Gamers Are Fierce

Viper fell silent for a moment before he slowly said, "Do you realize what you're saying?"

"Datura accepted you when you were at your most lost and desperate, giving you a new purpose in life and reasons to live, and this is how you repay us?"

"At the critical moment, you choose to destroy our grand aspiration that has been passed down for centuries?"

He shook his head, looking at Li Ang with indifference. "Since you refuse to cooperate, then I have no choice but to take some... drastic measures."

Before the word "measures" could leave his lips, Viper had already violently shaken his sleeves, thrusting his fists towards Li Ang.

He had engaged in such lengthy dialogue for two reasons. Firstly, he wanted to save this member of the organization and persuade them to join his faction—inside Datura, only a small number of people truly believed in the blueprint for the Great Unity, and every member needed to be fought for. Secondly, it was to build up his strength in case negotiations broke down and they had to resort to violence.

Therefore, once Li Ang had clearly shown his opposition, Viper launched another daring sneak attack, his fists smashing towards Li Ang's chest.

Only by launching a powerful surprise attack in the brief instant the opponent couldn't react was there a chance to achieve a one-hit kill, eliminating any future threat.

This strike was as swift as lightning and immensely powerful. Like battering rams, his fists easily passed through Li Ang's body.

The latter's eyes bulged, revealing disbelief tinged with confusion.

However, Viper's heart suddenly sank—his fists hadn't made contact with anything substantial, as if they had passed through slightly denser air.

What he had hit was merely an afterimage.

In that split second, thoughts whirled through Viper's mind. Just as he tried to withdraw his fists, he felt an intense stinging pain on his skin.

The afterimage, its face still showing confusion, crackled with electricity. It rapidly collapsed inward from the point where its chest had been pierced, creating an indescribable suction force that "stuck" firmly to Viper's fists, preventing him from retracting them and retreating.

This electrified afterimage, capable of generating suction, was naturally Li Ang's doing.

[Skill Scroll Name: Electric Afterimage]

[Attribute: Consumable, disappears after two uses]

[Type: Spiritual Energy]

[Grade: Perfect]

[Special Effect: Afterimage. Within 10 seconds of activating the skill, if attacked by an enemy, it creates an afterimage of the user at their location and renders the user invisible for 5 seconds. Attacking or being attacked breaks the invisibility. When the afterimage is attacked, it releases an Electron Vortex, creating a suction force that pulls enemies towards the vortex's location for 1 second.]

[Consumption: 400 Stamina Value, 400 Spirit Power Value, 100 Sanity Value]

[Cooldown Time: 10 minutes]

[Usage Condition: Intelligence Attribute ≥ 11 points, Sanity Value ≥ 400 points]

[Note: You'll never hit the face of the storm]

Li Ang had acquired this Skill Scroll after killing a Resentful Demon; it was among the spoils from the demon's backpack.

The skill combined invisibility, decoy creation, and control effects, making it a versatile, all-purpose skill. If there were any drawbacks, they would be its slightly excessive consumption and stringent usage conditions: it not only required an Intelligence Attribute of at least 11 points but also a total Sanity Value exceeding 400.

Unlike other attributes, the methods to increase Sanity Value were limited, and it accumulated slowly. High-level Players could manage, but lower-level ones could only gradually build Sanity Value by stacking Intelligence and Perception Attributes.

Perhaps the Resentful Demon hadn't used this Electric Afterimage scroll before because its usage conditions were too demanding.

SIZZLE—

Currents, like pythons, coiled tightly around Viper's fists. They caused no visible damage to his arms, yet a surprisingly strong and forceful magnetic vortex firmly pinned both his arms to the afterimage's chest.

Viper remained expressionless, his dark robe fluttering wildly. He shook his arms fiercely, directly shattering the Electron Vortex afterimage.

Simultaneously, he used equipment to summon three crescent-shaped black arcs out of thin air, each floating above himself and his two companions.

The arcs were long and flat; viewed from above, they resembled a mocking smile.

HUM—

The three black arcs vibrated at high speed, resembling the gaping mouth from the classic video game 'Pac-Man.' In an instant, they devoured the three Datura members whole, forming three black spheres standing on the ground.

Viper was well aware that his opponent had used some kind of substitution skill combined with invisibility.

If he were in his opponent's shoes, he would surely have taken advantage of the invisibility's duration to find the right moment for a lethal strike.

The black arcs he had summoned possessed exceptional Energy defense and refractive properties. They could withstand two or three hits even from a main battle tank's shells—truly an essential defensive tool.

As long as one is within the protective range of the arc, most attacks from the outside can be ignored.

Viper's thoughts raced. He clasped his hands together, his blood-red pupils suddenly constricting as he mentally connected himself to all the black arc spheres.

This caused the 'equator' of each sphere to rapidly and uniformly sprout countless fine threads that interconnected, forming a dense, intricate network.

This large black net filled the surrounding open space but didn't stop there. Even more minute and dense black thorns grew on the surface of the threads, enshrouding the area in a thicket of thorns reaching up to three meters high. It left no place to stand; any enemy present would surely have been pierced by the ubiquitous thorns until they resembled a showerhead.

As an exemplary player, Viper always adhered to the principle of 'shoot first, observe later.'

Even though the level gap between himself and Ji Jiu was vast, and despite being thoroughly familiar with most of Ji Jiu's skills and equipment, he still had to go all out from the very beginning.

No trace found,

Viper's face was grim as he surveyed the outside from within the black sphere. The sphere, formed by the black arcs, had the effect of one-way glass, allowing him to see out.

As the equipment's user, he could clearly see his two nearby companions still maintaining the Ritual track, undisturbed.

Where, exactly, is he?

Suddenly, the sound of rushing wind came from behind him.

A chill shot down Viper's spine as if struck by a thunderbolt. Just as he was about to turn and dodge,

a broken bone spear blade pierced through the back of his head, drilled out from his eye socket, and dislodged his bloodshot eyeball.

Excruciating pain stabbed straight to his soul.

The bone spear blade spun violently, its sharp edges scraping against Viper's sphenoid bone and splattering copious amounts of bright red blood.

"Are you... looking for me?"

Li Ang's icy voice sounded from behind Viper.

Still disguised as Ji Jiu, Li Ang held the Triangular Bone Tipped Spear piercing Viper's skull in one hand, while pressing a Barrett against Viper's chest with the other.

"BANG! BANG! BANG!"

The muffled gunshots echoed in the confined sphere as heavy bullets tore Viper's head and chest to shreds.