Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 41 - 37 Ranger Trial Passed!

Chapter 41: Chapter 37 Ranger Trial Passed!

Darting back and forth, grappling at close quarters.

Yun Ying’s figure was extremely agile, weaving around Xue Tianba, repeatedly dodging fatal attacks and decisively counterattacking.

The two of them were like participants in a fighting game, only this battle lacked the balance of a traditional fighting game.

Xue Tianba fully exploited his physical advantage to its limit, not only launching fierce attacks but also finding opportunities to try and knock Yun Ying down or grab her.

In gaming terms, such a move had a specific name: "grappling."

In any game, grappling was one of the most dangerous skills; once caught, the player could be either killed or severely injured. And in "Dark Sand," grappling was even more perilous due to the considerable difference in body size between the players—if caught and unable to break free, one would be subjected to a one-sided beating.

Yet, Yun Ying managed to adeptly handle all of Xue Tianba’s various assaults and even took advantage of his imbalance after the lunges to counterattack, inflicting significant damage on Xue Tianba.

After selecting the talent for directly striking weak points, every time Yun Ying hit Xue Tianba’s vulnerable areas, she caused substantial damage, making the burly man grunt in pain.

As time went on, the momentum between the two changed gradually.

As an entirely realistic game, "Dark Sand" naturally included a concept of stamina, which Yun Ying had already noticed.

Moreover, the stamina system in this game was different from typical games and was much closer to reality.

Though Xue Tianba had a large frame with high attack power and resilience, his size also meant higher stamina consumption.

Therefore, in the early stages, Xue Tianba could completely oppress the player with his physical advantage, leaving the player unable to fight back, but this state couldn’t last too long.

Moreover, Yun Ying already knew this and had deliberately avoided his sharpest attacks from the outset, conserving her own stamina. As a result, this difference in stamina became increasingly apparent.

Yun Ying began to gradually gain the upper hand.

Her heavy punches and kicks increasingly landed on Xue Tianba, especially targeting any critical spots.

In a real-world ring, many vital spots are off-limits, but not here—everything from groin kicks to eye gouges was fair game.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang!"

After a series of heavy punches, Xue Tianba was visibly off-balance. Yun Ying certainly wouldn’t miss such a good opportunity, first using ’Twin Peaks Piercing Ears’—her palms forcefully striking his temples—followed by a heavy kick straight to his lower abdomen, sending him flying!

Actually, two days earlier, Yun Ying had already managed to get Xue Tianba into this state.

At that time, she naively thought that she had already cleared the instance.

But what Xue Tianba did next greatly surprised the then Yun Ying.

The fierce-looking brute showed a hint of fear on his face; he had thought this seemingly frail swordsman had come on a futile effort, not expecting her martial arts to be so formidable!

Then, the look of fear on his face turned into an even more ferocious expression.

He quickly moved to the side, reaching for the weapons rack and grabbed a heavy nine-ringed broadsword!

The first time Yun Ying saw this, her jaw almost dropped in shock.

What’s going on?

What happened to the promised exchange of blows? Why the sudden use of weapons? Where was the honor in martial arts?

Back then, Yun Ying was too green and only lasted a few moves before Xue Tianba killed her with his wild slashes.

It was only after that she understood why the instance included the talent for mastering weapons.

But now, after taking many losses, Yun Ying was no longer her former self; she had learned from her mistakes.

At the same time as she launched that kick, Yun Ying already knew Xue Tianba would definitely go for a weapon, so she headed straight for the weapons rack as well.

Indeed, Yun Ying had tried to see if she could straightaway kill Xue Tianba in the first stage, without moving to the second or third stages, but after several attempts, all failed.

Xue Tianba’s resilience was unexpectedly strong, and the significant difference in physique meant it was virtually impossible to finish him with a chokehold or various joint locks.

So Yun Ying seriously went to select a weapon as well.

Xue Tianba, being a trained house servant, had various weapons on the rack, but after many attempts, Yun Ying ultimately chose a very ordinary longsword.

The reason was simple: on one hand, he had practiced with it in reality, so it suited him well; on the other hand, this body had the most muscle memory with the Longsword, which combined to give him the greatest combat strength.

Although there’s a saying that a weapon an inch longer is an inch stronger, in the end, it has to be one that’s easy for the user to handle.

Thinking about it, that’s only to be expected, after all, he’s a Ranger. If he were proficient with dual axes, it would feel a bit weird.

Both sides tacitly chose their weapons, and the battle continued.

After entering the second stage, the fight became even more perilous.

With his nine-ring broadsword in hand, Xue Tianba continued his routine of bold and powerful swings. The clanging of his heavy blade rang out, and a single strike could be lethal.

Huo Yun Ying, wielding his Longsword, stuck to his prior tactics, not confronting Xue Tianba directly but darting around, waiting for the right moment to strike, and using skill to win.

Amidst the whistling of bladed weapons, both fighters’ garments began to tear under the blades, and blood spurted out from time to time.

Xue Tianba didn’t just fiercely swing his broadsword, he also intermittently roared and shouted, trying to distract Huo Yun Ying’s focus.

But Huo Yun Ying maintained his high concentration throughout, skillfully initiating attacks with ease.

Eventually, Xue Tianba started to show signs of fatigue, his vulnerabilities became increasingly apparent, and his footwork grew unsteady.

However, this did not mean Huo Yun Ying was guaranteed to win, because Xue Tianba suddenly bellowed out.

"Men, men! Quick, come!"

This shout, full of breath, traveled far. Moments later, several house servants and thugs, each carrying weapons, charged in!

Despite having encountered this third-stage scenario several times before, Huo Yun Ying still wanted to silently criticize it: What a damn dog move!

At the start of the trial, when Huo Yun Ying entered the courtyard and Xue Tianba engaged him in close combat, it led Huo Yun Ying to mistakenly think this was a villain with some sense of martial virtue.

But now, he realized it was all an illusion!

If you can’t beat someone, you grab a weapon; if that fails, you call for reinforcements—shameless to the core!

Yet, after all, this was a fight to the death, so it was understandable.

Huo Yun Ying had tried several times to ignore these small fries and finish off Xue Tianba, but each attempt ended in failure, just a sword’s thrust away from success, only to fall short.

It was a replay of the infamous scene, "Oh, getting anxious, are we?"

So this time, Huo Yun Ying didn’t rush as before.

Seeing a thug’s spear thrust at him, he quickly sidestepped, grabbed the spear with his left hand, and his Longsword pierced straight through the thug’s throat with his right hand!

Another servant behind him raised his blade to strike, but Huo Yun Ying, as if he had eyes on the back of his head, kicked him hard and sent him flying.

Dodging among the few house servants, feinting and striking, it didn’t take long for three or four of them to fall, clutching their throats.

Seeing this, the other servants were intimidated, too scared to advance any further.

Naturally, this was experience gained from dying several times.

Every time he entered the third stage, the order in which the house servants charged at him was fairly consistent, so Huo Yun Ying had memorized the sequence of their attacks and had devised an optimal route to defeat them.

In this respect, the Ranger instance was easier than the Militia’s, possibly because the Militia’s simulated an invasion by Beidi barbarians, with larger numbers and more variables, leading to greater variation in the instance; while in the Ranger’s, there were only these few house servants, leading to less change and more predictability.

After killing a few of the house servants, the others began to slack, fearing to engage.

And this meant that Huo Yun Ying finally got the chance to kill Xue Tianba!

At this point, Huo Yun Ying was nearly at his limit too, but forced himself to chase after the fleeing Xue Tianba and plunged his sword into his back.

Xue Tianba’s face twisted fiercely as he fought desperately. Although he was already covered in sword wounds and slowing down, his menacing expression was still terrifying to behold.

Finally, after dodging another strike from Xue Tianba’s nine-ring broadsword, Huo Yun Ying found his moment and thrust his sword into Xue Tianba’s throat!

Pulling out the Longsword, blood spurted wildly.

Xue Tianba, with a look of fear and disbelief on his face, fell backward like a huge mountain collapsing.