed bloodily into the dust or burned to ash. Yeshuang and I, seated on Longzhan’s shoulders, could only smile with joy.

I watched the experience counter in my vision refresh again and again, and my spirits soared. What was maddening was that these brutes dropped nothing at all—no scraps, not even a copper coin. The System was miserly, no doubt about it. Instinctively, we all scoffed at it.

After another ten minutes of running, a very long staircase appeared before us. But this staircase led downward, not up. I peered down and saw no hidden wonder waiting below; the entrance was too narrow, so I called back Longzhan and we descended together.

“Brother, it’s so dark down here,” Yexin said.

“Cast a fireball. Just enough to light us up,” I said.

Yexin replied, “You really think a fireball can keep shining like a light spell?”

I scratched my head. “Sorry, I forgot fireballs can’t be sustained.”

After who knows how many steps, we emerged into another hall. Unlike the outer areas, where it was all bare stone, this place was different: the surrounding walls were painted with elegant murals, and ahead stood a vast platform that looked like something built for ceremony.

After a few more steps, torches around us flared to life at once. Now the paintings were clear. What they depicted was fascinating. The mural cycle ran around the hall from left to right in a full circle.

At first, it showed one man in a wizard’s robe. Beside him stood two long-winged figures—angels, by all signs. In the first eight panels, he was the one at the center: wherever he went, victory came. But in the tenth panel, the same man was creating a strange flock of angels. At a glance they resembled the earlier ones, except their wings had shifted from white to black. As the scenes continued, he led this mixed host of angels into war across the lands, using an ancient citadel as a base and expanding outward.

Up to that point the murals chronicled only his campaigns. Then they became strange. By the thirtieth panel, that man seemed to have struck a bargain with some strange being. Afterward, his nature changed utterly; he became a terrifying tyrant. With his supposedly invincible angel host, he set war raging across the world and even launched campaigns into realms beyond this one.

His conduct eventually outraged every race on the earth. All peoples made him their common enemy and formed a military force unprecedented in history to hunt him down. The battle scenes grew fiercer and fiercer. The allied armies of all races fought through countless battles and were almost at his lair when the carvings ahead turned abruptly blank, as if the sculptor had stopped and decided to end there.

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So we went forward anyway and stepped up onto that platform. It was enormous: a rectangle of red stone, over a hundred meters long and wide, with torches set in all four corners. We had taken only a few steps when a booming crack sounded overhead, and several huge stones dropped from above. Yexin and I had only just time to retreat.

Then, from a wreath of smoke in front, a very familiar voice barked, “Damn!”

Yexin immediately shouted, “Yeshuang!”

In the next moment, a filthy, dust-caked Yeshuang rose to his feet. “Brother, I’m sorry. We didn’t catch that bastard…” and then, “Ow!”

Before he could finish, Feng Xiaoyue, who had come up from behind, landed a fist in the back of his head and said, “Yezhi, because of the path you led us on, you nearly got me killed.”

“Are you all right?” I asked.

“No, just my backside gave out a bit,” she said.

“Want me to rub you out?” I offered.

“Shut it!” she snapped.

Just then there was another massive boom, and a shadow stepped into view. It was the one we had been chasing. He looked at us and said, “So this is your condition now? You think you can still take me down with your birdlike faces? Daydreaming. Since you’ve all gathered here, I won’t have to hunt for you. I’ll send all of you back to town right here.”

Yeshuang snapped back, “You little wretch. You’re still running your mouth—don’t you know bragging like that invites lightning?”

Then Yeshuang said, “Watch now. I’ll handle this arrogant lout.”

“That one of you alone is not enough,” the man said. “Come, all of you.”

“Don’t underestimate me!” Yeshuang roared, drew his sword, and charged. “Sword Rush!” he barked. A lance of white sword aura shot toward the man. He neither dodged nor flinched. It struck true for 100 damage, and he said, “Not even a whisper of pain.”

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“Disappear!” he roared, and with a heavy swing cast his Bloodthirsty Battle Axe at Yeshuang. It struck him full on, sending him flying several meters away.

“Yezhi!” we all cried.

He rolled a few meters after hitting the ground and only then stopped. A burst of 1500 damage flashed over his head; he had lost nearly half his health.

But the man’s attack was not finished. “This is where you all go to die!” he thundered, then charged at Feng Xiaoyue, attacking her like a maniac. She kept her sword turning and turning, blocking and stepping backward. “You are unforgivable,” she muttered, and unleashed “Meteoric Fire Rain.”

He simply stood firm as if made of stone. None of the blows from Meteoric Fire Rain managed to break him for more than 100 each.
“Don’t waste your strength!” he shouted, then rushed at Yexin. She blinked away just in time. I took the opening and used “Cloud-Surge Strike,” but he leaned back and dodged. I followed with “Crushing Blow” after “Crushing Blow,” yet he slipped left each time, and then he raised his sword to cut at me.

At that moment, Tianzhao appeared beside him and with “Dance of Blood” sent him flying. He rolled several meters away, stood, and muttered, “Damn birdman!”

Even as he was still grumbling, Tianzhao was already at his front again. “Death Cross,” she called. A black cross tore through the air like a scream. He knew he was in danger, so he tried to block with weapons in both hands, but in the end he failed to catch it—the two blades flew from his grasp.

Yeshuang came around from behind to help, but the man pivoted and sent him flying again with an uppercut. “We’ll deal with you later,” he said, then bolted to retrieve his weapon and charged at Tianzhao.

“Tianzhao, duck!” she shouted. Her Ruyi Staff swelled into a thick pillar and struck the player full force. Though the change in size did not increase the power, the sheer bulk was enough to knock him cleanly off his feet.

As he flew out and before he could steady himself, Feng Xiaoyue launched in—Charge, Heavy Smash, Mountain-Crushing Strike, Thousand-Peathed Slash—an entire chain of techniques in rapid succession. Damage numbers rained over him. Yet he was fast as lightning. In the brief pause after that combo, he snapped the sword back in a reverse thrust and drove it into Feng Xiaoyue’s abdomen for 2710 damage, then withdrew it. A sheet of blood sprayed, and Feng Xiaoyue collapsed.

“Heh—an arrogant woman who has no measure,” the man cackled after dropping her.

“You,” he said. “You killed my comrade. Come, take my life for it!”

I roared and charged at him. At the same time, Tianzhao struck in from the other side. The man spread both hands, interposing a weapon toward each of us. Then, without warning, black energy detonated from his body, and it blasted both Tianzhao and me backward.