Watching his movement speed plummet to just over 3, Zhou Heng counted silently. One, two, three seconds later, his movement speed recovered. This meant his opponent's basic attacks carried a slowing effect that lasted three seconds.
Zhou Heng had taken that arrow head-on for two reasons.
First, he had a Revival Coin, so being killed once did not matter. His opponent certainly had no means of bypassing the Revival Coin to erase him; otherwise, Fate Hint would have warned him.
Second, he could use this opportunity to assess her damage output and firing speed.
As a top student who studied hard, much of what he had learned over three years of high school finally came into play at this moment.
His opponent's bow was enormous, with off-the-charts shooting power. To dodge attacks of this caliber, he needed to put more than 500 meters between them, while also reaching a movement speed of 8.0 m/s. As it happened, his movement speed exceeded 8.0 m/s. This meant he was fully capable of kiting Su Liuyue, a Longevity Family player whose level had dropped to 60.
Of course, she might have other tricks up her sleeve, but he had to take things one step at a time. There was no rushing it.
While Su Liuyue was still stunned, Zhou Heng made a snap decision. He switched his equipment to the Sakast Imperial Sword (Holy Sword), sending his movement speed soaring to 9.02 m/s, and fled into the distance.
Watching Zhou Heng flee while chugging potions, Su Liuyue could not collect herself for a moment.
Level 20, an incredibly thick health bar, a flute that reduced players' levels through time, an unknown means of bypassing the revival mechanism to kill Longevity players like them-every sign indicated that this new player named Zhou Heng harbored a great secret.
"Zhou Heng, you can't escape!"
Su Liuyue's eyes were icy. She was going to claim Zhou Heng's secrets. With her arsenal of debuff skills, Zhou Heng was like a turtle in a jar, waiting for her to slaughter him. She took a ball of black-and-white flame from her backpack, aimed toward Zhou Heng's position, and crushed it.
[You used Entangling Flame] [You and player "Zhou Heng" will share your locations for thirty days]
Zhou Heng's gaze sharpened slightly when he saw the notification. Although he was not worried about his location being exposed, this made it clear that Longevity Family players really did possess ways to lock onto players. He was also glad that only Longevity Family players had this item. Had that level 80 Sealer possessed one, escaping would not have been so easy.
Zhou Heng fled ahead while Su Liuyue pursued him from behind. The two raced several kilometers, one after the other.
Soon, Su Liuyue noticed a problem. She, a Longevity Family player originally at level 70 and now at level 60, could not catch an ordinary level 20 player?
Watching the distance between them grow, Su Liuyue's expression turned frighteningly dark. Low level, high health, an attack speed of at least 4.0, and now even his movement speed exceeded her base speed. If this dragged on, how was she supposed to use all her debuff skills and items?
Su Liuyue had an ominous feeling. Once again, her intuition told her that she could not let the distance between herself and Zhou Heng grow too great, or she would suffer badly.
With that thought, Su Liuyue unhesitatingly activated Burning Rage, a skill everyone in the Longevity Family knew. Her Burning Rage was Obscure Tier, consuming 30,000 mana to grant +4.0/s attack speed, +8.0 m/s movement speed, and +2,000 attack. Instantly, her movement speed shot from 7.0 m/s to 15.0 m/s. At this speed, she did not believe Zhou Heng could still pull away from her.
With this terrifying boost in speed, Su Liuyue immediately closed the distance to Zhou Heng. Just as she thought she could easily catch him, something shocked her once again. He actually knew Burning Rage too. Wasn't this skill supposed to be exclusive to Longevity players like them?
In an instant, the movement speed gap between them was reversed: 15.0 m/s against 15.62 m/s. She could not catch him. She simply could not. Once Burning Rage went on cooldown, the gap between their speeds widened again.
Watching her health tick down bit by bit, Su Liuyue's expression became utterly grim. She considered the same possibility Su Ling had: someone had betrayed the family and leaked Burning Rage, a skill that increased attack speed and movement speed, to ordinary players.
"Damn it, what's with this guy? Why does he seem like he was made specifically to counter me?" Su Liuyue grew increasingly agitated. She had a whole arsenal of debuff skills, yet she could not even touch the hem of her enemy's clothes. How was she supposed to fight? She kept feeling that something bad was about to happen.
Zhou Heng took in everything happening behind him. Timing it to the instant Burning Rage's effect ended, he unequipped the Sakast Imperial Sword (Holy Sword) and equipped the Flood Dragon Horn Bow. Although his speed would plummet considerably in an instant, combined with Blood Pump, the class talent of the Extreme Long-Range Shooter, he could already deal explosive damage.
As Blood Pump activated, Zhou Heng converted all his maximum Health and maximum mana into physical attack, retaining only a single point of health. Because he had timed it to Burning Rage's final second, even after swapping out the Sakast Imperial Sword (Holy Sword), Zhou Heng still had an attack speed of 6.0/s. This meant that during Blood Pump's one-second duration, he would fire six arrows in succession, each dealing 22,268.5 damage.
Just looking at that damage made even Zhou Heng shudder. What could the level 60 Su Liuyue possibly use to withstand it?
Six arrows shot out in succession. Seeing the arrows Zhou Heng fired at her, Su Liuyue's expression turned cold. She neither dodged nor evaded, pursuing him with all her might.
Thwip!
An arrow pierced Su Liuyue between the brows, dealing a staggering 44,537 physical damage before her astonished eyes. In that instant, she was dumbfounded. What had she just seen? A level 20 player had dealt her 44,537 physical damage with one arrow? Her armor was 3,000. By that calculation, his strike had dealt 41,537 critical damage, with a minimum of 22,268.5?
"No!"
Su Liuyue had no time to think further. Seeing the other five arrows whistling toward her, she twisted and shifted her body without hesitation. As a Longevity Family player, the intensity of the training she had received since childhood far surpassed that of ordinary players like Zhou Heng. Su Liuyue actually dodged an attack that Zhou Heng would have considered nearly impossible to evade. The arrows passed through the gap at her chest, barely skimming past.
Just as Su Liuyue thought she had dodged the attack, another whistle came from behind her. Turning her head, she saw that the five arrows that had swept past had somehow turned back.
"What? Since when can arrows turn? This is level 20... no, it's an Extreme Long-Range Shooter!"
Su Liuyue's mind raced, quickly identifying a class capable of tracking targets from the moment of class advancement: the two-star special class, Extreme Long-Range Shooter.
Su Liuyue gritted her teeth. Knowing she had no hope of dodging, she took a bottle of red potion from her backpack. As she poured it into her mouth, she ignored the arrows' attacks and charged toward Zhou Heng at full speed. She had no other skills or potions left that could temporarily boost her movement speed. Strictly speaking, she did have one Taboo skill, a type of skill independent of the skill system. Such skills had just one defining feature: using them caused extremely severe side effects and permanently reduced random attribute caps. They were not to be used unless there was absolutely no other choice.
Thirty seconds later, watching the arrows whistle toward her again, a trace of viciousness flashed across Su Liuyue's beautiful face. She had already missed her best chance to kill Zhou Heng. Had she known he possessed movement speed and attack speed of this caliber, along with this level of Health and physical damage output, she would never have given him even the slightest chance to move more than three hundred meters away from her.
Within that range, she could have used all kinds of debuff potions in conjunction with frost's slowing effect to kill him easily. Unfortunately, it was as though a pair of invisible hands were toying with her, making her miss the perfect opportunity.
Catching that flicker of panic in Su Liuyue's eyes, Zhou Heng's lips curled slightly. Although he could not rule out the possibility that she was deliberately putting on a show for him, as long as he maintained his rhythm without getting greedy or carried away, he, Zhou Heng, was going to kill her today.
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