The chase continued, with Zhou Heng maintaining his distance from Su Liuyue. Every thirty seconds, he used Blood Pump, combining it with his incredibly high physical damage to whittle down her health bar.
In the Boundless Endless World, once two hostile players began PvP, they could see each other's health bars.
Su Liuyue's health bar did not look long, but after actually attacking her for tens of thousands of damage, he found that it had barely budged.
Zhou Heng could not see the numerical value of her health bar, but he roughly estimated it at over two million. Having over two million Health at level 60-he could only say that she truly lived up to being a Longevity Family player. She really was strong. Just over two million Health at level 60 meant nearly 200,000 attribute points in that alone. Ordinary players would probably not even dare to imagine it.
Zhou Heng's arrows were guaranteed to hit, because once they began tracking, they would not stop. Thus, every thirty seconds, he could deal a minimum of 22,268.5 physical damage per hit, totaling 133,611 across six arrows. Based on an estimated two million Health, he needed fifteen thirty-second intervals, or around eight minutes.
Some might say eight minutes was short, but this was not the final time needed to kill her. It was the ideal outcome calculated using two hundred Health. Their fight also had to account for terrain, health recovery, the time it took attacks to land, and other factors. By Zhou Heng's estimate, this fight would take at least half an hour of grinding her down.
-22268.5!
-22268.5!
-22268.5!
Watching damage numbers in the tens of thousands float off her body, Su Liuyue downed a red potion. As she watched the health recovery completely fail to keep pace with her health loss, indescribable regret filled her heart. If she had been decisive enough at the start instead of freezing, if she had kept Zhou Heng beside her, if she had advanced to Greatbow Archer, none of Zhou Heng's arrows could have hit her. She could have canceled out his attacks with precise countershots.
But she was a Greatbow Archer, with an Attack Speed fixed at 1.0/s, one arrow per second. She could intercept at most one arrow, and the remaining five could still deal tons of damage to her.
"This can't go on!"
Su Liuyue's gaze settled on a gray skill. Its suffix read "Forbidden." This was her last recourse, the "Forbidden" skill "Burn Blood, Burn Life."
"It's not time yet. I should still have a chance. Wait a little longer."
Seeing the terrifying permanent reductions inflicted by Burn Blood, Burn Life, Su Liuyue decisively fled into Frost City, hoping to use its buildings to find an opportunity to turn the tables and kill Zhou Heng.
Watching Su Liuyue flee into the city, Zhou Heng's lips curved slightly. Honestly, if she had not messed around with that thirty-day location sharing, he would have struggled to lock onto her in a bustling city like Frost City, even with Extreme Long-Range Vision. But the amusing part was that she had gone and shared her location with him. This meant that, combined with his terrifying Extreme Long-Range Vision, Su Liuyue would have nowhere to hide.
After several volleys of arrows, Su Liuyue's expression turned exceedingly ugly. She should never have used Entangling Flame to share her location with Zhou Heng. Who could have imagined that an item their Longevity players used specifically to toy with ordinary players would one day turn the tables and work against her?
Looking at the -0 damage numbers appearing on her, which did no damage but were intensely humiliating, Su Liuyue knew she had to use her trump card. She had no choice. Against any other player, she could simply choose to die and respawn in the city. But her opponent was Zhou Heng, a player who could bypass the resurrection mechanism to kill her. She did not dare gamble.
"Inhale... exhale..."
Traces of bright red appeared over Su Liuyue's body. Then she activated Burning Rage, which had just come off cooldown. In an instant, the flames mingled with the forbidden skill's bright red hue, immediately fusing into a mass of gray-black gas. It swirled around Su Liuyue, granting her incomparably powerful attack and movement speed.
["Burn Blood, Burn Life" activated] [Maximum Health -100,000] [Maximum mana -100,000] [Maximum attack -500] [Maximum magic -300] [Health reduced to 1] [Mana reduced to 1] [Movement speed +20 m/s] [Attack Speed +10.0/s] [Duration: 12s, weakened period: 3 days]
Seeing the attributes she had lost, a flicker of pain crossed Su Liuyue's eyes. The randomly determined permanent reductions were not high, but they still hurt. And all of this was because of that person in the distance. She looked toward Zhou Heng, unprecedentedly intense killing intent flashing in her eyes. The next second, she charged at him without hesitation.
With a muffled boom, Su Liuyue, wrapped in gray-black gas, rushed toward him like a demon attacking from the Abyss, at a speed even Zhou Heng could barely make out.
"What's this?"
Zhou Heng's heart skipped a beat. Seeing Su Liuyue charging at him at an inconceivable speed, his body's first reaction was to flee. But perhaps because that skipped heartbeat had left him short of blood, he instead calmed down.
If Su Liuyue could use a skill that increased her movement speed so drastically, why hadn't she used it earlier? Clearly, this skill came at an extremely terrifying cost. It might even be one of the "Forbidden" skills briefly mentioned in textbooks.
If the skill Su Liuyue used was a "Forbidden" skill, her Health had to be 1 right now, because skills like these traded all one's strength for a final strike.
As his thoughts raced, Zhou Heng analyzed most of the situation. Su Liuyue saw no hope of killing him alone through normal means, and he had a way to bypass the resurrection mechanism to kill her. Out of that apprehension, she could only choose to stake her life on a "Forbidden" skill, hoping to rely on terrifying movement speed to overwhelm him. Judging from their earlier battle, Su Liuyue's attacks had a range of around 300 meters. Thus, once she got within 300 meters, what awaited him might be death.
Unfortunately, Su Liuyue, you ran into me, Zhou Heng said silently. He opened his hand, and a dose of Thunder Potion appeared in his palm. He scattered it ahead, inflicting "Paralysis" on all units no higher than level 60.
This item would deliver the killing blow to Su Liuyue.
Seeing Zhou Heng not only refuse to flee but stand still instead, Su Liuyue was somewhat puzzled. But the arrow was on the string; she had to let it fly. She had to kill Zhou Heng once, or if this dragged on any longer, she would definitely be the one to die.
But just as she rushed close to Zhou Heng and unleashed a large number of debuff potions and skills, she saw him raise his hand and throw something toward her.
Bang. The thing shattered.
[You are affected by Thunder Potion] [You have been paralyzed] [Countdown: 59s]
Su Liuyue's eyes widened as she stared at Zhou Heng in utter disbelief. How could Zhou Heng possibly have a resource of this caliber? Suddenly, she thought of something, and her expression abruptly twisted with rage. Was it Su Ling? That damned bitch from the main branch? Even when she died, it had only been her fourth day logging in as a new player. How had she dared bring something like this?
Watching Zhou Heng walk toward her, his movement speed reduced to 1.0 m/s and his Attack Speed down to just 0.1/s, Su Liuyue felt as though something were gripping her throat, leaving her unable to breathe.
She stared at the sword Zhou Heng slowly drew from his waist, her instincts screaming inside her: Run! Run! This strike will kill you!
"Zhou Heng, there isn't much bad blood between us. It's all between you and that main-branch bitch Su Ling. We can absolutely work together. With me helping you in secret, I guarantee you can escape the family's countless pursu-"
Su Liuyue still wanted to fight for a chance, but before she could finish speaking, she watched her own body rise higher and higher. Only when a soft thud sounded did she understand: her head had been severed from her body.
"So this is... the method you used to bypass the resurrection mechanism and kill Su Ling? Caution made me... lose my senses... I should have... died to your... arrows... You hid it... so well..."
"That quest... it's yours... Haha... Main branch... If I can't live, don't you think you can either..."
Su Liuyue's eyes remained wide open. She died with her eyes unclosed.
Before you continue