CHAPTER 173: First Segment. (Part-1)

Except for those two teams, the remaining participating teams left the stage and moved to the freshly built seating rows on the four sides of the stage.

By the time they occupied those seats, the Vatruter Team (Rank-10) and the Falud Team (Rank-15) sent their first combatant onto the stage.

The ones who stepped on the stage were the strongest individuals in their respective teams right off the bat.

Under normal circumstances, the best course of action would be to test the other team by sending a moderately strong team member at the start, but that was not applicable due to one of the rules of Round-3 that allows the winner of each Bout to choose his next opponent.

The opponent Halbor faced was the strongest member of the Vatruter Team, a Tier-3 Low-Phase Centaurides, Vral.

Despite her towering figure, the female horse-humanoid was half a meter short in front of the 3-meter tall, rocky hunk, Halbor.

When facing her opponent, who was at the initial Stage of Tier-3 High-Phase, the sombre look on her green-skinned face became more apparent.

The only obstacle in her team's way to come out on top within Group-A was the individual she was about to fight.

Other than the Falud team, the rest were lower-ranking ones, with just a single member barely reaching Tier-3 Low-Phase.

Vral and her team members were pretty confident in defeating them, but they couldn't say the same for the team that climbed all the way down from 100th to the 15th ranking.

As long as she defeats the Rock Giant in front of her, the rest can't put up a fight with her team, which has two other Tier-3 Low-Phase members.

But within defeating that single individual lays the pinch. After all, to win the first Bout, she had to defeat a Lv.44 Alpha Chosen, who was a whole 15 levels above her.

Unlike Vral, Halbor wasn't much worried about winning that match. During the three-hour-long 2nd Intermission, he worked on adding more Undistributed Stats and getting used to them.

Although his control wasn't perfect, Halbor could say he had a firm grasp over his strength, confident enough to defeat his opponent without much effort.

Soon, barriers began to rise on each side of the stage and formed into a cubical barrier that tightly bound the edges of the stage.

Within the enclosed space were the two combatants and the Tournament Manager. While both were on the Stage, Felarial was floating hundreds of meters above the ground.

When he saw them looking at him instead of beginning their fight, he informed them, "Don't mind me. As long as anyone's life isn't in danger, there won't be a need for me to intervene. Of course, that would mean the one I save among you two will lose the Bout... That's all, you both can start any second now! There are many matches ahead of us."

Once Fealarial's words ended, the first one to attack was Vral. She leapt at Halbor and plunged her spear at him, launching a wave of Spear Aura.

Although he didn't expect an abrupt attack, he didn't falter and cast an Earthen shield over his double-handed Hammer to block her attack.

After successfully defending her heavy attack, he tried to counter with an attack of his own but was instead faced with a series of several other projectile attacks until he was engulfed in a barrage of attacks with no room to show his offensive side.

That didn't just take Halbor by surprise but the spectators as well. They hadn't expected such an aggressive approach, especially from a weaker combatant amongst the two.

The rate at which Vral used her 'Spear Aura', her Spirit Energy would only last for a couple of minutes before becoming defenceless to her opponent.

While many shook their heads at Vral's impulsiveness, her fellow team members watched all that with indifference since they knew about her cheat of an ability.

Vral's opponent had 225 stats more than she had. Not to mention the additional stats from the several Rare Grade Equipment Halbor had adorned himself with.

Considering all those, the odds of Vral winning were pretty slim, but her 1st Innate Exclusive Skill coupled with their racial skill gave them hope.

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(Active): Allows the user to access the accumulated reserves of Stamina for a limited duration.

Duration: 30 minutes

Cooldown: 3 hours.

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(Passive): Allows the usage of Stamina as a substitute for Spirit Energy.

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The way Stamina worked for any typical individual was that when it was filled to the brim of one's capacity, the Stamina wouldn't regenerate anymore.

But with the skill, Vral's base Stamina Regeneration operates without limit, and the produced additional Stamina was perpetually stored for her to use whenever needed within the bounds of Skill duration and cooldown.

When used with , she would be no different from a skill spamming machine for half an hour.

If it weren't for the three-hour-long cooldown, they would have scored better in Round-2 and ranked 6th or 7th in Round-2.

It was different for Round-3. They believed even if Vral couldn't defeat her opponent, she could at least drag it out to a draw since each Bout's maximum duration amounted to 15 minutes, which was more than enough for her to continue her onslaught of attacks.

Once Halbor was dealt with, it wouldn't be a smooth sail for the other two Tier-3 Low-Phase Vatruter team members to lead their team to victory.