Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat - Chapter 731

Chapter 731: I Will Find You
The rogue had scaled the cliff face. No wonder he’d survived the blender of spinning warriors below.

BOOM…

The ground shook violently as the Mana-Forged Colossus finally crashed to the earth.

“Shadowstrike! Leafshade, now!”

Ethan had seen the rogue too, and the recognition sent a jolt through him. It was him… the one they called the God of Slaughter. Shadowstrike.

They’d crossed paths back in the Starter Zone. The man had made him eat dirt, locking him down with a brutal stun chain for what felt like an eternity. In his past life, Shadowstrike had earned that fearsome title. Ethan, also a rogue back then, had clashed with him countless times. When Ethan’s gear was top-tier, he could hold his own. But after he’d been set up and lost his entire +30 enhanced set, every encounter with Shadowstrike had ended in a humiliating beatdown.

Now, watching the Colossus teeter and fall, seeing Shadowstrike still clinging to the cliff—his stealth shredded by Williams’s Divine Sight but refusing to give up—Ethan felt a cold focus. The rogue kicked off from the rock face, launching himself like a human arrow straight toward the dying machine.

A volley of arrows peppered the spot he’d just vacated.

“Leafshade!” Ethan yelled again, his eyes darting; the guild leader was the closest to the corpse.

“Why call him?” Leo’s voice cut in, smug and sudden. “Who’s faster than me at looting?”

Ethan blinked, spotting Leo now. The tank had been hidden behind the Colossus’s bulk. By the time Ethan’s eyes found him, the tell-tale loot-glow on the mechanical corpse had already vanished—the clear sign that every last item had been scooped up. Leo was casually pulling his hand out of his inventory pouch. Clearly, whatever the Colossus had dropped was already securely in his possession.

Meanwhile, Williams kept his gaze locked on Shadowstrike, his body turning to track the rogue’s flight. Shadowstrike landed beside the Colossus a split second later, only to freeze. The loot-glow was gone.

He stood there for a half-second, utterly baffled. From the boss’s health hitting zero, to him being revealed, to his desperate leap onto the corpse… it had been less than a second. Who the hell loots that fast? Even a single item took a moment to bend down and grab. And this was a target they’d all been camping, the only level 70 monster in the entire Northern Frontier. Even its trash loot would be plentiful. Not to mention the first-kill bonus, which should have made the thing erupt with gear, items, and gold. Yet the boss had barely flickered before going dark. No loot-splosion. Nothing. It was like the system itself was playing a joke.

His moment of stunned confusion cost him. Renegade Alliance melee fighters closed in, encircling him. Ranged classes painted him with every homing skill they had. Then, a system prompt chimed in his ear.

[Ding… System: You have been locked by Holy Chains. This effect persists until your target’s death.]

Shadowstrike’s eyes narrowed slightly. The surrounding players, the targeting lasers—none of that fazed him. But the Shackles of War… He looked down at the ethereal, golden chains coiling around his body, then looked up the slope. A Priest stood there, identical chains shimmering around him. A two-way skill. No hearthstones, no teleports. Even if he stealthed, these glowing chains would make him a beacon. The only way out was for him or the Priest to die. And the Priest was standing safely out of reach.

Seeing Shadowstrike trapped, Ethan felt a familiar, competitive fire ignite. He descended, landing lightly within the circle of players.

“Stand down!” Ethan commanded.

The crowd, poised to swarm, immediately stilled.

“Shadowstrike… long time no see,” Ethan said, now in his Human Form, standing less than two meters from the legendary rogue.

“You have nerve,” the rogue replied, ignoring the greeting. His tone was flat, arrogant.

Ethan’s lip curled. Same old Shadowstrike. “Feel free to test it.”

He knew exactly what the other man meant. Two meters was well within his instant-kill combo range. If Shadowstrike moved now, he had a solid chance of locking Ethan down and maybe even taking him out. But did he really think it would be that easy?

Shadowstrike’s eyes became slits. A dagger flipped effortlessly over his knuckles. The coiled tension in his frame eased, and he slowly stood up straight, deliberately sheathing his blades at his hips.

“Let me leave. I will do one thing for you,” he stated, as if offering a king’s ransom.

“Damn, Guild Leader, this guy’s full of himself! Just gank him already!” someone shouted from the crowd. The sheer audacity of the man, bargaining from a position of complete weakness, rubbed everyone the wrong way. Who did he think he was? They’d all heard Ethan say the name ‘Shadowstrike,’ but none recognized it. Did the boss know him? Even Victor, Leo, Williams, and Lyla were curious, though Ethan had never mentioned him.

Ethan’s next move shocked them all. He simply waved a hand, summoning a familiar, shimmering interface into the air between them.

The motion made Shadowstrike’s hands snap back to his daggers, his body coiling again.

“Relax,” Ethan sneered. “A duel. You win, you walk away. You lose… you delete your character down to level zero. And you swear to never show your face near a Renegade Alliance member again.” His voice dropped, becoming dangerously cold, the final words laced with a venom that made the surrounding air feel frigid. Several guild members unconsciously shivered. The sheer, personal hatred in that tone was unmistakable.

Shadowstrike was taken aback, his own expression hardening, eyes turning to ice. “You think I’m a fool? If I fight my way out, I only die once.”

“Oh?” Ethan cut him off, his voice dripping with contempt. “Are you saying you can’t beat me?”

A grim smile touched Shadowstrike’s lips. He didn’t take the bait. “I will find you in the real world. You, and all your friends.”

In one fluid motion, he drew a dagger and drew it across his own virtual throat, choosing to respawn rather than entertain Ethan’s challenge.

As his body dissolved into light, Ethan’s gaze remained frozen, colder than the Northern ice fields.

He’d just made his biggest mistake.