Chapter Ninety-Six: Literary Duel

Seeing that Zhang Shan had already been escorted and covered by the Wind and Cloud Guild, and that he had even knocked down more than a dozen of their men, Dragon King of the Eastern Sea was truly enraged. He called the rest forward in a full-scale assault, intending to bury Zhang Shan beneath a tide of numbers.

“Damn it, they’re all charging at once. What do we do, Brother Artifact?”

There were only about thirty members of the Wind and Cloud Guild present, and faced with an enemy several times their size, they were starting to panic.

“Don’t panic. Fighters, hold the front line. You only need to block their melee bladers. Leave all the ranged enemies to me. They won’t get through.”

Faced with Dragon King of the Eastern Sea’s human-wave tactic, Zhang Shan remained completely calm. With the range advantage granted by his Eagle Eye and his explosive damage output, their fragile classes had no chance of breaking through.

As for the melee fighters of the Four Seas Guild wielding blades, even if they managed to rush in, it would be useless. The thirty-plus teammates around Zhang Shan could hold them off completely.

Besides, not every fighter could make it through. Guardian fighters had the Heart of Guardianship skill, making them natural meat shields. At the current stage, with players’ damage output still what it was, they were hard to take down. But Berserkers and Magic Swordsmen were nowhere near as sturdy.

At the same level and with the same gear, they only had a little less than twice the health of a fragile class. If they really dared rush in to die, Zhang Shan could bring them down in just a few shots.

The others quickly took up their positions, while Zhang Shan turned into a living artillery platform, picking off the fragile members of the Four Seas Guild one by one as they charged.

Usually two shots were enough to finish one off; if a critical hit triggered, one shot would do.

Although Dragon King of the Eastern Sea’s side had the numerical advantage, he soon discovered that numbers were utterly useless.

With Zhang Shan there, their fragile classes could not get through at all. A few dozen fighters did manage to charge in, but the Wind and Cloud Guild had support players of their own, continuously flooding the wounded with heals.

As a result, while Zhang Shan had already knocked down two or three dozen of them, only three or four had been cut down on his side.

At this rate, if they wanted to take Zhang Shan down, the hundred or so men they had left would probably have to die almost to a man.

And besides, Wind and Cloud Heaven and the others would be arriving any moment to reinforce them. By then, whether they could even cut Zhang Shan down was still uncertain.

“Boss, should we use the other scroll too?”

“Maybe not. Just to take down Six-Barrel Bodhisattva once, is it really worth burning two scrolls in a row? Besides, even if we do bring him down, he doesn’t really lose anything.”

“Exactly. The scrolls are too expensive, and they’re not easy to get.”

“So what? No matter how expensive they are, I’m not afraid. It’s just money. We can buy more later. Six-Barrel Bodhisattva has to be taken down.”

Everyone in the Four Seas Guild harbored deep resentment toward Zhang Shan, as if they meant to crush him with money.

“Fine. After I use the scroll, everyone charge again. This scroll is much worse than the previous one; it only boosts defense, and the duration is short. Buy us time and take Six-Barrel Bodhisattva down as quickly as possible, then fall back to our battle banner and hold it until the challenge ends.”

Since they were already sure they could not win the challenge, and there was no surrender option, Dragon King of the Eastern Sea decided that once Zhang Shan was down, they would simply stay beneath their own battle banner.

They could just idle until time ran out. Aside from wanting Zhang Shan dead, he no longer wanted to waste effort on anything else.

After repelling one wave of attacks, Zhang Shan noticed that the Four Seas players were no longer pressing forward. Instead, all of them were converging around Dragon King of the Eastern Sea.

Then Dragon King of the Eastern Sea took out a scroll.

Damn it, here we go again.

“Brothers, run!”

Zhang Shan did not care what kind of scroll Dragon King of the Eastern Sea had used. Running first was the respectful thing to do. The others from the Wind and Cloud Guild scattered in all directions as well.

Dragon King of the Eastern Sea gritted his teeth and activated the scroll.

As it dissolved, every member of the Four Seas Guild was enveloped in a shimmering barrier, and they all began pursuing Zhang Shan with mad intensity.

As for the other members of the Wind and Cloud Guild, so long as they were not unlucky enough to be in the way, the Four Seas people did not even bother with them.

“Damn it, that Six-Barrel Bodhisattva is way too slippery! The boss just pulled out the scroll and he ran. What a shameless bastard!”

“So sneaky. If I had a divine weapon in my hands, why would I run at all?”

“Chase him! We have to kill him today!”

Zhang Shan sprinted all the way.

Hmm? Had Dragon King of the Eastern Sea actually used the scroll or not? Why had there been no movement at all?

Unable to help himself, he glanced back.

What the hell, was this a defense scroll?

He had thought it might be another devastating mass-kill scroll, but seeing every member of the Four Seas Guild running around with a shimmering barrier around them, Zhang Shan had no intention of turning back to fight.

His allies had scattered everywhere now, making it impossible to regroup, and judging by the dazzling aura around that barrier, it was either granting absurd defense or outright invincibility. Only a fool would fight them head-on.

He would wait until the Four Seas Guild’s scroll effect wore off, then regroup with Wind and Cloud Heaven and the others before deciding what to do.

While running, Zhang Shan shouted for help:

“Help! Dragon King of the Eastern Sea is chasing me with over a hundred men, and they’ve been after me for several streets!”

“Hold on, Brother Artifact. We’re almost there!”

“Big boss Artifact is just too hateful. Why is he always being chased and hacked at?”

“Being chased and hacked every day is its own kind of status. It’s still better than being nobodies like us, just a bunch of walking background extras.”

“I wish a whole crowd would chase and hack at me too.”

“You? Why would you need a crowd? Three or four people could flatten you in minutes.”

“If you want to be chased and hacked, that’s easy enough. Teleport abroad and you’ll be surrounded and hunted down right away.”

“That’s too much. This is a matter of life and death, and you’re still chatting. Can you run a little faster?”

Zhang Shan kept shouting.

Really, he was only calling out; the situation was not especially dire.

He had set off first, and his movement speed was already very high. If not for the occasional meteor arrows that interfered with his escape route, Dragon King of the Eastern Sea would not have been able to catch him even if he ran until dawn.

“We’re already running as hard as we can. Look at my legs moving like a pair of little engines.”

Damn it, and they still had the mood to joke around. They really did not care at all whether Zhang Shan lived or died.

Zhang Shan ran merrily ahead, while Dragon King of the Eastern Sea chased with growing frustration. The defense granted by the scroll was slowly fading.

“Six-Barrel Bodhisattva, if you’ve got guts, stop and fight! All you know how to do is run?”

Damn it, was this the legendary war of words? Since he could not catch up, he wanted to talk him into stopping.

That was a little too childish. Zhang Shan was no idiot; he was not going to fall for that.

“If you’ve got guts, keep chasing! Let’s race. No skills allowed. Let’s see who runs faster.”

A war of words? It made him sound like he did not know how to play the game.

“Bastard, I’m definitely killing you today.”

“I’m so scared. Look, I’m trembling as I run.”

They had all been in school for nine years; did they really think they could outdo him?

Zhang Shan kept mocking him, and Dragon King of the Eastern Sea was so furious he was practically shaking. He stopped talking and buried his head in the chase.

He realized that verbal sparring did not seem to be his strong suit. It was better to stop talking nonsense and just keep moving.

But soon Dragon King of the Eastern Sea fell into despair, because in the distance the figures of Wind and Cloud Heaven and the others appeared.

A squad of fifty was rapidly rushing over to reinforce Zhang Shan.