Chapter 62: Chapter Thirty: The Three Sisters

The Queen raised her knight’s sword, but nothing happened.

No radiant light, no furious sword qi.

“Holy Blade Slash! Holy Blade Slash!”

The Queen was startled, lowered her raised arm, and stared bewilderedly at the sword in her hand—the scene grew painfully awkward.

“What a truly ‘powerful’ technique.”

Su Xiao’s perfectly timed mockery left the Queen seething.

At that moment, the Queen noticed the Loop Paradise’s prompt—she had no mana left.

The Queen couldn’t understand this situation; since the battle began, she’d only used three skills, and she’d feared running out of mana entirely, so she’d paid a high price for a necklace that increased her mana by 30 points.

The Queen didn’t understand, but Su Xiao knew—the Qinggangying skill had burned through her mana completely.

He didn’t know how effective Qinggangying was against mages, but against this low-mana shield warrior, it was devastating.

A few slashes, and even if the opponent didn’t die, they couldn’t cast any skills.

For a long time, Su Xiao had wondered: this class, “Shadow of Mana Annihilation,” sounded tailor-made for mages—but how was he supposed to fight them?

If he could close the distance, the excruciating pain from Qinggangying’s mana burn would let him keep slashing—but getting close was the big problem.

The unopened skills of “Shadow of Mana Annihilation” should solve this—if not, the class had no right to call itself “Shadow of Mana Annihilation.”

Thinking about this was still premature; right now, his priority was killing the enemy before him.

After confirming the Queen had no mana, Su Xiao charged forward.

Even if the Queen had drunk that unknown liquid and suddenly grown stronger, gaining several new skills, without mana, she was a tiger without teeth.

As for the knight’s sword in the Queen’s hand, Su Xiao ignored it entirely—she didn’t know how to use a sword.

As Su Xiao charged forward, he slashed at the Queen’s throat.

The long blade cut through the air, carving a sharp, unexpected angle.

The Queen raised her sword to block—but blocked nothing; Su Xiao’s slash had shifted from a downward cut to a horizontal slice, and half the Queen’s ear flew off.

Losing her ear was excruciating—the Queen felt a deafening buzz in her skull.

Zhanlong Flash was still in its striking pose; another strike required recharging.

Su Xiao simply kept charging, pressing nearly against the Queen, lifting his left knee and smashing it hard into her side.

There was a spot on her side unprotected by ribs—especially vulnerable.

Before the Queen could recover from the buzzing, she took this heavy blow—her suffering was unimaginable.

Su Xiao stepped back lightly, jumping about a meter away; before his foot even landed, a flash of blade light struck—the Queen’s chest took a slash, her armor cut open, revealing pale skin beneath.

Blood oozed from the armor’s breach, and the Queen felt that agonizing pain again.

This time, the energy birds above her head lessened the pain, giving her a sliver of strength to fight back.

The Queen’s will wasn’t strong enough; a determined warrior could ignore most pain in battle.

“You bastard, die!”

The Queen swung her sword with all her strength—Su Xiao didn’t block; he sidestepped nimbly.

The moment Su Xiao landed his backward leap, he kicked off the ground and lunged forward again.

The Queen’s swing missed completely, leaving her wide open.

“Pfft.”

A shallow wound appeared on the Queen’s throat, forcing her to stagger backward several steps.

“Huff~… huff~…”

The Queen breathed heavily, feeling as if her lungs were a broken bellows—each breath was a struggle.

“Where’s that confident expression from earlier?”

Su Xiao walked slowly toward the Queen; since the battle began, he’d remained calm.

If three opponents—a shield warrior, a sniper, and a support—had surrounded him together, he wouldn’t have been this relaxed.

But the trio’s main damage dealer, the sniper, was tied up by Lingwu Shizao.

The shield warrior before him had high survivability, but in close-range combat, she was worlds apart from Su Xiao.

Su Xiao vaguely realized something: if contractees’ development path was PVE, his was PVP—this was intentional by Loop Paradise. He was a hunter, destined to fight contractees often.

A tank who excelled at absorbing damage, confidently engaging a master assassin in melee? The outcome was obvious.

“This isn’t possible. My stats, gear, skills—all stronger than yours. Why is this happening? Something must be wrong.”

The Queen’s eyes burned with bitter resentment.

“Who knows? But that thing above your head looks like it’s about to vanish.”

Su Xiao wasn’t relaxed either; the female shield warrior, with 24 points in vitality, was absurdly tough—Zhanlong Flash struggled to pierce her defenses, something he’d never encountered before.

This served as a warning to Su Xiao: if the stat gap was too wide, even his superior combat skills might not be enough.

But the Queen before him clearly didn’t belong in that category—she’d reached these stats only after taking drugs.

The two elemental birds above the Queen let out simultaneous cries, shattered, and dissolved into countless glowing particles that vanished into her body.

The continuous healing effect ended; the Queen’s health bar plummeted rapidly.

Seeing this, Ye Zi’s face turned deathly pale—her own mana was low, barely enough to keep the Queen alive for a few more seconds.

But following the Queen’s orders, her remaining mana had another purpose—this was their last hope for victory.

Just as the Queen and Ye Zi both felt despair, Su Xiao lunged forward, slashing relentlessly.

In this critical moment, a voice like celestial music reached the Queen’s ears.

“Queen, I’ve dealt with the opponent.”

Heibai breathed heavily, coughing several times.

“Did you kill Lingwu Shizao?”

The Queen’s eyes lit up with joy.

“No, that guy was tough—he escaped at the last moment, but he’s badly wounded.”

Though Lingwu Shizao wasn’t dead, the Queen didn’t care—her team’s main damage dealer was finally free.

“I’ll fight you to the death!”

The Queen roared, hurled away her knight’s sword, and charged at Su Xiao like a woman walking to her doom.

Su Xiao was taken aback—something strange was afoot; he instinctively stepped back.

But the Queen’s forward lunge drove Zhanlong Flash deep into her abdomen; Su Xiao tried to pull it free, but the Queen seized the blade with both hands.

“Slish!”—her fingers were nearly severed, yet she paid no mind, lunging at Su Xiao and locking her arms around him like a koala clinging to a tree.

The Queen’s strength stat was now 15—two points higher than Su Xiao’s; escaping her grip would require skill.

Su Xiao gripped Zhanlong Flash’s hilt and twisted it violently inside the Queen’s abdomen.

“Aaaah~!!”

Tears streamed from the Queen’s eyes, yet she refused to let go.

“Bang!”

A gunshot rang out from afar; Su Xiao had sensed the danger, but the Queen’s weight plus her armor totaled over two hundred jin—he moved sluggishly.

At the last moment, Su Xiao could only twist slightly, trying to avoid vital areas.

A bullet, barely a finger’s length, pierced Su Xiao’s abdomen, kept going, and shot clean through his body—then through the Queen’s.

This shot drained 70% of Su Xiao’s health.

The Queen’s body went limp, her arms weakening.

At that instant, Ye Zi, who had stood motionless at a distance, unleashed their final trump card.

“Judgment!”

Ye Zi cried out, and a massive energy cross materialized above Su Xiao’s head.

The cross blazed with holy light and slammed down with crushing force.

“Boom!”

Su Xiao’s ears rang as the energy cross shattered.

[You have been struck by “Judgment.” Your HP is below 15%. Execution effect activated.]

[Ding, ding~. “Mana-Immune Body” activated. Execution failed. Immune to this Execution. Instead, 9% HP deducted.]