Chapter 43 of 100

Chapter 43

17 min read4,247 words

"Player Time Steam has attacked you, entering a 3-minute period of justifiable defense. Killing the opponent within 3 minutes will not increase your sin value, and the drop rate of the opponent's items will increase by 100%."

As soon as he logged in, Alpha was not greeted by the black water fishmen with their fangs bared, but by a cold wind and a PK notification...

— Alpha had logged off yesterday in the shrublands where the Black Water Coast and the Dodo Mountains met. Just as he was about to head to Old Joel, he felt a chill in the air and instinctively dodged to the side. A pain then struck his ribs, followed by a battle system notification.

-327!!! (Internal energy absorption, internal energy -234!!!)

-0!!! (Resistance to poison effect)

The damage from Time Steam was not low. Fortunately, Alpha had instantly activated [Internal Energy Shield]. With a level 4 [Solidifying Essence Technique] and [Internal Energy Shield], 1 point of internal energy could negate 1.4 points of damage. This attack had only drained 234 points of Alpha's internal energy. The poison effect had also been resisted by the poison resistance attribute of the [Solidifying Essence Technique].

— This Time Steam must be a Rogue with a poisoned dagger. Only Rogues would ambush and poison their targets.

Alpha couldn't leave his back exposed to a Rogue. Even a novice like Alpha knew that Rogues could cause significant damage from behind with skills like [Backstab], [Gut], [Rip], and others.

Alpha moved to the side and turned around, but found no one around him. The soft mud was completely undisturbed, as if no one named Time Steam had just stabbed him from behind.

This was strange. In *Dragons and Dungeons*, there were stealth skills, but they were essentially just camouflage and hiding. Appearance could be disguised, and movements could be hidden, but weight could not be. There should at least be footprints, right?

Now, there was nothing. Had he encountered a ghost?

From the damage, Time Steam seemed to be on par with Alpha, at least in level. At this level, it was almost impossible to execute such a traceless ambush. A Rogue under level 20 couldn't possibly have any plane-level concealment techniques.

— Only through plane-level concealment techniques could one completely avoid causing any changes to the environment.

Given *Dragons and Dungeons*' attention to detail, such a glaring issue was impossible. In fact, *Dragons and Dungeons* dominated the online gaming market not just because of technological advancements, but also because of its unique feature:

*Dragons and Dungeons* basically created a real world from the smallest details.

The main development system, named "Matrix," detailed characters to an almost insane level. Like the corpses Alpha had seen, the Three Peaks Master... all were so real they couldn't be more real. Even if it couldn't completely recreate a real world, human perception couldn't detect any flaws.

Something was wrong. Alpha quickly sat down, maintaining his vigilance while using [Meditation] to rapidly recover his health and internal energy.

"......"

Silence. All Alpha could do now was remain silent. He knew that the mysterious, invisible Time Steam would likely reappear soon. After a few seconds, his health and internal energy were fully restored, and Alpha hurriedly stood up.

However, just as he stood up, a cold shock suddenly appeared on his left side. Alpha swiftly moved to the side and turned around, catching a glimpse of a white light stabbing at his back from above.

— This white light was a half-dagger!

Alpha quickly dodged, but the sharp blade changed direction faster, slicing horizontally and cutting into the pale golden [Internal Energy Shield]. However, the blade didn't continue forward; instead, it slid along Alpha's body, not even tearing his clothes. Still, the pain was there.

-330 (Internal energy absorption, internal energy -235!!!)!

Alpha saw nothing but the blade. Then came the second strike. This time, Alpha had enough time to dodge. A golden light flashed under his feet as he lunged forward and turned around, finally seeing the attacker!

Maintaining his high-speed forward movement, Alpha used his speed to dodge the third attack and turned to face his opponent. The [Sleeve Arrow] with a golden glow shot out:

-101!!!

This was the damage caused by the [Sleeve Arrow] hitting the attacker's shoulder. Time Steam was now fully revealed:

Alpha first saw a completely white dagger, followed by a white outfit—tight-fitting, slender, masked, with a pair of phoenix eyes peeking out from the mask, seductively glancing at Alpha. These phoenix eyes were truly alluring, enough to make anyone fantasize just from that glance.

Of course, besides the eyes, there was also... this person had a large chest!!!

Time Steam was a woman!!!

The sky and cloud emblem on her chest and the specialized Rogue tool belt at her waist indicated that she was a female Rogue who worshipped the Lady of the Air, Acardi. She had a large chest, and her name was... Time Steam.

"Are you a follower of the Lady of the Air? Is it [Levitation]?"

Alpha had figured out why he couldn't see Time Steam's attacks.

It was likely that the Lady of the Air, who had the power of flight, had granted Time Steam some flying ability, such as [Levitation]. Many deities would choose special abilities from their domains to reward their followers.

Of course, Alpha, the novice, knew this entirely from his reading in the church library. [Scholarly Expertise] had provided him with the necessary information immediately.

In fact, [Scholarly Expertise] was not as useless as people said. When he saw the emblem on Time Steam's chest, his mind immediately provided information about the followers of the Lady of the Air, including [Levitation].

With [Levitation], Time Steam could hover above and attack from above, which Alpha had overlooked. This explained why he only saw part of the blade and not the entire person.

— She was hovering above his head.

"Little wimp, can you guess?"

Time Steam continued to attack Alpha while teasing him.

Her voice was exceptionally seductive, the kind that could be fatal to young men. Combined with her soft, sweet accent, especially the phrase "can you guess," it was a powerful auditory assault, enough to make most people feel lightheaded and aroused.

However, Alpha was clearly not a young man. Even though he found Time Steam's voice alluring, his eyes never left the white dagger thrusting at him!

This attack had Time Steam almost lunging at Alpha, her fiery figure making it seem as if she was about to throw herself into his arms.

In other circumstances, Alpha wouldn't mind embracing her. Just one glance, and he had roughly estimated that she was at least a D-cup. A hug would be a full house...

But the white dagger reminded Alpha that if she got into his arms, she would be like a snake waking from a freeze, ready to stab the 213 "farmer" in the heart!

Alpha deflected Time Steam's dagger with [Mage Hand] from his left hand.

The strength difference was significant, causing Time Steam's dagger to miss his vital chest area. Time Steam was surprised; she had never been pulled by [Mage Hand] before. By then, Alpha had moved to her left side, and his right hand had already touched her ample chest...

— Oh, sorry, it was two fingers that had struck the center of her chest, the [Shanzhong] point!

-34!!!

The [Shanzhong] point was not a vital heart attack point, but it could cause numbness. Alpha's [Pressure Point Strike] had also triggered the 15% [Shanzhong] [Seal] effect, paralyzing Time Steam's lower body.

However, the inertia of her body made her continue moving forward.

Alpha sidestepped, and his left hand grabbed Time Steam's neck. With 16 points of strength, he had the upper hand in the struggle, especially since Time Steam was paralyzed by the [Shanzhong] point.

Time Steam's situation was even stranger. A completely white dagger was embedded in her own arm, which was still in a hugging position.

If not for the dagger embedded in her slender arm, it would look like Time Steam was hugging someone's neck with one hand and stabbing them with the other, just like in a **movie where someone is killed on the street.

— Undoubtedly, the non-existent person she was hugging and stabbing was supposed to be Alpha.

Alpha held a short crossbow arrow, aiming at Time Steam's forehead:

"As a clearly untranscended, low-level Rogue, your health is probably around 300 points, meaning you still have half of your health to waste."

Alpha lightly poked Time Steam's forehead with the short crossbow arrow, creating a small wound from which a thin line of blood slowly trickled down her straight nose, half-covered by the mask.

Alpha's message was clear: if she made any move, he would inflict 6 times the critical damage to her forehead, sending her directly to the temple to meet the Lady of the Air...

---