As the group descended down into the valley, sounds of fighting could be heard from below. When they peeked down, they saw a blur of white, black, and blue moving through a group of high level players, surgically cutting them down one by one. She would dodge and weave through the players and show up behind them at the most unexpected times, giving them no chance to retaliate. An Jing's team watched the macabre dance of death of the Tyrant with fascination and growing terror.

  "We have to fight that?" An Mei asked, echoing everyone's sentiment.

  "We can do it," An Jing said emphatically. "Just...everybody should just stick to their roles. Remember, if you stick to your role, you are not just protecting yourself, but you are protecting others too. We can do this, okay? You guys need to believe it."

  "Yeah, I think we can take her. Let's give it our best," Li Wei added. "She will have lost some health from this fight, so she will be weaker."

  Everyone agreed with those words, and the journey continued downward. They managed to reach the bottom just as Li Yue finished killing the final member of the previous party. They did not show themselves just yet but hid behind the rocks to observe their target. From this distance they could clearly see The Pixel Tyrant. She was wearing an armor made of bones over black cloth. Her skull face was partially hidden by a cowl, which then transformed into a long blue cape. In her right hand she held a long and cruel knife that was almost as big as a sword, and her left hand still showed colorful traces of residual magic from the spell she had just cast.

  When she was done looting, The Pixel Tyrant looked around the empty valley and laughed. "I sense a couple of rats hidden behind the boulders. Are you guys going to come out and die here, or do you want me to kill you where you are skulking?"

  The team left the cover of the boulders and walked into the kill zone.

  "Well, well, well, look who it is. It's my very first kill, Jingernaut."

  "It's Yingernaut, Jie," An Jing corrected forcefully.

  Li Yue ignored that comment. "And who else is with Jingernaut? There is Mei Lin, of course. Hey Linlin."

  "Hello, Jie."

  "You came for revenge too, Linlin?"

  "Just came for the fight, Jie."

  "Fair enough."

  Then Li Yue's gaze fell on the mage. "A mage in the company of Jingjing and Linlin; then this must be my beloved brother. Is that you, Weiwei?"

  "It's me, Jie."

  "Didn't you have a presentation, little brother?"

  "I do. But Jingjing wanted my help. Also, Da-jie is waiting for you. She seemed angry. Are you not going back to the office?"

  "I just wanted to play it for a little bit, okay? It's not my problem that everyone else is so easy to kill."

  "Then it's time to stop this silliness and come back," said the half elven archer.

  "Na-jie?"

  "It's me. Xiao-Yue, did you forget about the beta test? Don't you know how important it is?"

  "Jie, I know, okay? You guys are being too paranoid. I'll finish the code on time. You know I always do."

  "Why can't you finish it and then play your game? You know what a disaster it will be if things go wrong?" The succubus asked.

  "Jing-jie, you are here too? Did the entire family come here? No, there is only the catgirl left. Let's see, catgirl, healer. So this must be Meimei. Is that you, Meimei?"

  "It's me, Jie."

  "You have any lectures for me too, Meimei? The others can't seem to just trust me with my own work style."

  "No lectures, Jie. We are just worried; that's all. You haven't been out of the house for half a week. Are you eating well? Why don't you come over? I'll cook something for you."

  "Tempting. But for now, I think I have the more important task of killing you all. Sixty percent health is all I need for you guys. Get ready to die, noobs."

  An Jing needed no further inducements. She ran shield first right into the Pixel Tyrant, which almost caught Li Yue off guard. She dodged at the last instant, but An Jing continued to punish Li Yue by using the shield as a weapon. It didn't do much damage, but it unbalanced the Tyrant enough so that Li Wei's spells and Li Na's arrows could connect and chip away at Li Yue's health bar. An annoyed Li Yue teleported herself to the other end of the combat zone, right next to the An Mei. But before she could deal the death blow to the healer, Mei Lin was there parrying her attack and pushing Li Yue back. An Jing had quickly closed the distance and formed a shield wall in front of An Mei, who quickly retreated. Then Mei Lin and An Mei did a series of maneuvers with An Jing covering Mei Lin and Mei Lin executing perfect strikes on the enemy and then retreating behind An Jing's shield. Li Yue blocked and parried most of the strikes, but some did get through and cause damage.

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  "It's surprising that you are playing defensively, Jingjing. Don't you want to pick up a sword and play like you usually do?" Li Yue taunted.

  "I am perfectly happy with the shield, Jie. As long as we keep taking away your HP, it doesn't matter what I use."

  Frustrated by the duo, Li Yue shifted tactics and moved towards the other weak link of the team, Li Jing. Just as Li Yue got closer, Li Jing finished summoning her demons and ran away as she was told to do. The two demons blocked Li Yue's path and starting beating her up. Li Jing should have run far away, but she just couldn't help herself. She stood at what she thought was a safe distance and said, "Are you ready to come back, you brat? You can't escape my demons. They are gonna tear you apart."

  Li Yue laughed. "Jie, you are not the only one who can summon things."

  The light in Li Yue's left hand turned a deep shade of violet, and two massive skeletons sprung from the ground. While the skeletons engaged the demons, Li Yue swiftly closed the distance between her and Li Jing. Li Jing, seeing her burly demons being beaten, screamed and ran away. But it was too late. Li Yue was already there, and her dagger pierced the succubus right in the belly. One more thrust into the heart and the succubus lay dead beneath the feet of the undead rogue.

  "One down, five more to go."

  Just as Li Yue finished celebrating her first kill of the team, a powerful arrow came flying through the air and struck her in the chest and exploded. It was one of Li Na's ultimate moves. The arrow hit with such force that Li Yue was flung back almost halfway across the valley floor, and it took away a big chunk of her health.

  "Keep up the pressure," An Jing shouted.

  Li Wei and Li Na, following their leader's advice, continued their assault from the distance. Mei Lin quickly closed in on Li Yue and stuck blow after blow. But this was not enough to keep the Tyrant down. She was quickly back on her feet and countering Mei Lin's attacks. Mei Lin thought she was fighting a melee duel between two skilled combatants, but Li Yue, never one to play by the rules, had other designs. While Mei Lin was focused on Li Yue's blade, Li Yue's left hand turned sickly green, and Li Yue placed a health drain curse on Mei Lin. And when a surprised Mei Lin stopped for a second to understand what just happened, she was struck by Li Yue's dagger. Li Yue quickly changed weapons and brought out the small level drain dagger and struck Mei Lin with it a couple of times, draining some of Mei Lin's levels. A wounded Mei, Lin having lost nearly half her health and some of her levels, quickly retreated, while Li Yue gained a new surge of hit points from the health drain spell.

  But Mei Lin's attacks were not entirely in vain, as they gave Li Wei ample time to prepare a devastating fire spell, which he directed at Li Yue. The undead rogue managed to teleport away in the last second. Even though she was not caught at the center of the spell, which would have been devastating, she was still caught in its aftereffects, which caused her a good amount of damage. Li Wei's spell was followed by another powerful hit from Li Na, which once again took away a good chunk of Li Yue's health.

  The Tyrant had started the fight with only sixty percent health points, and by now she had lost nearly half of it. The team sensed that victory was achievable, and An Jing once again rallied everyone.

  Li Yue, realizing the danger if Li Wei were allowed to remain alive for long, quickly closed the distance between herself and her brother and was about to follow up with a devastating strike from the blade. But thankfully, An Jing was there in time to block the attack. The expected attack never landed. No blade struck An Jing's shield. Too late they discovered that what had attacked Li Wei was an illusion, and the real Li Yue was behind Li Na. Three strikes to the chest from the long blade of the Tyrant's poisoned knife, and the half elf died an agonizing death.

  Capitalizing on her momentum, Li Yue shifted her focus to attacking An Mei. But once again, An Jing was there in time to protect her sister. Not being a perfect tank, An Jing had already suffered some damage from previous attacks by Li Yue, but this time the effect was much worse due to the poison, which completely negated An Jing's regeneration and even made An Mei's healing spells less effective on An Jing. But An Jing found sound breathing room due to another spell barrage from Li Wei and hit-and-run attacks from Mei Lin. Frustrated with Mei Lin's constant intervention, Li Yue tried to catch her, but Mei Lin was too fast even for Li Yue. Annoyed and angry, Li Yue tried to attack Li Wei, only to be blocked once again by An Jing.

  "You won't let me kill your sister, and now you won't even let me kill my brother. That doesn't seem fair, Jingjing," Li Yue said.

  "Why don't you try chasing one and sticking to them, Jie? That might make it easier for you," An Jing taunted.

  "I don't think I will. I'd rather leave that choice to you." Li Yue's dagger disappeared, and both of her hands were now dark swirling orbs. From each hand she shot out a powerful necromantic ray, one directed at Li Wei and the other directed at An Mei.

  "Jie, Jie-fu, step away; don't get hit," An Jing shouted.

  Li Wei, with his gaming experience, managed to side-step the attack, but An Mei, who had never seen such a dazzling display of colors and darkness, was momentarily stunned from panic. And that small moment was enough. The necromantic ray was about to hit and annihilate the poor catgirl, but An Jing once blocked the path of the attack. But this time, her shield did not matter. The necromantic spell ignored An Jing's shield and her armor and plunged directly into her chest. The barbarian's body started shriveling up from the spell's power. After successfully defending her mostly useless team for so long, the leader fell dead as a desiccated husk.

  "B+ for effort, Jingjing," Li Yue said mockingly. "Don't worry about the rest; I'll make quick work of them."