Chapter 78: The Hero's Tournament (VII)
After we ganged up on the half-health knight, we officially received notice of our final match—winning this next game would advance us to the top sixteen. Once we made it into the top sixteen, there would definitely be rewards; the system’s prizes would surely be generous, and since this was the first tournament, they ought to be even more lavish according to its rules.
During the break between matches, Xu Lin browsed the forums and then told us, “Everyone gets a chance to draw a reward, and the worst prize for the champions is at least a blue-grade piece of equipment. So, if we win the championship, we’ll have five chances at drawing rewards—maybe…”
“Could there be a divine artifact? Or a spiritual item? I think the worst could be an orange-grade equipment, right?” Xin Yu began to daydream.
Xu Lin shook her head. “Impossible. Orange-grade equipment requires at least level forty. As for divine artifacts, I’d guess their requirements are level fifty or above. At our current stage, those items won’t appear. The best we can hope for is purple-grade equipment.”
Snow Han was quite satisfied. “Purple-grade equipment is good enough.”
Li Qing remained silent, but her smile betrayed her mood. Among our five-person team, she was the weakest; if we made it to the championship, she would be overjoyed.
Xu Lin checked the time. “The next match is starting soon. Let’s make sure we win this last qualifying game.”
…
When the time came, our opponents appeared on the other side of the arena—
It was an all-priest team, and all of them were level twenty-four!
Xu Lin’s voice trembled slightly. “How are there so many abnormal lineups? An all-priest team—how do they plan to fight?”
She seemed to be worrying about the opposing team. Xin Yu couldn’t help laughing: “No matter how they fight, we’ll just take them out one by one. What do you think, Lin Fan?”
“Yeah, just kill them one at a time, and don’t let them heal each other. Otherwise, if we all get cursed and hit with status spells, it’ll be tough.”
Everyone agreed, and five minutes later, the battle began!
Xin Yu’s Shock Arrow immediately stunned one of the priests, and I picked one nearby and charged in. Snow Han’s timing was perfect; the moment I got cursed, she cast her spell to dispel it. Fifteen precious seconds—enough to take out one priest!
The opening move: a heavy blow followed by a combo!
“464!”
---
“356!”
“342!”
“355!”
…
Four numbers flashed above the unfortunate priest’s head. I thought he’d fall after the second hit, but he only died after the fourth. He must have felt unwilling and frustrated—his teammates didn’t even get a chance to save him. My heavy blow and combo happened almost instantaneously; if your reaction isn’t quick enough, there’s no time to cast healing skills.
Xin Yu’s Explosive Arrow burst through the air with burning heat, but that priest managed to survive with his teammates’ help. White light flashed on his body, and he still found time to curse every one of us with negative spells.
Three minutes later…
Xin Yu shouted angrily, “How are we supposed to win? When will this end? Lin Fan, stop chasing that girl and come finish this one off!”
I wanted to, but these priests were so tricky—they were actually kiting me, the only melee player, back and forth. Snow Han’s mana dispel was still on cooldown, so I was stuck being worn down in the middle. No wonder this group made it to the top thirty-two; their strategy was borderline shameless, slowly grinding down their opponents. Anyone with weaker gear would have been dead by now.
I quickly gave up on their only female priest and instead dashed sideways towards the priest stunned by Xin Yu’s Shock Arrow. Another combo finished him off.
Phew—three indestructible cockroaches left!
Another three minutes passed, and a white light rose from Xu Lin’s Fireball. The opponent’s last priest finally fell!
System message: Congratulations, Vegetable Cocoa team has advanced to the top sixteen! The tournament will continue tomorrow at 9 a.m., with a draw to determine matchups!
Xu Lin exhaled heavily. “Finally done. What a hassle…”
The match ended and everyone dispersed. By then, Murong Shanshan had finished her last match as well. She sent me a message: “Done. Check the tournament feature in system help—you’ll find all the players who made it to the top sixteen in this city. Remember to help me farm reputation tonight. I’m going to eat now.”
Opening system help, I found the list of sixteen teams. Sure enough, Murong Shanshan’s team was right after ours. There was the “Sky Thief,” a level twenty-six rogue, then a level twenty-five priest, Cocoa, and two level twenty-six mages. This lineup was probably the strongest besides our own.
Among the teams that qualified, besides Murong Shanshan’s group, there were a few I knew: a berserker group with two level twenty-seven warriors, two level twenty-seven mages, and a level twenty-six rogue—no priest, which was odd. Another team was Ye Qiu’s squad; apart from Ye Qiu’s Chinese ID, all the other four had English names: fine, seven, sai, and rain. These IDs were so familiar—it turned out they really did show up! Ye Qiu was the highest level, a level twenty-eight mage; the others were level twenty-seven—a priest and three swordsmen. It was an attack-focused lineup, fitting the TOT team’s usual philosophy: offense over defense!
---
“Lin Fan, come eat!” Snow Han called sweetly from outside.
Logging off, I checked the local game forum. To my surprise, the sticky post was so popular it was practically glowing purple, with over a million views. I clicked in—to find the video of my duel with Murong Shanshan.
“Damn, he really uploaded it?” I muttered, scrolling down to check the replies. They were colorful, to say the least:
Sha: Wow, Murong Shanshan is gorgeous. If I could marry her, I’d never sleep again!
Second floor: Hey, dude, post your photo so we can see how you look. Toad lusting after swan?
Third floor (Sha): Screw you, second floor! You’re filthy and lewd!
Fourth floor: Keep quiet—Murong Shanshan really is great. Verdict delivered!
Fifth floor: I’d love to examine Murong Shanshan’s body…
Sixth floor: Go examine your own mom!
Seventh floor (ID: Righteous Clouds): For a woman, stab two brothers!
Eighth floor: Fallen petals aren’t heartless—turn into spring mud to protect the flower!
Ninth floor: This post is so wicked, I need to go to net.
Tenth floor: Who let the central prison inmates out?
…
I didn’t scroll to the end before I was dizzy—these days, people’s depravity is truly astonishing!