MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

Maelstrom City was the largest city on the Western Continent. Similar to Shattered Frost City in the East, it was well-populated with at least several million Western Continent players calling it home.

Li Yi dived head first into Maelstrom City before disappearing out of sight.

“Dark Wing has entered Maelstrom City! Dark Wing has entered Maelstrom City!”

Countless Western Continent players went ballistic, scurrying over from all directions. Even Brother Windcloud Nine was who in the middle of clearing the Light and Dark Instance Dungeon immediately quit the dungeon upon learning this news. He threw everything aside just to make his way there.

“100,000 Gold Coins for Dark Wing’s coordinates! 1,000,000 Gold Coins for every time you kill him!”

Brother Windcloud Nine’s announcement sent the Western Continent players into a frenzy. More players surged into Maelstrom City. It was as though a special event was happening. Viewed from afar, the crowd was surging in like a tide.

“100,000 Gold Coins to find Dark Wing and another 1,000,000 Gold Coins for each kill. Brother Windcloud Nine’s words. Come one, come all if you wanna make some money.”

Li Yi could not see the commotion in the Western Continent’s regional channel. He went through his original plan to sneak into Maelstrom City’s special NPC, Lisa’s home.

Special NPC Lisa was different from regular NPCs. This lady NPC was a kind person and remained Neutral towards all factions. The display above her head was yellow in color. This indicated that conversations were permitted with players from any camp.

“Pantheon is divided into four continents. There’re 767 races and a total of over 600 languages. I wouldn’t be able to learn everything even if I were to spend my entire life.”

Li Yi saw Lisa, this blonde girl was sitting in her study, holding a thick book as she mumbled to herself.

“Hello, Miss Lisa.”

Li Yi entered and greeted Lisa with a smile.

Lisa was taken aback, as the book in her hands disappeared in a puff of black smoke. She now held a staff in her hands.

She was a Level 100 Curse Priest. An Elite.

“You’re from the Eastern Continent? What business do you have here?” Lisa pointed the staff right at Li Yi’s nose.

“I wish to seek guidance on Nagaese.”

Lisa’s interest was piqued. “How do you know of my knowledge in Nagaese?”

“A guess,” Li Yi helplessly replied.

He has always found the NPCs in King of Pantheon to be naggy and long-winded. This could not be helped though, he would not be able to trigger any quest without conversation.

Lisa was befuddled for a moment before nodding with a smile, “You’re smart. You’re right, I do know how to speak Nagaese.

“However, can you tell me why you want to learn Nagaese? From what I know, the Nagas are hostile to every race. Even if you were to learn Nagaese, you won’t have a chance to communicate with them.”

“Hobby,” Li Yi scratched his head. “I’d like to igo.”

Lisa laughed, “Igo in Nagaese means go. You do know your stuff.

“Cha-ha cha-ha yi you,” Lisa blinked multiple times at Li Yi before retrieving a thick book from the rack and handed it over to him.

Li Yi took it and smacked it with both hands. Almost immediately, a cheerful tune rang followed by a System Notification.

[You’ve learned Nagaese! Congratulations! You’ve obtained Friendly achievement.]

“The Nagas aren’t very friendly, so even if you’ve mastered their language, you won’t even get a chance to talk to them.” Lisa paused in thought before writing a letter and gave it to Li Yi.

“The little prince of Nagas’ is my good friend. If you wish to speak to the Nagas, it’s best to first hand him this letter. He recognizes my handwriting.”

“Thank you.” Li Yi chuckled as he received the letter.

“Then, Miss Lisa, I’ll igo now.”

“Igo then!” Lisa smiled as she nodded.

Done!

Li Yi let out a long sigh of relief.

The process of learning Nagaese was not hard but a risky one. He was in Maelstrom City where his enemies lurked everywhere. It was not easy sneaking in here so if he did not know Lisa’s actual location, completing this quest was near impossible.

“I found Dark Wing!”

Li Yi had just left Lisa’s home when he bumped into five Western Continent players at the door.

The distance between them was too close. Li Yi wanted to fly away by summoning his mount but the other party had a Curse Priest that could cast Target to pull him into battle, thus his inability to summon a mount. He was forced to counter-attack.

Pst pst—

Li Yi raised his arms to fire two shots before making a run for it in the opposite direction.

The five players were quite skilled. They were able to evade Li Yi’s arrows and pursued, hot on Li Yi’s heels.

Three Arcanists and two priests, one a Curse Priest, the other a Dark Priest.

Li Yi was firing shots as he ran, focusing his attacks on the Curse Priest.

He was quickly hit by Target every time he attempted to summon a mount. This meant that this person was quick to react. A Curse Priest would not possess a high ATK but they reigned in casting negative statuses. Hence, killing this class was more of a priority than killing the healer.

Li Yi summoned Lightning Leopard as it went into Stealth. It struck alongside Li Yi’s attack and ended the Curse Priest with one swipe.

“Get up! Life Sacrificial!”

The Dark Priest aimed his pitch-black staff at the corpse of the Curse Priest. A dark fog formed on the top of his head, reviving the Curse Priest back to full HP on the spot.

Pft—

The Dark Priest’s HP, in turn, reduced by half.

With Dark Life Sacrificial, the priest would sacrifice half their maximum HP to resurrect a fellow party member. This skill could be used once an hour and the HP’s upper limit would recover once every two hours.

F*ck! Dark Priest’s Epic skill!

“Eliminate!”

Li Yi responded swiftly, unleashing Eliminate just as the Dark Priest was releasing Life Sacrificial.

“Arcane Shield!”

Eliminate was about to hit the Dark Priest when one of the Arcanists amongst the five raised an Arcane Shield that could minimize any physical attack by 80% just in front of that priest.

Immunity!

The large fonts emerging above the Arcanist’s head caught Li Yi off guard.

The Curse Priest stood up and raised his staff. A golden ray descended upon Lightning Leopard.

“Expel!”

“Poof!”

Lightning Leopard let out one last howl before disappearing.

This was a Curse Priest’s ultra-strong CC spell — Expel!

[Expel: Dismisses pets and disables an owner from summoning this pet for ten minutes. If the target is a monster, the monster will vanish for one minute.]

“Arcane missile!”

“Dark Song!”

“Weakening Curse!”

Five chains of attacks were blasted at Li Yi. He did a tumble to the side to dodge and he consumed a bottle of Fury Potion. Despite the pressure, he retaliated in a collected manner.

He recalled who these five were. They were never apart, whether it was grinding levels or clearing dungeons. These five men who, rumors had it, ate, slept, and shit together, were the five emperors who could raise hell in the land!

Western Continent’s Queen Night Moon’s strongest men — The Land’s Five Emperors!

Li Yi never fought them in the past life but has heard of many of their deeds.

The five of them cleared the 40-man Hero-level Wind Dragon Dungeon without dying once. The five of them cleared the 100-man Black Dragon’s Lair Dungeon without dying once. The quintet once blew up a major city with Forbidden Curse. Such was their jaw-dropping feats.

There were people who said they were from a working studio. Others mentioned they were professional players but one thing was for sure, all five of them did not spend a single penny for their power. They struggled and earned for themselves the Land’s Five Emperors title.

“A pack of instant noodles in the morning and one at night. The day’s then over.”

“You don’t eat in the afternoon?”

“Well, you save what you can, at least as you don’t die of hunger.”

These were the words of one of the Five Emperors, Curse Emperor…

There was a rhythm to the Five Emperors’ attacks. As there were five of them, the quintet struck with a flow, taking turns one by one. They would not overdo each attack so that the motion was just right, bringing forth the maximum damage to their enemies while keeping their losses to a minimum.

Now that the Curse Priest was back in action, Weakening, Blood Worm, Plodding were just a few of the negative spells thrown towards Li Yi. Li Yi was feeling the pressure now.

He forced himself to take a few hits until the chain of curses came his way. That was when he activated Survival Instinct to dispel all negative statuses.

“Come out, Violent Bear King!” Li Yi whistled to summon Violent Bear King.

Expel only hindered Lightning Leopard from appearing but this did not affect other pets.

“Violent Bear’s Protection!”

“Expel!”

Li Yi knew that his rival would attempt to Expel so he immediately had Violent Bear King use Violent Bear’s Protection the moment it made its appearance.

Li Yi’s HP surged to 25,321 and all his attributes rose by 35%. He did not flee however but rushed before the five with a Rocket Propellant. His body dazzled in shimmers and soon, countless arrows shot in all directions.

“Shoot at Random!”

“Forbidden Spell!”

“Forbidden Spell!”

“Forbidden Spell!”

The three Arcanists extended their arm and motioned a push towards Li Yi. Three beams of light flew over. If they struck, Li Yi’s Shoot at Random would cease for at least five minutes.

“Pft! Pft! Pft!” Three light beams struck Li Yi, causing the shooting to halt.

“Yes!” The Five Emperors were overjoyed. They were about to launch another attack when Li Yi roared. A dark fog engulfed his entire body before a glowing shade cocooned over him once more. The Shoot at Random commenced again.

An Archer’s Survival Instinct would not be able to disperse a Forbidden Spell, nevertheless, Dark Devour was able to!

“Shoot at Random!”

With such intense fire, the Five Emperors did not hesitate to unleash all their skills to save their skin. However, to their dismay, they could not hold it off for long under Li Yi’s frenzied shooting. His uber legendary equipment was not only causing high damage, but he also had a vast amount of mana. He could go on shooting for over 30 seconds unless his skill was disrupted.

The Dark Priest was the first to go down. Next was the Curse Priest before finally, the three Arcanists.

Li Yi killed the Five Emperors with just one round of shooting!

Three shiny gold-colored equipment dropped. Li Yi did not bother looking at them as he quickly placed them into his backpack. He summoned Blue-Horned Griffin as fast as he could to escape to the skies.

He could take one or two groups of them but what were his chances if the number of opponents grew?

That was a close call. If they had unleashed their Forbidden Spells together instead of one by one, it would be uncertain who would have won.

Li Yi flew even higher, counting his blessings for now.

Li Yi headed straight for Holy Light Judicatory immediately. Judging by the time, Jiaojiao should be almost done with her quest.

“Caw caw!”

Just as Li Yi was moving on, an Archer with a bow across his back caught up to him riding his red-feathered crow. He drew his bow to shoot.

“Chain Arrow Skill!”

Pft!

Li Yi took a hit while in the air. His non-battle mount immediately dismissed as gravity had him plummet to the ground…

F*ck me!

…