Chapter 13: As a Lord, It’s Only Reasonable to Summon Subordinates, Right?
Ye Hao and the Lord of Eagle Territory stood facing each other across a sword pit, surrounded by the corpses of players in various states.
In the eyes of the players, this scene was like a cutscene, the fated confrontation between the protagonist and the Lord of Eagle Territory, filled with dramatic tension and visual spectacle.
But the involved parties didn’t see it that way.
Ye Hao pondered for a moment, calmly analyzing, and felt he still had a significant advantage. Not to mention that after his breakthrough, his level would match the Lord of Eagle Territory’s at over forty, besides, who was he?
He was the Son of Destiny! Chosen by two great beings!
He possessed so many top-tier skills; a mere Lord of Eagle Territory was nothing more than a clown!
Thinking this, Ye Hao’s face gradually formed a smile that was three parts playful, three parts confident, three parts unrestrained, and one part admiring.
“Lord of Eagle Territory, I am Ye Hao. I know you might not recognize me, but I guarantee you will remember this name in the future.”
“I admit you are powerful, and these heroic spirits are no match for you, but you also cannot imagine what kind of existence stands before you.”
“And what great mission I carry on my shoulders!”
Ye Hao spoke unhurriedly, his voice growing passionate, and his eyes began to emit a dazzling white light.
Immediately after, pillars of light erupted from his body, from the inside out.
“Unleash yourself! My power!”
The cocoon of light around Ye Hao gradually shed, revealing his figure bathed in divine radiance. The armor on his body became even more magnificent, and the long sword in his hand spewed powerful Qi. His strength surged, and an aura that looked down on everything swept out.
In Xi Wei’s view, Ye Hao’s information had completely changed.
[Name: Ye Hao]
[Identity: Son of Destiny, Commoner]
[Strength: Great Knight Level 45 (Temporary)]
[Skills: Cross Slash of Cracking Light (Temporary), Intermediate Magic Immunity (Temporary), Holy Domain Aura (Temporary), Eternal Day Radiant Bastion (Temporary), Grandmaster Combat Mastery (Temporary)]
[??? Skill 1: ???]
[??? Skill 2: ???]
[Equipment: Sighing Armor (Grandmaster) (Temporary), Sighing Sword (Grandmaster) (Temporary)]
[Reputation: Slight]
It had to be said, he was indeed the protagonist chosen by destiny.
Xi Wei exclaimed, “Good lord, this guy’s burst of power makes him a level higher than me. If it were the pathetic, kidney-deficient lord from my previous life, he would’ve probably knelt by now.”
However, it was Xi Wei standing here today. Whether he could win or not would be known later. And if all else failed, wasn’t there Clemon?
The surrounding players were already flushed with excitement. They had already had some suspicions earlier, as it didn’t make sense for the game to arrange a BOSS that couldn’t be defeated.
Now their thoughts were confirmed. This Lord of Eagle Territory was likely a story BOSS, only defeatable through a story event.
The trigger condition for this story event was for the Lord of Eagle Territory to kill all the players present, thereby triggering the protagonist Ye Hao’s power surge.
The players boldly predicted that the next part of the story would be Ye Hao beating down and killing the Lord of Eagle Territory.
“Brother Hao is pretty cool this time!”
“I, Ye Hao who shines like tungsten, will never be weaker than anyone!”
“Pity, the awesome BOSS, the Lord of Eagle Territory, is going to ‘die early’ right after appearing.”
“There will definitely be a great battle next. Get ready to record videos; this is perfect footage.”
“Selling melon seeds, peanuts, drinks, and potato chips from the front row… Excuse me, sir, could you move your corpse a little? Thank you.”
…
Feeling the surging and vast Qi within his body, Ye Hao closed his eyes in intoxication. His current strength was far greater than it was in his previous life on Blue Star. He had thought the [Breakthrough] skill merely increased his level, but after using it, he realized it was a comprehensive enhancement.
When he opened his eyes again, he held his long sword in a ready stance, pointing its tip at Xi Wei opposite him, his eyes filled with utter disdain.
“Xi Wei Jinshi, let me show you what true strength looks like! You are still far from it! Holy Domain Aura!”
Ye Hao roared, his body radiating brightness like daylight. An esoteric amplification aura formed at his feet. He shifted his feet and his body turned into an afterimage, his sword instantly appearing before Xi Wei. In just a moment, he had already thrust his sword several times.
Xi Wei’s eyes were stern, and he dared not be careless. He blocked with his sword, only to feel continuous great force transmitted to him, mixed with internal vibrations, making his arm ache.
“What? Is your arm sore and your internal organs shaking? Hahahaha, this is the secret technique of my Ye family, Baguazhang, and I have integrated the artistic conception of Baguazhang into my sword moves. Only a genius like me could achieve this in such a short time.”
Ye Hao wore a Dragon-like arrogant smile, chattering incessantly, but his hands moved swiftly. Ferocious slashes struck Xi Wei, who was defending with his sword, and the surrounding players’ eyes were almost blinded by Ye Hao’s shining sword light.
But Xi Wei swore that his arm only felt numb, and as for the internal vibrations and shaking of his internal organs, he felt nothing at all!
It seemed that the power surge earlier had enhanced Ye Hao’s strength but had failed to enhance his brain.
This was a Western fantasy world of swords and magic. Knights manipulated Qi, and every hair on their body was protected by Qi. What was the point of that little internal vibration?
Seeing Xi Wei’s silence, Ye Hao thought he was enduring the pain of his internal organs being injured and thus amplified his use of internal vibrations with even more effort.
Whether it was chopping, slashing, lifting, or stabbing, Ye Hao would make his sword tremble slightly with his body movements.
And because the speed of their swordplay was too fast, this made Ye Hao’s movements appear increasingly bizarre to the players.
“What skill is the protagonist using? Σ(ŎдŎ|||)ﾉﾉ”
“To be honest, I feel like he’s dancing. Look at his little butt wiggle…”
“Amazing, he’s twitching more intensely than my neighbor who has epilepsy.”
…
Xi Wei was like a turtle shell. Ye Hao hacked for a long time but found that Xi Wei was completely unharmed, showing no signs of internal injury. He himself was getting a little breathless from his frenzied attacks.
He wasn’t stupid. As a genius from an ancient martial arts family, his comprehension was extraordinary. He immediately understood the reason and became enraged.
“Damn it! You dare toy with me? Cross Slash of Cracking Light!”
Ye Hao’s eyes turned cold, and he shouted in a deep voice.
He took a step back, dodging Xi Wei’s swing, and then a large amount of Qi flowed through his body in an esoteric path. Majestic hymns sounded around him, and the phantom image of an angel appeared behind Ye Hao.
The angel phantom held a sword of light, its movements mirroring Ye Hao’s as it drew a cross in the air.
Then, the angel phantom disappeared, and a giant, almost exaggerated, cross-shaped sword energy slashed towards Xi Wei.
Under the enhancement of the Holy Domain Aura, this terrifyingly powerful cross sword energy moved extremely fast. In the blink of an eye, it was in front of Xi Wei. Xi Wei had no time to dodge and could only hastily activate the shield of his Heroic Armor and his own skill, Radiant Bastion.
A golden giant shield floated above Xi Wei’s body before disappearing into him. The phantom image of a Brass Dragon appeared behind Xi Wei, raising its wings to shield him.
“Boom—”
The fierce shockwave shattered the surrounding buildings and pulverized the corpses of players on the ground into dust.
The Radiant Bastion shattered, but the Heroic Armor’s shield remained steadfast. However, the energy within the dragon crystal was consumed and would be difficult to replenish.
At any rate, Xi Wei now had a rough understanding of his and Ye Hao’s strength. With Ye Hao’s power surge, he was slightly inferior to Ye Hao. He could defeat Ye Hao by expending some dragon crystal energy.
But his mission was not to kill Ye Hao, but to humiliate him, so there was no need to continue this attrition.
Therefore, Xi Wei stopped pretending. He wanted to summon backup.
“Clemon!”
The old knight, carrying his strong armor, heard Xi Wei’s voice. He silently drew his sword and stood before Xi Wei, his eyes like a ferocious beast, his aura ferocious, carrying a surging killing intent.
Just like in his previous life, he was the old man guarding the castle that Xi Wei had seen in the game.
The situation on the battlefield immediately changed after the old knight joined.
The players who were watching from the sidelines erupted in chaos.
“Holy crap! Their HP bars are showing!”
“This is ridiculous, another one!”
“Red name, ferocious skull icon, and a dark red threat level. Tsk, the same old familiar recipe.”
“For some reason, the old man’s gaze makes my heart crawl…”
“Encountering two top BOSSes on the first day of the game, it’s really stimulating.”
“Appraisal Technique, eat this!”
Soon, a not-so-complete appraisal information was screenshotted by a player and sent to the public chat.
[Name: Clemon]
[Identity: Earl of Eagle’s Guard]
[Strength: Great Knight Level 49 (41-50)]
[Other: ???]
“Good heavens, I’m speechless. Level 49, even tougher than the Lord of Eagle Territory.”
“How do we even fight this? Fighting one gives us an advantage, but fighting two means we’re dead.”
…
⊙ω⊙
Ye Hao stared dumbfoundedly at Clemon, who was blocking Xi Wei, and thought, Wasn’t this supposed to be a one-on-one fight? Where did this old man come from?
The young man has no knightly integrity!
Ye Hao calmed himself, his eyes sharp as he looked at Xi Wei, and sneered.
“Is this the knight’s code you believe in? It’s a disgrace.”
Knight’s code? What is that? Do graduating students have to follow school rules? How foolish would one have to be to be so rigid?
Xi Wei pouted, unconcerned.
“I am first and foremost a Lord, then an Earl, and only then a Knight. Tell me, when have you ever seen a Lord or Earl who needs to fight one-on-one personally? Do you even qualify?”
Xi Wei gave a dismissive smile, speaking righteously.
“Clemon, beat him!”
Hearing this, Clemon’s body moved. In a flash, his phantom-like figure drew his sword and slashed at Ye Hao.
As a seasoned Great Knight who had been on the verge of becoming a Sky Knight for many years, beating a newcomer like Ye Hao was almost like beating a baby.
It’s worth mentioning that when Clemon sparred with Xi Wei before, he had said that without using Qi, he couldn’t even damage Xi Wei, who was wearing Heroic-grade armor.
This statement could be understood in another way: if he used Qi, even with Xi Wei’s Heroic-grade armor, he could still easily beat Xi Wei.
It was just that as a servant of his master, the old knight had to save some face for his lord.
Ye Hao had already expended a lot of energy fighting Xi Wei earlier. Now, with Clemon, who was significantly stronger than Xi Wei, stepping in, he was immediately in a difficult fight, transitioning from proactive offense to barely parrying.
So, before long, he was exhausted of Qi by Clemon and was stomped to the ground.
Young Master Xi Wei had not said to kill this person, so Clemon would not kill him.
Xi Wei walked up to Ye Hao with a smile, grabbed Ye Hao’s hair, and lifted his head, perfectly portraying the image of a villain kicking someone while they’re down.
Xi Wei raised his hand, not using any Qi, and with all his might, slapped Ye Hao across the face.
“Slap—”
“So you’re called Ye Hao, huh?”
“You want me to remember your name, huh?”
“Slap—”
Another slap.
“You want to see what true strength looks like, huh?”
“Slap—”
Ye Hao’s face was visibly swollen into that of a pig’s head. He glared venomously at the smiling Xi Wei, remaining silent.
“Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river. A little impatience spoils great plans!”
Ye Hao kept repeating in his heart.
“If I, Ye Hao, do not die today, I will surely make this person pay a thousandfold in blood!”
Xi Wei glanced at Ye Hao’s expression, knowing what the Son of Destiny was thinking. However, he didn’t care; the two were destined to be mortal enemies anyway.
Xi Wei stood up, clapped his hands, and looked down at the dog-like Ye Hao with his azure blue eyes filled with disdain.
“I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll spare your dog life. You want revenge? I’ll be waiting for you.”
Xi Wei gave Ye Hao a meaningful smile, then called to Clemon and turned to leave.
The players who had witnessed everything were stunned. Today’s plot had been too full of ups and downs, leaving their hearts restless.
“So, our protagonist is actually a ‘rags to riches’ type? I always thought he was an invincible type.”
“Is it possible that the protagonist isn’t weak, but the enemy is too strong…”
“What do we do now? Have our missions been completed?”
“They should be… The Lord didn’t take away those demi-human slaves.”
…
“Screech—”
At this moment, a vigorous and strange cry and the flapping of wings echoed from the sky. The players looked up.
They saw the Lord of Eagle Territory Xi Wei and Clemon, each riding a griffin the size of a car, carrying a person, and leisurely flying away from Dawn Town.
Faintly, they could see the Lord of Eagle Territory Xi Wei holding a sweet and lovable young girl in his arms.
The players then looked at the bruised and swollen Ye Hao lying on the ground, momentarily unsure who the true protagonist was…
