Chapter 522: Did the Boss Cheat?

"The King's Avatar?! What on earth is that?" A chorus of confusion arose among the cultivators and martial artists of Yuanyang City and Half-City; it was clear none of them had ever heard the name before.

Even the venerable old man, Guo Tingyun, looked perplexed. "Does the shop actually have a movie or a game by that name?"

"And what exactly is the Shadow Step?!" Many faces twisted in sheer bewilderment.

Within the game, restricted to level ten or twenty, the high-tier martial techniques they commanded in reality were entirely impossible to execute. Firstly, their simulated bodies were simply not familiar enough with those techniques and spells, meaning any forced attempt resulted in pathetic power. Secondly, the energy and magic utilized within the game differed slightly from the spiritual qi and martial qi of the real world; adapting them required a significant investment of time and research.

"The King's Avatar is a story about a game that the boss told us a long time ago," Xu Zixin explained.

"Shadow Step?! It must be some low-tier martial technique that can't even face the light of day!" Xia scoffed, her voice dripping with disdain.

"There are stories about the games too?!" A few girls stood huddled together nearby, and Yue Bai asked curiously, "Is there a game like that in the shop?"

Xu Zixin gestured discreetly toward the screen where Boss Fang was currently playing. "How about I tell you about it?"

"Oh, yes, please!"

"What kind of story?!" Xia's ears pricked up as she strained to listen.

But the next words she heard were: "Let's finish watching Boss Fang clear the dungeon first, then I'll tell you."

"..." Xia's face twitched in annoyance. You might as well just tell me right now!

I was just getting ready to listen!

...

In truth, Nalan Mingxue had discerned that Fang Qi was utilizing far more than just the Shadow Step technique.

Snapping back to reality, she realized that Fang Qi's seemingly straightforward monster-slaying process was actually interspersed with an array of subtle maneuvers.

These did not fall under the category of martial techniques, nor did they drain the internal energy of the body; they required nothing but pure, practiced mastery.

For instance, the seamless, constant switching between the Greatsword and the Lightsaber, and the fluid alternation between ordinary swordsmanship and the Secret Sword Art. The Secret Sword Art did consume resources, and maintaining such a terrifying attack speed was by no means a small drain.

Yet, she could sense that the "qi" within Fang Qi's body remained consistently high, indicating that the consumption was remarkably negligible.

Another example was his execution of the Secret Sword Art right in the middle of a Triple Slash, using the heightened attack speed to strike multiple targets simultaneously.

One had to remember that the sliding speed of the Triple Slash was incredibly fast. At such velocity, ordinary swordsmanship was difficult enough, but a technique as intricate and rapid as the Secret Sword Art was actually being seamlessly integrated into the movement?!

In the story, the protagonist had used this exact sequence of techniques to juggle a minor expert in the air, preventing him from ever touching the ground.

To think that Fang Qi was now actually executing it within this very game?!

The cultivators of the Western Polar Region were utterly at a loss for words. The wounds on the Zombie King's body were multiplying rapidly; against such swift blade work, it was absolutely impossible for its innate regeneration to keep pace. The Zombie King was not far from death!

Many stared wide-eyed at Fang Qi's screen. "Could it be... is he really going to beat it?!"

"Unbelievably strong!" Tang Yu and the others cried out. "This Zombie King hasn't even had a single chance to strike back!"

"Why does it look so simple when the boss does it?!" Su Tianji was equally astonished.

When they fought, it was an agonizing struggle, yet Fang Qi's run was flawlessly smooth, making it feel as though they weren't even playing the same game!

"Is it going to end just like this?!" someone asked faintly.

"Impossible," Xia snorted coldly. "Once this Zombie King is besieged for too long, it will unleash a burst of power to blow everyone away."

No sooner had the words left her mouth than the Zombie King's body indeed erupted with a violent surge of force.

This power resembled a tempest, instantly sweeping outward in all directions!

"See?!" Xia said triumphantly.

But before she could finish her sentence, the Greatsword in Fang Qi's hand slashed fiercely forward.

Upward Slash!

The tempest blasted against him, yet Fang Qi stood firm, like an unyielding boulder.

Not only did he withstand it, but he launched the Zombie King into the air once more!

As long as one's reactions were fast enough, the boss's shockwave could be countered using the Super Armor frame in the original version of Dungeon & Fighter. Although there was currently no designated Super Armor buff icon or a glowing particle effect over the body, Fang Qi at this moment was truly as immovable as a mountain.

Furthermore, the skill descriptions would explicitly state that the move possessed a Super Armor effect.

"How is that possible?!"

"Did he... withstand it using the Super Armor of the Upward Slash?!" Those with sharp eyes immediately deduced the truth.

"It's almost over!"

Under this relentless, frenzied onslaught, the boss's health bar was plummeting at a terrifying rate!

"The combo count has already surpassed one hundred!"

Staring at the combo counter displayed on the screen, someone muttered, "Is he even human?!"

With a pathetic howl, the Zombie King crashed down from the air, completely devoid of any signs of life.

"Cleared?!"

Many still found it hard to believe their own eyes. "How could it possibly be that simple?!"

"Holy crap!!" Several players who had been lying dead on the floor frantically spammed "666" in the current chat channel.

"Something's not right...!" Luo Piaoling's expression darkened.

"What's wrong?" Xia asked, puzzled.

"Haven't you noticed?" Luo Piaoling said. "So much time has passed; the frost energy inside his body should have erupted by now. But look at him... he hasn't run into that problem at all!"

"How can that be?!" Xia was taken aback. She remembered clearly that when she teamed up to tackle the Heroic difficulty, the frost energy inside her would erupt at regular intervals, ruining her combos countless times.

Yet Fang Qi was completely unaffected?!

How was this possible?!

"Cheating! This must be cheating!" As a spectator, Xia firmly believed that Boss Fang had to be cheating.

Luo Piaoling, also watching, found it utterly incomprehensible. He looked at the tattered default Ghost Knight clothes on Boss Fang, and then looked at his own...

Could it be that dressing like that granted extra defense?!

What a bizarre twist!

Even though his own outfit actually added a few stat points! (Unlike the original version, low-tier avatars offered no stats, while high-tier avatars granted a miniscule amount of stats with no set bonuses—merely a consolation prize, better than nothing.)

(Although their bodies were not digitized, data displays for equipment and attributes were still maintained to provide a baseline standard for gear.)

"Cheating?" Hearing this, many in the crowd were momentarily stunned.

"That's right!"

"How did the boss manage to avoid being frozen the entire time?!"

It felt as if the boss was showing him extraordinary favoritism. When anyone else fought this monster, they wished they could swarm it all at once to kill it as quickly as possible.

Otherwise, not only would their attacks be interrupted, but if the battle dragged on for too long, they would inevitably all freeze to death.

Yet against the boss, it was entirely ineffective?!

Nalan Mingxue happened to be sitting close to Fang Qi.

Taking off her virtual reality headset, she looked around. "Have none of you noticed? At regular, brief intervals, the boss executes an Upward Slash and leaps into the air."

"What does that mean?!"

"Isn't that the shopkeeper pulling off a combo chain?"

"Now is hardly the time to be discussing that!" the martial artist from the Western Region snapped impatiently. "It is blatant that the shopkeeper is cheating!"

Without launching the boss into the air to break its balance, how could anyone chain a combo like that?

"I am afraid that might not necessarily be the case," Nalan Mingxue said, letting out a soft, amused laugh. "I have been keeping mental track, and the shopkeeper leaps at intervals of roughly five seconds. I previously calculated the detonation time of the freezing energy within the body while in the Dark Thunderland Ruins on Adventure difficulty, and it seems... to be almost exactly the same duration."

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