Scourge Messenger

Chapter 140 The Token of Asura
In the game "The Messenger", regardless of the Foundation Establishment level or above, just by watching the Messengers progress from the first to the third job advancement, Yan Qing noticed a situation: defense is greater than offense.

The first token of most messengers is a defensive token. Without a defensive token, a messenger is just a super mortal, no matter how powerful, he is just a bubble that can be easily burst. Only with a defensive token can a messenger become a 'non-human' in a real sense, and from then on, most dangers in the mortal world will be irrelevant to him.

As levels increase, the strength of offensive tokens can hardly keep up with the improvement of defensive tokens. For example, the Heart-Protecting Mirror, a rare third-tier token widely used in Liang Kingdom, can defend against up to 2800 points of damage, while the Soul-Severing Spear, the core token most relied upon by veteran third-tier Helan Que, can only output up to ten times the base attack power, 700 points of damage.

In other words, even if Helan Que could achieve a combo of sixty-four strikes, he would still need at least four strikes to completely break through any Liang Kingdom third-level defense, and this is based on the premise that the Liang Kingdom third-level does not replenish the Heart Protection Mirror barrier.

Therefore, most battles between messengers eventually turn into a contest of spiritual power. The reason why Helan Que was able to be defeated by Yaoshi Yuan and the Bunny Girl was certainly because Yaoshi Yuan's burst of power was high enough, but the more important reason was actually: Helan Que was dual-wielding weapons.

He didn't have time to absorb the spirit jade to restore his spiritual power, so he had to carefully calculate his spiritual power consumption. If he was too frugal, he would be injured and destroyed by the pharmacist.

The reason why defense is more important than offense is simple: for the sake of making the game more fun.

To make bosses challenging and visually appealing, their attack, defense, and health must be substantial. Bosses generally have much higher stats than players. If players are easily defeated by a boss in just a few hits, they might quit the game due to frustration before even experiencing the boss's power. After all, this is an MMORPG, not a high-difficulty game, and the gaming experience must be tailored to the majority of average players.

However, prioritizing the dungeon experience inevitably comes at the expense of the PVP experience.

Whether it's a fighting game or any PVP game, the damage model prioritizes offense over defense. Even if you're stuck in a corner, you can still inflict serious injury with throws. In a defense-over-offense model, the combat experience between messengers is similar to being slowly tortured to death with a dull knife. It's almost impossible to determine a winner before exhausting your spiritual energy. There's no thrill of a life-or-death moment; it's more like a boring asset comparison game.

So, does The Messenger not have PVP?
Some brothers, yes.

When Yan Qing created his alt account, there was an option called 'Shura Mode' that remains unavailable to this day. Choosing Shura Mode grants players only 10% of the rewards in dungeons compared to other modes, but 200% in battlegrounds. However, this mode isn't the main point—after all, everyone in this world is in real mode—the key point is that players who choose to play in battlegrounds can obtain Shura Tokens that penetrate defenses!

The Asura Messengers can fight each other in as little as thirty seconds, and the strongest among them can even kill players of the same level in a short time, comparable to the 'ten-fold cut' in fighting games!
"Too late to realize this now!"

Ye Kai sneered, "Little girl, are you dizzy and having trouble breathing after being hit by my Purple Smoke? Don't force yourself, just collapse, collapse, and Grandpa will take good care of you."

Yan Qing glanced at it and saw that the Bunny Girl's status bar did not show any negative effects that reduced combat power, but after he took the Blood Replenishing Pill, the combat log indicated that the effect of the Blood Replenishing Pill was weakened by 70%, which was not enough to make up for the blood lost due to poisoning.

He wasn't surprised. If they could stabilize their blood volume by taking drugs, wouldn't that turn into mutual torture again? It would even be more bloody.

The only course of action now is to fight fire with fire!
Seeing the little girl give up dodging and actively approach to attack, Ye Kai took the initiative to retreat, fighting as he retreated. But if the bunny girl dared to take the opportunity to escape, he would immediately stick to her again, just like a persistent poisonous toad.

"Little girl, you do have some spirit, a potential demonic cultivator. Why don't you call me 'Grandpa,' hand over the token, kneel down, and kowtow? Grandpa will not only spare you, but also teach you unparalleled weapon-forging techniques. What do you say?"

He said that, but his hands kept spewing out poisonous smoke. In just a short while, the Bunny Girl's poison had reached four layers, and her health was dropping like water from a tap.

However, Yan Qing raised an eyebrow, feeling that it was nothing special.

He had already figured it out: each layer of poison lasted about seven seconds, and multiple poisonings wouldn't reset the duration. The bunny girl had just been hit by nearly eight palm strikes, but only four layers had been applied, indicating that the earlier layers of poison had already lost their effectiveness over time. Moreover, Ye Kai's poison palm strikes only had a maximum range of about three steps, just slightly farther than the attack range of swords and other similar weapons.

With its long duration of attack, low base damage, and short range, the Poison Palm technique seems utterly useless on paper. Yan Qing guessed that activating it would require very little spiritual energy. After all, unlike reality, games still have some logic; you won't encounter every single disadvantage.

If Ye Kai knew that his Hundred Poisons Cotton Hand, which he was so proud of throughout the martial arts world, was actually so insignificant in Yan Qing's eyes, he would probably be furious.

Even though he couldn't hear Yan Qing's inner turmoil through the screen, his unease grew stronger—the bunny girl was just too calm.

Although he was not well-known outside the mountains, it was because Ye Kai was ruthless and never left any survivors, thus not giving the authorities outside the mountains a chance to issue arrest warrants for him.

He had killed many messengers, even third-tier messengers, but whether they were high-ranking officials of the court or elders of powerful families, they all panicked when they discovered that the defensive tokens had failed. After being poisoned, they lost all will to fight... The so-called 'strength' of the righteous path was nothing more than a performance hidden under the protection of defensive tokens. Ye Kai's favorite thing was to tear off their arrogant masks and watch them struggle ugly in despair.

What does it matter if you have a foundation-building bloodline, family heritage, or noble birth?

The battles in the demonic path are nothing like the gentle battles in secret realms; there is only the pain of every blow drawing blood. The weak can only die in fear and pain, becoming nourishment for the strong!

So why aren't you afraid?
Don't you feel pain?

Just then, the little girl's pace suddenly quickened. She passed through the misty purple smoke and approached Ye Kai. She thrust her sword at Ye Kai's throat, the tip of the sword gleaming with flowing blue light, like a streak of azure lightning flashing across the darkness, mysterious and full of killing intent!
Even Helan Que would find it difficult to dodge at this distance, but it was not a problem for Ye Kai. His third-tier profession, Poison Entangler, allowed him to hit and dodge more easily when fighting poisoned enemies. Specifically, he could sense the enemy's every move. As soon as the bunny girl's shoulder moved, he sensed the direction of the rare longsword's thrust.

From the moment the poisoning occurred, the victim was already a dying prey.

But Ye Kai's attention was completely drawn to the Bunny Girl's gauntlets. As the Bunny Girl launched her direct attack, the Hand of Melting a Hundred Forms could no longer conceal its legendary brilliance. The dazzling orange light illuminated Ye Kai's cloudy eyes!
A legendary artifact! It's actually a legend!
No wonder she didn't feel any pain even when she was poisoned; it must be the power of the legendary artifact!
It makes sense, how could a little girl possibly endure the torment of a deadly poison through sheer willpower?
If God does not take it, he will suffer the consequences!
This is truly an opportunity for me, Ye Kai, and I must seize it!
While dodging the thrust, an extremely excited Ye Kai also unleashed a full-force palm strike at the bunny girl, spewing out billowing purple smoke.

He saw the little girl immediately jump to the side in an attempt to dodge, and he sneered inwardly. The poison had already penetrated her defenses and seeped into her entire body; dodging now would be futile.

歘!
Suddenly, a dazzling, deep blue sword light astonished Ye Kai's eyes. In mid-air, where it was difficult to exert force, the bunny girl swiftly and powerfully unleashed nine consecutive thrusts!
Because she was so fast, it looked like she had only thrust out one sword!
Snapped!
Under Ye Kai's dumbfounded gaze, his protective barrier shattered with a crash, and even his second-tier defensive token, the 'Emerald Pendant,' was destroyed!

But he had no time to mourn, for the dark blue longsword was already within reach, its cold gleam like a viper's tongue, ready to pierce his throat in the next instant!
*Thud.* Ye Kai used his Hundred Poison Cotton Hand to deflect the sword's edge, narrowly avoiding the fatal blow. However, the sword tip grazed his cheek, adding another fresh bloodstain to his already scarred face.

He seemed oblivious, staring at Bunny Girl with utter terror in his eyes, as if he were looking at a monster.

"You are... the Storm Messenger!?" His lips trembled. "But how are you unharmed? If the Storm Messenger had attacked that many times, it would definitely be covered in lacerations and bleeding. How could you be completely unscathed!?"

Yan Qing raised an eyebrow; this was the first time someone had discovered his profession in the game.

"Rain Messenger (Rare)"

"Attribute bonus: Health +8, Spirit +2, Agility +10"

"Rainfall (Blue Trait): When you hold a weapon with both hands, your base attack power increases by 5 and your attack speed increases by 40."

"Rainstorm (Blue Trait): When you perform a perfect dodge, your attack speed is increased by 1000% for the next 0.35 seconds. This effect can only be triggered once every 30 seconds."

The Bunny Girl was able to deliver nine consecutive sword strikes in one second thanks to the unique characteristic of her class, Rainstorm Time.

Although it can only be triggered once every thirty seconds, it is very suitable for the damage accumulation and burst power of Seven Steps of Reciting Buddha. In addition, the 'direct strike' of the Hand of Hundred Aspects can further increase the attack speed. The three work together to form a playstyle that can quickly inflict damage in a short period of time.

Dodge to enter the rainstorm state, then strike with a second speed boost, launching a high-speed attack in an instant to trigger the Seven Steps of Reciting Buddha's Name's damage accumulation critical strike effect!

Although Yan Qing deliberately tried to create this 'attack speed and damage boosting' build, he didn't expect it to be so effective. It instantly destroyed Ye Kai's defensive tokens, and he was secretly delighted. He used all the resources at his disposal to create this build for this effect!
He was always disappointed that he couldn't use this move when he fought Helan Que before, because Helan Que's attack range was just a little longer than that of the Bunny Girl. Even if the Bunny Girl triggered the rainstorm time, she couldn't hit him. Attack range is the biggest limitation of this build.

But why did Ye Kai say that the Rainstorm Messenger's repeated attacks would cause lacerations and bleeding? The Rainstorm Messenger's class characteristics do not include any negative effects.

However, he had no intention of asking any questions. The bunny girl walked briskly forward, her hands dragging the Seven Steps of Buddhist chanting, looking as happy as if she were rushing to kill a chicken.

Ye Kai felt a chill run down his spine. If he hadn't just witnessed the Bunny Girl's nine sword strikes in an instant, he would never have believed that this little girl, who was even shorter than him, was actually the infamous Storm Messenger in the demonic path.

If ordinary demon messengers are cruel demons to others, then storm messengers are devils who are cruel to themselves. They no longer consider themselves human and will ruthlessly destroy themselves in pursuit of power!

Moreover, the opponent's legendary artifact seemed to be able to resist the poison; otherwise, it would be impossible to explain why the little girl's face showed no signs of the poison spreading even after the battle had been going on for quite some time.

Anyone else would be writhing on the ground in pain by now!

As the saying goes, the older one gets in the martial arts world, the more timid one becomes. Tonight, he encountered too many unimaginable situations, and Ye Kai was already considering retreating. He struck out with his palm at the bunny girl and then turned and ran.

Now it was Yan Qing's turn to have a headache. After all, Ye Kai did not forget to use his poison palm when he retreated. If the bunny girl kept chasing after him, it was hard to say whether Ye Kai would be pierced by the sword first or the bunny girl would be poisoned to death first.

Just then, a sound came from the bushes nearby.

Ye Kai and the bunny girl looked over at the same time and saw that the person running out was Chen Afu. Ye Kai immediately breathed a sigh of relief and shouted with joy, "Come here quickly and help me capture this little girl!"

Greed for the legendary relic once again took over. With two against one, they had a good chance of winning. Ye Kai was no longer thinking about how to deal with the little girl, but how to plot against his own disciple—the legendary relic. It would turn even a father and son against each other, let alone master and disciple!

"escape……"

Chen Afu only managed to utter one word before his tall body was trampled into the mud. A lithe figure leaped high onto his back, covering a distance of more than ten steps, and thrust a spear at Ye Kai!

(End of this chapter)