Genius Chapter 54: Desperate Counterattack 

Chapter 54: Desperate Counterattack 

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

The Glacial Ravenlands were vast and rarely had any cover, with withered trees, decayed rocks, and overgrown weeds. The area where the zombie monsters were located was also a more remote part of the Glacial Ravenlands, sparsely populated, with only occasional players coming to gather materials. So when these people appeared in front of Su Mo, he knew they had used the Heavenly Eye.

The Heavenly Eye System consumed specific items and could track the player’s location anytime, anywhere. Faction battles didn’t form grudges unless someone actively initiated combat or joined the hate list. Su Mo had no interactions with the people from [Zenith Expanse], so those who used the Heavenly Eye against him must have other grudges.

The two attacking assassins operated quickly. Upon realizing their invisibility had been seen through by the summoner, they didn’t panic. Instead, they began to surround Su Mo, one in front and one behind. These two assassins, who should have a fast attack speed, struck rapidly and, combined with their excellent movement speed, always managed to rush forward and block Su Mo’s retreat whenever he tried to create distance.

Su Mo used his lamp staff to leap and avoid the attack, taking a few steps back and seizing the time to summon the Zephyr Hawk. The Zephyr Hawk’s slowing attack hit the assassins, and arrows from the marksman on high fell in unison, using their wide field of vision and attack range to force Su Mo back step by step. The assassins got close again; Su Mo stunned them and once again created some distance.

Clang—

They clashed again. It was hard to fully pull away. The two assassins cooperated seamlessly, not like they had decided on a whim but like they had been partners for a long time. Their coordination and aggressiveness in encircling and attacking were formidable, and their skill level was not low—slightly inferior to Watermelon from the Fruit Gang, but outstanding in terms of coordination.

Su Mo was forced back a few steps by the strong attacks of the assassins and summoned the Black Tortoise. The Black Tortoise’s summoning significantly relieved Su Mo’s pressure. He calmly avoided the assassins’ pincer attack, utilizing the time gained by his movement advantage to summon a bear as tall as a mountain.

“He summoned a bear, the view is blocked, I can’t lock onto him,” the marksman on high said in the team voice chat. “Pull him away.”

A slightly irritable voice came through the channel, “It’s hard to pull, he’s too agile, we have him surrounded and he’s still slipping away.”

Another assassin added, “His summoning speed is fast too. If it were any other summoner, they would have been in chaos from being chased like this. He actually plans to drag it out with us, constantly tricking us.”

Several times they were about to hit him, but the summoner would use his summoned beasts to block or evade. At first, their combined sneak attack managed to shave off 30% of the summoner’s health. As the summoner summoned three beasts, the situation on the field silently reversed. The summoner was too agile, not in the same way as the assassins but with a controlled agility to manage his defenses.

“This is too eerie,” one assassin said. “Don’t let him summon more; the more he summons, the more agile he gets. Is this summoner a fish? How is he slipping away so well?”

“Sleep, did Brother Night really want us to test him? Who is this guy?”

The marksman added, “He’s a dark horse on the hunting leaderboard! Haven’t you checked the forums?”

“So what? He’s from the Abyss faction, what good is testing him? He can’t switch factions or join our gang.”

Contrary to the marksman, on another high ground, a swordsman in white called Sleep watched the situation. Using his vantage point, he noticed the layout below and frowned, “Clear his summoned beasts.”

The two assassins paused but followed the command, turning to attack the summoned beasts. The summoner’s beasts seemed disorderly, yet from the high ground, it was clear each beast had a specific position. By using a plug-in to lock onto the attack range of the summoned beasts, it became clear that their attack ranges didn’t overlap. This meant that with enough summoned beasts, the assassins’ movements were always within their attack range.

LunarFeline was killed! The assassins’ rhythm changed.

Seeing this, Su Mo paused slightly, his peripheral vision scanning the mini-map. Besides the three known attackers, there were two red dots behind him that hadn’t moved. The Glacial Ravenlands were overgrown with weeds, and the rocks were uneven. The marksman and Sleep stood on high ground, the two assassins ambushed on the ground, surrounding Su Mo from four directions. The assassins’ attacks were perfectly coordinated, with the marksman providing support. The remaining person had to be the one controlling the situation, observing from high ground and directing the assassins and the marksman.

Given this, Su Mo quickly formed a plan after surveying his surroundings. He pretended to flee, retreating a few steps and using the exposed rocks to leap upwards. The tall bear became his only cover for now, the marksman’s attacks falling on it while Su Mo seized the moment to move at high speed.

“The summoner’s health is still at 50%. Should we keep fighting?”

The two assassins’ health was also not in great shape. Although the summoner’s equipment wasn’t as good as theirs, the continuous output from his summoned beasts was really annoying, though still manageable. Suddenly, the marksman exclaimed, “He seems to be moving.”

Behind Su Mo was a ten-meter-high exposed rock face, covered in moss from the damp Glacial Ravenlands air. He wasn’t moving quickly but steadily climbed up the protruding rocks. Sleep, observing from above, was surprised. He thought the summoner would attack directly but instead saw him changing direction, seemingly trying to escape. He told the two assassins, “Follow and see.”

The two assassins stopped attacking the summoned beasts and followed him. At this moment, the summoner, who had been running, suddenly turned around. The rock created a subtle height difference, and Sleep, seeing this, had a bad premonition, “Fish Ball, fall back!”

Assassin Fish Ball hadn’t reacted yet when the summoner jumped, stepping on Fish Ball’s shoulder and using his weight to kick him out. The kick was precise and ruthless, sending Fish Ball flying into a muddy swamp, splashing mud everywhere. Fish Ball, covered in mud, initially thought the summoner’s melee strength was average. But this kick left him stunned.

“Fuck!” Fish Ball struggled to get up from the swamp, only to find he couldn’t exert any strength, or rather, he was sinking further into the mud, “Damn, it’s a swamp! Pull me out.”

Sleep’s eyes flickered, “Cover him.”

The marksman started to move from the high ground but had to stop to clear the summoned beasts obstructing his view. Su Mo gave them no chance, seeing one assassin’s movements restricted, he summoned the bear again to block the view and swiftly attacked the next assassin. The second assassin, realizing this, prepared to save his teammate, but the summoner used a stun to control him. When he tried to break free, the summoner charmed him, controlling him again.

“Get in there.”

The summoner gripped his lamp staff with both hands and swung it at the assassin with tremendous force. The two consecutive controls disrupted the assassin’s skills. Before the marksman could support, the summoner hit the assassin into the swamp with his staff.

—You have a friend’s mail notification.

—(Spirit Sanctuary Cleric) ScarletFruit14 has applied to join your party.

A series of green notifications popped up. Su Mo quickly agreed and jumped out of range to avoid the marksman’s attack.

“Bro, without you, I’d have died already!” ScarletFruit howled as soon as he joined the party, filling the voice channel with his wailing.

Su Mo frowned slightly, “You could start by shutting up.”

ScarletFruit replied, “Not even a word of comfort for sad me.” Then he added, “Wait, bro, what’s up with your health!? 30%!? What’s going on? Were you ambushed in the wild?”

In the Glacial Ravenlands’ swamp, the two attackable targets had entered the swamp, instantly alerting the zombie monsters within. The assassins were stunned by this, but their restricted movements prevented them from dodging. Their already low health plummeted further under the wild monsters’ attacks.

“Help!”

“Take some potions and hold on for a while.”

Sleep frowned slightly, planning to descend from his high ground to assist. Just as he moved, the summoner below glanced his way with a cold gaze. Before Sleep could move, the summoner swung his staff and ran in another direction, ignoring the assassins in the swamp.

“Sleep, he’s running,” the marksman said. “Are we chasing?”

The summoner had little health left, and even with potions, it would be difficult for him to deal with all four of them. Fleeing was a wise choice.

Sleep said, “Forget him, let’s get Fish Ball and the others out.”

The Zenith Expanse members abandoned their attack, and Sleep descended from his high ground, ready to help those trapped in the swamp. Suddenly, a strong wind gusted from behind. He reflexively swung his sword, only to find the summoner who had seemingly fled was now back. Sleep immediately grew cautious, engaging the summoner at close range. However, the summoner had come prepared, flanked by three summoned beasts. Facing Sleep’s attack, the summoner methodically used his beasts to control and slow him.

“Cover!” Sleep shouted.

From his vantage point, the marksman noticed the summoner had returned. A rain of arrows poured down, and Su Mo frowned slightly. Listening to ScarletFruit’s anxious voice, he maintained his calm and orderly attack. The situation, however, was dire. If he lost the initiative, the marksman would kill him. Even if he took potions to recover, he couldn’t guarantee the red dots on the map weren’t also from [Zenith Expanse].

Sleep, having calmed down from the initial panic, began to counterattack. The marksman, for a better angle, also descended from his high ground. At that moment, Sleep successfully hit Momo, applying a healing ban on him. 

Su Mo paused; the situation had become more critical. With the healing ban, he couldn’t take red potions or heal.

ScarletFruit said, “Bro! Where in the Glacial Ravenlands are you? I’ll come to save you.”

“Don’t come here to die,” Su Mo muttered, suddenly seeing green text appear at the top of his vision.

—Your friend [UnchainedWanderer] has come online.

His eyes widened as he thought of a skill. A physical swordsman was attacking, and the marksman was attacking from a distance. Su Mo barely avoided their skills when, suddenly, his pet, Veil Wraith, appeared in front of everyone. The delicate, kawaii Veil Wraith raised a mist, and green smoke spread. In a blink, multiple Momo appeared in everyone’s vision, identical in health and appearance.

Sleep frowned deeply, “A pet skill!? Why is he using it now? The intel didn’t mention this.”

“What skill is this?”

“It’s a pet skill. Be careful.”

“Could be phantoms; clear them out.”

Sleep and the marksman’s skills simultaneously hit the illusions created by Veil Wraith, depleting some of the fake health. Meanwhile, hidden among the chaos, Su Mo chuckled. Both Sleep and the marksman found themselves under a [Confusion] status. Hitting the illusions triggered Veil Wraith’s active skill [Maze], causing 100% confusion.

Sleep immediately used a dispel and attacked another Momo, only to trigger confusion again. These illusions felt as real as Momo, their health equally realistic, unlike shadows seen in other skills. Even after using two dispels, they couldn’t identify the real Momo.

Something was wrong; these weren’t just shadows. The illusions were too accurate!

Sleep quickly realized, “Stop attacking!”

Among the freely moving illusions, Su Mo smirked coldly and decisively used the 30 seconds of illusion time to hit the physical swordsman Sleep into the swamp. He then turned to the marksman, using all his burst skills in a combo, killing the marksman amid the confusion. The two assassins in the swamp were also killed by wild monsters, their health drained completely.

Seeing this, Sleep’s expression changed dramatically. He threw his only long-range skill, but Momo dodged it and vanished like smoke.

—[You have used Fate Thread Connecting a Thousand Miles]

The chaotic vision blurred as Su Mo, who had just dodged Sleep’s skill, lost control of his steps and collided with Yu Zhen, sending them both tumbling to the ground.

Su Mo, with minimal health left, completed a desperate escape. Looking into Yu Zhen’s surprised eyes, he realized he was pressing down on him.

ScarletFruit’s anxious voice still echoed in the voice channel as he ran rapidly, searching the vast Glacial Ravenlands. Meanwhile, in the bustling main city, players came and went, the noise unending.

Yu Zhen looked up at the summoner on top of him.

The summoner, slightly out of breath, said, “Sorry, I was in a hurry.”