"Who do we kill first?"
Beiming Xue asked me after we appeared in Creek Valley.
I thought for a moment before replying inside the party channel, "Tear Stain has great control and great parry skills. If we target her first, there"s a high chance we"ll be the ones who suffer the consequences. On the other hand, Enlightened Heart is weaker than Tear Stain, but his offensive skills are a critical component in their DPS, so let"s kill him first. I"ll hold Tear Stain back while you go to town with him!"
Beiming Xue nodded with a smile. "Okay. Whatever you say, big bro!"
"Also…"
"Yes?"
"I bet their tactic is similar, if not identical to ours, so you must protect yourself at all costs. Tear Stain will be gunning for you right from the get-go, and if you die, the round may as well be lost. We can"t afford to lose this and be eliminated, can we?"
"Got it, big bro. I"ll be careful."
"Mn. Now get ready. Let"s activate Great Earth Transformation and go all out from the beginning!"
"Okay!"
……
Energy swirled around us as we activated Great Earth Transformation. Tear Stain did the same thing. If there was one disadvantage Throne of the Wild held, it would be that Enlightened Heart wasn"t a Divine General. That being said, his equipment and character skills were first-cla.s.s, and his ability to take a beating was pretty good as well. That was one thing that could lead Throne of the Wild to victory.
Beiming Xue summoned the Dragonlight Horse and rode it to the edge of the map, ready to kite the enemy to h.e.l.l and back the moment the battle began. Our tactic was as clear as day, although I supposed that Tear Stain didn"t know who we would prioritize killing first. It shouldn"t be hard to guess though. She wouldn"t have become the legend of Korea if she couldn"t figure out something this simple.
The countdown began. Almost everyone was holding their breaths—
3!
2!
1!
Fight!
A crack appeared beneath everyone"s feet. Enlightened Heart rushed toward Beiming Xue from the left, and Tear Stain from the right. As expected, they planned to kill Beiming Xue first and me afterward.
The Purple Ying Sword burst with light as I attacked. I s.h.i.+fted a couple of steps to the right and fired Thousand Ice Slash straight toward the s.p.a.ce she was about to enter, forcing her to stop in her tracks. She had no choice unless she wanted to be frozen and give me a couple of free seconds to go to town with her.
After I put a temporary stop to Tear Stain"s advance, I immediately Charged to the left and arrived in front of Enlightened Heart exactly as predicted. I lowered my waist and swung my sword horizontally in front of me. The plan was to dismount him because there was no way I could catch up to him on foot if I didn"t do so now.
"Heh!"
Enlightened Heart decided to repay steel with steel and attacked me instead of defending himself. I took a slash to the shoulder, but managed to delete half his mount tenacity in an instant.
Chiang!
79298!
Even with my tankiness, that was almost 80k damage from a basic attack. This guy had some serious attack power!
While his horse was reeling in pain, I rose back to my feet and pressed a palm to the mount"s b.u.t.t. Enlightened Heart felt a chill when he realized what I was planning. "Oh no!"
Thud thud thud...
Four divine arms descended from the heavens and pierced the ground next to Enlightened Heart. Then, they immobilized him with their divine power!
"Beiming!" I shouted.
The mounted archer giggled as she rode over. "Here I come!"
She fired a twelve-arrow Evil Spirit Volley at Enlightened Heart. The skill supposedly had a poor hit rate, but thanks to her amazing bow-flicking technique they all landed and deleted 240k+ HP from the magic knight"s health pool in an instant. One extra Universe Break later, Enlightened Heart let out a death groan and teleported out of the arena as a ray of white light.
On the other side, Tear Stain finally caught up to Beiming Xue and swung her sword at her.
Beiming Xue raised her bow to defend herself, but it was a feint. A devious smile crossed her lips as she zigzagged around the mounted archer and slashed toward her right ribs!
"Ugh…"
At the last moment, Beiming Xue raised her dagger and parried the attack. However, it was an incomplete parry because Tear Stain"s attack was too strong—
49298!
Beiming Xue fell off her horse and rolled unceremoniously across the creek, but there was no denying the fact that she had survived the attack, if only for a moment. Beiming Xue was probably the only archer in the world who could survive a close call with an expert like Tear Stain.
Tear Stain gritted her teeth and entered the creek, her blade glowing with the light of Ice Flame Slash. Beiming Xue had to die if she wanted a chance of winning this round, and she would if the skill landed.
However, I arrived right before Tear Stain"s weapon could make contact with Beiming Xue and knocked her sword away from bottom to top. It was so close that Tear Stain nearly ran into me, not that either of us would be worse for wear if it happened.
I threw a punch toward Tear Stain with my right fist. As it turned out, the woman had the exact same idea!
Bang!
I lost 20k+ HP, but Tear Stain took no damage. It was because her Void Barrier had caused my attack to miss.
Still, the little interruption barely slowed my movement. I moved to the back and fired three Ancient Seals, intending to catch Tear Stain no matter where she dodged to.
However, Tear Stain surprised me by Charging out of range of my Ancient Seals and right past me. When I turned around, I saw Beiming Xue swinging her dagger in desperation and parrying yet another death blow. Tear Stain"s follow-up attack still killed her, but not before she tossed out Well of the Abyss!
"Ah…"
Tear Stain let out a cry of surprise as Well of the Abyss dragged her to the center. At this point, Beiming Xue had scattered into white particles and teleported away from the arena already.
I raised my sword and waited for the right timing. Right before Well of the Abyss ended, I tossed the Purple Ying Sword and pierced her in the chest. She glared at me, but couldn"t resist death and teleported away as well.
The score turned 1:0. The first round was ours!
I chose to teleport out of the arena and take a small break. Lian Xin commented with a pout, "That dang woman is so strong. I can"t believe she managed to kill Beiming even though Lu Chen was pinning her down…"
Beiming Xue replied, "Yeah. Thankfully, I managed to use my Well of the Abyss in time and make her pay the price."
I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that was really well done. It would"ve taken me considerable effort to kill Tear Stain otherwise!"
"What do we do in the next round?" Beiming Xue asked, "Should we change our tactics and catch them by surprise?"
I thought for a moment before replying, "Yeah. Let"s kill Tear Stain first this time!"
He Yi supported the plan. "I have a feeling they"ll change their tactics and try to kill Lu Chen first as well. Theoretically speaking, it"s much easier to kill Beiming after Lu Chen is dead!"
I smiled. "Oh, that would be very welcomed. I"ll make sure they lose a limb or two at least before they kill me!"
Lian Xin chuckled. "Do your best, Beiming, Lu Chen!"
……
Swhoosh swhoos.h.!.+
We returned to the arena. It was match point, meaning that we would be eliminating the number one guild in Korea and advancing to the semi-finals if we took this round!
"What should I do if they focus you, big bro?" Beiming Xue asked with a blink.
I laughed. "Why are you asking when you already know the answer?"
Beiming Xue giggled in response to that.
I don"t think I could ever get used to the countdown. The others looked the same as well. Both sides were nervous because this was the clash to determine who would enter the semi-finals and potentially bring the trophy of the WEL internationals back to their country. Eternal Moon Corporation had 9 years of history at this point, and they had proven again and again that the champion of a top-tier compet.i.tion was sure to leave a lasting legend in their wake. This alone was enough to motivate every compet.i.tor to reach for the top!
The countdown hit zero. Here they come!
Enlightened Heart Charged long before he came close to me. In response, I took two steps backward and let him skewer himself on my Universe Break!
129398!
The magic knight screamed in pain, but he didn"t forget his responsibility and threw Trapping Net at me!
I can"t let that hit me!
I hastily dodged to the right, but Tear Stain showed at the perfect time and fired devastating Ice Flame Slash at my direction. I can"t let that hit me either!
I successfully zigged out of harm"s way and won an applause from the crowd, but Tear Stain also lived up to her reputation and Charged me right as I hit my limits. She was too close and too fast. There was no dodging this one!
It was a stun. For 1.5 seconds, I wouldn"t be able to do anything!
Tear Stain"s eyes glowed with excitement. Enlightened Heart rushed over to finish the job as well. Unfortunately for them, they forgot that I wasn"t alone.
Whoos.h.!.+
A blood-red vortex appeared beneath Tear Stain and Enlightened Heart"s feet, immobilizing them and halving their HP at the same time. It was so well executed that I couldn"t help but praise her in my head. She had used me as the bait and successfully trapped both Enlightened Heart and Tear Stain with her Divine General Skill as a result. There was no way they could come back from this!
I moved to the back and channeled Coiling Dragon Revolution in one hand and Ancient Seal in the other. Beiming Xue also moved to the back and firedSkypiercer and Spiraling Arrow Blade into the sky. The moment Well of the Abyss disappeared, Tear Stain and Enlightened Heart were immediately greeted by four AoE skills at the same time!
No matter how skilled, strong and fast Tear Stain was, there was nothing she could do in this situation. Her eyes brimmed with helplessness and reluctance, but the skills annihilated her and sent both her and her general out of the arena. She probably didn"t think that the second round would end like this; that it would be a battle of intelligence rather than the fire and brimstone she expected!
It was a grueling battle, but in the end we were able to take out Throne of the Wild with a 3:2 score!
The crowd gave us a thunderous applause when we walked out of the battle room. Countless Chinese exchange students shouted our guild"s name with pa.s.sion and excitement as well. One of the unique charms of compet.i.tive sports was its ability to share the joy of winning to everyone.
……
The American host asked me in fluent Chinese, "You scored a valuable win despite facing a formidable opponent. Is there anything you would like to say?"
I thought for a moment before holding up a fist. "Luck may be a factor in every aspect in life, but it wasn"t one that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls counted on when we faced Throne of the Wild. The reason we ultimately defeated them was because we were stronger than they were, plain and simple!"
The host nodded with a smile as another chorus of applause filled the stadium.
……
After we returned to our seats, we rested while the next and final match of the quarter-finals took place. It was Candle Dragon versus Cyan Beast; the number one guild of China versus the number one guild of India! I fully expected this to be as interesting as our match!