Tyrant Sword was about to chop down on Paladin of the Elegy's head with Great Cleave, when a dagger emerged out of nowhere from behind and pierced his heart. Blood sprayed out into the air.
The attack was too quick, leaving Tyrant Sword with next to no time to react.
Tyrant Sword had an incredulous expression on his face. He would normally instantly notice a Thief trying to ambush him and counter appropriately. He never expected one could get within two meters of him undetected. With such a short distance between them, he was caught off-guard and consequently struck by the dagger.
Tyrant Sword lost all strength in his arms, his greatsword slumping to the ground with a thud while his eyes glazed over. He was stunned!
The silhouette of a Thief slowly materialized behind Tyrant Sword. Sun cracked a faint smile. It appeared his ambush was quite effective. When Tyrant Sword used Seismic Slam just a moment ago, he hadn't actually retreated. Instead, he blocked it with Shroud, which granted two seconds of invincibility upon activation. He continued stalking Tyrant Sword, maintaining a distance of two meters from him while biding his time. The most opportune moment to strike came quickly after, when Tyrant Sword switched his focus back to Paladin of the Elegy.
While Tyrant Sword was still under the two-second stun duration of Heart Piercer, Sun followed up with a Backstab and Eviscerate.
Sun only dealt 300-400 damage per hit. It was nowhere close to threatening the life of Tyrant Sword who had over 3,800 health.
Tyrant Sword was simply too tanky.
It was a difficult task for a Thief's dagger to penetrate the thick plate armour of a Warrior. Even though Sun wasn't dealing a lot of damage, he didn't fret. As the stun was about to wear off, Sun struck Tyrant Sword in the back of the head with Smothering Strike, stunning him again.
Sun circled to the front and attacked Tyrant Sword with Sever followed by Assassinate, which prematurely broke the stun from Smothering Strike. However, Sun didn't give Tyrant Sword the chance to react. Striking him in the forehead with Concussive Blow, he stunned him again for another three seconds.
The stuns were layered on flawlessly, leaving Tyrant Sword no opportunity to retaliate.
At this moment, the stun from Seismic Slam wore off on Paladin of the Elegy.
"Elegy, let's kill him together," Sun said as he circled back behind Tyrant Sword.
Paladin of the Elegy rushed forward and struck Tyrant Sword in the head with Divine Strike. His damage was much higher compared to Sun's.
When the surrounding Asskickers United players noticed Tyrant Sword getting tied down, they intercepted the Alliance of Mages players rushing to his rescue. Several Paladins from Asskickers United even threw caution to the wind, continuously silencing the opposing Priests and preventing them from healing Tyrant Sword.
Mortal Blow!
With two combo points built up, Sun activated a Finisher Skill for massive damage.
−1,309!
Seeing Sun go all out, Paladin of the Elegy followed suit. He sent Tyrant Sword flying with a Level 6 Holy Slash.
Tyrant Sword collapsed to the ground as his health bar bottomed out.
Paladin of the Elegy breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Elegy, we make a good team!"
"Yes! We do!" Paladin of the Elegy chuckled.
Sun went back into stealth, disappearing from sight.
While everyone was focused on the chaotic battle just now, an Elven Great Thief from Angel Corps snuck around to the back of Asskickers United's forces, where the casters were located.
Egotistical had only recently joined Angel Corps. Because he was skilled enough to advance to a Great Thief at an early level, he received decent treatment in the guild. But since he was a new recruit and hadn't participated in many battles yet, he was eager to prove his worth. Relying on his high Cloaking stat, he managed to infiltrate the enemy's backline. He spotted several Priests in the vicinity working hard to support their frontline.
Thieves in Angel Corps could earn guild contribution for killing priority targets. Mages and Priests netted 200 and 500 merit points respectively, while Great Mages and Great Priests were worth ten times as much.
A Great Priest was as valuable as six Great Warriors in a guild war. Because they could instantly bring a low-health Great Warrior back from the brink of death.
How many Priests a Thief could take down in an enemy's backline was a determiner of their ability. Some Thieves could escape without so much as a scratch after killing multiple Priests. Others would end up dying before they could even kill one. Nie Yan, Sun, and One Strike Vow were perfect examples. Nie Yan had already killed five Priests, one of whom was a Great Priest. One Strike Vow had killed three Priests, and Sun two.
Asskickers United's Priests hadn't suffered many losses so far. Egotistical eyed the eight Priests scattered up ahead. The three Great Priests among them caught his attention in particular.
Young Seven, Painted Muslin, and Black Heaven stood in different areas, roughly 30 meters apart.
Egotistical quickly picked out Painted Muslin among the three.
From experience, almost all female Priests lacked skill. Most of their equipment was given to them by other players. The prettier they were, the more people that were eager to hand them gear. Seeing Painted Muslin, a hint of disdain surfaced in Egotistical's heart. Since all three were worth the same amount of merit points, he would naturally choose the pushover. Female Priests usually made for easy targets. He didn't care he was bullying a girl.
Egotistical slowly approached Painted Muslin from behind.
Painted Muslin was diligently healing the players in the frontline. She had already lost count of how many she saved.
Right after casting a Heal, she suddenly sensed something off. She wasn't like other Priests who panic activated Howl of Terror at the slightest sign of danger. After all, most of the time, this was the only skill at a Priest's disposal that posed a real threat. If it was used rashly and avoided by the Thief, the chances of survival would plummet. As long as the threat of Howl of Terror was there, a nearby Thief wouldn't rashly take action.
Painted Muslin calmly pulled back and tossed an Illuminate in the air.
As the ball of light floated up in the sky, a brilliant radiance flooded the surroundings.
Within the light, a shadowy silhouette pounced toward her.
The Thief was quickly closing in on Painted Muslin. She calmly protected herself with a Level 6 Holy Barrier. At higher skill levels, besides increased damage absorption, it also had a chance of negating crowd control effects like stuns.
Ordinary players rarely had the opportunity to obtain powerful skills. Most of them came from Sub Legendary-grade equipment, which was simply too hard to come by. Even obtaining just a few was already extremely lucky. In Asskickers United, with Nie Yan and Yao Yao being the only exceptions, the other top-ranking players had to make do with one or two pieces. Players like Painted Muslin and the rest would instead focus their attention on levelling up their basic skills, which could also become extremely powerful if levelled up properly.
In the instant Illuminate revealed Egotistical, Painted Muslin targeted him with Ache. Ache was equivalent to a curse, causing the opponent to continuously lose health in addition to marking them. This sort of instant cast skill was extremely difficult to avoid. The Thief was immediately struck.
Egotistcal's heart tightened. This Priest was much more difficult to deal with than he initially predicted. Nevertheless, he rushed up to Painted Muslin and stabbed his dagger toward her forehead.
Concussive Blow!
However, with a flash of light, Painted Muslin dodged the attack by teleporting two meters away. She had used a short distance blink skill.
Painted Muslin struck back with a Holy Blast. A ball of light whizzed toward Egotistical.
Egotistical was forced to halt his pursuit. Seeing the ball of light shooting towards him, he avoided the attack with Gale Step.
Taking advantage of the speed boost from Gale Step, he pounced toward Painted Muslin once again.
When Egotistical arrived in front of Painted Muslin, he stabbed his dagger toward her throat. This was the best he could do given the circumstances.
As the blade of the dagger was about to slash her throat, a cheeky smirk surfaced on Painted Muslin's lips.
Seeing the change in Painted Muslin's expression, Egotistical's mind trembled. He wanted to activate a skill, but Painted Muslin had already targeted him with a Silence. Looking down at his skill bar, all his skills were grayed out. He couldn't use any of them!
Shit! I'm screwed!
Painted Muslin finally activated Howl of Terror. A piercing shriek rang out and stabbed into Egotistical's ears. He instantly lost control of his body as it fled in the opposite direction. He was under the influence of the fear status effect!
Seeing Egotistical getting feared, the nearby players naturally all ganged up on him. Several Mages blasted him with Flame Bursts and Holy Judgements, sending him flying.
Egotistical collapsed dead to the ground.
The surrounding players gazed at Painted Muslin with expressions of reverence. After being closed in on by a Great Thief, a Great Priest like her managed to calmly respond and even turn the tables on him. This kind of skill was definitely worthy of praise.
They previously only knew Painted Muslin for her beautiful and graceful appearance. None of them expected this female Priest to possess such skill.
Young Seven glanced over at Painted Muslin and cracked a faint smile. Asskickers United's beauties weren't so easy to bully. Whether it was Painted Muslin, Yao Yao, One Strike Vow, Moon Child, or even the slightly weaker Yu Lan, all of these roses had sharp thorns.
Nie Yan assessed the situation on the battlefield. Asskickers United had lost more than 300 players, while Bloodlust Blades' side had lost over 200. Although at a glance, Asskickers United had suffered more casualties, if one were to only look at class advanced players, Asskickers United came out on top. They had only lost two players while Bloodlust Blades' side had lost five.
Looking at it this way, the losses on both sides were pretty even. Nie Yan was relatively satisfied with this result, especially given he had yet to reveal his trump card.