Chapter 143 – The h.e.l.lfire Stallion
What does a free-for-all among several tens of thousands of people look like? Although it had happened once in Bat Cave and again in the underground levels of Ma.s.s Graves, neither could compare to this chaos. The players initially worked together to fight the boss; but, in the blink of an eye, they turned to slaughtering each other. Players weren’t pk-ing just for the sake of it, but for the chance to get a share of the boss drops. The moment dozens of guilds frantically issued the notification “Almost dead!” regarding the boss’s status, players who had been fighting monsters nearby were killed before they could even react. Randomly cast skills flew so fast and thick as to blot out the sky. Except for close acquaintances, everyone else was considered an enemy.
“Da heck?!” The instant Fatty emerged from his secluded dimension, he could only blurt a short curse before all sorts of skills poured down on him. Luckily, his destination was pretty finicky, allowing him to slide under the giant turtle.
“Money Grubber!” TenStepOneKill, who had snuck into the spot earlier, shouted when Fatty crept in as well. Meeting his enemy again, TenStepOneKill’s eyes blazed with fury. He pointed a finger, and a white light burst from his Yin Yang Manual and shot toward Fatty.
The rogue was quick to react. He nimbly sidestepped the attack and fled. He didn’t use Stealth because the skill couldn’t be activated in the area under the effects of both the Kingdom of Darkness and Black Tortoise Nation.
Whoos.h.!.+ In his flight, Fatty raised his left hand and shot an arrow at TenStepOneKill. The man dodged effortlessly as well. Thus, their first confrontation ended in a draw.
Noticing Lei Ting on the verge of death, TenStepOneKill said grudgingly, “After I get the Guild Establishment Token, I’ll find you to settle our debt.”
“Any time.” Fatty was in no mood to engage in combat with TenStepOneKill since it was more important to get the boss drops.
As Lei Ting’s health was slowly sapped away, his Kingdom of Darkness became weaker and weaker. The spell’s resistance to attacks drastically decreased, causing Lei Ting’s health to drop more quickly. He would die any moment now.
Fwip! Fatty raised his bow again, and another arrow accurately impaled Lei Ting’s body. If a player attacked at least once, they qualified for a share of the drops. So Fatty had to attack; otherwise, he would be left to only gawk at the rewards when they dropped.
Cras.h.!.+
Under the combined attacks of NPCs and players, Lei Ting could no longer hold on. He fell from his horse and hit the ground, erupting noisily in a h.o.a.rd of treasure.
The h.e.l.lfire Stallion let out a tragic neigh before weathering a wave of attacks and charging headlong at the giant turtle.
“Eyy, you need to learn to move on!” Fatty crept out and kicked at one of the stallion’s legs. Since the mount hadn’t expected a surprise attack, its negligence sent it tripping and sliding over ten meters along the ground. This single slip was so devastating as to almost wipe out the little that remained of the horse’s meager health. And, surprisingly, the beast ended up right under the giant turtle.
“h.e.l.lfire Stallion?” TenStepOneKill’s eyes instantly gleamed. He glided over in a blink and held down the h.e.l.lfire Stallion instead of attacking, hoping to subdue the horse.
“F*ck! How dare you steal Lord Fatty’s treasure?!” Fatty grew furious. He shot an arrow at TenStepOneKill’s neck and, in the next instant, flashed before the man to swing his dagger.
“d.a.m.n Fatty! I barely take even Purple Bell seriously; who the h.e.l.l are you to mess with me?!” While still subjugating the h.e.l.lfire Stallion, TenStepOneKill cast all sorts of attacks. The h.e.l.lfire Stallion struggled and wailed loudly, but it was too injured to rise.
“Wheat, attack!” Fatty flung out an arm. His pet, having apparently grown larger since its last encounter, appeared out of thin air. Blasting a Howling Bullet from its gaping mouth, Wheat simultaneously tapped two paws on the ground to cast Scatterstone Rain. After two successive attacks, the rodent’s body shrank rapidly, then disappeared.
“F*ck! You think I don’t have a pet as well?” After being fl.u.s.tered by Wheat’s display, TenStepOneKill instantly released his own golden-haired monkey. The monkey snarled and sprinted toward Fatty.
“TenStepOneKill, why are you fighting over a horse instead of the Guild Establishment Token?!” shouted Fatty as he evaded pet and owner.
TenStepOneKill snorted. “Hmph, you think I’m an idiot? Going out there now is the same as seeking death.” He ordered his monkey to hold off Fatty and poured his efforts into taming the h.e.l.lfire Stallion.
All of a sudden, dozens of stalagmites rumbled through the air. Striking TenStepOneKill, they sent him stumbling. With a loud whinny, the h.e.l.lfire Stallion took the chance to flip itself upright and stamped TenStepOneKill to the ground in the process. The h.e.l.lfire Stallion was a mid-rank yao beast, so its attack power couldn’t be looked down upon despite it being nearly dead. Fatty and TenStepOneKill stopped attacking one another and raised their guards against the beast.
“TenStepOneKill, the Guild Establishment Token will be taken any time now,” Fatty stated, staring unblinkingly at the h.e.l.lfire Stallion.
“Whatever! This mount is the true gold!” TenStepOneKill spared not even a glance at the surrounding battle, and stared down the horse as well.
“Are you stupid, TenStepOneKill ? How much do you think a horse could possibly be worth? How can it compare to a Guild Establishment Token?” Fatty said angrily.
“Yeah, no s.h.i.+t! Why don’t you go grab the token yourself?” rejoined TenStepOneKill sarcastically.
“That’s because… the Guild Establishment Token will be mine in the end. No one will take it away.” Fatty cackled.
“Hmph, we’ll see about that after we’re done with this horse.”
While the two exchanged verbal blows, the h.e.l.lfire Stallion had already resolved to die. As a mid-rank yao, it possessed a fairly advanced AI. The steed no longer cared for its own life with its master dead; so, the horse charged directly at Fatty.
“Well, we’re here after all.” Fatty wasn’t scared in the least; he was actually happy about the circ.u.mstances. He fixed his eyes on the h.e.l.lfire Stallion. As the creature neared, he sidestepped its attack, then flipped easily onto the horse’s back.
“d.a.m.n Fatty! You forgot I’m still here, didn’t you?” TenStepOneKill pointed at his Yin Yang Manual and cast a series of attacks at Fatty. Since the Kingdom of Darkness had vanished, Black Tortoise Nation naturally had also expired; and, the giant turtle reverted to its original size. The ma.s.sive turtle sh.e.l.l not only obscured the fight to outsiders, but also created a boundary for the battle.
A fierce fight was taking place among the two people and stallion, yet no one beyond the sh.e.l.l was aware of it. “What’s Fatty doing?” Fierce Dragon TheTalent tried to spot the rogue, but the distance was too far for him to see what was happening underneath the mammoth reptile.
With rather sharp eyesight, TheFugitive was able to see more clearly than his companion. “He seems to be pk-ing with someone.”
“What the heck? Shouldn’t he be fighting for the token?” Liu Lan was both angry and bemused.
“Who would dare s.n.a.t.c.h it now?” East Gate BlowingWind reasoned, “Every single guild is attacking the area, afraid others will snag the token. If they keep bombarding it like this, man, the system might just let their attacks wipe out the token before anyone can even get it.”
“I’ll make some calls. It’s at least better to let others take it than have it destroyed.” Rosethorn immediately opened her communicator to contact the other guild masters.
Having been silent the whole time, Purple Bell finally said, “Is that TenStepOneKill? I’ll go and help Big Brother Fatty PK.” She then slipped away through the gaps among the players.
If it was simply a case of killing, Fatty could easily take on both TenStepOneKill and the h.e.l.lfire Stallion. However, because he wanted to tame the foolishly reckless horse, dealing with TenStepOneKill at the same time put him at a disadvantage.
“Just die, Money Grubber!” TenStepOneKill smiled ferociously and prepared to attack.
Fwoooos.h.!.+
The entire battlefield suddenly lapsed into silence, and only the whistling of the wind drifted over the land.
“What happened?” Fatty looked around. TenStepOneKill also ceased his attack and looked about in confusion. Across the field, all of the players had stopped fighting. Several dozens of guild masters emerged from the crowd.
“They want to negotiate?” TenStepOneKill smiled coldly. He no longer bothered with Fatty and quickly headed toward the spot where Lei Ting had died.
“Right,” Fatty excitedly yelped, “the Guild Establishment Token!” His figure abruptly disappeared from the h.e.l.lfire Stallion’s back.
“Neiiiigh…” The horse let out a long whinny and glanced around. The two people who were fighting to the death just now had suddenly vanished. For once, the creature was unable to figure out what had just happened.
“It’s TenStepOneKill! Stop him!” someone shouted the instant they saw him rush out from beneath the giant turtle and head for where Lei Ting had fallen.
“With just you lot?” TenStepOneKill sneered and swiftly tossed out a bullet. This bullet exploded mid-air and diffused a thick smoke that covered the vicinity.
All of the guild masters panicked. “Attack! Attack!” They couldn’t care less about ruining the token and hurriedly ordered their members to attack through the smoke.
“Now’s my chance!” Fatty exclaimed from his private s.p.a.ce coordinate. At lightning fast speed, he exited the s.p.a.ce and s.n.a.t.c.hed up a s.h.i.+ny golden token along with a pile of items. As 24 hours had long pa.s.sed since Fatty first used the Elemental Movement Art to teleport to the sixth floor, Earth Wood Walk was ready for another use. “Go!”
“Guild Establishment Token! Where’s the Guild Establishment Token?!” TenStepOneKill raged, desperately picking up item after item. Lei Ting was a celestial tier boss, so the items he dropped were naturally superb. However, he still found no sign of the Guild Establishment Token. Countless skills screamed toward TenStepOneKill, and he let out a furious roar. Disregarding the token completely, he frantically leaped away and retreated beneath the giant turtle.
“O n.o.ble warrior, did you find the token? I’ll give you one gold coin for it,” offered Fatty, who was still sitting astride the madly braying h.e.l.lfire Stallion upon his return.
“Hmph!” TenStepOneKill was livid. Originally, he planned to ignore Fatty, but then he remembered the first-rate mount standing there. TenStepOneKill instantly pointed at the Yin Yang Manual, ready to attack.
“I’m here, Big Brother Fatty.” Not far from them, Purple Bell’s sweet voice rang out. TenStepOneKill froze briefly, then quickly fled to maintain quite a distance from the two.
“Hehe! Come, Little Bell, what do you think of Big Brother Fatty’s mount?” Fatty crowed in high spirits.
“Neigh…” the h.e.l.lfire Stallion fumed with rage. When did I ever become your mount?
Purple Bell’s eyes shone brightly. “Such a handsome horse!” So Big Brother Fatty was fighting for this.
“Do you like it? If you do, Big Brother will give it to you.”
“Ah, really?” Purple Bell happily asked.
“Of course.” Because Purple Bell could so easily give Fatty something like the Spatial Spoon, a remnant of a divine item, how could Fatty be stingy with a mere mount?