Chapter 27: The Azure-Patterned Serpent — Twin Arrows Loosed!
The Old Drunkard didn't let up just because Lin Tianhao had switched weapons. He leaped into the air, launching himself to the same height as Lin Tianhao.
What followed was a ferocious combination of blows that landed squarely on Lin Tianhao's body.
-915.
-899.
-932.
A string of damage numbers appeared above Lin Tianhao's head.
Just as Lin Tianhao was about to hit the ground, the Old Drunkard grabbed him by the collar and slammed him down hard.
Boom!
The ground cracked!
-1858.
Another massive damage number appeared.
That single combo had shaved off a full third of Lin Tianhao's HP.
Without missing a beat, he rolled sideways to get clear.
In all his time in the novice village, this was the first time he'd been beaten this badly.
Whoosh!
Mid-roll, he switched weapons, and the moment he hit the ground, an arrow was already flying.
This Old Drunkard's combat technique was no joke — his skill execution was sharp and precise.
If Lin Tianhao didn't take him seriously, he might actually end up dying here.
With that thought, Lin Tianhao loosed another arrow, splitting the air.
Whoosh!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Arrows flew in rapid succession, each one aimed at a wickedly difficult angle.
Every single shot was aimed straight at the Old Drunkard's eyes.
The Old Drunkard saw through it, of course. A wine gourd had appeared in his hand at some point, and he used it to bat away Lin Tianhao's arrows one after another.
"Is hiding and running all you know how to do?"
Lin Tianhao's eyes narrowed. He hooked two fingers around the bowstring.
Two energy arrows materialized on the longbow at once.
Whoosh whoosh!
Twin arrows, loosed together!
This too was a combat technique.
Firing two arrows simultaneously made it easy to lose accuracy — but that was no obstacle for Lin Tianhao.
With his masterful archery, his attacks grew sharper and sharper.
The advantage of twin-arrow fire wasn't improved hit rate — it was that the opponent could no longer deflect the arrows with a simple block.
All Lin Tianhao needed was one opening, and he could launch an airborne juggle combo.
"Right now!"
The Old Drunkard made a careless mistake and was thrown off balance by one of Lin Tianhao's arrows.
Lin Tianhao seized that fleeting opportunity. He unleashed the Twisted String Shot, and the tremendous impact sent the Old Drunkard briefly airborne.
And then — he kept him there!
There was no way the Old Drunkard was coming back down on his own terms.
However.
Lin Tianhao had underestimated the Old Drunkard's Tenacity.
Exploiting a brief gap in Lin Tianhao's attack rhythm, the Old Drunkard took a massive swig of spirits.
A haze of alcohol fumes immediately enveloped his body.
"Ding. You are affected by Alcohol Fumes. Reaction speed reduced by 20%. Attack Speed reduced by 20%."
Lin Tianhao frowned but kept attacking.
That debuff wasn't enough to break his airborne juggle rhythm.
"My turn."
The Old Drunkard hurled his wine gourd again.
Having been blown away by it once before, there was no way Lin Tianhao was falling for the same trick.
Whoosh!
An arrow struck the wine gourd and knocked it off course.
Boom!
A thunderous blast — the shockwave staggered Lin Tianhao.
It didn't deal much damage, though.
The Old Drunkard used that moment to land on the ground. He slapped the wine gourd.
Out of the gourd slithered a massive serpent.
The serpent was covered in vivid blue-green scales and came charging straight at Lin Tianhao.
Azure-Patterned Serpent (Iron-grade): Level 10.
HP: 125,980 / 125,980.
Attack: 412.
Skills: Constrict, Venom Arrow, Dragon Tail Sweep, Poison Mist, Red-Eye Beam.
Lin Tianhao's expression shifted slightly. He hadn't expected the Old Drunkard's wine gourd to be hiding a beast of this magnitude.
Surprised as he was, Lin Tianhao's attacks didn't slow for even a moment — he immediately opened fire on the Azure-Patterned Serpent.
-1321.
His damage was climbing higher and higher, but the Azure-Patterned Serpent was no pushover either.
The moment it appeared, it fired off a Red-Eye Beam.
Lin Tianhao rolled to dodge, but the Red-Eye Beam tracked him relentlessly.
In the end, his Move Speed wasn't enough — the beam clipped him.
-1528.
Lin Tianhao frowned and immediately retaliated.
But his arrows were still in the air when the Azure-Patterned Serpent opened its massive jaws and let out a furious roar.
At the same time, Poison Mist poured from the serpent's mouth.
There was no way Lin Tianhao could kite out of this area-of-effect Poison Mist.
-426.
-426.
-426.
Caught in the Poison Mist, Lin Tianhao began taking continuous damage — and the rate of HP loss was absolutely brutal.
As long as he remained inside the mist, his health would keep draining without stop.
With no Priest and no detox skill of his own, he had no choice but to tank through it.
Whoosh!
Lin Tianhao launched a furious counterattack, unleashing a torrent of arrows.
Strike a snake at its seven-inch point!
Every arrow Lin Tianhao fired was aimed precisely at the Azure-Patterned Serpent's vital spot.
But in the next instant, a sense of danger flared — he didn't dare linger and rolled clear.
He had barely gotten out of the way.
The Old Drunkard appeared exactly where he had just been standing.
Seeing that Lin Tianhao had actually dodged his attack, the Old Drunkard wasn't particularly surprised. He swung his wine gourd straight down at Lin Tianhao's head.
Lin Tianhao had no chance to counter — he could only stumble and weave to avoid their combined assault.
Boom!
A deafening crash.
The wine gourd actually smashed a crater into the ground.
Lin Tianhao had barely managed to dodge the Old Drunkard's strike when the Azure-Patterned Serpent's Dragon Tail Sweep was already upon him.
Bang!
-1352.
The massive serpent tail sent Lin Tianhao flying, costing him over a thousand HP in one hit.
He had barely touched the ground when his arrows were already in the air.
Twin arrows again — but this time, the difficulty was far greater.
Because Lin Tianhao now had to simultaneously target both the fast-moving Azure-Patterned Serpent and the Old Drunkard.
Two bosses at once, both with formidable damage output.
Watching his HP steadily fall, Lin Tianhao's gaze turned razor-sharp.
He activated the Eye of Purity to its fullest extent.
Everything around him came into crystalline focus.
Whoosh!
Arrows split the air.
The precision of Lin Tianhao's twin-arrow fire was nothing short of astonishing.
Every arrow carried an unstoppable force.
Though the impact wasn't as heavy as the Twisted String Shot, the attack frequency was much faster.
The Twisted String Shot's strength lay in its high damage, superior impact, and penetrating power.
Twin-arrow fire — and even more arrows loosed at once — excelled at hitting multiple targets simultaneously.
The drawback was reduced damage per arrow.
But if twin-arrow fire was combined with the Continuous Arrow technique, the result was something else entirely.
The Continuous Arrow technique referred to landing uninterrupted hits on the same target — the most basic of all archery methods.
Yet when paired with twin-arrow fire, the effect it produced was completely different.
One person, using arrows alone to simultaneously suppress two bosses.
If anyone else had seen this, their jaws would have hit the floor.
But Lin Tianhao was doing it as naturally as breathing.
Earlier, not knowing the Old Drunkard's skills had cost him. But now, every trick the Old Drunkard tried to pull was completely shut down before Lin Tianhao.
The moment the Old Drunkard made any motion to use a skill, Lin Tianhao's arrows would interrupt it with pinpoint accuracy.
What came next was a gamble — a bet that the Old Drunkard didn't have Super Armor or Berserk.
As long as he lacked those two skills, Lin Tianhao could use this absolute suppression to whittle down both the Old Drunkard and the Azure-Patterned Serpent until they were dead.