MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

Bloody Rose reached Li Yi with Flash, slashing him twice and dealing +1,000 damage.

The basic damage dealt by the Thief class was not high but they contained explosive moves from accumulating their energy and unleashing a Finishing Blow. Three-move strike and Thief’s finisher were the two best moves to describe this class.

Tst—

Chills rose from her feet to Bloody Rose’s entire body. She fell into Li Yi’s Frost Trap again.

Li Yi could have avoided her double blade but for the sake of planting a trap, he chose to take the blow.

Li Yi leaped backward and drew back Powered-up Arrow the furthest he could before firing. An Elimination Arrow swiftly launched.

The double arrows landed almost at the same time, pinning Bloody Rose in the head. She fell from the impact.

Dead?

“Pft!”

Bloody Rose who was frozen stiff has just dropped dead when Li Yi took a hit. Another Bloody Rose mysteriously appeared behind him.

Bloody Rose was the first to complete Cyclone Thief’s Epic-level quest and upon completion, she obtained a rare Epic-level skill tome, Thousand Shadow Kill.

[Thousand Shadow Kill Level 1: Duplicate clones with Skill Points to act together for 10 seconds. Clones only possess 30% of player’s ATK. Cool down period: 10 minutes.]

The four clones released by Bloody Rose were Thousand Shadow Kill.

If Thousand Shadow Kill was upgraded to Level 20, its cooldown period would be reduced to 3 minutes while ATK would rise to 50%. There was a hidden effect where the clone and the original were one. Within a minute, the soul of the user could freely interchange between clones.

This was the move used by Bloody Rose. She unleashed five clones in the beginning but secretly hid one, to lie in wait.

Tst—

Bloody Rose raised her blade high and sliced. Blood spewed out of Li Yi’s throat before he collapsed to the ground with a thump.

Bloody Rose pointed at Li Yi’s corpse with her blade, coldly snorting, “This is what you get for indulging in vice!”

She then retrieved her blade before turning to leave quietly…

A heroine. An absolute heroine…

If this were to happen to someone who was not familiar with her, they would think that she had left. However, Li Yi knew that Lady Rose was a peculiar one. Anyone she harassed would not be let off the hook easily.

Pft! Pft!

At the very moment, Bloody Rose was turning around, Li Yi suddenly leaped up and fired two Frost Arrows with Chain Arrow Skill.

Bloody Rose was caught off guard, and struck in the back. Two large golden fonts emerged above her head. She dropped onto the ground with a low grunt.

Disbelief was written all over her face…

“Made it by the skin of my teeth. This b*tch isn’t easy, that’s for sure.”

Li Yi wiped off his sweat and circled around Bloody Rose. He could not help but feel disappointed upon realizing she has not dropped a single item.

He had only 1 HP left. Earlier, when he took the hit, he initiated his Keep Going If Alive skill to fake his death in an attempt to bluff Bloody Rose.

“Well, I’ve matters to attend to so I can’t play with you. See you next time.”

Li Yi waved his hand at Bloody Rose’s corpse before flying off with Horned Griffin.

About five minutes later, Bloody Rose resurrected and immediately went into Stealth.

Pft! Pft!

Silently, two arrows made their way over, resulting in the almighty Bloody Rose collapsing to the ground with such a scornful look, seconds after resurrecting into a Weak state.

Li Yi was not trying to be cheeky. Bloody Rose played him the same way in the past life. She would pretend to leave but ambush him the moment he resurrected, causing him to die again and again. Fortunately, Li Yi was a man with a strong will. If it were someone with a hot temper like Unending Unmatched, he would have deleted his account out of rage after being hunted down for more than a month.

This Bloody Rose had a resolute character. Noticing that Li Yi was camping her, she immediately chose to respawn in the temple.

The cost of Temple respawn was the drop of one level but at least there was no Weak status that came thereafter the resurrection.

Bloody Rose rode her Fire Hawk in search of Li Yi but by then, he was gone. She circled the mountain over and over but still could not catch sight of him.

…

Li Yi did not stay. Instead, he flew over the Abyssal Crevice and rubbed Return City Stone upon landing.

With the god-killing quest over and done with, it was time to turn it in.

After teleporting from Celestial Capital to Blood Moon, the Werewolves’ major city, Li Yi rushed non-stop to a cave just outside the village.

“A familiar scent of Divine Soul, is that… Carulla?”

Li Yi had just walked into the cave when the virtual image of Hunter Goddess emerged from the rock.

“Young hero, did you…”

“Yes, I killed God-queen Carulla,” Li Yi nodded.

A golden glow shimmered around Li Yi three times. It was a shocking event. Because he completed the god-killing quest, he grew three levels in one go!

Level 71!

[Congratulations! You’ve completed the god-killing quest. You’ve received praise from Hunter Goddess. Hunter Goddess’ Affinity to you has increased by 30,000 points. You’ve obtained This is the Power of Mortals achievement and earned God Slayer title.]

He received three consecutive level ups as well as Intimate Affinity from the goddess. Although the God Slayer title did not come with any additional attribute rewards, the NPCs would look up to players who obtained a lot of titles. So naturally, this was good news.

Only…

“Your Highness, about the second seal on this orange bow…”

Li Yi could hardly contain his composure, looking at Hunter Goddess complimenting him without actually doing anything else. He dangled the orange bow in his hands to remind the goddess.

“Seal…” Hunter Goddess gave Li Yi a bitter smile, “Young hero, although I am impressed with your courage, you only eliminated an incarnation of Carulla. It may contain her Divine Soul but her incarnation was still a mortal…”

F*ck me!

Li Yi was in for a shock.

So he went through all that, for nothing?

Li Yi was dumbfounded after checking in on the completion of the god-killing quest.

All four difficulty levels, C, B, A, and S-class were not lit. This meant that he did not even achieve the bare minimum of the quest…

WTF!

“Carulla’s incarnation may be mortal, but her Divine Soul isn’t nothing, right?”

Li Yi dangled the orange bow, unwilling to give up. Carulla’s Divine Soul still could be seen lingering on the surface of the bow.

Hunter Goddess shook her head, “The Divine Soul is only part of a god’s strength. The real strength lies not on the Divine Soul but the Divine Flesh!”

“Divine Flesh? F*ck your sister. Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Li Yi was overwhelmed with rage upon hearing Hunter Goddess’ words.

“F*ck my sister?” Hunter Goddess fell deep into thought.

“F*ck your sister!” Li Yi spat.

Hunter Goddess shook her head, “I don’t have a sister. I can tell that you’re furious. The method you’ve gone about isn’t right. The energy absorbed by the orange bow isn’t enough, therefore it cannot break the second seal.”

“Then what should I do? Is there any way to remedy this?”

“Of course there is. Find the body of a god and pour its powers in the bow. The second seal would then be broken.”

“You’ve said so earlier.”

Li Yi’s tensed body loosened up at this. He knew of a place where the body of a god was kept.

“But…” Hunter Goddess hesitated.

“But what?” Li Yi was on pins and needles.

“The Divine Flesh and Divine Soul should be a match. If you killed Carulla and took her Divine Soul, then you must use her Divine Flesh. If the Divine Flesh and Soul do not match, the powers would lose its balance. With that, the orange bow would not contain its power and be damaged due to the imbalance.”

“F*ck your sister!” Li Yi lost his temper.

“You are strong, I am impressed…” Hunter Goddess fixed her gaze on Li Yi. She seemed to have something on her mind.

“What’s the point of being impressed? Can you open the second seal?” Li Yi was still feeling angry.

He was surprised to find Hunter Goddess nodding.

“You can break the second seal?”

Hunter Goddess nodded again.

“What are you waiting for then? C’mon. I’ve helped you enough, shouldn’t you express some gratitude?”

Li Yi pushed the orange bow toward Hunter Goddess.

Hunter Goddess heaved a long sigh, “In the whole of God’s Realm, the god I hated the most was God-queen Carulla…”

Hearing Hunter Goddess’ words, Li Yi’s eyes lightened up.

F*ck me, did he just bump into a hidden quest?

“Just because she was God-queen, she attacked other goddesses who were prettier than her. She did not allow others to be prettier than her. Naturally, I became a target.”

Hunter Goddess was also called the Moon Goddess, being one of the most beautiful goddesses of God’s Realm.

She recalled the past with Li Yi. God-queen was envious of her looks, subjecting her to persecution. Ruler of God was a pervert who wanted to take her in as concubine. Hence, these three gods were locked in a constant strife. Soon after, Ruler of God proposed world annihilation for the purpose of resurgence. Half the gods were behind it while the other half were against it. Hunter Goddess was amongst the gods who opposed it.

God-queen Carulla was already not seeing eye-to-eye with her. She then took the opportunity to lock her up. From then on, she harbored great hatred towards Carulla.

The God-killing quest had no restrictions, as long as the target was a god. Of course, killing a high level god would earn an S-class, to which the second seal be opened to the best possible effect. Killing a low-level god would gain him the worst effect.

But here, there was a hidden quest within this god-killing quest and that was to kill Carulla to vent Hunter Goddess’ anger.

Li Yi did not know of this hidden quest. When making a selection, he chose a god that was easiest to kill and somehow, he ended up triggering a hidden quest.

[You’ve heard of Hunter Goddess’ past. Hunter Goddess’ Affinity to you has increased by 1,000 points. Your experience has increased. Your INT has increased 10 points…]

Hunter Goddess was long winded yet Li Yi listened with patience. The more he listened, the happier he grew. Judging by Hunter Goddess’ tone, Li Yi could sense the hatred she has for Carulla.

“Young hero, although you have yet to complete the god-killing quest, I am very impressed with your bravery. Your courage, even surpassed that of Blackbeard…”

Hunter Goddess sighed, “Because of your courage, I have made a decision.”

“What decision?”

“I’ve decided to adhere my Divine Soul onto the orange bow!”

Hunter Goddess’ words left Li Yi gobsmacked.

The raw materials to create this orange bow was Hunter Goddess’ Divine Flesh herself. Now that she set her mind on attaching her soul, didn’t… didn’t that mean her entire self was going to be in it?

God, what would this orange bow be like after the second seal’s opened?

Before Li Yi could say another word, the goddess bellowed and soon, her Divine Soul transformed into a curl of green smoke, pouring into the orange bow…

…

Author’s note:

Keep Going If Alive: An upgraded version of an Archer’s Pseudocide. Upon unleashing it, the user will not die even if HP is reduced to zero. Instead, the user will enter a fake death state (The user will not really be dead no matter the strikes taken, as long as the enemy did not attack uninterrupted for three seconds. Should the enemy keep going with their attacks for more than three seconds, death is imminent.) This skill is effective for 12 seconds.