Chapter Ninety-Two: The Sudden Assault

The three members of the Cyclone Team launched their assault with shocking suddenness. Had there been no prior warning, Wang Ling would certainly have been cleaved down at once; even with the damage reduction of a peaceful scenario, he would likely have suffered a severe maiming. After all, the three machetes were aimed at the head, the neck, and the heart, three vital weak points. That could easily mean a weak-point strike plus a fatal blow. A weak-point strike dealt multiplied damage, while a fatal blow ignored defense entirely.

Such a sudden ambush was utterly unexpected. In a world soon to face the grim ordeal of a zombie tide plus hostile Dreamers, no one would have imagined that people belonging to the same faction would suddenly attack one another, much less when the two sides had only just been arguing over the group's authority and introducing their abilities.

Yet Wang Ling had already been on guard. A heavy alloy tower shield appeared instantly before him. Reinforced to level six, the shield possessed tremendous defensive power, close to one hundred points. Combined with its broad coverage, it protected his entire upper body the moment it appeared.

The three long machetes, flashing with a cold gleam, slashed into the shield. Sparks flew everywhere, and a crisp metallic clang rang out.

The blades were blocked, but Wang Ling could feel the tremendous force transmitted through the shield. The strength of these three men was by no means weak. His thoughts shifting in an instant, he stepped back in one smooth motion and shouted, "The Cyclone Team is trying to kill us! Everybody be careful!"

Caslo and the others nearby were horrified to see the Cyclone Team strike out of nowhere, and they immediately drew their weapons, preparing to defend and fight. Wang Ling's words were meant to drag them into the mess, but who knew that the Cyclone Team member named Good would shout, "This guy is the masked man Wang Ling! He killed Elliot of the Half-Beast Team and is wanted jointly by the Half-Beast, Thug, and Kangaroo teams. Our Cyclone Team is subordinate to the Thug Team, under the command of the super strongman King Kong! We'll only kill this one if we move; it has nothing to do with you!"

"So that's how it is..."

Hearing Good's words, Wang Ling immediately understood. His appearance had indeed already been exposed. These three men recognized him, which was why, when they first met, they had shown a faint look of surprise under the ripple of their emotions.

In truth, no one in the recreational district of the Dream Space had paid enough attention to Wang Ling's face to remember it. The reason he had been exposed was the Russian man who had once fought Brunov in the Double Dragon world and then leapt from the platform to escape.

That Russian had clashed with the three mutated Dark Fighters and had also taken the dwarf's rapid-fire punches and the strongman's ultimate bomb, leaving a deep impression on him. Wang Ling, the one who had summoned those three, had also been firmly etched into his memory.

On the day Wang Ling and Elliot fought a great battle in the coliseum, the Russian in attendance recognized him at once upon seeing the summoned Super Dark Fighter. Later, he found the Half-Beast Team and worked with a Dreamer skilled in drawing to sketch Wang Ling's appearance. The Half-Beast Team then passed copies of the portrait to their two allies, the Thug Team and the Kangaroo Team. As a result, the three great teams and the Dreamers under their command all memorized Wang Ling's face and distinguishing features.

In this way, with more than a hundred Dreamers undertaking missions in the beginner zone, the chances of encountering Wang Ling were extremely high.

Based on Wang Ling having only gone through two main missions, and on his performance in the coliseum, these people judged that he had probably drawn some rare item from a mission-clear treasure chest, which was how he could command such powerful summons. His own strength, however, should not be very great.

Moreover, with low personal attributes, there was no real distinction between strength-oriented, agility-oriented, or stamina-oriented builds. No matter which path one chose, the body's physical condition would be poor and its health points low. So if anyone encountered Wang Ling in a mission world, the thing to do was to strike before he could react, killing him in a sudden burst before he could summon those powerful subordinates.

Under the other side's lack of caution, killing a Dreamer who had gone through only two main missions and whose individual strength was weak was not difficult at all.

As a subordinate team of the Thug faction, the Cyclone Team naturally remembered Wang Ling's face as well. They had not expected to encounter their target in this world, and the sudden surprise thrilled them. These three were a key subordinate force carefully favored by the Thug Team, and each of them was very strong, very solid indeed.

In the Cyclone Team's view, even in a peaceful scenario, where mutual damage was reduced to one-tenth, it would still be easy to kill Wang Ling with a sudden strike. So the three of them had delayed for a while with Caslo and the others, weakening their guard and pretending to ask about abilities, then moved up beside Wang Ling and burst out together in a sneak attack. Who could have known that he would actually have time to block?

Good's shout left the other five both shocked and suspicious, and in such a situation no one would naturally come to Wang Ling's aid. Weapon in hand, the five of them moved to the edge of the courtyard and gathered together in a defensive posture, watching how events would unfold.

Meanwhile, the Cyclone Team's leader, Aaron, shouted, "Don't give him time to react. Use full power!"

The long machetes that had been bounced back by the shield were all stored away in their space bags. It turned out those three blades had merely been a decoy to conceal their strength. Their true power lay in hand-to-hand combat.

Aaron suddenly crouched low to gather force. As he made that motion, the dirt beneath his feet sank in as though it were soft tofu, a clear sign of how violent his burst of power was. Then his body shot up from the ground, leaping more than three meters high, his arms spread wide as he hurled himself down toward Wang Ling with his broad chest leading the charge.

This was Mayor Haggar's skill from the Game Boy Advance version of Final Fight: Bursting Dive. Note: when using this move, the mayor shouts, "Fox!"

Aaron's choice of skill was undoubtedly clever. Bursting Dive crashed down from above to strike the enemy's head. Wang Ling had the alloy tower shield in his hands. If he did not raise it, his head would take the full force of the dive. But if he did raise the shield, he would be unable to defend against Kerry and Good's attacks.

Because the other two members of the Cyclone Team were simultaneously using the skill Super Heavy Punch, striking from both sides toward Wang Ling's ribs.

Their fists were wrapped in fierce gusts of force, faintly encased in transparent currents of air. This was the troop skill Super Heavy Punch, altered after reaching level seven, allowing the user's internal qi to be drawn out for attack and greatly increasing its damage. A punch like that could even leave a clear dent in a steel plate three centimeters thick.

In the very same instant, Aaron above, Kerry to the left, and Good to the right all unleashed their fierce attacks. Which side to block was unquestionably a difficult choice for Wang Ling, because both the head and the ribs were weak points.

At that moment, he had no time to take the Kung Fu summoning card from his space bag. But the badge was still hanging on him, and as long as he activated the badge's built-in skill and summoned the three Super Dark Fighters, they could serve as meat shields to withstand the combined attack of the Cyclone Team.

But Wang Ling did not do that. The enemy was very strong, and summoned characters, when attacked, did not benefit from the damage reduction of a peaceful scenario. If the three Super Dark Fighters took the blow, they might be grievously injured in an instant. After all, Dreamers who had completed around eight missions, especially with team synergy, could be expected to have mission performance evaluations that were not low. The three members of the Cyclone Team, then, would surely surpass the Dark Fighters in both personal attributes and skills.

Instead, he activated another skill: the level four ability of Peach's Heart, Pink Barrier.

A layer of pink, heart-shaped protective shield completely enveloped Wang Ling's body. The barrier, capable of withstanding one hundred points of melee damage, shattered with a thunderous crash the instant it was struck by Bursting Dive and Super Heavy Punch, because the force had exceeded what it could endure.

The three men's offensive was slowed for an instant, and Wang Ling immediately withdrew backward. There was no need to conceal his identity any longer. With a flash of light from the badge, the short-haired dwarf, the thug strongman, and the hippie fat man all appeared before him. He then equipped the gold-and-red mask that greatly boosted his attributes and drew the Kung Fu summoning card from his space bag.

At that moment, Wang Ling's gaze sharpened. Aaron, who had landed on the ground after using Bursting Dive, suddenly let out a ferocious roar. Light flared around his body as he activated his skill and lunged at the three Super Dark Fighters! His thick right arm shot out violently, every muscle swelling into small hills, his whole body beginning to spin at high speed.

The Dark Fighter standing in his path was struck over and over by heavy, piling-drive punches. The short-haired dwarf, with his extremely low stamina and defense, had his sternum shattered, his chest caving in at once. He was sent flying far away and died in midair, astonishingly killed in a single blow.

The thug strongman, whose power was extremely high, had blood streaming from his nose and mouth from the repeated heavy punches, and the health bar above his head dropped by more than half in an instant, but he was still able to remain standing in place. As for the hippie fat man, his corpulent body and the thick flesh on his chest had softened much of the damage, though the blow still sent him stumbling backward.

The move Aaron used was Mayor Haggar's finishing technique from Final Fight: Spinning Punch.

Once Spinning Punch ended, the user inevitably fell into an extremely brief state of stiffness. And the thug strongman, who was still standing in place, caught this opportunity keenly under Wang Ling's control. A trace of savage laughter hung on his face as his iron-pillar arms wrapped around Aaron's waist. Then he activated the grappling throw skill he had inherited from Abomb: Ultimate Bomb.

However, an unexpected event occurred. The strongman's throwing technique failed the strength check, and the skill activation failed.

Under normal conditions, if the side using the throw had greater strength than the target, even by just one point, the skill would succeed one hundred percent. But if the user's strength was equal to or lower than the opponent's, the throw could fail, and the greater the strength gap, the higher the chance of failure. Though it was impossible to know Aaron's exact strength, it was obvious that he surpassed the thug strongman's thirty-nine points.

Backlash from the failed throw stiffened the strongman's body, and Aaron, seizing his moment of power, shook off the arms around his waist and thrust both hands forward.

The leather clothing on this burly man's body burst into streaks of裂 as the skill light flared and his muscles swelled. Along with the sound of tearing leather, Aaron stomped his feet into the ground, seized the strongman's shoulders, and hurled him backward in a huge over-the-shoulder slam! Under the power of the skill Reverse Body Throw, the more than two-meter-tall, extremely solid strongman was driven headfirst, along with his entire upper body, into the grass with a wet thud, his legs left sticking out above the ground.

Even though the dirt of the grassy ground was not especially hard, the fixed damage of that throwing skill still instantly killed the thug strongman, whose remaining health was already low.

This week the recommendation count has increased by more than six thousand. Thank you! According to the agreement of two thousand per chapter, I need to add three more chapters, so tomorrow, Sunday, there will be four updates in total, and the day after, Monday, there will be three updates in total. The extra chapters will be finished within those two days. Also, I have used up all my bonus points, so I can't pin any comments. I'll reply to tomorrow's comments on Monday instead.