The ground trembled and more cracks appeared everywhere. When this was happening, Li Wei and Li Yuxin were near the top of the hill. In the distance, they could see the lava erupting from the ground like geysers.
Every 10 minutes, the Scorching Ground would slowly become smaller and smaller. Sometimes, cracks would appear, allowing the deep magma to overflow and cover part of the map. Sometimes, an entire piece of the map might suddenly crumble and slowly fall, leaving behind a pool of lava. Naturally, players could not afford to come into contact with the lava; a simple touch and it was game over.
More than a half of the map disappeared under lava. This sight was unique to the game, such an occurrence on Earth would be extremely rare. It gave off a powerful feeling, showing how mighty mother nature was. It was a reminder of how weak the human race really was.
However, Li Wei did not have time to enjoy this sight. In front of him, he could see Li Yuxin taking out a potion to drink. He immediately once again let go of his left sword and grabbed the throwing needles on his waist.
"Woosh Woosh!"
Two throwing needles flew across the rain of ashes, but Li Yuxin already noticed this attack. She quickly stopped drinking and repositioned herself before striking the two needles with her thin sword.
Even if she successfully blocked the needles, Li Yuxin did not have time to rest. She immediately raised her sword to parry Li Wei's powerful strike.
"Cling!"
"I did not think that the sect would have someone that powerful! It seems that your family hid you very well or are you from a branch family?" asked Li Yuxin while taking a step back to dodge Li Wei's second sword.
"Maybe? "
"Don't try to be mysterious, I already noticed your Gliding Steps! That means you come from the Cai Family, but Cai Lan never mentioned someone like you," continued Li Yuxin.
"That woman... Is she trying to distract me?" thought Li Wei before answering: "Should you not focus on the fight?"
Without waiting for her answer, Li Wei violently struck her sword before following with a [Cleave]. His right sword immediately made a large arc before cutting the air towards Li Yuxin's neck. The latter quickly reacted by swiftly lowering her head. She had an extremely flexible body, allowing her to adjust her position to easily avoid the strike but from that position, it was hard for her to counter-attack.
"Does that mean that I am close to the truth?" teased Li Yuxin with a smile that was not a smile. Because at that very moment, a small darkish sphere appeared in her hand before being smashed on the ground.
However, compared to what Li Wei expected, no explosions were heard but instead, a huge amount of smoke blasted over the area.
Ranked Battles allowed the use of most items as long as they did not deal any damage. If items like Explosive Potions were allowed, then it would become more a contest of money than skill. Although rich players still had a huge advantage over normal players, banning the use of all items would take out a huge element of the game.
As it turned out, the item Li Yuxin used was a Smoke Bomb. It dealt absolutely no damage but would cover an area of 20m in dense smoke blinding both the target and the user.
"Damn... Playing dirty?" said Li Wei as he quickly took a step back. He quickly took out a health potion and started drinking it. In his mind, Li Yuxin's plan was only to buy enough time for her to replenish her Mana and so, since it was close to impossible to find her, he decided to also consume some potions.
However, contrary to his expectations, Li Yuxin did not retreat but rather, took advantage of the blindness to attack!
Li Wei was slowly drinking his potion, all his senses were on alert, looking for any hint of his opponent's presence. His left sword was embedded into the ground while his right sword was already drawn and ready to strike at any time.
Suddenly, Li Wei felt a very slight air current. It was almost imperceptible and could have just been the casual wind that was blowing over the map since the start of the battle. However, Li Wei chose to trust his instinct, he immediately let go of the health potion and raised his sword.
"Bang"
Two swords violently struck each other, resulting in both player's wrist aching. It only lasted for a second, but Li Wei succeeded in seeing Li Yuxin's features in the middle of the smoke. Her pretty face momentarily came into sight but what really attracted his attention was her eyes; in them, he could see a deep unyielding flame, the girl did not seem disappointed in having missed her sneak attack. It was the very opposite.
The very second later, as Li Yuxin took one step back, Li Wei felt the wind around him get stronger. It quickly blew faster and faster around him with him as the center. He immediately recognized the skill, but it was too late to dodge.
That was a mage's skill, but anyone could use them since they were commonly embedded in some equipment. And it turned out that Li Yuxin's ring contained that very spell: [Twister]
It created a mini tornado at a specific location. It was not strong enough to lift a player's body but it acted both as a damaging and as a crowd control ability. The surrounding smoke also followed along the air stream, allowing Li Wei and Li Yuxin to see each other.
However, this was not some good news to Li Wei. When he opened his eyes in the middle of the mini tornado, he easily caught sight of the beautiful girl. It was slightly blurry, but he could clearly see a deadly light flying towards him.
As soon as she cast [Twister], Li Yuxin quickly got into position. Her left hand that was free moved up her hair bun and swiftly drew a long hairpin from it. No one would have ever thought that such a weapon was hidden inside her hair. The hairpin looked similar to Li Wei's throwing needles, but hers was more refined, with a small gem at its end. It was one of Li Yuxin's trump cards, an item that could both be used as an accessory and a weapon.
As a result of suddenly removing the pin, her hair bun slowly unraveled and floated behind her like a black curtain. She did not hesitate as she immediately threw her hairpin at Li Wei.
From what Li Wei saw, it was clear that Li Yuxin had thrown something at him but due to the wind, he could not notice anything before suddenly feeling pain in his left shoulder, "-20"
"You are not the only one with throwing weapons," said Li Yuxin as she prepared to charge towards Li Wei.
At the same time, the twister was already dispersing but Li Wei decided to use the wind to his advantage, [Gliding Steps]. Under the effect of the wind blowing behind his back, Li Wei obtained a slight boost of speed and charged towards Li Yuxin.
[Blade Draw]
Two Wind Blades flew towards Li Yuxin who had no choice but to dodge them. Her Mana was quite low. She wanted to also retaliate with her own [Blade Draw] but she had to conserve them for a worst-case scenario. She saw that Li Wei had less than 40% HP while she herself had 60% but the fight was not over yet.
"Cling"
Li Wei knew very well that his only advantage right now was the mana he had. [Sword Coda] was powerful but as a finisher, it also drained a lot of mana especially since a lot of wind was built up in this one.
"It is such a pity I did not learn Ghost Blade yet!" said Li Wei to himself.
Five minutes went by and the two fighters were starting to be tired. The fight was intense, but they were not giving up. Using all his strength, Li Wei spun and violently pushed Li Yuxin's sword to the side.
"Finally, an opening!" shouted Li Wei in his mind. Although the strike was not enough to disarm the girl, it was enough to leave a huge opening.
Without hesitation, he quickly used his new skill: [Impale]. His right hand retracted slightly before swiftly thrusting the sword towards Li Yuxin's exposed stomach.
The latter panicked for a moment. Her sword was not in a good position to protect her. It was virtually impossible for her to bring it back in time to deflect the strike and due to the hit she received, she could not dodge either unless she let go of her sword.
There was only one thing she could do: Use her final trump card. At that moment, a faint light appeared in her left hand.
Seeing that, Li Wei's eyes almost fell out. The light coalesced in her smooth hand before turning into a short dim sword made of light.
"This..."
Just like that, Li Yuxin used the short sword made of light and swiftly deflected the [Impale]. Li Wei was surprised to see such a skill and was not able to prevent his skill from being redirected.
That sword was one of the Core skills of another family, the [Immortal Sword Spirit] of the Meng family. It was a real surprise to Li Wei to see someone own two core techniques from different families!
"Hmmmp, to even force me to use that..." murmured Li Yuxin. Although she learned the [Immortal Sword Spirit], it was not something she was willing to use too often. She obtained it at a heavy price after her mother begged her family to allow her to use that technique. Her mother originated from the Meng Family and was even the daughter of the old patriarch and as such, she managed to allow her daughter to learn that core technique. Li Yuxin only learned about what her mother did after practicing the technique but as a result, she chose to focus on the Myriad Sword Dance.
However, right after having deflected the attack, the sword of light vanished into thin air. It was not that Li Yuxin dispelled it but rather, her mana finally reached 0. The [Immortal Sword Spirit] could be maintained forever as long as one had enough Mana, but that was precisely what she was currently lacking the most.
But Li Wei was not much better, after using his own skills, his mana pool also started to run out. He still had enough for one more skill, but that should be kept in case of emergency. With [Impale] countered, Li Wei spun and struck his sword at Li Yuxin's leg.
The latter let out an "Ah" as the sword went through her leg. With that, the HP difference between the two shortened. She frowned, the situation was not looking good.
Li Wei was not very happy either. Even without using any skill, Li Yuxin was able to pretty much hold her ground, she was agile and could dodge his attacks. He could see that she was getting tired, but he was too. He needed to end it fast before the map started shrinking again!
"Cling Clang"
The two swords met.
"Really strong! Although I spent most of my time practicing techniques, I am not necessarily stronger than you. If it was not for the equipment advantage, I might have already lost," said Li Yuxin.
"Thank you, but you are also the strongest one I've fought yet forcing me to use my trump card," answered Li Wei.
"That black sphere? It was indeed something I've never seen but everyone has their secret..."
The two exchanged a few words in the middle of their fight. Li Wei had less than 30 HP but so did Li Yuxin.
"If you don't mind. Let's end it quickly"
Li Yuxin let out a smile, "What a polite opponent. Come! I am ready!"
After looking at her eyes, Li Wei did not see any sign of her giving up. Instead, he saw that she would give out her all! He knew that the fight would end in his next move. He could still use one skill while the girl could not. Even if she recovered 1 or 2 MP due to the time that went by, it was not enough to use any skill!
As he raised his sword, Li Wei saw Li Yuxin's own sword already in position to block it, but it was at that moment that he activated [Howl].
Not only would it deal some damage, it would also disrupt her position, allowing his sword to strike her. With his 2 swords, he was guaranteed to deal at least 30 damage which would end in his victory. And even if she somehow managed to reposition her sword, with the way he was attacking, Li Yuxin would at least be hit by one sword.
However, against all expectation, Li Yuxin activated a skill. All her mana was used up and yet, a yellow light surrounded her sword, a clear sign of a skill being initiated. At the same time, she coughed and even if nothing came out; it was a similar motion to one spitting blood. She spent most of her time practicing her techniques but aside from the Immortal Sword Spirit and the Myriad Sword Dance, there was a third active technique that Li Yuxin practiced.
It was completely different from the other skills she saw before; it was not a core skill, not even a rare skill. Instead, it was a low-quality skill! On Earth, no one was willing to train this move, not because it was weak but rather because of the consequences. Using this move would inevitably inflict internal injuries to the user's own body.
However, now that they were in the game, Li Yuxin actually remembered that technique and tried to use it. To her surprise, the skill had a unique effect; its use cost 0 mana! Because instead of costing mana, it would cost her health points!
It was equivalent to suicide! Trading HP for HP directly. However, in this situation, there was no better skill to help her out of this situation.
[Soaring Eagle Slash]
Her thin sword flashed across the air and cut through Li Wei's body. If he was not in the game, he would have already split in half, starting from his crotch. But in this situation, the game system intervened and immediately prevented Li Wei's health from reaching zero.
The latter was naturally surprised when he saw the skill being used, so surprised that he almost let go of his swords, but he did not. At the very moment, Li Yuxin's sword touched his body, one of his own swords also cut through Li Yuxin.
Against all odds, the end result of this battle was a draw!
As Li Yuxin body fell on the ground due to the heavy strike from Li Wei, a large banner appeared above the head of the two fighters, on it, a single word was written in deep red colors: "Draw!"