BXBX NOVEL Chapter 61: One Straight Flush
“Fight now!”
In the middle of the skirmish, evading ferocious attacks, dodging claws, casting skills, and even in the midst of battle, Zhang Yang’s ability to command the team was not compromised one bit!
Shush! Zhang Yang had totally did a number on the enemy that left all men spellbound!
No one besides Zhang Yang alone was above Level 20, thus they did not possess any AoE skills; they were only limited to damaging one monster at a time. According to the Damage Statistics, Zhang Yang completely dominated the entire party with a staggering 92% damage contribution! How many <Horizontal Sweep> or <Thunder Strike> could a Level 10 monster with 3,000 HP take?
After 40 seconds, monsters lay defeated and everyone gained a luxurious amount of experience points. Since Zhang Yang was already Level 22, the amount of experience points a Level 10 monster could provide for him was minuscule. For the most part however, he did help to contribute to the morale of the party.
“Woah! That’s a lot of experience points!”
“This is just too awesome. I got like 20k experience points in 5 minutes. I’m leveling up like there’s no tomorrow!”
“With this speed, we would have certainly left the other team in the dust!”
“It’s in the bag!”
“Woohoo! Praise our leader! Praise our guild master!”
Everyone’s faces were filled with excitement. Their admiration towards Zhang Yang could only grow ever more.
Zhang Yang flashed a small smile. “Shush! Don’t brag in the guild channel! Give them some hope!”
“Geh Geh!” The party snickered.
“Alright, it’s time to fight the boss! Everyone, focus on your attacks! Do what you’re supposed to do!” Zhang Yang then used <Charge> and dashed ahead.
This was a completely one-sided battle. The boss was defeated in merely 3 minutes. It dropped 3 pieces of equipment.
“Now, for the equipment. Each equipment will cost you 20 guild contribution points. Those with higher points will have priority and those with the equal points shall roll dices for the equipment. Once you have obtained the equipment, your contribution points will be deducted! The deducted points will be distributed among all the party members equally.”
Zhang Yang had modified the distribution method to Party Leader Distribution before entering the dungeon. After the inevitable mess that came whenever anything was employed practically for the first time, the equipment was finally distributed. The boss was decimated in 3 minutes but distribution of the spoils took a whole 5 minutes.
Moving on!
Zhang Yang used the same method, with one straight flush to grab the aggro from all the monsters along the way up to the boss entrance and fought them there. Just as they had finished with the monster and were preparing to start with the second boss, Fatty Han posted in the guild channel, addressing Zhang Yang.
“Hehe, Little Yang, we have just defeated the first boss. Where are you now?” His voice sounded quite jubilant, as if he was sure that he had surpassed Zhang Yang.
Zhang Yang turned around and winked, his eyes sparkling with mischief.
“We are just about to fight the boss!”
It was the truth, alright. It just happened to not be the entire truth!
Obviously, Fatty Han’s party did not anticipate Zhang Yang using such an abusive method like this one straight flushing to raid the dungeon. Fatty Han replied with a smirk on his face. “Little Yang, don’t give up just yet. There are still 3 bosses. You may still have the chance to catch up to us! Haha! I’ll be going then!”
Zhang Yang’s ability was not a mystery for them, everyone knew how strong he was. To think that they could actually stand a chance to beat him head on, led Fatty Han and his party almost delirious with excitement!
Zhang Yang brandished his sword and said, “Alright guys, it’s time to kick some ass! Remember to fall back you get afflicted with the curse! Don’t falter and break our chain combo either, yeah!” The battle started quickly and ended in the same manner. Even with Zhang Yang’s reminder, there were still 4 careless players who stood still when they were cursed with the <Curse of Water and Fire>. Silently, Zhang Yang remembered each and everyone’s performance and had secretly appraised and graded them on play style and ability.
After they distributed the equipment, the party went forward and used the same method to kite the monsters all the way to the third boss’ entrance.
Fatty Han announced again when his team had just defeated the second boss. Fatty Han’s ineffective provocation only left Zhang Yang and his team laughing silently.
After a little effort, they successfully defeated the third boss and also the hidden boss, clearing the entire dungeon smoothly and swiftly.
“We’re done!” Zhang Yang announced in the guild channel.
“Impossible!” Fatty Han and his team cried.
After keeping their mouth shut for so long, they finally could take brag all day long about his godly method “one straight flush”
“You sneaky, noob tank!” Drizzler cried out in the guild channel.
“Hah! Sneaky? This is called a “Secret Strategy”! Would you reveal your trump card to the enemy?” Zhang Yang burst out, laughing.
“Hmph! I despise you!” said Drizzler angrily.
Once the equipment was distributed, the guild now had many players with negative contribution points. They would have to slowly complete guild quests and raid dungeons to raise their contribution points back up. While the rest of the party members that did not manage to obtain equipment have accumulated more points; Zhang Yang, Little Snow, and the rest have gained 26 points each.
After a short while, the party was disbanded under Zhang Yang’s command. Each of them went on to their own errands. Zhang Yang, wanting to set an example for his fellow guild mates then decided to complete some of the guild quests himself. After accepting a kill quest, he took off and arrived at the assigned destination. His quest was very simple and basic, that was to kill and eliminate some Level 10 monsters. This quest was a breather in comparison to the hectic rush he experienced in the raids earlier on.
As he hacked his way through the targets, he felt alarms going off in his head. Instinctive impulses tugged at his heart. Just as when he stepped forward, the sensation grew stronger and he noticed a strange, tangible effect of light bending in the air close by.
It was a bandit! A bandit in stealth mode!
With over 3 years of combat experience below his belt, Zhang Yang had developed a sharp combative instinct. He immediately got out from the battle mode. As his Rage points slowly decreased from 47 points, he immediately used a <Horizontal Sweep>. The gleam of his sword spread across everywhere, illuminating the area!
‘-703!’
The damage text popped out, a human figure fizzled from the air into visibility, revealing that his HP had dropped from 1110 to 407!
‘Ding! You have initiated an attack on 44 Bandits. You are now penalized with the Red Tag! If you were killed in this condition, you will drop 2 levels and experience a 100% equipment break!”
“Haha! The infamous 44 Bandits!” Zhang Yang swung his sword and dealt a normal attack on him. 44 Bandits, the Bandit of the Sword and Fire Mercenary group.
‘Dodge!’
The enemy was agile. He dodged Zhang Yang sword and thrust his daggers to counterattack.
Zhang Yang activated <Block> and nullified the enemy’s attack.
‘-102!’
44 Bandit received the <Block> reflect damage and Zhang Yang quickly activated the <Shield Bash>, dealing another 219 damage to him.
All normal attacks would have a detectable sign before it is triggered. As long as a player’s own reaction rate was fast enough, one could easily dodge any normal attack with ease. However, there was almost no way to anticipate a skill. Even if you attempted to rely on instinct to predict a skill activation, the body simply could not keep up with the skill activation speed and make necessary evasive maneuvers. Even if you raised your Dexterity to the maximum, it wouldn’t help one bit! To counter a skill, you must use another skill!
“F*ck! How could you be dealing so much damage!?” The enemy finally voiced out in frustration.
Zhang Yang stomped the ground and use <Thunder Strike> to deal a final 102 damage, instantly killing 44 Bandits.
‘Ding! You have killed 44 Bandits!’
Zhang Yang sheathed his sword and sent a private message to the enemy.
“I don’t think that I have ever offended anyone from the Sword and Fire Mercenary group. Why is there an assassination mark on me?”
He would never believe him if he said that he was sneaking up on him just to say “Hello”.
After a noted pause, the enemy replied. “I was hired to kill you back down to Level 0!”
“Oh! I wonder who would want to do that.”
“I’m sorry. Business is private and confidential. We would never reveal our client’s private info!”
“Well then, do you still insist on killing me?”
“Business is business. I will do it.”
Zhang Yang smiled. To think some there is someone out there who wished to decrease his level, it had to be someone from Pride! He never thought that Pride had such wide connections and managed to hire someone from the “Trash” Mercenary!
...
44 Bandits ran back to his body in his phantom state. Before reviving, he looked around and went ahead with the deed once he was sure that Zhang Yang had left the place. He then wasted no time in turning invisible and walked towards the bush to eat recovery snacks.
Shush!
A figure dashed out and a star appeared on his head circling around. He was stunned and rendered immobile.
‘Ding! You have been stunned by Player Zhan Yu! Stunned for 2 seconds!’
‘-362!’
In the stunned condition, all 44 Bandits could do was to witness the sword flying towards him, draining off his residual HP down to 0.
‘Ding! You have died!’
“F*ck!” 44 Bandits cried out as he was sent back to the revive point. His level dropped from 17 to 15! After giving it some though, he sent a private message to Zhang Yang.
“How could you still use <Charge> on me when I am in stealth mode?”
Stealth was not 100% imperceptible. You could still be detected when you’re close enough to someone else! However, <Charge> was a skill that had a limited ranged activation condition. It could not be activated is the distant is too close. That was why 44 Bandits could not understand how Zhang Yang could still stun him with <Charge> when he was not anywhere close to him!
Zhang Yang replied.
“If you were in my shoes, would you reveal the secret?”
“No!” 44 Bandits replied honestly.
“Well. That explains it!” Zhang yang laughed it off.
It was no big secret. One, Zhang Yang had 3 years of combat experience fighting with a Bandit, he had an instinctive method to detect a “hidden” Bandit. Two, the level gap between the two of them was far too great, weakening the effect of <Stealth>!
44 Bandits returned again to his body, however, he lingered around instead of reviving himself. He was still afraid that Zhang Yang might still be guarding his body. After some time, he sent another private message.
“Zhan Yu. Would you dare to fight with me fair and square?”
“Sure!”
44 Bandits relaxed, thinking that this player was soft hearted!
Boom! @#$$%#@
Just after he revived and was eating on some recovery item, he was stunned and sent back to the revive point.
“F*cking hell! You’re an honorable man! Why would you break on your promise!” cried 44 Bandits furiously.
“You’d actually believe the words from the enemy. You’re really naïve!” Zhang Yang snickered.
In his previous life, 44 Bandits was famous because of his sexual offences. In stealth mode, he had always picked low level female players as his target. In ‘God’s Miracle’, you could only reveal yourself from stealth mode if you attack or received an attack. Doing naughty things to a female player did not trigger the stealth dispel. Furthermore, low level players would have a hard time detecting a high level “hidden” Bandit.
It was because of his act of sexual offences, many female players lodged their complaint to the game developers, forcing them to modify the condition of <Stealth>.
This was why Zhang Yang was extremely hostile towards this man. He took this chance to properly teach him a lesson!
44 Bandits chose to remain quiet for a while and eventually chose to log off.
Zhang Yang on the other hand chose to remain on guard for a while and only continued his guild quest when he had accurately deduced that the enemy had logged out.