Chapter 47: Buff State
The main tank in front of Su Xiao wasn't holding a shield. He wore heavy armor, with only a pair of eyes visible from head to toe.
"Gravity Ring."
A wave of light radiated from the main tank, too fast to dodge. Even though Su Xiao immediately leaped backward when he sensed something wrong, he was still caught within its range.
A heavy pressure settled on Su Xiao's shoulders. He quickly deduced this was the main tank's control ability. Based on typical main tank combat tactics, the farther Su Xiao was from him, the greater the weight he would bear.
Su Xiao swung his blade. With a thunderous boom, he cleaved a bullet into a shower of shrapnel. Simultaneously, a counter shield with 200 points of strength materialized behind him, blocking a gray ghost head.
Su Xiao was nearly surrounded by contractors. A main tank stood before him, while behind him, other contractors lurked, ready to strike at any moment.
These surrounding contractors realized that if they didn't eliminate Su Xiao, they wouldn't get near the Ant King's corpse.
The main tank in front was a major nuisance. Su Xiao decided to take him out first, so he charged forward a few steps, closing the distance.
Seeing Su Xiao rushing toward him, the main tank was visibly startled, then let out a cold sneer. In contractor-versus-contractor battles, main tanks were usually the safest, as most contractors understood their survivability and chose to avoid them.
Su Xiao reached the main tank and, without a word, slashed down at his head.
The main tank instinctively ducked—not because he didn't want to block with his arms, but because he couldn't keep up with Su Xiao's speed.
With a tearing sound, Dragon-Slashing Flash swept across the main tank's head, shearing off a piece of steel armor and a small patch of scalp.
After that strike, Su Xiao was somewhat surprised. This main tank had a surprisingly "tough" physique.
As for the main tank, he already regretted using Gravity Ring on Su Xiao. When he saw the battle log's massive true damage and defense-ignoring damage, his mouth gaped open beneath his helmet.
"Ah!!"
A bloodcurdling scream rang out, born from both the searing pain of Azure Steel Shadow energy erosion and sheer terror.
Just as Su Xiao was about to decapitate the main tank, a series of notifications appeared.
[You have received the 'Courageous Shout' buff: Reduce damage taken by 10%.]
[You have received the 'Holy Song' buff: Movement Speed +26.]
[You have received the 'Vitality Surge' buff: Health recovery +20 per minute. After taking damage, instantly recover 50 health (cooldown: 30 seconds).]
[You have received the 'Wild Blessing' buff: Weapon attack power +13, Strength check +2, Agility check +1.]
[You have received the 'Source of Love' buff: Reduce physical control effects by 20%.]
[You have received the 'True Affection' buff: True Strength +2, True Agility +2, True Stamina +2.]
...
This cascade of buffs left Su Xiao somewhat taken aback.
"I... I'm a temp worker. I can heal you."
A timid female voice reached Su Xiao's ears. Hearing it, he understood the situation.
"This is bad!"
Old Smoke at the edge of the battle group twitched his cheek. Su Xiao's ability to two-shot a melee fighter earlier had genuinely shocked him, and now that healer was stacking buffs on Su Xiao—this was disastrous!
"Brother Bai Ye, your melee ability, which hasn't seen resource investment in a long time... isn't it a bit too fake?"
Mizusaki's voice came through the earpiece, but Su Xiao ignored him.
If that soft-spoken healer really would support him, then he could ignore long-range sneak attacks and charge straight into the crowd.
"I'll give you 3 centimeters of the heart afterward."
"Deal."
The cute healer replied without hesitation. At her level of experience, she knew not to hesitate when it mattered.
[You have received the 'Mental Amplification' buff: Restore 280 mana points.]
The mana recovery notification surprised Su Xiao even more. He hadn't expected the healer to restore his mana—this was undoubtedly good news.
A thought suddenly crossed Su Xiao's mind: should he randomly pick a "lucky" healer in future derivative worlds and kidnap them for use? But considering his assassination missions and the risk of making too many enemies, he reluctantly shelved the idea.
Boom!
A rocket slammed into the ground beneath Su Xiao, engulfing him in flames. As soon as it hit, the healer quickly healed him.
Su Xiao could have easily dodged the rocket; he took it deliberately to test something.
"Like this, there's no problem."
A faint smile curled at the corner of Su Xiao's mouth. His gaze locked onto the main tank ahead. This time, he would ignore attacks from behind—provided they didn't pose a lethal threat.
The long blade cut through the flames, striking the main tank, who had already leaped backward, and slamming him down from midair.
With Dragon-Slashing Flash's sharpness, it directly breached the main tank's Light Gold-grade armor, sinking into the flesh of his shoulder.
Azure Steel Shadow energy surged through the main tank's body, causing excruciating pain and devastating true damage.
Su Xiao's left arm shot forward, grabbing the main tank's faceplate.
With a crack, Su Xiao's grip crushed the faceplate armor. He lifted the main tank—who, with his armor, weighed over 500 jin—with one hand. The main tank's hands clawed at Su Xiao's arm, his legs dangling a few centimeters off the ground, kicking wildly.
Su Xiao bent his knee and drove it into the main tank's side.
Boom!
An inch-thick metal armor plate split open, spiderwebbing with cracks. The main tank let out a choked, sobbing scream, his body instinctively curling as he vomited a mix of stomach acid and blood, his face twisted in agony.
As a main tank, this was likely the first time he'd been grabbed by the head and kicked. He momentarily forgot to counterattack.
This was the weakness of team-oriented main tanks: they often forgot to retaliate when taking damage, since their team didn't need them to—just to endure. Or rather, they were accustomed to not fighting back. A wild main tank like Umbrella Brother would have immediately punched back.
After taking Su Xiao's knee strike, the main tank snapped back to reality. The chaos around him meant his teammates' support would be slow, so he raised his fist to fight back.
Su Xiao tossed the main tank two meters into the air and slashed repeatedly.
Shlick, shlick...
Blue slash marks crisscrossed, each cut piercing armor. Blood and armor fragments sprayed everywhere.
After six strikes, the main tank crashed to the ground with a thud. Blood gushed from his nearly shattered chestplate. After a series of true damage from Azure Steel Shadow, he lost consciousness and became a corpse upon landing.
Just as Su Xiao finished off the main tank, his blade swung to the side, blocking a strangely shaped hooked blade.
Sparks flew as Dragon-Slashing Flash parried the hook. Simultaneously, Su Xiao kicked sideways.
Boom!
A muffled scream followed as the hook-wielding enemy was sent flying, his weapon spinning out of his hand.
Dragon-Slashing Flash returned to its sheath, and Su Xiao's aura sharpened abruptly.
"Ring Break."
The blade unsheathed, and a circular blade aura expanded outward.
A spurt of blood appeared from thin air—a contractor who had tried to stealth around behind Su Xiao.
With a thud, the bisected corpse hit the ground. Ring Break didn't harm anyone else, because after Su Xiao had grabbed the main tank and hacked him to death in a few strikes, the other contractors had already fled a safe distance away.
Retreating didn't mean safety. Su Xiao stomped the ground and vanished.
"Control him and focus fire, or we're all dead!"
A contractor piloting a mech roared, though even as he shouted, he took a few steps back.
The shout had an effect. Su Xiao, who had disappeared from sight, suddenly reappeared, an energy chain wrapped around him.
Su Xiao yanked his arm, and with a crack, the energy chain shattered.
Though only trapped for a moment, dozens of attacks rained down on him—bullets, magic orbs, throwing knives, shurikens, and even a set of dentures.