Chapter 22: Wang San and Wang Si!
The reflected damage was still steadily chipping away at Lin Tianhao's HP.
The reason was simple — his health was dropping fast.
Every arrow, even without a critical hit, drained around six hundred HP from Lin Tianhao.
Even so, Lin Tianhao was no longer focused on dealing damage. His priority now was crowd control.
An Archer could serve as the main damage dealer, but when the situation spiraled out of control, you had to shift into a support role.
Like right now.
Lin Tianhao used his Twisting Bowstring technique to continuously interrupt Wang San and Wang Si's attack rhythm, breaking their skill casts before they could land.
One person, holding two enemies at bay simultaneously.
He was creating the perfect damage window for Elvos.
Watching Lin Tianhao single-handedly kite and control two enemies at once, Shadow Kill felt a creeping numbness settle over him.
At first, he had told himself that Lin Tianhao's ability to kill him was purely a matter of stats — that with his own elite combat skills, he could still go toe-to-toe with Lin Tianhao.
But everything that had happened recently had driven home a single, undeniable truth.
Lin Tianhao's combat technique surpassed his own.
Shadow Kill had even begun to speculate about Lin Tianhao's true identity.
In all of Dragon Nation, there was only one group whose combat technique could surpass his.
Ancient Martial Artists!
These people were like the martial masters of old — some had even cultivated inner energy, making them terrifyingly powerful.
Their combat techniques were extraordinarily formidable. He knew for a fact that several instructors in his own combat unit were Ancient Martial Artists.
People who could single-handedly dominate an entire special forces squad.
In Shadow Kill's mind, Lin Tianhao had become exactly that — a supremely powerful Ancient Martial Artist.
The battle continued.
Constrained by Lin Tianhao's masterful crowd control, Wang San and Wang Si's HP was plummeting rapidly.
Not only that, Lin Tianhao was deliberately managing his own health, keeping it at a relatively safe level.
Because in his calculations, after killing Wang San and Wang Si, he still needed to deal with Elvos.
Finally.
Wang San and Wang Si's HP dropped below ten percent.
Yet neither of them had activated any Superarmor — which meant they almost certainly didn't have it.
That confirmed the rule he remembered from his previous life: novice village Level 10 wild monsters and NPCs had neither Superarmor nor Berserk.
However, Elvos's health bar had only dropped by thirty percent at this point, which left Lin Tianhao rather dissatisfied.
He began maneuvering his position toward the area behind Elvos — because he knew that Wang San and Wang Si's death throes would be aimed squarely at him.
Sure enough.
Once their HP fell below five percent, Wang San and Wang Si launched a frenzied charge straight at Lin Tianhao.
They came at him with the desperate conviction that they had to kill him.
Lin Tianhao executed a rolling dodge and slipped behind Elvos.
Elvos didn't think much of it, assuming Lin Tianhao was simply trying to protect himself.
Facing the nearly dead Wang San and Wang Si, Elvos showed no fear, and the three clashed once more.
Lin Tianhao quietly disbanded his party with Shadow Kill, worried that the party status might tip off the Blacksmith Wang or the Old Village Chief.
Better to be safe than sorry.
Just as Wang San was about to be finished off, Lin Tianhao fired an arrow that interrupted Elvos's attack.
"Sorry about that — my aim slipped."
Lin Tianhao offered a quick apology, then immediately loosed a second arrow.
Twisting Bowstring technique!
Critical Hit!
-2518!
"Ding — you have slain the novice village boss Wang San. A server-wide announcement will be made. Do you wish to hide your name?"
"Hide it."
Lin Tianhao had no intention of letting Blacksmith Wang find out he was the one who killed his apprentices — otherwise, all those gold coins he'd spent earlier would have been wasted.
"Server-wide announcement: Congratulations to the player [Hidden Name] for achieving the first kill of Wang San! This achievement is hereby announced. May all players continue to strive forward!"
"Server-wide announcement: Congratulations to the player [Hidden Name] for achieving the first kill of Wang San! This achievement is hereby announced. May all players continue to strive forward!"
The moment the server-wide announcement went out, countless players were left completely baffled.
What was going on?
Wang San?
No matter how you looked at it, that sounded like the name of some random lackey.
Before the shock could even settle, another system notification rang out.
"Server-wide announcement: Congratulations to the player [Hidden Name] for achieving the first kill of Wang Si! This achievement is hereby announced. May all players continue to strive forward!"
"Server-wide announcement: Congratulations to the player [Hidden Name] for achieving the first kill of Wang Si! This achievement is hereby announced. May all players continue to strive forward!"
"Wang San? Wang Si? Holy shit, those names sound like a pair of lackeys! How are they classified as bosses? And they get a server-wide announcement?"
"Wait — I think I know who Wang San and Wang Si are. They're the two apprentices of Blacksmith Wang in the novice village."
"Holy shit, you're right! When I was grinding Stone Beetles, Wang Si was the one who repaired my weapon's durability."
Wang San and Wang Si were far from unknown figures in the novice village.
Many players whose weapons had lost durability would head to the blacksmith shop for repairs.
The ones responsible for handling weapon durability repairs were primarily Wang San and Wang Si.
"What the hell — Wang San and Wang Si are bosses?"
Novice Village — the Blacksmith Shop!
Blacksmith Wang's expression turned dark and sinister.
He had naturally heard the server-wide announcement as well.
"Who was it?"
"Who could possibly kill Wang San and Wang Si? Could it be that the Old Village Chief sent someone capable?"
The reason Lin Tianhao had disbanded the party was precisely because of the server-wide announcement.
Being in a party would have made it far too easy to expose himself.
"Shadow Kill!"
Lin Tianhao called out to Shadow Kill.
Earlier, Lin Tianhao had deliberately shot Elvos with an arrow — he wanted to find out whether Elvos also had damage reflection.
The answer was no.
Slash!
Shadow Kill had been ready and waiting. He struck immediately with a Throat Cut!
-195.
Bleeding…
-26.
-26.
Elvos's expression shifted. "What are you doing?!"
Whoosh!
The answer came in the form of a sharp, piercing arrow.
Critical Hit!
-2526.
A massive damage number appeared.
Lin Tianhao's attacks came in relentless succession.
Elvos was both shocked and furious. He never could have imagined that the adventurers who had just been fighting alongside him would turn on him without a word of warning.
"Ding — you have been cursed by Elvos. Damage taken +10%."
Lin Tianhao's expression remained unchanged. He kept firing arrows in a steady rhythm, precisely interrupting Elvos's every attack.
During the fight with Wang San and Wang Si, Lin Tianhao had already mapped out Elvos's combat patterns.
Now.
Elvos's attack rhythm was forcibly broken by Lin Tianhao.
Three arrows per second left Elvos with absolutely no room to retaliate.
No damage reflection.
No Superarmor. No Berserk.
Against Lin Tianhao, Elvos was nothing but a sitting target.
Whoosh!
Lin Tianhao loosed another arrow.
This one finally launched Elvos into the air.
And so began the endless juggle.
Watching Lin Tianhao deploy his impossibly precise aerial juggling technique once again, Shadow Kill stood there slack-jawed.
Lin Tianhao's combat technique was genuinely monstrous.
"Shadow Kill, you go in for the finishing blow — and remember, hide your name."
Lin Tianhao said.
He definitely couldn't be the one to kill Elvos. If he did, when he went to turn in the quest to kill ten novice village bosses, the Village Chief might grow suspicious.
"Got it."