MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

Li Yi was reading the post flamed by others with great gusto.

Quiet Night Thoughts wrote this post when he was only at Level 30. It was no wonder he was criticized from all directions, but… his thoughts sounded about right.

“Swish— Swish—”

A ear-piercing noise regained Li Yi’s attention. He quit the forums and returned to the game.

A large hole gaped in the Holy Guard’s chest and his HP was down by 3,278. The normal arrow shot by Li Yi had dealt some serious damage!

Ding!

[Congratulations, you’ve grasped Piercing Arrow Skill.]

At the sound of a cheerful tune, Li Yi obtained his second Epic-level skill.

[Piercing Arrow Skill: Instantaneous skill. Disregards the status target is in and while dealing 20% ATK damage, it strips away one beneficial status off the target. It recovers 100 mana points for the Archer. No cooldown period nor mana exhaustion. It can only be used once after Activation is triggered.]

The skill icon of Piercing Arrow Skill was usually in dull gray. It would light up when Activation was triggered. Although this skill may seem inferior to shooting plain arrows, it proved to be quite a formidable force.

It disregarded any status the target was in. In other words, no matter the skills the opponent used, whether it was Invisibility, Shield Wall, etc, the strike of this skill would still deal 100% damage. If one was lucky to strip the opponent’s Invincibility… Then it would spell disaster to that rival.

The average Archer Activation trigger rate was a consecutive 3-5 Critical Hits at a 1% success rate. This was difficult for others to activate but to Li Yi, 3-5 consecutive Critical Hits was a cinch.

It was a shame he did not possess any unused Skill Points or he would have leveled up Piercing Arrow Skill to full to trigger its final attribute. One arrow would strip all beneficial buffs from its target.

With Piercing Arrow Skill triggered, it would automatically turn gray in color after one use. But since he was in a quest, the skill icon of Piercing Arrow Skill was still lit up. This was enabled so that players could shoot the Holy Guard to death and end the quest the quickest.

He used up about 2,000 arrows at this stage but things were easier to handle now. He could just use the Piercing Arrow Skill which had no cooldown, on the Holy Guard.

It was not long before the Holy Guard disappeared. With that, Li Yi received a System Notification and obtained 20,000 EXP as well as 300 Reputation Value points from Various Major Cities.

He could now look for Elenor.

Li Yi got on Crimson Tiger King and headed to where Elenor was located.

“Hold it right there!”

A ray of Holy Light flashed upon Li Yi, blocking his path. It was Cassio, riding on his Holy Light Warhorse, looking for trouble.

Cassio wielded his fists in anger, “Despicable scum, how dare you tell on my master behind my back.”

“Oh please, you killed me first, alright?” Li Yi could not hold back his tongue.

“Humph! Everything unrelated to the Holy Light is pure evil. I’m merely punishing sinners desecrating the Holy Light. What fault is there with killing you?” Cassio asserted his beliefs arrogantly.

Li Yi helplessly shrugged. He really was not in the mood to debate with an NPC.

“Step aside!”

“Are you talking to me?” Cassio grew furious.

“Scram!” Li Yi arrogantly raised his bow to shoot. This time, he was first to start the fight.

“Hahahaha, my master said I can’t harm you but now you’re attacking me first. You can’t blame me now. Take in my Holy Light Repentance!”

“Violent Bear’s Protection!”

Li Yi moved before Cassio and called for Violent Bear’s Protection, growing his HP to 18,000+.

He did not unequip his equipment this time and prepared for a hard battle because he knew, as long as he pulled through for 10 seconds, Elenor would come to his rescue.

“Do you feel it? This is the strength of the Holy Light, the greatest power in the world,” Cassio put on airs as he spread his arms wide with a captivated look.

This fella was sickening.

Li Yi closed his eyes and counted to 10 silently in his heart. When he got to 10, he opened his eyes.

“Cassio, what on earth do you think you’re doing?”

Elenor descended from above, greeting Cassio with a stern look.

“Master, he attacked me,” Cassio pointed at Li Yi gleefully.

“Oh please, I’m so much weaker than you. How can I attack you? It’s not like I’m seeking death.”

Cassio was enraged, “You…”

“Enough, Cassio!”

Elenor called upon a Holy Light Runic Seal and struck it onto Cassio’s chest.

“Master, you… you…”

“This seal will temporarily take away your Holy Light abilities. I order you now to return to the Tree of Holy Light to reflect over your actions.”

“But master…”

“No buts! This is an order!”

“Yes, master,” Cassio lowered his head. He glared at Li Yi hatefully before leaving.

This fella was not giving in, huh.

Cassio rode off on his Holy Light Warhorse. Elenor first congratulated Li Yi before distributing a new quest.

Archery Omnipotence!

This was the first of the final quests to the Divine Bow quest series. Upon completion of this quest, he would have the Divine Bow at last.

“I buried the Wrath of the Stars in the Land of Light, in an attempt to purify it with the powers of the Holy Light. Alas, this Divine Bow has powers beyond my imagination. The Holy Light was unable to purify it, in fact… it began to assimilate the Light instead.

“Young Archer, Blackbeard has placed this Divine Bow under my care and warned me repeatedly and only those who grasped Archery Omnipotence will be worthy of wielding this Divine Bow or else they would instead be devoured by this bow.”

A new quest has shown up in Li Yi’s Quest Pane.

[Quest: Archery Omnipotence (Final)]

[Quest’s requirement: Elenor has buried the Divine Bow in Silver Moon Canyon. No actual coordinates provided. Only those who grasped Archery Omnipotence can sense the Divine Bow. Difficulty level D. Time-restriction quest. Quest will end in 1 hours’ time regardless of completion]

[Completion reward: Gift of the Hunter Goddess, the Wrath of the Stars, 100,000 EXP, 1,000 Reputation Value point of various major cities, and 1 Skill Point.]

Finally, after untold hardships, Li Yi would have an orange-colored bow in his possession.

With Elenor flying out of sight, Li Yi let out a sigh of relief. He got up on Crimson Tiger King and rushed deep into the canyons.

Similar to triggering Piercing Arrow Skill, one must achieve Archery Omnipotence in order to find that Divine Bow.

The realm of Archery Omnipotence was elusive. It was impossible for players to ever come across it under normal gaming circumstances. Comparable to grasping Piercing Arrow Skill, it was only through undergoing certain quests, could one enter into that realm.

Different from grasping Piercing Arrow Skill, the realm of Archery Omnipotence contained no traps. As long as a player who accepted this quest entered the canyon, they would immediately receive this notification from the System.

[Congratulations! After long and painstaking hardships, your Archery has reached the Omnipotence level!]

Li Yi had only just entered into the hinterland regions of the canyons when he received the notification.

[Level 1 Archery Omnipotence: Gain-type buff (Sustained for 2 minutes. Cooldown period: 30 minutes). Increases Archer’s observation capabilities and enemies’ actual location will be marked on the map. Lowers opponent’s Stealth and Invisibility success rates and increases EVA by 20%.]

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

After Li Yi triggered the Archery Omnipotence, a beam of red light emerged from the ground not far ahead. A stench of a massacre lingered around, causing a change in weather. That imposing grandeur was far greater than when the Cerberus rode by Brother Windcloud Nine first appeared.

A powerful force was attracting him, up ahead…

The System’s fonts in red were blinking non-stop in front of Li Yi, prompting him to come up and loot.

He only needed to take a few steps up to hold the Divine Bow in his hands. This series of Epic-Level quests in the Western Continent would officially come to an end.

Not many could resist not looting a divine weapon in front of them but Li Yi restrained himself. He commanded Crimson Tiger King to head to the Tree of Holy Light.

Although it was a time-limited pick, an hour was long enough for Li Yi to take care of many things.

The Tree of Light was situated at the center of Silver Moon Canyon. The Seed of Holy Light picked by Li Yi was situated by this very tree.

Cassio was sitting in a tree hollow just beneath the Tree of Holy Light, with his eyes shut in reflection.

Li Yi approached Cassio and it was then, rang the System Notification.

[You’ve entered the Mirror Dimension…]

The Mirror Dimension was an Instance Dungeon, away from the world map. In other words, no other players would disrupt him at a time like this.

Swoosh!

Li Yi took out a Frost Arrow and fired at Cassio.

Pft!

[-576]

Cassio was dumbstruck and turned his head over.

“Sinner who desecrates the Holy Light, what are you doing?”

“I’m taking your life!”

Li Yi responded with his actions. Chain Arrow Skill paired with Eliminate caught Cassio off guard. Counter-attacking was the furthest thing from his mind.

The earlier conversation between Li Yi and Elenor was not for show. It had a clear purpose— to take out Cassio.

Under normal circumstances, Cassio was a cockroach that could not be rid of. No matter how high the level of a player who came seeking for him, it was fruitless. The only way to kill him was at a time like this!

He had Elenor exercise the Holy Light Seal to weaken his abilities so that he was unable to cast Repentance and resurrect, granting him the opportunity to take him out.

The time restriction of one hour to seek a divine weapon was a cover. Any player who received this quest would be able to fish out the divine weapon swiftly. Why the one-hour time limit then? It was because Cassio would be weakened for an hour as well!

For one hour, Cassio was unable to use his Holy Light abilities as well as had his attributes cut by half! This was the hidden quest Li Yi was after!

“You’re no match for me. With the Holy Light as my witness, I will not let you leave alive. I will remove your soul in the name of the Holy Light!”

Cassio was infuriated, his body transforming into a streak of golden ray, charging towards Li Yi.

Although Cassio was deprived of his Holy Light abilities, he was still a powerful Punishment Paladin. If the player sucked, he would not be able to defeat him.

Violent Bear King growled out loud, warding off the Charge headed towards Li Yi. Its claw swiped left and right, pulling Cassio’s Aggro.

Li Yi consumed a Fury Potion and initiated Rapid Shooting, prepared to unleash a torrent of arrows to go at Cassio full blast.

Cassio whose Holy Light skills were sealed by Elenor had his attributes dropped by several folds. Originally, he had 10,000,000 HP but now, he had 1,000,000 HP.

Li Yi’s ATK was terrifying. Violent Bear’s Protection heightened his DPS past ten thousand, causing Cassio to let out snarls of rage. There were so many times he wanted to attack him but was stopped short by Violent Bear King.

It had not been ten minutes when Cassio’s HP dropped to zero. He knelt onto the ground in pain, collapsing in a tragic death.

Li Yi chuckled to himself and went up to loot the corpse.

“Ding!”

[Congratulations, you’ve obtained an Epic-level battle mount, Holy Light Warhorse!]

…