Fatal Strike, Li Wei's Resolve

Chapter 29: Fatal Strike, Li Wei's Resolve

Beside the dry well where a fierce battle had taken place a few days earlier, nearly costing Sand his life, several skeletons had been smashed to pieces. Withered bones and remains littered the ground, while a shadow over two meters tall worked hard to clear the obstacles from inside the well.

After the assassination attempt, the Undead Necromancer had ordered this passage sealed and sent a squad of Skeleton Soldiers to guard it. He had never imagined that his assumption—that the enemy wouldn't return by the same route—was so naive.

If he'd known what Li Wei was like, he wouldn't have sent only low-level undead to guard the passage.

When the hulking shadow finally moved the last boulder, which weighed over a hundred kilograms, Li Wei climbed out of the dry well. Of course, Dread Knight Mordel came with him.

Li Wei hadn't given up after his last failure. He was an exceptionally persistent person. During his childhood, he'd been a notorious troublemaker, the kind of boy who would do whatever he was told not to do. Whenever he failed, he'd get right back up. That was just the sort of person Li Wei was.

"Mordel, I told you: sometimes the people you look down on will help you at a crucial moment. They might even be the ones who turn the tide of battle. So never underestimate anyone!"

Li Wei pointed at the shadow clearing their passage, speaking as though he were imparting a lesson. Mordel let out a groan. After spending several days together, he'd had more than enough of his master's "endless chatter." Even an emotionless undead couldn't stand Li Wei's "force-feeding" style of teaching.

But this time, Mordel truly admired his master. Who would have thought that Li Wei had already prepared a backup plan during the previous assassination attempt?

That plan was the inconspicuous Orc!

The shadow clearing the passage for Li Wei and the others was the Orc he'd stacked nine times. Thanks to the stacking effect, its strength was now comparable to that of a third-tier unit. Dealing with a few Skeleton Soldiers was a piece of cake.

Li Wei had planned an escape route in case the assassination failed well before carrying it out. Getting out of Dawn City safely was only the first step. His real trump card was the stacked Orc that had started the fire and then disappeared without a trace.

Li Wei had ordered it to hide nearby regardless of whether the assassination succeeded, then open this dry well passage five days later, when the human kingdom attacked.

Now, it had completed its mission!

"Mordel, although we failed last time, it wasn't a total loss... At least now we know about the Undead Necromancer's magic, health, and weaknesses. Trust me, Sand is a dead man this time!"

As he said the word "dead," Li Wei radiated such a fearsome aura that even Mordel, standing beside him, felt a chill. Over the past five days, he'd witnessed firsthand just how terrifying his master was.

Li Wei had expanded his forces at an almost relentless pace. He'd left no place untouched if it might contain gold or treasure. For five days, Mordel had fought alongside Li Wei, day and night. Even an undead who never grew tired found it unnerving.

Mordel knew that Li Wei was only a mortal!

Still, Mordel had no idea what Li Wei was planning. He only knew that Li Wei kept collecting gold coins but didn't recruit any creatures. Instead, he went to a neutral merchant and bought over a hundred Thief's Blades.

Thief's Blade: Attack +3, white quality. A favorite weapon of women and thieves who wandered the roads. Short and sharp, it was easy to swing quickly.

It was an absolute piece of junk. Mordel was certain that even a powerful barbarian with this rubbish dagger couldn't pierce his armor, let alone hurt him.

At the neutral merchant's, each Thief's Blade cost 50 gold coins, which was cheap. But buying a hundred of them was no small expense. When Li Wei spent 5,000 gold coins on a hundred Thief's Blades, Mordel's heart ached. He also thought his master had gone mad.

But how could he have known what Li Wei had in mind?

In fact, Li Wei had thought it through far more carefully than Mordel. During the last sneak attack on Sand, he'd discovered that ranged attacks did almost nothing to the powerful Undead Necromancer. Even stacked bullets had only taken away a tiny fraction of his health.

But Dread Knight's Fatal Strike and Li Wei's Cloud-Piercing Palm had dealt considerable damage. That led Li Wei to a conclusion: Undead Necromancer Sand had to possess an ability or item that protected him from ranged attacks. The most likely culprit was the black-and-red robe he wore.

So the best way to kill him was to attack at close range. Cloud-Piercing Palm was decent, but its damage was still too low, and it wasn't very fast. The Centaur Battle Axe had the same problem; swinging it effectively required considerable strength.

That was when Li Wei thought of the fastest weapons to attack with: daggers!

The moment he saw the Thief's Blade's attributes, he knew he'd found exactly what he'd been looking for. So he spent five days gathering coins and buying a hundred of them. Then, the previous night, he stacked all one hundred Thief's Blades.

Stacking a hundred daggers was no easy task. It took Li Wei over an hour, and he was nearly out of strength when he finally completed the Art of Stacking.

[Thunderous Berserk Dagger] Attack 59–113, lightning damage 37–49, purple quality, Agility +15, Strength +10, Durability 30/30 (cannot be repaired), exchangeable for 20,000 points, cannot be taken out of the story world.

At first, when Li Wei saw the item's attributes, he was stunned. Then he was overcome with joy. But when he read the last line—"cannot be taken out of the story world"—his spirits sank.

But that made sense. If an "outrageously powerful" item like this could be taken out, even someone with only ordinary base attributes could probably deal with those veteran powerhouses.

And with a durability of 30 that couldn't be repaired, the dagger's lifespan was extremely short.

After repeatedly using the Stacking Technique, Li Wei had learned a few things. Generally, the more advanced an item was, the harder it was to stack. There was also a chance of failure. Li Wei had already lost quite a few daggers when his attempts went wrong.

In addition, to create an item that could be taken out of the story world, the maximum number of stacks couldn't exceed five. Li Wei's Centaur Battle Axe, for example, had now been stacked five times. It had 75 attack power, and its quality had improved from green to blue. But that was the limit. If he stacked it again, it couldn't be taken out of the story world. That was probably one way to suppress a divine skill like the Art of Stacking.

Even so, Li Wei was thrilled. Although he couldn't take the purple-quality Thunderous Berserk Dagger out of the story world, he could still use it to kill Undead Sand.

With an attack of 59–113, additional lightning damage of 37–49, the attack speed of a dagger, and its Agility and Strength bonuses, Li Wei was confident that, working with Dread Knight, he could finish off Sand in ten seconds.

He might not even give him time to cast a spell!

With the dagger in hand, Li Wei's base attributes had become: Strength 19, Agility 25, Spirit 15, Stamina 5, overall rating D2-Rank!"

Just then, the war between the humans and the undead began. Nearly all the undead in the city were converging at the gates. Wearing a black cloak, Li Wei blended in among a large group of zombies. The cloak had long since been infused with the stench of zombies, so the sluggish, mindless creatures didn't notice that an "outsider" had joined their ranks.

Zombies were among the most disgusting units of all. Even other undead didn't want to march alongside this mob of fly-covered rotting flesh. So Li Wei had no trouble following the undead army to the front lines.

"Lord Sand commands that all Skeleton Soldiers and zombies go out and engage the enemy! Damn it, hurry up!" A zombie leader with a face covered in pustules kicked one of his kind, sending the tall zombie stumbling out through the city gate.

Li Wei had already hidden in a secluded corner, deep in the shadows. Dread Knight had left his warhorse behind and was hiding there with him.

Li Wei scanned the city walls but didn't see Undead Necromancer Sand. The man hadn't appeared yet, so Li Wei could only keep waiting in the corner. The moment Sand showed himself, Li Wei would begin his decapitation strike.

War had always been a slaughterhouse that devoured countless lives. But this time, the human kingdom's army clearly had the upper hand. Under the attacks of advanced units like griffins and knights, low-level undead such as Skeleton Soldiers and zombies couldn't fight back at all. They were smashed into piles of dry bones and rotting flesh.

Zheng Yutong sat on horseback, watching the battle from a distance. She'd done everything she could. Whether the mission could be completed depended on this battle.

The more than three hundred elite knights she'd recruited were the strongest units in the entire human army. Their white armor stood in neat ranks, like a wall of steel. Three hundred long, sharp lances resembled a vast, dense forest of steel, enough to make anyone shudder.

Zheng Yutong had completed strategic missions before, but never one that had progressed this far. She believed the mission had gone almost perfectly from start to finish. Without any surprises, the final rating would surely be above B-Rank, perhaps even A-Rank.

Compared with the C-Rank, D-Rank, or even E-Rank ratings she'd received for previous missions, the reward this time would surely be substantial.

"If it weren't for that guy, I'm afraid we couldn't have pulled this off." Staring at the tall walls of Dawn City, Zheng Yutong took out her weapon and prepared to join the battle. How could she pass up a chance like this to earn points?

"The Undead Necromancer still hasn't appeared. Everyone, stay alert! Those despicable undead love to play tricks, and their high-level units haven't shown up yet. Don't let your guard down!"

The human army's commander shouted loudly, immediately drawing everyone's attention. It was true: it was too soon to celebrate. The evil Undead Necromancer must have another scheme. Otherwise, he wouldn't have stayed out of sight.

In truth, Sand had no scheme.

At that moment, Sand was heading for the city gate, surrounded by a large group of vampires. The assassination attempt a few days earlier had nearly scared him out of his wits. Even the undead feared death, after all.

Now that his health had recovered, he planned to enslave the dozen or so Bone Dragons he'd found a few days earlier and teach those reckless humans a lesson, letting off some of the anger he'd been holding in.

When he reached the city wall, the undead guarding it bowed to their supreme commander. This greatly satisfied Sand's pride. He nodded in approval and was about to climb the wall when he suddenly heard a familiar "bang."

Still lost in his memories, he was struck in the chest by a spark. With a crack of breaking bone, a hole appeared in his chest.

Only when flames began to burn from the wound did he remember where that familiar "bang" had come from!

"Damn it, that human!" Following the sound, Sand saw a terrifying sight. The human and Dread Knight who had tried to assassinate him a few days earlier were smashing the vampires blocking their way into burning fragments. It looked like they were after him again.

For a moment, Sand lost his nerve. He didn't even want to fight the two of them. He just kept backing away, hoping to get as far from those two killers as possible.

But hope and reality were never the same thing. In less than two seconds, the two killers had already charged right up to him.

The Thunderous Berserk Dagger in Li Wei's hand was a weapon of utter devastation. An ordinary vampire became a burning pile of ash after being stabbed twice in quick succession. Skeletons and zombies couldn't even withstand one strike. The terrifying killing power of a hundred stacked daggers was now on full display.

"Trying to run? Not a chance!"

Seeing the Undead Necromancer try to escape, Li Wei sneered. The stacked bullet he'd just fired from his UPS Pistol had taken 50 health points from Sand. The Undead Necromancer now had only 1,950 health points left.

At close range, Li Wei drove the dagger into Sand's back with a quick reverse thrust. The Thunderous Berserk Dagger plunged deep.

-150

That was a powerful blow—four times stronger than Cloud-Piercing Palm.

Before Sand could even feel the pain, the dagger in Li Wei's hand moved again!

(An oversight slipped into the story: the Blindness spell shouldn't work on the undead. Thanks to the readers who spotted this bug. Also, continued thanks to "Three Thousand Worlds: One Step to the Summit," "Aristocratic Scholar," "Wanxiang Xingchen," "Ning Shang," "Transparent Shadow," and "Eight Cats" for tipping the book. Thank you all so much for your support! Lastly, as usual, please vote and add the book to your collection. P.S. I hope we can beat the ** above us today. Let's go!)