MMORPG: Rebirth of the Legendary Guardian

Zhang Yang took the Inheritance Keepsake of the God of War out of his inventory. The axe suddenly became ‘alive,’ and freed itself from the grip of Zhang Yang. After that, the axe radiated and turned into a stream of light, and it began to fly off.

He quickly patted Whitey Jr., and the Serpent soared to the sky and chased after the light.

Although the light was traveling quite swiftly, it would stop after a certain distance, as if it was waiting for Zhang Yang to follow it. That way, Zhang Yang would not lose track of it.

Although this small axe got the chance to rest, however, Whitey Jr. was giving its all, flying at its top speed, just to keep up with it. Whitey Jr. was so exhausted that it’s two beady eyes were swollen with tears. It would turn around to look at Zhang Yang, trying to look pitiful, pleading Zhang Yang to let it stop and rest for awhile.

Zhang Yang laughed and patted the head of the Serpent, then he said, ”You can do it, Whitey Jr.. In future, I shall get a white snake to be your lifelong companion! White snake, green snake, and only Xu Xian(1) is missing!” Zhang Yang tried to crack a joke, based on the Chinese Odyssey titled, ‘Legend of the White Snake’.

”So, who is this Xu Xian, big brother?” Felice was not carrying anyone, and on top of that, she had exceptional stamina! There was no sign of tiredness or fatigue on her face. Furthermore, she could simply sit on the back of Whitey Jr. whenever she feels like taking a break. So the most unlucky one in this situation is Whitey Jr..

”Erm... Xu Xian is a physician. His sister-in-law is the captain of the officers in town, something like a modern day government servant. Well, with a good family background and a decent job, he managed to win back a fair and beautiful white bride as his wife, and also got another energetic and hot green girl, as a bonus!” Zhang Yang began to talk nonsense as he started to tell Felice the story of the ‘Legend of the White Snake’.

Felice was listening to the story with a very focused mind. Unconsciously, she stopped flying on her own as she slowly transformed back to her Humanoid Form and sat on the back of Whitey Jr.. Poor Whitey Jr.. another weight was added on its back, as more tears flowed from its small beady eyes. After she was done listening to Zhang Yang’s story, Felice could not help but to wonder as she patted on the body of Whitey Jr., ”Whitey Jr., you can turn yourself into a beautiful white bride, can you?”

Whitey Jr., ”...”

After soaring through the sky over a certain distance for 2 hours straight, the flying axe had finally landed on the ground. With a loud and tremendous clash, it cleaved through a thick and sturdy rock and went right through.

Zhang Yang landed on the ground together with Whitey Jr. as he made his way down from the back of the Serpent. He walked up to the axe and grabbed the handle with both hands. Then, he began to put his strength into pulling the Inheritance Keepsake of the God of War, out of the rock.

The moment he pulled the axe out of the rock, a very powerful magnetic force came over and pulled the axe away towards a new direction.

This is basically a deserted island where there is no sign of men at all, not even beasts or Spectres! Zhang Yang got on the back of Whitey Jr. and followed the axe.

Not long after, Zhang Yang found himself standing at the entrance of a cave. This cave was not as deep as he had expected it to be. It was only approximately 30 meters deep in. Zhang Yang activated the Appearance Effect of his [Titan Set Armor], and his entire body began to glow. He proceeded deeper into the cave, displeased about how he glowed like a walking lighthouse.

Although the cave was not deep in, it was vast and spacious. The ceiling of the cave was at least 30 meters above from the ground and the width was about 20 meters wide, at the least. Rather than a cave, this was more like a horizontal crater. It was as if a giant had punched the muddy ground with all his might!

Zhang Yang stopped by a gigantic corpse which lay at the deepest part of the cave.

The gigantic corpse had already decayed into a mere skeleton, lying against the wall of the cave. It was about 7 meters tall. Furthermore, this skeleton was completely gold in color, as if it was a masterpiece, made of pure gold!

However, some parts of its left chest had been broken off, apparently, the owner of this skeleton was killed by a blow through its chest.

Boom!

The axe in Zhang Yang’s hand began to radiate a heavenly light of seven colors, and the light was absorbed into the giant skeleton!

Crack! Crack! Crack!

In front of Zhang Yang’s own eyes, the skeleton started moving! After stretching, as if it was just waking up from sleep, it got to its feet and stood gloriously in front of Zhang Yang. Suddenly, the axe tore itself out of Zhang Yang’s grip, and flew straight into the grip of this gigantic skeleton! Instantly, invisible waves were blown across the surroundings, followed by the sound of huge tidal waves bursting and rumbling across the ears of Zhang Yang!

Zhang Yang heard a sound coming from behind him and he could not help but to turn around to have a look. What he saw was a huge tidal wave as high as hundreds of meters tall, moving fast and strong across the sea, outwardly into the distance!

Holy mother of lord! This is one amazingly overpowered being here! It had been dead for so long that only the skeleton remained, but it is still capable of stirring up such impact by raising a hand up! How cool and overly powerful is that!

Zhang Yang stared at the skeleton as he tried to read its details.

[Ares, The Fallen God of War] (???)

Level: ???

HP: ???

Defense: ???

Attack: ???

Skills: ???

Note: One of the hapless gods that had fallen during the War among Gods.

No matter how high the level of the bosses are, they would still inform players their levels, through their information description, just like the Celestial Tier boss that Zhang Yang encountered when he was still back in the newbie town. Even though there were about 300 Levels differences between the level of the boss and the levels of the players, Zhang Yang and the other players could still see the Tier and the level of the boss, at the very least.

But this Fallen God of War did not show any other information, other than its name! This is most likely due to the fact that this is an actual god, which is even higher than the Celestial Tier!

”Mortal ---” the skeleton began to talk in a very deep voice. Although the voice of the boss was not loud, the air around him was thrown about. Miniature tornadoes were beginning to form, one after another as the strong winds collided with each other. Such is the divine power of a god!

If this boss ever slammed its palm down, even a Celestial boss would most probably be instantly killed!

Zhang Yang’s mind was in a mess as his mouth started moving politely and uttering idle pleasantries to the ‘god’ right before him, ”God of War, I have heard tales about you! I have gone through many challenges to collect all of your [God of War Inheritance Fragments], and I have traveled a great distance to locate you with only one goal, to obtain your Inheritance!”

”Haha! Mortal! You are very direct, and I respect that!” the gigantic skeleton began to laugh and the air was thrown up again, causing the ceiling of the cave to tremble and the rocks and stone to fall from the ceiling. Even the rocks in the surroundings were rumbling! It was as if the cave would collapse at any time!

He nodded and said, ”Since that you have acquired my Inheritance Keepsake, of course, you are worthy of obtaining my Inheritance! However, before that, you must pass my trial! It only proves that you are only fortunate enough to stumble across every single fragment of my Inheritance Keepsake. In order to become my successor and inherit my power, you must have a boundless ‘Courage’, the ‘Bloodlust’, and of course, a wise mind with ‘Determination’!”

Zhang Yang smiled vaguely and said, ”Then, show me your trials, and I shall complete them all to prove to you that I am indeed worthy!”

”Very well. My remaining power is limited. It is only enough for me to reveal myself for a brief moment. In no time at all, I shall return to silence and continue to rest in darkness for eternity!” the voice of Ares continued to rumble across the surroundings of the cave.

Zhang Yang could not help but frown deeply. This ‘god’ knew that he was running out of time, yet he does not know how to cut the crap and save more time! But, this ‘god’ had been in the dark, without any chance to talk or even breathe for tens of thousands of years! It was quite understandable, all things considered.

”The first trial shall test your ‘Courage’!”

Ares raised a finger pointed it at Zhang Yang from where he stood. A stream of colorful light began to engulf Zhang Yang entirely.

Zhang Yang only saw a blinding glare in front of him as he squeezed his eyes shut. After he reopened his eyes and regained his vision, he found that he was standing right at the top of a bottomless cliff! There was no way for him to back away from the side of the cliff! There was only a bridge, with a width of less than half a foot, right before his eyes. The bridge was connected directly to the peak of a mountain, at least 1 kilometer away from where he stood!

The wind was howling in between the mountains making the bridge very shaky and unstable. It was like a long snake. Looking down the endless pit below the bridge would definitely give quite a punch to a person’s mental state. Some people might just turn away the moment they see that bottomless area below that bridge!

Even though Zhang Yang knew that this ‘scene’ was in virtual reality, his heart was still pounding madly, as if his heart was about to beat through his chest and fall out! Well, this is perfectly normal, as normal people would have felt the same. If anyone dares say that this is nothing, then that person must be mentally sick!

‘Ding! You accepted the first trial from Ares! You must reach the other end of the bridge within 20 minutes. The timer will start the moment you set foot on the stone bridge. You can only fail 3 times, or you shall never be able to complete the quest for the [God of War Inheritance]!’

What the hell!

Zhang Yang tried to summon the Serpent with his mind, but he immediately received a notification from the system straight away, saying that he cannot summon a [Mount] in this area! Not just that, he could not even summon Felice out! It totally cut off any options for Zhang Yang to cheat in this trial!

Zhang Yang took a deep breath and he aimed properly at direction he was supposed to go. He suddenly closed his eyes tightly and charged forward in a hush!

Thud thud thud!

He had nothing on his mind at that moment, other than trying to make sure he was running perfectly straight!

According to an average movement speed of a player in the game, a player can move 10 meters every second. It meant that a player could run over 1000 meters in 100 seconds! To able to finish walking on a stone bridge that is no wider than half a foot from one end to the other end is already not an easy task, even without a limited time frame. Currently, Zhang Yang was only given 2 minutes to complete the task!

Well, since he really has to do it in order to pass the trial, he simply squeezed his eyes shut and thought about nothing as he kept running forward!

Isn’t this trial all about ‘Courage’? Well, running across a thin, long bridge, with his eyes closed, is considered a very brave move in itself, right? Of course, Zhang Yang would only dare to try such a stunt in the game.

The wind was howling into both of his ears, however, Zhang Yang was not affected at all. He ignored everything, the only thing he cared about at that moment was the time, as he ran forward. He did not dare to even open his eyes a little. He knew that if he ever takes a peek down on the bridge, it would definitely send him tipping down to ‘hell’.

50 seconds... 80 seconds... 100 seconds... 110 seconds!

Zhang Yang opened his eyes, and found himself on the other side of the bridge. He had arrived at the other end of the stone bridge on the peak of the mountain!

‘ Ding! Congratulation, you have passed the first trial!’

The scene around Zhang Yang suddenly blurred and changed into another set of scenes. Now, he was put into an ancient arena.

”The second trial will test you your ‘Bloodlust’!”

The deep, cold voice of Ares was spread across the entire arena.

‘Ding! You have accepted the second trial from Ares! Within this period of time, you shall forget every single skill you have and you shall not be able to use any items from your inventory. What you are required to do is to kill without mercy until you have defeated every single enemy in the arena! Please take note that you would have to restart this trial if you are killed. Furthermore, you can only die 3 times, or else you shall never be able to complete the quest for the [God of War Inheritance]!’

Cling! Clang! Cling! Clang!

The metallic door at the other end of the arena began to open up as metallic chains pulled the door upwards. A muscular man, with a giant hammer over his shoulder walked into the arena and let out an intimidating roar. Without even a simple greeting, he charged straight towards Zhang Yang, swinging his hammer!

The moment he entered the arena, all attributes of Zhang Yang were reduced to zero, and all the equipment he had on him had disappeared! He was basically a naked man, wearing only a diaper to cover his ‘vital’ spot! However, there were countless weapons lying on the weapon rack at the sides of the arena. So, he quickly made his way straight to the weapon rack and picked up an axe and a shield. Then, he began to go head on with the hammer guy.

The damage calculation in the arena is very different. All characters did not have HP bars to indicate whether they have high HP or low HP. A variety of methods could be used to kill the opponents. You can just take off the head, or cut off the hands of the opponents and let them bleed to death. Everything was just like the real world! There was nothing related to the system of the game, at all.

Zhang Yang let out a thunderous roar as he slid across the ground and through the two legs of the muscular man. While he was at it, he lifted the axe in his hands and the entire axe went straight into his crotch! Blood spilled all over the ground as the man spilled his blood and guts! It was disgusting! After he staggered around for awhile, the man collapsed onto the ground and died.

Cling! Clang! Cling! Clang!

Before Zhang Yang could even take a deep breath, the metallic door was once again pulled upwards, and a one-armed middle age man with a slender frame walked right out. This time, the opponent only had a knife on his only arm, the right arm. The man would spin around with his knife sporadically. The knife would glint, sending a terrifying thrill that was made even more intense by the cold, chilly air around the arena, every time he struck!

Zhang Yang was overwhelmed by his own will to kill at the moment. He walked to the dead muscular man that he had killed previously and pried the axe out of the man’s ruptured guts.

As he was picking up the axe, that one-arm man was already beginning to charge at him with large strides. With the knife in his hand, Zhang Yang could feel the knife rushing for his throat!

Zhang Yang would be dead, if the man gets him by his throat. Everything in the arena was so real, that there was no HP or MP, or any sort of attributes involved anymore! Every game knowledge Zhang Yang had was now meaningless! Well, Zhang Yang had pretty decent fighting skills in real life. By the time the knife almost reached his neck, Zhang Yang had already raised his shield and blocked the attack!

However, before Zhang Yang could even begin to fight back, the one-arm man had already turned the other way around and struck Zhang Yang with another blow! He was moving fast as lightning!

The sound of the knife clashing with the shield was heard over and over again.

Zhang Yang could only keep raising his shield around to protect the frontal part of his entire body as the one-arm man continued moving his knife around in such an agile way! Zhang Yang did not even dare lower down his shield!

What the hell! What amazing skill!

Zhang Yang endured it for a little while more, and suddenly, he moved his arm all of a sudden and bashed his shield right onto the face of that one-arm man. Blood spilled out from his mouth, as the one-arm man staggered a few steps back. But, as his veteran appearance suggested, he immediately righted himself and charged back towards Zhang Yang while waving his knife about!

Ting! Ting! Ting!

In a battle of swords, the shorter the weapon you have, the more danger you are exposed to. The one-arm man was using a short knife, so he was moving extremely fast, so much faster than Zhang Yang’s heavy axe! Every single cut he attempted on Zhang Yang was very close to the throat and chest of Zhang Yang! Zhang Yang could felt his murderous intent blazing.

Sliced!

Blood was spilled across the air as the chest of Zhang Yang was slocked! A wound that was about one foot long instantly appeared on his chest! The wound was so deep that his bones were slightly exposed!

”Argh!” Zhang Yang was angered by the cut as his killing instinct kicked in! With a sweep kick that knocked the man’s legs out from under him, the one-arm man fell straight to the ground. Before he could even get back on his feet, Zhang Yang had already taken his head right off with the heavy axe in his hands!

A slaughter fest has begun!

Cling! Clang! Cling! Clang! The metallic door was opened up once again, opponents with murderous looks came into the arena, one after another, to challenge Zhang to death.

After all, only one would survive by the end of these battles! Of course, Zhang Yang would not allow himself to be slaughtered by other while he does nothing. He gave it his best to survive waves of battles, taking off heads of his opponents one after another! So much blood was spilled onto his body to the point that he looked like he just had a bloodbath! There was no way of telling whose blood was whose anymore!

The monsters that died here did not disappear as well. The bodies were piled up, to the point that the entire arena was flooded with blood, severed limbs, and mangled corpses! The scene was spectacularly bloody!

It was an endless killing spree, and Zhang Yang wasn’t even aware that the blood had flooded the arena, up to his ankles! The blood was so thick that it took him a lot of effort to move his legs!

TL Notes:

1. Xu Xian: the lover of Bai Suzhen (human form of White Snake) in the folk tale of ‘Legend of the White Snake’.