It took the teamwork of two Heavenly Ranking experts to finally kill Predestined. It was quite a difficult battle to say the least. The good news was that He Yi finally displayed some tactical abilities in battle, although it was largely thanks to Li Chengfeng being an amazing player in his own right. If our cute guild leader had to fight Predestined alone, he could single-handedly make her eyes spin like a mosquito coil.

Regardless, it was great that we won the round and got a point. Fate was probably the hardest party we fought since Blazing Hot Lips in the preliminaries.

The end result was okay. We lost Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue, but we annihilated our opponents.

One more round, and we would enter the Top 16!

……

Outside the tournament ring, we talked about the round while waiting for the next match to begin.

“That was close…” Beiming Xue stuck out her tongue before smiling. “If big bro wasn’t as tanky as he is, we would’ve lost a fighter from the start. It would’ve been really dangerous.”

Murong Mingyue nodded. “Yeah. Not only did Predestined and Wind-marked Moon have powerful physical combos, Predestined’s Attack was so high he could one-shot me and Lil Beiming with just one combo. There’s almost nothing we could do in that situation.”

Li Chengfeng smiled. “Why don’t you try parrying with your weapons?”

“It’s weird. We’re ranged classes, you know…”

“Well that’s true, haha!”

Our faces were dead serious when we were teleported into the tournament ring again. The countdown began anew—

3!

2!

1!

Second round, begin!

Li Chengfeng said quickly, “This time, vice leader should take the fight to them and tear apart their fighters and assassins. I’ll work together with Eve and Beiming to burst down Predestined.”

“Okay!”

I gripped the Heaven-stealing Sword and carried out Li Chengfeng’s instructions. Teamwork was very important, and selfish acts would only result in a loss. This was especially true against a super-powerful party like Fate.

Whoosh!

I activated Thunderous Charge and blitzed toward the enemy archer. Let’s take out the softest target first!

Hero In A Dream moved backward and dodged my Charge with well-practiced movements. However, I already predicted that the skill would miss. Just like last time, I ran forward with the momentum and fired Thousand Ice Slash at him!

Boom!

Hero In A Dream used Leap and dodged that skill as well. Thousand Ice Slash’s only flaw was that its attack range was too short. It couldn’t be helped, the skill would be downright broken otherwise.

I wasn’t done yet. I raised my arm and flung out a Dragon Slaying Slash!

Swhoosh!

Hero In A Dream wasn’t expecting this, so the skill hit him squarely and elicited a cry of pain!

5124!

My Attack was buffed by 70% thanks to Martial God, so there was no chance the fragile archer could survive my attack. He collapsed to the ground just like that.

However, Rebirth calmly waved his scepter and launched a Fire Dragon Spell at me!

Roar!

A wave of heat washed across my body as the fire dragon engulfed me from above. The next moment, a huge damage number rose from my head—3107!

Holy shit, this mage is quite powerful! Not many people could hit me for this amount of damage!

Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng was clashing swords with Predestined, and He Yi was swinging her Soul Stealing Spear at the assassin Death Of Dying Words. However, the assassin had almost perfect control, and he was able to dodge He Yi’s attacks and swing his dagger toward He Yi’s chest.

He Yi gritted her teeth and turned her waist. At the same time, she raised her right arm to block the attack with the Ice Soul Barrier. He Yi lost less than 500 HP, but Death Of Dying Words’ movement speed was slowed drastically because of the property of Ice Soul Barrier!

This was Beiming Xue’s chance. She loosed three arrows in a row and successfully one-shot the assassin where he stood!

I raised the Heaven-stealing Sword in front of He Yi and knocked away Blaze Knight’s attack. At the same time, I ordered, “Li Chengfeng, hold down Rebirth!”

“Okay!”

Li Chengfeng immediately charged the mage. It was a miss as we all expected it to be, but that was fine. All he needed to do was pressure him and keep his damage output in check.

Predestined hit He Yi’s shield multiple times before pulling back and drinking a health potion. He yelled, “Wind-marked, take down Lu Chen first! From Water’s Defense is too high, and hitting her slows you down! We can’t kill her!”

Blaze Knight nodded, but it was already too late. I rushed toward him like lightning and hit his shield three times in a row, and because my Attack was ridiculously high, he lost almost 7000 HP.

Predestined gritted his teeth and tried to Charge me, but he was forced back by a timely Evil Spirit Volley. Even better, Blaze Knight was stunned by a Shock Arrow as well!

Crack crack!

He Yi and I hit Wind-marked Moon once and sent him out of the tournament ring. Now, there were only two people left. Rebirth was kiting Li Chengfeng, but the dragon warrior shouted angrily and retaliated with a Reverse Scale Slash that tore apart his Magic Shield!

Chiang chiang chiang!

Predestined’s movement and grasp on attack timing was almost perfect, but he was still no match for me and He Yi together. Not only was this a 2v1, Murong Mingyue was healing us from behind and keeping us healthy no matter how much damage he dealt to us. The psychological blow was probably worse than the actual damage he was taking!

“God dammit, I can’t believe we lost just like that…”

Eventually, Predestined lowered his sword and gave up completely. He looked back and said to his mage, “We lost, Rebirth. At least it was a worthy opponent. Sigh…”

The influential expert of Vanished God City let out a long sigh and forfeited there and then. Both him and Rebirth were teleported out of the tournament ring.

Ding~!

System Notice: Congratulations, your party has successfully defeated the opponent and entered the Top 16!

……

“We won! That was beautiful!”

He Yi was so excited that she was smiling from ear to ear. The thought that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would one day enter the Top 16 of a national tournament probably never crossed her mind because even after she had invited me to the guild in Spirit of Grief, we hadn’t even reached Top 100 of anything. It was definitely an unprecedented moment for sure!

I gave her a smile before glancing down at Beiming Xue who was holding my arm. “Fuck, this opening match is being broadcasted on CCTV Sports Channel right now, Lil Beiming. How am I going to face anyone if they see you like this…”

Beiming Xue giggled. “Like I care what other people think. I do what I want!”

“Fine, fine…”

I then told the girls and Li Chengfeng, “Let’s go. The morning matches will only decide the Top 16, so our business is done here. Time to watch everyone else fight!”

“Okay!”

We all logged out of the game and exited the battle room with our helmets. We were immediately greeted by a thunderous applause. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had both the strength and the good karma to win the tournament, so it was only natural that we had beaten the first seed of Vanished God City swiftly and decisively.

When we returned to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ resting area, an attendant wearing a ridiculously short skirt immediately walked over and gave me a drink. I enjoyed the service a lot—or I would have, if I didn’t look around and find a pair of murderous gazes directed at my direction. One of them belonged to He Yi, and the other Lin Yixin. Surprisingly, the two girls were reading a VR e-sports magazine together and chatting with each other.

“Ahem…”

I took a sip from my drink and let out a cough. Then, I looked back at the girls. These two were about as popular as anyone might expect, and one of them was the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and the other the guild leader of Snowy Cathaya, both hot picks to win the Who Will Rise tournament. It was no wonder that countless people were seizing the valuable opportunity to snap a picture or ten while they were still sitting together.

With my drink in hand, I sat down next to He Yi and looked at Lin Yixin. I smiled. “How did we do, Yiyi? Not bad, right?”

Lin Yixin glanced at me before criticizing bluntly, “There are gaps in your teamwork. If Fate’s strategy wasn’t as poor as it was, you wouldn’t have been able to beat them this quickly.”

“Oh? How would you tackle our party if you were Fate?”

Lin Yixin sipped her tea once before staring at us with intelligent eyes. “It’s simple. I’d order Predestined to keep you and the dragon warrior preoccupied as long as possible with Guard and parrying. Blaze Knight would charge Beiming Xue, and Hero In A Dream would prioritize forcing your priest out of healing range. It doesn’t matter if Predestined dies as long as your Beiming Xue is dead as well. I’d tell the assassin to stay hidden until he finds an opportunity to stun the dragon warrior with Dirty Blow before switching over to you. Meanwhile, after Beiming Xue is dead, the archer will slow you down with Freezing Arrow and shoot the Sister Mingyue with Explosive Arrow at the same time, forcing the two of you apart with sheer firepower. The mage would hit you with Fire Dragon Spell continuously until you die. After that, they’d kill the dragon warrior third, Sister Mingyue fourth and Sister He Yi last…”

He Yi turned pale when she heard this. She replied softly, “Thank goodness you weren’t Fate’s strategist. We definitely wouldn’t have won that match as easily otherwise...:”

Lin Yixin smiled reassuringly. “This is just me commenting from the sidelines, of course. In a real battle anything could happen, and the ability to improvise is key…”

I nodded. “Yeah. There’s still a while before your match, right? Whose turn is it now, by the way?”

“Can’t you see for yourself? It’s that idiot’s.”

……

I looked up and saw Li Le, Life Of Luxury, and the trio of the Ego workshop stepping up the stage with their gaming helmets in tow. It was the Flower Room versus Immortal Sword Inn.

Li Le smiled arrogantly at the three guys and two girls of Immortal Sword Inn. “Just you wait, we’ll finish this in five minutes, hahaha…”

The enemy captain simply smiled and said, “Yes, it will definitely be over in five minutes...”

Both parties entered the tournament ring, and an overwhelming display of strength later Immortal Sword Inn swept Flower Room 2-0 in 5 minutes as declared!

Lin Yixin giggled. “Yay, that idiot is going home…”

I chided her. “He’s still your uni mate, you know?”

Lin Yixin glared at me. “Doesn’t that make you my uni mate as well?”

“I graduated a long time ago though, but if you don’t mind then sure. Call me senior, Junior Lin…”

“You!”

Lin Yixin glared at me again but didn’t know how to make a comeback. He Yi burst into a giggle before stepping in. “Alright, that’s enough. Quiet down and focus on the matches!”