Chapter 261: First Blood (2/2)

“You ambushed Marni! You’re the last person I want to hear that from!”

As a Mage, Edward certainly wouldn’t be rolling up his sleeves, go shirtless and charged forward, swinging his staff in an open fight over such provocation. After all, he was not a War Mage like Gandalf with flashing spells and masterful swordcraft, but a physically vulnerable mage.

And having understood that there was no chance of compromise, the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior therefore gave up on his pursuit of other individual Players and began to unleash his skills at Edward.

The violent battle did not last long-the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior, having been put through every torment beforehand soon fell.

Edward himself was slightly hurt as well. Some wounds were inflicted when he deliberately exposed himself, while the other was the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior’s actual counter-attacks at the very last moment.

Any normal person would have to think about how they should handle rabies even if they didn’t die, but this was also where one of the perks of being a Player came in—their bodies would never be crippled.

For example, the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior had actually taken a chomp out of Edward’s upper right arm. If he was a normal human, that would have meant losing his tendons and bones with just pieces of flesh connecting his body to what was left of his arm, which in turn would be disabled.

While the Players would have their HP cut down in response, their arm would not be crippled-no matter how the opponent would crunch down on their bodies, it would feel no different from biting rubber. The Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior eventually pulled away, giving up because he simply couldn’t sink his teeth into Edward’s flash, although if he kept biting, Edward’s HP would have dropped to a critical level.

Still, staying calm despite the dangerous situation, Edward seized the moment and casted his Final Shine Attack at point-blank range, knocking off the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior’s last HP and successfully taking it down.

The battle between the two had been so vicious that the Mountain Tigers’ stronghold simply couldn’t be used as cover, with their clash destroying most of the ramparts in their wake. Even Gerald, who was still mourning Marni was stunned by the battle that far exceed all his common sense.

Edward himself breathed a sigh of relief. Though he had expected his opponent to be tough, he didn’t imagine that he could be that persistent.

In fact, the battle had left both combatants exhausted towards the end and Edward himself didn’t have any mana left, and was about to resort to a contest of wills.

If it hadn’t been the Rule of Skill that kept his reduction in HP from showing and presented a digitalized comparison of damage between them so that Edward could know that the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior was far more hurt than him, Edward might have given up earlier instead of waiting for his mana to regenerate while finding a decisive opening.

Things would have ended very differently then.

“Now I guess the only one left is the Mountain Tiger Chief.” Edward sighed, rubbing away the sweat from his brow and thinking that he wasn’t needed to fight the normal Level 30 Boss.

He watched as the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior’s corpse slowly vanished, slightly disappointed that he couldn’t personally bury a foe whose might he acknowledged.

That was when a violent explosion erupted at the distant center of the stronghold.

Dust and smoke kicked into the air, forming the shape of a mushroom cloud as Edward looked on in shock…