Chapter 23: Melee
Above the ruins of Nightmare Town, the heat waves from the explosion rose, carrying sparks high into the sky.
With a roar from within the ruins, purple-black energy burst forth like scattered flowers, accompanied by a piercing howl.
A massive knight's sword formed of energy descended from the sky, and at its guard, a triangular crest could be seen.
The pitch-black giant sword stabbed straight down, purple light surging in all directions within the ruins. With a booming crash, the knight's giant sword shattered.
At the edge of the ruins, Su Xiao witnessed this scene. It was clearly someone fighting within the Nightmare Town ruins. If his guess was correct, the two sides in the conflict were the Nightmare King and the Great Knight.
Such a golden opportunity, Su Xiao would not miss. A layer of crystal wrapped around his feet and calves as he leaped into the ruins filled with sparks. The moment he landed, a sizzling sound came from underfoot.
He did not act together with Wood and Zuiyasi. After throwing that Apollo earlier, the situation had changed.
Su Xiao moved swiftly through the high-temperature ruins. Before long, he arrived near the battle site.
Boom.
A wave of air surged, lifting the charred ground beneath. Su Xiao hid behind a partially melted metal pillar. The material of this thing was extraordinary; it was probably a trump card the Nightmare King had set up here, now rendered useless.
Su Xiao looked toward the battle site. It was a patch of cracked, scorched earth. Two figures were locked in combat: the Nightmare King and the Great Knight.
The Nightmare King stood over four meters tall, wielding a long-handled war hammer, clad in heavy armor. It was clear that both the war hammer and the thick armor were ancient, bearing the marks of age. Despite their age, the armor and weapon were certainly of great origin, especially the long-handled war hammer, from which Su Xiao sensed a strong threat.
Fighting the Nightmare King was a tall knight in tattered armor. Though shorter than the Nightmare King, he was still about three meters tall. Having endured the explosion of the Apollo earlier, his red cape was reduced to a short stub.
After withstanding the Apollo blast, the Great Knight's armor, helmet, and cape were all in tatters, but the greatsword in his hand remained gleaming bright.
The Great Knight swung his sword down. With a rumble, the ground split, and dirt flew. His sword style was fierce and seasoned, swift without losing steadiness. A Blade Grandmaster, no doubt—at least Lv.60 level.
"Ha!"
The Great Knight let out a roar. From his voice, he was at least over fifty years old.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The Great Knight delivered several consecutive slashes, sparks flying. But the Nightmare King was no pushover. It swung its three-meter-long war hammer in wide arcs. After a series of metallic clashes, it ended with a forward thrust of the hammer.
Boom!!
The earth trembled, soil surging forward like a tidal wave. A dark, green-tinged glow seeped from the cracks in the ground. This strike was so powerful not because of the Nightmare King itself, but because of the war hammer in its hand.
After observing this, Su Xiao began to retreat toward the edge of the Nightmare Town ruins. He had only two choices: withdraw or join the fight.
Staying to watch the entire battle from the sidelines and then swoop in for the spoils was impossible—at least for Su Xiao.
At mid-to-high ranks, after perception abilities were gradually developed, battles in any world had an unspoken rule.
Even if the two combatants shared a blood feud, once they sensed a third-party observer hiding in the shadows, lurking without joining the fight, the two would temporarily cease hostilities. First, they would kill the opportunist trying to profit, then settle their own life-or-death struggle.
No one wanted their life, after a bloody battle, to be taken by a bystander. That would be too humiliating a death.
After confirming who the two combatants were, Su Xiao decisively withdrew. He had already figured out why the Nightmare King and the Great Knight were fighting—both were vying for the Scroll Fragment.
Su Xiao planned to participate in this battle in another way. The situation on the field was too chaotic. Joining the melee as a close-combat fighter would invite too many variables, so Su Xiao prepared to switch to a ranged role.
Su Xiao had recently invested a large amount of resources into developing his Gun Grandmaster skill, pushing it to Grandmaster Lv.34. He had also purchased an Immortal-rank +11 heavy sniper cannon. Why not leverage this advantage?
There were other inner painting worlds ahead. Su Xiao wasn't fully confident he could keep Wood and Zuiyasi here forever. Under these circumstances, revealing as few of his close-combat trump cards as possible was the safest choice.
The wind whistled past his ears. Su Xiao moved nimbly, leaping across the ruins. His target was the remaining buildings at the edge of Nightmare Town. Using them as a vantage point, he would deliver a long-range pounding to the Nightmare King.
He wanted to test what kind of destructive power he could achieve with his current gun skill level, combined with the Immortal-rank +11 sniper cannon.
Several tall buildings came into view. Two of them were leaning. He chose one that wasn't tilted and whose walls hadn't yet cracked, entered, and climbed the stairs to the top floor.
The scene inside the building revealed that someone had once lived here, but that was a long time ago—at least several hundred years, or even longer.
As the Nightmare King's territory, Nightmare Town clearly wouldn't allow others to set foot here. This suggested that the Nightmare King had taken over the nest of another.
Putting that aside, Su Xiao approached a wall and assumed a drawing stance.
Zheng!
Su Xiao slashed out once. The blade light suddenly split into a grid pattern. The wall ahead showed no change.
Banishment detached from Su Xiao's sleeve, forming a hammer shape, and slammed into the wall ahead. With a dull thud, the wall shattered into numerous rock blocks of equal size, falling outward.
This was a new technique Su Xiao had developed. In terms of practical value, this move had a short range, low power, and an obvious startup. Under normal circumstances, it would be hard to hit an enemy unless they were controlled.
However, there was one point: this unnamed technique could be charged for 0.5 to 5 seconds during the draw. During the charge, it would continuously consume Su Xiao's Cyan Steel Shadow Energy, stamina, and blood energy.
A 0.5-second charge made the power negligible. But if Su Xiao could charge for 5 seconds, the power of this move would surpass "Blade Path Sword: Flow" by a notch. Although 99% of the time in battle it wouldn't be used, this move was very practical in certain situations, such as forcibly opening treasure vault doors or walls.
The wall ahead shattered. In the night, Su Xiao could faintly see several figures fighting in the distance: Wood, Zuiyasi, the Great Knight, and the Nightmare King.
The situation was now three against one: Wood + Zuiyasi + the Great Knight, ganging up on the Nightmare King.
As the Nightmare King's home turf, its strength was formidable, but there were limits. Against the Great Knight alone, it was already in a tough spot. Adding Wood and Zuiyasi to the mix, the scene was predictable.
Watching the battle from afar, Su Xiao noticed that the Nightmare King's other abilities weren't particularly outstanding. Whether it was due to the environment's boost or something else, the Nightmare King was mysteriously tanky.