Chapter 103: The Ultimate Form of the Weapon Master
The snow on the mountains stopped falling.
The snow on the ground began to melt.
The mercenaries of the Iron Cross watched blankly as the Snow Monsters fled in all directions. Even when bullets struck their bodies, the creatures didn’t turn back.
The temperature began to rise noticeably. Some mercenaries, feeling the heat, couldn’t help but take off their fur clothes.
After a thorough search of the vicinity, the mercenaries had to admit that if these Snow Monsters were determined to flee and hide, the Iron Cross would have a hard time finding them.
Some Snow Monsters hid in caves or crevices in the rocks; those were relatively easy to find. Others simply dug holes in the ground and buried themselves. How could they find those? Did they expect the mercenaries to overturn all the surrounding soil?
After searching for another four hours and only capturing two Snow Monsters, Andrea reluctantly announced that they had to call it a day.
Returning to the entrance of the mountain pass, the Iron Cross mercenary group encountered the returning members of Azure Longsword.
“Hey, did you see?!” Andrea asked as soon as they met, his face full of confusion. “This anomaly seemed to end inexplicably! The Snow Monsters all started to scatter and run away.”
“Indeed,” Asker nodded. “But at least we can report back to the Spartans.”
Andrea’s face fell. Who cares about the Spartans! What about the Snow Monsters? What about all those transcendental materials? It’s just over like this?
Returning to Sparta, the group was, naturally, met with the Spartans’… gawking.
Not a welcome, but gawking.
The Spartans’ feelings were complicated. On the one hand, they were happy that the anomaly was resolved. On the other hand, they were ashamed that they weren’t the ones who resolved it.
Azure Longsword was fine, but the glances the Spartans cast towards the Iron Cross were filled with undisguised hostility.
Spartans belonged to the Siris race, generally having brown eyes and black hair. Most of the Iron Cross mercenaries were Franks, with blue eyes and golden hair. Both ethnicities were known for producing strong men.
If it weren’t for maintaining a semblance of peace, some Spartans might have challenged the Iron Cross mercenaries to another duel to wash away the shame of their previous defeat.
In the Spartan Royal Court, the two kings were very polite to the triumphant group, declaring them “Sparta’s eternal comrades”… a rather useless honorary title.
Andrea beamed, putting on a perfect performance despite his inner dissatisfaction. Being a leader meant maintaining appearances.
Asker’s reaction was more genuine: after all, they had completed a dungeon run, gathered a lot of materials to sell, and obtained a silver-quality artifact. He was one step closer to his goal of equipping the entire team with artifacts.
Isn’t this sense of accomplishment what playing games is all about? Asker felt like he was back in his pre-professional player days, playing games during work hours under the guise of “competitor monitoring” with his colleagues.
When they got a high-level axe, they’d casually toss it to the colleague who played an axe-wielder, no need to discuss price.
Later, after joining the club, all his in-game gains were subject to audits and monitoring, and he couldn’t dispose of them freely. Gradually, he distanced himself from the game world and focused solely on the grind of competitive esports.
No matter how interesting something was, once it became a profession, it wasn’t far from becoming boring.
Leaving the Spartan Royal Court, seeing the smiles on the girls’ faces, Asker suddenly felt that this was quite nice too.
If he had been alone in his original world, without any attachments, perhaps he would have settled down peacefully in this world after transmigrating.
Travel the continent adventuring with teammates, collect materials, make a fortune, retire in old age, buy a manor, live a self-sufficient life, marry a wife he loved…
He’d probably find someone from the team, after all, they were all beautiful, and he knew them well. The only problem was choosing which one…
He chuckled, shaking his head to dispel these chaotic thoughts.
The group stopped in front of a blacksmith shop. Asker told the girls to wait outside and went in alone.
Ten minutes later, a truly fully armed Asker emerged, leaving the girls speechless.
He had a shield and spear strapped to his back, an axe hanging from his left hip, two swords hanging from his right hip, a pistol holstered on his chest, a short knife strapped to his left forearm, and a row of throwing knives strapped to his right forearm.
Asker, didn’t you just go in to buy back the sword you lost? How does it look like you robbed the entire blacksmith shop?
Seeing the girls’ confused gazes, Asker cleared his throat and said:
“Alright, I won’t hide it anymore—this is the ultimate form of the Weapon Master.”
The girls: …
If the person saying this wasn’t their wise and mighty captain, they would have thought he was joking.
However, Asker wasn’t joking. This truly was the ultimate form of the Weapon Master.
For a hardcore game without bug-level weapons like the “Thousand Machine Umbrella,” maximizing the Weapon Master’s advantage could only be achieved by carrying multiple weapons.
Short knives for close combat, swords and axes for close-to-medium range, spears for medium range, pistols and throwing knives for long range. Although it looked a bit clumsy, it was unexpectedly strong in actual combat.
The advantage was that if the player’s operational skills were solid, they had a huge advantage against physical Transcendents of the same level.
For example, if the enemy used a sword, their attack range including arm length was 1-2 meters. The Weapon Master could wield a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other, constantly repositioning to keep the distance between them fluctuating around 2 meters. This would make the opponent extremely uncomfortable.
One moment the Weapon Master would be within your attack range, the next moment they’d be out, leaving the opponent unsure whether to attack or not.
If the opponent tried to close the distance, the Weapon Master would pull back; if the opponent stood still, the Weapon Master would approach indirectly. If the opponent attacked, the Weapon Master would pull back again, easily dodging.
It was a classic example of “They can’t hit me, but I can hit them.”
Players called this the “Yo-Yo” technique, a staple tactic of the “cowardly” playstyle.
(Readers who can’t imagine this can check out the gameplay of the Souls series.)
Some novice players might think the solution is simple: just anticipate their movement, rush forward when they approach, or retreat when they retreat. Wouldn’t that break their distance control?
Unfortunately, the Weapon Master bloodline had a sequence called “Dodge,” specifically designed to enhance the Transcendental’s control over distance and positioning…
Other novice players might say, then I’ll also hold a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other, so I can attack you regardless of the distance change?
Even more unfortunately, the “Sharp Weapon” and “Projectile” sequences of the Weapon Master bloodline made them stronger in both swordsmanship and marksmanship than normal physical Transcendents…
So you couldn’t beat them in a sword fight, you couldn’t beat them in a gunfight, and you had to constantly switch your attention between sword and gun, fighting clumsily and feeling like you wanted to die.
If physical Transcendents couldn’t beat them, what about spiritual Transcendents?
Sorry, unless the skill gap was too large, it was equally difficult to fight a Weapon Master.
The reason was simple: spiritual Transcendents often had weak physical bodies, and one of the Weapon Master’s common weapons was a pistol.
As the weapon with the fastest projectile speed, by the time an Arcane Mage finished casting a fireball, or a Psychic prepared to use a control ability, a rapid burst of bullets would already have headshot them.
In the professional scene, there weren’t many ways to counter a Weapon Master. If you were a physical Transcendental, you had to be prepared for a protracted battle, maneuvering constantly to disrupt their distance control, whether you were a melee warrior or a ranged gunman.
If you were a spiritual Transcendental, you absolutely had to use guerrilla assassin tactics. Either don’t attack, or, when you attack, you must control/kill them instantly.
Otherwise, any slight mistake or hesitation, and you’d be the one getting headshot by the pistol.
Of course, the Weapon Master also had many limitations.
For example, the player’s operational skills had to be solid, and they had to be extremely skilled in various fighting styles. After all, the “Sharp Weapon” potion only taught you how to use swords and knives, not how to fight a Fire Mage while wielding a sword.
Another problem was naturally carrying multiple weapons, which greatly increased the Weapon Master’s encumbrance. Therefore, usually only Weapon Masters who reached level 5, with sufficient physical strength, would start attempting to carry multiple weapons.
In a sense, Asker wasn’t wrong when he called it the “ultimate form of the Weapon Master.”
At least within level 10.
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