Infinity Armament Volume 3 Chapter 16

Book 3, Chapter 16:The Strong from the North Region

The huge impact flung the Hummer into the air like a toy. The shockwave caused by explosion instantly engulfed the entire s.p.a.ce.

All the people in the car acted at the same time.

Jin Gang roared loudly and activated Psychic Power. The Hummer was suddenly suspended in midair, while the explosion stopped like a liquid suddenly being frozen. But at the same time, Jin Gang’s ear, nose, and mouth were bleeding.

Wen Rou’s whip moved like a snake and wrapped around a lamppost on the roadside. She brought the boy with her, flying from the car with a graceful trajectory.

Hong Lang was holding Fatty when jumped out of the car. Their big bodies slammed against the ground, created huge craters.

Fatty raised his hand, and a Mana s.h.i.+eld instantly buffed Jin Gang.

Shen Yi stepped onto the seat, and did a swan dive out of Hummer, wielding guns in both hands and firing. The normal gun in his left hand shot Jin Gang with two Cure Bullets. The Spirit Flame Gun in his right hand shot in the direction the rocket came.

Jin Gang had no time to jump out of the car. A huge burst of flame engulfed him. With the Hummer falling to the ground, a second explosion occurred. The whole car exploded into a ball of fire.

“Jin Gang!” Hong Lang roared and rushed into the fire.

Disregarding the still burning flames, Hong Lang relied on his high Vitality, raised his ax, and chopped the door apart. He then carried Jin Gang out of the burning flames.

Meanwhile, Wen Rou, holding the little boy, fell back to the ground and handed him to Fatty. “Take care of him!”

She took out a Healing Potion bottle, then walked next to Jin Gang. “How is he?”

“Not dead, but his injury is serious. It’s a good thing Shen Yi’s Cure Bullets arrived in time, since the fire damage is DoT, but Shen Yi’s Cure Bullets neutralized it. Thank you, Fatty. If not for your Mana s.h.i.+eld, the second explosion would’ve killed him for sure.”

Hong Lang thanked Fatty for the first time. Fatty’s face still pale, he nodded.

It was the first time someone had spoken to with such a formal and grateful tone since he had entered the b.l.o.o.d.y City. He suddenly teared up.

Wen Rou laughed. “You forgot to thank yourself. It was a timely rescue.”

A figure from far away rushed toward them.

Shen Yi barked, “Be careful, this is an adventurer from one of the other Regions.”

This was their second encounter with adventurers of other Regions today, but compared to the previous, the second encounter was clearly more direct and more ferocious. The other side did not even meet them head on, first sending them a “gift,” taking the first strike. If not for Fatty’s warning, Shen Yi reacting quickly, and Jin Gang protecting everyone, when this rocket hit, then everyone would either have died or been seriously wounded.

Surprisingly, the one attacking them this time turned out to be a single adventurer.

This adventurer, when firing the rocket, was at least three hundred meters from them. After the rocket flew out, he threw the launcher away and chased after them. From when the Hummer was. .h.i.t by the rocket to when Shen Yi’s group got to their feet, that adventurer had, in just a few seconds, run a hundred meters their way.

When Shen Yi jumped out of the car, he simultaneously began to shoot at the adventurer, but that adventurer was as agile as the monkey and as fast as the leopard. Although he just strafed from side to side, he did not slow down, and also dodged the majority of Shen Yi’s bullets. When the occasional bullet hit, only a white light flashed. He apparently had a bulletproof item. In that time he ran dozens of meters, the distance between them less than 100 meters.

At this point everyone clearly saw that the adventurer was a black dude, but had a ferocious and grotesque appearance. His face was tattooed with exotic pattern, from his ears hung two large earrings, his whole face looking like a big leopard. His pair of eyes stared unblinking at them, full of fierce hostility and intent to kill.

Held in his hand was not a gun, but a bow and arrow.

On his back there was a long javelin.

He looked like a primitive savage who came from out of the jungle, but was wearing a Li Ning brand sportswear. His looks was too eccentric.

After he charged to a distance of 80 meters away, the black adventurer suddenly stopped in his tracks. His left hand drew back the bowstring, and an arrow flew at the boy.

Shen Yi cried, “Be careful! His goal is that child!”

While Spirit Flame Gun in Shen Yi’s right fired at the adventurer, Hong Lang roared, his punch meeting said arrow.

His Strength was currently at 40, so a punch of his was now more powerful than a bullet. Normal weapon attacks were nothing to him. The speed of the adventurer was very fast, obviously an Agility-type adventurer. The adventurer’s Strength was certainly lower than his.

Bang!

It rang out loud and clear. The flying arrow was deflected by Hong Lang. But when Hong Lang fell to the ground, his face pale for a while.

Tiny drops of blood fell from his arm.

“This guy’s arrows were poisonous!” Hong Lang said in a hoa.r.s.e voice, “The poison inflicts 6 damage per second. Motherf*cker, this poison is at least Rank D! And this guy’s Strength is not low either. The bow and arrows in his hand are at least Rank D too. ”

Ordinary Rank D bows generally had bonus damage worth 10% of the user’s Strength, the arrow base damage was 8-14.

But the bow and the arrow were different from the gun. The first was that the damage caused by bow attacks could be increased by the Strength of the user, and the bow had bonus damage based on Strength. So even with an ordinary arrow, adventurers could cause dozens of points of damage. Second, adventurers could smear poison on arrows, which they could not do with a bullet. No wonder that even with Hong Lang’s Strength, he still suffered a tremendous loss when directly confronting it.

When the adventurers’ attacks collided with each other, the b.l.o.o.d.y City determined the Strength of the both sides. When a party had more Strength than the other, it would subtract each other’s Strength. The value after the difference was the direct damage. This was the so-called normal attack offset effect.

The black adventurer’s own Strength was not higher than Hong Lang’s, but with bow and arrow damage it became slightly higher than Hong Lang’s. He used all his strength to loose the arrow, bringing into effect his full power. Hong Lang, on the other hand, had to hastily respond and was unable to bring out all his power. So the arrow itself caused some damage to Hong Lang, which hurt but not much. However, it successfully transferred poison into his body.

At this moment Shen Yi stared at the black man. He swung the pistol in his left hand, sending two Cure Bullets flying to Hong Lang. Any poison’s effective time was generally about ten seconds, but Shen Yi’s two Cure Bullets stacked effect restored 6 HP per second, so the two effects just neutralized each other.

At the same time he used Appraisal.

“ID N4236, Private First Cla.s.s. Strength: 28. Vitality: 22. Agility: 30. MP: 15. Will: 15.”

“He’s N4236,” Shen Yi whispered.

Everyone was surprised.

N4236, the adventurer now ranked fourth on the leaderboard of the Northern Region?

He was actually acting alone. No wonder his hunting efficiency was so high.

The North Region had always bred many strong ones, but they mostly didn’t unite. Small team operations were possible, but a large team was almost impossible. Many adventurers from Africa were from different tribes, were out of tune with others, so going it alone was something they had long been accustomed to.

That black adventurer was clearly a native of Africa. His ferocious face was ugly when he saw the two attacks weren’t effective. Simultaneously, his eyes showed surprise. But this black adventurer was aggressive. He simply ignored the fact that Shen Yi’s group had more people, and once again raised his bow.

Although he was alone, he was the actively attacking side throughout. His wild att.i.tude could be seen clearly.

He now raised his longbow, his eyes showing ferocity. but this time, he nocked three arrows.

Arrow Impact: imbue the arrows with strong energy, causing normal attack damage to the specified target. Simultaneously, the impact deals 30 damage in a 10-meter straight line. Can be simultaneously used on three arrows. Cost: 8 MP.
Note: This skill is variable skill. There is a chance to cause fatigue. In the fatigue state there is a temporary loss of attack power.

Variable skill?

This adventurer even has a variable skill?

Shen Yi received a shock.

He shouted, “It is a variable skill. Everyone, be careful!”

The adventurer gave a grim smile. His right hand released bowstring. Three arrows whistled and flew at Shen Yi’s team.

Like three poisonous snakes, the three arrows danced in the wind, aimed at Shen Yi, Hong Lang, and Wen Rou.

Behind Hong Lang and Wen Rou were Jin Gang and the mutant little boy who needed protection.

That adventurer actually wanted to use his variable skill to clean sweep all of his foes in concert.

At the same time, Shen Yi raised his Spirit Flame Gun and fired at the three arrows.

Although the power of bows and arrows was strong, compared to the gun, its weaknesses were that it needed both hands to use, and had slower rate of fire. The two weapons had their strengths. Adventurers at the start usually used guns, but many people would become archers later because the power of the bow. Later there were some bow skills that could make up for lack of speed problem. Such as this one. Releasing three arrows was one of the solutions, but these were later things. But these indigenous natives had a good start. Some indigenous people even just entered the b.l.o.o.d.y City and were judged to have the Basic-level of the Archery Forte.

This showed the toughness of these people.

In the later stages, they often completed many quests with just a bow.

But as a powerful long-range skill, the biggest problem of bow and arrow skill was—it can be interrupted or blocked.

Other than the last time he parachuted, Shen Yi had not tried to hit a high-speed mobile target. And at that time he was facing a large piece of aircraft debris. This time it was arrows, which were much smaller.

His Firearm Forte, after all, was only Basic level. It had not yet reached the Advanced level, so for high-speed mobile targets its effectiveness was still limited.

He chose to make up for quality with quant.i.ty.

At this moment Shen Yi concentrated all his thoughts into the Spirit Flame Gun, targeting those arrows flying at Hong Lang and Wen Rou. A large amount of concentration was needed to capture the target at the same time. From the muzzle two bullets whistled through the air. One by one from the barrel, the red flame attached to them was like a small star, s.h.i.+ning with a brilliant light in midair. They rotated at high speeds to counter the incoming arrows.

“Ding”, “Ding”, The light, continuous sound of violence tinged as the two arrows shot at Hong Lang and Wen Rou were miraculously hit by two bullets. Four other bullets brushed past the arrows. The two arrows’ power, as a result of the bullets impacting them, was greatly reduced, but still continued to fly to the target. Hong Lang jumped, punching and knocking away an arrow. Wen Rou used her whip to deflect another arrow. The two arrows were finally intercepted.

But none blocked the arrow shot at Shen Yi. Shen Yi flipped his left hand, Vampire Touch covering the front of his chest. The arrow pushed Vampire Touch, the back of the dagger hit Shen Yi backward, sending him flying. Shen Yi loudly spit out a huge mouthful of blood. The effect of Arrow Impact commenced; a straight line shock wave went through his body, blasting toward the little boy behind him.

Seeing the little boy was about to die from that blow, Fatty suddenly pushed the little boy to the side, and he himself received the arrow’s shock wave instead.

The momentum of the violent shock wave plowed a deep trench into the ground. Fatty was buried in the ditch, motionless.

Meanwhile, Hong Lang and Wen Rou rushed to attack the adventurer.

That adventurer of the North Region was very brave. Seeing two others charging him, one of whom was obviously a close combat specialist adventurer, he showed no fear. Slinging the bow over his shoulder, he readily drew the javelin from off his back, throwing it at Hong Lang. His javelin had a shorter range than the bow, but was stronger. Hong Lang didn’t dare take it head on. He could only dodge, but didn’t think that javelin toss was actually quite clever. When it flew over Hong Lang, he discovered that there was even a light-colored silk wire attached to the end of the javelin.

The adventurer pulled on the wire. The javelin shaft crashed into Hong Lang brutally. After Hong Lang was sent flying, the adventurer pulled the javelin back to his hand., The adventurer threw it at Hong Lang again to force Hong Lang to quickly retreat.

After Hong Lang was repulsed, the adventurer grinned, charging at Wen Rou.

Wen Rou flicked her whip. The whip coiled on its way to that adventurer.

Whip Wrapping (Level 3): Uses whip weapons to wrap the target, making the target temporarily unable to use skills to attack while causing the target to take 5 damage per second. Skill duration depends on the gap of power between the two sides as well as skill level and the opponent's Will. The greater the gap, the longer the duration. Maximum Time: 18 seconds. Cost: 3 MP. Priority: 12.

The whip wrapped around the adventurer a few times. That adventurer immediately felt that things had taken a turn for the worse; his skills were temporarily sealed.

But the adventurer did not retreat. He pounced forward like a leopard, his fist fast. He ruthlessly punched out at Wen Rou.

Wen Rou blocked the strike with a left-handed fist block, but the adventurer suddenly pulled his left fist back, kicking his right leg at Wen Rou. She ducked to dodge. That adventurer leaped high into the air, his long leg chopping down, his actions flowing smoothly with each other.

Wen Rou moved her arm, blocking that blow. Because she had lower Strength, she still received 7 damage. But in next moment, the adventurer fiercely kneed her. Wen Rou could not stop the blow, so the knee impacted her lower abdomen and sent her flying. The Rank D whip also slipped out of her hands and flew away.

Whip-type weapons were medium-range weapons, with ranged attacks and special effects attacks. However, its biggest flaw, in addition to low attack damage, was that it could easily be stolen.

However, while adventurers could take other’s weapons, but like those equipment from Mission World which could not be brought back to the b.l.o.o.d.y City, as long as it wasn’t from a formal reward. Not all equipment could be normally used. However, they were all difficult to destroy. As long as Wen Rou didn’t die, her whip could be used by others but only as an ordinary whip. As a result, though the adventurer unwrapped himself from the whip and went far away, it still took effect. His skills would still be sealed.

At this point Hong Lang finally rushed at the adventurer to fight. That adventurer had just sent Wen Rou flying, but an elbow struck at Hong Lang. Hong Lang used a fist, on the determination of Strength that the adventurer would be weak. But the adventurer just slightly sank elbow, easily dissipating Hong Lang’s Strength. He didn’t have the slightest injury, surprising Hong Lang. Then, that adventurer sent a flying kick cras.h.i.+ng into the face of Hong Lang, causing damage. At the same time, he left a big footprint on Hong Lang’s face.

Hong Lang roared like a tiger, activating Strong Impact.

Strong Impact (Rank D, Level 5): Deals [2 × Strength] damage to a single target. 10% critical chance. Cost: 3 MP. Cooldown: 1 minute. Priority: 17.

Level 5 Strong Impact was already a very strong attack for a single target. 2 times Hong Lang’s Strength was 80 points of damage. Skills were different from ordinary attacks which could be blocked or resist. Skills 100% dealt damage.

But the adventurer was not afraid, screaming and facing the opponent’s skill head-on. He sent out three kicks in quick succession at Hong Lang’s chest. The strong shock wave could not be issued as Hong Lang heard b.l.o.o.d.y Crest prompt: Your skills are interrupted. You have been suffered skill backlash.

Hong Lang spit out a large mouthful of blood as his HP rapidly went down as if he had been hit by his own skill.

However, although the injury to his body was severe, the horror in the heart was still greater.

It wasn’t unusual to use skills to interrupt skills. That was mainly decided by the Priority of skills. The value of Priority was also used here.

But this was the first time he met someone who could interrupt a skill with an ordinary attack.

Adventurers’ skills could be interrupted by ordinary attacks, but using an ordinary attack to interrupt skills required incredible technique.

In general, the ranged skills were relatively easy to interrupt, but after the skills were interrupted it didn’t cause backlash on user. Melee skills, on the contrary, were difficult to interrupt, but when they were, it would result in backlash. Because melee skills generally only took effect the instant after it hit the target, this was to avoid the situation in which a missed attack resulted in the skill being wasted.

It was also true that there was a brief delay between the moment the adventurer’s skill activated and the moment the skill went into action. This delay depended upon the performance of different people, but even with the worst adventurer, the delay period would not be too long.

If one could grasp this delay, when the other attacked, but the skill hadn’t yet taken effect, there was a chance to interrupt the skill. This required adventurers to have an absolute ability to grasp the timing.

But once the timing was messed up, the interruption of skills failed. That caused the damage of the skill to become higher, usually at least a 20 percent bonus. Some adventurers could even take this opportunity to carry out continuous blows against their opponent. Taking into account that probability of failure was far greater than success, few people were brave enough to try to use ordinary attacks to interrupt someone’s skill.

This adventurer’s timing in battle and his ability to grab hold of chances were amazing, even easily interrupting Hong Lang’s skill. But Hong Lang was also desperate, aside from the horror. He kicked the adventurer, and the two people flew back at the same time.

Right after the adventurer fell back to the ground, he jumped up, actually continuing to launch attacks at Hong Lang.

With the Strength of Hong Lang, the blows caused some damage, but he was unaware, still in high spirits.

Wen Rou picked the long whip back up and rushed to help. That adventurer was fighting alone but did not show fear.

He just fought with arms and legs without skills, withstanding the attacks of the two adventurers. He struck from left to right just like a crazy tiger, but extremely fierce, extremely fast. Hong Lang and Wen Rou would from time to time be hit by a few punches.

“That guy’s Fighting Forte is at least Expert!” Hong Lang screamed with a change in his tone. He finally realized that only the Expert-level Fighting Forte could play such a terrible fighting effect.

This guy was fierce and vicious, his blows extraordinarily accurate, and almost every attack was effective. Although it wasn’t the full value of the damage, the strength performance rate was very high which made Hong Lang feel bitter.

If this guy did not have Expert-level Fighting Forte, Hong Lang wouldn’t believe it.

As for the guy’s fighting skills, it could only be said that he was like a student compared with that guy.

At this moment, Hong Lang finally took out the Rank D axe from the b.l.o.o.d.y Crest.

He originally thought that since this was two on one, using this axe would really made him lose face. But now he was aware the power of his opponent much more than he imagined, he immediately changed his mind.

As he roared, Hong Lang activated Ring of the Violent.

Ring of the Violent: After wearing, Strength +4. Item Skill: Berserk—consumes 50% of the user's HP to increase the attack damage and attack speed by 40%. When the user's HP drops to 10% or below, this skill's effect will end.

Sacrifice 50 percent of HP to greatly enhance the attack damage and attack speed. Hong Lang held the axe, rushed such as storms to the adventurers.

His violent, rapid increase in speed made up for his lack of combat capability. That adventurer’s advantage immediately weakened a lot.

The two attacked at the same time, each hitting their opponent at the same time. Though Hong Lang had received heavy injuries, he relied on high defense. With his high Strength and high Agility, coupled with Wen Rou’s support, he was completely unafraid of exchanging injuries with his opponent. Although his Rank D axe didn’t have any skills, the attack power was extremely high. hitting the opponent once was equivalent to his opponent hitting him three times, so it was irresistible.

But the next moment, that adventurer chortled madly, a red light appearing in his hands.

Skill: Vampiric Attack (level 3). Gives user 9% lifesteal. Priority: 22. Cost: 4 MP. Duration: 3 minutes. This skill is only applicable to bare-handed attacks. Weapon attack and skills attack are invalid.

It turned out that Wen Rou’s skill duration had ended. That adventurer could again use his skills, and he also had a lifesteal attack skill. This skill had to be at least Rank DD.

Even when his skills were sealed, the adventurer had fought them to a standstill, so now that he had the effect of lifesteal, that adventurer became even more terrifying.

When Hong Lang’s axe came striking, that adventurer stretched out his left hand and knocked the axe around extremely dextrously. The ax swing immediately trailed off. The adventurer then stepped forward, stepping on the feet of Hong Lang and making Hong Lang shout in pain. That adventurer raised his hand, holding Hong Lang by the wrist so that his axe couldn’t chop down. That adventurer’s body slammed into Hong Lang, elbowing him in the chest. One of Hong Lang’s ribs was broken instantly.

At the same time that adventurer caused damage to Hong Lang, he also recovered at least 10 HP.

This series of attacks actually occurred in just a very short amount of time, but was extremely bleak. The action was too quick for normal eyes to follow. That adventurer fought two enemies and even had upper hand. His bravery really amazed everyone.

Wen Rou sent her whip hissing through the air toward the adventurer. She had smote that adventurer with more than ten lashes, but most of the attack were ineffective. This time the whip hit the adventurer’s back, finally leaving a wound on his body and dealing 12 damage. Furthermore, it actually caused the Tearing effect. That adventurer felt the pain, but didn’t turn around. He kicked backwards, hitting Wen Rou in the neck. He punted her away.

When he looked at his body, he saw Tearing effect: Loses HP every second for 5 seconds. HP loss starts at 15 HP and decreases by 3 HP every second.

The adventurer took out an item and bandaged his wound. The Tearing effect suddenly disappeared.

Item: Low-level hemostatic bandages: Effective in treating Bleeding, Tearing, and other DoT damage. Priority: 23.

Wen Rou’s Rank D whip Priority was only 14. The result was that the Tearing effect was immediately eliminated.

A hint of a grin on the adventurer’s face, he took a large stride toward Wen Rou.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out.

That adventurer was stunned, looking down at his body.

His body was burning in flames.

It is the flame effect of Spirit Flame Gun.

The hemostatic bandage could not eliminate this kind of damage, and the three times stacking effect of 9 points of fire damage per second was quite amazing.

The problem was that he obviously had bulletproof items, and the number of uses still wasn’t used up.

He peered into the distance and saw Shen Yi, still bleeding from the mouth. But he was still wielding his gun and shooting. he fired the gun in his left hand with two successive two Cure Bullets, one to Wen Rou and one to Hong Lang who was behind the adventurer.

Shen Yi’s real strength lay in his support abilities. His two rounds of Cure Bullets, although limited in effect, immediately gave the two great confidence.

Hong Lang screamed, then ran at the adventurer. Wen Rou also charge.

Spirit Flame Gun fired continuously. A few bullets. .h.i.t the adventurer, and though the Spirit Flame Gun’s damage was limited, its rate of fire was very fast. In a moment of distraction, that adventurer received continual hits by seven or eight bullets. His pained wailing sounded like a roar, a huge force erupting with his body as the center and spreading to the surroundings.

“Skill: Storm Vortex (level 2). With the user as the center, all enemies within a radius of 10 meters receive a fixed 50 points of damage. Also produces Knockback effect.”

At this instant Wen Rou and Hong Lang were knocked back simultaneously. That adventurer’s HP, due to Shen Yi’s attacks, again dropped dozens of points. He actually didn’t retreat, striding forward instead. He jumped a distance of around eight meters. Facing Shen Yi, he kicked out. In the blink of an eye his foot was shooting at Shen Yi’s head.

This adventurer had vast and rich combat experience, immediately seeing that Shen Yi was responsible for support in this battle, and was the team’s central figure. If he could not kill him, he couldn’t defeat the other two adventurers.

“Skill: Dash Kick. Deal to the target 1 ×[Strength+Agility] damage, when vital points are hit, trigger a critical strike. Priority: 12.”

If this kick struck Shen Yi’s head, 4 ×[Strength+Agility] damage would be absolutely fatal for Shen Yi in his current state.1

But at that moment, Jin Gang, who had been lying on the ground and not moving as if dead, suddenly flew out like a cannonball. His punch impacted the chest of that adventurer.

“Heavy Strike (Level 3): Hitting the opponent deals [5 × Skill Level] damage and causes 1-5 seconds of stun. Stun duration depends on the opponent's level, as well as the skill level and the opponent's Will. Priority: 32”

This Rank DD skill hit that adventurer, immediately causing a four-second stun. That adventurer fell to the ground from midair. Hong Lang raised his axe and ran over. He violently chopped into the adventurer. Wen Rou and her bullwhip also arrived, while Shen Yi’s Spirit Flame Gun as well as Jin Gang’s heavy blows all focused on the adventurer.

Four seconds later, the adventurer had been killed for real, his body smashed into giblets.

TL’s note:
1. The skill’s critical strike effect made damage doubled. Hitting vital points made damage doubled once more, result in 4x damage.