Death Notice Book 6: Chapter 42: The Final Battle

Liu Biao stood on top of a building covered in green vines, looking out at the structures ahead. This was the commercial district located in the central area of the entire Domination War. In the middle was a circular commercial plaza, with a huge fountain at its center.

Surrounding the plaza were numerous department stores and high-end hotels. Of course, these modern high-rises had now become a forest of concrete and steel blanketed by green plants.

However, compared to the completely ruined military zone, the buildings here largely maintained their original framework. Even the commercial billboards hanging on the buildings were still quite intact.

Because the large fountain in the center of the plaza was connected to underground water channels, wild animals often came here to drink. Additionally, there were many former high-end hotels around the plaza. It could be said that this was the best area in this Domination War zone for hunting and resting.

At the start of the Domination War, many Apostles were active here. Sadly, they soon chose to stay away from this area because the Assassin had made it his hunting ground and main operating zone.

No strong fighter wanted other Apostles around their resting place. Even though the Assassin was very powerful, he also got tired sometimes, so he naturally made this area off-limits to other Apostles.

Liu Biao watched the faint light of dawn slowly appear on the horizon. He stepped down the stairs and, moments later, appeared by the fountain. Last night, he had scouted the surrounding area and confirmed there should be no ambushes here.

Even so, he remained very cautious. After all, his opponent was the strongest Apostle in this Domination War zone. The Treasure Map Fragment Liu Biao obtained only roughly outlined this commercial district; it didn’t specify an exact duel location.

The bald man thought this was intentional on the Assassin’s part, meaning he could choose the specific battle site within this area. Liu Biao did not give up this right. He selected the fountain area at the center of the commercial plaza as the duel location.

Of course, there was another possibility: the other party might have called him here not for a duel, but perhaps just to trade Treasure Map Fragments.

If that were the case, Liu Biao actually wouldn’t mind selling his Treasure Map Fragments for a reasonable price. Since he couldn’t collect all the fragments, selling them to the strongest Apostle in the Domination War wouldn’t be shameful.

Liu Biao stood quietly by the fountain, his alertness at its peak. After each Quest World, an Apostle’s enhancements, unless specifically directed, would naturally favor the main attributes of their career path. As an MT, Agility and Perception were his weak points. Even with some precious drugs that boosted physical attributes, these two weaknesses couldn’t be fully compensated.

“The sounds of insects and birds seem fewer!” The bald man’s expression grew more serious. Although he couldn’t detect any enemies around, he instinctively sensed something strange.

“I can’t stay here!” A feeling of regret suddenly arose in Liu Biao’s heart. His gains in the Domination War were substantial; it really wasn’t worth risking a fight to the death with a powerful opponent over a few Treasure Map Fragments. The fighting spirit ignited by the duel invitation yesterday began to fade quickly.

However, just as he turned to leave, a dagger shaped like a bloody fork suddenly emerged from the space behind him. It stabbed toward his waist with lightning speed.

The bald man’s eyes flashed sharply. He roared, spun around like a whirlwind, and his fist, as big as a bowl, smashed toward a vague black shadow behind him.

“Hmph!” The shadow snorted coldly, swayed slightly, and vanished like a reflection in a mirror. At the same time, a streak of blood light, like a ribbon, traced a beautiful arc in the air, winding around Liu Biao’s body.

“Tch!” Blood sprayed from the bald man’s body. Several streams of blood shot out from his chest and abdomen. In an instant, he had been stabbed multiple times. His bear-like bulky body spun through the air and was thrown backward. As Liu Biao was sent flying, a tall, slender figure wearing a black cloth mask appeared in the spot where he had been standing—it was the powerful Assassin.

After appearing, the Assassin twirled his bloody fork-dagger and prepared to press his advantage. But suddenly his legs weakened, and he dropped to one knee.

“Pfft!” He felt a sharp pain in his chest and abdomen. Unable to help himself, he spat out a mouthful of blood, staining the black cloth mask on his face red.

“A damage reflection ability!” Black’s eyes blazed with fury. This was the first time he had been injured since joining the Domination War.

Starting from last night, he had felt someone probing the area where he was. By this morning, the Assassin had located Liu Biao’s position—or perhaps the bald man hadn’t even tried to hide.

As the strongest in this Domination War zone, Black naturally wouldn’t avoid a fight. So far, he had collected over fifteen Invitation Letters and more than eight Treasure Map Fragments. And that was after sparing some Apostles who surrendered their Treasure Map Fragments; otherwise, the number of Invitation Letters would likely have exceeded twenty.

In fact, if Liu Biao hadn’t come to this area today, Black would have sought out other strong fighters. He was different from the others. Due to restrictions from the Shattered Starry Sky, after offsetting the penalty for killing with fifteen Invitation Letters, his actual gains weren’t that great.

If he didn’t find the Celestial Wheel’s branch Demiplane, this Metropolis Domination War would have been a wasted trip for him.

Liu Biao’s face was grim as he slowly got up from the ground. There were several bloody holes in his chest and abdomen. However, the muscles around the wounds were slowly contracting, actually sealing the injuries in the blink of an eye and stopping the bleeding.

“Good, no wonder you dared to challenge me!” Black’s voice was extremely hoarse, grating like scraping metal. “I didn’t expect to encounter such a challenging opponent at the end of the Domination War!”

Black flipped his hand and put away the bloody fork-dagger. He pulled out another narrow, serrated dagger from his chest, shaped like a saw blade.

“I came to challenge you…” Liu Biao frowned, immediately feeling something was off. He asked, “Wasn’t it you who sent the duel invitation?”

“I sent the duel invitation…” Black was slightly taken aback. A sharp light flashed in his eyes, and he grinned fiercely. “Heh, it doesn’t matter! One rat or two rats—it makes no difference to me!”

“Wait! You…” Liu Biao was startled and tried to ask more, but he found the Assassin’s figure fading again. A hoarse laugh came from all directions.

“Don’t worry. No matter who arranged this duel, after I finish you off, I’ll send them to meet you too!”

“Hmph!” A ruthless look appeared on Liu Biao’s face. He took a deep breath and bared his white teeth. “Then let me see if you have what it takes.”

No more sounds came from the Assassin. After the brief exchange, the area around the fountain fell silent again. Only the bald man, hunched and ready for battle, and the bloodstains on the ground indicated that a deadly struggle was underway.

…

“Damn it, why are you so fixated on me?” An angry voice came from inside a bear-shaped iron puppet. “I already told you, I didn’t kill your companion. Someone must be trying to start a fight between us…”

Four or five iron puppets lay scattered on the ground where the two were fighting. Broken puppet parts were strewn all around.

Long Feng’s eyes gleamed sharply. Ever since he confronted this Puppet Master in a duel this morning, the other had been very passive. After Long Feng destroyed one puppet, the other showed a strong desire to avoid fighting.

Through communication during the fight, Long Feng quickly realized the other wasn’t lying. The one-eyed sniper might really not have been killed by him. Just as the Puppet Master said, someone was probably deliberately trying to start a fight between them.

However, the swordsman didn’t want to stop now. Last night, he had scouted this area and was sure no one else was lying in ambush. The area where the Puppet Master was based was quite remote, with simple surrounding terrain. Even if someone came later to take advantage, both of them would easily notice.

In other words, this wasn’t a good place for someone to play the fisherman.

Moreover, during the fight, Long Feng discovered that he had a strong professional advantage over the Puppet Master. This Puppet Master had a wide variety of puppets, and their quality was decent—some were even Dark Gold and purple-gold puppets.

However, the Puppet Master controlled his puppets through puppet strings formed by mana and mental power. Long Feng’s sword energy happened to be able to cut those strings, severing the connection between the Puppet Master and his puppets.

Even though the connection was only interrupted for a breath’s time, that was enough for Long Feng to unleash high-damage skills, destroy the puppet’s control core and key components, and make the puppet uncontrollable.

Of course, most of the puppets Long Feng could destroy were below Dark Gold Quality. But this Puppet Master’s strength lay in precisely controlling many puppets. Once the number of controllable puppets dropped below a certain point, his threat to Long Feng was basically zero.

No matter how strong this Puppet Master was, he was only a Novice Apostle. Having three or four puppets of Dark Gold Quality or above (including Dark Gold) would be impressive; the rest were mostly purple and Blue Quality. This weakness usually didn’t matter, but against a high-attack, high-Agility swordsman like Long Feng, he was completely countered.

“You really think I’m easy prey? You asked for this—don’t blame me if you die!” When Long Feng shattered another purple puppet, the Puppet Master hidden inside the bear puppet finally flew into a rage and decided to fight to the death.

His puppet numbers had dropped to a dangerous level. Although he still had some reserves, if this continued, he might really lose the ability to fight back. Besides, even with puppets for movement, if the swordsman remained unharmed, escape would be difficult.

The Puppet Master took out a large, deep blue Magic Crystal from his chest. Wincing slightly at the loss, he slapped it into the bear puppet’s control core.

“Clank, clank, clank!” Mechanical sounds came from inside the bear puppet. Its surface armor began to transform, and in moments, it turned into an Iron Golem.

The Iron Golem’s mouth opened and spat out two small statues. They rolled on the ground and also transformed into two slightly smaller Iron Golems. As soon as the three Iron Golems appeared, light gathered in their mouths—the glow of a magic crystal cannon. The surrounding beast-shaped puppets also converged, charging toward Long Feng.