Chapter 582: A single strike to end all blows (2 in 1)
Translator: Radiant Translations Editor: Radiant Translations
What more, the performances Karkel had displayed in the earlier stages of the compet.i.tion were basically the nemesis of heavy soldiers! There was no use in being ferocious, and even a G.o.ddess of Oli was thrashed by him, what more Noriba, a fellow who had completely given up on defence?
Even if they wanted to choose a more stable mainstay, and that they won’t send Vladimir up, they should at the very least send Pomo up! At the very least, Pomo was more proficient than Noriba in defence, and was also more stable in his combat style.
This…what arrangement was this? What were they thinking?
Countless people started discussing aboutVasilyevich ‘s decision, though in the preparatory area below, a calm and collected expression was present on Vladimir’s face. He was not one bit shocked by Copperfield’s decision to send Karkel up. In fact, he did not seem to show even the slightest bit of worry. It seemed as though everything that happened in this match was under to total control of Vasilyevich.
While ordinary people might care about the differences between heavy soldiers and ranged soldiers, people on the level of Vladimir had already started to preemptively adapted to some of the aspect of Heroic Soul Stages. Therefore, the boundaries of occupations have already turned faint in their eyes.
Frankly speaking, both Noriba and Karkel were ultra offensive type experts. While Karkel might have some advantage due to his range superiority, he after all wasn’t a traditional long ranged shooter. The range superiority his crossbow grants him wasn’t as large as others have thought. The crucial factor that determines victory or defeat in this duel didn’t concern their occupations.
“Get ready!”
As the referee instructed for both sides to get into their starting positions, they proceeded to simultaneously walk out from their respective areas.
Karkel was dressed in combat tights, with the crossbow in his hands appeared old in age and fas.h.i.+on. Nevertheless, it was covered in a glossiness that was a result of it being frequently cared for by someone.
There seemed to not be much of any expression present on his face as he quietly walked up and stood at his place.
Comparatively, Noriba was much more eye-catching. Regardless of his charming physique or that terrifyingly gigantic Heaven’s Raising Axe, both of them caused him to overflow with dominance.
His opponent showed an air of profoundness, what more being Karkel, who possessed more than ample combat experience. At the very least, this Noriba appeared somewhat rampant. Nevertheless, not a single bit of dread was present in him.
He hated the various kinds of vulgar special abilities. As for the rest, his style was extremely ferocious, his att.i.tude was extremely ferocious. What about sharpness, or overbearingness?
“I’m called Noriba, the most ferocious king of them all!”
Bang!
The heavy Heaven’s Raising Axe smashed down onto the stage, causing a pile of rockchips and dust to fly out from the ground.
Dust clouds erupted as afterimages shot out. Clearly, this was just some meaningless venting of his strength. The rock chips sent flying by the giant axe were expertly controlled, causing them to appear just like a hail of bullets shooting right at Karkel, who stood a dozen metres away!
Ding Ding Ding Ding!
The cross bow had turned into a close quarters combat weapon, causing rock chips to fly in all directions. In the next second, a dazzling yet chilling glint had already blossomed on top of Karkel’s head!
“I’ll chop you to death!”
Noriba’s actions were so quick people weren’t able to take in all of it with their eyes. Being a fellow that was hefting around a heavy axe weighing around 2 to 300 pounds, he had managed to cross a dozen metres and launch an attack within the blink of an eye!
Whoosh…
Before he could make any reaction, the giant axe had already chopped down onto Karkel’s head, seemingly wanting the to cleave him into two!
However, before the audience could recovered from the dumbfounded state, successive crossbow botls sparking with the radiance of runes came shooting over!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoos.h.!.+
With no emotion present on his face, Karkel appeared at location approximately 10 metres behind Noriba. It was merely an afterimage of his that had gotten cleaved. Arrogance and language were meaningless within a fight, as the outcome and results were the only things that decides eveything.
Noriba raised his giant axe to block.
Ding ding ding ding ding! Click!
A series of metallic clinks rang out. The crossbow bolts shot out with incomparable accuracy. Noriba’s reactions and response was already extremely quick. Yet, he was only able to block the majority of them. A single bolt hidden within the rain of bolts pierced through his defences and smashed into his body! Even with his defensive strength, Noriba was unable to ignore this attack!
This exquisite and callous attacking style was the precisely the combat style of the a.s.sa.s.sin type ranged soldier, Karkel!
This kind of simple minded fellow that only knew how to rush was basically a feast for ranged soldiers!
However, before the audience could hiss in shock, a powerful surge of Soul Power radiance visible to the naked eye blossomed for Noriba’s body, before a smile completely absent of any dread appeared on his face as he shouted out, “This kind of attacks can only scratch my itch, brother!”
Noriba’s overbearing att.i.tude was still present as usual, while no affecting his actions in anyway. The strength he had acc.u.mulated in his body exploded forth as usual, while he barreled straight towards Karkel!
With just a single step, his ma.s.sive stride had immediately narrowed the distance between them to around 8 metres!
A sparkle of brilliance flashed across Karkel’s eyes.
There was only a single line of difference between a genius and an idiot.
Frankly speaking, a match up between an orthodox heavy soldier and a ranged soldier would generally end up in gradual advance while maintaining a stable defence. This was the textbook way of fighting, as at the very least, it would not be easy to make any mistakes. At the end, this way of fighting would boil down to the consumption of strength from both sides, with the ranged soldier normally having the advantage in this aspect.
As for those kinds who would charge brainlessly forward, their speed would definitely lose out to range soldiers on the same realm as them. It was universally recognized that heavy soldiers have the slowest speed among all of the occupations. In fact, an all out rush would definitely leave one’s weaknesses completely exposed in the face of the opposing ranged soldier. This way of fighting has a 90% chance of defeat, something everyone across the world know.
However, what if a rush was able to bring sufficient pressure to a ranged soldier?!
This was a relatively gutsy and brave way of thinking.
With a powerful suppressive level of strength and speed, one would be able to force a ranged soldier to focus more effort towards maintaining the distance. This would naturally weaken their attacks. However, Noriba was up against Karkel! He’s the ranged soldier who excelled most in the combat style of “kiting”!
Karkel rapidly retreated back, with the might of his crossbow being only a tad bit slower than before. As for Noriba, who was charging over, he already appeared to be gliding over the ground, with his Heaven’s Raising Axe raised high into the air.
Despite him not being in range for his axe to strike home, the wind pressure created by a swing from an expert like Noriba was more than sufficient to hurt people.
Who said that Noriba did not excel in defence, and would get a thras.h.i.+ng from Karkel?
A slight upwards curl appeared at the corner of Karkel’s mouth. Frankly speaking hose heav
However, this Noriba… was interesting! He had actually treated a ranged soldier as an a.s.sa.s.sin, and wanted to trade attacks for a win?
If he was up against an ordinary ranged soldier, his opponent might really lose his cool when faced with the pressure from Noriba.
However, there were really too many heavy soldiers like Noriba at the place Karkel had came from!
Let me see, exactly how hard you actually are!
The typical battle of distance started to happen, with the difference being pace. Instead of a gradual one, it was more like an a.s.sa.s.sin up against a heavy soldier!
2 figures flew rapidly across the stage, with a ma.s.sive chase and clashes going on!
Axe glows and ma.s.sive auras surged out as the entire stage was chopped up, while Noriba went on his all out rus.h.!.+
On the other side, bolts screamed out, coming together to form a hailstorm, all of them being shot out with skill and ease!
The laymen in the audience gradually caught onto the difference between the fight happening onstage and what they had a.s.sumed it to be, which was that Noriba, being the heavy soldier had taken over the role of attacker!
Gliding around the stage, using a life risking combat style. He had forced a ranged soldier to scuttle in all directions, just like what an a.s.sa.s.sin would do!
The sudden attack turned into one of distance, before being forcefully changed into one of attrition. This caused the entire audience to go high, with the atmosphere becoming exceedingly lively. Nevertheless, the partic.i.p.ants watching from the various viewing galleries were all dumbfounded. How did this big idiot manage to taken in by Grozny? He had basically not shown any tactics at all! He clearly was going to completely exhaust himself by doing so! It was clear that Karkel was the type who excels at attrition battles! So, why did Noriba had to gift wrap himself to his opponent???
The onlooker sees clear. Basically, all of them were grandmasters on theoretical debates. At this moment, the Skylink has already exploded into laughter. This Noriba’s basically a stupid idiot! Of course, he’s tough and ferocious. However, this way of combat was truly too idiotic!
The 2 on the stage moved about with considerable speed, with Noriba not showing any decline in strength. However, there was nothing else he could do, as Karkel was too nimble! This was just like using a ruler to fight, as Karkel was able to use the most comfortable distance for him to evade the incoming attacks, while having sufficient time to launch a counter attack. This combat style coupled with the ice-cold way he does it made him appear just like a machine. Furthermore, regardless of how rude Noriba was, he did not react to them in any way, continuing to move in accordance to his own judgement. It truly was unimaginable that Copperfield was able to nurture a soldier with such a style.
Laura knew that the only chance for them to obtain victory for this match rested on the shoulders of Karkel. Her grandfather had said that the Copperfield’s “Scientific educational method” was an experiment, and had extremely obvious results. Karkel’s emotionless combat techniques would truly bring despair to his opponents. This was a style that could defeat people stronger than oneself. However, she truly could do such a thing. In fact, lots of people weren’t able to accomplish such a feat, as it required near machine-like execution.
This kind of consumption was benefitial to Karkel, so he wasn’t in a rush to end this fight. He did not care about face nor dragging the time on. To him, victory was the only thing present in his mind.
Discussions started to appear within the stadium, as the battle of attrition taking place was being dissected in the eyes of experts.
“A rather imaginatively way of forcing the fight. This can also be considered a way a heavy soldier can use to deal with a ranged soldier. If Karkel is allowed to gain the initiative, Noriba would be in for a quicker death. I really don’t know how Grozny had made their choice for the vanguard fight.”
“It’s still not possible. In the end, Noriba is a heavy soldier, and is dressed in heavy armour. Furthermore, he’s hefting around a 2-300 pound giant axe. Regardless of how talented Noriba may be, or how vast his Soul Sea is, there’s a limit to his physical strength.”
“His breathing is starting to turn hurried, while his imposining not a ferocious as before. His actions aren’t as quick as in the beginning. Although he’s still keeping up the tense atmosphere, it appears to be deliberate.”
“Next up, his movements would slow down, before the rhythm of the fight would s.h.i.+ft to Karkel. Noriba need to tighten his noose around Karkel, or he will get destroyed!”
A noisy hum rang out from the stadium.
Hu!
A s.h.i.+ver shook through Noriba’s body, before his tense body turned slightly loose.
A chance!
A sparkle of brilliance flashed across Karkel’s eyes. This was what he had waited for! Victory and defeat was decided in an instant!
Whoos.h.!.+
2 rather eye catching bolts shot out from his crossbow, flying straight towards Noriba’s eyes, which immediately caught all of his attention. As this happened, Karkel immediately disappeared from where he stood.
Dimensional advance!
A series of ripples surfaced in the surrounding s.p.a.ce.
Karkel’s nickname of the strongest close quarters ranged soldier wasn’t baseless, as through the use of the dimensional s.p.a.ce, he had allowed his bolts to shoot towards any place he wanted them to shoot at!
Was there anything more dangerous that a pair of bolts shooting right at one’s eyes?
All of the Soul Power Karkel had acc.u.mulated throughout this fight was channelled into his crossbow, causing the ancient crossbow to glow with eye-brilliance within the dimensional s.p.a.ce!
Dimensional combat technique–Life Reaping Crossbow Explosive Shot!
That’s definitely a fatal strike if it lands! Although its effect might be weaker against a defensive type heavy soldier like Oli, those bolts would definitely reap the life of an offensive type heavy soldier like Noriba!
However, before they could leave the dimensional s.p.a.ce, a tyrannical special ability had already penetrated through, before binding around Karkel’s body!
A ma.s.sive pulling force formed around that invisible bindings, appearing just as though a ma.s.sive invisible hand had grabbed onto Karkel!
“Come out!”
Noriba’s ferocious roar rang out beside Karkel’s ears.
A method similar to what w.a.n.g Zhong had done against Bobo when he had used his Dimensional combat technique? No! That’s not right! This pulling force was purer, more substantial, and appeared to be formed via some special ability!
Karkel’s body was pulled by into the air, before being dragged into the dimensional crack he had opened!
In the real world, before Karkel was hauled out, Noriba’s Heaven’s Raising Axe was already raised high into the air!
Countless energies, coming from Noriba’s special ability, Soul Power and aura condensed furiously together. In the blink of an eye, the Heaven’s Raising Axe towering high in the air blossomed with radiance akin to that of a miniature sun!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh…
However, Karkel, who was yanked out of the dimensional s.p.a.ce, had unexpectedly not displayed any fl.u.s.ter or panic. Instead, successive bangs rang out from his Soul Power charged crossbow, as bolts rumbled towards Noriba’s head, forcing him to tilt in response. In that instant, the tugging force weakened slightly! Without daring to stay planted, Karkel instantly disappeared into the dimensional crack in a flas.h.!.+
“A heavy soldier’s actually able to judge the coordinates of his opponent through dimensional s.p.a.ce, as well as being able to pull him out via his Gravity attribute special ability! This Noriba really knows how to act!” Bobo Torres couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration. Truthfully speaking, he was still extremely unresigned upon his loss in this CHF, with him feeling that it was due to luck that had resulted in it. After w.a.n.g Zhong’s eruption, he felt that it was his luck of b.u.mping into the wrong opponents. However, now, it had become a problem with his strength. The people left standing in the CHF were truly too frightening!
The other members of the Torres squadron nodded their heads quietly in agreement. At this moment, they had completely calmed down from their loss. “This Karkel’s also formidable. He did not show a single bit of panic. Furthermore, he isn’t greedy with his attacks, as he did not overstay his welcome at all. In that instant, he had changed his dimensional coordinates! That’s utter…”
Alasi too sighed in admiration. Only a handful of people possessed such breadth of mind as Karkel. Even after his trump card was seen through, he had made the most correct of decisions, with both parties on stage displayed moves of the highest calibre to deal with each other.
Noriba appeared to have completely not seed where Karkel had gone to, though his Heaven’s Raising Axe appeared to want to forcefully unleash an attack!
This…is he planning on making the same mistake again?
With his all-out attack about to strike air, and Karkel absolutely about to teach him how to be a human in a next second, he has to forcefully retract his move, no matter how much anger he has in his heart!
The members of the Grozny squadron were the other people that show no change in expression from the start of the fight. Although Pomo would often reprimand Noriba on a daily basis, that was only towards the latter’s EQ. Every single Grozny squadron member had their own style of combat, with there being no need for others to comment of critique about.
A confident smile continued to hang at the corner of Noriba’s mouth. You all… have never understood what real power was like!
In the next instant, a terrifying aura exploded out from his Heaven’s Raising Axe, one that was filled to the brim with overbearing destruction and annihilation!
DIE~~~
BOOM…
Carrying forth the energy of nature and the will of the world, the enitre stage and its surroundings turned pale in the face of this cleave!
The entire world appeared to turn gray, with the axe turning into the most dazzling thing present within here!
Sky splitting Earth severing Heaven’s Raising Cleave!
HUMM…a shockwave rumbled out, while a ma.s.sive pit instantly appeared on the ground.
The surrounding s.p.a.ce shook, before a pale figure was shaken out from the dimensional s.p.a.ce. There was basically no need for Noriba to judge where Karkel’s coordinates were. When one’s strength reachs a certain level, Dimensional combat techniques would become fanciful and impractical in one’s eyes!
A single strike to fell all strikes!
In the next second, the scened had already stablized.
The giant axe rested no more than half an inch from the top of Karkel’s head, while all of its strength and all of the acc.u.mulated pressure from the entire world had instantly disappeared, completely vanis.h.i.+ng from the face of the Earth.
Noriba’s held his Heaven’s Raising Axe with one hand, while Karkel half-knelt on the ground.
The entire stadium had turned silent, with all of them not knowing exactly who had gotten the upper hand in the earlier instant.
A big drop of sweat dripped down Karkel’s forehead.
Clang…
A half of the crossbow dropped onto the ground, the sliced region appearing smooth and s.h.i.+ny, just it though it had been severed with a laser!
At this moment, a sliver of blood had already mixed into the drop of sweat that was rolling down his face!
Despite his opponent having held his hand, the winds generated by his axe had split Karkel’s skin.
Karkel’s entire back was now thoroughly drenched. There have never been any moment that had brought him this close to death!
The terrifying, heaven-severing axe wasn’t the thing that shook Karkel’s heart the most. Instead, it was that Noriba was still able to hold his hand in time. He was able to have control such a terrifying move with such ease! This Noriba…seems like everyone had underestimated this silly and amusing fellow!
Karkel proceeded to surrender.
“Formidable my f.u.c.king a.s.s!”
“A tyrannical explosion from a real man from the northern regions! A heavy soldier trading blows with a ranged soldier! Do you dare believe it?!”
“What a f.u.c.king a axe cleave! Oh my G.o.d! I feel that my entire mind was cleaved into 2 by that axe! And it is for that far! What kind of move is that?”
The silent stadium exploded into rumbling cheers and applause. Ignoring the ball queen fans, Grozny indeed had the absolute superiority in the number of fans present in the stadium.