Chapter 649: Cheng Ming Against Smith
Xiao Lin measured that tall and burly, yet polite and well-mannered leader of the American Judge Academy. It was the first time he met the man, and his only knowledge of Raymond was limited to the information that Yu Mei had given them. However, Xiao Lin had a deep impression of the man because Raymond alone had taken up more than half of that information.
“You need to pay more attention to this person, as he’s very strong. His power is different from Lilith’s strength, because Raymond has a very ordinary talent. It’s not even S-rank, but he’s extremely hardworking, and can even suppress S-rank talent holders to become the first-year year leader of Judge Academy. He’s not a simple person,” Yu Mei said to him at the time.
“I’m Xiao Lin from Dawn Academy. Your academy is quite nice. I’ll definitely tour the place after the tournament ends,” Xiao Lin politely replied.
“You’ll get the chance to.” Raymond smiled kindly.
There were no ceremonies; the colonist academies did not care about putting up appearances. After the tournament committee member made sure that there were no problems or changes in the partic.i.p.ants, the tournament formally began.
The first to start were the two individual fights. The first fight featured Smith from Judge Academy against Dawn Academy’s Cheng Ming. Smith was a bald man who was over thirty years old. According to the tournament rules, both sides were only allowed to wear gear that was specially prepared for the tournament. They had the choice between leather or plate armor, and there was a wide selection of weapons. However, the weapons were all very ordinary. Other than being slightly more durable, they did not carry any special effects.
What surprised everyone was that Smith did not choose any equipment, including any weapons. He merely wore a short T-shirt as he entered the arena. The simulated battlefield was over a hundred meters in diameter, and it was an empty stage. Based on the rules, the individual tournaments were all single-elimination, and the arena was not to be very large.
Cheng Ming furrowed his eyebrows when he saw Smith walking empty-handed, and used his broken English to ask, “Are you underestimating me?” Even those who specialized in using the fist usually wore gloves of some form, which would at least be better than blocking his sword with his bare hands. No matter how ordinary the equipment used in the tournament was, it was still a sharp blade!
Since no one else could enter the arena, the other partic.i.p.ants looked on from outside. Those from Dawn Academy had a sour look on their faces as they looked at Smith enter the arena, but a calm voice could suddenly be heard next to Xiao Lin, that said, “Smith isn’t underestimating you. If he was, he would have picked a weapon. Not bringing a weapon in means that he’s taking Dawn Academy very seriously.”
Xiao Lin suddenly turned around and realized that it was Raymond. He was very surprised. Even if he had his full attention on the tournament and did not have Miracle or Ruin on to enhance his perception, the fact that Raymond could come so close while avoiding all detection meant that his abilities were very shocking.
Raymond was not surprised at Xiao Lin’s lack of a response. Possibly thinking that his Mandarin was not good enough, he continued, “You’ll understand later. Smith’s strength does not require any weapons.”
The match started, and Cheng Ming chose to attack head on with his sword. Many people knew of his talent, which was Swordheart. It allowed him to increase any swordsmanship techniques he had by a whole rank. To be more precise, it was a talent that enhanced swordsmanship.
“It’s Phantom Slash!” Chen Dao’s eyes brightened.
“Cheng Ming never disappoints!” The others could not help but praise him.
It was a Silver-ranked sword skill, and it had very high requirements toward speed and agility. With Cheng Ming’s Agility attribute, it probably took him an immense amount of focus and hard work to learn it, but the moment he did, the skill was even more powerful in Cheng Ming’s hands.
In the match, Cheng Ming used his sword aura right away, filling the arena with images of swords. Those images might be illusory, but each illusion still contained Cheng Ming’s sword aura. Thanks to his naturally high Strength, the power was impressive.
The usual choice when facing Phantom Slash was to pull away a great distance, but the restrictions of the arena ensured that Smith could not do so, nor did it seem like he had any intentions of it. Facing the intense sword aura, he suddenly roared at the sky and the thin shirt on his body was ripped apart as his muscles rapidly expanded several times. Countless black and coa.r.s.e hairs rapidly grew on his body.
“Lycanthropy!” Xiao Lin immediately knew the name of the talent. He had read up on a lot of talents before since his opponents would have various talents.
“That’s right, but Smith’s werewolf form isn’t a regular one.” Raymond had actually remained with Dawn Academy to explain, and looked to be very close to all of them despite the fact that no one knew him.
Cheng Ming was surprised, but his sword aura did not stop at all as he did not hesitate to slash at Smith’s body. Blood and countless wounds appeared on the body of Smith who had no armor on, and the powerful sword aura sent Smith flying and crashing down on the floor.
“That should be the end!” Chen Dao muttered.
“No, it’s just starting.” Raymond still had a smile on his face.
Smith stood up again. Even though he seemed to be littered with injuries, he did not seem like he was affected at all. His eyes slowly started to turn red, and after a howl, his strengthened feet slammed on the ground as he shot forward like a cannonball.
The sword in Cheng Ming’s hand glowed again as he used Total Annihilation. It filled the area around him with a dense sword aura. It was a good choice both to attack and to defend.
“Too slow!” Raymond shook his head.
After a second, the others understood who Raymond said was being too slow. Before Total Annihilation could even be used, Cheng Ming was slammed into by Smith. Even if he was barehanded, the claws in his wolf form were incredibly strong, and the armor on Cheng Ming’s body crumbled like paper as it pierced into his flesh beneath, leaving two ma.s.sive wounds that were spurting out blood.
“It’s not your garden variety Lycanthropy; it’s King Lycanthropy!” Xiao Lin’s expression immediately turned heavier.
“That’s right. Smith’s talent is King Lycanthropy.” Raymond confirmed calmly. Even though talents were usually kept a secret, Smith’s werewolf form was too special, and anyone who was not blind would be able to guess it.
Lycanthropy and King Lycanthropy… Even though both of them were talents that transformed the body, just one word of difference brought on a vastly different effect.