...

"Alright, should I start with the warm up first?" muttered Shin with a quiet voice while stretching his waist left and right.

Naturally, the other side saw the Shin's nonchalant attitude and other guy's leisure actions. And even if they didn't hear the discussion of these two, the guys on the opposing side got some idea on what it was based on the actions that Shin and the other guy did.

And when the TigerKin Master Berserker saw that, he couldn't help but become agitated and thought to himself. 'Are these two underestimating us? Don't tell me they are thinking of taking care of us with the two of them alone? That was hilarious!'

A moment later, Shin focused his attention on this certain berserker before saying. "Hey, I actually agree with your words earlier. These kinds of events are specially designed for players that are too strong compared to the masses."

The other players on the other side suddenly stopped on their spots and decided to watch how things would unfold. They were expert players after all, so they were quite arrogant and too confident about their strengths.

Given that, they didn't mind watching a little entertainment before going to the main event. So, they stood on the side and waited how this thing would develop.

At the same time, the TigerKin suddenly smirked the moment he heard that and started walking forward before stopping a few meters away from Shin. Then he shrugged his shoulder before opening his mouth and about to say something.

But before he could even voice out the words that he wanted to say, Shin suddenly beat him on talking. "Unfortunately-…"

Shin trailed his words for a moment making sure that the TigerKin heard his words. And when the latter heard his voice, the berserker couldn't help but swallow back his words and stared at him with cautious eyes, he felt that immense threat coming from Shin's body which forced him to take a couple of steps backwards.

Then he quickly reached out for the sword hanging on his back. But the moment he took a grip on the hilt of his sword, he saw Shin transformed into a streak of silver light and passed through his body on the very next moment.

Swoosh!

Shing!

And before he managed to do anything, the TigerKin felt that he couldn't move his body anymore. At the same time, he also saw that his world was spinning around.

Thud!

'Huh? What happened?' The TigerKin Master Berserker was too confused about what was happening; he didn't know what just took place as he felt that he fell on the ground with a dull sound. And strangely enough, what he saw after falling was his own body which was still maintaining the last posture that he had earlier.

'Huh? What am I doing there?' different questions were running inside his head the moment he saw that. Then he suddenly discovered that that body of his was missing something! His body didn't have his head, which only meant a single thing. His head was chopped off from his body.

Meanwhile, Shin already appeared behind the TigerKin with his back facing the latter. He was in the middle of sheathing his sword while also completing the words that he was saying earlier. "… -you are not one of them. You belong to the stepping stones that are meant for showcasing our talents."

The whole process only occurred in a matter of a few seconds, which made the others to completely fail at reacting in time; they weren't even done processing what just happened when Shin swept his gaze at them while adding to his words. "And it was the same for all of you."

Hearing those arrogant words from him, it was natural for the others to become enraged and agitated. Then they quickly pulled out their weapons as they planned to attack him from all sides.

There was even a guy that shouted at Shin with full of anger. "Don't get too corky, Brat! You will not be able to afford it if you underestimate us!"

"Let's take down his arrogant guys first before deciding the ones that are going to advance for the next round," someone even added.

Seeing all of these, Shin couldn't help but form a smirking smile under his mask while muttering to himself. "Such a simple bunch of guys. Looks like this is going to be much easier than what I had expected."

Whistle~♪

At the same time, the guy in full-body knight armor was currently shaking his head while saying. "Such a cool and satisfying way of introducing himself. I thought that we are the same type of people that wanted to keep a low-profile, but from the looks of it, it seems like he is just a little too lazy at dealing with the minor characters and wants to catch all of the big fishes in one go."

Then he rubbed the back of his head a little before saying in a helpless tone. "And since things are already going this way, let's just go with the flow and see it through the end."

After that, he swung his left arm powerfully to throw his round shield at the bunch of archers and musketeers in the distance, who were trying to throw some range skills at Shin.

The round shield flew like a boomerang that was traveling with a great speed and releasing some whistling sound as it traveled towards the group.

The other side was not some beginners either, so it was natural for them to notice the incoming shield. But when they saw that the round shield was flying at them with a trickly trajectory, they couldn't help but abandon the idea of activating their skills and decided to dodge to the side.

Failing to hit anyone, the shield flew back to its owner who caught it in a leisure manner. After that, he started walking towards the group and said. "Hey, hey. Looks like you guys are forgetting about me. How about you also entertain me a little."

Some of the guys on the opposing group took a good look at him and saw that he was also as bad news as Shin. And seeing that he was also planning to attack them, the group couldn't help but became even more cautious.

The hooded swordsman was already a huge problem for them given the sight that he had seen earlier. And if they added this mysterious knight in the mix, then this fight was going to be an even more troublesome matter.

Given this current problem, the players on the other side looked at each other as if they were communicating with one another. After all, they were also a bunch of expert players which was natural for them to be able to understand each other with this kind of simple gesture.

After that, they nodded with each other before deciding to divide their numbers so that he could deal with each side at the same time; nine of them separated from the group to face this knight while the remaining eight were left behind to deal with Shin.

"Heh! That is more like it," said the mysterious knight while taking his battle stance to get ready for the incoming battle.

...

In the meantime, Shin was currently sweeping his gaze at the participants while assessing their strengths.

He already saw their fighting prowess when he was watching them earlier. But just like him, these guys might also have some cards hidden under their sleeves. And the best way to deal with this kind of unexpected surprise was not giving your opponents a chance to use them.

Having all of these thoughts in mind, Shin planned to end this 'warm up' for as soon as possible so that he could have more time to exchange blows with the mysterious knight earlier, especially that he could feel that that guy was somewhat on the similar level as him.

After all, he was also thinking that that guy was a perfect person to test how much progress he made during the time that he spent inside that hellish dungeon.

With all of these, he immediately assumed his battle position and took his signature sword drawing stance. And when the guys on the opposing side saw that, they also started making preparations. They were expert players who were ahead of the average populace of the game after all, so they didn't need some instructions about what they needed to do.

After that, the melee players immediately charged at Shin planning to pin him down in place. The range and magical players, on the other hand, started getting ready for their skills and spells.

But the moment they started doing all of those, Shin was already done accumulating a large amount of Sun Powers on his sheathed sword and was about to unleash it. Then he quickly unsheathed his sword on the very next instant and swung it rightwards.

Shing!

At the same time, a sword wave with a blazing black flame was sent in all directions and created a full circle which extended up to five meters away from Shin.

'Class Fighting Style: Sunshine Cleaver'

Swoosh!

Shin executed this skill with a very fast speed, which made it hard for the majority of players to react in time. But he was currently dealing with a group of expert players at the given moment, so these guys were able to foresee that something like this might happen; especially when they saw how Shin dealt with the TigerKin Master Berserker earlier.

They already put all of their guards on high alert when they saw Shin insta-kill that guy, so they were able to immediately perceive the immense threat coming from Shin before he could even unleash the accumulated power of the Sun.

Given that, the melee players that were coming after Shin quickly activated their lifesaving skills at the same moment Shin pulled his sword out from its sheath.

Boom!

The guys with knight-related classes were able to raise their shields in time and protect themselves from the sword wave while berserkers were able to cast their immunity skills at the very same moment saving themselves from that powerful attack.

There was also a swordsman that managed to cancel his charge and swiftly retreated without further ado and saving himself in the process.

Blocking Shin's attack in time already proved that they were not your average John Doe that could be found in the streets. But completely negating the power behind that attack was a completely different matter.

So, even if they managed to block the sword wave in time, they still were unable to completely negate the force and damage behind that attack. And they were completely shocked when they were forced to slide backwards after getting hit by the blazing sword wave.

But what shocked them the most was the damage that they received despite blocking the attack in a very timely manner; their HP Bars were cut in half immediately after getting hit.

The swordsman who managed to dodge in time, could already guess what just happened when he saw their reactions. And he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat after realizing it; he could already see himself following the steps of the TigerKin Master Berserker from earlier if he didn't manage to get away in time.

Fortunately, the original goal of these guys was to pin Shin in place and buy enough time for the range and magical players to ready their skills and spells. And with that simple exchange, they were able to force Shin to stay on his spot, which was already enough for the backline players to do their jobs.

Bang! Bang!

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Magic bullets, reinforced arrows, magic spears, mutated fireballs, enhanced icicles and many more attacks flew towards Shin's directions as the Musketeer, Archer and Mage threw all of these skills and spells for as much as they could.

Seeing that his opponents survived his attacks, the grin that Shin was wearing curved even upwards as he muttered to himself. "That's right. This is going to be a little boring if all of you suddenly die just like that."

At the same time, he flipped the sheath of his sword and changed his grip on it. Then he changed its form into a longsword on the very next instant.

'Legacy Skill: Mondi's Style: Meteor Form'

After that, he quickly swung both of his swords left and right executing a high-ranking combat technique to deflect the incoming barrage of spells and range skills.

'Epic Combat Technique: Infinity Edge'

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Cling! Clang! Clang! Cling!

Compared to the spells that were sent by Regan's clone in the hellish dungeon from his recent Awakening Quest, these incoming attacks were nothing. So, deflecting all of them was such an easy feat for Shin. And just like that, Shin was able to perfectly ward off all of those attacks without getting even a sliver damage from his HP Bar.

The opposing side was rendered speechless as they were too shocked at what they had witnessed; their eyes were close to falling from their sockets while their jaws were almost reaching the ground due to the great surprise that they got.

– "Is this guy for real? Blocking all of those with ease? Is he a monster in disguise?" –

This was the thought that was running through their minds as they still refused to believe what they just saw. They even began to doubt if they were still playing the same game.

Well, they couldn't blame themselves as those skills and spells that were sent by the range and magical players were not your average attacks. Those were a barrage of attacks sent by a group of expert players that could even make some Titled Rankers to break in cold sweat. But Shin just deflected them with ease as if he was slapping some sort of house flies.

Then Shin raised his head and looked at his opponents after blocking all of those attacks, sending an intense chill that ran through the backs of guys from the opposing side. It was as if Shin was announcing to them that the hunt was on.

Feeling this immense pressure from Shin, the opposing side immediately activated their berserk skills with further ado. They completely understood that they were in great trouble if they continued hiding their real strengths. After all, there was no use for their hidden cards if they were immediately eliminated at the first stage of the tournament.

Shin couldn't help but wear his grin further upwards when he saw that his opponents decided to go all-out starting now. "Let's see how you are going to entertain me this time."

....