The fourth match was He Yi versus Shallow Sunlight. Shallow Sunlight was the number one assassin of Cyan Earth City, so both her skills and her equipment were top-tier. Her main dagger looked like an Immortal-grade weapon at the very least. The world wouldn’t stop just because we were grinding bosses and quests, so other pinnacle-level players were doing the same thing as well. We all had our own path of hardship, it just didn’t intersect most of the time.

Swhoosh swhoosh!

Two beauties entered the arena at the same time. He Yi wore a white cloak that flowed down her back, wielded the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear, and rode the handsome Dragonscale Beast. It was the standard outfit of a gorgeous knightress. The glowing shield rune on her arm was a clear sign for all to see that her Defense wasn’t to be underestimated.

He Yi was as beautiful as Lin Yixin, and in the game she looked valiant as well. Countless people had to swallow their saliva or risk it leaking out of their mouths. Her opponent, Shallow Sunlight, was a standard Indian beauty as well. She had an hourglass body that was further accentuated by her leather armor, and she had a pair of navy blue eyes. Shallow Sunlight smiled as she played with her offhand dagger and activated Great Earth Transformation. Her biggest advantage over He Yi was that she was a Divine General.

Rustle rustle rustle...

Despite the danger, He Yi chose to step forward instead of retreat. She was a magic knight with high Defense and high HP, so she wasn’t going to be one-shot even if Shallow Sunlight was a Divine General. On the other hand, Shallow Sunlight most certainly couldn’t survive a full Purgatory of Ice and Magma!

The countdown began—

3!

2!

1!

The moment the battle began, Shallow Sunlight activated Haste and melted into thin air. She was clearly going for a quick win!

He Yi wisely retreated and activated her mount’s skill, Dragon Soul Protection. It boosted her Attack and Defense by 50%, ensuring that the assassin would have an even harder time to kill her. Moreover, He Yi’s Famous General Skill was Royal Road, while Shallow Sunlight’s was Encourage VII, which at best boosted her Attack by only 120%.

He Yi paid close attention to her surroundings, trying to catch any glimpses of unnatural activity. A moment later, she rushed forward and swung her spear in full confidence and struck something. Chiang! Sparks flew everywhere, and Shallow Sunlight reappeared. As expected, our beautiful guild leader was becoming steadily better at catching invisible enemies. She actually discovered Shallow Sunlight’s location and caught her out.

Pa pa pa...

Shallow Sunlight had to move a few steps backward because He Yi’s Strength was too strong. Three steps later, while Haste was still active, she activated Dance of Death and moved even faster than before. Like a phantom, she slipped around He Yi’s spear like a lightning bolt before grabbing it by the pole. "I got you" smile flashed across her visage as she activated her Divine General Skill, Disarm! For 15 seconds, her target would be without a weapon!

He Yi’s spear vanished from her hands at the same time Shallow Sunlight struck her with Blade Vortex, leaving bloody streaks across her chest and dealing a sizable amount of damage—

48291!

52828!

49283!

As expected, an assassin at Shallow Sunlight’s level would have stacked armor penetration to ungodly levels.

He Yi didn’t panic too much despite having lost her weapon. She punched Shallow Sunlight in the shoulder and dealt 19109 damage, but Shallow Sunlight was too skilled to let it go unanswered. She grabbed He Yi’s arm, jumped over to her back, and attempted to hit her with Gouge.

He Yi gritted her teeth and made a snap decision. There was no time to look behind herself, so she threw an elbow and successfully knocked Shallow Sunlight off her horse. Then, she dismounted—it would’ve taken too long to turn around otherwise—ran up to the assassin and slapped her with a five-hit Purgatory of Ice and Magma.

Bang bang bang bang...

The skill was deadly even without a main weapon, and it deleted almost 100k HP from Shallow Sunlight’s health pool. The assassin’s eyes widened in astonishment. She didn’t expect her opponent to be this strong even after she had been disarmed.

Shallow Sunlight drank a potion and rushed forward, wanting to end this as soon as possible. He Yi retaliated by clumping her fingers together and thrusting them toward the assassin like a blade, unleashing Barrier Break. The spectators cheered when they saw this. In a sense, the act of using Barrier Break with her bare hands was a testament to her courage.

Unfortunately, she was ultimately without a weapon. Shallow Sunlight easily parried the skill before slipping into stealth. Then, she executed the four-hit Dark Pursuit and killed her where she stood. In the end, He Yi wasn’t able to beat the number one assassin of Cyan Earth City.

……

The second round began quickly, and this time He Yi was wiser. Now that she knew how Shallow Sunlight’s Divine General Skill worked—that it could only be activated at close range—she waited until her opponent was about to use Disarm before thrusting her spear right through Shallow Sunlight’s chest. The Barrier Break and one more basic attack later, Shallow Sunlight hit the ground with a groan and lost a point to He Yi.

The rhythm of the third round fell back into Shallow Sunlight’s hands, unfortunately. Instead of trying to Disarm from the get-go, she repeatedly parried He Yi’s attacks to disrupt her flow before slipping into stealth. This time He Yi wasn’t able to stop Disarm from happening, but she still managed to punch and kick her opponent to 7% HP before she died. As a result, Shallow Sunlight looked pale as a sheet even though she won the match. She had been 7% away from causing Cyan Beast to lose the semi-finals after all.

The overall score turned 2:2, an outcome that I had kinda expected to happen. Despite He Yi’s best efforts, her opponent was the number one assassin in India. Her tactics and skills were an entire tier higher than He Yi’s, so it made sense that she would lose the match. If anything, she wowed all of us by putting up an excellent fight.

……

Chiang!

I pulled out the Purple Ying Sword and looked behind me. "Alright, it’s our turn again, Beiming! Let’s see how strong God of War and Breeze and Rain really are, shall we?"

"Mn!" Beiming Xue nodded back with a smile.

Lian Xin cocked her head and asked Beiming, "Aren’t you worried that you might lose, Beiming? It is God of War and Breeze and Rain."

Beiming Xue blinked once before answering with determination, "I fear nothing as long as big bro is with me! No matter how strong they are, I’m sure big bro and I will beat them!"

Lian Xin palmed her forehead and sighed. "Ah, there’s no hope for this lass anymore…"

Me: "..."

……

Four rays of light entered the arena. God of War, Breeze and Rain, Beiming Xue and I were soon facing one another.

I shot Beiming a sideways glance and reassured her. "Stay cool, Beiming. This may be the hardest fight the both of us will ever face in our WEL journey, but if we win, there’s little chance Hero Alliance will be able to field a stronger pair."

Beiming Xue clenched her small fists and replied with a smile, "I’m not nervous, big bro. It’s just that, if we beat God of War and Breeze and Rain, does that mean we’ll be the champion of the WEL, no matter the actual result?"

I smiled. "I would prefer if we actually won the trophy, but yeah, of course. You aren’t the only one who thinks that way, you know. During the nationals, we climbed to the top but didn’t really encounter any powerful team beside Candle Dragon. As a result, there were a lot of people who said that we weren’t worthy of our title. Now though, we’ve eliminated countless super teams including Red Maple’s God’s Domain, and Tear Stain’s Throne of the Wild. If everything goes well, we’ll be wiping the floor with Cyan Beast and Hero Alliance as well! No one can say that we don’t deserve the champion trophy if we destroy everyone, can they?"

Beiming Xue giggled. "Got it, big bro. Let’s do our best!"

"Anyway, back to the match. The things to watch out for are God of War’s Inferno Sixtuple Slash, and Breeze and Rain’s Soul Refining Cage and Soul Capture because they’re more or less one-shot kills if you’re hit. And you, Beiming, must die after me no matter what. Understand?"

"I know, I’ll do my best!"

"Your role in this match will be suppressive fire, and you’ll take out Breeze and Rain first. The guy dumps all his points into Agility, which means that he’ll be lacking in Defense and HP. I’ll try to drive him into Thousand Ice Slash with Ancient Seal, and if he gets frozen, I trust you to kill him! Also, use your Well of the Abyss carefully!"

"Okay!"

……

All four of us activated Great Earth Transformations at almost the same time. Of all the fights that had taken place in the WEL so far, none was more fitting to be called a true battle of the greatest than this one! God of War and Breeze and Rain were famous pinnacle experts for a long time. I myself had made quite a name back in Spirit of Grief and now Heavenblessed. Ironically, the China-famous Beiming Xue the Dark Archer, was actually the weakest of all of us. This also meant that I must carry the majority of the burden if we were to have a shot at beating the Indian duo.

The countdown began, and all our hearts trembled with every beat—

3!

2!

1!

Pa! God of War and Breeze and Rain charged at the same time straight toward the dark archer behind me. I knew they would try to kill Beiming Xue first!

Heart sinking, I immediately pointed my palm at the spot in front of God of War and used God Binding Art. The blazing berserker skidded to a halt and tried to circle around the blades, but I immediately threw my sword at him and used Coiling Dragon Revolution!

Once my sword had left my palm, I raised my arm and used Ancient Seal!

I had cut off all of God of War’s avenues of retreat, and the blazing berserker was fully aware of that. Eyes turning steely, he raised his sword and brought it right down on my spinning blade. The motherfucker’s trying to parry the skill! Is he crazy?!

Chiang!

However, the man defied my expectations and sent the Purple Ying Sword flying back toward me. Against all odds, the guy actually managed to parry the attack! That being said, there was no avoiding the Ancient Seal, and it hit him for 89929 damage!

Pa! I caught my returning sword and withdrew to the back immediately. I bolted straight toward Breeze and Rain after God of War’s advance was temporarily halted.

……

Breeze and Rain wasn’t facing toward me, but the moment I got close he stopped in his tracks and turned around. It was almost as if he had eyes behind his back. Eyes burning with fighting spirit, he swung his sword at me and shouted, "Take this!"

The Agility Warrior’s attack was too fast to dodge. I had no choice but to parry it.

However, a gleam twinkled in Breeze and Rain’s eyes as he altered his trajectory to hit the spot about ten centimeters away from my wrist. It also happened to be the weakest spot of my parry. Bastard! Has he picked up the new Strength-based style I created already?