"It’s over…" I clenched my fists as I swore, "Fuck! How is that Song of Ice and Fire so despicable! If you’re going to fight, then fight! There’s no need to talk about these things…"

Lin Yixin: "Hmph!"

He Yi: "Hmph!"

Lian Xin: "Hmph!"

I stared at Lian Xin. "Why are you snorting, Little Xin? What does this have to do with you?"

Lian Xin smiled. "It felt right to follow their example, so…"

Stranger of Three Lifetimes spat. "Pooh! Bunch of shameless bastards!"

Me: "..."

……

Meanwhile, Beiming Xue and Song of Ice and Fire were clashing once more on the battlefield. The frozen berserker had to use almost every trick up his sleeves to weather Beiming Xue’s ferocious assault, and his health regeneration methods, Ice Recovery and Health Potions, were all on cooldown. However, the fatal blow kept eluding Beiming Xue even though his HP hovered dangerously at the 10% mark. Somehow, he was always able to dodge or parry the arrow that would’ve killed him where he stood.

"Here I come!"

Song of Ice and Fire abruptly closed the distance between himself and Beiming Xue before using Barrier Break!

Beiming Xue swung her dagger in retaliation and successfully parried the skill. At the same time, she spun around the frozen berserker in one big motion and kneed him right in the back of the head!

12883!

Not done yet, she brought down her dagger in an attempt to land the fatal blow. It might just be an archer’s melee attack, but it couldn’t be underestimated in this situation.

Anxiety growing, Song of Ice and Fire dropped to the ground and crawled like a worm for almost three meters before he finally escaped the danger. Then, he abruptly bounced back to his feet and used Frozen Flurry!

Beiming Xue gritted her teeth and rushed forward to meet him, parrying the skill with both her dagger and her bow. Amazingly, she actually managed to parry the lightning-quick skill in its entirety! Forget an archer, her close-combat skill was almost equal to the best melee fighters out there!

However, a sheen of ice froze Beiming Xue’s legs the moment she made contact with the enemy. The dark archer’s mouth fell open in shock.

Song of Ice and Fire followed up the skill with several basic attacks, and...

Swhoosh!

Beiming Xue was knocked out of the fight and the first match just like that.

……

Back in the waiting area, Beiming Xue stared at Lin Yixin with watery eyes as she asked, "Sister Lin Yixin, why weren’t you frozen when you parried his attacks? Why me…?"

Lin Yixin put a hand to her forehead. "Babe, I activated my seventh-promotion skill, Rage of the Storm, and enhanced my magic and CC immunity for some time. Of course he wouldn’t be able to freeze me…"

Beiming Xue’s tears grew. "Why didn’t you tell me sooner…"

Lin Yixin blinked once before replying, "You’re right. I regret not reminding you that you’re an archer, not a warrior…"

Beiming Xue: "..."

I patted her shoulder and shot her a comforting smile. "It’s fine, it’s just one point. I’ll take revenge for you right away. Hmph hmph, I finally caught that damned undead mage!"

Beiming Xue nodded. "Do your best, big bro!"

……

Swhoosh!

I appeared in a valley with a creek running through the center. Not far away, a brownish gray smoke rose from the ground before taking the form of the undead mage, Ringwraith. Motherfucker, he had a cooler entrance than I did. I would’ve used Earth Escape and made my own cool entrance had I known this would happen. At any rate, it was too late to use the skill now. Mages were infamous for their plethora of AoE spells, and when I was underground my speed was slower than even a stealthing assasin’s. It would be embarrassing if Ringwraith managed to blast me out of my hidey-hole before I caught up to him first.

I had paid close attention to all of Ringwraith’s earlier matches, and I had enough data to construct a profile of him in my mind. Ringwraith’s Famous General Skill was Mage Soul, a skill that increased his Magic Attack drastically. His spell cast time was a lot shorter than a normal mage’s, and his secret class gave him access to many unique spells such as Frost Bone Shield, Black Dragon Wave, Bone Cage, Night of the Undead Dragon and Death Rot.

When Ringwraith’s opponent was a melee fighter, he would usually cast Death Rot to weaken their armor and movement speed first before chipping away at their HP with Black Dragon Wave and Galaxy Storm. If an opportunity were to present itself, he would use Bone Cage to trap his opponent in one place and cast his super AoE skill, Night of the Undead Dragon. It was a mature system of pattern that gave him a near flawless record throughout the competition.

Back to the present. Ringwraith was glaring at me when he said, "You sure are an interesting individual, Lu Chen. I hope you won’t regret turning down Song of Cloud and Water’s invitation repeatedly later."

I raised my sword and responded, "And what do I have to regret? I have been a member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls since the first day I joined it, and I always will be! Joining another guild was never an option for me!"

"Pooh. You are a walking example of blind loyalty. A fine bird would’ve chosen a finer tree to nest in!"

"Well said! And I’ll prove it by kicking your ass! Now come!"

The system began counting, and our heartbeats gradually grew faster—

3!

2!

1!

Fight!

I took off the second the countdown hit zero, just in time to avoid catching Black Dragon Wave. As expected, Ringwraith’s attacks were like a shadow you couldn’t shake off.

Not wanting to give Ringwraith more time to blast away with impunity, I sped up drastically and shot straight toward the mage like an arrow!

Surprised, Ringwraith tried to dissuade me with Galaxy Storm to the face. In response, I raised my left arm and summoned the Dragon God Shield, never slowing down in the slightest!

29883!

My incredible Magic Resist surprised Ringwraith again, but before he could react, my sword was already swinging toward his head—Burning Blade Slash!

Ringwraith dared not treat the skill lightly, so he grabbed his scepter with both hands and thrust it toward the Purple Ying Sword’s blade. Of course, there was no chance his scepter could stop the momentum of an Archean-grade weapon, so he was brought to his knees almost instantly. However, instead of continuing to resist, he relaxed and let the skill roll him away from me. It might look humiliating, but it actually allowed him to dodge two of three hits of my Burning Blade Slash!

MISS!

MISS!

1828!

The third hit sliced through the Frost Bone Shield and deleted over 80% of his Magic Shield durability. He even lost almost two thousand HP.

The second I regained my footing, I felt Ringwraith throwing another spell at me. It was Bone Cage!

Countless bony arms burst out of the ground in an attempt to grab me. This skill had led to the deaths of many famous experts including Lasting of Blazing Hot Lips, Lin Bing Dou Zhe of Warsky Alliance, and Purple Marquis of Snowy Cathaya, so its power couldn’t be understated.

A cyclone of earthen energy surrounded me as I activated Great Earth Transformation. At the same time, I ran in a zigzag pattern three times in a row and avoided at least 7 arms who were trying to catch me. Then, I was out of Bone Cage just like that. I did it? I did it! The entire run had taken less than 0.5 seconds, and it was done out of pure reflex since there was no time to think at all. Even I couldn’t quite believe that I actually managed to escape the crowd control skill!

Thud!

I brought my foot down on the watery land and activated Thunderous Charge, shooting toward Ringwraith like a lighting bolt.

On the other side, Ringwraith was rattled and in disbelief after he watched me weaving my way out of his Bone Cage. He roared in fury, "Impossible! There’s no way someone can dodge a near-instantaneous skill like that! Fuuuuuuuuck! Night of the Undead Dragon!"

I smiled as I thrust my sword at him. "Yeah, no thanks!"

Pu!

Universe Break pierced through the Frost Bone Shield and Ringwraith’s chest. The undead mage looked down with wide eyes and saw the Purple Ying Sword and a hole the size of a cannonball. This time, he wouldn't get lucky and survive a fatal blow.

119287!

The Purple Ying Sword was a powerful weapon, so one strike was all it took to take out Ringwraith. We were both undead players, but skill-wise I was leagues ahead of him.

……

Swhoosh!

After I returned to the waiting area, Beiming Xue cheered happily, "That was a beautiful win, big bro!"

Lin Yixin said to Purple Marquis, "You see that? Turns out that the undodgeable spell isn’t so undodgeable after all. You need to train harder…"

Purple Marquis complained, "Lu Chen doesn’t count, boss. Not everyone is as stupidly good as him, you know…"

Meanwhile, Chaos Moon shot me a long glance after checking the timer. "I checked how long it took you to execute Universe Break just now, Lu Chen, and the timer says it was 0.12 seconds. 0.12 seconds! Are you still human? Who on earth could react in such a short time?"

I replied calmly, "That’s why Ringwraith is dead, and I’m not. A true expert must be faster than anyone!"

Suddenly, Chaos Moon blushed and said with an odd smile, "Well… that depends on the situation. In some cases, the faster you are, the worse you’ll look, especially if you’re a man, you get me? I know you know what I’m saying, and Beauty Lin will eventually…"

Lin Yixin looked at Chaos Moon in confusion. "I actually don’t get what you’re saying..."

Murong Mingyue interrupted, "I get it."

I shot her a disdainful look. "What do you not get? If there was a position called ‘Adulthood Consultant’ in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, it would be yours for sure…"

……

It was at this moment the system fairy summoned me back into the arena. The second round wasn’t over yet, so my opponent was still Ringwraith the Undead Mage.

This time, Ringwraith allowed his paranoia to take full control of him and stayed far, far away from me. I guessed he was that worried that I wouldn’t give him the chance to cast Night of the Undead Dragon.

The moment the countdown hit zero, I charged toward Ringwraith until we were about 25 yards away from each other. My sword burst into flames at the same time I raised my left palm and acted to summon the Ancient Seal!

"Fuck!"

Ringwraith knew that it was bad, so he hurriedly raised his scepter and shouted, "Kill that fucker, Night of the Undead Dragon!"

"Roar roar roar…"

The earth split in half, and the images of countless undead dragons burst out of the crack. I immediately withdrew my arm and danced away from the powerful spell. Sometimes the undead dragons were almost close enough to touch the tip of my nose, but in the end I was able to dodge the spell perfectly.

"It’s over…"

Ringwraith knew he lost the moment his Night of the Undead Dragon failed to deal a single point of damage to me. Coiling Dragon Revolution and Burning Blade Slash later, the undead mage who had been performing exceptionally well in the WEL up until this point lost both rounds and died.

……

The overall score turned 1:1. So far, it looked like anyone could become the champion!

The third match was He Yi versus Song of Cloud and Water. Coincidence or not, it looked like the two guild leaders would be engaging each other in battle.