Seeing his opening, the Elder Mayor leapt into the air, hurtling toward the back of the Desolate Precipice. A single, thin steel wire stretched across the chasm, and he landed on it with perfect, steady balance.
Miller the Smith reacted instantly, flinging the shield from his hand.
Clang!
The razor-sharp edge of the shield sheared through the wire in a heartbeat.
The Elder Mayor sprang upward again. Capitalizing on the moment Miller was left weaponless, he lunged straight for the smith.
Miller’s expression soured.
"Now."
Liam didn’t hesitate. Spiral-Draw Archery whistled through the air, screaming toward the Elder Mayor with staggering force.
The Mayor swatted the arrow aside with a single palm. In the same motion, he seized Miller by the collar and slammed him violently into the dirt.
-3,958!
The Elder Mayor’s damage was as oppressive as ever. Even clad in his Golden Set, Miller was clearly struggling to hold his ground.
However, Liam noticed something that made his eyes widen.
A massive damage number also erupted from the Elder Mayor’s head.
-2,775!!
Damage Reflection!
The power of that reflection was terrifying.
The Mayor, however, didn't seem surprised. Green light began to pulse from his body in waves.
+1,000.
+1,000.
...
It was a health regeneration effect, nearly identical to Liam's Resurgence skill.
This was getting interesting. The Mayor’s passive healing was ticking for a thousand HP every second. On the other side, Miller was a literal mountain of a tank. This was going to be a long fight.
But Miller didn't seem interested in a war of attrition.
His shield flew back into his grip, and he immediately initiated a Vanguard Charge toward the Mayor. The Mayor tried to dance back and create distance, but Miller was already committed, locking him down with a Taunt.
Forced into the taunt's duration, the Mayor began to unleash a flurry of Basic Attacks on Miller.
-1,598.
The Mayor’s raw strength made even his basic strikes lethal. Despite the Damage Reflection, the Mayor’s constant regeneration allowed him to weather the backlash with ease.
But Miller wasn't done yet. He slammed the flat of his shield into the Mayor's chest.
-5,285.
Liam raised an eyebrow. That kind of damage was impressive, even for a dedicated combat class.
Once the taunt wore off, the Mayor’s face twisted into a mask of pure malice. He didn't retreat. Instead, he took a heavy step forward, bracing his foot against the bottom of Miller’s shield, and launched himself over the top, landing directly on the smith’s head.
Frost began to crystallize around the Mayor’s palm.
Boom!
The frost-laden palm struck Miller squarely on the crown of his head.
-8,299!!
The massive critical number floated into the air.
"Stop spectating and do something!" Miller roared, spinning his shield upward to force the Mayor to back off.
Whiz!
An arrow tore through the wind.
Liam’s target, however, wasn't the Elder Mayor.
It was Miller the Smith.
Stunned by the impact of the arrow, Miller snarled, "What the hell are you doing?"
Liam shrugged nonchalantly. "Don't blame me. Blame the Mayor—his offer was just too good to pass up."
It was a blatant excuse. Liam was attacking Miller because he knew that if the Mayor died first, his own Life-Steal would never be enough to overcome a tank with seventy percent Damage Reflection. Miller likely had even more tricks up his sleeve that he hadn't revealed yet.
Therefore, Liam chose to help the Mayor kill Miller first.
"You’re wasting your time! My Damage Reflection makes your help useless to him!" Miller shouted, still trying to sway Liam back to his side.
Liam’s expression remained cold and indifferent. He didn't bother with a reply.
Arrows continued to rain down. Miller’s health bar began to plummet. Even a Gold Grade set couldn't negate the True Damage Liam was outputting.
At the same time, Liam’s own health was dropping. Every Basic Attack he landed triggered a reflection of over four thousand HP. Liam’s Bloodlust Heart only recovered about two thousand. Even with Resurgence and the bonus attributes from The Ninefold Longbow, his total recovery barely broke three thousand.
Under these conditions, the reflection damage was slowly eating him alive. The more he attacked, the more damage he took.
Because of this, Liam wasn't going all out.
He was loafing.
He didn't even bother trying to interrupt Miller’s heavy hits. His goal wasn't just to help the Mayor; he wanted Miller dead, and then he wanted the Mayor dead.
If both of them fell here, there would be no one left in the Novice Village capable of standing in his way.
The battle between the two powerhouses grew increasingly violent. Both were at the absolute ceiling of Novice Village’s power scale. However, it was clear that in terms of pure combat technique, Miller was leagues behind the Mayor.
The Mayor executed a low slide kick, knocking Miller off balance, followed immediately by a brutal over-the-shoulder throw. Before Miller could even hit the ground, the Mayor transitioned into a falling elbow strike. The movements were fluid, like water, leaving Miller with almost no time to react.
Both of their health bars were draining, but Miller’s was vanishing much faster. The Mayor was the aggressor, while Miller was relying almost entirely on his reflection to deal damage back.
Liam watched from the sidelines, continuing to "help" with the occasional arrow while carefully studying the Mayor’s movements. He needed to memorize these patterns for the moment Miller finally fell.
Suddenly, Miller launched his counterattack.
Arcs of lightning suddenly erupted from his armor, paralyzing the Mayor in mid-motion.
Taking advantage of the brief opening, Miller slammed the serrated edge of his shield into the Mayor’s throat.
"Cyclone Nine-Slash!"
Miller’s shield blurred. Nine high-speed phantoms of the heavy buckler tore through the Mayor’s body in a synchronized execution.
-2,958.
-2,958.
-2,958.
...
A string of damage numbers flooded the air. The Mayor tried to retaliate, but Miller wasn't about to let this golden opportunity slip. He slammed his shield into the ground with a thunderous roar.
A dome of heavy light trapped the Mayor from above.
"Gravity Shroud!"
Liam’s eyes narrowed. Under the weight of the shroud, even the Mayor’s powerful frame buckled slightly.
In that split second, Miller struck again. He slapped the back of his shield.
"Ambush from All Sides!"
Ten spiked shields materialized out of thin air, surrounding the Mayor. They began to slam into him from every direction, relentlessly grinding down his HP.
The Mayor’s face twisted in rage. The frost on his fists vanished, replaced by roaring, white-hot flames.
Boom!
The Mayor threw a punch that shattered one of the spectral shields. The resulting fiery explosion splashed over ten meters, the shockwave sending Miller reeling back.
Whoosh!
The Mayor blurred into a shadow, appearing behind Miller in an instant.
"Mountain-Breaker Fist!"
The punch landed with the force of a falling star, sending Miller flying across the clearing.
Before he could even hit the dirt, the Mayor’s hand shot out, snatching Miller the Smith by the ankle.
"Eighteen Grappling Falls!"
CRUNCH. THUD. CRASH.
The scene was a visceral massacre. The Mayor swung Miller like a ragdoll, slamming him into the earth again and again in a brutal cycle of the Eighteen Grappling Falls. Every single impact sent Miller’s face crashing directly into the stone. The sensation was... agonizingly exquisite.
Liam’s jaw tightened. He found himself wondering if he would be on the receiving end of that same treatment once he finally squared off against the Mayor.
Right then, the Mayor gathered his strength and hurled Miller high into the air. He followed up immediately, his fists blurring as they rained down a relentless barrage.
This was the Brawler way—pure, raw, meat-on-bone violence. It was the kind of combat that made the blood boil with adrenaline.
Yet, Liam remained unmoved, focused entirely on his "slack-off" strategy, waiting for the perfect moment.
"Unstoppable!" Miller roared. A golden glow erupted around him as he activated the skill, instantly purging all crowd control.
The moment the status effect took hold, he hurled his shield forward.
"Spatial Barrier, Shatter!"
The shield hummed with volatile energy, physically tearing a jagged rift into the fabric of space itself.
"Frost Monarch, I’ve memorized your face," Miller spat, his eyes burning with hatred. "The next time we meet, I will become your Nightmare."
"Stop him!" Liam’s expression shifted instantly.
Miller was sacrificing everything to tear open a Spatial Barrier and flee. The Mayor reacted with blinding speed, darting forward to intercept the smith before he could reach the rift.
"Sacrificing your gear just to break a Spatial Barrier? You’ve completely lost your mind!" the Mayor bellowed.
Miller let out a cold sneer. "I lost this round. I suggest you look over your shoulder from now on."
Liam’s face darkened. He couldn't quite wrap his head around how Miller had managed to force open a Spatial Rift. Even sacrificing a full Gold Grade Set shouldn't have been enough to achieve something of that scale.
"Don't let him go!"
Liam had no intention of letting his prey escape. He drew his bow, unleashing his current limit: Quintuple Shot!
Five arrows whistled through the air. He couldn't allow Miller to walk away.
But with Unstoppable active, even the Mayor was struggling to pin down a rampaging Miller, let alone Liam’s arrows.
"Alter the terrain!" Liam shouted.
His Quintuple Shot wasn't aimed at Miller’s body this time. Instead, the arrows slammed into the ground in a precise formation, creating a makeshift fence that forced Miller to veer off course, delaying his escape by a fraction of a second.
The Mayor’s eyes lit up.
"Divine Frost-Fire Fist!"
The Mayor’s fist slammed into the earth directly in front of Miller. The ground buckled and collapsed under the sheer force, leaving a jagged, gaping crater in his path.
Unstoppable made a player immune to knockbacks, stuns, and slows, but it didn't grant the power of flight. If there was a hole in the ground, a player still had to deal with the physics of it.
The Mayor was going all out, burning every cooldown to keep Miller pinned.
Miller had been certain his escape was guaranteed once Unstoppable was live. Now, seeing the path blocked, panic finally flickered in his eyes.
"Berserk!"
"Savage Charge!"
Miller popped both skills simultaneously, his movement speed exploding.
"Unstoppable! Berserk!"
"Glacial Pulse Strike!"
The Mayor matched him beat for beat, refusing to give an inch of ground. Meanwhile, Liam’s Quintuple Shots continued to rain down, systematically boxing Miller into a smaller and smaller kill zone.
As long as they could outlast the duration of Unstoppable, Miller was a dead man. Furthermore, the Spatial Rift was already beginning to shrink.
Time was running out, and Miller knew it. He let out a final, desperate howl.
"Aerial Nine-Combo!"
He triggered the Suspension effect of the skill, attempting to launch himself over the crater and into the closing rift.
But the Mayor wouldn't have it. He leaped into the air, his body colliding mid-flight with Miller’s. Since both were in an Unstoppable state, neither was knocked back. They remained locked in a mid-air stalemate for several seconds before crashing back to the ground together.
In those few seconds, the Spatial Rift sealed shut.
Liam didn't waste a moment wondering how Miller had opened the rift in the first place. He shifted into full-damage mode. Without his Golden Set and the dreaded Damage Reflection, Miller was no longer a threat.
The Mayor joined the assault, his fists a blur of frost and fire.
In less than a minute, Miller the Smith collapsed, his eyes filled with a final, lingering resentment.
The very instant Miller’s body hit the floor, Liam’s arrows were already back in the air.
This time, the target was the Mayor.
The transition was so seamless, so cold-blooded, that even the Mayor was momentarily stunned.
"Frost Monarch, what the hell are you doing?!"
Liam’s expression remained stony. "Sending you to your grave."
"You're courting death!" the Mayor roared, his face contorting with rage.
He tried to lunge at Liam, only to realize that the archer’s movement speed was utterly absurd. Liam had stockpiled eighty Attribute Points, and he had dumped every single one of them into Agility specifically to kiting a Brawler.
Brawlers were terrifying in close quarters. In the world of Ancient Martial Artists, players who mastered the class were a nightmare—if they got a hand on you, you were as good as dead.
But Liam’s eighty AP provided an extra eight points of base movement speed. Combined with the stacked passives of his Gale-Runner Set, his current speed was nothing short of monstrous.
Moreover, because Liam’s HP was now massively inflated, his basic attacks were hitting like a truck. Each Basic Attack shaved off over seven thousand of the Mayor’s health. At five arrows per second, his output was a staggering thirty-eight thousand damage every second.
"You kill me, and you destroy the Novice Village!" the Mayor snarled, his eyes dark and menacing.
Liam offered no reply. His only answer was the relentless thrum of his bowstring.
Without Unstoppable or Berserk available, the Mayor was little more than a training dummy in Liam’s sights.
But then, the old man’s lips curled into a chilling smile.
"Nine-Fold Shadow Step!!"
In a flicker of motion, the Mayor transformed into a blur, reappearing directly in front of Liam. One more step, and he was already behind him.
Liam had anticipated a gap-closer. The moment the Mayor’s silhouette flickered, Liam let loose an arrow.
However, at point-blank range, the Mayor simply twisted his torso, letting the arrow whistle past his ear. As he moved, a crystalline blue frost began to condense on his palms.
System: You have been affected by Frost. Attack Velocity reduced by 14%. Movement Speed reduced by 14%.
Liam’s eyebrows rose.
The Mayor’s skill was borderline broken. Fourteen percent might not sound like much, but Liam was currently wearing the Purifying Jade Amulet, which reduced the effectiveness of all debuffs by eighty percent.
That meant the raw version of this skill slowed a target by a massive seventy percent. At any stage of the game, that was an encounter-breaking debuff.
Whiz! Whiz! Whiz!
Liam fired a Quintuple Shot while simultaneously attempting to open the distance again.
The Mayor had felt certain the fight was over. But when he saw Liam still moving with fluid, rapid grace despite the slow, his jaw nearly dropped.
He hadn't exhausted his skill yet. Nine-Fold Shadow Step had more charges. Without hesitation, he took another step, vanishing and reappearing at Liam’s back once more.
Liam reacted instantly, swinging his longbow in a wide, sweeping arc.
But the Mayor’s combat experience was vast. He leaned back, letting the bow whistle over him, before reaching out and snatching Liam’s arm. With a powerful twist, he sent Liam over his shoulder in a classic throw.
The Mayor immediately began charging a heavy strike, his fist glowing as he prepared to crush Liam’s skull.
To his shock, Liam performed a mid-air recovery and rolled away, causing the Mayor’s fist to shatter the ground where his head had been a second before.
The Mayor’s eyes widened. A shoulder throw should have applied a brief stun. Liam shouldn't have been able to recover and dodge that quickly.
"You're wearing crowd-control reduction gear?" the Mayor demanded, his voice dropping into a low, dangerous register.