Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh…

Fighting On All Fronts, Purple Dawn, and the rest of our opponents were already waiting on the other side of the barrier when we were teleported onto the battlefield. Although they weren’t CGL Hall of Famers, they were pretty powerful and famous players in their own rights.

“Kaka, what a small world we live in!” Fighting On All Fronts placed his sword on his shoulder and laughed loudly. “Who would’ve thought that we would run into Falling Dust and his harem? The first seed was hoping to massacre Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ first seed with their own hands, but it looks like they’re out of luck today.”

Red Dust, a spear wielder, also laughed arrogantly. “Very interesting. I didn’t think that we would encounter each other before the offline matches. Poor, poor Lu Chen, you must have forgotten to pray to Lady Luck today!”

A disdainful smile crossed Gao Jianli’s lips as he played with his dagger. “I heard that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was the winner of the War Holy Temple at Sky City. What a joke! Is Sky City really so weak that even a third-rate guild like Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls could claim the best divine site available? Hmph! If Candle Dragon had chosen to go to Sky City, you wouldn’t even be able to occupy the Giant Rock Cave!”

Zero Degree Rain also chimed in while twirling his two daggers. “Listen, you clown. Your bark may be loud, but your bite will never amount to anything.”

……

“You!”

Furious, Beiming Xue walked toward the opponents while saying angrily, “You all forgot to brush your teeth today, didn’t you? Your mouths stink, you trash!”

Li Chengfeng also yelled angrily, “Your grandpa’s gonna teach you a lesson the second the barrier’s down, you brats! Who the fuck do you think you are? You dogs think you can beat us when we don’t even fear Candlelight Shadow?”

Before they could say anything else, I walked up to them and dragged them backward. I whispered, “Calm down, you two. Don’t you see they’re just trying to provoke us and make us lose our cool? They know we’re good, that’s why they’re trying to throw us into disarray before the battle begins. They’re way smarter than the likes of Li Le and Roaming Dragon.”

Li Chengfeng snapped out of his anger and smiled a little. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have let my emotions get to my head. You’re cool as ever, vice leader!”

I smiled back. “Nonsense, there’s no one here who wants to slaughter their asses more than I do, but to do that I must remain calm and be at my best, you get me?”

“Mn, speak to us. How do you think we should fight this out?”

I thought for a moment before explaining the strategy. “I’ll protect Murong Mingyue, you protect Beiming Xue, and He Yi will draw their attention and firepower. We stand by until we find an opening to Charge them. They won’t be able to maintain their formation with Eve attacking them, and that is when the opening will present itself. Sis, keep an eye on Eve’s HP and keep her healthy. Her Defense is high, but she may not be able to tank all the damage by herself.”

“Mn, got it.”

I added, “The enemy has two assassins, so one of us at least will probably be stunned to death. Be ready to sacrifice yourself and make the most out of it. Red Dust has okay Attack but super-high Defense and HP, so let’s ignore him and deal with the others first. Our kill priority is assassin first, archer second and warrior last. Does everyone understand what I’m saying?”

“Yeah!”

“Good!”

……

Our enemy watched us maliciously, and we gazed back as cool as a block of ice. It wasn’t long before the system started counting downward—

3!

2!

1!

Begin!

Swhoosh!

As discussed earlier, He Yi took the lead and rushed the enemy’s archer, Purple Dawn, immediately. The two enemy assassins had already gone into stealth, and there was no way for He Yi to detect them considering their level. Therefore, the enemy archer was the only viable target left for her!

Whoosh!

She swung her spear in a wide arc, but Purple Dawn easily leaped out of the way. At the same time, Fighting On All Fronts hit her from the side and sent her stumbling a couple of steps backward. He pressed the attack and hit her with an Ice Ray + Sword Guard Flurry combo!

874!

658!

592!

581!

Sparks flew off the surface of He Yi’s Ice Soul Barrier again and again, but the actual amount of damage done was so pathetic that Fighting On All Fronts was flabbergasted. Ice Ray + Sword Guard Flurry was the strongest combo he had, but it only took around 20% HP from her health bar. Our beautiful leader was slowly but surely growing into a super tank that could drive any enemy up the walls.

Before He Yi retreated to safety, she thrust her spear forward and retaliated with a basic attack, dealing 2846 damage and causing Fighting On All Fronts to feel even more frustrated. What was supposed to be a one-sided slaughter turned into an even exchange at best because the gap between their stats was too high!

However, an invisible figure suddenly appeared next to He Yi and hit her in a burst of red light. It was an Eviscerate + Cruel Blade combo, and both skills ignored the enemy’s Defense to an extent!

2894!

1928!

He Yi tried to turn around and retaliate, but she shuddered into a stop when the second assassin appeared and stunned her again. Three consecutive strikes later, her HP dropped drastically to below 25%. The situation had turned critical in almost no time at all.

But this was my chance. I locked onto an empty space and activated Charge!

Whoosh!

Blitzing forward while surrounded by a rain of lightning, I stopped right between Gao Jianli and Zero Degree Rain and used War Crush!

Bang bang bang!

Both assassins turned deathly pale at my sudden attack. Gao Jianli was killed on the spot, but the more skilful Zero Degree Rain managed to retreat in time and drink a health potion to restore his health. However, a cold wind brushed against his back, and a cyan horn burst out of his chest before he could do anything. It was Li Chengfeng’s unique skill, Cyan Dragon Horn!

Cyan Dragon Horn was a ridiculously powerful single-target offensive skill. There was no chance in hell an assassin could survive a direct hit.

The enemy lost two of their assassins in just the blink of an eye, but that didn’t mean that they had given up the battle already. Fighting On All Fronts and Red Dust continued to batter He Yi with everything they got, and although Murong Mingyue was healing her with everything she got, it wasn’t enough to offset all the damage. Even worse, the Phantom Archer, Purple Dawn, had loosed three arrows in a row after retreating to a suitable distance!

Thud thud thud!

1674!

1843!

1901!

Three consecutive hits later, He Yi let out a groan and died.

The temperature in my eyes dropped instantly. I whispered to Li Chengfeng, “You deal with their fighters. This Phantom Archer is mine!”

“No problem!”

Li Chengfeng used Cyan Dragon Horn again on a random target before zigzagging before the two fighters, successfully stopping them in their tracks. Then, he immediately spun around and used a Dragonbone Flurry, forcing Red Dust to stumble backward. The two fighters were no match for the dragon warrior at all.

I ran after Purple Dawn and fired Thousand Ice Slash!

Boom!

The resulting explosion cut off most of Purple Dawn’s retreat path immediately.

“Fuck…”

Purple Dawn barely managed to escape the attack unscathed, but before he could stand still he realized that a chill was blowing from his right side. It was me about to hit him with Pardon and a basic attack! If I could land both hits, he would be dead for sure!

However, Purple Dawn suddenly split into three in that critical moment. They each took off in different directions as I tried to distinguish who was real and who wasn’t. Triple multitasking? No wonder Candlelight Shadow valued him as much as he did!

“What are you waiting for? Come get me, hahaha…”

All three phantoms turned toward me and fired an Explosive Arrow in unison! The phantom’s attack wouldn’t deal any damage of course, but it wasn’t easy to differentiate which one was real and which wasn’t in such short notice!

For a normal player, anyway. The corner of my lips turned up slightly. “You really think you can fool me this easily?”

I abruptly took off toward the sidemost “phantom” and thrust my sword through its chest. Desperate Gambit!

6783!

Purple Dawn’s mouth fell open as he slowly collapsed to the ground. At the same time, the two phantoms disappeared into nothing. I knew I got the right target!

“You… How did you…?”

I knocked Purple Dawn down and sneered before he could finish his question. “And why the fuck would I tell you anything?”

It was actually quite simple. All I did was analyze the movements of the phantoms and attack the one with the highest APM.

……

After that, I turned away from Purple Dawn and ran toward Red Dust. Realizing that I was attacking him, the magic knight instantly shook off Li Chengfeng’s attack, raised his shield and lowered his spear. The spearhead was gleaming slightly with concealed killing intent!

I let out a chuckle and turned my waist the moment I got close to him. Spinning like a whirlwind, I swung my sword three times in a row. The first strike knocked away his shield to the side, and the second and third strike left gruesome wounds across his chest. I even snuck in an Ice Ray in between the first and third strike. I overcame the magic knight’s staunch defense with overwhelming speed!

Thump!

One basic attack from me deleted over 3000 HP from his health bar, so there was no way he could’ve survived the assault. Li Chengfeng and Beiming Xue both had their hands full, so it was up to me to delete the tanky magic knight.

I looked to my side just in time to catch Li Chengfeng hitting Fighting On All Fronts with a Reverse Scale Slash. Just like that, the party leader of Candle Dragon’s second seed dropped dead in horrific fashion!

The score was 1-0. The first round was ours, but it wasn’t an easy battle for sure.

……

Swhoosh!

After we were teleported outside the ring, He Yi complained, “Their Attack is so high…”

Li Chengfeng agreed. “Yeah, but you did really well, guild leader. If you hadn’t attracted over 70% of their firepower, there is no way we could’ve won that first round that easily.”

I sucked in a deep breath. “They wouldn’t make the same mistake and focus He Yi again during the second round, so we need to change our tactics!”

He Yi asked, “What should we do?”

“I single-handedly killed three of their players just now, so I’m sure they’ll try to kill me first during the second round. This time, Li Chengfeng and I will be the meat shields. I’ll Charge the enemy first, and Li Chengfeng second. While we are stalling them, Eve should find an opportunity to one-shot their assassin with the Green Wave Slash. The rest of the battle will be much easier once their assassins are out of commission.”

“Okay!”

One minute of waiting later, we were teleported back to the ring. On the other side of the barrier, the second seed of Candle Dragon had dropped their arrogant facade completely in exchange for a grim and determined expression. They clearly understood that they were probably going to lose.

……

3!

2!

1!

Battle start!

I locked onto Red Dust and activated Charge!

Swhoosh!

I moved so fast that lightning afterimages trailed behind me. Fighting On All Fronts dodged out of the way in panic, but the magic knight behind him, Red Dust wasn’t that fortunate. “Fuck, I’m the target?”

Bzz!

I successfully stunned my target!