Chapter 53: Red-Naming
The ferocious blue fire was still burning, but it was no longer crackling like it did before. Everything around was strangely silent. There were still around fifty players left. They were all surrounding someone who wasn’t wearing any equipment. He wore only an eye-catching blue coat as he silently observed the other players.
There were scattered patches of blue fire all around the place.
“Freak...” someone softly muttered. A few of the players had already stepped back. Those who were trapped by the Heavenly Fire bore its brunt as they attempted to break out of the fire.
The best time to attack was when these players were on the brink of a mental collapse. Blue Maple made his move then. He focused on a Warrior who had yet to step back, raising his sword slightly. On closer look, Blue Maple’s pupils had already turned blue...
Blue Maple charged forward!
“Bastard, I’ll die with you!” that Warrior shouted in fear, a vain attempt to boost his courage.
Blue Maple’s expression was just cold and merciless. His blue pupils even seemed a little penetrating now.
“Die!” The Warrior slashed furiously.
However, he missed Blue Maple completely. When Blue Maple drew close to him, the attack was dodged in a flash, and he was on the side of this Warrior. The Warrior’s pupils shrank, and only fear remained.
Blue Maple performed a lazy cut, followed by his Sweeping Sword Slash. After the Warrior’s body was distorted from all the slashing, Blue Maple finished his attack with a cut to the throat!
-553, -567, -357...
After killing one, Blue Maple quickly moved towards his next target. The players were all still very frightened and dispersed. Before they could effectively attack, Blue Maple immediately closed in and defeated them!
Blue Maple killed more and more of the frightened Common Guild players. Their numbers were gradually falling, but the Heavenly Fire was no longer surrounding them. Blue Maple’s Heavenly Fire couldn’t be used without limit. If he used it outside his body, it would diminish the strength of the Heavenly Fire remaining inside. If he didn’t draw the flames back, he wouldn’t be able to use Heavenly Fire once it was completely drained. Even after he retracted the fire, he could no longer unleash it to burn freely. There was a cooldown before his Heavenly Fire could reabsorb its own energy again.
“There’s no blue fire anymore! Let’s kill this bastard now!” some unknown players shouted. The remaining players seemed to instantly see a glimmer of hope. Their will to fight was reignited once more.
“Yes! Archers, wizards! Attack him!”
However, this player’s words didn’t receive any response. That was because most of the players of long-range classes were already dead, apart from a few fire-type Wizards. This included the Summoners. Blue Maple had already taken care of those players when he was furiously using his Spatial Fiery Chop. He was even chasing after them. Blue Maple’s equipment had been refined using his Heavenly Fire, increasing his overall speed by 35%. The players could not possibly run away from him!
“How...” one of the players felt a little hopeless as he mumbled.
There were only about twenty players left now. They were all from physical classes and trained in close-combat. At this moment, Blue Maple was also standing still. He didn’t take another step forward.
He calmly swallowed a mana Potion to restore his magic points. After that, the Heavenly Fire at the city gates some distance away from Blue Maple suddenly flew off the ground on its own. It wasn’t just the fire at the city gates; the scattered flames also flew off the ground. They all gathered on Blue Maple. Blue Maple looked like a blazing sovereign furiously controlling fire.
Blue Maple was directly facing the survivors from the Common Guild. There was a huge patch of blue fire behind him. The fire seemed to be setting everything behind Blue Maple ablaze.
The snowflakes were melted by the Heavenly Fire and vaporized. The remaining snowflakes were blown towards the fire by the wind. As the raging snowflakes danced around the terrifying fire, they appeared uncharacteristically untamed.
All of the remaining twenty players were terrified. Some were even shaking with fear and couldn’t hold onto their weapons anymore. Some of them stepped back and were contemplating escaping. They couldn’t imagine how much stronger and more terrifying Blue Maple would be after he absorbed all the fire behind him!
White Cherry was so astonished that she couldn’t speak anymore. She could only see a terrifying scene of blue fire gathering. She couldn’t see Blue Maple at all.
However, White Cherry’s hands were tightly clenched in front of her chest. Her small mouth was slightly opened, and her eyes were wide open. It wasn’t difficult to tell that Blue Maple had left an indelible impression in her mind.
After a brief moment, Blue Maple had completely absorbed the Heavenly Fire as everyone watched. However, he didn’t unleash any powerful attacks. He had already exposed what the Heavenly Fire could do, and he was unwilling to do so any further. In addition, he was in control of the situation right now. It should be easy for him to tie up the loose ends.
A figure suddenly appeared behind Blue Maple. A Thief!
“Be careful!” White Cherry anxiously shouted from the distance.
Everyone from the Common Guild was slightly hopeful when they saw that. At the same time, the Thief was also excited when he saw that his dagger was about to stab Blue Maple.
Go and die!, that Thief screamed silently.
However, Blue Maple twisted his body slightly to his right. The dagger struck only air!
“What?!”
Blue Maple followed this with a sword attack as he turned around!
“How is this possible?!”
There was a clang as the Thief quickly blocked Blue Maple’s attack. However, he knew that it was in vain. He was only delaying his own death. If he couldn’t control Blue Maple and take him down, he stood no chance of surviving the next attack! He just couldn’t figure out how Blue Maple had dodged his attack so swiftly. It was as if Blue Maple knew he was coming!
Blue Maple didn’t really need to react if it wasn’t instant or if an attack was too quick for him to dodge. The truth was, Blue Maple was a freak when it came to reaction speed!
Instant Chain Strike!
“It’s over!” When the Thief saw that Blue Maple had vanished in front of him, he knew he was doomed!
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“Not bad,” Blue Maple muttered at the last moment after he killed the Thief.
Indeed, the Thief picked the most opportune time to strike. He had no fear as he snuck up on Blue Maple, throwing shade on the invincible image that Blue Maple had presented to the other players. It was a decent try. Blue Maple only avoided the attack because of his reflexes. It was a well-executed sneak-attack.
“I don’t mind killing all of you.” Blue Maple scanned all the remaining players from the Common Guild coldly.
“Bas, bastard! Don’t be too smug. The Common Guild won’t let you off the next time around!” The player who said that immediately turned around and ran away. The rest also disappeared.
Blue Maple’s sword turned into a blue fire and dispersed once again. Blue Maple tightened his collar. After that, he placed his hands into his coat pockets and slowly walked away through the snow… he didn’t seem to care about White Cherry. He seemed to have forgotten that she was around.
White Cherry quickly chased after Blue Maple after she watched him walking off so suavely. Just like that, she quickly caught up to him.
White Cherry followed closely behind Blue Maple. Just like that, both of them disappeared into the snow.
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A Thief who was sprawled in the snow at a spot far from the city gates revealed himself.
“That person is really perverted. He’s a demon. Hehe, I recorded everything!. If I post in on the forum, I’ll become popular. I can even earn some money from the video! Hahaha!”
One’s life in the game was determined by their survivability. To prevent indiscriminate killing, the game was built in a way such that a dead person wouldn’t drop equipment or items that could be picked up, although his level would still fall. However, the exception was that equipment or items meant to be dropped would still be dropped after one’s death. Similarly, there was also a red-name restriction to prevent some psychologically disturbed people from starting massacres.
A person would be red-named if he killed others indiscriminately. If others killed this red-named player, the red-named player would drop his items. The number of items dropped depended on the number of other players that the red-named player had previously killed. Also, the killing of the red-named player wouldn’t be considered indiscriminate. The red-named player’s level would fall by one and his survivability would be slightly lowered.
Even someone hiding their name like Blue Maple could still be red-named. It was just that it wasn’t his name that would be revealed above his head, but a series of red question marks.
However, Blue Maple wasn’t red-named. This was because the system would decide on its own whether one was killing indiscriminately. If Blue Maple’s retaliation was considered indiscriminate killing, then the intelligent mastermind behind the game shouldn’t be called intelligent anymore. Only those who intentionally snatched the equipment and accessories left behind by a Boss killed by another player, or those who intentionally created trouble and killed others, would be red-named.
For example, only those in the Mercenary Union or those from the Common Guild who killed to snatch White Cherry would be red-named. However, those killed were lower level people. Even though they would be red-named, it was highly unlikely that they would drop items after they were killed.
Furthermore, red-naming was reversible through killing monsters in the wild or performing quests. In addition, a red-named player could be arrested if he was spotted by NPC soldiers while walking on the streets in the city. However, not many red-named players would go to crowded areas. After all, they would probably be targets given that they could be killed for their items.
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Just like that, exciting clips of Blue Maple were uploaded on the forum not long after he and White Cherry left. It was just that something extra was added this time: White Cherry! Gossips and rumors were about to flood the forum.
Along with what happened at the Mercenary Union, it really seemed like Blue Maple was doing all this for a girl. It seemed like Blue Maple was being dragged into another weird situation once again. Those who knew Blue Maple after they watched the video clips had odd reactions…
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“Wah, I didn’t expect Brother Blue Maple to be finding beautiful ladies in other cities. Seems like his Japanese is rather good too.” Little Wen played smitten as she commented.
“Little Wen, quiet down. Be careful, our chairman might become jealous,” Lian Na said seriously.
“Screw off! Who’s jealous? He’s at least a few years younger than me.” Red Tea retorted, a little red. However, she was speaking the truth.
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Crippled Feather occasionally logged into the forum, and he doubtfully thought to himself after he saw it, Are you really someone who will raise your fists for a girl?
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“Fuck. He’s really strong. Should I be finding a bunch of beauties too, considering how handsome I am?” Subtle Nobleman was being very narcissistic and wretched.
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“He’s too impressive. I feel afraid thinking about how I almost stole his stuff then. How long ago was it?” Four Stones was a little frightened as he mumbled to himself.
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“Little Gangster! Little Gangster! Little Gangster! He’s indeed a gangster. He actually went to find a girl. Hmph! That Little Gangster!” Blue Snow began plucking the decorative flowers and turned them into broken stems and leaves...
It seemed like Blue Maple reminded her of something unbearable...