Chapter Ninety-Three: The Hero’s Challenge, Part Twenty-Two

After the ambush and backstab, the blow dealt less than four hundred damage to me. But my level was far above his, so most of his attack was absorbed by my gear’s defenses. In this way, I simply stood there and let him stab at me, quite at ease.

When his rapid opening assault ended, it was my turn. Heavy Strike.

Five hundred forty-four.

Another normal attack.

Four hundred twenty-one.

Before I even had time to react, the Thief had already turned into a shaft of white light and been hurled out of the arena.

Well done. Truly worthy of the so-called five swifts:

as swift as lightning, as swift as a meteor, as swift as a mounted charge, as swift as a blur, and thieves die swiftly.

...

I had made it into the top eight. Murong Shanshan followed soon after, cheeks flushed, saying it had taken her two minutes to hack apart a level twenty-eight priest, and that she was so exhausted she was about to drop dead.

A few minutes later, all the players who had reached the quarterfinals were teleported to the grand final viewing stands. The so-called draw had become very simple: each player merely had to confirm it on their own system console. In truth, the system still assigned the matchups. The quarterfinal brackets were soon revealed:

1. Green Vegetable Temptation, Xin Yu — Archer

2. Green Vegetable Cocoa, Six Snowy Mist — Priest

3. Murong Shanshan — Swordsman

4. Little Ant on a Leaf, Ye Qiu — Mage

5. Tot Fine — Swordsman

6. Green Vegetable White Jade Soup — Swordsman

7. Green Vegetable Feathers, Xu Lin — Magic Master

8. Murmuring Song — ???

The matchup arrangement was acceptable; at least I had not drawn Murong Shanshan in the first round, the opponent I least wanted to face. I knew the first seven well enough. Only the last player, Murmuring Song, was unfamiliar to me. What was strange was that his class was not displayed, while the rest of us had our professions shown clearly. Could he be the legendary hidden-class player?

Among all the players who had reached the elimination stage, only Six Snowy Mist was a priest. It was thanks to her two purple-grade pieces of equipment that she had managed to come this far; otherwise, with a priest’s strength in restoring life, it would indeed have been hard to break into the top eight. Half of the eight finalists were from the Green Vegetable family. Our clan had truly shone in this tournament; if we were to form a team later, it would certainly be twice the result with half the effort.

The match began, and the first pair to step onto the stage was Xin Yu and Six Snowy Mist, two beautiful, lovely young women...

Inside the system’s spectator console, Six Snowy Mist smiled sweetly on the stage and said, “Xin Yu, go easy on me. Otherwise, why don’t you skip Shock Shot and Exploding Arrow? I’ll treat you to KFC tonight.”

Xin Yu also smiled brightly. “Sure. As long as you don’t use Heal, I won’t use a single skill!”

“...”

Six Snowy Mist was speechless. Then the match began.

Most of the spectators were drooling over the two delicate little girls.

They say that on the battlefield, no father and son can be spared; only now did I truly understand the meaning of that. The instant the match began, both girls brought out their killing moves. Curses, sanctions, Shock Shot, Exploding Arrow—techniques flew everywhere, dazzling the eye.

Whoosh.

Xin Yu’s Exploding Arrow burst once again above Six Snowy Mist’s head. Six Snowy Mist, unhurried, cast a Heal to pull her health back up, then flicked a Curse onto Xin Yu’s head. That was not the end of it—Sanction was thrown without mercy as well. Then her pale little hand made a gesture in the air, and a Mana Shield appeared around her. Xin Yu’s two attacks sank into the sea like stones, doing not the slightest harm to Six Snowy Mist.

After another Sanction, Xin Yu was finally drained dry by Six Snowy Mist’s tremendous endurance. It had to be admitted that although Xin Yu’s attack power was high, with Six Snowy Mist’s healing boosted by forty-five percent, Xin Yu was still helpless against her. By the end of the fight, Six Snowy Mist still had nearly half her health left, allowing everyone to truly witness the power of a high-level priest.

System notice: Congratulations to player Green Vegetable Cocoa for defeating her opponent Green Vegetable Temptation and becoming the first player to enter the semifinals!

The second match began soon after, and this one was even more exciting: Murong Shanshan, the swordswoman who relied on skillful control, faced Ye Qiu, a mage of the same style!

The battle officially began the moment Ye Qiu launched a Flash Fireball. Murong Shanshan was by no means easy prey; sword qi followed in a sweeping arc. Unfortunately, Ye Qiu seemed to have anticipated this move long ago. He had already slipped away, and with a deft sidestep, he barely evaded Murong Shanshan’s determined sword qi strike.

Having missed her target, Murong Shanshan shifted her body and left her original position in a blink. Her sword, Night Elf, streaked past Ye Qiu like a shadow of light. A strike of three hundred eighty-five attack sent Ye Qiu’s health tumbling down by nearly half, but it did not make him yield. Taking only a few steps to escape Murong Shanshan’s attack range, Ye Qiu turned back with an Ice Arrow, followed by an Inferno Burst, and as Murong Shanshan drew near, yet another Frost Arrow that slowed her.

Under such attrition, Murong Shanshan’s health was gradually chipped away by more than half. In contrast, Ye Qiu had an easier time of it. His strategy of five layers of ice and fire seemed to have put him in full stride, while Murong Shanshan was kept at a distance and left with no way to respond.

Just when everyone thought Murong Shanshan would be ground down and exhausted like this, an abrupt change occurred!

Murong Shanshan suddenly altered her route. Her sword slashed horizontally, sending out a ribbon of sword qi that blocked Ye Qiu’s path forward. Ye Qiu was greatly startled and quickly steadied himself, but to his utter astonishment, Murong Shanshan’s movement speed was so fast that by the time he turned, he caught only a flash of sword light. Then a heavy, forceful strike had already landed on him.

Five hundred sixty-four.

Just like that, Ye Qiu was sent flying off the platform by Murong Shanshan, while Murong Shanshan became the second player to enter the semifinals.

The fifth match began, and at last it was my turn to step onto the stage.

The opponent, Fine, looked terribly pained. It was no easy thing for him to have fought his way this far, only to run into me, who had been sweeping through the tournament like a storm. It looked as though he was doomed.

Two swordsmen, and neither of us had any long-range attack skills. The match became very simple: one slash from you, one cut from me, and we were at it. In the end, Fine lacked the courage to see it through and was directly cut out of the arena.

The final quarterfinal match was Green Vegetable Feathers versus Murmuring Song!

Then something that stunned everyone happened. After Xu Lin cast her first fireball, she suddenly froze in place and did not move at all. At the same time, all of us in the viewing stands saw a system message:

Player Green Vegetable Feathers’ magical power has been sealed!

My heavens. The legendary hidden class — Sealer — had appeared!

A Sealer was a hidden profession with no special strengths in attack or defense. Its only trait was the ability to seal a target’s certain form of attack for a limited time. Success rate: fifty percent. Skill cooldown: one hundred twenty seconds. The sealing ability includes magical attacks, physical attacks, healing states, and other magical effects.