MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

Li Yi’s lips curled upwards into a smile. “If I lose, I’ll destroy my Orange Quality Bow. If you lose, you’ll Release your phoenix.”

“The wager is good and all, but why should I bet with you? You wanna provoke me? Let me warn you, it ain’t gonna work!”

Drifting Snow declined.

Imitating Drifting Snow’s speech pattern, Li Yi jeered, “You’re not brave enough? Didn’t you say that you wanted to loot me dry? What’s there to fear then? You scared?”

“Haha, me, scared? I, Drifting Snow have been playing online games for nearly ten years, and throughout that time, I’ve only ever feared a single person and no one else. Who do you think you are? Lil punk, don’t be too arrogant. I daresay that laying low would benefit you!’

“So, are we betting or not? Just give me your answer, don’t talk about anything else.”

“Nah, I, Drifting Snow, have never taken up a wager I’m not confident in. Hehe, but I would consider it if you refrain from using your Orange Quality Bow.”

“Refrain from using my Orange Quality Bow? No problem!” Li Yi responded curtly. He kept his Orange Quality Bow back into his inventory and took out an ordinary Purple Quality Bow, Flaming Hunter.

Flaming Hunter had average stats. It was something that Li Yi bought from an auction with 3,000 Gold Coins. Though it was much better than the Murloc Crossbow from before, it was still a far cry from the Orange Quality Bow.

“Dispel the Soul Bind.”

“So, you agree to bet with me now?” Li Yi grinned.

“I told you to dispel the Soul Bind first!” Drifting Snow’s tone was forceful.

“Gu-Ha—”

Flaming Phoenix which was lying on the ground let out a piercing shriek. Flames shrouded its body, and it flew up with its health fully replenished.

Since Li Yi was not equipping the Orange Quality Bow, the Soul Bind effect naturally disappeared.

Drifting Snow stood up, wolfed down a golden potion, and recovered his HP above 50%.

With the Weak status removed, Drifting Snow looked glared at Li Yi and laughed out loud.

“I’ve seen many dumb people before, but none of them comes close to you! Once you take away your Orange Quality Bow, the Soul Bind effect would automatically disappear! Dumb*ss! You’re dead meat! This time for sure!”

Drifting Snow shuddered, turned into a piebald leopard, and used ‘Stealth’ to vanish.

Flaming Phoenix was also starting to act. It reared its head up high and rained down Flame Shower Spell.

Flaming Phoenix had already revived thrice. As such, it had also undergone three upgrades. Both its ATK and attack range had been bolstered.

Li Yi called out Holy Light Warhorse and raced forward, in order to evade the Flame Shower Spell. Alas, the Flame Shower Spell had a huge range, which made avoiding it completely difficult.

Tzzt-Tzzt—

Inextinguishable Flames struck Li Yi’s head, dealing two ticks of [−5876] damage.

[−93]

[−93]

[−132]

[−121]

The Inextinguishable Flames continued burning on Li Yi’s body. Though their damage was not too impressive, it was still unbearable to let it burn freely. By the time Li Yi had made it out of the Flame Shower’s radius, his HP had already been halved.

“Dark Devour!”

Black fumes wreathed Li Yi’s body, and the Inextinguishable Flames disappeared from his body.

The Inextinguishable Flames that dropped onto the ground did not disappear immediately. Instead, they continued burning for quite some time. The scene before Li Yi was like having tens of Wizards casting Fire Walls in synchrony. To say the least, it was a majestic sight.

“Dark Wing, you cannot escape. Why don’t you just humbly accept your death? Hahahaha, to be able to die by the hands of my thrice-upgraded phoenix is a privilege in itself.”

While Drifting Snow slowly approached Li Yi, he continued to harass Li Yi with his ‘trash-talk’.

“Thud! Thud!”

Li Yi lifted up his bow and fired off arrows, causing Drifting Snow who was in Stealth Mode to be revealed.

“What the f*ck? How did you see me?”

Drifting Snow did a barrel roll to evade Li Yi’s continued assault. He then drank a bottle of Advanced-level Invisibility Potion, and vanished again…

“Shoot at Random!”

Li Yi fired over a hundred arrows to his surroundings, revealing Drifting Snow who was invisible.

“F*ck!”

Drifting Snow scolded in frustration, took out a pure-white hat, placed it on top of his head, and vanished once more…

The Invisibility hat he was wearing turned him invisible for 20 seconds, but it had a side-effect of halving movement speed during the invisibility phase…

Li Yi used ‘Shoot at Random’ again, but this time, Drifting Snow had learned his lesson. He crouched onto the ground and evaded the arrows from Shoot at Random.

While Li Yi was attacking Drifting Snow, Flaming Phoenix was constantly giving chase. It continuously used its wide-area Flame Shower Spell, and though Li Yi evaded most of its shots, some of it still struck Li Yi.

Li Yi only had around 3,000 HP left.

“Hahahaha, Dark Wing, stop struggling and accept your death! Phoenix! Blazing Fields!” Drifting Snow shouted in a bold tone.

“Ga-hawk—”

Flaming Phoenix shot forth a ray of flames, instantly engulfing Li Yi in it…

Blazing Fields, the finisher skill of flaming phoenix. It did not just have high damage, but it was released at high speeds as well.

Once the flames had passed, Li Yi laid dead on the ground.

“Hahahaha, you’re dead! You’re dead! Dark Wing, I haven’t even used Beast Soul’s Possession yet and you’re already dead. You’re so weaaaakkk.”

“Thud! Thud!’

All of a sudden, Drifting Snow shot two arrows into Li Yi’s corpse. Two thuds rang out, and two damage counters of [−1] appeared above his head.

The ‘Keep Going if Alive’ state was broken, and Li Yi was truly dead…

“You wanted to trick me? Hahaha, I’m an Archer as well. Your tactic is truly childish.”

Drifting Snow laughed out boisterously.

Li Yi let out a laugh of his own. “I was just fooling around. That’s the only reason I died to you.”

“Keep exaggerating. Lie there and exaggerate, hahaha!”

“By what right do those who don’t even dare to bet against me complain that I’m bragging?” Li Yi rebuked.

“I’m afraid of betting against you? Me?” Drifting Snow’s voice rose by a pitch. “The only reason I’m not betting with you is that I’m afraid you’ll cry your nose out once you lose.”

“Stop spewing nonsense. Just answer me, are we doing this or not?”

Drifting Snow glowered at Li Yi and pointed his finger at him. “Stand up! I’ll accept your bet!”

It had taken Drifting Snow considerable effort to kill Li Yi but to think that he dropped no items. This was extremely displeasing to Drifting Snow.

“If I can kill you once, I can do it again. Dark Wing, your life-saving skills have almost been used up, so how would you win against me? However, since you’ve delivered yourself to my front door, I shall accept your offer wholeheartedly.”

Drifting Snow wrote up a contract and tossed it to Li Yi’s corpse.

A while later, Li Yi resurrected. After summoning Violent Bear King, he took up the contract and signed it. With that, the contract disappeared into thin air.

The bet was on. Their wager would be decided by a single match. If Li Yi lost, his Orange Quality Bow would automatically be broken, and if Drifting Snow lost, he would Release his phoenix.

While Li Yi sat down to recover his health, Drifting Snow took out a black scroll from his inventory and muttered an incantation.

“I offer my life as a sacrifice, Dark Binding!”

After chanting for around ten seconds, Drifting Snow ripped the scroll to shreds.

A ray of black light burst forth from the scroll, gripping Li Yi tightly and preventing him from moving.

Gack—

Drifting Snow let out a moan, and his HP declined by 1,000 points. That was the price for using the scroll, a permanent HP reduction!

“Dark Wing, it wasn’t easy getting my hands on this scroll, but using it on you was well worth it. You should know what it is right? It’s called Dark Binding, and it prevents you from moving for one minute. So, just stand still and await Flame Shower Spell’s reckoning!”

Drifting Snow shuddered and used Beast Soul’s Possession to transform into a flaming phoenix.

The sole victory he had over Li Yi had given him the courage to take up Li Yi’s bet. Furthermore, he had a trump card hidden as well, which was the Dark Binding Scroll!

“Survival Instinct!”

Li Yi attempted to use his dispel skill, but to his shock, it was ineffective. Besides that, the duration of Dark Binding had increased by another ten seconds as well…

“Hahahaha! Die dumb*ss!”

Drifting Snow batted his fiery wings and unleashed Flame Shower Spell along with flaming phoenix.

A fiery rain that engulfed both heaven and earth descended from the sky, and Li Yi, who was rooted in place by Dark Binding, could not move a single muscle.

The fiery rain continuously rained down on the defenseless Li Yi, and the sight of Li Yi using Violent Bear’s Protection, drinking potions, and still had his HP declining filled Drifting Snow with glee.

“Keep recovering, hah! Even if you increase your HP by tenfold, you still wouldn’t live through this minute-long Flame Shower!”

Drifting Snow laughed out loud, and failed to notice his HP rapidly declining…

[−9876]

[−8765]

Crash! Drifting Snow had collapsed onto the ground…

He was at zero HP, in other words, dead.

‘Beast Soul’s Possession’ was a skill that allowed users to simulate their pet’s appearance and some skills. However, the skill would not replicate their HP, and as such, whatever HP the users had would remain the same as before and after the transformation.

However, Race Skills were unable to be replicated, which includes Flaming Phoenix’s Divine Protection Spell. Unless the player was actually a phoenix, they would be unable to replicate those skills with Beast Soul’s Possession.

The fiery rain that swallowed the sky had stopped. After peering down and giving Drifting Snow a single glance, the fiery phoenix let out a high-pitched shriek, extended its wings and disappeared within the sky.

Since Drifting Snow had died, the contract had taken effect, and the fiery phoenix was automatically Released by the System.

“Phoenix!! Return to me! Phoenix, return! F*ck me! F*ck me! F*ck me… what on earth happened?”

Seeing the fiery phoenix leave had thrown Drifting Snow’s emotions into disarray.

Li Yi was still standing at the same spot. The effect of Dark Bindings had yet to pass, and he had yet to move a single muscle…

“You cheater! Return my phoenix to me!” Drifting Snow howled onto Li Yi’s face.

Li Yi smiled bitterly. “How can I cheat? C’mon, I’ve been standing here and taking your attacks obediently, okay?”

Drifting Snow lapsed into though, and ferociously uttered a ridiculous sentence.

“GM, you darn cheater…” ¹

‘Li Yi had been standing there the whole time, so, how did I die? How? There’s only one possibility! The GM’s helping him!’

‘F*ck, that’s so unfair…’

Drifting Snow’s mind was in a mess. He was sure that he was cheated by the GM.

“You mother*cker! Return me my phoenix! Return me my phoenix!”

“GM, you better return my phoenix or else I’ll report your deeds on the official web…”

Li Yi could not resist bursting his bubble. “Hey, hey! This game doesn’t have a GM. I think you’re blaming the wrong person.”

“There isn’t?”

Li Yi’s words were like a cold bucket of water to Drifting Snow. Drifting Snow was no idiot, he just did not want to accept the truth of reality and was grasping at any strand of excuse he could think of.

“Our contract is only between you and me. Should any outsiders interfere, the contract would automatically be moot, but since you aren’t moving, how did I die?”

Li Yi pointed at the direction the fiery phoenix flew off and answered, “You were killed by the dumb bird that flew off just now.”

Drifting Snow was stunned.

Beep…Beep…Beep…

At that instant, the Brainwashing Helm on Li Yi’s head stopped flashing.

…