Chapter 533: If You Have the Ability, Put Me Down!

Around Boss Fang, a crowd of onlookers stared with wide eyes.

"Why is her weapon glowing like that?!"

"So bright! Could it be an epic weapon?!"

"An entire outfit set too!" Song Qingfeng exclaimed.

From hair style, apparel, accessories, and boots, down to skin tone and lip gloss, the opponent was adorned completely in cosmetics from the item mall.

This was naturally far beyond the type of clothing ordinary players bought just to hide an unseemly appearance.

Although the attribute bonuses provided by outfits were quite low at this stage, the players' levels were similarly very low; as the saying goes, many drops make an ocean, so with nine fully equipped slots, the accumulated attributes across all aspects made a full set look anything but redundant during this early period.

While it was unknown if the opponent's other gear pieces had been upgraded, just this existing purple level-eight-refined weapon and the cosmetic set alone gave them a stat line significantly higher than that of ordinary players.

Then look at Boss Fang...

A blue hand cannon, dull in color, clearly without any refinement.

Equipped entirely in blue and white gear, wearing the dark purple trench coat native to Male Launchers, with white hair and goggles, not a single cosmetic item on him.

He looked precisely like a penniless little refugee.

"Is the boss in the Arena?" At this moment, many more people crowded around.

"What's going on? Why is everyone gathered together?" The attention of several major clan patriarchs, who had been discussing trivial matters, was also drawn over.

By this time, one could only crane their neck while standing in the back row.

"...What is happening here?" The middle-aged woman of the Qingqiu clan led a large group of clan disciples; since the patriarch had not logged onto a machine yet, the others naturally followed behind in an orderly fashion.

"...Uh." Seeing his own clan patriarch approaching, Tang Yu's face twitched as he quickly and respectfully replied, "Boss Fang is fighting in the Arena."

Feng Zhen's Arena was a grand dojo about the size of several basketball courts.

During a duel, apart from spectators being able to watch from the second floor, no one could disturb the participants on the ground floor.

On the screen, the referee had already begun the countdown, and once it ended, the duel officially commenced.

Theia wielded the blade in her hand, and the giant sword that had been flickering with its original light instantly blazed with fire, transforming into a sky-blue longsword whose hilt seemed completely composed of ice crystals!

Demon Sword Manifestation!

It could gather magical power to manifest the sword into fire, ice, light, or darkness, and the transformed weapon possessed far greater power than before.

Furthermore, it was incredibly gorgeous!

Almost the exact instant this sword appeared, a succession of long, rippling sword waves surged directly toward Fang Qi's Launcher.

Wave Slash, the most commonly used opening move for a Sword Master; although the wave's attack damage wasn't particularly high, its range was extremely long, showing no disadvantage even when fighting against ranged opponents.

"Can the boss win?" The newly arrived clan patriarchs appeared quite lacking in confidence.

The opponent had a refined purple weapon and various powerful skills, while Boss Fang's side was clearly eclipsed in comparison.

One had to know that purple equipment did not merely grant a simple defensive attribute bonus; some purple gear was imbued with magical power, enabling players to move more swiftly and unleash moves more rapidly in terms of attack and movement speed.

Theia clearly possessed such purple gear, and in seizing the initiative, Fang Qi was absolutely no match.

Evasion was the only path.

Fortunately, the attack area of Wave Slash was not broad, and Fang Qi's Gunner leaped into the air as if possessing precognition, easily dodging the incoming wave.

But before he could catch his breath, a delicate shout rang out: "Swift Demon Slash!"

An afterimage of sword light darted straight toward the spot where Fang Qi was about to land.

The opponent's moves were exceptionally fierce, giving Fang Qi zero breathing room from the very start; following the momentum of gravity, Boss Fang would crash directly into this Swift Demon Slash without a doubt.

"Using a lethal move right out of the gate?!"

"They aren't trying to instantly kill the boss with this move, are they?!"

The weapon in the opponent's hand combined with the terrifying attack power of Swift Demon Slash could instantly wipe out a mob of Adventure-level or lower monsters, so the consequences of it hitting a player were self-evident.

Even if an instant kill could not be achieved in one hit, if a Flash Triple Slash followed immediately while Fang Qi was knocked airborne by Swift Demon Slash, relying on the immense burst of a Sword Master, a two-hit instant kill was still within reach.

Boss Fang remained calm and unhurried, firing two consecutive blasts from the hand cannon in his hand toward the front.

Fang Qi's Launcher was mid-air, and his body drifted backward along with the immense recoil.

"Aerial Fire?!"

"No... that's not right." Song Qingfeng stared intently at the screen from behind, "The boss is holding a hand cannon, so it should be Aerial Cannon."

In the blink of an eye, the hand cannon in Boss Fang's hand had already fired.

Sword light and cannon fire clashed, and within a mere split second, the two sides had already exchanged several moves in rapid succession.

"Phantom Sword Dance!"

"Light and Shadow Slash!"

All kinds of sword waves flew across the Arena, making it look as though Fang Qi's Launcher wasn't the ranged class, but the opponent's Sword Master was.

"The boss seems to be suppressed!" Many people in the back were more anxious than Boss Fang himself.

"This female Ghost Knight's gear is simply too good!" Mu Qing said righteously.

"It is said that... on the Arena selection interface, those ranked at the front either have played a lot of matches or have extremely high win rates. The first room on the first page that the boss clicked randomly is definitely occupied by a master," Nalan Mingxue evaluated.

Just then, Boss Fang spoke: "This person's swordplay is alright, it's just that the outfit is a bit too flashy, and the skills are used too flashily as well. Everyone, don't learn from this."

"Swift Demon Slash!" The opponent's combat awareness and intuition regarding the foe's movements were clearly sharp to the extreme; they quickly pinpointed Fang Qi's path of movement and unleashed Swift Demon Slash once more!

Unsure if it was an illusion, at that fraction of a second, the Launcher operated by Fang Qi seemed to split into two silhouettes, and the Swift Demon Slash passed right through his body!

"Is this... the Z-axis Shake?!"

"It's not the Z-axis Shake! The Z-axis Shake should be performed while rushing forward, but Boss Fang executed it while stationary!"

"How did he do it?!" At this moment, nearly everyone froze.

After a long while, someone finally figured out the previous scenario and spoke up: "That was an afterimage left by a cancel skill just now. It turns out the boss had calculated it long ago, using the afterimage of a cancel skill to bait out the opponent's Swift Demon Slash!"

The Swift Demon Slash here naturally applied damage wherever the sword swept, rather than covering the entire path traveled like in the original version.

As everyone knew, the 'Cancel' skill system in Dungeon and Fighter was the most widely utilized; from simple cancel backsteps to the cancel activations of major skills, it could ignore physical inertia, meaning no matter what move the character was currently executing, it would forcibly interrupt and leave an afterimage in place.

The system version also possessed cancel skills, utilizing a unique method of force dissipation to completely redirect all inertial force from the previous motion in an instant while executing the next move, which naturally left a peculiar afterimage in place.

This was a visual deception, because due to the force applied, Fang Qi visually appeared to still be rushing forward, whereas in reality, the person had already retreated.

Almost at the exact moment they brushed past each other, the hand cannon in Fang Qi's hand lifted, and a shot blasted out.

"The boss is starting to counterattack!" The speed and force of Swift Demon Slash were too intense, making it impossible to use a cancel mid-route; in other words, this shot was guaranteed to hit!

"...It's just an ordinary hand cannon attack, it won't cause much damage, right?" Someone remarked pessimistically.

But almost simultaneously, the explosion of the hand cannon inexplicably blasted Theia upward into the air!

Floating Bullet!

The bullet was imbued with magical power, which would not only blow the opponent away but also cause them to lose their balance and float into mid-air!

Although the height of the float was not great, it was already sufficient; almost at the exact moment the hand cannon fired, Fang Qi didn't even check whether the opponent was hit and went straight into a sliding tackle.

By the time Fang Qi's sliding tackle ended, he landed almost exactly beneath Theia.

"A knee strike, a hand cannon, and another cannon blast?!"

"Did the cannon miss?!" The onlookers cried out in shock as they watched the blast pass right through her figure. "A mistake?!"

"No, it was no mistake!"

On the screen, Fang Qi whipped out his flamethrower in a split second, forcing the skill to activate!

The flames had barely erupted before they were instantly snuffed out and the weapon retracted.

Everyone watched as Thea, who had been flying backward, collided with the cannon shell exploding on the floor, only to be blasted right back toward him! She crashed directly into the lingering embers of the newly extinguished flames!

"A grenade, a cannon blast, and a forced backstep?!" Xibeia had originally been sent hurtling backward by the sheer kinetic force of Fang Qi's heavy cannon. Yet now, to everyone's utter disbelief, Thea was flying back toward Fang Qi completely against her own volition!

This was the classic cannon-pull maneuver from the original Dungeon Fighter Online. The principle was simple enough to grasp, and it could naturally be executed within the virtual reality simulator as well.

She sailed right over Fang Qi's head, landing squarely behind him.

What followed was a dizzying, blinding flurry of movements from Fang Qi, chaining together a seamless sequence of skills from aerial trigger shots to instant kicks.

"A cannon shot into a laser rifle quick-draw, followed by a knee strike and an anti-tank gun?!"

They watched as Thea, initially sent flying outward by Fang Qi's relentless combo, was flipped mid-air by the knee strike just as the anti-tank shell detonated. Like a puppet jerked by invisible strings, she was blasted right back into his reach once more!

"Good heavens!"

"Holy shit!"

"That actually works?!"

"She's about to be beaten to a pulp!" someone shrieked.

"Let... let me down!" Suspended in mid-air and covered in blood, the flailing woman thrashed wildly. Her armor was too thick for her to die quickly, pushing her to the absolute brink of madness.

Let me down if you have the guts, and take a hit from my blade!

The cultivators from the Western Region, who had just been watching Thea dominate the martial arts arena and calling this launcher a total novice, exchanged silent, bewildered glances before her screen.