I nodded and motioned for everyone to move. “Everyone, time to enter our data. Gui Guzi, draw the lot for us later, will you?”

“Okay!”

Our helmets in hand, we walked to the equipment on the battle stage and scanned our irises to confirm our identity. As our data appeared beneath the match format and offline match rules on the big display, Warsky Alliance’s team of six also walked up the stage to register their identities. A while later, all twelve of our IDs were displayed on the screen.

Gui Guzi walked up to the screen and pressed a couple of virtual buttons. Warsky also chose to randomize the player selection for the 1v1 matches and confirmed Farewell Song and Lin Bing Dou Zhe for the 2v2 match.

A few seconds later, the match list appeared as followed—

(1v1) 1st Round: Gui Guzi versus Farewell Song

(1v1) 2nd Round: Warsky versus High Fighting Spirits

(1v1) 3rd Round: October Rain versus Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun

(1v1) 4th Round: Beiming Xue versus Laughing At The Heavens

(1v1) 5th Round: Chaos Moon versus Lin Bing Dou Zhe

(1v1) 6th Round: Hundred Battler versus Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand

(2v2) Seventh and Final Round: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand & Beiming Xue versus Farewell Song & Lin Bing Dou Zhe

……

Warsky raised an eyebrow as he stared at the big display. Then, he let out a sudden chuckle. “Hmph. This is hardly a hopeless battle, isn’t it?”

October Rain nodded before smiling at me. “Lu Chen, it looks like you’re matched up against our Hundred Battler, hehe. Amazing luck, isn’t it…”

I gritted my teeth. Someone who read the story of Tian Ji’s Horse Racing before would know that it was a terrible idea to pit your best player against the enemy’s worst player. I was hoping to encounter Farewell Song, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, or Warsky as these three had the highest individual skill of the six, and I had a good chance of winning against all of them. However, my opponent was the weakest of the six, Hundred Battler, instead. It was a clear waste of a golden opportunity.

……

Warsky walked up to the host and took the mic from her. Then, he looked at the audience and said with a smile, “Since this is a friendly match, there’s gotta be something on the stake, don’t you agree?”

The audience voiced their agreement loudly. The more interesting a match, the more expectation it generated. Naturally, the audience wanted the bet to be as big as possible because it made the match so much more exciting and fun.

Gui Guzi raised his eyebrows and asked, “Do you have a stake in mind, Warsky?”

Warsky laughed loudly before answering, “This is a fight between civilized people, so it wouldn’t be right to involve money in it. How about we bet a promise?”

“What promise?” I asked.

Warsky pointed his finger at me next and said, “If we win this match, I want you, Lu Chen, to promise us that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will stay out of the next territory war of Sky City. Of course, the same applies to Warsky Alliance if we lose this match. What do you think?”

“Hmm…”

I hesitated. This was a promise that involved the interest of the entire guild. To be honest, I didn’t think that I was qualified to make a decision at all.

A bit of disdain peeked out of Warsky’s eyes as he said with a smile, “What’s the matter? Can’t the Little Heavenly King and the vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls make such a simple decision?”

Enraged by his provocation, Gui Guzi grabbed my shoulder and declared, “Boss Broken Halberd, there’s no need to hesitate! We’ll definitely win this match!”

Chaos Moon also chimed in. “Yeah, you don’t think we’ll actually lose to them, do you? There’s nothing to be afraid of!”

I sucked in a deep breath and nodded. “Alright, if that is everyone’s wish, then I accept this bet. I promise that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will not contest the next territory to appear in Sky City if we lose!”

“Very well!”

Warsky spread his arms wide. “A man's word is his bond, and I sincerely wish that Lu Chen, the CGL Hall of Famer, will honor his promise. Now, let’s get into the game and give it our all!”

……

The stand-off was incredibly tense. It was no exaggeration to say that Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were one step away from engaging Warsky Alliance in a brawl. After all, they had just signed a contract with ASUS, and on the day of the opening ceremony, Warsky Alliance showed up like a bunch of gangsters and challenged them to a fight. How could they possibly face their sponsors if they lost this match? It was no wonder they were pissed off.

Gui Guzi’s fists were clenched as he entered Battle Room A. On his way, Farewell Song turned around to shoot a lazy smile at him before saying, “Gui Guzi, you are the number one knight of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, aren’t you? Very well, everyone says that magic knights are the natural counter of assassins, and today I’m gonna score one for my brethren and tell the world that that misconception is patently false!”

Gui Guzi replied darkly, “You can talk all you want, but the truth will only be known after the fight!”

“Heh, very well!”

With that, Farewell Song walked away and entered Battle Room B with his helmet. The big screen started displaying what was going on at the battle rooms, and beneath the stage countless people were pointing their cameras at it. Obviously, ASUS had invited a lot of media people to commemorate the opening of their e-sports club, so I fully expected this to enter the headlines no matter what the final result might be. It only added to the importance to the match.

On the screen, Gui Guzi and Farewell Song’s avatar could be seen walking into the arena. The timer started counting downward—

3!

2!

1!

……

Gui Guzi activated Charge the second the countdown reached zero. Farewell Song reacted even better and turned invisible at the same time as he jumped backward. It was like jumping backward and shooting a basketball at the same time. It was impossible for a noob to perform this technique properly.

The Armored Swordback Dragon and Gui Guzi roared at the same time as the Rainbow Spear passed through the air where Farewell Song was a moment ago. He then followed up with Death Combo immediately!

Pu pu pu...

Three spear beams pierced the air around him. Unfortunately, Gui Guzi failed to predict Farewell Song’s location and missed completely.

“Hmm?”

Gui Guzi let out a soft cry of alarm before spinning around and swinging his spear horizontally, successfully parrying Farewell Song’s dagger before it could hit him. Unfortunately, his reaction speed was a tad slower than the assassin’s, and he couldn’t react in time when Farewell Song crouched into a charge and left a bloody mark across his chest after the parry!

It was Cold Poison Strike, and Gui Guzi was stunned for 3 seconds!

During these three seconds, Farewell Song activated Encourage VII and hit Gui Guzi with a Blade Vortex + Bloodbreak Eviscerate combo, penetrating much of his defense and deleting a lot of HP—

4893!

5012!

4928!

8904!

The individual hits weren’t deadly, but together they most definitely were. That one combo had dealt over 20k damage to Gui Guzi in an instant, and without a Famous General Skill to buff him, the magic knight’s HP didn’t even exceed 40k HP.

Crack crack!

Farewell Song continued hitting Gui Guzi with basic attacks after his combo was over, but the damage number rising above the magic knight’s head—1092, 982 and 1128—were much weaker. As expected, Farewell Song was incapable of breaking through Gui Guzi’s Defense without using his skills.

Three seconds passed by quickly, and Gui Guzi was as ready as he could be. The second he broke out of the stun, he immediately unleashed a fiery Barrier Break. It was GG for Farewell Song if he managed to land the hit.

However, Farewell Song changed his Famous General Skill to “Sneak Attack” and stepped toward Gui Guzi’s right flank like a slippery eel. Then, he used a Silent Punch and stunned Gui Guzi for another second.

That was all the time he needed to throw out a fluorescent powder and vanish into thin air again.

……

“Motherfucker!”

Gui Guzi was pissed off, but the series of failures deflated him a little. After performing a 360-degree swing with his spear to no avail, he used War God Recovery to heal himself quickly.

“Oh no…” I muttered to myself.

Beiming Xue caught my muttering and asked, “What’s wrong, big bro? The fight hasn’t been decided yet, right?”

I replied solemnly, “No, it’s over. Gui Guzi is the type who couldn’t unleash even 50% of his normal strength if he loses his cool, just like the time he was killed by Lin Yixin. Worse, his opponent is the top-tier expert, Farewell Song. It’ll be a miracle if he wins this…”

Beiming Xue’s mouth fell open in shock. “No…”

……

On the screen, Gui Guzi used Knight’s Outrage in an attempt to break Farewell Song out of stealth, but he failed. The moment the skill vanished, Farewell Song reappeared and stunned Gui Guzi again with Cold Poison Strike. But unlike last time, the assassin kicked off his assault with a Poisoned Weapon to reduce Gui Guzi’s vision.

After that, he activated Shadow Dance to give himself a massive boost to movement speed and went wild on Gui Guzi with the butterfly maneuver. Paying no regard to Gui Guzi’s counterattack whatsoever, his twin daggers kept plunging into the Undying Knight’s flesh and tearing away at his life like a vengeful spirit. Gui Guzi was stunned three times in less than five minutes, and not even the thickest armor in the world could endure such devastation.

In the end, Gui Guzi let out a muffled groan and collapsed to the ground in defeat!

The score turned to 1-0 in favor of Warsky Alliance, putting a bright smile on the face of the Pepsi team leader, yet another beautiful woman. It was no easy feat to score a point off Gui Guzi, and if the challenger had been anyone else beside the 11th CGL ranker Farewell Song, they might not have been able to score a win.

I couldn’t help but sigh on the inside. This match list was just too much in favor of Warsky Alliance. Right now, my biggest worry was the possibility of the match being over before I even got to fight a round. A humiliating 0-4 defeat was quite the real possibility considering the ridiculously unlucky match-ups we were dealt with.

The door to Battle Room A opened, and Gui Guzi walked out with an ugly expression on his face.

I gave him a consoling pat on the shoulder before saying, “Victory and defeat are commonplace for people like us, and it’s no shame losing to Farewell Song. Even my chances of winning against him cannot be more than 60%.”

Gui Guzi nodded before replying, “I know, but I swear I’ll beat him someday!”

“You will!”

It was time for the next round to begin, and this time it was Warsky versus High Fighting Spirits. Again, I was worried that our Berserker couldn’t win. High Fighting Spirits was first-rate, but no super-tier expert. On the other hand, Warsky was a hardcore player who got to train with super experts like Farewell Song, October Rain, and Laughing At The Heavens for a very, very long time. Even if his PvP skills were subpar before, that was no longer the case now. Warsky was currently ranked 15th in the champion arena, and that alone was proof that he was no small fry!

“Give it your all, Fighting Spirits!” I gave him an encouraging smile. “For our brothers and sisters!”

High Fighting Spirits nodded seriously. “Yes, for our brothers and sisters!”