Chapter Nine: Life and Death as One, In a Flash, The True Form of the Earth-Incinerator

With a swift roll, Chen Ling narrowly dodged the scattering stones that shot toward him. As a level 2 Cardmaster, he possessed reflexes far beyond those of ordinary people. Combined with the fact that Scorched Earth, having lost its legs, could hardly move at all, and the bombastic prelude to its skill activations, these all gave Chen Ling a tremendous advantage! Weaving and rolling, he evaded the incoming Rockburst Orbs, and then suddenly sprinted out of the dense cloud of dust.

“Cough! Cough! Finally made it out!”

Seeing a player break free, Scorched Earth was far from pleased. Grabbing a rock orb, it hurled it straight at Chen Ling—but its movements were so blatant, even a fool could predict what it was about to do.

“Big guy, let me show you what I’m made of!” Two cards shot toward Scorched Earth at once.

Scorched Earth ignored the cards flying toward it, not even bothering to block, letting them strike its body.

Bang! Bang! The Double Card Strike hit Scorched Earth’s chest in quick succession, shattering the stone there and leaving a deep hollow.

“Aaah! Damn humans! Rockburst Orb!” Roaring in pain, Scorched Earth no longer underestimated the ant-sized Chen Ling before it, unleashing three elephant-sized Rockburst Orbs at once.

Pushing off with his toes, Chen Ling’s body flew backward, narrowly escaping the three Rockburst Orbs, driving Scorched Earth into a frenzy.

Back and forth it went...

In the end, Scorched Earth’s primitive intellect could not prevail over its fury. Madness overwhelmed reason, and it abandoned all other players to concentrate its attacks solely on Chen Ling. This opened a golden opportunity for the others—a chance Chen Ling was not about to let slip by.

“Wei, don’t mind me! Focus your fire! I can’t hold out much longer! Take my gun!” Dodging another Rockburst Orb, Chen Ling shouted to Wei and the other two who were preparing to come to his aid, tossing all his remaining bullets and his assault rifle their way.

Seeing Chen Ling deftly occupying the boss, Liu Wei and his companions said no more. They picked up the rifle and opened fire on the boss. Bullets and explosions filled the air, composing a fierce symphony. Each player felt a pang of pain and anger for their fallen comrades—now, at last, a place to vent those feelings. How could they let this chance slip by?

Gasping for breath, Chen Ling was reaching his limits as Scorched Earth’s assault grew ever more frenzied. He had thrown nearly everything he had left.

As for Scorched Earth, it ignored all attacks from other players, focusing every ounce of its fury on Chen Ling. Its rationality had long been consumed by endless rage.

“Looks like I’ll have to try out that title-grade grenade I got from Brutality!” Even a superhuman couldn’t dodge a never-ending barrage of Rockburst Orbs forever. By now, Chen Ling’s clothes were shredded, his pants torn in more than one place—his whole body was covered in wounds, fresh blood mingling with grey dust, dripping to the ground. He had long since lost count of how many times he’d dodged those orbs; at this point, it was pure instinct.

Don’t let me down, Brother Brutal! Chen Ling prayed in his heart, using the last of his strength to hurl the Brutal Grenade at Scorched Earth before collapsing to the ground.

“Hahaha! Die, insect!” At the sight of Chen Ling crumpled on the ground, Scorched Earth let out a triumphant laugh, throwing a Rockburst Orb at least three times larger than usual. As for the meteor-hammer-shaped object Chen Ling had thrown before he fell, Scorched Earth didn’t even bother to look at it—such a puny thing was useless, or so it thought. But it forgot all about the two cards Chen Ling had thrown at the very start.

As the monstrous Rockburst Orb drew closer, Chen Ling wanted to dodge but was too weak. “Boss! Get up! Please get up!” Zhang Long, firing his rifle, cried out as the orb hurtled toward Chen Ling.

“Starry Night! You can do something, right? The boss will be okay, right?”

“Wei! Quickly! Grenades!” Starry Night, shaken by Zhang Long’s frantic questioning, steadied himself and called out to Liu Wei.

“Yes, yes!”

Bang, bang, bang! Three grenades were fired in quick succession. Disappointingly, even after being struck three times, the Rockburst Orb was still much larger than normal. Never mind its size—even a regular one would be fatal!

“Is this the end? No! I can’t die, I haven’t seen Lan’er yet! Aaah—!” In the face of death, the strength that bursts forth is truly the greatest. Drawing on some unknown reserve of power, Chen Ling leaped out of the impact zone just in time!

The Rockburst Orb crashed down, missing him by only ten centimeters. Chen Ling brushed past death itself—thanks to Liu Wei’s three grenades, he was saved.

Scorched Earth, however, was not so fortunate...

The Brutal Grenade’s power far exceeded Chen Ling's expectations.

Boom! A thunderous explosion shook the world.

Scorched Earth’s health bar plummeted by forty percent in an instant. With the team’s follow-up attacks, it was left with only thirty percent of its life. In other words, Chen Ling’s distraction had cost the boss a full thirty percent of its health! Even Chen Ling was stunned by the power of the Brutal Grenade—perhaps he truly was blessed by the gods of loot...

A seemingly worthless meteor hammer and an insignificant insect had dealt such grievous harm. Scorched Earth’s rage, never truly spent, flared again.

Suddenly, red veins began to pulse across Scorched Earth’s body, making it look eerily sinister.

[Scorched Earth’s passive skill, Lava Body, has been triggered: all attacks now deal fire and earth damage! Skill Rock Soldier Summon triggered: every three minutes, twenty rock soldiers will be summoned! Thanks to Lava Body, Rock Soldier Summon has mutated to Flame Rock Soldier Summon, and Rockburst Orb has mutated to Fire Rock Orb. Passive skills Stone Helm and Earth’s Breath have been deactivated! Players must hold out for another fifteen minutes...]

Scorched Earth—so that’s what his name truly meant!

Thank goodness the GM sold healing potions—otherwise, with Liu Wei dragging Chen Ling back, he surely would have died...

“Damn! What a rip-off! Even the worst potion costs twenty black coins!” Zhang Long cursed under his breath.