The rear of Mad Dragon’s formation dissolved into disarray as the players from Candle Dragon charged in. Shit was about to hit the fan!

……

Boom!

As an explosion ripped through the air, two magic knights from the Mad Dragon guild toppled to the ground. Cracks had appeared on their shields and they had lost most of their health in that hit.

Roaming Dragon’s face went ashen as he roared, "Who? Who was it?"

The crowd parted as a warrior dressed in blood-red armor appeared behind Mad Dragon’s formation. He was holding a sharp sword shining with a brilliant light and a fierce war tiger walked by his side. His expression was severe and his gaze was imperious and he wore the faintest of smiles on his face. As his eyes idly swept across the players from Mad Dragon, it seemed as if he was looking at a bunch of dead men walking.

"Fucking hell! Candle… Candlelight Shadow! How’d he get here so fast?!" Roaming Dragon was shocked by Candlelight Shadow’s appearance and it was clear that he was greatly flustered. "What do we do? What do we do?"

Iron Pardon brandished his broadsword, his expression dark and solemn. He stood in front of Roaming Dragon and said, "Guild leader, lead everyone else out of here! We’ll hold them off!"

"Be careful!"

Roaming Dragon urged his mount forward as he cut through the side and led a group of surviving Mad Dragon players across the snowy plains.

A trace of a contemptuous smile appeared on Candlelight Shadow’s face. "Oh? The Gemini Stars of Mad Dragon. I hear that you two are considered big shots in Sky City. Heh, if you disappear from my sight right this instant, I’ll let you live. Hmph, that idiot Lu Chao sure ran away fast. I never even intended to kill him in the first place anyway."

Iron Pardon flew into a rage as he pointed his sword at Candlelight Shadow. "You son of a bitch, don’t insult our guild leader! We would rather die than be disgraced! I don’t need your pity! If you want to kill me, then come and fight me!"

When Iron Pardon said those words, he exchanged a glance with Inconstant. After that, both of them ran a criss-cross route and swept toward Candlelight Shadow from the sides. Right now, Candlelight Shadow was standing here alone, so it was their only chance to kill him. Once CGL Hall of Famers like Tempest Shadow, Transient Smoke and Clouds, and God’s Dance appeared, even the entire Mad Dragon guild added together wouldn’t be their match.

……

"Hah! A fine challenge!"

Candlelight Shadow arched his sword-like eyebrows as he shot forward with a roar of laughter. He charged forward in a perfectly straight line and cut in the middle of the Gemini Stars, the sharp sword in his hand casually flickering out twice as he lunged forward to avoid Inconstant’s attack. The first flick of his sword parried Inconstant’s second attack, while the next flick split open Inconstant’s defenses.

8983!

"Are the both of you only capable of this much?"

Candlelight Shadow was using Encourage VII. This increased his attack power by about 60%, making his attacks plenty sharp. After he passed by both the Gemini Stars, it was clear that his speed was far superior to either of the two. When he made a sudden pivot, fragments of ice flew up in the air as he shot out like an arrow released from its string. Surprisingly, his target was, once again, Inconstant!

"Die!"

Light burst out of his sword as he used Barrier Break! Inconstant didn’t dare to defend against it because the moment he did, Barrier Break’s damage would grow even larger. Furthermore, Candlelight Shadow would definitely have another skill waiting for him after Barrier Break, so Inconstant only had one chance to save his own life and that was to activate a defensive skill in the split second between Candlelight Shadow’s Barrier Break and the next skill he was going to use. If he could pull it off, he might very well live to survive this initial onslaught!

Pffft!

15892!

Now that Inconstant had endured Candlelight Shadow’s Barrier Break, he activated his defensive skill to fend off the next attack. However, he soon discovered that Candlelight Shadow had chosen to launch his body into the air instead as he smashed his spiked knee guard into the magic knight’s chest. This action caught Inconstant completely off-guard, and his defensive skill fizzled out with a small pop. A contemptuous smile appeared on Candlelight Shadow’s face as he attacked Inconstant with Blazing Purgatory Slash, hitting him three times consecutively!

Pffft!

And so, one of Mad Dragon’s Gemini Stars met his ignominious end at the hands of Candlelight Shadow and this was in spite of a team of priests providing him healing all the while!

"Damn you!" Iron Pardon angrily yelled. He immediately weaved toward Candlelight Shadow using the butterfly maneuver, swinging his sword toward Candlelight Shadow’s back, but the latter swiftly turned around to parry his blow. He didn’t wait for Iron Pardon to attack him again as he surged forward and slammed his shoulder into Iron Pardon’s chest. Iron Pardon was no slouch when it came to mechanical skill. He retreated in an S pattern, even as he stumbled backward from the impact of the attack, in order to dodge Candlelight Shadow’s next attack. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t expect Candlelight Shadow’s next move to be even more brilliant as he dashed toward Iron Pardon using the helix maneuver. As a result, he managed to cut into Iron Pardon’s retreat path as the double S movement sealed all of Iron Pardon’s escape routes.

Pffft!

Another Barrier Break howled out of Candlelight Shadow’s sword as his longsword penetrated Iron Pardon’s chest. Candlelight Shadow had dispatched both Gemini Stars in an all-too-easy fashion!

……

"Shit, how did this happen…" A bunch of Mad Dragon players gasped as they exchanged glances. Candlelight Shadow was pressing in from behind them, while the generals of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were forming an iron wall in front of them. They were literally stuck between a rock and a hard place right now.

Candlelight Shadow stared at the Mad Dragon players, then suddenly thrust his longsword into the ground in front of him. He threw his head back and let out a loud roar of laughter. "I’ll give you three minutes to get lost! Candle Dragon will be entering this gully after that time and we will kill every monster and player that we lay our eyes on. If you leave now, at least you’ll leave with your life!"

The remaining Mad Dragon players were shaken by those words. Their guild leader had already fled, so what were they still doing here? Some of them ran around Candlelight Shadow and started running away, while others took out return scrolls and went straight back to the city. This was a lethal map. Deadly Frost Wolves lay behind every shadow and the players were even deadlier than the monsters in this place. You could easily stumble across a CGL Hall of Famer here and there, and meeting one of them was the most scary thing of all.

Not even three minutes later, every Mad Dragon players had disappeared from the scene. Candlelight Shadow stood at the entrance of the gully by himself, his cloak fluttering in the wind. He shot a disdainful smile toward the hundreds of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players arrayed in front of him as he said, "Hi, friends from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. How come you haven’t run yet?"

……

Li Chengfeng’s expression turned dark and brooding, and he immediately barked out orders to the party members beside him, "It’ll take about twenty minutes to finish off this boss. We need to hold on for these precious twenty minutes so that our comrades behind us can finish off the boss! This is our line in the sand! We’ll stop Candle Dragon here or die trying!"

Everyone nodded their heads in unison.

Li Chengfeng drew his Tempest Sword with a metallic screech as he shot back a taunt. "Why do we need to run? Candlelight Shadow, who the hell do you think you are?! You think Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will flee at the mere sight of you and your men?! Tsk, you’re not worthy!"

"Heh, oh really?" Candlelight Shadow replied in an unperturbed voice. "Li Chengfeng, just what benefits did Lu Chen give you to make you so loyal to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?"

Li Chengfeng stared at the sky and let the snowflakes fall on his resolute face. He dryly said, "Lu Chen… He only gave me two things. Respect and conviction. They are two things that you, Candlelight Shadow, definitely don’t have. You’re a selfish and arrogant bastard, so these things are naturally beyond you."

Candlelight Shadow couldn’t help laughing in response. "History has always been written by the victors! Can respect buy you any food? When you have stepped across hundreds of thousands of corpses to claim your throne, who the hell do you even need to respect?! Who the hell do you even need to fear?! Hahaha, the entire world will bend their knee to you and everyone will fear and respect you! That is the conviction of a king!"

"Your conviction of a king can go fuck itself! I’ll chop you into pieces, you fuckwit! Then I’ll see what conviction of a king you have then!"

Li Chengfeng raised his sword into the air before he charged at Candlelight Shadow and yelled, "Candlelight Shadow, fight me!"

"I’ve been waiting for this!"

Candlelight Shadow pulled out the longsword he had thrust into the ground. As he brandished it, he grinned and proclaimed, "I won’t even need my pet to kill you!"

"Me neither!"

……

Splinters of ice sprayed across the ground as Li Chengfeng’s boots crunched against it. He dashed straight toward Candlelight Shadow, his sword glowing with a brilliant light. The Martial God’s expression had become solemn as well. He had no choice but to go all out against an expert of Li Chengfeng’s calibre. If he didn’t, he might very well lose his life!

Both men weaved beautiful arcs toward each other as they clashed. They exchanged lightning-quick blows the moment they met! Candlelight Shadow’s speed was a little slower, so he only got off a Barrier Break and a basic attack. Li Chengfeng, on the other hand, managed to launch three strikes of his own, striking Candlelight Shadow with a Barrier Break, Cyan Dragon Horn, and a basic attack!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Rays of light danced in the air as they used their skills against each other. Candlelight Shadow slid across the icy ground, his body wildly shaking. A ghastly wound had been carved into his chest and he had actually lost more than 19000 HP in a single exchange of blows. He barely had 20000 HP altogether, so this single exchange had nearly killed him!

This was even after he had blocked 50% of Li Chengfeng’s Barrier Break effect! If he had taken the full brunt of Li Chengfeng’s attacks, Candlelight Shadow would have died then and there!

"Gulp!"

Candlelight Shadow’s smile remained fixed on his face even as he downed a health potion. "Oh, your attack power isn’t bad! You’re a lot stronger than before, but you still aren’t good enough to face me."

After he said that, Candlelight Shadow let out a deep yell, "Second Wind!"

Beams of red light instantly shot up from his feet, swiftly filling his HP bar back up again. Candlelight Shadow actually had a self-recovery ability as well! I saw this skill in the champion arena before and its healing was even more incredible than my Regeneration of the Undead. This was also one of the reasons that Candlelight Shadow could maintain that incredibly high win rate. I mean, no one could remain on top of the ranked arena without having a few tricks, right?

"Hah hah…"

Li Chengfeng desperately gasped for air as he knelt down on the icy ground. The Tempest Sword was thrust into the ground and his chest was littered with wounds. He had clashed with Candlelight Shadow head-on and he had even used his Blitz to sneak in another hit, but he hadn’t been able to gain a single advantage over the Martial God. At the moment, the dragon warrior’s health had already dipped to critical levels and another attack from Candlelight Shadow would be the end of him.

"Gulp!"

+3500!

After he quaffed a large health potion, Li Chengfeng slowly stood up and yelled in a low voice, "Dragon Blood Revolution!"

The image of a huge cyan dragon superimposed itself over Li Chengfeng’s body as his HP bar quickly filled up as well. However, the speed of his recovery ability was far slower than Candlelight Shadow’s. The latter’s Second Wind had recovered a huge chunk of health for him in just a single second and it could fill up his whole health bar in about ten seconds. Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng’s Dragon Blood Revolution healed him at a rate that was a lot closer to my Regeneration of the Undead.

"One more time!"

Both warriors charged at each other and Candlelight Dragon started to show off his superior mechanical skill. As he danced a beautiful spiral of death around Li Chengfeng, his attacks had shaved away more than half of the dragon warrior’s health. Li Chengfeng was put at a complete disadvantage in the first few moments of combat and he simply couldn’t deal with Candlelight Shadow’s intricate movements which wove a tight circle around the dragon warrior. Li Chengfeng tried to counter Candlelight Shadow’s movement with a circling movement of his own, but his own mechanical skill was still a fair bit lousier than Candlelight Shadow’s as of that moment. As a result, he was very quickly put on the back foot and he looked like he was right on the brink of being overwhelmed!

……

Bang! Bang!

I endured the Frost Dragon’s attack, causing a searing pain to erupt from my left shoulder, so that I could turn around and yell, "Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon! Go and help Li Chengfeng! Candlelight Shadow is way too strong for him to handle on his own!"