Chapter 331 There's One More
Honey Barbie's mind was a jumbled mess. Even the world's most renown author would have problems describing how she felt at that moment.
But one could say that she was completely at a loss.
A mixture of feelings ranging from the shock she received by stepping on a Frost Trap, the anger she had towards Gongzi You, the surprise from the message she received from Death Blossom, and the panic due to the current situation that she had to report to her superior washed over Barbie.
She had an urge to cry.
What the f*ck...
It was absolutely normal for Gongzi You to be able to evade the party, and the trap was something that could happen as well. These were things that could happen in a PVP. Honey Barbie would never lose her calm as a veteran in PVP. But Death Blossom's message came at a very peculiar timing.
It was simply incomprehensible.
Death Blossom was a person who trusted her subordinates. She would never interrupt their progress during a mission.
She cared not about the process, but about the results that her subordinates achieved. That was how Death Blossom led her group of assassins. Her subordinates were allowed more freedom to carry out their objectives, and her trust in her subordinates would usually yield satisfying results.
Honey Barbie was relatively young, but she had been under Death Blossom's wings for a long time. She knew her superior very well.
And this was why she was shocked, and was caught completely off guard by the message.
This threw her off her game.
With her experience in PVP, Honey Barbie would not allow her target to escape even when she had triggered a Frost Trap. But the timing of Death Blossom's message threw her into disarray.
Humans are a strange life form.
Even the merest form of distraction could cause grave consequences to a person who was trying his or her best to concentrate.
There were of course people who had the ability to multitask, but Honey Barbie did not count herself as one of them.
Death Blossom's voice caused her to stumble. It would normally not be a fatal accident for Honey Barbie. Even under the effect of the Frost Trap, she would be able to adjust her posture, but the distraction had proven to be fatal. Things might have ended differently if Death Blossom's call did not arrive at that moment.
But it did.
Honey Barbie's momentum carried her forward into another trap.
And she was immediately frozen into a huge chunk of ice.
The nine players behind her suffered the same fate. Of course, they had also triggered a wide range of traps with varying effects. Some of them were frozen solid, while others were enveloped by flames that dealt continuous damage to their characters and many others were frozen stiff.
The effects of the trap was only at a mere thirty seconds.
It was not an overly long period of time, but it was enough to decide the outcome of a battle. Ye Ci immediately summoned Ol' Four, and directed her pet to attack the assassins afflicted by her Flame Trap. Their health were rapidly decreasing, and their movements were severely hampered, but they were not entirely immobilized.
Ye Ci along with Ol' Four had to take on ten combatants. It was impossible to dispatch all of them within thirty seconds. This was why she made the decision to first take care of the players who remained mobile.
Of the ten assassins, four were frozen solid while six of them had their movement greatly decreased. They did not form themselves into a tight group, but they were still a close distance apart. Ol' Four was able to stun four players with its Tremor, and began attacking them one at a time.
Ye Ci had two targets locked in her eyes.
Her Speed, Balance, and Perception were one of the highest among the players of Fate, and it gave her an advantage in a fight within the forest.
With her level higher than the assassins, it was easy for her to dispatch two opponents within thirty seconds.
A flurry of high damage attacks landed on the players before they could even fight back.
Honey Barbie was frozen, but it did not mean that she could not see what was happening. The fight against Gongzi You alone was placing a considerable weight on her mind, but Death Blossom's voice continued ringing in her ears, "Barbie, are you there? Respond! What's the situation?"
Anger boiled within Honey Barbie. Only one question occupied her mind: Why is sister Blossom calling me? It doesn't seem like something she would do. She scanned the players around her, and March Spring was not present. Honey Barbie gritted her teeth in anger.
She muted her private message channel and roared into the party chat, "What are you guys doing? How did the put stun you? Didn't we prepare potions for this? Where are our Hunters? Summon your pet and have them attack that dinosaur! Do you all want to die here?"
"We've been frozen as well..." the two Hunters and the party's only Ranger were frozen along with Honey Barbie.
Players who were frozen were immobilized until they were attacked or when the ice eventually melted thirty seconds after the trap was triggered. And that was why the four assassins could only watch as Gongzi You slaughtered the rest of their party.
Slaughter?
That's right. It was a slaughter.
March Spring despised Honey Barbie's attitude, but he did not allow his personal feelings to get in the way of his responsibility towards the guild. He would not allow his guild's benefits to suffer, even if he was removed from the party.
This was why he had been trailing Honey Barbie's party from a distance away. When he could finally see Gongzi You, what he was was a slaughter.
It was a one-sided slaughter.
He did not know how Gongzi You was able to place the traps, nor did he know how she was able to lure all the members of the party into her trap. Honey Barbie and the two Hunters along with the Ranger of the party were all frozen. He did not know if it was by Gongzi You's design, but all of the party's ranged attackers were immobilized. The six remaining Rogues, no matter how good their teamwork were, were like six cripples to Gongzi You with half their movement speed reduced.
And four of them were already stunned by her pet.
Golden Era knew of the abilities of Gongzi You's pet, and have made precautions against its ability to stun the members of the assassination group. But the party members never had the chance to react due to their severely reduced speed.
They could not even fight back as they were cut down by Gongzi You.
Gongzi You were maneuvering around the Rogues at high speed. Their 50% reduced movement speed meant that they never had hope to catch up to Gongzi You before they were turned into two corpses lying on the ground. Gongzi You aimed her bow into the sky, and arrows rained upon the four Rogues that were stunned by her pet.
March Spring was 70 yards behind Gongzi You. He immediately charged at her when she released an AOE skill that required a small window of channeling. The entire assassination group was pinned down. He was the only one available. He knew he did not have a chance if he attacked Gongzi You head on. But from his current position, March Spring felt that he had a 50% chance of winning.
Even if his chances were at a mere 20%, March Spring knew that he had to strike. He charged at Gongzi You, raised his twin daggers, aiming them straight at Gongzi You's back. It was a high level Rogue skill: Double Evisceration.
Chapter 332 Outcome
There's one more behind me!
Ye Ci was able to sense a presence behind her that was not part of the group that was pursuing her. It was the presence of a newcomer.
She scanned her surroundings, and counted ten players. The ten, along with four that she was able to take out earlier, made up only fourteen players. But according to the intelligence that she had managed to gather, Golden Era would send fifteen assassins against her. This meant that the presence behind her was the last remaining assassin.
A plan quickly formulated in Ye Ci's mind to draw the last assassin out.
She relocated to a spot that was close to the player, and cast an AOE damage skill.
Rain of Arrows.
Rain of Arrows was a guided skill that required its user to take aim at a target. Ye Ci would not be able to move if she intended to deal the maximum amount of damage to her opponents. Of course, even if she had the choice, she would choose not to move, as what she needed was to give her enemy a perceived opening.
And that was why she exposed her back to the final member of the assassination group.
She was certain that the player would act. As the last member, the players had only two choices. The first one was to leave, and the second choice was to look for a window of opportunity to take her on and pick up the equipment of the dead players.
If she was in the same situation, Ye Ci would of course choose the latter. She had always been a firm believer in the high risk high reward style of gameplay. As long as there was a chance to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, she would do whatever she could to turn the tables on her enemies.
But what about that player? Ye Ci made the bold assumption that the player would make the same choice. It was not because she was projecting her mentality on her opponent, but it was due to the fact that the Secret Cloak was a very rare item. If the assassination attempt failed and Ye Ci was able to obtain a Secret Cloak, it would be the ultimate humiliation to Golden Era.
Ye Ci did not know if the player would take the bait, but she had a nudging feeling that it was a chance that was too great to be passed on.
And she was right!
The assassin quickly closed the gap between them, and aimed a pair of daggers at her ribs. Ye Ci dodge slightly to a side just at the last possible moment. The daggers left two gaping scars on her armor, but ultimately missed their intended target.
March Spring was stunned when his skill did not register a hit. How can this be? How did my attack miss?
Is it because of the level penalty? Impossible! March Spring had been diligently sparring against members of his guilds and other players in the arena. His Dual Evisceration had never missed their mark. But he did not have the time to dwell on this matter, as Ye Ci had already turned around and launched an attack of her own during his slight moment of hesitation.
I'm finished.
The figure before him moved slightly during that short moment, and fear immediately gripped his heart.
The movement reminded him of the words of Lazy Blue from Tang Dynasty about Gongzi You.
"She was too fast. I didn't even see anything, and it's all over." March Spring had always wondered just how fast Gongzi You was. And he finally received an answer at this very moment.
It was only a mere fraction of a second, but he felt a stinging cold on his chest before the person before him disappeared.
As the cold began spreading through his body, March Spring tightened his grip on his dagger and attempted to swing his weapon, but was dismayed to discover that he was sapped of strength.
He forced himself to shift his gaze, and finally found the girl who was supposed to be heavily wounded by his attack.
She was kneeling on the ground, with the hilt of a short sword in her right hand. March Spring could not see the blade of the sword, as it was buried deep into his chest. The Huntress held another beautiful dagger on her left hand. But what was it for?
His question was immediately answered by a system notification.
"You have been crippled."
Ye Ci did a backwards roll, and stood up in front of March Spring.
She twirled her weapons in the air with a smile on her face and sheathed the sword and the dagger.
She took a quick look at the time. There were only ten seconds left before the effect of her traps would finally time out. It was impossible for her to kill the remaining players within the short window, and she did not wish to prolong the battle. She hurried over to the corpses of the six enemies that laid dead on the ground, looted their equipment, and disappeared into the forest.
Honey Barbie scanned her surroundings for signs of Ye Ci when the ice block finally melted. But Gongzi You had long disappeared into the Misty Forest. She closed her eyes and attempted to get a fix on the Huntress's location. But there was nothing...
"Barbie," a Hunter called out to Honey Barbie. She looked at him with bloodshot eyes and let out a frustrated scream that sliced through the quiet air like a knife.
The Ranger of the party was growing anxious, "Barbie, what do we do?" he could sense danger lurking around him, "The monsters here have very high levels..."
Barbie took in a deep breath and raised a hand to cut the Ranger off mid sentence. She tried her best to calm her nerves and to reflect upon her actions. Her gaze drifted towards March Spring who was clutching his chest while gulping down a bottle of Health Potion. The man was kneeling on the ground. It was apparent that he could not move.
Honey Barbie took in a deep breath and walked up to March Spring, "What happened?"
"I've been crippled." March Spring grimaced.
Honey Barbie pulled him up and said to the rest of the party, "Pull back." and directed the dead to revive themselves at the grave. It was simply too risky to revive on the spot.
And the five remaining members retreated away from the Misty Forest.
"I'm sorry." Honey Barbie apologized to March Spring. She had allowed her judgement to be clouded by her own personal feelings. She could easily see through Gongzi You's scheme if she was able to remain calm, but...
"Let's head back." March Spring shook his head with a smile, "We're all comrades. Everyone has their own moment.
Ye Ci sat on the branch of a tree and began going through her spoils of war. Three of the equipment dropped by her opponents were from the Rogue class. Despite their high quality, she had no use for them. Her biggest haul was three Secret Cloaks.
They looked just like her own, but they were made with better material and craftsmanship.
Secret Cloak
Level Requirement: 0
Class: All
This item does not require an inventory slot. Hides the appearance, level, and ID of the wearer.
Ye Ci smiled as she ran her hand along one of the cloaks. She had a great haul, but it was a shame that she was alone. Had she been able to kill all the members of the assassination party, she might be able to acquire even more cloaks.
Just then, she received a message through her private message channel. The identity of the sender came as a shock to her. It's Night And Day! Why is he looking for me?