MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

The Frog Queen’s Rounds was an extremely simple quest. It demanded very little from Li Yi, as all he had to do was to notify the Master Tailor and escort Frog Queen during her patrol. Once that was over, the quest would be deemed complete.

It was an E-rank quest that could be settled just with simple legwork.

The moment Li Yi completed the quest, a huge golden Achievement Panel popped out.

[The Frog Queen’s Affinity towards you has risen to ‘Worship’. The Frogmen Tribe’s Affinity towards you has risen to ‘Worship’ as well. You have attained the Achievement, Exaltation that Transcends Races and has been rewarded with +1 Skill Point.]

After going back and forth for nearly an entire year, Li Yi had finally received the ‘Worship’ of the Frogmen Tribe!

Li Yi was on cloud nine. He did not even bother to accompany Frog Queen during her patrol anymore, and instead made a mad hop directly towards the palace and purchased Overlord Arrow from the Frogmen Army’s Quartermaster.

For Li Yi, completing the frogmen’s daily quests had only been a means to obtain Overlord Arrow!

With the Overlord in hand, who would dare to go against him!?

Ding!

After handing the Frogmen Army’s Quartermaster 100 Froggie Currency, a Purple Quality Skill Tome materialized within Li YI’s palm.

‘Overlord Arrow obtained!’

…

The map of Flaming Dragon Lair was gigantic, and though many ventured in daily, those who were truly able to enter the deepest recesses of the lair were few and far between.

Li Yi did not leave immediately after obtaining Overlord Arrow. Instead, he searched back into his previous memories and scoured deeper into Flaming Dragon Lair.

Without the Royal Fetched Moon Bloodline, one would be unable to wield the Fire Dragon Sword. It was for this reason that Li Yi had abandoned the sword last time as he could not carry it away. This time, however, he was confident that he could finally carry the sword, as he still had Dark Contract Scrolls on him.

Even if he was unable to subjugate the Fire Dragon Sword, sealing it away should prove no problem, no? After all, he still had two Dark Contract Scrolls left.

The map of Flaming Dragon Lair was constantly changing. Li Yi roamed about in the cave and only after being tormented for nearly an entire day, did he finally locate the correct path to the depths of the lair.

The fiery red cavern walls gradually emanated an intense heat the deeper Li Yi ventured into the depths.

Not long after, Li Yi finally encountered the Flaming Skeleton Windrunner, Caitley.

The Caitley from before had died and the one before him had shifted its attitude back to ‘Aggro’.

Li Yi called out Violent Bear King and ordered it to charge into Caitley. While Violent Bear King locked Caitley in place, Li Yi activated his Rocket Propellant and darted past Caitley. After making a mad dash forward for quite some time, he activated ‘Camouflage’ and successfully fled the battle.

Li Yi proceeded in a straight line, and before long had reached the entrance to the Wicked Flaming Dragon’s nest.

Li Yi first resurrected Violent Bear King, and following that, brought out Flame Dragon Key. With that, the grand gates to the nest swung open.

The Flame Dragon Key that Li Yi had obtained last time was not an exhaustible item. Rather, it was a special tool that had infinite uses. As long as Li Yi had it, he could freely enter or exit Flame Dragon’s Lair at will.

“ROAR—”

A dragon’s howl resounded from within the lair, and intense heatwaves spewed forth and constantly diminished Li Yi’s HP.

There was no brave Swordsman to provide assistance this time. Whether Li Yi could bring down the Wicked Flaming Dragon was something that Li Yi could only depend on himself.

“ROAR—”

Li Yi gripped his Orange Quality Bow tightly and made his way into the lair. “Whrrr…Creeaakkk…Tch….” The grand gates behind Li Yi shut automatically.

Wicked Flaming Dragon was crouching on the ground, with embers billowing from its body. Every once in a while, it let out a pitiful wail, but once it saw Li Yi making his way over, its eyes instantly turned a murderous red.

Gouts of flames spewed forth from Wicked Flaming Dragon’s maw, and Li Yi evaded the attack by flying upward after activating God Mode.

“Roar! Roar—”

Wicked Flaming Dragon’s first strike was unsuccessful. Thus, it angrily crawled back up, sprung at Li Yi with its claws held high, and unleashed a flurry of swipes.

“Overlord Arrow!”

Li Yi’s body suddenly took on a golden hue, and a golden arrow was discharged with the release of his fingers.

Had he not mastered Overlord Arrow, Li Yi would not have dared to challenge Wicked Flaming Dragon single-handedly. However, it was because he had mastered Overlord Arrow that Li Yi was confident enough to challenge Wicked Flaming Dragon.

“Thud!”

The golden arrow landed squarely into Wicked Flaming Dragon’s head, and it instantly dealt damage of [−32134] without even Critting. That was the strength from a plain Overlord Arrow!

[Skill interrupted!]

Two huge golden words drifted out from Wicked Flaming Dragon’s head, followed by a thunderous cry from the explosion of the gold arrow, dealing terrifying damage of [−912345] to Wicked Flaming Dragon!

[Level 1 Overlord Arrow: Unleashes an arrow that deals 500% ATK. If the target’s skill is interrupted upon landing, the arrow has a chance of canceling the target’s animation, followed by a 100% chance of causing an explosive attack. Skill Interruption: deals X2(1000%-1500%’s ATK worth of damage). Explosion Radius: 30-50 yards. (Note: The damage would be split among enemies within your line of sight. If there’s only one target, it would receive 100% damage, and if there’s two, the damage would be split between the two.) Skill Cooldown: 30 seconds.]

…

The scariest part of Overlord Arrow was not its attack prowess, but rather the follow-up attack after carrying out a Skill Interruption. Of course, landing a Skill Interruption was not an easy task as well, as it was an effective attack that targeted the short interval right after an enemy cast a skill and before the skill is unleashed. Simply put, the skill was extremely broken in the hands of an expert; but in the hands of noobs, the skill would never reach its full potential.

Additionally, Overlord Arrow was a skill that capped out at Level 1. No matter how many Skill Points players owned, it would never rise to Level 2.

Wicked Flaming Dragon’s attack was interrupted by Li Yi, and it dumbly stood there in a daze. Only when around 2 million HP was taken out by Li Yi did it jolt out from its daydream. It opened its maw wide and intended to unleash another gout of Dragon Breath.

“Overlord Arrow!”

“Thud!”

Overlord Arrow struck Wicked Flaming Dragon’s neck the moment the Dragon Breath was about to be unleashed. The golden words ‘Skill Interrupted’ appeared once more, and the Dragon Breath was cut short.

[−56533]

Boom!

[−1345654]

Wicked Flaming Dragon was sent careening from the explosion. It shook its head non-stop, and by the time it got back to its senses, the HP bar on top of its head had reduced by another 5 million or so…

Skill Interruption! Skill Interruption! Overlord Arrow! Overlord Arrow!

When it came to the strongest skill available to Archers, Overlord Arrow was undoubtedly number one.

Li Yi had activated God Mode, and thus, Overlord Arrow had no cooldown time. Even if Li Yi could not land a Skill Interruption, it did not matter, as Li Yi could fire as many arrows as he wanted.

Wicked Flaming Dragon’s attacks were growing more vicious, and it was not as if Overlord Arrow’s chance of skill canceling was 100%. Whenever its Dragon Breath could not be interrupted, Li Yi was forced to use Violent Bear’s Protection or would chug down a bunch of potions to live through its attack.

Completely evading Wicked Flaming Dragon’s Dragon Breath was not a likely scenario as Flaming Dragon Lair was pretty cramped. Each Dragon Breath unleashed covered nearly the entire battlefield, so it was pretty much impossible to evade it.

Li Yi came close to perishing plenty of times. Fortunately for him, his Apothecarist Level was now at ‘Epic’, which imbued additional effects to whatever potion he drank. One of the effects was a skill called ‘Life Blood’, and for every time it procced, Li Yi would receive an additional 9,000 or so health, which greatly boosted his survivability.

Twenty minutes had gone by. With a ghastly wail, Wicked Flaming Dragon was resentfully taken down by Li Yi’s Overlord Arrow.

A first kill notice was issued by the System!

[Player Dark Wing has successfully slain the World Boss, Wicked Flaming Dragon within Flaming Dragon Lair. The feat has been recorded in Pantheon Hall of Fame and he is awarded 10000 Reputation Value in each major city, along with 10000 Gold Coins. In addition, he has also received 5 Skill Points.]

The red text of the system was released everywhere, and it instantly made the players’ blood boil.

A Level 100 Purple-named Boss, Wicked Flaming Dragon was just brought down single-handedly. Would it come as a surprise if such shocking news had caused an uproar?

“Which OP b*stard did it?”

“Dark Wing!”

“F*ck it, it must be him!”

Countless players descended into a verbal war in the World Channel. Naturally, there were also a number of people who were sincerely congratulating Li Yi.

C-Clang! Clang! Clang!

Wicked Flaming Dragon’s corpse vanished, revealing Fire Dragon Sword. It hovered in the air and constantly emitted clanging sounds.

Li Yi drank a bottle of Divine Essence and advanced forward to loot.

Since Wicked Flaming Dragon was not killed in a weakened state this time, it was possible to loot its corpse.

Ding!

A crisp sound rang out, and an Item Pane popped out. From top to bottom, there were a total of five drops.

One Purple Quality Equipment and three Gold Quality Equipment. In total, there was four equipment along with a miscellaneous item called ‘Fire Dragon’s Scale’.

Each of the Gold Quality Equipment carried a special skill. Though Li Yi had no use for it, he could earn a quick buck by selling it at the Auction House.

The biggest catch of the day, however, was the Purple Quality Equipment.

[Fire Dragon’s Helm (Purple Quality, plate armor)]

[Equipment Level: 100]

[Damage Reduction: 20%]

[+90 Fire Resistance]

[Special Effect: When continuously attacked at close-range, there is a chance of activating Flaming Dragon’s Roar to repel the opponent.]

[Special Effect: Increases the aggro caused by normal attacks.]

…

It was a top-tier equipment for main tanks. Just the 20% damage reduction alone had already made it a piece of dream equipment for them…

After all, even after activating Shield Wall, Warrior classes would only experience 12 seconds of damage reduction that did not exceed 40%.

After putting Fire Dragon’s Helm on, the heat he felt from his surroundings had subsided greatly. Usually, Archers only wore leather armor or chainmail, and now that Li Yi was wearing plate armor, his movements had taken a hit.

Li Yi took out his Dark Contract Scroll and activated it at the Fire Dragon Sword.

“Seal!”

A black vapor gushed outward from the scroll, and it instantly bound the Fire Dragon Sword.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Influenced by the black vapor, the Fire Dragon Sword was dragged towards the scroll against its will.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

As the Dark Contract Scroll forcefully dragged Fire Dragon Sword towards it, Fire Dragon Scroll gradually increased the intensity of its flailing. Right as the tip of the sword made contact with the scroll, a “Skrrrtt” could be heard, and the scroll in Li Yi’s hand crumbled to ashes.

The contract had failed, and the scroll was destroyed in the process.

‘Cr*p…’

Li Yi felt a pang of heartache.

Getting his hands on the Dark Contract Scrolls was not an easy task. Furthermore, as priceless as it was, it disappeared after each use and getting them again was not easy.

“Tch—”

While Li Yi lapsed into thought, the Fire Dragon Sword cut open a portal and scurried into it.

“Want to escape? Fat chance!”

Li Yi took massive strides forward and went deeper into the lair.

The reason he had killed Wicked Flaming Dragon was to seal the Fire Dragon Sword. Taking out Wicked Flaming Dragon was difficult enough as it is, so why would he willingly let the Fire Dragon Sword flee?

Fortunately, the places where it could flee to were very little, and it was limited to only within the lair. So, when Li Yi reached the depths of the lair, he easily located it.

This time, however, Li Yi did not rush to seal it. There was only one unused Dark Contract Scroll left, and should he fail, his whole plan would go crumbling down.

“Overlord Arrow!”

“Thud!”

[−20313]

After getting hit, the Fire Dragon Sword cried in agony and opened up another portal to escape…

…