Monarch of the Dark Nights Chapter 71

Guys, sorry for not posting anything last week. Udeze was on a business trip and he had forgot to upload the chapters in the gdocs. Anyway, this week will have the 3 chapters from last week and the 3 from this one. Also, PERHAPS there will be 1 or 2 extra chapters. PERHAPS! Udeze will try, but its not guaranteed…

Chapter 71: Retaliation

"Stealth Step" consumed a huge amount of force. It not only consumed physical strength, but also one's energy.

He was inside the enemy's den and the enemy was also aware of his presence. But Yun Tu had no choice but zealously continue fighting. His body immediately disappeared and quickly rushed out of the area at the same time.

With his 21 points of Agility, Yun Tu was be able to run two kilometers in under a minute. However, even though he was still stealthed, he could still feel an invisible danger that was like it was clinging to him like maggots.

"It's a mark."

Not only had he been found by the enemy, it seemed that the enemy had at least one person with Archer occupation who had used his "Marking" skill.

There had never existed the strongest nor an invincible skill in all occupations. Each skill has its own nemesis or weaknesses. And the bane for the Shadow a.s.sa.s.sin's "Stealth Step" was the "Marking" skill of the Archer occupation.

The Archer's Marking skill was a very special occupational skill. Although it didn't render a Shadow a.s.sa.s.sin unable to enter a stealth state after being detected by the opponents, but as long as the Shadow a.s.sa.s.sin didn't enter the Stealth state before being "Marked" by an Archer, the Archers would still be able to accurately lock his position due to the tracking of the Marking skill.

“Snake Step!”

Yun Tu released another skill as he felt the danger.

And this technique was not by any means his occupational skill!

In order to avoid the archers, Yun Tu created this kind of footwork in his previous incarnation. Shortly explained, the footwork used a method to change his speed momentarily with irregular patterns. This would make the Archers spend more time to release their arrows quickly. In order to hit moving targets, Archers needed to have an extraordinary sense as well as a strong grasp of their occupation to accurately lock the exact location where the moving target was headed to.

The irregular patterns of movements, coupled with the irregular change of speed, would render the Archer unable to calculate his speed and his movements' destination through their sub consciousness alone. With this, they were unable to aim and release the arrows in advance toward the pre-judged locations. Even in the late period of the Apocalypse, Archers who had been practicing their tracking, Marking skills to a very high level, had only minute chances to hit him if he used this Snake Step.

For the time being, the highest leveled Awakeneds were still at the Second Level. Therefore, it was highly unlikely that the enemy would be able to hit Yun Tu, who was using such a strange footwork. Much less that they were only ordinary Archers.

Speaking about occupations, Archer was one of the strongest Main Jobs in the Apocalypse. However, it was also an occupation that was the costliest, consuming the most money. On one part, it was because their strength would be depleted after they released their long-distance ability. However, this was also based on its huge energy consumption only.

Another reason was very simple. A strong Archer would often need an Alchemist Refiner to work for him full-time. Ordinary iron arrows were simply had no destructive power against Awakeneds who had reached the Second Level. And in order to improve their combat effectiveness, on one hand they needed to constantly improve their archery skills and bow's strength, but more importantly, they also had to continue strengthening the sharpness and the strength of their arrows.

Arrows were often consumable items in battle. Most of them couldn't be quickly recovered in time after they had been released. And such a consumption of materials was not something an average person could afford.

The "Marking" and "Stealth" were just like a pair of natural enemies. The Shadow a.s.sa.s.sin Job could be called an invincible occupation in the same level if the Marking skill of an Archer didn't exist. Much less that a Shadow a.s.sa.s.sin was an extremely rare occupation, while an Archer was a very common one in the Apocalypse. And if one were to choose a Shadow a.s.sa.s.sin as their occupation, they would have to prepare a set of means to guard against the Archers; otherwise, they would possibly fall at any time.

After discovering that he was being marked by the enemy's Archer, the first thing Yun Tu did was release his Snake Step. And by now, inside the villa next to a tall building, a 20-years-old beautiful woman—Duan Huarong—was slightly tilting her eyebrows. She had an arabesque-carved bow in her hands fully set and ready to shoot, but she had yet to release it.

Since Yun Tu had activated his Stealth Step, she wasn't able to see him. But as an Archer, after she "Marked" him, she could accurately perceive his location even though she wasn't able to see the target. It was a natural knowledge an Archer had. She needed not to explain nor reason about it for she subconsciously knew the location of the opponent. It was an occupational skill and a sure shot feeling she was confident with, and had never failed nor mistaken.

Although she could perceive Yun Tu's position, however, his walking path was way too strange. She too could feel that her arrow would only be wasted in vain if she released it. Therefore, even though she drew her bow to the fullest, she held back and didn't take the shot as she slowly released her hand from the bowstring.

Duan Huarong didn't dare say that she knew Yun Tu well. But at the very least, she knew him a little. Yun Tu was the number one candidate who was being scouted by the Duan Entertainment. In the last year's Pop Song Compet.i.tion, she was also present when Yun Tu firstly appeared in the first preliminary stage of the compet.i.tion, as she also set her eyes onto him.

In order to secure the contract, she also arranged for him to be treated with Western-style meals and discussed about the contract for the Duan Entertainment. However, since the restrictions in the contract offered by the Duan Entertainment were too much, Yun Tu thought over about it and didn't agree to sign it.

After having pa.s.sed the two and third rounds' knockout, Yun Tu showed his worth and talent as he finally became the popular choice of the audience with more than 100,000 people voting for him within just a month. It was a gold-level artist candidate, and his economic value had already been highlighted. For the second time, she found him again. Although the clauses in the contract were slightly better that the first one; however, the provisions for the agent manager were still too much as the duration of the contract also became 15 years.

Becoming a star singer meant that one's youth would be signed to it. With 15 years of contract duration, Yun Tu would simply become the Duan's Family people and his life and death would depend on them. The professionals said that such a contract was the sale of indenture into servitude. The arrogant Yun Tu refused her once again.

"Smelly young man. Not only have you been singing well, you were even somehow able to find a way out in the Apocalypse. Just see how this young lady packs you up!"

Although Yun Tu had killed Duan Minghui, and also killed a lot of members of the Jiangnan Family. However, Duan Huarong didn't care about it. She had almost zero relations.h.i.+p with them as she grew up in a foreign country and returned back to the homeland while being independent from the family. Coupled with her outstanding abilities, it didn't take long for her to become an important figure in the Duan Entertainment.

Business had always been a business. Unlike the father and son—Duan Hongshan's duo—who were evil, she was very different from them. However, since she was also an important and core member of the Jiangnan Family, she still had to kill Yun Tu for the interests of the Guild; although she had a good impression of him.

Taking back her arabesque-carved bow, Duan Huarong, along with several muscles went downstairs as they quickly rushed to chase toward the direction where Yun Tu went.

Duan Huarong indeed had a certain understanding about Yun Tu. Naturally, the latter was not a stranger either. The last time, when Feng Ling entered the Secret Area and pretended to be Duan Minghui's aunt, the first conception of the character was taken from her. He met her and had to deal with her twice in his previous incarnation, while he also had some memories of her in the Apocalypse in the previous incarnation. When he felt that he was being marked by an Archer in the Jiang Family's area, the first person that popped up inside his mind was Duan Huarong, this fearful woman.

This woman was the first female Archer of the Jiangnan Family. She was even ranked above Li Jian of the "Black White Demon Couple" back then. For other details, Yun Tu also didn't know about it for he was relatively weak in his past incarnation. Although, he too had the intention to seek revenge from the Jiangnan Family, but he finally didn't dare to put his intention into motion. And one of the biggest reasons for this was because the Jiangnan Family had this Duan Huarong, the captain of their Archers' Squad. Regardless of his occupation as a Shadow a.s.sa.s.sin, from the traits of his occupations, he was heavily suppressed by his opponents.

Since his "Stealth Step" was compromised by the "Marking" skill, that meant that he would be surrounded by the Jiangnan Family members afterward. Therefore, Yun Tu no longer wanted to waste his physical strength and revealed himself twenty seconds after.

Although the pain from his shoulder greatly hindered his fighting ability; however, it only had a slight impact on his speed. With his 21 points of Agility, even if he was only able to exert 80% of his strength, his pace still wasn't something the ordinary members of the Jiangnan Family were able to chase.

However, Yun Tu didn't want to escape just like that. While frequently turning his head and paying close attention to the motions of those people behind him, he deliberately slowed down his pace as to avoid creating further distance from them.

Both sides played the cat and mouse game. And after a few moments, they quickly distanced themselves by about two kilometers from the Jiangnan Family's area. At this moment, the distance between Duan Huarong and her team and Yun Tu was less than 150 meters.

After revealing himself, Yun Tu no longer used his "Snake Step" again. And since the distance between them was less than 150 meters, Duan Huarong who was chasing him took out her arabesque-carved bow once again.

However, Yun Tu reacted much faster than her. He didn't use his sniper rifle, instead using a sub-machine gun he picked up yesterday from the enemy. He suddenly stopped and turned around, as at the same time, he revealed the gun and bursted out its bullets.

Duan Huarong also could see the bullets flying at her. It was too late for her to draw the bow as she had to avoid it. Even though she had yet to reach the Second Level Awakened, she also had swallowed a Green Zombie's Blood Crystal. Since the Jiangnan Family had a member who had the Pharmacist occupation, the Green Zombie's Blood Crystal added 4 points toward her Agility. With 14 points of Agility and the 150 meters of distance, the conditions were enough for her to dodge the flying bullets.

However, the other members of the Jiangnan Family at her side had a slightly worse fate than her. The bullets shot by Yun Tu swept over them, and although no one was killed, but two or three people were injured by it.

After shooting all the bullets in the sub-machine guns' clip, Yun Tu only had the sniper rifle and pistol left. But the latter was simply useless in this situation. The moment Yun Tu stored his sub-machine gun, the whistling sound of wind was heard as the first arrow was fired at him.

An Archer had two initial skills. One was the "Marking" and the other one was an offensive skill called "Accelerated Arrow". It was a common knowledge that an arrow was released at a rapid speed at the beginning, but it would be slower due to the resistance of the air afterward. However, with this Accelerated Arrow skill, an Archer was able to accelerate their arrow's speed with an invisible energy attached to it. So, the released arrow would suddenly accelerate after it reached half of the distance from the target. If the opponents made a wrong judgement in their escape or dodging movements, it would often lead to their own blunders.

As such, a lot of people would find themselves having difficulty when facing Archers as their opponents. Obviously, it was not because their strength was weaker than them, but it was because the arrow seemed to be easy to avoid; of which, became their hated enemy in the next moment.

However, as a veteran of the Apocalypse, Yun Tu certainly didn't commit such a basic mistake!

An Archer had the advantage in long-distance attacks. However, if they had yet to develop a Tracking Arrow skill, it wouldn't be too difficult to avoid this Accelerated Arrow skill.

In short, if he was able to avoid it, then he didn't need to block it. And if he was still able to fight, then fight he will!

Whilst figuring out the trajectory of the opponent's arrow, Yun Tu suddenly revealed a sniper rifle. It was worth wasting one or two rounds of bullets if he was able to kill this Duan Huarong, for she was also one of the key forces of the Jiangnan Family.

"What the h.e.l.l?! This guy also has an sniper rifle?!"

Duan Huarong hastily rushed into a house at the side upon seeing Yun Tu suddenly revealing a sniper rifle. The sniper rifle's bullet was not the same as the sub-machine gun's and pistol's bullets that could be avoided. She could only rush to hide into the bunker before Yun Tu had the chance to shoot.

The sniper rifle, in the other hand, was a weapon with piercing attack for ambus.h.i.+ng. It was not automatic, and was quite inappropriate to be used in this kind of face-to-face fight. The reason Yun Tu revealed it was only to bluff.

Upon seeing that all of his enemies hastily rus.h.i.+ng to hide inside the houses on both sides, he stored the weapon back and turned around to run away again.

The "Stealth Step" skill had a time restriction, with the longest being no more than a minute. The "Marking" skill, on the other hand, was restricted by a distance limit. The farthest it would be active couldn't exceed 500 meters. As long as the target distanced themselves away more than 500 meters, the Marking on them would automatically disappear.

Hiding in the house, Duan Huarong suddenly sensed that the "Marked" target disappeared. She knew that Yun Tu had escaped far away. She then came out of the house and quickly called everyone as well as helped the two members who had been injured by Yun Tu's shot, and sent them back for the treatment.

Before the Apocalypse, Yun Tu was the person who refused sign the contract with the Duan Entertainment. She was quite vexed and annoyed by it. And now, after the advent of the Apocalypse, he also defeated her in this first fight. As a capable person and a person who strictly demanded more of herself, she secretly swore that she must kill Yun Tu the next time she met him so as to vent her vexed feelings.

However, she hadn't a clue that there wouldn't be a second time for her. The fight had not ended yet, for Yun Tu was coming back to kill ker since the Archer's Marking technique was gone after he run away past the 500 meters' limit.