```

Fang Hong glanced at him and merely nodded to the judges, "I'm ready, gentlemen of the jury."

The dwarf chief judge also nodded back at him in good humor.

Since too much time had been wasted, the tournament organizers no longer bothered with formalities—instead, they had the Dwarf Goblins hastily clear out a space. After a brief announcement of the rules, the two competitors were allowed to enter the arena.

Whether by chance or not, the first match was precisely between Immortal Worm and Fang Hong.

The third round of the competition was the final round of the preliminaries, in which the winners from the previous two rounds would duel to determine the final two victors. These two would then have the privilege to compete alongside the losers from the official matches, with the winner among them advancing to the ultimate finals of the Combat Artisan Challenge.

However, since the hope of victory in the official matches was slim, the third fight of the preliminaries was generally regarded as the final round by default.

The venue fell silent, everyone awaiting this grudge match. Fang Hong took the backpack from Miss Atira, nodded at her, and walked into the arena.

And there, in the clear space of the arena, the fatso Immortal Worm had already been waiting for him.

Immortal Worm actually began to feel that something was off at this point—but still, putting on a brave face, he made a showy remark, "If I were you, I'd just forfeit and leave the stage to avoid the embarrassment that's about to unfold—"

Fang Hong couldn't be bothered with the guy, simply setting down his backpack, untying the knotted ropes, and releasing his Walker from inside.

The Immortal Worm was curious what the backpack was for, but when he saw the 'Walker', his eyes bulged. Not just his, but the whole audience of the preliminaries went momentarily silent.

Then they burst into laughter.

Many were laughing so hard they were in tears.

"Heavens!" Although Tianlan didn't understand much about Combat Artisans, she could still tell the strength of a Flexible Construct. She had never paid much attention to Fang Hong's 'Walker,' but now, seeing it suddenly, she couldn't help but slap her forehead, "Has Brother Ade gone crazy?"

"What's happening, what's happening?" The Papalarians down below were so anxious they were shouting, "Someone lift me up, will ya!?"

But no one paid any attention to them.

Hudi was also staring agape at the scene, though they fared somewhat better.

After a moment of shock, Immortal Worm erupted into guffaws, tears and snot streaming down his face, almost rolling on the floor with laughter.

He clutched his stomach, still laughing, and said to Fang Hong between breaths, "This... is this your combat Flexible Construct? Haha... hahaha, a wooden... Walker... so tiny?

Haha... hahaha, stop joking around... oh my, my stomach is killing me... You wouldn't be trying to laugh me to death to win the match, would you? Hahaha!"

The laughter grew louder; while most people did not agree with Immortal Worm, Fang Hong's Walker was indeed hilarious.

Really, they had never seen such an 'adorable' Combat Artisan.

"This little fellow is just too cute," several female adventurers even laughed until they were leaning back and forth.

But Fang Hong was not laughing.

Neither was Mazak, who was watching from afar—

The former adjusted his Walker and stood up.

He looked at the Immortal Worm not far away and said indifferently, "I hope you can still laugh later."

Of course, Immortal Worm could still laugh. Seeing that Fang Hong didn't even bring a Magic Guided Reactor, he was even more confident. He was about to taunt him further but suddenly stopped and gulped back his words.

For he saw Fang Hong extend his right hand downwards at an angle, the golden Control Gauntlets exterior shell sparkling slightly as the dial lit up, and the Magic Buoys began to illuminate one after another, one, two, three... all the way to twenty-four. They rotated clockwise in unison, then each returned to their respective positions smoothly.

Throughout the process, it was fluid and seamless.

Then the twenty-four Magic Buoys disappeared one by one, leaving only six pointing in different directions.

```

The Immortal Worm swallowed hard and rubbed his eyes, hardly believing what he saw—but Fang Hong had already raised his hand, saying softly, "Sword Hong, attack!"

Two streams of silver radiance.

The Immortal Worm hurriedly backed away in alarm, then remembered that the competition rules did not allow attacking the person himself, and only then did he stand still with his soul not yet settled. But in that moment of distraction, Sword Hong had already circled to the back of his Shield Bearer like a streak of silver light.

He had never seen a Flexible Construct with such agility—

In his horror, he hastily commanded his Shield Bearer to counterattack, thrusting the spear from behind the Giant Shield, and it looked as though it was about to hit Fang Hong's Flexible Construct.

But at that very moment.

The Immortal Worm's mouth suddenly dropped open, his eyes revealing an extreme shock.

And it was not just him—around the entire perimeter of the arena, everyone simultaneously held their breaths.

Fang Hong lifted his hand, the six Magic Buoys on his dial rotating upward, then shifting left and right, undergoing seventeen or eighteen changes in a blink of an eye, almost dizzyingly fast.

The 'Sword Hong' seemed to come alive, smoothly dodging the spear with a light twist. Then, with a leap forward and its six legs leaving the ground in succession, it started to spin in midair like an octopus.

Clutching onto the Shield Bearer's spear, it climbed up.

"No good!" The Immortal Worm finally reacted, flinging his hand aside, and the Shield Bearer also lifted the spear to throw it off.

But it was too late—

Fang Hong's Walker, like a wolf spider poised to strike, jumped forward and had already landed on the Shield Bearer's head. "Simpler than Big Sister." He shook his head and then raised his right hand, fingers together, gently sliding from left to right.

The Shield Bearer is a rather unique type among the heavy Constructs, with its Giant Shield being its main form of protection.

But its body, was just so-so.

A silver line flashed by.

The Shield Bearer sank down, both knees hitting the ground simultaneously, kneeling in the arena. A head spun high into the air, and under the gaze of the audience, 'thud' it fell to the ground.

Dust billowed.

The body of the Construct, having lost its head, leaned forward and collapsed heavily.

And so, in the arena.

There was only the Immortal Worm, the Walker, and Fang Hong left.

The young man lifted his head, his hand still raised, looking at his opponent.

In his pitch-black eyes, there was only calm, with pupils expanding outward like flames.

"You lost."

From the first strike to the last.

It took nine seconds—

The entire place was dead silent.

...

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