One Hit Away, Forced to Retreat

Chapter 27: One Hit Away, Forced to Retreat

Li Wei knew a great deal about the magic in Heroes of Might and Magic. Generally speaking, the best spell for restraining high-level units like knights was the fire spell Blindness.

So, on his way to Dawn City, he had deliberately trained the Dread Knight. As long as he gave the order, the Dread Knight would act accordingly. That way, even if it was struck by a negative spell like Blindness, it wouldn't be rendered unable to attack.

Now it had finally come in handy.

The Dread Knight charged in, then landed a Fatal Strike squarely on Sand's back. The Undead Necromancer let out a scream, flew several meters, and crashed to the ground.

-500

The damage appeared. The Dread Knight's attack was frighteningly powerful, and Sand had now lost half his health. In other words, if the Dread Knight attacked a few more times, it could kill the necromancer and complete the mission.

"Five meters ahead. Charge and slash!"

Li Wei felt no pity for the gravely wounded Sand. At the same time, he attacked him with Cloud Piercing Palm. Whenever Sand tried to cast a spell, Li Wei quickly retreated. After several exchanges, Sand hadn't managed to hurt him at all.

A mighty Undead Necromancer had been reduced to a helpless target by Li Wei and his companion. In truth, Undead Necromancers weren't suited to fighting alone. They were masters at manipulating the dead, but because Sand had pursued Li Wei, his Vampire Honor Guard hadn't caught up in time, leading to this one-sided situation.

Still, Li Wei knew that the undead troops under Sand's command would arrive in just a few minutes. When they did, he would be the one in trouble.

So he and the Dread Knight kept attacking Sand.

-150

-36

The steady damage brought the necromancer's health down to a dangerously low level. Sand had almost no mana left and was at the end of his rope. The relentless attacks kept him so busy fending them off that he couldn't counterattack.

Both Li Wei and the Dread Knight, Mordel, knew victory was within reach. According to Li Wei's Eye of Perception, Sand's health had fallen below 100 after Li Wei struck him with a palm. One more attack from the Dread Knight, and this B3-rated Undead Necromancer would die right there.

Li Wei would then complete the mission and return to Shadow Street!

But things often took a turn at the most critical moment. A huge iron axe spun through the air from behind Li Wei, its tremendous force generating a roar that echoed throughout Dawn City.

"Master, look out!" Mordel, the strongest of them all, spotted the flying axe before Li Wei did. He abandoned his attack on Sand and darted in front of Li Wei. With a loud clang, he blocked the axe. Li Wei was badly startled, and by the time the two of them recovered, Sand had already fled a long way.

"Damn it!" Li Wei pulled out his UPS Pistol, ready to shoot. But he knew the single bullet left in the chamber—the Wailing Scorching Impact Bullet—could only deal 50 to 76 damage. It wasn't enough to kill Sand, who still had 100 health.

And the Dread Knight, with no ranged attacks, could do nothing to stop Sand from fleeing for his life.

He was just one hit away from completing the mission, but now it was out of reach!

Li Wei turned and saw the man responsible: a brawny figure standing 1.9 meters tall, now reduced to an undead creature.

"This is the second time we've met, right? Where are the others?" Guo Jian looked at Li Wei in surprise. He couldn't imagine how someone with such a high number could have nearly killed Sand. It had to be because of that towering Dread Knight.

It had to be!

The muscles on Guo Jian's body had lost all their healthy flesh color, turning completely grayish purple. But they were much harder now, one of the abilities he'd gained after becoming undead.

Staring at the man, Li Wei's mind raced through countless possibilities. At last, one answer gradually came into focus.

"Number 348, your mission changed... It must have been to protect Sand, or perhaps to kill all the other Reincarnators besides yourself. Am I right?" Li Wei's words instantly changed Guo Jian's expression. Though he quickly hid his reaction, Li Wei had seen it clearly.

"So it really is true!" Li Wei said, though his words seemed to come out of nowhere. He shook his head and gave a mocking smile. "You want to know where the others are? Sorry, I'm not going to tell you!"

Li Wei had no intention of continuing the conversation. He knew this assassination plan had failed. Not far away, numerous undead were already heading their way.

Guo Jian's killing intent suddenly flared. He stopped looking down on Li Wei. This Reincarnator with a much higher number had shown such keen powers of analysis and deduction that Guo Jian felt a trace of fear. Someone like him had to be eliminated.

Guo Jian took a deep breath. His muscles gave off a dull, heavy sound, like a piece of cowhide being twisted. He had practiced Primordial Origin Skill, the most readily available internal martial art on Shadow Street. Having reached the second level, his base attributes were already formidable, and his signature move, Rakshasa Three Forms, was built around fierce, forceful attacks.

He crossed the distance of several dozen meters in just three steps. Without wasting a word, he swung his enormous fist at Li Wei. His Strength of 35 generated tremendous air pressure as his fist cut through the air.

Li Wei, meanwhile, unleashed Cloud Piercing Palm and met Guo Jian's fist head-on.

Bam!

Guo Jian staggered back two steps, while Li Wei had to retreat five or six steps before regaining his balance. Cloud Piercing Palm was a stronger skill than Rakshasa Three Forms, but the enormous difference in Strength still left Li Wei at a serious disadvantage.

In that brief moment, the Dread Knight had already clashed with the Vampire Honor Guard rushing toward them. Seeing the enemy numbers grow, Li Wei couldn't help feeling a pang of regret.

Seeing Li Wei trying to escape, Guo Jian hurried to block one of the routes out. The other directions were swarming with undead. In this situation, even if Li Wei could fly, he wouldn't be able to get away.

But what happened next made Guo Jian grind his teeth in fury. Li Wei and the Dread Knight both leapt into the enormous dry well, then disappeared from sight.

Damn it, there's a tunnel!

By the time he realized what had happened and went down to check, the two of them were nowhere to be seen.

Li Wei crawled out of the underground passage and plopped down on the ground. His heart was heavy with dejection. He'd been just one step away from completing the mission to assassinate Sand. Who could have guessed that Reincarnator Number 348 would appear at the last moment and cause the assassination to fail?

He'd still overlooked something. Li Wei had assumed that the man would die in Dawn City, so he hadn't included him in his plans. Now it seemed that this one omission had cost him a perfect opportunity.

But the mission hadn't failed yet. Only two days of the seven-day time limit had passed. There was still a chance!

Having regained his confidence, Li Wei rested briefly before heading into the forest. He had to keep moving; it was the only way to evade the undead pursuers.

Under the cover of night, the Knight Training Ground was also in for a sleepless night.

Zheng Yutong wearily took off her armor and entered her tent. She'd spent the entire day capturing nearby resource points and unit recruitment sites. She'd suffered some losses, but gained far more. Li Wei's "extreme expansion" plan was clearly working very well.

"What's that guy up to?" Thinking of Li Wei did nothing to improve Zheng Yutong's mood.

Bored, she took out the letter Bai Jie had brought back and began reading it. Li Wei had written it himself, and it contained a detailed expansion plan, even covering the use of certain units. Without the letter, Zheng Yutong wouldn't have been able to expand so quickly.

By now, she had 100 knights and 300 archers and halberdiers. Her field army included more than 500 mixed units, among them Withered Wood Guardians and High Elves. She also controlled over 20 resource points. With these forces alone, she could fight the undead of Dawn City.

Everything was proceeding just as she'd hoped. Zheng Yutong leaned against the soft sheepskin, feeling drowsy. She glanced sideways at the letter and suddenly noticed a short string of English letters written in tiny script near the edge on the back.

neve

What was this?

She sat up from her chair and stared at the English letters, her eyes lighting up.