City of Sinful Fog (The Black Death), Chapter 129: It Is Only Death, After All

Guan Shanting unleashed every skill at his disposal. His military talisman’s ultimate technique, "Flooding the Seven Armies," surged forward like a barrage of razor-sharp water blades toward the enemy.

The sound of strings being plucked echoed through the air.

Black, humanoid creatures crawled out from the ground, rapidly coalescing into a towering black giant. With a single punch, the giant shattered the torrent of water blades. With another, it sent Guan Shanting flying, blood spraying from his lips. The gap between them was insurmountable; even pushing himself to his limits, Guan Shanting could not withstand two blows from his opponent.

The higher one climbed, the wider the gap between levels became.

An ordinary person with a handgun might kill a Level 2 player. A Level 1 player might, with effort and luck, take down a Level 3. Level 4 or 5 players could occasionally cross a level to defeat an enemy. But beyond that, one-on-one fights against higher-level opponents became rare. After all, anyone capable of reaching such a tier was hardly incompetent.

Guan Shanting coughed up blood as he hit the ground, his body knitting itself back together under a faint green glow. He activated his second talisman skill: "Single Blade, Swift Steed."

A skill usually reserved for charging into the fray for a decapitation strike was now being used for escape—a flexible application, at the very least.

His figure flickered like a beam of light. He managed to put some distance between himself and the black giant, only to hear the guitarist call out: "If you leave, I will kill everyone on this street."

The phantom horse’s hooves skidded to a halt.

The blade turned, pointing back at the guitarist.

He took a deep breath, knowing there was no avoiding this fight. Perhaps he had a forty percent chance of escaping if he just turned and ran, but the threat from this man was all too real.

How had he been discovered in the first place? It couldn't just be bad luck. Could it be that once the black mist was identified as a problem, the enemy could locate him directly? Guan Shanting didn't know, and perhaps he would never get the chance to find out.

All he could do was grip his blade and face the battle. He comforted himself with a single thought: The worst that could happen is death.

Those who hold themselves in high regard are often the least prepared to face death with equanimity. They always feel there is so much left undone, and thus, they rarely die without bitter resentment. Yet, Guan Shanting remained calm—perhaps because he had spotted a sliver of hope for victory.

This enemy was clearly a caster with a fragile physical form. And Guan Shanting’s greatest strength was his ability to burst with immense damage in a short window. If he could manage to get close, he might truly be able to cut the man down.

The chance was slim. Guan Shanting had little confidence. It was, however, a fight to the death. His eyes sharpened.

Yet, he was not the first to launch an attack.

A spear descended from the sky like a nail, plunging straight for the black giant’s head. Another spear erupted from below, striking the giant in the abdomen. Two Level 5 players had intervened at this critical moment, buying Guan Shanting a brief reprieve. But with one being Level 4 and the other Level 5, it seemed they would have little impact on the outcome.

"Ugh, what a nuisance," Zhao Xingluan muttered, standing atop the enemy’s head. Bandages poured from the spear formed by his talisman, wrapping around the giant’s skull. He had only leveled up once since meeting Wu Hui, placing him at a high Level 4, bordering on Level 5.

The giant simply reached up and grabbed him, easily crushing his efforts and tossing him to the ground like a ragdoll.

"You bastard!" Below, the other Level 5 player who had come to help was sent flying by a casual kick from the giant, landing motionless on the ground.

Guan Shanting did not miss the opportunity. Though his internal organs still throbbed with pain, he pushed his speed to the absolute limit, bypassed the giant, and swung his blade at the guitarist’s true form. A cyan radiance expanded from his hand as a massive blade descended from the sky, as if capable of cleaving all things in two.

But that was clearly an illusion.

The guitarist plucked a note, and the melody transformed into black matter, swirling around him to block the blade.

"If I were truly so fragile and easy to kill, how could I have survived until now?" His voice rang in Guan Shanting’s ears, shattering his last hope.

The next moment, a mask painted with the face of a *Xiaosheng* character emerged from the shadow of a nearby building. Beneath the mask was a ball of fire. Blazing fire.

Liao Yuan.

Under the searing flames, the black matter was breached. The blade, accompanied by the Azure Dragon, surged toward the guitarist.

For the first time, the Level 7 player’s face showed disbelief. Yet, there was little fear. A surprise attack from a Level 6 was dangerous, but not insurmountable—even with the help of the Level 5 player nearby.

But then, an iron rod smashed into the guitarist’s waist. Gao Cheng stepped out from the shadows, wielding the long staff.

Orb Spider flickered in the distance, using pre-arranged shadow nodes to teleport—it had been his plan from the start. Zhao Xingluan and the other Level 5 player, Ma Fushao, were also part of his preparations. Based on the ambush Wu Hui and Ren Yin had faced the night before and previous events, he had deduced that the target had the ability to identify newly awakened individuals. He had begun searching for those on the verge of awakening and set a trap around them.

Now, the net was cast. The prey was caught. While a Level 7 was harder to deal with than he had imagined, the outcome was decided.

"Temporary Battlefield" was activated. Gao Cheng and Liao Yuan joined forces to pull the guitarist into their domain. Guan Shanting could only trap the enemy for a dozen seconds, but they could hold the guitarist here until the end of the battle. After all, in the current situation, the fight would last at most a few minutes.

Orb Spider hadn't even struck a blow himself. Most of the Spider organization were intelligence-type players, and they were cunning. Those like Bird-Eating Spider were rare brutes. After all, this was an intelligence agency—spies, secret agents, and assassinations required more than just brute force. Though Orb Spider was only Level 5 and not physically formidable, his ability to layout a strategy was excellent.

A Level 7 player had been driven into a dead end just like that.

Orb Spider walked over to Ma Fushao, the man he had called for help, and tossed him two crystals. "Are you dead? If not, heal yourself."

"Damn it, that hurts," Ma Fushao gritted his teeth. "I’m not agreeing to do this kind of manual labor for you again! Can't you spiders find someone else to help? Where are your colleagues?"

"I'm Level 5, a newcomer in the Spider organization. I have no one to command. I’m just grunt labor," Orb Spider shrugged, his voice low. "Though, I suppose there are a few people I could try to win over. Maybe form an alliance within the organization later. As for you... for now, you’re just the labor."

Ma Fushao defiantly gave him the middle finger. They were childhood friends, dragged into the game together, becoming companions much like Wu Hui and the girls around him. Of course, there was no such romantic relationship between them. Currently, Orb Spider had joined the Spider organization, while Ma Fushao remained a lone wolf.

Not far away, Zhao Xingluan stood up, bandages wrapped around almost his entire body. "Just as I thought... a three-level challenge is still too much. I nearly died for real. That’s why... ugh, I hate fighting and killing."