Chapter 87: The Fury Skill Unleashes Its Might

The NPC soldier who was hit lost one twentieth of his health—his total HP was 1000! Compared to the enormous black dog with its 5000 HP, this number wasn’t high at all, which secretly delighted Huang Yunshuo. The lower the NPC’s HP, the better his chances of stealing a kill!

When the two sides were within twenty meters, the NPC infantry on both sides suddenly picked up speed, charging toward each other. When the distance closed to less than ten meters, they surged forward in a full-scale assault.

Hundreds of soldiers launched their charge at once; the scene was nothing short of magnificent! In front of the hundred archers, a hundred infantrymen still stood guard. Hiding behind the human wall, Huang Yunshuo squinted, eyes glued to the unfolding battle. He hesitated, the barrel of his rocket launcher swinging here and there, unsure where to fire and not daring to shoot recklessly.

It was his first time using a rocket launcher in such a chaotic battle. After all, the rocket launcher didn’t discriminate between friend and foe. Used poorly, it would cause his own soldiers to lose health, be knocked back, stunned, or slowed. But once these NPCs started fighting, they were like drunks in a frenzy, tangled together so thoroughly that it was almost impossible to find a spot where only the enemy stood.

-40!
-40!
-80!
… The screen was filled with leaping red damage numbers. The NPCs’ attacks dealt 60 points—about the same as Huang Yunshuo’s.

In one spot, a blue NPC infantryman was focused down and fell to the ground. Huang Yunshuo’s heart leapt; he fired a shell, blasting apart a group of clustered red NPC infantry. He kept firing, chasing them with explosions in the direction they were knocked back, until they were out of range.

Unfortunately, they still had too much HP left. Otherwise, Huang Yunshuo would have charged into the crowd to finish them off.

He then threw himself into the glorious business of saving lives and aiding the wounded. Whenever he saw a side faltering, he dashed over and fired off a knockback, sending low-health blue NPC infantry retreating to safety, while pushing the red NPCs forward, separating the two sides.

“Opportunity!”

Huang Yunshuo’s heart skipped a beat when he spotted a red NPC infantryman with just over 300 HP, isolated and surrounded by no one.

“Rage skill!”

“Suppressive fire!”

Huang Yunshuo instinctively planted his feet apart, lowered his waist, hunched his back, and unleashed the fury of his rocket launcher.

Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang!

Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom!

Ten rockets fired in a near-straight line, instantly covering a 3x3 grid around the red infantry. Under Huang Yunshuo’s control, his aim locked mainly on the red infantryman. Wherever he was blasted, the rockets followed. The rest of the area was only hit by the shockwaves.

-44!
-45!
-86!
-88!
-44!
-43!

After taking just six rockets, the unlucky red infantryman suffered two critical hits in a row and died on the spot, bullets riddling his body. The remaining four rockets missed, sending the loot and copper coins he’d just dropped flying everywhere.

“Damn, that feels good.”

Perhaps it was that undignified shooting stance that passively reduced recoil. After firing all ten rockets, Huang Yunshuo only took two steps back to shed the force, then, exhilarated, rushed forward.

He picked up some materials at random, and, slashed a few times in the chaos, retreated with half his health remaining.

“This rage skill is insanely fun. But what a waste, I feel like I wasted it!” Huang Yunshuo exclaimed in regret. Those clustered red infantrymen earlier were all at half health; if he’d used his rage skill there, then rushed in to finish them off with a couple more shots, he might have gotten several kills!

He paused for a moment.

“Why don’t you get a buff for killing NPC soldiers?” Huang Yunshuo called to Dew in the Morning, not far away.

“You need to kill two to get one buff, and it’s always an attack power increase,” she shouted back.

“So that’s how it is.”

Huang Yunshuo eyed his empty rage meter, curious how long it would take to fill up again. He couldn’t help but think of that guy Your Yida—his rise in the rankings must be related to his relentless quest for rage gems.

The battle between the NPC soldiers on both sides grew ever fiercer. Eventually, the infantry guarding the archers also clashed, so the archers could no longer shoot and drew their curved blades instead.

Huang Yunshuo noticed that not all players had the courage to throw themselves into the fray like he and Dew in the Morning did. Still, there were always a few bold ones—together, both sides had over a hundred such players.

The rest of the players stood on the sidelines, maybe waiting to steal a kill, but not daring to rush in. Sixty attack power wasn’t something just anyone could withstand; three hits would spell doom for most players.

Boom.

The sound of rocket launchers rang out from time to time. Huang Yunshuo was not only after kill steals, but also helping the blue side rack up damage.

“One normal attack gives 1% rage, a critical hit gives 2%, and every minute you get an extra 1% automatically. The rage meter climbs pretty quickly.”

As he fought, Huang Yunshuo kept an eye on his rage bar and came to this conclusion.

“So, you’re after our low-health ones?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw several enemy players surround a blue soldier with less than 100 HP. Huang Yunshuo raised his cannon and fired, blasting the players back and sending the wounded blue soldier retreating to safety.

The blue soldier crawled behind the lines and slowly regenerated health.

Bang bang bang.

Three more rockets exploded among the would-be kill-stealers; one unlucky, low-health player took two hits and died on the spot, the others fleeing with barely a sliver of health.

A musical cue signaled that his rage skill was ready to use again!

Huang Yunshuo’s spirits soared. He spotted seven or eight red NPC soldiers surrounded by a group of blue soldiers and charged in without hesitation.

Bang bang bang…

Boom boom boom…

The rocket launcher exploded in rapid succession over a small area.

White light flashed twice over Huang Yunshuo’s body, his attack power increasing by 2%.

“Quick assault!”

After using his rage skill, his magazine automatically refilled. Huang Yunshuo fired off six more rockets, each aimed at the heads of wounded NPCs, finishing off three more red soldiers.

He stowed the rocket launcher and switched to his battered iron sword.

“Power charge!”

Swish swish swish.

Huang Yunshuo charged at the last two wounded red soldiers, swinging his sword aimlessly as if slashing at the air.

“Combo!”

When he got close, he unleashed a combo and three normal attacks in quick succession. With his sword’s attack power now at 36–42, he dealt 46 damage, then followed up with an elbow strike, finishing off a red soldier who was down to single digits.

He slashed the last red soldier, then activated Soaring Dragon, following up with two more strikes, finishing off all the surrounded red soldiers. His attack buff had now stacked four times, raising his attack power by 4%.

Switching back to his rocket launcher, Huang Yunshuo saw his attack power of 52–59 now had a line of green text beneath—54–62. With the physical penetration bonus included, his actual damage reached 59–69.

With just four buffs, the increase was already quite significant—a very promising development indeed.