Chapter 309: Competition (III)

The finals were held in the afternoon. A total of nineteen people had advanced to this round, and to get equal numbers, the contestant with the best overall performance during the previous rounds also entered the top twenty. Only, gaining the final victory wouldn’t possibly be an easy task for any of the participants.

Although they had lost some of their matches, the morale of the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad didn’t suffer much of a blow. After all they were still a general grade Demon Hunt Squad, so losing against commander grade Demon Hunters wasn’t any loss of face at all. Furthermore, these defeats were due to encountering opponents that were most suited to counter them.

After having fought in these matches, they really felt great appreciation for that red skeleton. No matter whether they were warriors or mages, they had all gained the ability to gauge the tempo of a battle, and their battle techniques clearly increased. Even those veterans at the commander grade were now not really above them regarding the technical aspect.

Lunch time.

“Captain, you have to win this round no matter what!” Sima Xian said, unresigned.

His strengths and weaknesses were very obvious. His strength was his tyrannical attack power as a melee warrior, so much so that he wouldn’t be at a disadvantage when encountering an opponent at the sixth step. But the problem was that he wasn’t proficient in speed, and therefore totally helpless against mages who excelled at long ranged attacks. His absolute nemesis were mages adept at controlling the speed of their opponent. And unfortunately, it was exactly this kind of mage he had encountered in the third round.

With gentle laughter, Long Haochen said, “Sima, don’t get discouraged. A single match doesn’t mean anything.”

Cai’er looked at Long Haochen, and revealed an expression close to a smile, “I hope that I’ll be drawing you as opponent for my last match.”

Long Haochen petted her hair, unconsciously encircling her tender waist. Although Cai’er’s four senses had already returned, he had gotten accustomed to holding her, and was already unable to stop himself from touching that soft and tender waist.

Naturally, he understood Cai’er’s desire. If only a single person of the team could emerge victorious, it would be no one else but him. That was because he was the only person capable of controlling the entrance to the Tower of Eternity.As long as he won his match, he would be able to take everyone through the Illusory Shrine into the Illusory Paradise.

Han Yu handed Bright Discipline to Long Haochen, “Captain, is Haoyue done evolving?”

The Demon Hunters of the sixth step were indeed very strong, and despite Han Yu’s high level of cultivation and the help of his Demonic Eye at the seventh rank, he had still lost his match.

Long Haochen shook his head, responding, “This time, Haoyue has already remained in deep asleep for a very long time. I estimate that this evolution will give me a great surprise. Be at ease, even without him, I feel very confident.”

The experience of encountering the Moon Demon of the eighth step and surviving the fight was a really valuable to him. After having confronted an opponent whose spiritual energy exceeded 20,000 units, an opponent at the same level as himself would hardly give him any pressure. More importantly, he already possessed two spiritual stoves, and with the addition of that advantage, his strength was already outstanding among the other Demon Hunters at the sixth step, even without Haoyue. And never forget that, if Bright Discipline was counted in, he had a total of five pieces of equipment at the Glorious Tier.

Stadium.

Although the overwhelming majority of the matches was already over, everyone was still watching the finals to see who would be able to make it into the top ten.

The tournament was about who would be able to enter the Illusory Paradise, and -thus the atmosphere in the stadium was extremely tense. This was especially true for the remaining twenty contestants.

The ceremony for drawing lots started, and the twenty contestants received their numbers. Long Haochen and Cai’er gave each other a glance, they didn’t encounter each other. Cai’er was number two and Long Haochen drew number seven. This meant that Cai’er would appear in the first match.

The referee for the afternoon had changed. To everyone’s shock, the auxiliary chief of the Priest Temple, Ling Xiao, personally assumed that role.

The reason why Ling Xiao personally acted as referee was for the sake of intimidation. Since this was their last match, it could be easily predicted that every Demon Hunter would go all out. Ling Xiao was in no way willing to see someone end up crippled or dead in a place directly managed by the Priest Temple. Every Demon Hunter was part of the most valuable resources the Alliance had, and with him acting as a referee, no one would blatantly disregard the rules. Also, as a priest of the ninth step, he could immediately heal a contestant, if necessary.

“The first battle will start now. First and second competitor, come on stage.” Ling Xiao’s calm voice resounded in every corner of the stadium. His virtual awe-inspiring presence made every Demon Hunter feel at ease.

Cai’er rose from Long Haochen’s side and slowly went on stage. As before, she was still clad in her veil, as she stepped forward

The competitor who had drawn the number one was a tall built knight, who looked to be over thirty years-old. Seeing that his opponent ended up being Cai’er, his eyes immediately lit up in pleasure. It was not only because Cai’er looked really young, but also because of their vocations.

That person was a Guardian Knight, and assassins were what Guardian Knights feared the least. Relying on his powerful defensive abilities and the support of his mount, he had an absolute confidence in being able to cope with this young girl. However, he wasn’t careless just because of her young age. After all, that Cai’er had managed to advance to the finals was already a enough proof of her ability. This young girl would clearly not be easy to handle.

Ling Xiao’s eyes lingered on Cai’er for a long time: these were the finals! And he also wanted to see how much ability the girl that was chosen by Ying Suifeng to be the successor of the Assassin Temple would have. She was in the end the Saint Daughter of Samsara!

“Assassin against knight, the starting distance is thirty meters. Battle start.” Ling Xiao said in a tranquil voice, and a holy surge of light flashed past his feet. In the next instant, he was already at the edge of the field.

An ice-cold killing intent instantly burst forth from Cai’er’s body, with resolution and strength glinting in her eyes. At the start of the match, she immediately charged like a black bolt of lightning toward the middle-aged knight, a pair of very distinct black wings brazenly bursting out from her back.

In the instant Cai’er’s spiritual wings were released, the whole stadium was filled with a black haze, as if all light was absorbed by her wings. From the air, an almost material killing intent filled with coldness ascended, and all the observers clearly felt their own bodies shiver.

Are those spiritual wings? How is it that they are black?

Black spiritual wings would only appear in one case, and that was when one’s allotted attribute was the darkness element. However, there was almost no darkness element user in the whole Alliance! Could this girl from the Assassin Temple be a darkness element user just like those demons?

Only her opponent didn’t think so. That middle-aged knight was truly shocked when Cai’er released her spiritual wings. They made a very strong impression, especially when he sensed the dense killing intent that locked on him, as Cai’er’s figure became blurry in his line of sight.

The black wings flapped with force and Cai’er’s extreme speed went further up. Because of her fast speed, her body produced wizzing sounds in the air, leaving series of afterimages. The distance of thirty meters was almost instantly covered.

What level did Cai’er’s speed reach? Her opponent clearly knew the answer to this, since their starting distance had clearly been thirty meters! Still, he didn’t even have the time to summon his own mount before Cai’er reached him.

The knight was clad in a heavy black armor, with a golden shield in his left and a large golden sword in his right hand. Seeing Cai’er closing in on him, he shouted and stamped forward with his left foot, facing Cai’er’s attack as he swept his shield forward, instantly casting a Holy Mantle.

This Holy Mantle wasn’t meant for defense, but as part of a perceptive technique to counter an assassin.

An assassin’s greatest forte was speed. By using an omnidirectional defense like Holy Mantle, he could sense and react to her attack in the shortest time possible.

As the pillar of his whole team, this wasn’t the first time this knight battled against an assassin.

However, Cai’er didn’t launch an attack of the same kind as he expected at all. With a flash of her golden dagger, and with a light swing using her delicate body, she swept her weapon right at the edge of the shield, aiming directly at the knight’s chest.

The knight’s reaction was also fast, a dragon cry instantly bursted forth from his body; Ascending Dragon Strike, a skill of the fifth step was erupting. However, his body didn’t move accordingly to Ascending Dragon Strike’s classic pattern. Only his body was surrounded by golden light, while a golden ray of spiritual energy formed a wall of dragon scales in her path, instantly, spreading forward to block Cai’er’s attack. Simultaneously, the sword in his right hand released a Shining Sunlight Strike.

High level powerhouses didn’t have to use only high tier skills. Very often, lower tier skills would be a lot more useful than high tier ones. This was because the lower tier skills could be used with a lower consumption of spiritual energy, and at a faster activation time.

With a light sound of ding, Cai’er’s dark golden dagger hit the knight’s armor. Immediately afterwards, her body bounced back again, using the force of her own attack to propel her away.

The knight wasn’t complacent, and launched a Lightning Thrust carrying Shining Sunlight Strike with a wave of his heavy sword.

A fantastic scene appeared, and golden light flashed all around, as each of the blows coming from Lightning Thrust seemed to glow with the force of a miniaturized golden sun.

This was a combination of Shining Sunlight Strike and Lightning Thrust. The support from the speed of Lightning Thrust greatly improved the accuracy of Shining Sunlight Strike, though it diminished its power to some extent. But since he was facing an assassin, the defensive power of his opponent wasn’t a big deal.

It seemed as if the Guardian Knight was holding the upper-hand overall, but in reality, only he knew that he had already suffered a loss.

This knight had originally believed that his own Ascending Dragon Strike combined with his battle skills would surely enable him to block Cai’er’s last attack. But in truth, Cai’er’s attack wasn’t only fast but also extremely crafty. Just like a viper’s tongue, it made its way into the small cracks in his defense, and the golden dagger stabbed at his heavy armor mercilessly.

His heavy armor wasn’t supplemented by any ability, but was a piece of equipment at the Glorious Tier, with its strength resulting from its material. Its defensive power in itself was already astonishing with both its hardness and toughness far exceeding ordinary metal. However, Cai’er graceful attack vanquished this defense, shrinking his courage.

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