Chapter 1200: Xing Tian and his Shield and Battle Axe (1/2)
I fumed as I stared at Breeze and Rain’s back. This was the type of enemy I feared the most. The moment he failed to steal the Ancient Divine Skill Scroll, he immediately escaped and gave me no chance to kill him at all. A true hero was the type of person who didn’t allow their feelings to cloud their judgment, and could advance or retreat as the situation called. If only Breeze and Rain was an ally!
……
I looked at the orange scroll sitting in my hand. I had to hide underground for more than an hour and play every trick I had prepared for this scenario to get it. No one could say I didn’t deserve it. When my eyes made contact with the scroll’s stats though, I felt like someone had dropped my heart into a pool of ice—
Alexander the Great’s Battle Axe (SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill): Increases user's Attack by 125%. Summon a war axe and deal a Cruel Strike to all targets within 15 yards in front of you, preventing them from receiving any heals for 12 seconds. Cooldown: 120 seconds. Cost: 50% MP. This scroll cannot be used by players from the following servers: China, India, Korea, Japan, Myanmar and Singapore.
Fuck! Alexander the Great’s Battle Axe was an AoE skill that increased Attack by 125%, ignored Guard and invincibility skills, and even prevented its targets from receiving any heals for 12 seconds. It was a super good AoE skill that was on par with my Myriad Swords Obliteration, if not better, but… it couldn’t be used by players from the Asian servers! Are you fucking kidding me!?
I never wanted this Ancient Divine Skill, but I would be lying if I said that I was fine that I went through all that effort just to obtain a scroll that I couldn’t use in the first place. I bet Breeze and Rain would feel like strangling himself if he had taken the scroll instead of me.
……
I made the Ancient Divine Dragon slowly glide down a mountaintop. A bit more later, I entered another red zone. I wasn’t the first one to visit this place as I saw through Dark Pupils a couple of dots searching for something in the distant forest. There was a blue river between the mountain ranges with ancient totems erected on its shores, and there were dragon engravings and oracle bone inscriptions on them.
I knew immediately that I had finally found a zone that was exclusive to the Huaxia culture. This was the zone I must search if I wished to obtain an Ancient Divine Skill with Chinese origins.
I spotted two players—a magic knight and a wanderer—and they were both Korean. More specifically, they were Throne of the Wild players. Paying no attention to the sky above their heads, they rode through the forest and chatted without any regard for their surroundings—
”It looks like we’re the only ones on this map here, Jiho. Anyway, I found out that this river is called the Ji River. It is said in the ancient records that it is the well spring of culture of the Chinese, and the birthplace of their two most revered mythological figures, the Yan Emperor and Huang Emperor.”
The magic knight licked his lips and snorted. ”Hmph. Yanhuang culture? If you ask me, their culture really originated from Silla and Goryeo…”
I barely hid a snicker in the air. Silla and Goryeo only had a total history of two to three thousand years, but the Yan Emperor and Huang Emperor were mythological figures from at least four to five thousand years ago. The guy couldn’t even get his timeline sorted properly.
The wanderer continued, ”I wonder where the guild leader is right now? Oh well, with her abilities, I’m sure she’ll survive whatever hardships this map can throw at her. As for the two of us, the only way we’re going to get out of here alive is to cooperate with each other. Ideally, we want to find our way out of this map and meet up with the guild leader. Otherwise, finding our own Ancient Divine Skills and leaving is a good compromise as well.”
”Yeah, of course!”
Both players gave each other a nod of solid determination.
Well, that determination was about to be shattered into pieces. This was China’s exclusive map, and Throne of the Wild had no place here.
Swhoosh!
I fired a God Binding Art and immobilized the magic knight immediately. Shocked, the wanderer looked up only to eat Dragon Slaying Slash to the face!
190042!
As he stumbled backward from the attack, I activated Fusion Armor and glided down from the sky. After casting Thousand Ice Slash that froze the escaping wanderer, I fired Dragon Slaying Slash one more time to shut him up permanently. Next time, he wouldn’t dare to badmouth other cultures.
I turned around and faced toward the magic knight next. His eyes were filled with shock, terror, and the realization of what was about to happen to him. If I killed him, his current account would lose its only chance to step into the Heavenly River Realm. He would never be able to become anything more than a Divine General. Of course, he had to have entered the Great Earth Realm to become a Divine General in the first place, and I was pretty sure that that wasn’t the case.
Pu!
I gave him three new holes in his chest and a free ride to heaven. Well, almost free. I picked up the high-rank bread he dropped and ate it to replenish my Satiety. I only had three pieces of bread left in my bag, and I needed to conserve them as much as I could. There was no telling what other dangers might be awaiting in front of me.
……
I saw a couple of cute white rabbits hopping here and there between the trees not far away from me. At first, I thought they were normal critters and part of the scenery. That was until I scanned them with Dark Pupils and saw that they were goddamned Level 275 fiend-rank monsters. Their name was Ancient Mage Rabbit, and their Magic Attack was scarily high. They were also proficient in 4 types of magic. I quickly made up my mind to avoid them as I was a metal-armor class.
After circling around an area that was crawling with hundreds of Ancient Mage Rabbits, I continued along the river while remaining hidden. My Ghost Spirit War Boots pushed aside the aquatic plants on the shore. I sighed a little as I stared at the lively fish and slow-flowing river. Assuming that the river of history had a tangible shape, it would probably look something like this: tireless and ceaseless regardless of the mortal whims that were imposed upon it. Thousands of years ago, the Huang Emperor Xuan Yuan had fought the Yan Emperor at Banquan, slain Chiyou at Zhuolu, and founded the glorious civilization of China. From there, countless more heartbreakingly beautiful myths such as the story of Nuwa patching up the sky with the five-colored stones were born. Right now, my sole responsibility was to follow the Mother River to its very beginning and reclaim all the Ancient Divine Skill Scrolls I encountered along the way.
There was one thing that annoyed me though. There were far more casual players than there were Chinese. What the hell was going on here?
……