“I am supreme in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!”

Spring Mud waved his sword and shouted arrogantly, “Feel free to challenge me if you think otherwise! The Ego workshop will show you exactly how we’re going to carry Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to the top!”

Moon Shadow wore an equally arrogant smile on his face, and Night Sorrow glared at the audience like they were a stain on his shoe.

Hot Sun clenched his fists and glared at the trio with anger.

Some distance away, Murong Mingyue met my eyes a bit helplessly and embarrassedly. But I could also see hope in her eyes, the hope that I might be able to change things one day.

I sucked in a deep breath. A person could be prideful on the inside, but not on the outside. Clearly, the Ego workshop was way too arrogant for their own good. At this rate, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were probably going to be eliminated in the next round. It was because their next opponent was the Gods of Destruction team led by none other than Dominating Heaven Blade himself. That man and his team wasn’t to be underestimated under any circumstances!

Behind me, Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue watched the trio quietly and disdainfully. Frankly, I understood their sentiment completely. Ego workshop’s behavior was contemptible to say the least. In my memory, only hedonistic brats like Roaming Dragon and Li Le would act like this over every little achievement.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls wasn’t going to claim the first place with the likes of Spring Mud, Moon Shadow and Night Sorrow. Even if they somehow defeated Gods of Destruction, they weren’t going to survive Bloody Mercenaries. There was no way Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue were going to go easy on them just because they belonged to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!

…...

“I guess Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls isn’t all bark and no bite…”

Lin Yixin muttered to herself as she stared at the stage with a complicated expression. However, her grip on the Snow Shadow Sword only increased further.

Not far away, the leader of Soul Battle Robes, Song of Cloud and Water raised her blade and said, “Everyone, it’s time to deliver Gods of Destruction their wake-up call. Do you still remember our catchphrase?”

The four participating players immediately pulled out their weapons and chanted, “We will fight a hundred battles in every corner of the world! Our warrior soul will not rest until it returns to the robe!”

Song of Cloud and Water nodded with a smile. “Very good! Now let’s head to the battlefield!”

…...

Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh…

Multiple players were teleported onto the stage in beams of light. The match was Soul Battle Robes VS Gods of Destruction. It was going to be another clash of the strong!

Gui Guzi asked solemnly, “Boss, do you think Soul Battle Robes can defeat Gods of Destruction?”

I shook my head. “That’s highly unlikely. A gap of 4 levels across all players isn’t bridged that easily. Moreover, it looks like players of Soul Battle Robes are a bit too excited right now. Just look at how calm and confident Dominating Heaven Blade is acting. This is how a victor looks like!”

Gui Guzi nodded. “You’re right. Their chances of winning are just too slim!”

The battle had already begun while we were talking to each other. Dominating Heaven Blade attacked first and stunned the enemy magic knight for 1 second using Assault. Then, he slashed the enemy across the head with Blaze!

1284!

It was a ridiculous number. The magic knight was dead before the priest even had a chance to heal him. Dominating Heaven Blade’s attack power was just too high!

Dominating Knight God also launched his own Charge while Dominating Archer God interrupted the enemy mage’s chant with a Volley. One Penetrating Arrow later, the mage was nailed to the wall and killed.

Song of Cloud and Water was surprisingly ferocious. Not only did she clash against Dominating Heaven Blade head-on, she was able to throw him back several steps with her own Blaze. Unfortunately, she could hardly win this when all of her teammates were dead already.

“Hmph, I’m going to kill all of you!” shouted Song of Cloud and Water, unwilling to surrender despite being the only one left.

Dominating Mage God smiled and chanted. “O’ great Ice Goddess, please awaken from your slumber and awaken the sleeping dragon. Please grant me the strength to seal everything in ice—Ice Dragon Howl!”

Boom!

A huge ice dragon appeared from the sky and hit Song of Cloud and Water like a lightning bolt. The girl shivered slightly as a shocking number popped from her head—2114!

It was a one-shot!

It was both an unbelievable and worrying sight. Not even a high-level magic knight like Song of Cloud and Water could survive a critical hit from such a spell!

Outside the stage, many of the audience were watching the battle with gaping mouths. No one was expecting the battle to end this quickly because Soul Battle Robes was the 14th guild on the Guild Ranking. Who would’ve thought that the gap between them and the 2nd guild, Gods of Destruction, was this big?

Dominating Heaven Blade waved his weapon around carelessly, believing that his victory was entirely natural. His teammates from the Domination Clan were also quite famous in Floating Ice City for some time, so this round won them a lot of claps.

A trace of anger flashed across Beiming Xue’s eyes as she stared at the Domination Clan. She smiled and said, “It’s been a while since we taught the Domination Clan a lesson, but I didn’t think they would grow this powerful so quickly!”

I was aware that Gods of Destruction was one of the reasons Beiming Xue joined Bloody Mercenaries in the first place. If Dominating Warrior God hadn’t driven her into a corner, she would never have joined an unfamiliar workshop as rashly as she did. Of course, the other reason she joined us was because we were the only force in the entire Floating Ice City who dared to butt heads with Gods of Destruction openly. Most factions simply didn’t possess our level of courage.

I patted Beiming Xue lightly on the shoulder and smiled back. “Cool down, Beiming. We’ll probably be fighting Gods of Destruction in the semifinals, so you’ll have your chance to enact your revenge while tens of millions of people watch. Wouldn’t that be enjoyable?”

Beiming Xue nodded and planted her face on my shoulder as if it was the most natural gesture in the world. “Mn. Please take responsibility and beat Gods of Destruction for me, boss…”

Not far away, Lin Yixin glared daggers at me as she huffed and puffed. “Hmph, I knew he’s a lecherous, despicable and irresponsible hoodlum!”

I shivered and pushed Beiming Xue gently away from me. I had no intentions of overstepping my boundaries and building an overly intimate relationship with my co-workers. Many years ago, A Thousand Years of Achievement fell into shambles and left a major stain in the gaming industry precisely because their leader was unscrupulous with his relationships. I wasn’t nearly foolish enough to follow in his footsteps.

Clear Perfume smiled and said something I couldn’t hear to Lin Yixin. The latter giggled but didn’t look like she was too angry.

The second round was over while all this was going on. Gods of Destruction defeated Soul Battle Robes 2:0, and there was nothing Song of Cloud and Water could do, no matter how angrily she stomped her foot against the ground. Their march was stopped at the quarterfinals.

The next match was Bloody Mercenaries VS Thunder and Wind. It was time for us to show our mettle!

Shiing shiing!

Du Thirteen and I pulled out our weapons at nearly the same time. “Time to go, brothers and sisters! Let’s dismantle those middle-aged uncles of Thunder and Wind!”

Some distance away, Murong Mingyue smiled and gave us a thumbs-up. “Do your best, Sinks Into Sand! Bash their face in!”

Even He Yi gave me a tiny, unbearable smile. Not only was she one of the two shiniest highlights in the entire stadium, she was the only woman whose looks was on par with the Fruit Knife Goddess, Lin Yixin. Her arrival caught many male players off-guard since few people were aware that Floating Ice City was graced by a gorgeous magic knight like her. Her smile especially was something that could linger in a person’s memory for a lifetime!

Many years later, some perverted middle-aged man might wake up from his dream and cry into the blankets, saying, “That was the day From Water of Floating Ice City had smiled at me, year 2025. Uuuuuu, I should’ve summoned the courage to confess to her that day!”

After we received a system notice, we were all teleported into the stage in unison!

Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh...

We stood in a row facing toward the players of Thunder and Wind. Our information was displayed for everyone to see.

Bloody Mercenaries team:

Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-64

Beiming Xue LV-63

Gui Guzi LV-63

Yamete LV-60

Amazing Expert LV-60

Thunder and Wind team:

Number One LV-61

Soul Mage LV-60

One Rides as Thousands LV-61

Great Shot LV-60

Gong Shang Xue Zhi Yu LV-61

…...

“Fuck!” I groaned. “They have a Level 61 bard. This will be troublesome…”

Gui Guzi frowned deeply. “Boss, what skills does Bard get at Level 60?”

“Bard’s third-promotion skills are Divine Valor and Death Match. Divine Valor increases the target’s Attack by 20%, and Death Match increases the target’s Defense by 20%. As I said, this is going to be troublesome.”

“Mn!”

Everyone was aware that the game was still in the early stages, and the gap between equipment wasn’t nearly so big that it was impossible to close. After all, even my Gold-grade weapon was considered an extremely precious “divine weapon” even though it was just a single grade higher than others’ weapons. Naturally, the powerful buffs a bard could apply to their allies could easily change the tides of a battle. The Ghost Ice Soul was an incredible weapon, but it only added 7% damage to my ice attacks. Meanwhile, a bard could cast Divine Valor on any target and buff their Attack by 20%! For many people, it was next to impossible to beat a team with such a powerful support.

Du Thirteen asked, “So, how should we fight this, Lu Chen?”

I pondered for a moment before saying, “Bards have a weakness; their buffs are automatically canceled if they are killed. If we kill her, everything else will fall to our lap naturally.”

All five of us immediately glared at the pretty woman named “Gong Shang Xue Zhi Yu” with murder.

“Eh? Achoo!”

The poor woman shivered and sneezed on the spot.

I continued. “I’m going to Charge her the moment the battle begins. Lil Beiming, use Volley to halt their advance and force them to the defensive. Gui Guzi, work together with Beiming. Thirteen, come with me to kill the bard!”

“Got it!”

Everyone gave me strong nods of acknowledgment.

The countdown began, but thankfully we weren’t the only ones who were nervous as hell. The loli plus four uncles on the other side of the battlefield hadn’t batted an eyelid since they were teleported in!

3!

2!

1!

Start!

I immediately charged toward the enemy bard, but she was faster than I thought. Somehow, she was able to move out of my Charge range and applied the image of a war god onto her archer, Great Shot. The man’s Attack instantly went up by 20%.

Shit, this isn’t good!

Great Shot had already let loose a Penetrating Arrow while I was cursing inwardly!

Pop!

Mamate’s Spell Shield was destroyed by the attack. It wasn't nearly as durable as mages’ Magic Shield. Mamate is in danger!

Great Shot drew his bow again and shouted, “Break!”

This time, he fired a blood-red arrow at Mamate again. Desperate Gambit? WTF? Desperate Gambit can be applied to ranged attacks as well?

I was stunned. Mamate collapsed in a pool of blood and became the first person of the round to be one-shot.