Chapter 325: 325, Snow Leopard’s Illusion Duel (Final Part) A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated?!_1
When Qingli went into stealth, the Snow Leopard adeptly transformed into a bear form.
A brown bear emerged in mid-air.
[Horrifying Roar]
“Roar!”
A earth colored soundwave emanated from the bear’s mouth and spread out, detecting Qingli who was already hiding in stealth.
But she remained unfazed.
Swiftly using her [Shadow Step] skill she appeared behind the Snow Leopard, stabbing at the bear’s plump rear with a [Backstab].
But the Snow Leopard had already predicted Qingli’s actions.
After Qingli used her [Shadow Step], he immediately shifted back to his leopard form, easily dodging her [Backstab] with a small leap.
Moreover, the direction of his leap was deftly aimed. He didn’t jump forward, but took a sidestep.
While dodging the [Backstab], he had perfectly placed himself beside Qingli.
Then he turned towards Qingli and let loose a flurry of rapid-fire strikes with his claws.
Qingli hadn’t anticipated the Snow Leopard’s impressive maneuvers, she quickly started to back off to the other side.
But it was already too late.
The Snow Leopard pressed his advantage, relentlessly wounding her and causing her health to dwindle rapidly.
Powerless, Qingli used her dagger’s special skill, [Vanish], to stealth during combat hoping to escape from the Snow Leopard’s grasp.
The Snow Leopard was first taken aback, and then a human-like smirk appeared on his feline face.
He used the skill [Blood Sense] embedded in his ring.
[Blood Sense] allows the user to detect any damaged targets nearby, even if the enemy is stealthed.
Having been injured by Snow Leopard’s claw attacks, Qingli was found again despite her stealth by means of this skill.
[Pounce], [Swipe], [Ferocious Bite]
Yet another flurry of moves.
Qingli’s player versus player (PvP) skills were no match for the Snow Leopard, and her health dropped far faster than the Snow Leopard’s.
Now there was no escape.
After a period of relentless pursuit, Qingli’s health bar finally depleted to zero.
This top-tier female rogue just perished under Snow Leopard’s claws.
And Snow Leopard’s health still stood at 70%, he was still very much in good shape.
Seeing that Snow Leopard emerged victorious, the live stream chatroom was bombarded with messages:
“Snow Leopard boss really is a ladies’ killer!”
“Ah! If I’d known, I would’ve played as a Druid. So awesome!”
“Regret not being a Druid +1”
“Regret not being a Druid +2”
“Regret not being a Druid +10086”
Su Yu couldn’t bear to watch anymore, so he sent a message in the chat: “You guys don’t need to regret not being a Druid. An average player can’t reach the level of Snow Leopard.”
“What do you know? What we admire is Boss Snow Leopard’s ability to pounce on girls and bite, understand?”
“Exactly. Speaking without understanding anything.”
Su Yu:
After taking out Qingli, Snow Leopard turned to leave.
Although there was still an unstable priest in the market, intuition told him something was not quite right with the priest, and he wanted to watch for a bit longer.
But just then, the priest emerged from the marketplace, holding the red plant he’d been haggling over earlier and chomping on it heartily.
The red juice dripped from the corner of his mouth, much like fresh blood.
“Snow Leopard.” The priest looked at him, and said vaguely, “Since we’ve run into each other by chance, why not settle the score now?”
The priest finished speaking and stowed away his priest robe, revealing a set of green cloth clothing.
He also put away his staff and replaced it with a pitch-black longsword.
On seeing this livery of cloth.
Snow Leopard: “Oh my god!”
Su Yu: “Oh my god!”
Chat messages “Oh my god!” “Oh my god!” “Oh my God!”
Everyone was shell-shocked!
There are two types of cloth armor — robes (that provide a boost to intelligence), and cloth clothing (that provide a boost to strength and agility).
At present, given the available information, only one vocation wore cloth clothing – [Martial Artists]!
And so far in “Evolution”, there’s only one Martial Artist, and that’s A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated!
Nobody had expected Snow Leopard and A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated to confront each other in the second round, this was truly unexpected!
The live stream’s chat-room went wild with this revelation and even Su Yu at the Mage Tower started to pay attention.
The top two players amongst all are about to have a showdown. Let’s see who triumphs?
But Snow Leopard didn’t intend to accept A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated’s challenge to a duel.
The pair of feline eyes surveyed A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated from top to bottom, then he said nonchalantly: “It’s unfair to you. I just killed a female player and obtained a 5% all-status buff. Even if I win, there is no glory in it.”
The difference amongst top-tier players could be minuscule, but a small 5% all-status boost might be enough to tilt the scales in one’s favor.
“So, what’s your point?” A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated finished off the red plant and burped contentedly after swallowing.
Pondering for a moment, Snow Leopard replied at a measured pace: “Since this is an illusionary duel, why don’t we use the duel’s rules to our advantage?”
“How so?”
“We each use our abilities to kill other players and monsters in the illusion, gaining buffs and items. When we’re the last two standing, we can have a fair duel!”
“Sure, let’s follow your plan!” A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated responds cheerfully, pulls out a gourd of wine from his bag, drinks as he saunters off down the road.
The Snow Leopard watches A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated intently before setting off in the opposite direction, seeking to kill other players and beasts in the city.
Despite being disappointed at the aborted clash between the two titans, the audience in the live streaming room didn’t protest. They carefully considered that the unfair advantage of the 5% buff and looked forward to the upcoming final showdown.
Time marched inexorably on, and before anyone knew, 35 minutes had passed.
For Snow Leopard, the second round was indeed more challenging than the first.
Every player who survived till the end in the first round were no mediocrities. They were either particularly skilled or lucky enough to kill numerous beasts.
Moreover, the town environment of this round wasn’t suited for a nature-aligned Druid’s performance.
However, Snow Leopard was ultimately amongst the top-notch players out of hundreds of millions. He excelled not only in terms of strength but also situational awareness, skillfully stacking Blood’s Breath buff to compound advantages.
After a 35-minute fierce battle, the Snow Leopard derived gear from four Illusion beasts and stacked [Breath of Blood] Buff 18 times. His overall strength was about three times stronger when he first entered the illusions!
But as time passed, Snow Leopard started to feel increasingly uneasy.
Quite simply, ever since their initial encounter, he couldn’t find any trace of A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated.
The [Breath of Blood] buff has a characteristic; with higher stacks of the buff, the player becomes easier for opponents to discover.
Now that he had stacked 18 buffs, even players on the other end of the street could smell the bloody scent from him.
However, Snow Leopard couldn’t smell the blood scent from A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated.
Was it possible that A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated hadn’t killed any other players during this time?
Or was it a coincidence that they missed each other?
Or did the “Martial Artist” vocation have some special ability to mask this bloody scent?
Snow Leopard drifted into deep thought.