MMORPG: War God, You are Invincible Again

"No way, how did you break my Earth Shield in one move?!" Tiga exclaimed incredulously.

"Hmph! I didn't use my real strength against you before. Today you even dared to disrespect my master..."

"Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough!" The old man's speech was cut short by Lu Hong coughing furiously, and Lu Hong quickly pulled the old man aside and said, "Don't you ever call me master in public, having such an old disciple is embarrassing."

"...." Although the old man was filled with dissatisfaction, Lu Hong did indeed qualify to be his master. If it wasn't for learning that move, he might have been the one lying on the ground right now: "Yes, then what should I call you in the future?"

"Umm... Call me Young Master, yes, Young Master."

The old man nodded and said to Tiga, "Consider it your good fortune to fight with my Young Master. My Young Master is not someone who takes the time to instruct others so casually."

"Young Master?!" Both Tiga and Nono were taken aback. They knew who the old man was, but they had never heard of any distinguished Young Master from the Prolus family who would be served carefully by the family's older generation. The two racked their brains but couldn't come up with a clue.

"It's just that you've learned a new skill, come fight me again!" Tiga got up, presenting a fighting stance.

"I would rather not fight with a loser," the old man said with his nostrils flaring and a look of arrogance. "Can you even handle one of my moves? You don't even qualify for me to take action." The old man wasn't stupid, he knew that he had just caught Tiga by surprise previously, and now that Tiga was on his guard, it wouldn't make sense to fight him.

"Prolusius, don't push your luck. I was just caught off guard. When have you not been sent scrambling to find your teeth in our past fights?!" Tiga was not used to taking heat from the old man and quickly brought up past grievances.

"Are you really proud to mention the past? Did you not realize I let you win?" the old man argued with false bravado.

"Come on then, let's have a fight today. I want to see if you were really letting me win," Tiga said, wielding his weapon and charging toward the old man.

"My Young Master has already offered you a chance," the old man retorted. "If you can beat my Young Master, then I will call you Grandpa whenever I see you."

"Are you serious?" Tiga rather liked the old man's suggestion. They had been nemeses in the army back in the day. The idea of having the old man call him Grandpa was indeed a fulfilling notion in life.

"Of course, when have I, Prolusius, ever spoken falsehoods?" The old man patted his chest, full of confidence in Lu Hong. Having seen Lu Hong display a level one skill with such power, how could Tiga, compressing his strength to level one, be a match for Lu Hong?

"I know the duel with Nono is very important to her, so I want to help her. If I win against you, keep your comments to yourself for the next few days. I will guide Nono to victory in this duel," Lu Hong said solemnly, looking at Nono.

"Such arrogance," Tiga said, scrutinizing Lu Hong seriously. The old man was not one to boast. He must believe this young man has something to rely on, thus Tiga began to take Lu Hong more seriously. But he remained completely skeptical about Lu Hong's claim that he could aid Nono to defeat the warrior Gunnar.

"Whether I'm bluffing or not, you'll find out after we fight. To not bully you, I'll allow you to use all the Knight's 'First Transition' skills, just don't claim after that I was unfair," Lu Hong said indifferently.

"You're full of hot air!" Tiga got so furious his face turned red. A mere level one warrior daring to bluster so audaciously. Doesn't he know how powerful a Knight's Holy Light armor is? Among the 'First Transition' professions, only the extremely violent Mages can break through a Knight's defense. Virtually no other profession can beat a Knight of the same level in a one-on-one fight."

"Why talk so much, just fight and you'll see," Lu Hong said, taking the large sword from the old man and pointing its tip at Tiga. "Come on, let's see how good your skills are."

"Kid, I'm going to beat you so hard you'll be bedridden for a year," Tiga said before charging toward Lu Hong, striking at Lu Hong's forehead with the level one Knight skill, 'Knight's Heavy Blow'.

"I did tell you to use your advanced skills. You can't blame me if you don't," Lu Hong said as he launched into a War Challenge, colliding fiercely with Tiga's greatsword. Lu Hong was a human with orc blood, naturally stronger than most people. However, he was still slightly inferior to Tiga, but it wasn't a big problem. A faint Fighting Spirit followed the trajectory of his War Challenge, sprinkling outwards, startling Tiga who had never seen such basic Skill like War Challenge unleash Fighting Spirit externally.

He had currently limited his own abilities to the standards of a Level 1, so it was impossible for him to withstand that attack of Fighting Spirit unscathed. He quickly dodged, his own strength decreasing considerably in the process. Lu Hong let out a sly chuckle: "Now I'm going to hit you in the face."

"What?" Before Tiga could respond, Lu Hong's heavy fist landed squarely on his face.

"Ah!" Tiga tumbled to the ground, his left eye already turning black: "You... you... how can you have the Level 10 Warrior Skill of a heavy punch?!"

"Didn't I allow you to use the Knight's advanced skills?" Lu Hong sneered, then paused, not striking first, giving Tiga a chance to readjust.

Tiga took a deep breath and finally noticed something odd about Lu Hong. A Level 1 Warrior possessing skills higher than his own rank made Tiga wary.

Nono was even more astonished. She knew that while Skills could be learned above one's level, it typically required guidance from family elders or tutors, without which, years of study were necessary to be able to deploy them. Otherwise, she would have already learned how to use the Armor of Holy Light elsewhere and wouldn't need to wait until reaching the proper level to seek the blessings of the Heavenly God at the Holy Temple to understand the mysteries behind Skill release.

"How about it, Tiga? Admit your defeat!" Old Prolusius said gleefully: "Just apologize to our young master, and this will all be behind us."

Tiga ignored the old man, seeing Lu Hong as a true opponent. Beams of Holy Light descended from the heavens, blessing Tiga with powers: Strength Blessing, Blade Blessing, King's Blessing, and finally, the fearsome Armor of Holy Light!

"Ah, finally using the Armor of Holy Light, are we? But you're almost out of Holy Light now, aren't you? You always believed the Armor of Holy Light was unbreakable, didn't you? Today, I'm going to prove you wrong and shatter this big turtle shell of yours!" Lu Hong lifted his greatsword, his eyes bursting with combat fervor. He rushed forward and swung a mighty horizontal blow at the sternly waiting Tiga.

Tiga, the veteran Knight, was not to be underestimated. He precisely blocked the horizontal swipe, not retreating a step. If there was one thing the Knight excelled at, it was defense. Having blessed himself with so many Skills, Tiga was determined to engage Lu Hong in a war of attrition.

"Disarm!" As Tiga blocked Lu Hong's strike, Lu Hong executed the Level 12 Warrior Skill Disarm. A sword blossom appeared, and Tiga felt his vision blur, the greatsword slipping from his grasp and stabbing into the ground.

"What kind of Skill is this?" Tiga had never seen this Warrior Skill before, which was overly complex. Thus, after the destruction of the Warrior Temple, no one could master it any longer.

With his greatsword dropped, Tiga reeled back, not daring to clash with Lu Hong without a weapon. In truth, Lu Hong was also lucky; if Tiga hadn't suppressed his strength to Level 1, the Disarm Skill probably wouldn't have succeeded in making him drop his weapon.

"Don't run!" Lu Hong chased after him and hacked at Tiga's shoulder. The shoulder, covered by the Armor of Holy Light, emitted a humming sound and slowly cracked open.

"How can this be?!" Tiga was shocked again, never having seen an attack that could crack the Armor of Holy Light with a single blow. Could it be that this youngster had mastered a long-lost Warrior combat technique?

Indeed, Tiga guessed correctly. This was the Level 12 Warrior combat technique Armor Break, designed to counter the formidable defense of Knight professionals and the super thick-skinned Demon Beasts.

Heavy punch! Seeing Tiga dodge to the side, Lu Hong swung his greatsword with his right hand while delivering a heavy punch with his left. Tiga, weaponless and out of Skills, could only instinctively block the punch, but Lu Hong's greatsword struck the same crack again. Tiga stumbled and rolled three circles before reaching his greatsword, yanking it out of the ground, "Who exactly are you? How do you possess so many lost Skills?"

"You guess." Lu Hong raised his sword to strike again, but Tiga no longer intended to fight a prolonged battle. He realized that if he did so, at best he would be serving as a punching bag for this youngster's practice, and his defense would not hold for long before being broken. He had to take a gamble.

Tiga's greatsword brutally slammed into the ground, anchoring it there as he called down from the heavens: "Holy Light Thunder Punishment!" Tiga exerted the last of his Knightly powers to use a Level 12 Knight Skill, unleashing a torrent of lightning at Lu Hong.

With a flash of blinding light and a thunderous explosion, the dust on the battlefield cleared. Prolusius and Nono's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as Lu Hong's greatsword rested on Tiga's neck. Tiga's Armor of Holy Light was shattered, fragment by fragment, disappearing into nothing, his eyes dim as he murmured, "I... have lost!"