Chapter 20: One Left, One Stayed

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Link squinted his eyes and asked, “How many did she kill?”

“This is the ninth one!” Xue Linglong answered.

“This little lady is really strong-willed; she’s actually persevering in spite of the heavy injuries. I am quite impressed by her!” Luo Xinghe nodded and agreed.

“Not bad!” said Luo Xingyao too.

Yang Xuerou didn’t say anything—a rare instance—but her eyes betrayed her emotions.

“I didn’t think that this little lass would choose the [Assassin] profession...” Link suddenly felt puzzled.

According to his judgment, girls like Qiao Ruowei, who was heavily doted upon when growing up, would choose the [Priest] or [Warlock] profession. Or maybe even the [Archer] profession; that also wouldn’t be too surprising for him.

But this girl actually chose the [Assassin] profession! This profession relied heavily on the user’s close combat ability, with high requirements for one’s reflexes and judgment. An agile body was a must for this profession.

Qiao Ruowei obviously didn’t go through this kind of training before. Even if she exercised regularly, that would give her a slim body at most. Her sequence of movements executed just now was quite sloppy. Even a basic stand up and jump also looked extremely clumsy and required her to use both her hands and feet...

However, Link’s eyes were extremely sharp and accurate.

Qiao Ruowei had obviously understood part of the essence of the Assassin’s essential skill—[Backstab]. Even though she only understood a thread of it now, it was also very terrifying.

Is it her talent? If so, Qiao Ruowei really is a born Assassin! However, why didn’t I hear of such a person in Dragon City No. 1 Middle School in my previous life?

In his memory, Qiao Ruowei was like a delicate flower, unable to take any hardships. Although good-looking, she was useless. She didn’t have much of a presence too.

Link never saw her again after Dragon City was destroyed. He had always thought that she had died in the city then, but it now looked like that wasn’t the case.

“Maybe she always had this talent in her; it just never showed... It was only until I forced her to such a state that she gradually awakened?” Link pondered.

This wasn’t impossible! In his memory of the previous life, those who weren’t able to awaken a talent at the start of [Doomsday Online] generally didn’t achieve much later on. But that wasn’t definite. After experiencing all kinds of opportunities or encounters, some people awakened their talent at a later stage and caught up to the others who awakened at the start.

It was just that the probability was very small, so small that it was almost negligible. It now looked like Qiao Ruowei might very possibly be this type of person.

“Indeed, people need to be forced to succeed!” said Link insipidly and smiled.

...

Other than Qiao Ruowei, Link found another person who remained familiar—Fire Sorcerer Yan Lanxi, Gold-grade [Warlock] hidden profession! The person who escaped by jumping out of the window previously.

He had killed nine skeletons too, only needing one more to pass Link’s assessment. At this moment, his eyes were filled with excitement. After killing nine skeletons in a row, he had already grasped the technique required. Even though he was close to the point of fainting now, he still had enough energy left to kill one more skeleton.

However, what happened next caused him to be dumbfounded.

The Skeleton Swordsman in front of him suddenly grew taller by three inches, and the green [Soul Fire] in its eyes turned blood red too.

This Skeleton Swordsman had gone berserk!

After going berserk, this Skeleton Swordsman’s strength increased tremendously, and its speed also increased. It practically didn’t give Yan Lanxi any time to cast his spell.

Yan Lanxi was in a pathetic state. He was chased after by the Skeleton Swordsman and even had a large piece of meat on his wrist cut off by the Skeleton Swordsman.

Yan Lanxi’s face instantly became very ugly. He looked at Qiao Ruowei—who was resting in the distance—and angrily shouted, “What are you still looking at? Come here and help me kill this fellow. If not, we will both die!”

The other Skeleton Swordsmen nearby had all been killed; this was the last one remaining. However, this Skeleton Swordsman had gone berserk; it would kill everything in its vicinity if it wasn’t stopped.

Qiao Ruowei rubbed away the blood covering her eyes, grit her teeth, stood up, and charged towards the Skeleton Swordsman.

Unfortunately, the strength and speed of this berserk Skeleton Swordsman were on another level as compared to before.

Their combined might was enough to deal with it too.

Yan Lanxi frowned and said, “I comprehended a powerful spell previously, but I need some time to cast it. Help me to hold him back; I will be quick...”

Qiao Ruowei didn’t say anything; she directly charged toward the Skeleton Swordsman with her body that was full of wounds.

This Skeleton Swordsman was too tall. With her current physical fitness, she wasn’t able to jump up and kill it like previously. She could only run around it and dodge its attacks, placing her hopes on Yan Lanxi’s spell.

Yan Lanxi made a hand gesture with both hands. Then, faint light dots of fire gathered in his palm.

The surrounding temperature gradually increased.

The berserk Skeleton Swordsman seemed to sense the danger, abandoned Qiao Ruowei—who was jumping around it—and charged towards Yan Lanxi with its huge sword.

“Stop it!” Yan Lanxi shouted furiously.

Qiao Ruowei violently charged forward and grabbed the Skeleton Swordsman’s arm with all of her strength, but it didn’t affect the Skeleton Swordsman’s movements at all. Then, she clenched her teeth and threw out her dagger, aiming towards the Skeleton Swordsman’s eye socket.

The Skeleton Swordsman instantly stopped and raised the huge sword in front of itself on reflex.

Ding!

The dagger bounced off.

Crack!

“Ah—” The Skeleton Swordsman broke one of Qiao Ruowei’s arms, causing her to scream hoarsely from pain.

The Skeleton Swordsman then grabbed her neck, slowly raising her up until she was above its skull.

Qiao Ruowei’s face was pale, and she was unable to breathe.

Seeing this, the corners of Yan Lanxi’s mouth suddenly curved up, and the fire in his hand flew out as a column of fire that was as thick as an arm.

“Flame Beam!”

The scorching beam of light flashed toward the Skeleton Swordsman, carrying a terrifying heat. After penetrating Qiao Ruowei’s abdomen, it landed on the Skeleton Swordsman’s skull.

Qiao Ruowei’s pupils widened, the life energy in her body quickly flowing away.

The Skeleton Swordsman’s [Soul Fire] was extinguished by this attack too.

Plap!

Two figures dropped to the ground one after another, leaving only Yan Lanxi standing.

“Ahahaha...” Pleased with himself, Yan Lanxi laughed loudly, then dragged his tired body and walked up to Link. Panting heavily, he smiled and said, “Lord, only I am standing in front of you in the end!”

Link looked at him insipidly and blandly said, “Is that so?”

Yan Lanxi’s heart jumped, feeling that something was amiss on instinct.

Link suddenly stood up and unsheathed [Red Sky].

A crimson wave of sword energy flashed and cut across Yan Lanxi’s throat before anyone could react.

“Wh-why...” Yan Lanxi’s eyes were popping out. They were filled with puzzlement and unwillingness. Then, he gradually dropped to the ground.

“I only said that I would give one a chance, but I didn’t say that I would definitely agree!” Link glanced at the corpse as if nothing happened.

In the apocalyptic world, it wasn’t wrong to be selfish. However, nobody would accept the type of person who would backstab their teammates.

In his previous life, Link was betrayed by a teammate before and almost lost his life. Towards this type of person, he only had one method to handle them—Kill them!

...

He raised his gaze, looking towards Qiao Ruowei’s body, which was lying on the ground. Her breathing was almost inaudible.