Three flaming sword beams penetrated Candlelight Shadow’s body and deleted his final HP. Dangerous as it was, Breeze and Rain was ultimately able to defeat the Martial God of China, Candlelight Shadow!

The score turned 2 to 1, and Cyan Beast scored first blood against Candle Dragon!

It was an outcome no one had seen coming. Everyone knew that Cyan Beast’s guild leader, God of War, was an insanely powerful player, but no one expected the Agility Warrior, Breeze and Rain, to be this strong as well. Skill-wise, he was as good as Candlelight Shadow was. Tactic wise, he actually proved himself to be above the Martial God. The first round, he exploited Candlelight Shadow’s lack of knowledge and defeated him with his Divine General Skill, Soul Capture. The second round, he intentionally hid his trump card and played the weakling just so that he could have a higher chance of beating the Martial God in the next round. Finally, he endured Candlelight Shadow’s assault for almost 3 minutes to sell the facade of having nothing else left, before finally finding the perfect opportunity to use Soul Refining Cage and defeat the pinnacle expert once and for all!

If the duo fought again in the future, I would probably place my bets on Candlelight Shadow. Still, there was no changing the fact that Candlelight Shadow had lost this match, and quite possibly Candle Dragon’s chances of beating Cyan Beast. The ancients said, "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles", and yet Candlelight Shadow had undoubtedly underestimated the number two of Cyan Beast, Breeze and Rain. That was why he lost a match he could’ve won otherwise!

……

Swhoosh!

After Candlelight Shadow reappeared outside the arena, Ye Yuse immediately consoled him and said, "No one can win forever, guild leader, and it’s not like we’ve lost yet! We still have a chance to turn this around!"

Candlelight Shadow didn’t reply immediately. He brooded for a long while, but when he looked up again, he wore a bright, sunny smile that almost could’ve fooled me into thinking that he had gotten past the defeat. "I’m fine. Give it your all, everyone! Candle Dragon’s journey in the WEL cannot end in the quarter-finals. Yuse, it’s your turn now. Do your best!"

"Yessir!"

Ye Yuse teleported into the battlefield. Her opponent was Shallow Sunlight, the strongest assassin in Cyan Beast.

Swhoosh swhoosh!

Shallow Sunlight wore a glowing leather armor that wrapped tightly around her hourglass body. She looked incredibly seductive to put it lightly. On the other hand, Ye Yuse was just starting to fill in her robes, and she just stood there with her scepter without saying anything. To be honest, Candle Dragon was super-countered even in terms of the match-ups. Ye Yuse was a charm master, and theoretically speaking, she could beat anyone as long as they were a metal-armor class. Unfortunately, her opponent turned out to be the worst possible class she could face, an assassin. Many of her signature skills such as Hold and God Suppressing Pagoda required a target before they could be used. Since Shallow Sunlight would be stealthing even before the match began, those skills were as good as sealed.

Pa pa pa...

Ye Yuse threw some basic charms around herself, but none of them managed to hit Shallow Sunlight. It wasn’t just because Ye Yuse couldn’t see her enemy, but also because the assassin herself was incredibly skilled. We, the spectators, could see Shallow Sunlight weaving around the charms like a ballet dancer, but not Ye Yuse. There was no way to warn her either because the combatants were cut off from all forms of communications as a matter of course.

Swhoosh!

A swirl of energy stirred the air, and Shallow Sunlight abruptly popped into view. She used a four-hit skill called Dark Pursuit that could only be used when the assassin was stealthed. Naturally, it was absolutely deadly when executed correctly. It easily shredded Ye Yuse’s Magic Shield.

"Ah…"

Ye Yuse hurriedly turned around and cast her Divine General Skill, Nether Curse.

Unfortunately, Shallow Sunlight had also cast her next skill successfully. It was Shield Pierce!

72882!

Dark Pursuit had already deleted a small chunk of Ye Yuse earlier. There was zero chance she could’ve survived Shield Pierce.

There was a flash of white light, and Ye Yuse was teleported out of the arena. At the same time, Nether Curse took effect and Confused Shallow Sunlight, causing her to do all kinds of funny stuff such as swinging her dagger at the air at random, using Haste right after she had gone into stealth and more. Even her own teammates were laughing a little at her, but the important thing here was that she won.

The second round was almost a carbon copy of the first. Ye Yuse was powerful, but no power was without its weaknesses. In her case, the Assassin class was the bane of her existence. This time, after Shallow Sunlight had gone into stealth, she ran all the way to the corner of the map and stayed there. It was almost as if she knew what Ye Yuse was going to do next. When 3 minutes passed, Ye Yuse lost her patience and took a gamble, hitting half the map with Nether Curse. She missed, Shallow Sunlight went over to hit her with Dark Pursuit + Shield Pierce, and the rest was history.

The score turned 0:2. At this point, it seemed like all hope had vanished for Candle Dragon. Their next opponent was God of War himself, and his challenger was little Blue Sky Scar, a magic knight who couldn’t even beat Gui Guzi in a straight fight. How could he possibly go up against a super-tier expert like God of War?

……

Blue Sky Scar didn’t surprise anyone. There was almost nothing he could do to fend off God of War’s assault, much less retaliate. Moreover, God of War’s style was fast and aggressive. Every time he parried, a counterattack was sure to follow. Since his reaction, speed, tactics and everything else were above Blue Sky Scar’s, he managed to win both rounds in less than 30 seconds!

After that, the next couple matches were just Cyan Beast gathering points for the MVP spot. The magic archer, Yeye the Witch, tricked and defeated God’s Dance 2:0 almost effortlessly, although it was partially because the mage knew that it was already over for Candle Dragon. Even if she was in perfect condition, Yeye the Witch was such a skilled player that she couldn’t claim with certainty that she would win.

The 4:0 score on the big screen felt like a red hot slap on Candle Dragon’s face. Everyone in the team looked like the world had ended. It wasn’t Candle Dragon who was downed by this landslide defeat either. Some distance away from us, the prideful Vienna’s Sorrow was standing on his feet and glaring daggers at the screen. It was because in Cyan Beast he saw a true threat and a contender that could potentially challenge his claim to the trophy.

The fifth match was Candlelight Shadow + Ye Yuse versus God of War + Breeze and Rain, and it was again a 1:2 defeat for Candle Dragon. The only consolation here was that they managed to win one round thanks to Ye Yuse’s Nether Curse Petrifying and Confusing the enemy. As mentioned earlier, she was absolutely devastating in the right match-ups.

Still, Cyan Beast mopped the floor with Candle Dragon with a 5:0 in the end. No one expected it to turn out this bad.

……

I, He Yi, Lin Yixin, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Li Chengfeng, Warsky and Farewell Song felt deeply humiliated and angered by Cyan Beast’s victory. God of War wasn’t an arrogant man, and he did nothing to provoke our ire, but we were all annoyed with him and his guild anyway. Candle Dragon was the number one guild in China, and Cyan Beast had crushed them 5:0 like an ant. We were all representatives of China, and their shame was our shame as well.

Pa pa pa…

Candlelight Shadow and the rest of Candle Dragon returned to their seats with heavy footsteps.

In any other situation, we would be happy to pour salt on their wounds. Not this time though. We were all on the same side, and they had lost to what was possibly the strongest team in the entire bracket. It wasn’t an undeserved defeat.

The quarter-finals came to an end, and the match-ups on the screen were refreshed—

Hero Alliance VS Snowy Cathaya

Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls VS Cyan Beast

Every guild in the semi-finals was godlike, and every player among the best or literally the best player of their country. It will be a true battle of champions and a bloodbath between China, India, and America!

Warsky waved his beer can at me and said, "Good luck, Lu Chen. It’s up to you to take out Cyan Beast and take revenge for Candle Dragon now. You too, Snowy Cathaya. Take out Hero Alliance and win the highest honor of the WEL internationals for yourselves and us!"

He was correct. The highest honor of the WEL internationals naturally belonged to its champion, and it was something everyone here dreamed of obtaining. Even better, Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were only one step away from this highest honor. Once the challengers standing in our way lay dead beneath our feet, at least one of us would bring back the champion trophy and MVP award back to our country!

……

After that, the beautiful host went on stage and declared that the semi-finals would take place after lunch. We were all fine with that. In fact, we were so hungry we could eat our own gaming helmets, so the break was a godsend for everyone.

The luncheon took place at a side hall inside the stadium. Every player and team leader were seated in the same hall, although of course people of the same nationality shared tables with each other. It wasn’t a hard rule, but what was the point of eating lunch with someone you couldn’t even communicate with? Us 33 Chinese players and team leaders had 3 tables to ourselves, for example.

Soul Battle Robes were digging into their meals without a word. They might’ve been defeated by a hot contender like Hero Alliance, but they also lost right at the start of the internationals. There was just no way to dress it any different and pretend that it was a defeat they were proud of.

Warsky and Farewell Song shared Soul Battle Robes’ table. They were the ones initiating the conversation and keeping the mood lighter than it would’ve been. It certainly looked like they were having a good time.

Unfortunately for us, we were put together with Candlelight Shadow and his goons. We at least pretended to be civil, but Beiming Xue and Lian Xin openly glared at Candlelight Shadow with hostility. We also secretly agreed to avoid any dish that the guy had eaten from. Speaking of which, some countries had customs where the order of one’s dishes mattered. We didn’t practice that of course.

Candlelight Shadow didn’t look happy. He was talking to God’s Dance, but he didn’t try really hard to conceal the content. He was almost certainly doing it on purpose.

"I just received news from Pop Culture. Lone Moonshade had agreed to our conditions, but they requested that we send them the necessary assistance," God’s Dance said.

Candlelight Shadow let out a simple “oh” before asking, "What do they want us to provide?"

She replied, "If a territory were to spawn to the west of Sky City, they want us to lend them our full strength and occupy the territory for them. They want to establish a proper foothold in Sky City."

Candlelight Shadow nodded. "Sure, that’s not a problem."

God’s Dance paused and shot me a sideway glance. "He also wants us to transfer three subguilds to their command. They say that it’s the only way they can resist certain hostile forces in Sky City."

I snorted. It was to the point where I almost splashed my spoon of soup on the table.

Candlelight Shadow stared at me and questioned, "What are you laughing about, Lu Chen?"

"Three subguilds? Are you kidding me? That wouldn’t even be enough to tickle us…" I replied while trying not to laugh.

Stranger of Three Lifetimes had no such qualms. She burst out laughing.

Candlelight Shadow said angrily, "Candle Dragon is now in an alliance with Pop Culture, and we hope that you will stay out of their way even if they eventually surpass you, and vice versa. Just so you know, there’s nothing I hate more than people who bully the weak. If someone dares to lay their grubby hands on Pop Culture, Candle Dragon swears to cross Dragonbone Mountain Range and teach them a lesson!"

He Yi replied simply, "I heard from somewhere that dying in a foreign land is an honor for warriors, so feel free to commit suicide..."

"You!"

God’s Dance was so angry that her face was as white as a sheet, but we simply ignored her and continued eating our lunch unperturbed. Stranger of Three Lifetimes also stopped provoking them and focused on chewing the delicious food in her mouth.

……

We took a two-hour break in our rooms after lunch. Then, it was time for the semi-finals!