Chapter 66: One Lightning Strike Kills an A-Rank Hero!

Chapter 66: Chapter 66: One Lightning Strike Kills an A-Rank Hero!

The Titan lowered his head.

"Understood."

He stood up and drew his enormous bow once more.

At the same time, more than a hundred Titan giant archers who had already taken their positions on both sides of the elevated platform raised their heavy bows in unison.

WHOOOM—

Countless energy arrows left their strings simultaneously, without the slightest pause. They packed tightly together in midair, forming an enormous wall of pale blue-white arrows that swept toward the purple dragon like a tidal wave!

For that instant, half the sky was illuminated in blue-white light.

"Up."

John’s pupils contracted slightly as he uttered a single word.

Ophelia beat her wings, carrying the two men into a sudden vertical ascent. Her enormous dragon body shot almost straight upward, narrowly clearing the very top of the incoming arrow wall.

The next instant—

With their target gone, the arrow wall roared past beneath them and crashed directly into the lakebed below.

"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—!!!"

Hundreds upon hundreds of enormous energy arrows exploded one after another. Pillars of blue-white light shot skyward, while the shockwaves sent tents, fences, and entire sections of gravel flying into the air.

And the impact zone was none other than the open spaces between several smaller camps, as well as the areas where independent players had been hiding around the outer perimeter.

"HOLY SHIT!! Has the Judgment Alliance gone insane?!"

"Where the hell are they shooting?! I’m here to scavenge, not get myself killed!"

"Ah! My troops!"

The gravel slopes instantly descended into chaos.

Several independent players who failed to dodge in time, along with their units, were swallowed by the incoming barrage. Screams and curses erupted all around them.

Even the edge of a nearby small alliance camp was caught in the blast. Several archers stationed on its walls were swept off by the shockwaves.

The alliance leader’s face turned green. He pointed toward the Judgment Alliance’s main camp and opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn’t dare utter a single curse.

Instead, he shouted through gritted teeth:

"Retreat! Move the entire camp back!"

High above, John watched the scene coldly.

He said nothing. Instead, he turned his head toward Raistlin behind him and gave a slight nod.

A glimmer of understanding flashed through Raistlin’s cloudy eyes.

He immediately planted his staff in front of him.

Humm.

[Elemental Shift.]

In the next instant, Raistlin’s figure disappeared.

On the dragon’s back.

John withdrew his gaze and looked down once more at the elevated platform from which the endless barrage of arrows was pouring.

"Ophelia."

"Yes?"

"Dive."

John’s voice was soft, yet completely devoid of emotion.

"Don’t fly straight down. Follow the gaps in their arrow barrage. I want to see the hero firing those arrows."

"Understood, My Lord."

BOOM!

The purple dragon let out a deep roar. Instead of continuing to climb, she folded her wings and plunged straight toward the elevated platform!

Riding on her neck, John lowered his eyes.

[10,000× Acceleration]

[Lightning Bolt]

An invisible wave of energy quietly began circulating around him.

Normally, Lightning Bolt required only a brief moment to channel before striking its target.

But John didn’t release it.

He was charging it.

[Myriad Layers of Slaughter]

Ten layers of Slaughter Marks. Fully stacked.

1024 times the damage.

On the elevated platform, the Titan archer finally showed a hint of hesitation.

His enormous bow was already fully drawn again, locked onto the diving purple dragon.

But as the dragon rapidly closed the distance, he was horrified to discover that he could no longer keep his aim locked on her.

That was only natural.

The speed of an SSS-rank Hero was on an entirely different level from that of an ordinary Hero, let alone an A-rank Hero.

The Titan gritted his teeth, a hint of panic appearing in his gray-white eyes.

He stopped caring about accuracy and began frantically releasing energy arrows one after another, attempting to seal off his opponent’s path with sheer volume.

"Quick! Keep firing! Stop him!!"

The Judgment Alliance players beneath the platform finally realized something was wrong and began shouting in panic.

"What is that?! What’s that light in his hand?!"

"Dodge! Get out of the way!"

But it was already too late.

The purple dragon, carrying a mass of glowing purple-white lightning, had already dived directly above the elevated platform.

The Titan archer had finally entered John’s attack range.

A status panel flashed into view.

[Hero: Titan]

[Race: Giant]

[Rank: A-Rank]

[Level: Lv10 (0/50,000)]

[HP: 38,000/38,000]

[Attack: 2,400]

[Defense: 600]

[Skills: Sky-Piercing Arrow, Giant’s Sight, Behemoth Bloodline.]

[Background: A Titan Sharpshooter summoned through a Hero Recruitment Scroll. Standing ten meters tall and wielding an enormous bow carved from the spine of an ancient giant beast, each arrow he fires is capable of piercing castle battlements.]

John’s lips curled slightly.

"Found you."

He raised his hand and decisively aimed the lightning compressed to its absolute limit at the ten-meter-tall Hero standing on the platform.

"Lightning Bolt."

The next second—

Heaven and earth turned white.

An indescribably thick bolt of purple-white lightning crashed straight down!

-26,627,000! (Critical Hit!)

A blinding damage number, so enormous it seemed almost unreal, erupted above the platform.

The A-rank Hero froze in place for that brief instant.

Then, starting from the top of his head, his body began to crack, burn, and carbonize inch by inch, before finally disintegrating into ash.

But the lightning didn’t stop there.

After shattering the Titan’s enormous bow, it continued downward with unstoppable force, crashing through the elevated platform and slamming directly into the center of the Judgment Alliance’s main camp.

BOOM—!!!

The earth trembled.

A charred trench dozens of meters wide was carved through the entire camp, stretching from its very front all the way to its deepest interior.

Every structure along its path—watchtowers, fences, tents, altars—was shattered, ignited, or hurled into the air.

Purple-white electrical arcs wildly danced across the scorched earth, crackling and jumping from one spot to another.

The enormous Judgment Alliance camp, which occupied nearly half of the lakebed, had been split cleanly into two halves by that single lightning strike.

...

On the outer slopes, the independent players who had been secretly watching stood with their mouths hanging open, completely dumbfounded.

In the eastern camp, the female elf stood up in disbelief.

In the western camp, the black-robed mage’s jaw dropped uncontrollably.

And amid everyone’s shock...

The purple dragon folded her wings and slowly descended.

John leaped down from her neck, holding his staff as he calmly walked toward the depths of the camp, heading straight for the magnificent golden command tent that was still billowing smoke.

Raine Augustus stood frozen in place.

His mind was completely blank.

He didn’t even realize that the hand gripping his weapon was trembling uncontrollably.

Titan was dead?

The A-rank Hero he had gone through so much trouble to summon, the Hero he had poured countless resources into raising to Level 10...

Was just gone?

That was an A-rank Hero!

A Level 10 A-rank Hero!

And it was only the sixth day after the game had begun.

Across the entire Novice Continent, the number of players who possessed an A-rank Hero on the sixth day could be counted on one hand.

As for those who had managed to raise an A-rank Hero to Level 10, Augustus would have confidently claimed that he was the only one.

Yet Tyrant had casually unleashed a single skill and taken his Hero out in an instant?

"Wait!"

Augustus’s breathing involuntarily quickened.

"That’s... impossible. Can... can Lords actually have skills?!"

"Isn’t everyone supposed to fight using their units? Why does he have skills?! And how can his damage be so ridiculously high?!"