Another A-Rank Evaluation

Chapter 30: Another A-Rank Evaluation

The Thunderous Berserk Dagger was just like its name suggested; those who wielded it would be influenced by the frenzied, berserk aura radiating from the blade.

Li Wei's eyes were bloodshot by now, and he was raining blows upon Sand with the dagger, disregarding his own safety.

Stabs, slashes, thrusts, and cuts—the variety of his moves was endless. The lightning damage crackling from the blade made the unfortunate Sand howl in misery. In less than five seconds, his health had already plummeted below 1,000.

This was still without Li Wei having mastered "Dagger Mastery." If he were a veteran accustomed to daggers, Sand would likely have already collapsed and been singing "Conquer" by now.

Logically speaking, five seconds is neither long nor short. The surrounding Vampire Honor Guards were not just for show, so why were they letting Li Wei run wild like this?

The Vampire Honor Guards certainly wanted to protect their master, but they had to be able to spare the effort. The battle blades of the Level 6 Dread Knights had long since blocked them on the periphery. Although they held a numerical advantage, the inherent gap in levels left these vampires helpless, forced to watch as Li Wei grinned hideously, stabbing their Lord Sand again and again.

The sudden situation caused massive chaos within the undead army, and the dozens of Bone Dragon units already deployed on the front lines were also affected.

The human kingdom's knights and Griffins still appeared too "fragile" in front of the Level 7 Bone Dragons. Bone Dragons were undead creatures formed by Undead Necromancers using evil magic to awaken the remains of deceased dragons. Although they lacked flesh, their steel-like skeletal bodies and special abilities like "Fear" and "Aging" made them no weaker than they were when alive—sometimes even stronger.

Perhaps only the Angel Legion, also a Level 7 unit, could contend with them. However, the Angel Legion was the human kingdom's final secret weapon and was unlikely to appear easily. Although the Griffins were valiant, they were no match for the Bone Dragons and had already suffered heavy casualties. Fortunately, there were still hundreds of elite knights; otherwise, these dozen-plus Bone Dragons alone could have forced the entire human army into a full retreat.

Even so, the knights could not hold on much longer. Zheng Yutong felt anxious beyond measure as she watched a knight bitten in two by a massive Bone Dragon. This mission's success was at stake, and there could be no mistakes.

She prepared to take action herself. After using Wind Walk to enter the fray, she unleashed a Level 4 Magic Arrow skill directly at a Bone Dragon. The arrow, laced with blinding electric light, struck the Bone Dragon like a bolt of lightning, emitting a loud "crackling" sound.

Unfortunately, without the Eye of Perception, she could not see the damage values or the Bone Dragon's health. Otherwise, she might have despaired right then and there; her strongest skill had only shaved off one-twentieth of the Bone Dragon's health.

As time passed, the human legion managed to take down one Bone Dragon, but they had no follow-up forces left. Both the commander and Zheng Yutong knew that this battle was likely lost.

Just then, a sharp screech erupted from within Dawn City. All the Bone Dragons stopped their attacks at the same moment, as if they had heard an order from someone, and flapped their massive bone wings to fly toward Dawn City.

What happened?

The human commander and Zheng Yutong were both completely bewildered. Why would the enemy retreat when they held such a massive advantage, and why were they retreating so... hurriedly?

If they knew these Bone Dragons were rushing back to save their supreme commander, their jaws might have hit the floor.

The Thunderous Berserk Dagger in Li Wei's hand was enveloped in several permanent arcs of lightning, looking like a true divine artifact. Every attack dealt over 100 points of damage. But the most lethal part was the lightning on the dagger; it not only dealt lightning damage to the targeted Sand, but even other undead nearby were not spared.

With the rise and fall of the dagger, the crackling of electric arcs was incessant. Li Wei was so excited he almost cried out; he was having the time of his life. As an E3-rated player, he was chasing down a B3-rated Sand, beating him like a mouse bullying a cat—how could he not be happy and excited?

Sand, meanwhile, was stunned by this terrifying dagger. He even forgot to cast spells, only knowing how to flee blindly. After a few more stabs, Sand's health dropped to 500.

At this moment, Guo Jian, who had just arrived, was shocked to see Sand scurrying about like a stray dog. Sand was the key to completing his mission; he could not afford any mistakes.

He let out a loud roar, swung a massive iron axe, and hacked toward Li Wei, unleashing the "Rakshasa Three Forms."

I've been waiting for you!

Li Wei glanced at Guo Jian from the corner of his eye and sneered. It was this person who had caused the assassination mission to fail last time. If he let this guy ruin his chance again, Li Wei would rather go find a block of tofu to smash his head against.

With a backhanded Chisel, Li Wei's Thunderous Berserk Dagger made intimate contact with the great axe. With a crisp "crackling" sound, Li Wei, whose strength was worlds apart from his opponent's, actually used a small dagger to force back Guo Jian's iron axe.

With 19 points of Strength, 25 points of Agility, and the dagger's terrifying attack power, Li Wei, possessing five times the strength and speed of an ordinary person, now had the strength to go head-to-head with Guo Jian.

And the key factor was that purple-quality dagger.

One had to know that in Shadow Street, besides the rating, the quality of an item determined its value. Quality was divided from low to high into Gray, White, Green, Blue, Purple, and Orange. The "Thunderous Berserk Dagger" could be considered a top-tier item among purple weapons, while the axe in Guo Jian's hand was merely a common white-quality item, naturally unable to compete.

"That dagger of his... it's strange!" Guo Jian was a veteran and naturally had an eye for such things. The dagger in Li Wei's hand was sparking with electricity, had a unique design, and faintly radiated a hazy purple glow.

A purple-quality weapon!

Seeing this, Guo Jian gasped. He was an old-timer in Shadow Street, and in all this time, he had only seen one powerhouse with an ID under 100 sell a purple bracer. At the time, several major powerhouses had competed for it, and the price had eventually skyrocketed to a staggering 50,000 points. Calculating at 1,000 points per mission, one would need to safely survive 50 missions to afford such a bracer.

This naturally filled Guo Jian with envy, jealousy, and hatred. He remembered the appearance of purple items vividly, so upon seeing the dagger in Li Wei's hand, he froze.

Subsequently, he made a decision: at all costs, kill Li Wei and seize that purple-quality weapon. His eyes became bloodshot, just like a rapist who had been locked in prison for a dozen years seeing a naked beauty.

Li Wei was not afraid of him, but this time he would not be distracted by Guo Jian. His true target was Sand, so after forcing Guo Jian back, Li Wei struck Sand again.

-180

The electric blade tore away a chunk of flesh. The Undead Necromancer Sand's health had dropped to 380 points. This was almost a critical threshold, and it finally forced out the ferocity of this undead necromancer.

"Blindness!"

He was using the same trick again, but this time the target was Li Wei. Without strong magic resistance, it was impossible to resist the effect of the spell. In an instant, Li Wei felt several blinding rays of light flash by, his eyes lost their sight, and he fell into total darkness.

Seeing that the spell had successfully affected his target, Sand was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when he discovered that the opponent's dagger seemed to have eyes, thrusting straight toward his throat.

-200

A spray of blood erupted. This time, the lightning damage from the Thunderous Berserk Dagger reached its peak. The sharp blade pierced clean through Sand's throat. If not for the special constitution he possessed as an undead, this single strike would have claimed his life.

How could this be?

Compared to being stabbed, Sand was even more terrified that the opponent had clearly been hit by his "Blindness," yet still managed to strike him with such precision. Could it be that he had a magic-immune constitution, or perhaps an item that resisted magic attacks?

That was impossible. Not only were such items extremely rare, but even if he had one, it wouldn't provide total immunity to magic effects. Encountering this situation for the first time, Sand's mouth hung open, and he stood there, stunned.

This moment of hesitation brought this Undead Necromancer eternity!

Li Wei's eyes seemed to lose focus, clearly unable to see anything, yet a victorious smile still played on his lips. His body completed a side-turn in an instant, and the dagger in his hand was quickly switched to his other hand. With a backhanded, fierce thrust, the sharp blade flashed like lightning and pierced into Sand's forehead.

A massive surge of electricity exploded, traveling along Sand's skull into his body.

-220

A critical hit to the vitals, plus damage bonuses. Sand only saw an afterimage, and after a burst of intense pain, darkness descended. Until his death, he never understood why that human, despite being hit by "Blindness," was still able to strike him without being affected.

Seeing Sand's corpse collapse to the ground, Li Wei's Yellow Paper appeared immediately.

"Redemption of the Dread Knight" completed. Mission completion rating... A-rank. Reward: 20,000 points. Reward: Ring of Dread Knight's Resentment x1. Reward: Undead Necromancer Sand's Magic Notes x1.

All missions complete. Forced teleportation back to Shadow Street in 3 seconds... 3... 2... 1.

At the second-to-last second of the countdown, Li Wei decisively exchanged the [Thunderous Berserk Dagger] in his hand for 20,000 points.

He was then enveloped by a ball of light. After a wave of dizziness, Li Wei regained his vision and saw that familiar room once again.

The smooth walls, the dim torches, and that massive mirror facing him—yet this time, Li Wei felt none of his previous tension. Instead, he sat cross-legged on the floor, on one hand to recover the internal energy depleted by his continuous assaults, and on the other to take stock of the gains from this mission.

Another A-rank rating; Li Wei had grown accustomed to it. He first checked the points he had earned, and when he saw the number displayed on the Yellow Paper, his pupils instantly contracted to the size of pinpricks.

55,000 points!

How could there be so many?

Li Wei felt the euphoria of winning the lottery or stumbling upon a massive fortune. With his extraordinary memory, he immediately recalled the origins of these points: 20,000 from the A-rank mission reward, 20,000 from selling that purple dagger, 5,000 from killing Sand, and 10,000 accumulated from the seven-day rapid expansion and the slaughter of countless low-level creatures.

This was truly a case of a serf rising to become a landlord. Setting the points aside for a moment, Li Wei took out the items he had obtained during the mission.

[Venomous Centaur Battle Axe], Attack +16, Green quality, inflicts 2-3 points of poison damage per second upon hit, exchangeable for 3,000 points.

This was an item Li Wei had enhanced through the Art of Stacking; it could be said to be a one-of-a-kind piece of equipment on Shadow Street.

[Ring of Dread Knight's Resentment], Attack +12, all four attributes +3, Blue quality, exchangeable for 5,000 points.

A quite precious ring, especially with its added attack bonus and the effect of boosting all attributes, making it something Li Wei couldn't bear to part with.

Slipping it onto his finger, Li Wei's attributes changed: "No. 1987: Human (Martial Artist), Strength 12, Agility 13, Spirit 18, Stamina 8, Internal Energy 30; Skills: Innate Skill Level 1, Cloud-Piercing Palm, Eye of Perception, Art of Stacking, Precision LV4, Shooting Mastery; Comprehensive Rating: E3!"

The final item, [Undead Necromancer's Magic Notes], 'Notes recording the magic learned by the Undead Necromancer Sand, a rare and precious magical manuscript...'

"Hahaha!"

Holding the black notebook, Li Wei burst into wild laughter. He knew the power of magic all too well. In that final battle against Sand, he hadn't dodged or been immune to the 'Blindness' spell; he had taken it head-on. The reason he could continue fighting was that after his first assassination attempt failed, Li Wei realized that to kill Sand, he needed targeted training. 'Blindness' was clearly a spell Sand was highly proficient in, otherwise, he wouldn't have cast it on the Dread Knight the first time.

Therefore, during those few days, Li Wei had practiced while blindfolded against the Dread Knight, all so that he could continue fighting even while afflicted by such negative magic. Facts proved that Li Wei had been right!

Sand ultimately died by Li Wei's hand, and the powerful spell 'Blindness' had failed to save his filthy life at that moment.

Even so, Li Wei still yearned for such miraculous magic. Now, having this magic notebook was like receiving charcoal in snowy weather.

Opening the black cover, Li Wei began to read by the dim torchlight.

(Thanks to 'Plane Commander', 'Three Thousand Worlds. One Step to Heaven', 'Aristocratic Scholar', 'Wanxiang Xingchen', 'Ning Shang', 'Transparent Shadow', and 'Eight Cats' for the tips on this book. As usual, requesting recommendation votes and follows!!)