Shadow Maple charged over, the sword in his hand glistening red. This was a signature melee skill—Assault!

I faced him head-on, puffing my chest to tank the blow, while my Weeping Fire Blade drew a beautiful arc behind the target.

Boom!

The blade accurately hit the back of Shadow Maple's head, a weak spot. 421 points of damage floated up!

Shadow Maple was shocked but I had already turned my body, quickly stabbing his chest. With a spurt, blood gushed everywhere. The top player of the Shadow Clan was dead, his limp body slowly stumbling to the grass, a corpse awaiting revival.

Shadow Volcano was furious upon seeing the events unfold, jumping into the action himself. Light flashed on his blade, Wanderer’s Level 20 skill—Sword Drag Slash!

Sha...

Dust billowing under my feet, I took several steps back. Shadow Volcano's earlier target on my position became useless. He hesitated whether he should continue the technique. If he did, it would surely miss. He froze all over.

I wanted to laugh at seeing this. This person's mechanics were so bad. One had to leave enough room to move when they used their blade. He did not know such simple logic?

Accompanied by the cold wind, I came abruptly in front of Shadow Volcano. I stared at him with my undead eyes. Shadow Volcano felt a wave of goosebumps. "What… what do you want?!"

MISS!

1280!

I did not respond and killed him using Pardon followed by a basic attack. Seeing Shadow Volcano slump to the ground, I sighed inwardly. Rank 3 Pardon is too strong. It’s definitely my trump card in PvP.

I suddenly felt pain in my chest. Snap snap snap. It was punctured with arrows. The four archers of the Shadow Clan had all raised their longbows and shot accurately at me. A string of damage numbers flew over my head—

75!

59!

90!

……

Any of these attacks wasn’t a problem, but four of these at the same time dealt a significant amount of damage. In almost an instant, I became a porcupine. Moreover, a burning fire dragon suddenly burst out of the ground I was standing on, flames consuming my body. I felt pain all over, as if I was actually burning, losing a huge chunk of my HP in the process!

289!

Damn! They have a high-level mage, a powerful one at that!

I hurriedly grabbed a Rank 2 Health Potion and drained it. At the same time, I glanced and saw a female mage dressed in black robes, chanting spells. Balls of flame were floating at the tip of her staff, she was the high-level mage!

Shadow Chanel LV-32 Bronze Mage

A Level 32 mage. It seemed that her staff is Steel or even Dark Steel–grade. Otherwise, just one Rank 3 Fire Dragon Spell wouldn’t have taken so much of my HP!

"Murong Mingyue!" I shouted, disengaging the group. Murong Mingyue was a pro priest and immediately gave me a healing spell with a wave of her hand.

+312!

Tsk tsk, very good. Sister Mingyue is full of milk. Such powerful healing could rank in the top of Floating Ice City.

Despite the healing, it was unrealistic to challenge a whole mob of people alone, especially with Shadow Chanel’s attacks being so powerful. One mistake and we would all be dead.

Shadow Chanel's attack power undoubtedly raised the morale of the Shadow Clan. Shadow Deep Sea held his longbow and shouted, "Chanel, give the boy a taste of a few more Fire Dragon Spells. Archers, concentrate your fire on him. I don’t believe we can’t kill this undead swordsman with all of our firepower. Damn, he just had to have a priest helping. Hmph, it is Murong Mingyue of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! We’ll first kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, then it's Murong Mingyue's turn!

I did not retreat, advancing with a powerful strike to the chest of a casting mage. This young mage didn’t have much battle experience, clearly misjudging our distance, and didn’t understand that he shouldn’t cast spells so close. He could only watch as Weeping Fire Blade stabbed into his chest, drawing blood and sending him straight to the graveyard!

Shadow Chanel bit her red lips and said angrily, "Go die! Arctic Rain!"

Crash!

A small-scale rain of hail came down from the sky. This was a powerful Level 30 Mage skill, an AoE ability!

75!

77!

71!

Three successive attacks. Clearly this Arctic Rain was not at a high rank, so its damage was subpar. It was not as good as using a single-target spell like Fire Dragon Spell.

I went all in, dashing next to Shadow Chanel in two steps and shouting, "Slayer Slash!"

A ball of blue light flashed, and my strongest killing move landed!

However, Shadow Chanel suddenly stepped on the ground with a dismissive smile. A golden shield appeared around her, a life-saving Level 30 Mage skill—Magic Shield!

Pff!

The Slayer Slash softly hit the shield, but was unable to shatter it. However, it had taken away half of its durability, since my attack power was no joke.

I pulled my sword and the Magic Shield shattered with a pop!

Shadow Chanel stilled, hurriedly retreating as she threw an icicle.

Snap!

My body froze all over, my movement speed considerably reduced in an instant. My chest was once again struck with multiple arrows, and my HP quickly decreased.

I immediately retreated. I hadn’t been able to instantly kill that high-level mage, so it really wasn’t possible to defeat this group on my own.

At this time, a comforting voice came over. The tree monster boss finally passed away with a scream!

Xu Yang held the boss monster’s vine in his hand and shouted joyously, "Brother Broken Halberd, I've finished the quest!"

Gui Guzi turned into a shadow and arrived, starting an ambush against the Shadow Clan from the flanks. His spear danced and the Death Combo immediately hit Shadow Deep Sea. Then, he quickly turned and swept two nearby enemies like a cyclone. Tsk tsk, the kid’s growing. As expected of Bloody Mercenaries’ general!

Xu Yang also came over, swinging his weapons. My HP quickly filled up with Murong Mingyue’s healing, a Rank 2 Health Potion and Rank 3 Regeneration of the Undead. I thrust into action, my target once again Shadow Chanel. This mage was too big a threat. She could kill Mirong Mingyue in two seconds. Fortunately, she had no breathing room to have done that so far.

The Shadow Clan was not an especially powerful clan, especially compared to the Domination Clan. They were even inferior to Mad Dragon. Only Shadow Chanel was truly strong. The others were at most second-class experts, or worse.

Under my pursuit, Shadow Chanel did not even have a chance to stop and chant. If she stopped, I might kill her instantly. She had seen the power of Pardon. She didn’t dare take the risk.

However, I was not the one to kill Shadow Chanel. The instant I destroyed her Magic Shield, Xu Yang charged over and killed her in two blows!

Gui Guzi was madly chasing the stragglers, like a rabid dog chasing chickens. Gui Guzi was famous in the Floating Ice City area, and had once claimed the number one spot in the rankings. Such a powerful person had to have a unique fighting style. His movements were grand yet precise. His attacks were powerful yet clean and brisk. He was much stronger than Thirteen and Xu Yang.

Five minutes later, everyone from the Shadow Clan was dead. All of us only had minor injuries and we recovered under Murong Mingyue's heals.

Xu Yang laughed. "So enjoyable, the clowns of the Shadow Clan really sought their own demise this time. Last time, they wanted to steal our equipment, this time they wanted revenge. Their deaths were well-deserved. Haha, this battle was so enjoyable!"

I glanced at him and wanted to say my usual response from when we played together, “Enjoyable my ass, I almost died”. Of course, I couldn’t say that now. Fortunately, Xu Yang and Murong Mingyue were my customers, and we were just working for them. The client was king, so we had to adjust our attitudes accordingly.

Murong Mingyue walked forward and gave me ten gold. She said with a smile, "Thank you so much. This is the fee, do not mind it being so small. Maybe we’ll have a chance to work together in the future~"

I put away the gold, nodded and did not say anything.

Murong Mingyue was a pretty rich woman. She said such a thing because she was He Yi's assistant. He Ye was the vice president of the GGS Asia Region. Murong Mingyue's financial situation was naturally pretty good.

Accepting the money, I smiled and bowed. “See you later then!"

"Mn!"

As I spoke, I gave Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen a look. I took them out of the forest and walked toward Floating Ice City on foot.

Murong Mingyue shouted from behind me. "Ah, why don’t you use a return scroll?"

I turned and laughed, my voice hoarse. “Gotta save some gold…”

Murong Mingyue stilled, on the verge of saying something, but didn't speak.

……

Gui Guzi walked side by side with me, "Boss Broken Halberd, our grudge with the Shadow Clan has solidified. What do you plan? We are only three people. Their clan has so many people and will definitely cause trouble!"

I glanced at him and said gravely, "Little Gui, you can’t just look at the surface. We are few in number but united. The Shadow Clan has many people, but they are divided. Also, their strength is at most second-class, they’re not strong enough to give a headache.”

Gui Guzi nodded.

I followed up, coming clean. “Truth be told, I offended the Domination Clan of Gods of Destruction yesterday…”

"?" Gui Guzi had a surprised expression.

I smiled. "Never mind. Some people are just destined to clash with us. If we can’t avoid it, we can only fight!"

"Mn!"

Gui Guzi nodded, clenching his fists and saying, "No matter what, with us three brothers united, the Domination Clan cannot destroy the Bloody Mercenaries!"

"Heh, naturally!"

……

We walked back to Floating Ice City. It was 11:30 am in the real world. There were a lot of players in the plaza, shouting all kinds of things—

"Team up for Venomous Wasp Forest, Level 30 and above. Missing four!"

"Accepting a large amount of Glutinous Rice raw materials. 5 silver per stack, come...”

“Buying Rank 2 wolf skins, 1 silver each. No limit!”

……

I walked to the center of the plaza and shouted, "Level 3 Armorsmithing material, the skin of Hell Windwolf. Contact me quickly if you want, I can give a discount when buying in bulk!"

After my shout, no one answered. Clearly, there were not many players who had reached Rank 3 Armorsmithing.

I groaned and continued to shout.

After a long while, my heart was cold. Screw that, I’ll just pack up and go grind!

Just as I was about ready to go, a voice came from behind. "Brother who is selling wolf skin. How much will your skins cost?