TSA Chapter 94

The battle quickly reached a stalemate. Zhang Shuo’s eyes turned bloodshot as he downed his last red potion. Under Ran Qi’s relentless attacks, he was in a sorry state, while Ran Qi stood completely unscathed—his hair perfectly in place and his HP untouched.

“Brother Shuo!” Zhang Shuo’s lackeys realized something was wrong and grew anxious.

Ran Qi wasn’t an ordinary Priest. He could attack, heal, and even apply a damage-absorbing shield on himself—practically two players in one. Unless Zhang Shuo could land a combo that instantly took Ran Qi down, no matter how much damage he dealt, Ran Qi could heal back to full health in an instant.

Zhang Shuo understood this, too. He knew that if he lost to Ran Qi, this so-called ‘trash,’ he would never be able to hold his head up at school again. People would start saying that aside from his superior physique, he was nothing special at all.

Gritting his teeth, Zhang Shuo reached into his inventory and pulled out the magic scrolls he had spent a fortune acquiring.

Magic scrolls were rare items crafted by Alchemists, requiring a ton of materials and costing a fortune. Zhang Shuo had bought these scrolls for his guild’s upcoming Abyss Dungeon raid, but now, it seemed he had no choice but to use them.

He had three intermediate scrolls: [Silence], [Water Prison], and [Scorched Earth]. [Silence] would prevent Ran Qi from using any skills. [Water Prison] would trap him in place, making him unable to move. [Scorched Earth] would summon a raging inferno capable of engulfing everything.

The first two were powerful crowd-control abilities, while the last was a high-damage attack. Zhang Shuo planned to use [Silence] and [Water Prison] to restrain Ran Qi, then break his shield with [Scorched Earth]. With Ran Qi unable to move, heal, or attack, Zhang Shuo could then unleash a Berserker combo and finish him off in one go.

With his plan set, Zhang Shuo didn’t hesitate. He tore open the [Silence] scroll, immediately silencing Ran Qi.

Ran Qi’s skill icons on his interface turned black—completely unusable. Instinctively, he tried to retreat, but a pillar of water erupted beneath him, trapping him with [Water Prison]. Then, flames descended from the sky, engulfing him entirely. The live-stream filled with dazzling special effects, as if straight out of a blockbuster.

[Holy shit, isn’t this basically cheating? You can use scrolls in PvP?!]

[Why wouldn’t you? Open-world PvP is a life-or-death battle. There’s no rule against using items! Ran Qi could’ve bought some too—he’s not broke!]

[Damn, with the water prison and fire everywhere, I can’t see a thing!]

[I think Ran Qi is done for. No matter how strong his shield is, he can’t survive those flames. Now that he’s immobilized, unable to heal or fight back, he’s basically a sitting duck…]

Zhang Shuo smirked cruelly, raised his longsword, and unleashed a barrage of Berserker skills—[Blade Slash], [Wild Blade], [Flying Shield], [Moon Severance]—all crashing down on the trapped Ran Qi.

But the system notification he was expecting— ‘You have defeated player [Bai Ran]’—never appeared. Instead, his own health plummeted, leaving him with just a sliver of HP. Panicked, he stumbled backward, staring at Ran Qi in shock.

“What happened?! Did the fire burn the boss too?!”

“How is that possible? He used the skill himself—it shouldn’t hurt him!”

Zhang Shuo and his lackeys were completely dumbfounded, their eyes wide with disbelief. Even the livestream chat was flooded with question marks, as no one could figure out what had just happened. Then, the effects of the scrolls wore off. The water prison collapsed into droplets and vanished, and the raging flames extinguished. As the visual effects faded, Ran Qi’s figure was finally revealed.

He was covered in a layer of gray stone armor, looking almost like a stone golem.

[WTF?! What skill is that???]

[Priests have something like this?!]

[Ah! I know what it is! That’s the high-level Swordsman skill [Stone Skin]! It increases defense and reflects damage. That means Zhang Shuo was basically hitting himself the entire time!]

[Wait… a high-level skill?! Did Ran Qi also have a magic scroll? A high-tier one?]

[No way, is this the power of money?! The privilege of being the Young Master of the Ran family?]

[Is this even fair? Using high-tier magic scrolls in PvP?]

[Why didn’t you say that when Zhang Shuo used his scrolls first? No one complained about fairness then! If Ran Qi hadn’t saved a trump card, who knows who would’ve fallen instead?! Zhang Shuo used three intermediate scrolls— Ran Qi only used one high-tier one. So what?]

[Forget all that—I just want to know where to buy high-tier magic scrolls! These work on bosses too, right? If I had [Stone Skin] while fighting a boss, I could not only survive but even reflect damage! That’d be a game-changer!]

[Are you kidding? High-tier magic scrolls aren’t something you can just buy. Even if you’re rich, good luck finding one. The fact that Ran Qi managed to get one is insane—way more valuable than Zhang Shuo’s three intermediate scrolls!]

[This kind of thing can’t be bought even with money, right? I have a friend in the Invincible Guild, and I heard that Bai Ran has crazy good luck. Maybe he got it from a loot box!]

[Maybe Night Owl gave it to him!]

[Who cares… I think Zhang Shuo is going to lose anyway…]

Ran Qi’s [Stone Skin] skill soon wore off, the stone armor disappeared, and he stood there completely unscathed, with a faint smile on his face.

To Zhang Shuo, that smile was pure mockery.

Zhang Shuo was now left with just a sliver of HP, all his red potions were used up, and even his trump card—the magic scrolls—were completely spent. Ran Qi only needed a single skill to finish him off…

“Sorry, but I have magic scrolls, too.” Ran Qi casually brushed off nonexistent dust from his clothes. Although he had been silenced earlier and trapped in the water prison, it hadn’t stopped him from using items.

He had already guessed Zhang Shuo’s plan—control him first, then unleash high-damage attacks to finish him off in one go. So, he simply took out a high-tier magic scroll, [Stone Skin], and reflected the damage right back onto Zhang Shuo.

Now… it was time to end this match.

Ran Qi smiled, casually swung his staff, and a dazzling beam of light shot out, piercing straight through Zhang Shuo’s chest.

Zhang Shuo’s screen turned black and white as his character collapsed to the ground.

[Holy crap! A comeback kill! Ran Qi is way too strong!]

[Damn, Ran Qi is actually pretty impressive!]

[Honestly, the Ran family isn’t any weaker than the Zhang family. Ran Qi might not be talented for the military, but if he doesn’t enlist, it won’t matter. He could just take over his father’s business and become a rich tycoon.]

[Hahaha, true! I heard Bai Ran is a master chef. He personally cooked for the Invincible Guild’s victory party. Maybe the Ran family’s new flavored nutrient solution was improved by him!]

[Oh yeah! That new flavor is actually really good, and it’s sold out everywhere online!]

The livestream chat quickly went off-topic…

“Brother Shuo!” Zhang Shuo’s lackeys rushed over, surrounding his ‘corpse.’

One of them spoke in a panic, “Brother Shuo, your weapon and helmet dropped!”

Red-named players have a death penalty—they randomly drop equipment or items upon dying. Zhang Shuo had put together a full set of purple gear just for today, and now two pieces had dropped, one of which was his most valuable purple-tier weapon!

“Brother Shuo! We can’t pick them up!”

[Current] Shuo Jin: Kill him! Kill him now!

When a red-named player dies, only the one who killed them can pick up their dropped items—unless that person also gets killed, in which case the loot becomes free for all. Getting publicly defeated by Ran Qi was already humiliating enough. If Ran Qi also walked away with his equipment, Zhang Shuo would absolutely lose his mind.

Even though his character was dead and couldn’t talk, he could still type, so he immediately ordered his lackeys to take Ran Qi down.

His lackeys instantly surrounded Ran Qi, launching an all-out attack.

Despite being encircled by a group of red-named players, Ran Qi remained completely calm. He raised an eyebrow and asked, “So, you lost in a duel, and now you’re resorting to a gang fight?”

“Shut up! Just die!”

“I’d like to see who dares lay a finger on him!” Just as Zhang Shuo’s lackeys were about to strike, a powerful shout rang out from the sky.

The sunlight suddenly dimmed, and large shadows covered the ground as if something massive had blocked out the light. Everyone instinctively looked up—A formation of flying mounts was swooping down from the sky, with riders on their backs!

The scene was eerily similar to when Ran Qi had descended on his golden eagle earlier.

The newcomers were none other than Night Owl, Gu Le, and the others.

“I dare you to try,” Night Owl declared coldly, leaping off his golden eagle before it even landed and stepping protectively in front of Ran Qi.