“Soul Battle Robes has been eliminated?”
Rose"s mouth was agape as she stared at the score. It looked like she wasn"t expecting this to happen at all. “But they"re the team that took out even Snowy Cathaya… How could they possibly lose to their opponent 1:3…?”
Warsky commented indifferently, “Hmph, it was obvious that half the battle was already lost the moment the match-ups were revealed. Song of Ice and Fire was Soul Battle Robes" point securer, but he fell for Vienna"s Sorrow and met him in a battle he had no chance of winning. Not only that, Hero Alliance has three famous Heroic Bannermen in their team, while Soul Battle Robes only has one former star, Dawning Wind Waning Moon. Everyone else was a no-name until the WEL compet.i.tion!”
However, I objected to his statement and said, “That statement"s a bit too one-sided, Warsky. Just because a player is unknown doesn"t mean they"re a weakling for sure. Ringwraith is the living example of this. He"s the only one in Soul Battle Robes who scored a point in this match, isn"t he? And even if we a.s.sumed he got lucky somehow, the fact is he"s strong enough to be a Top 5 mage in China. Given the right opportunities, even an average player can turn into a true expert.”
Warsky smiled. “I suppose that"s true. If I hadn"t undergone a hidden cla.s.s promotion and ascended to a Divine General, I would still be struggling to reach the top…”
Li Chengfeng said with a grin, “Yes, you definitely would…”
Farewell Song shot the dragon warrior a look. “Save your personal attacks, Li Chengfeng. Warsky is my guild leader, and he"s not for the likes of you to criticize!”
Li Chengfeng retorted fearlessly, “Oh? Is that a plea for education I heard? Don"t think you"re something just because you have Dark G.o.d Transformation now, boy. Another player may fear you, but I, Li Chengfeng do not! Feel free to 1v1 me anytime you wis.h.!.+”
Farewell Song snorted. “Very well, we"ll meet at the entrance of Sky City after dinner and duel for ten rounds. The loser will have to call the winner their grandpa. Do you accept?”
Li Chengfeng broke into a daring grin. “Nice. Everyone here will be a witness to this bet!”
I nodded in acknowledgment. “Sure, no problem!”
I had full confidence in Li Chengfeng"s abilities. Although Farewell Song was stronger than ever before, Li Chengfeng had Battle Soul Possession, and he had the Dragon Warrior cla.s.s. Cla.s.s-wise, he had a slight advantage over Farewell Song, and armor-wise heavy armor was far better than leather armor or cloth armor at mitigating physical damage. His chances of winning were absolutely over 50%.
Next to us, Rose rolled her eyes at our bet. “Can"t you guys show any unity at all?”
Stranger of Three Lifetimes comforted her, “They"re men. They"re warlike by nature, so just leave them to their scuffle. They"ll be friendly again once someone gets called a grandpa!”
……
Meanwhile, Soul Battle Robes had returned to us with their gaming helmets after losing the final 2v2 match. They were going to surrender the match, but Vienna"s Sorrow was gunning for the MVP t.i.tle and so insisted on fighting it out. After Song of Cloud and Water gave a short speech about their feelings on the stage, she returned to us with a clear ambience of sorrow. Hugging her gaming helmet and tearing up a little after she took a seat at the corner, she suddenly looked at me and said, “We wouldn"t have lost if Lu Chen was in our team!”
I felt a chill on my scalp and looked away immediately. Beside me, He Yi snorted with a pout. “Hmph, that foolish girl still hasn"t given up on you!”
“It"s fine, I"ll forever be yours,” I replied after taking a sip of my drink.
It wasn"t over yet though. Lin Yixin turned to glare at me next, and after some quick thinking I said, “Didn"t you hear our team manager? We need to be united right now!”
Unfortunately, my plea for reason did nothing to diminish Lin Yixin"s disdain. “Hmph hmph. You playboy!”
……
All things considered, it wasn"t exactly an upset that the grand champion of the WEL USA nationals, Hero Alliance, would defeat our runner-up. In fact, Soul Battle Robes had been a dark horse whose run was ended almost all too easily when they stumbled into us. This outcome was to be expected.
A drumbeat signaled the start of the next match, and the next three matches of Group A were played out. It didn"t take long for the scores to be displayed on the big display—
Mad Panzer (Germany) 1:4 s...o...b..rd (Russia)
Corn Taste (Italy) 2:3 Heavenly Disaster (Korea)
Vast Ocean (j.a.pan) 4:1 Mad Beast (Iran)
……
We paid little attention to Group A since the one Chinese team in that group was already eliminated. That being said, it was obvious that Hero Alliance was the strongest team of that group. Be it in terms of aura, skill, stats or tactics, Vienna"s Sorrow"s team was overwhelmingly stronger than its opponents.
Snowy Cathaya was in Group B, so we shook away our boredom once Group B"s matches began. The first match was between Olympus and Dark City, and Olympus was a guild I was well acquainted with. During the War of Dawn City, they had fought Li Chengfeng and his 10000-strong Cyan Tiger Cavalry at Breeze Canyon until mutual destruction. The guild leader of Olympus, t.i.tan G.o.d, was an incredibly powerful individual player. He was a man Lin Yixin wasn"t able to kill the first time they fought, and the dragon warrior could only defeat at the cost of his own life.
In real life, t.i.tan G.o.d was an American youngster with golden hair and a handsome smile. The mere sight of him caused countless girls to rise to their feet, scream in support of him and chant his ID, “t.i.tan G.o.d”, again and again. He was accompanied by two men and one woman, and they also drew cheers when they stepped onto the stage. The reason was very simple. All three players were Heroic Bannermen, and their IDs were—
Fairytale Killer
Cla.s.s: Hitman
Guild: Olympus
Position: Vice Leader
Grief of the Dark
Cla.s.s: Mage
Guild: Olympus
Position: Vice Leader
Wight
Cla.s.s: Magic Knight
Guild: Olympus
Position: Corps Commander
All three players were enemies we had fought back in Dawn City. Fairytale Killer was an extremely skilful a.s.sa.s.sin. Grief of the Dark had insane Magic Attack. Wight was your standard tank. These three players belonged to different guilds during the War of Dawn City, but they had been recruited into Olympus since. Clearly, t.i.tan G.o.d"s guild wasn"t going to stay static forever.
Olympus" opponent was Dark City, and while Dark City wasn"t weak, they ultimately weren"t strong enough to do the unthinkable. t.i.tan G.o.d, Grief of the Dark and Fairytale Killer all won their matches and ultimately eliminated their opponent with a 4:1 score.
……
After t.i.tan G.o.d left the stage, Lin Yixin looked at me with a nervous but excited gleam in her eyes. She asked me with a smile, “This will be the first time I compete in an international compet.i.tion. I"m so nervous! What should I do, Little Cheat?”
I answered smilingly, “It"s easy. Just pretend that you"re fighting Gui Guzi and give it your all. Surely you aren"t afraid of the Turkish team, are you?”
“That"s true. Well, here we go!”
The moment Lin Yixin grabbed her bag and rose to her feet, a thunderous applause immediately filled the stadium. Countless Chinese exchange students screamed on top of their lungs, “Fruit Knife G.o.ddess! Fruit Knife G.o.ddess! We love you, Little Knife!”
My eyes twitched incessantly at her unexpected popularity. Lin Yixin was obviously a star in China, but I wasn"t expecting her to be this popular overseas as well. Forget the Chinese, even some young American players were chanting “Fruit Knife G.o.ddess” as well. In hindsight, this was a perfectly natural occurrence. Lin Yixin was young, beautiful, and incredibly hot. Not only was her promotional poster used as the face of China Heavenblessed, she was the G.o.ddess of countless weebs in both China and America. Despite our differences, there were some things that all humans shared, and our love for gorgeous women was one of them. Not only that, Lin Yixin was both beautiful and strong, an incredibly rare combination in the world of gaming. I should"ve known that she would be popular even if I thought with my toes.
“You sure have a lot of fans, huh…” I huffed in a jealous tone.
Lin Yixin giggled. “Aiyo, are you jealous, Little Cheat?”
“...”
Beside her, Clear Perfume giggled as well. “Sigh, Lin Yixin is such a good girl. Lu Chen must have a mountain of pressure on his shoulders!”
Even Purple Marquis had joined in on the teasing. “Heh, he deserves it!”
Again, I should"ve known that our thug girl was never lacking in surprises, but I still failed to see it coming when Lin Yixin suddenly bent down and kissed me on my cheeks. “See you in a bit…”
I froze for a second, and the next I felt countless gazes drilling into my soul like lasers. Even He Yi and Murong Mingyue were staring at me with dumbfounded expressions on their faces. That one kiss had turned me into public enemy number one!
“Are you trying to kill me, Yiyi!?” I raged.
It was too late to catch her though. The girl smiled and gave me a back hand wave as she walked toward the stage. I didn"t know if she knew it, but it was this action that attracted countless fans to her including myself.
……
The line-ups appeared on the big display in no time, and Lin Yixin chose to attend the first match as I expected she would. The second match was Shadow Chanel the Dark Tongue Mage, the third match was Purple Marquis, the fourth match was Clear Perfume, and the final 2v2 match was Lin Yixin and Purple Marquis. The Wanderer + Warrior combo was kind of a jack-of-all-trades comp that worked against any cla.s.s combination—some better, some not so much—so it was a very good choice.
In terms of uniqueness though, their line-up was nothing compared to Turkey"s team. They were all seventh-promotion magic knights, and they had one, and only one, tactic: infinite Trapping Net chaining!
Against most other teams, this could be an unbeatable tactic. Against Snowy Cathaya? Well, let"s just say that they underestimated Snowy Cathaya too much.
Lin Yixin quickly appeared in the arena without her Moonchaser Tiger. However, there was a tiger-head rune floating just above her arm. She might be fighting on foot, but her stats were still boosted as if she had the Moonchaser Tiger equipped. It was the biggest reason she had been able to defeat Li Chengfeng and carry her team to the semi-finals.
On the other side of the battlefield, an enchanted Turkish magic knight almost didn"t wipe his saliva in time before it dripped onto the ground. When the countdown hit zero, he rushed Lin Yixin and shouted, “Let"s fight!”
He ran in a straight line, but turned a corner drastically when he pa.s.sed what he thought was a suitable distance. This probing attack alone marked him as a skilful player.
Chiang!
Lin Yixin swung the Seven-Star Veluriyam Sword at the magic knight"s spear. Despite fighting on foot, the magic knight was the one who was sent stumbling because her Strength was absolutely higher than his.
Thud!
The Fruit Knife G.o.ddess planted a foot on a patch of gra.s.s and dashed forward like a bolt of lightning. Moving way faster than her opponent could react, she plunged her sword into his stomach and exploded his innards with a devastating Ice Flame Slash. Not done yet, she dodged her opponent"s Barrier Break with a perfectly executed, S-shaped backward run, changed her direction, and dodged her opponent"s Trapping Net as well with a beautiful zigzag!
“Heehee!”
The Devil Bell rang crisply as her eyes turned silver, and her dagger slipped into her hand. She zoomed past her opponent one last time and annihilated his last sliver of HP with a near-perfect Extreme Break + Barrier Break!
Not only had she won her match, she even did it without losing a single drop of HP!