Rolling Underneath

"Boss, I feel like that swordsman is a lot like Huang Shaotian..." Shen Jian said, "Because when he was fighting, the guy was super chatty, so much that it made our ears hurt."

This reminded Liu Hao. He had initially thought that since he wasn't competing with Ye Qiu for dungeon records anymore, Ye Qiu wouldn't need to call for outside help. However, he didn't expect that Ye Qiu would still be brought in Huang Shaotian.

"It seems like I need to go and test out the so-called... unspecialised personally!"

...

The headquarters of the Jia Dynasty Guild was on the lower floor of the training centre. More than twenty people were busy inside.

Although Jia Dynasty Guild had tens of thousands of players, there were only about twenty natural management talents. These people worked at the Excellent Era Club, managing the operations of the club for Jia Dynasty, recruiting fresh blood, and earning performance bonuses and salaries.

Seeing Liu Hao come to the guild in person, Chen Yehui quickly ran up and handed him a cup of iced cola. "Boss, is there something you need help with?"

Liu Hao nodded. "Get me an account card for the Tenth Server, but it must not be affiliated with Jia Dynasty Guild."

"Any requirements for the class?"

Liu Hao was taken aback, and after some thought, he said, "As long as it's not a Magic Swordsman, any other class will do!"

Liu Hao planned to hunt down Ye Qiu and test his strength. Ye Qiu would indeed become Excellent Era's biggest enemy in the future. Still, if he used a Magic Swordsman to test Ye Qiu's unspecialised character, they would end up understanding each other's strengths, making the test meaningless.

Ye Qiu might know his past self, but he definitely didn't know the current Liu Hao! This was Liu Hao's advantage.

Chen Yehui quickly brought back two account cards and handed them to Liu Hao. "Boss, one account card is for a Berserker, and the other is a Ghostblade, both high-level, wild accounts."

Since Liu Hao specifically didn't want a Magic Swordsman, Chen Yehui carefully selected two account cards from the same swordsman category. Initially, Chen Yehui wanted to get Liu Hao an account card for a Sword Saint, but he found that the Sword Saint account was already in the Jia Dynasty Guild, so he gave up.

Liu Hao didn't care whether he had a Sword Saint or not. After expressing his thanks, he walked back to the training room.

Liu Hao sat back at his station, inserted the account card, and logged into the game. The character that loaded made Liu Hao burst out laughing.

Hateful Sword! And it's a Berserker...

After entering the game, Liu Hao contacted Chen Yehui. After receiving information on Lord Grim's location, Liu Hao controlled Hateful Sword to head quickly towards the coordinates.

It didn't take long before he arrived at the Wild Zone in Boneyard. According to Chen Yehui's informants, Lord Grim was levelling up here with others.

Finding Lord Grim was particularly easy because he was the most conspicuous among all the players nearby.

He wore a blue mage hat with gold trim, brown jacket-style leather armour, fiery red shorts, and even high-heeled boots every day for Battle Mages. The entire outfit was an absolute eyesore.

This outfit wasn't just ugly; it was hideous, like a toad wearing a flowery coat. Liu Hao almost burst out laughing. If he saw an opponent dressed like this in a solo match, it would be hard not to laugh out loud.

Liu Hao controlled Hateful Sword to walk straight toward Lord Grim.

At that moment, Ye Qiu was still focused on farming monsters. The Thousand Chance Umbrella in his hand shifted into a battle spear, thrusting and sweeping with high efficiency. Next to him, Soft Mist was imitating his moves, and quite successfully at that.

Hearing heavy footsteps behind him, Ye Qiu became very cautious and quickly turned around. Over the past few days, he had frequently been ambushed by Excellent Era's professional players. If Su Mucheng hadn't given him warnings, he would have already been killed in one of those attacks.

Seeing that the newcomer was a Berserker with no guild tag, Ye Qiu relaxed a little.

"Hateful Sword? Are you cheap? Brother, you really know how to name your character!" Steamed Bun suddenly laughed.

Liu Hao was stunned; he hadn't realised that Hateful Sword had such a pun.

Liu Hao didn't want to bother with this noob; his target was Ye Qiu's unspecialised character.

"Solo?" Liu Hao typed.

"Can I refuse?" Ye Qiu asked.

"No." Liu Hao immediately started the fight.

Ye Qiu was ready to engage, but unexpectedly, Steamed Bun suddenly threw a brick and shouted, "If you want to solo with my boss, you'll have to get past me first!"

Liu Hao noticed the brick and quickly rolled to dodge the attack.

"What quick reflexes!" Ye Qiu marvelled. Steamed Bun's attack had been entirely unexpected; even Ye Qiu hadn't anticipated it, but this Hateful Sword managed to react. And he dodged the attack with a smooth roll?

In addition, Ye Qiu observed. After Hateful Sword completed the roll, he positioned himself to create a pincer formation with Steamed Bun Invasion, effectively preventing them from surrounding him.

"This Hateful Sword has great awareness!" Ye Qiu remarked.

"Let me test him out!" Steamed Bun couldn't wait and rushed forward, raising his hand for a claw strike.

Liu Hao focused on Steamed Bun's movements, trying to predict his following action. But to his surprise, his Evil King True Eyes couldn't predict Steamed Bun's next move!

It was the first time!

Hateful Sword raised his heavy sword to block Steamed Bun's claw strike, but then Steamed Bun's next move left everyone watching dumbfounded.

"Sand Toss?" Ye Qiu was stunned.

Indeed, Steamed Bun's next move was Sand Toss, but instead of aiming for Hateful Sword's eyes, he threw it right at the raised heavy sword.

Liu Hao didn't even need to turn his head to dodge the sand, effectively wasting Steamed Bun's opening attack opportunity.

"Amateur." Liu Hao breathed a sigh of relief. No wonder he couldn't predict Steamed Bun's attack—Steamed Bun's next move had no real purpose; it was as if he hadn't moved at all.

"I thought my prediction skills had failed!" Liu Hao muttered quietly before sending Steamed Bun flying with a single sword strike.

"Steamed Bun!" Soft Mist noticed the situation and immediately rushed over to help. Ye Qiu had previously told her that this was a rare chance to spar with a professional-level player, an opportunity not to be missed.

Seeing Soft Mist charging at him, Liu Hao felt a headache coming on. He was here to solo with Ye Qiu, so why were all these small fry getting in his way?

"Hateful Sword, your strength has earned my recognition now!" Steamed Bun declared with dramatic flair, "Now taste my attack!"

Soft Mist and Steamed Bun Invasion attacked from both sides. Soft Mist started with a Dragon Tooth, while Steamed Bun threw a Poison Needle.

Starting with Dragon Tooth was typical of a One Autumn Leaf-style attack, but using Poison Needle right away? Poison Needle was a valuable skill that could break super armour, and you're using it so casually? Liu Hao didn't even bother to critique Steamed Bun's moves anymore; this guy was just a noob.

Liu Hao flicked his mouse, deflecting the Poison Needle with his sword and simultaneously disrupting Soft Mist's Dragon Tooth.

Tang Rou wanted to follow up with another attack, but Liu Hao was faster. He executed a Mountain Collapsing Strike, seizing the initiative.

The heavy sword smashed toward Soft Mist with immense force, nearly crushing her.

Tang Rou recalled Ye Qiu's teachings, "You can counter Mountain Collapsing Strike by using Sky Strike and a back jump to avoid the damage."

Tang Rou hit the Sky Strike key, and Soft Mist swung her battle spear...

Seeing this, Ye Qiu quickly intervened, "Roll forward to dodge; he's predicting your move!"

But it was too late. Tang Rou's Sky Strike did slow down the Mountain Collapsing Strike's heavy sword, and then Soft Mist jumped back. But Liu Hao, when executing Mountain Collapsing Strike, had intentionally moved forward, preventing Soft Mist from escaping the attack's range.

Soft Mist was knocked into the air, airborne!

Steamed Bun Invasion rushed to assist but was also sent flying by Hateful Sword's upward strike!

Ye Qiu sighed, "Little Tang, the experience I taught you has to be used according to the situation. In the earlier scenario, you could have rolled forward and avoided Hateful Sword's sword altogether."

"But that wouldn't look good; after all, it would mean rolling under someone's legs. Making a girl perform such a move is too embarrassing," Liu Hao typed, mocking.

(End of Chapter)