Swhoosh!

After Beiming Xue was teleported out of the arena, she complained with a helpless expression on her face, "This is impossible… Candlelight Shadow’s speed is completely beyond my ability to react…"

Gui Guzi said, "Candlelight Shadow is fast, but you still should’ve been able to catch him out with Well of the Abyss, Lil Beiming. The timing on the one you used earlier could stand to be better…"

Beiming Xue blinked helplessly. "But… I’m already giving it my all…"

Lian Xin looked to me for guidance. "What do you think, big brother Lu Chen?"

I bit my finger before answering, "Did you guys notice Candlelight Shadow buffing himself with a speed up skill at the same time he activated Great Earth Transformation? That is how he boosted his speed beyond Beiming’s ability to suppress. Also, there’s a 0.5-second channelling time to Well of the Abyss, and that is more than enough time for Candlelight Shadow to lock onto any empty spot, Charge and dodge it perfectly. The Divine General Skill is practically useless against him now."

Li Chengfeng hummed for a moment before asking, "Does this mean there’s no hope for Lil Beiming, Lu Chen?"

"No, there is still hope."

I explained while staring at Candlelight Shadow in the arena, "Candlelight Shadow will definitely underestimate Beiming a little when the second round begins. If Beiming lets him get close to her and dodge his attacks using the helix maneuver Yiyi taught her, he’ll freeze up for just an instant. Stun him with Shock Arrow, lower his Defense with Bone Eroding Arrow, delete his HP with Evil Spirit Volley, and trap him with Well of the Abyss right before the stun is about to end. Finally, use undodgeable AoE skills like Skypiercer and Spiraling Arrow Blade to end his life at the end of Well of the Abyss’ duration. He will parry and dodge everything else, so don’t even bother. You already know this, but never underestimate his control. Even I can lose to him in this area!"

Beiming Xue blinked again. "But I haven’t even mastered half of the helix maneuver, big bro. I’m nowhere proficient enough to use it in a real fight. What if I fail mid-execution?"

"So what? If you’re going to lose either way, then you may as well choose the path with least regrets, right?"

"Yeah!"

Suddenly, He Yi said quietly next to me, "So this is how you console your little sister. Hmm…"

Me: "..."

……

Beiming Xue trained her gaze on Candlelight Shadow after she teleported into the arena once more.

On the other side, Candlelight Shadow let out an obvious snort and returned a scornful look, his disdain obvious to anyone who wasn’t blind or absent. The Martial God’s impression of Beiming Xue’s strength had fallen considerably after he beat her almost all too easily during the first round, but that was normal. It was human nature to underestimate an opponent after an easy victory, and not even a top-tier expert like Candlelight Shadow was an exception to the rule.

When the battle began, Beiming Xue moved backward and shot Candlelight Shadow with Freezing Arrows only. For someone who just lived the life of a speedster a moment ago, the ice freezing over his armor and reducing his movement speed was incredibly uncomfortable to say the least.

"Tsk!"

Candlelight Shadow waved his arm and conjured a cyan formation beneath his feet. Just like last time, his movement speed suddenly increased drastically, and two zigzags later— made to dodge Beiming Xue’s follow-up Freezing Arrows—he halted in front of her and channeled a killer combo!

Beiming Xue gritted her teeth and parried the first hit with her dagger. Then, she slipped away from his vision, turned her heels, and rotated to his right flank in a flash. By the time Candlelight Shadow turned around to swing his sword at her, her momentum had carried her to his left flank already. Despite claiming that she hadn’t mastered the technique yet, Beiming Xue had somehow managed to pull off the upgraded version of the butterfly maneuver, the helix maneuver, with incredible grace.

"What?!"

Candlelight Shadow was shocked as a matter of course. The helix maneuver had always been a fighter-only technique, not to mention that there were only a handful of players in the entire server that could apply it in a real fight successfully. This almost certainly marked the beginning of a whole new level of skill for the Archer class.

The spectators were completely shocked by Beiming Xue’s performance as well. Not only did she, an archer, managed to pull off the legendary helix maneuver successfully, she had used it on none other than the Martial God, Candlelight Shadow himself!

"You want to die?"

Humiliated and enraged, Candlelight Shadow turned again and sent a horizontal slash at Beiming Xue’s direction. There was no dodging or parrying this one!

78831!

Even with the Windchaser set’s ridiculous Defense, that one hit still deleted 50% of Beiming Xue’s health bar. However, that was exactly the golden opportunity she was waiting for! There was a half-a-second lull in Candlelight Shadow’s movement after the strike, and it was during that time Beiming Xue unleashed her Shock Arrow, Bone Eroding Arrow and Evil Spirit Volley in rapid succession!

Candlelight Shadow realized he was in trouble the moment he saw this. With supernatural speed, he raised his weapon and used Guard!

Sparks flew everywhere as Evil Spirit Volley rocked his body and deleted over half of his HP. The moment the skill ended, Beiming Leaped into the air and used Well of the Abyss!

……

Everything seemed to be going smoothly, but I exclaimed in sudden realization, "FUCK!"

"What’s wrong?" Lin Yixin turned toward me after my outburst.

I clenched my fists before responding, "Fuck me, I can’t believe I forgot that Candlelight Shadow was a seventh-promotion warrior. This means that he has the seventh-promotion skill, War God Rampage!"

War God Rampage: The seventh-promotion signature skill of the Warrior class. For 12 seconds, increases user’s Attack by 40%, reduces user’s Defense by 25%, but grants magic immunity.

The magic immunity protected the warrior not only from magic, but also all status effect skills! Not even Beiming Xue’s Well of the Abyss was an exception! It was why a warrior was considered to be almost invincible during these 12 seconds. Although I was a warrior myself, my mentor was a lousy one, and it didn’t look like he was going to teach me the skill anytime soon. Therefore, my only hope of acquiring the skill was to get it from a boss drop.

As expected, Candlelight Shadow was a natural warrior who didn’t allow even the tiniest of chances to slip through his grasp. The moment Well of the Abyss descended on him, he activated War God Rampage and dashed toward Beiming Xue in a burst of speed. He then hit her with Earth Shattering Slash and surrounded her with three casts of Outer Flame just in case she dodged to either direction.

Swhoosh!

The dark archer returned to our side, and the score turned 0:2. She lost.

"Uu…"

Beiming Xue’s eyes turned red as she faced toward me and He Yi. "I’m sorry, big bro, Sister He Yi. I… lost…"

He Yi gave her a comforting smile and said, "It’s fine, we still have a high chance of winning this. Plus, your opponent was Candlelight Shadow, the so-called number one expert of China. It’s not unthinkable for anyone to lose to him."

I also patted Beiming Xue on the shoulder and apologized, "You lost because I gave you a flawed battle plan, not because you didn’t perform well enough. I forgot that he had War God Rampage, so the fault is all mine. Don’t worry, I’ll retake the lead during the third match."

Beiming Xue nodded. "Okay. I look forward to your performance, big bro!"

……

The third match was me versus Blue Sky Scar. Usually, I would call this a free win, but the fact was Blue Sky Scar had changed hs class from Magic Knight to Wind Knight, so he had to be a lot stronger than he was before. Also, Blue Sky Scar must’ve had Candlelight Shadow’s help when he completed his class upgrade, and I refused to believe that the latter wasn’t qualified to become a wind knight. The only reason he didn’t was because magic knights were more of a defender than an attacker, and Candlelight Shadow was a man who sought to become the ultimate offensive attacker. In this regard at least, we were identical to one another.

Swhoosh swhoosh!

Both Blue Sky Scar and I appeared on the battlefield. The wind knight had changed his weapon to a light blue sword, but his glare was anything but light or blue. Flames almost spitting out of his nose, he declared, "Don’t think that the victory is already in the bag, Lu Chen. I promise I’ll give you the shock of your life!"

I didn’t answer him.

Blue Sky Scar exploded in anger, "Are you fucking looking down on me?"

I still didn’t answer him.

Blue Sky Scar’s anger hit its peak. "Is that it? You lack even the most basic respect for your opponent?"

It was at this moment I looked up in a daze while replying to Lin Yixin, "It’s a promise. We’ll have lunch tomorrow after the WEL is finished…"

After I ended the video call, I looked at Blue Sky Scar and asked, "Oh, sorry, I was speaking with Wind Fantasy just now. What were you saying again, bro?"

At that moment, Blue Sky Scar’s complexion turned into a very impressive shade of blue.

Anyway, the battle began quickly after that short intermission.

We were both fighters, so no fancy moves were necessary for this fight. After we smashed into one another, I slashed Blue Sky Scar’s black shield three times in a row. I made sure to cancel each slash animation with another slash right after they landed, and during the final slash I kicked the bottom of the enemy’s shield and invaded Blue Sky Scar’s private space completely. Then, I elbowed the wind knight in the neck with the bladed tip of my armor.

Bang!

39193!

Blue Sky Scar was an honest man who was used to trading blows with another fighter the boring, standard way, so to say that he was unused to my standard-breaking way of brawling would be an understatement. Feeling like he had no choice, he shouted, "Tempest Purgatory!"

Roar!

A scorching wind burst out of the ground. It was an AoE skill!

51277!

That was some impressive damage. I thought this might be the case, but it was a bit too much to facetank without activating Great Earth Transformation. After I put some distance between myself and Blue Sky Scar, I pointed my palm at him and used God Binding Art!

Four divine weapons dropped down from the sky and immobilized Blue Sky Scar instantly. I bet he was so thrilled at the thought of deleting a chunk of HP from my health bar that he completely forgot about the danger of unleashing a skill when he wasn’t on the move. He had been caught like a deer in the headlights.

The rest of the fight was very simple. I raised my palm and slapped his head with Ancient Seal and Dragon Slaying Slash. Then, I tossed the Purple Ying Sword at him after it was surrounded by a sheen of gold, draconic runes. It was the Coiling Dragon Revolution, of course. It annihilated his shield and dealt the fatal blow.

It was 1:0. The win couldn’t have been easier!

The second round went more or less the same way. Although Blue Sky Scar had good control, he was way too old-fashioned and inflexible. As a result, beating him was just a matter of taking advantage of his weakness until he lost.

It was yet another perfect win for me, and the overall score turned 2:1 in favor of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. The battle progressed to the fourth match, and it was He Yi versus the enemy’s new rising member, the Divine General Ye Yuse!

Ye Yuse was a Candle Dragon subguild member until she got lucky and evolved into a Divine General. Now, she was one of their key players and one of the greatest variables of this competition.

……

He Yi urged me smilingly as she gripped the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear, "Well, what are you waiting for? Teach me how to beat this charm master already. I have no idea what to do here…"

I shot Ye Yuse a glance before starting, "Petrification and Hold are both status effect skills with very obvious cast animation and 50% hit rate only. You should be able to dodge it easily if you keep your eyes on her. Her trump card is that God Suppressing Tower that can delete tens of thousands of HP in one go, so that is what you should really watch out for. Also, remember that she has Great Earth Transformation. It’ll boost her Attack tremendously."

"Okay, got it…"

……

The next moment, our beautiful guild leader and Ye Yuse appeared on the battlefield at the same time.