Chapter 1 Bloodbath

The blood-shadow saber clashed, and both characters entered a brief moment of stiffness due to the impact. The instant that stiffness ended, both characters made their moves almost simultaneously. With two whooshing sounds, both Berserkers used a Cross Slash, a skill that involves a horizontal slash followed by a vertical chop. For two characters, that would be four slashes, but only two sounds could be heard. Clearly, the timing of their actions was perfectly synchronized, so the sound effects of their skills merged into one.

Clang! Clang!

The Cross Slash collided again, even emitting a clear spark. This skill was low-level and didn't have much impact, so both characters continued their next actions without pausing. But after this strike, Zhan Lou Lan's heavy sword's durability had already dropped by 1 point.

The durability of Glory equipment wasn't that easily depleted. Otherwise, how many people could afford to maintain their equipment under such settings? It was simply because these two were fighting like Berserkers, so the equipment suffered more damage than normal from such skill-on-skill collisions. Glory had so many hidden details. Coupled with the Shattering effect of Zai Shui Yi Xia's heavy sword Wu Feng, Zhan Lou Lan's weapon durability was dropping rapidly.

Lou Guan Ning was alarmed by the loss of this 1 point of durability. He even secretly opened a calculator, lacking any poise. He wanted to calculate how long the battle could last based on the rate at which the durability was dropping.

But before he could finish his calculations, the battle had changed. They no longer collided head-on like that, but began exchanging skills in broad strokes. However, the exchange of skills was too wild, with almost no dodging or parrying, completely trading life for life. Blood kept spurting from the two characters, and the heavy swords of the two Berserkers were particularly stained with blood in detail, with blood droplets dripping down whenever there was a slight pause.

Although both characters were Berserkers, their equipment was different, which meant that their attributes such as health, defense, and attack would also differ. However, after this exchange of skills, the amount of health lost by the two characters was exactly the same. This was enough to show that there was a method to this seemingly crude exchange. If such a balance could not be achieved, one side might have interrupted the exchange. This tacit compromise allowed both characters' health to drop to 50% at the same time, and the two Berserkers paused their attacks together.

50% health was a dividing line for Berserkers. The passive skill Blood Awakening took effect from 50% health onwards. From this point on, the lower a Berserker's health, the higher their attack power. How to trade off between health and attack power at this time was the greatest test of a Berserker player's skill.

Lou Guan Ning was also a Berserker player, and when he saw the two pause at this time, he immediately understood. The two probably felt that the other was difficult to deal with after some initial probing, so they simply skipped the initial 50% health stage and entered the Blood Awakening stage together, to have a real contest.

The next battle would truly show their skills!

Lou Guan Ning was now super curious about the identity of this person who could fight the great god to a draw. He wanted to stand up and take a closer look to recognize him, but now he was pretending to play a match, so he had to continue shrinking behind the display screen, pretending to be operating.

Everyone was focused on watching the duel. When the two stopped their operations, the training room suddenly became silent. The two Berserkers slowly raised their heavy swords again, and began to move step by step. Every operation seemed particularly cautious.

Whoosh!

A burst of blood energy shot out. Zai Shui Yi Xia took the initiative to attack, wiping his sword across his left hand to create a Blood Energy Sword.

Ye Xiu's Zhan Lou Lan dodged, and Zai Shui Yi Xia's follow-up attack was already there. A Charging Stab, with both man and sword, came straight over. Ye Xiu seemed to be too late to react, and Zhan Lou Lan didn't move at all. But just as they were about to make contact, he suddenly started, and the two heavy swords clashed together again.

Clang!

The huge sound made Lou Guan Ning's heart tremble. Were these two going to start again?

But it wasn't like that. This collision clearly put Zhan Lou Lan at a disadvantage. Although Ye Xiu had also used a Charging Stab at that moment to resist Zai Shui Yi Xia, Zai Shui Yi Xia's Charging Stab had a running start, and the final impact force was not equal to Zhan Lou Lan's hasty one. This collision of the same skill resulted in Zai Shui Yi Xia's victory, and Zhan Lou Lan slid backward, scraping the ground with his feet. This time, not only would the weapon lose durability, but the shoes would also suffer a lot of damage.

However, Lou Guan Ning couldn't care about this anymore. The great god's operation was obviously a mistake. At this time, he needed purely defensive skills like Blocking, but the idea of offensive parrying couldn't block a Charging Stab with charging characteristics. How could such a flaw appear on the great god?

Was there a follow-up?

Lou Guan Ning immediately thought of this. Sure enough, Zhan Lou Lan, who had been knocked back by the Charging Stab, quickly swung a Collapsing Mountain in return. Zai Shui Yi Xia took this blow head-on. He couldn't dodge because he was in the recovery phase of the Charging Stab, with a brief moment of stiffness. Ye Xiu happened to time this moment to strike back.

Beautiful!

Lou Guan Ning almost cried out.

Ye Xiu used Charging Stab to defend, failing to cancel out the impact of the opponent's Charging Stab, but canceling out the small stiffness that would have been caused by the opponent's strike. This allowed him to counterattack quickly, and a Collapsing Mountain accurately timed, making it impossible for the opponent to avoid. In this way, this skill exchange was actually a two-for-one, but Ye Xiu obviously had the advantage. The damage from the Collapsing Mountain was thorough, much stronger than the slight damage caused by Zai Shui Yi Xia's stronger judgment.

Moreover, in terms of the Berserker's specialty, Ye Xiu's use of Charging Stab to collide could be seen as selling some blood, so that the damage would be higher.

Wonderful! Lou Guan Ning was, after all, playing this profession, and instantly understood all the implications. Compared to outsiders watching the excitement, he had much more insight.

This Collapsing Mountain was just the beginning of the attack. When would a professional player's offensive end with just one skill? Any time a player hit an opponent, they had to follow up with a set of combos. This was the quality that a professional player should have.

Collapsing Mountain landed, and immediately used an Inverted Chop to launch the target into the air. Then, his body glowed with blood, and he activated Berserk. Cross Slash, Heavy Blow... a series of skills attacked. When Berserk was about to end, he used a Blood Shadow Saber, slashing Zai Shui Yi Xia in the air continuously. Zhan Lou Lan didn't stop, and with a swipe of his left hand, he added a Blood Energy Sword. After this strike, the Berserk effect completely ended. Zhan Lou Lan didn't chase, but watched Zai Shui Yi Xia roll after landing, and then stand up straight.

A wave of burst damage directly took away 15% of Zai Shui Yi Xia's health. Lou Guan Ning didn't watch the excitement, but analyzed the implications. Ordinary players, after seizing an opportunity, would hope to deal more combo hits, as if that would give them more damage. But the great god's offensive didn't pursue this point. He only accurately timed the Berserk, and then the choice of skills was based on stability, all extremely difficult to break combo connections.

The combo didn't seem long, but it was extremely efficient. The Berserk state was fully utilized. A wave of 15% health loss, if it were an ordinary player, might not be able to deal such high damage even with a longer combo, not to mention the possibility of the combo being interrupted.

Too knowledgeable, too connotative!

Lou Guan Ning sighed, but at this time, Zai Shui Yi Xia on the screen didn't rest, and immediately began to counterattack. The character didn't use any skills, but quickly moved towards Zhan Lou Lan.

Of course, Ye Xiu wouldn't back down. Zhan Lou Lan moved up, and the two Berserkers still had some distance between them. Zai Shui Yi Xia took the lead again. Charging Stab, another Charging Stab.

Was this guy's playstyle so monotonous? Lou Guan Ning muttered to himself. He was using this move again, wasn't he afraid of being restrained by the same method again?

But this time, Ye Xiu didn't use the same method as last time, but let Zhan Lou Lan dodge the attack.

Why? Lou Guan Ning was a little dazed. Zai Shui Yi Xia, who had missed the stab on the field, immediately canceled the skill, and grabbed into the air with his left hand, his entire hand as bloody as if blood was about to drip out.

Soul-Devouring Blood Hand!

A single-target range control skill. The characters within the range of the Soul-Devouring Blood Hand would be restrained by blood energy, and dragged to the character using the skill.

However, this skill only controlled the target's movement and did not control the target's other actions. Dragging the target to one's side did not prevent the opponent from launching an attack in the process. So this skill was mostly used against ranged professions. Using this move against melee professions might actually give the opponent an accelerator.

Zai Shui Yi Xia's unconventional skill selection made Lou Guan Ning a little confused. Ye Xiu's Zhan Lou Lan, as expected, took advantage of the situation and charged back with a Charging Stab.

Clang!

The weapon impact sound made Lou Guan Ning's heart ache the most. Zai Shui Yi Xia didn't retreat, but swung his sword to meet it. He used Whirlwind Slash. The two swords intertwined. Although Whirlwind Slash was a high-level skill, it couldn't easily withstand the impact of the Charging Stab. Zai Shui Yi Xia was knocked to the side, but before he could slide two steps away, Zai Shui Yi Xia took a step back and forced himself back. Another slash of Whirlwind Slash had accurately hit Zhan Lou Lan.

Slide away, step back, slash...

Zai Shui Yi Xia was launching an attack in such a strange posture. Lou Guan Ning quickly understood that he was using the movement effect that Whirlwind Slash could control to forcibly offset the knockback caused by the Charging Stab.

This was too confident...

Lou Guan Ning was shocked. If he were to do such an operation, he really didn't have such confidence.

Immediately afterwards, Zai Shui Yi Xia performed another operation that Lou Guan Ning couldn't understand. After Whirlwind Slash offset the knockback effect, Zai Shui Yi Xia decisively abandoned this skill and launched a new attack. At this time, Whirlwind Slash still had at least one-third of its attack time remaining. He actually said he didn't want this bit of damage output?

Cross Slash, Inverted Chop, Destruction Slash...

Zai Shui Yi Xia also began a series of continuous attacks. Lou Guan Ning didn't pay much attention to it. He felt that the great god should be able to interrupt this combo very easily, right? As a result, the combo continued, and Zhan Lou Lan just ate it all the way. Lou Guan Ning was shocked. What was going on? Was he selling blood?