Published at 21st of September 2023 3:50 pm

Chapter 662: Players Trying To Steal The Winter’s Hand’s Job

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Lin Yiyi’s [Mercy Strike] was a useful skill in capturing captives.

Those left defenseless by Suuankou’s bombardment were unable to fend off Lin Yiyi’s surprise attack.

Even though Lin Yiyi was technically an Agility Type Tank, who said tanks possessed no offense capability?

Lin Yiyi was a legitimate half-tank fighter. She relied on the magic stored in the gems to unleash spells that hindered the enemy. Adding on to her superb Agility and Perception, she held a considerable advantage in one-on-one combat despite lacking the ability to instantly deliver critical damage.

There was one particular skill that shaped Lin Yiyi’s situation.

[Tussle Master LV7: Upon any effective contact with an enemy (including controlling spell effects and ranged attacks like bows and crossbows), your presence and suppressing power will progressively increase. Starting from the effective contact, every time both you and the enemy take a turn to attack, and the opponent is within your threat range, all of their skill checks receive a -1 penalty, stacking up to a maximum of -4 for all skill checks.]

[Effect after acquiring LV4: When an enemy is within the range of your spells and ranged attacks, your interference ability applies at half effectiveness. This half effect also operates independently, even if the enemy isn’t within your direct threat range.]

[Effect after acquiring LV7: When the enemy is not within your direct threat range but within the influence range of your Adaptive Combat Technique and the Adaptive Combat Technique is available, your interference ability will take full effect. This effect can stack with the additional LV4 bonus.]

That was the foundation for Lin Yiyi to take the role of a tank.

She didn’t need the skill to taunt the enemy since her skill took place like an aura.

According to Lin Yiyi’s understanding, the effect of this skill was to impair enemies’ attacks with her interference and hindrance.

It worked because her effective attack range was too long.

Moreover, her movements were agile, and her Perception attribute was outstanding. Anyone who showed a flaw within her attack range would be punished coldly by her.

Combining this skill with her [Adaptive Combat Technique] and the instant spell-casting of Azure Guardian, her threat and presence on the battlefield increase significantly.

Simply put, it was similar to Jackie Chan’s performance in the movie, defeating many enemies at once.

It was like the terrifying scene when Home Alone’s Goldberg Machine was in effect.

In actual fights, when Lin Yiyi charged into the enemy lines, all eyes were on her.

Enemies skilled in ambushes wouldn’t dare to turn their backs or move directly past Lin Yiyi; those adept at stealth, once within her detection range, would be singled out by her with a swift strike; and foes with the ability to cast spells often couldn’t even launch a full attack before she seized the opportunity to catch them off guard with a blow.

If the enemies lacked instant Edict Spells to repel her, she would gain an increasing advantage against a large group of enemies and a chaotic battle. After all, Lin Yiyi could dodge and parry attacks effectively with her high Perception and Agility. Plus, her long weapon allowed her to pursue the enemy with attacks and launch surprise attacks.

Lin Yiyi would be coined the comedic hero. Her threat level wasn’t as high as the assassins, with her attack range still shorter than some classes. However, her presence inexplicably made her an important target.

Among those enemies beaten to death by Suuankou’s set of attacks, there were indeed a few tough ones.

However, with Lin Yiyi charging into the crowd right from the start and with the stealthy support of Citalopram’s ambushes, the players took down the enemy even without dispatching Jiu Er.

The reason why Jiu Er and Suuankou were not dispatched was mainly because they wanted captives this time.

First of all, the target must be alive with their limbs relatively intact and at least partially could communicate.

Jiu Er’s primary profession was a Berserker, after all. Suuankou was already an honorable trap thief.

That task wasn’t challenging for a technical profession like Delicious Wind Goose.

However, for Jiu Er, she was just a Bronze Rank berserker with Silver Rank’s attribute values if she didn’t activate the curse mark. Facing these Fallen who started their journey at Silver Rank, she couldn’t do anything. However, she couldn’t hold herself back once she activated the curse mark.

Suuankou was in a worse situation. The “Saboteur” profession had never considered the question of “Why should I hold myself back?” at the beginning of the design.

All transcended professions with the Destruction Magic as the fundamentals did not have the concept of “holding back”.

That even went against the fundamental theory of the Destruction School.

After a not-so-difficult battle between two people and seven elite monsters, the players successfully seized six captives — the last one was really impossible to catch. His mutation allowed him to grow wings and fly quite fast.

He might have escaped if Suuankou hadn’t reacted fast enough to deal with him.

However, although the players caught the captives, they were not good at interrogation.

They only understand the more basic concepts. After all, the Internet was a wealth of knowledge. At the very least, the players separated the prisoners to impose more psychological pressure on them. The players operated on the prisoner’s dilemma and used misinformation to bluff them. Then, the players tried each tactic in turns.

However, they were novices after all.

Although they theoretically knew what to do, their initial attempts at intimidation were pretty weak. The residents of the Saltpeter Ranch were already a rough bunch, and these Fallen ones were even more rebellious. In the end, the players were tricked into revealing more information, and the tables turned with the captives trying to persuade them instead.

In the end, after Lin Yiyi accidentally leaked the news that “the Bloodhand Brothers” had died, the captive’s expression changed, and he committed suicide on the spot.

It took a while for the players to deal with the demon the other party turned into after committing suicide. After turning into a demon, the Fallen was much better than the former self.

At this time, the players also found out that if the Fallen wanted to commit suicide, they couldn’t stop it: Fallen only needed to seek taboo power to speed up the demonization. He would die on the spot after the erosion rate reached 100%.

Consequently, the interrogation failed for two more targets in the same manner. Unfortunately, the players obtained little information from the first three interrogation victims. Then, the players got to verify the information from the third captive through the fifth and sixth captive.

“Thankfully, we had enough samples, and it’s a good thing you guys didn’t rush in. At least you had the sense to start a live stream to inform me and to keep them isolated…”

Delicious Wind Goose, who was remotely guiding them through the live stream, was also on edge watching it.

He exclaimed loudly, “You guys are brilliant negotiation experts! You have simply surprised me! Out of the four of you, didn’t three of you come from prestigious schools? How did you take the exam back then? Did you copy the answers from others?”

Jiu Er: ???

Fermented Rice Ball, the only high school student among the players, felt like he was being singled out.

“Don’t worry. We have already begun to gradually become proficient.”

“Don’t worry, we’re getting the hang of it,” Lin Yiyi confidently stated. “Honestly, our process isn’t that flawed. The main issues are, first, we have an intelligence gap. To this day, we don’t know why they panic and resort to suicide upon learning their leader has died. Secondly, we lack confidence. We showed signs of hesitation during the interrogations, and these seasoned guys saw right through our uncertainty.”

“But isn’t interrogation the responsibility of Winter’s Hand? They’re absolutely loyal to the Grand Duke.”

“No matter how loyal they are, there are traitors. How can they be as reliable as us? We are the ones who will never betray, and Annan must understand that.”

“I just like your self-confidence that I don’t know where it came from…” Delicious Wind Goose complained, “Because it always amuses me.”

He remembered when Lin Yiyi clicked on [Full Defense] to Level 7 and obtained the special effect of [Shifting Arrows]. Her first reaction was to spin the iron rod confidently, having Suuankou, Jiu Er, and Citalopram stand far away and shoot at her with a flintlock.

It vividly demonstrated to other players what it meant to actively ask to get shot.

To this day, that confident moment of Lin Yiyi twirling her iron rod was still circulating on forums as a popular gif meme…

Then, Lin Yiyi realized she couldn’t deflect bullets just yet, let alone pull off an epic move like bouncing them all back to take out a fortress.

Her Agility and Perception attributes only allowed her to barely track the trajectory of the bullets, relying on her instincts to dodge them. If there was just one, she could potentially deflect it.

The success rate was probably similar to an average person trying to backhand a tennis ball shot at them — one was definitely doable. However, with two coming at once, the success rate dropped significantly, and more than three was pretty much a surefire disaster.

“Tell me the information you have collected first,” Longjing Tea said calmly, “I will summarize it into a report and hand it to Annan.”

Share