MMORPG: Divine Mech Hunter

“I’m saying, you guys sure like to chat. Haven’t made up your minds yet? I’ve been waiting so long the flowers have wilted.” Li Yao grew impatient as he saw these players still muttering among themselves.

“Oh, so eager to die?” sneered the supervising player.

“Yeah, but I haven’t lost a drip of blood yet. Even if I wanted, I couldn’t die. What’s your plan?” Li Yao shrugged.

“Enjoy your swagger while it lasts. Now that our boss, Gu Cheng, is here, your end is near. You’ll be crying soon.” The player instantly grew unhappy.

“Really? Are you talking about that fair-skinned guy squashed in the middle? If you’re counting on him, you’re probably in for a disappointment. I’ve killed him twice already. Had this not been a trial, he would’ve dropped two levels. Yet, here I am.” Li Yao sighed.

“Gosh, you’re annoying.” The player said impatiently.

“Yep, I am. And soon, you’re gonna be even more irritated. I’ve been waiting for five minutes, and you’re still babbling. Seems like you won’t understand the seriousness of wasting my time until I send a bunch of you to heaven.” Li Yao moved aside as he spoke.

“What did you say?” The player stared in confusion at Li Yao. But as Li Yao made his move, the player’s eyes widened in shock; he saw a loaded ballista with steel arrows.

“Now you see it. And what would you call this?” Li Yao directed the two skeletons to load the steel arrows and was now swiftly adjusting the shooting angle.

“Damn it, everyone get out of the way!” The player in charge of monitoring Li Yao started yelling.

However, the others who were passionately discussing how to tackle Li Yao were baffled by the sudden shout, having no clue about what was looming. “Too late. I’ve run out of patience. Time to shake things up.”

Emboldened by the Strength of the Minotaur, Li Yao fired the ballista.

Whoosh…

A piercing whir made the players heart skip a beat, yet they still had no clue what was occurring.

“Get out of the way of the crack, there’s a ballista!”

But it was too late to shout a warning. By the time he did, the massive steel arrow was already buried in the crowd.

Thump, thump, thump…

Time seemed to stand still as all the players held their breath.

Boom…

The blood-soaked steel arrow plunged into the distant stone column, causing it to explode.

All the players present shuddered, scanning their surroundings. And then they witnessed a shocking scene.

A wave of white light suddenly rose, followed by a mass of players spraying blood and collapsing onto the ground. The rest scattered hastily.

Upon turning back to look at the scene, they were all chilled to the bone. The group of players which had previously numbered over six hundred was now greatly diminished.

A straight line of players had fallen; dozens of bodies lying in the street seemed drawn in a straight line.

A strong scent of blood permeated the air. The seasoned gamers who had initially shown no reaction were now feeling particularly horrified.

Even though they knew it was just a game, and death was not real, the realism of Ancient God was uncanny. Each death left a deep impression.

“He’s so ruthless, truly deserving of the title ‘Prairie Fire God’.”

“I see the body of Candy Goddess. Sigh, Prairie Fire God is ruthless, not even sparing beauties.”

“He’s a true death god.”

“The ballista’s power is incredibly potent, what was that red light?”

“Prairie Fire God is so domineering.”

“Heartless and merciless Prairie Fire God, terrifying.” “He’s amazing. Look, all those elite players are stunned.”

“If it was you, you’d be stunned too, capital letters STUNNED.”

The individual competition had been going on for so long, but the audience didn’t feel a hint of fatigue. On the contrary, they were incredibly excited.

“Prairie Fire, you’re ruthless.” Gu Cheng rebuked in a hushed tone.

“What a joke. You lot are scheming to kill me, and I’m not allowed to resist?” Li Yao sneered, “You bunch of idiots, stop wasting my time. Hurry up and come to die. If I don’t see an attack from you within a minute, I’ll leave instantly and hunt you down later.”

“What, are you threatening us?” A player shouted.

“Less talk, more action. If you guys don’t attack within a minute, I’m leaving. I mean what I say.” Li Yao scoffed.

The hundreds of players felt an odd sensation. They were actually being threatened by a single person.

However, he was right. If he left, their preparation with hundreds of people would have been in vain, not to mention the many lives lost.

“Since you’re so keen on dying, let’s oblige.” Gu Cheng took a deep breath, “Now, let’s use plan number one. Whoever volunteered, step forward. Prepare yourself. After entering, we’ll pulverize him!”

At once, a defensive knight with a shield and a druid with a hawk’s cry stepped forward, followed by some twenty-odd mages.

The defensive knight slowly entered the crack with his shield raised, the druid with the hawk’s cry following closely behind, and then the mages.

“Give them buffs, cast shields.

Blinding light flickered around the twenty-odd players, with each player casted with at least one shield.

Li Yao furrowed his brow slightly, but quickly relaxed. He unleashed a hail of arrows, but its effect was mild. With priests healing from the back, the health of the knight and druid quickly restored. Li Yao then began to equip his ballista and fired.

Whoosh…

Without the Strength of the Minotaur, the ballista’s power had drastically reduced. It only managed to kill the first defensive knight, while the druid had already transformed into a hawk, flying low towards Li Yao.

Afterward, the mages hurriedly passed through the crack. With their shields and various buffs, the damage from the spike traps barely fazed them.

The hawk druid was not concerned about his survival but focused on distracting Li Yao, and he succeeded.

Because of his interference, Li Yao was not able to concentrate on adjusting the ballista and had to retreat into the mechanical space.

However, after Li Yao killed the hawk druid, the mages had already started to flash out of the corridor, appearing in the courtyard.

“I want to see how you act arrogantly now. Attack.” Gu Cheng spoke coldly. Without his command, the players could hardly restrain themselves. Seeing the successful assault, they had long forgotten the previous agreement and were now rushing towards the crack.

“You think I’d just stand here stupidly waiting to die. The real fools are you.” As Li Yao spoke, four skeletons appeared by his side.

Decimated by his oppressive black arrows, these were silver-class skeletons.

These skeletons instantly blocked four mages.

“Die.” Li Yao started rapid shooting.

His hands moved like an afterimage; a black light following an ordinary arrow represented a mage’s life.

Thump, thump, thump, thump…

Li Yao was performing Shadow Rolls to avoid the mages’ spell attacks while quickly shooting arrows.

Other players also started to rush into the courtyard from the corridor.

Suddenly, a fierce battle unfolded in the courtyard…

ps: we’re still a hundred votes short to get to the rankings. Keep it up, guys. A bonus chapter is out, no more talking, I’m getting back to writing, I’ll update the story around midnight….