WITH the fifth match over, the sixth one finally began.  The moment the two participants walked into the rink, the crowd let out a loud cheer.  It was even louder than when the moon elf – Noctis – came out earlier.  All of this was because of the tall young man with blazing golden hair like the sun – Dragnar.

He was another crowd favorite.  Most of those who participated in the betting chose him as their winner.  This could explain the excitement of majority of the people in the crowd.

"Dragnar!!!"

"Dragnar, look here!!!"

"Dragnar, you must win for the sake of our money!!!"

"Dragnar, do your best!!!"

Xia Lei felt awkward.  He wasn't really the type to enjoy being the center of attention.  But because he was a dragon in this game, it was already a given that he would be the center of attention one way or the other. 

Players that managed to get a dragon as a race after choosing the random selection were few and far between.  The number of dragon players in this game could probably be counted with two hands.  That's how rare they were.  And this year, as luck would have it, he became one of these few dragons.

But hearing this loud cheer for him, he wondered if it was really good luck.  Now, these people believed that he would win.  Thus, all the loud cheering.  It's not because they believed in his ability as a Swordsman, but because of the simple fact that he was a dragon.

That's not really very comforting.  It's like even if it's not him, as long as they were a dragon or any Legendary race, they would cheer for them.  Their mentality was, as long as it's a Legendary race, then they would definitely be powerful.  Whether Xia Lei was good or not didn't matter.  Because they believed that being a dragon was enough for him to win this tournament.

He wanted to scoff very, very loudly at that. 

No matter what race one had in this game, if they're up against a very good player, they could lose.  It would be foolish to believe that one had an advantage just because they happened to get a superior race in this game.

"The sixth match, Star Anise versus Dragnar!" the Duke of Hearts announced as he floated upwards, leaving the two participants on the rink.

Xia Lei took out his longsword and rushed forward.  The blade was automatically covered by golden flame.  It was the element he had the most affinity with.  Most dragons had an affinity with fire.  Maybe because they were fire-breathing creatures.  He then rushed forward towards his opponent. 

His opponent, a girl with long green hair and a pair of bright green eyes, was wearing a toga-like dress.  On both of her arms were beautiful flower tattoos.  Her ears were slightly pointed but not as long as that of an elf.  But a bit bigger than a gnome.  It could be seen with this that the other most likely belonged to a Rare or Special race.

A staff made of wood that had a green crystal at the top appeared in her hands.  She stomped the staff on the floor and tree roots sprouted out.  It's not just simple tree roots.  They were big and thick.  If one were hit by those, they would definitely be thrown out of the rink.

Xiao Lei easily dodged the tree roots that were about to hit him.  Those that he couldn't, he simply cut with his sword.  Upon contact, those cut off roots were set on fire.  And that traveled on to its source.

He was a bit surprised that there was another Mage specializing in plant magic amongst the remaining players.  But he no longer concerned himself with that and just continued to rush to where the girl was standing.

By the time he arrived in front of Star Anise, all the roots had turned into ashes.  He swung down his sword, golden flames flashing as he did.  But the blade of his sword did not reach its intended target.  It hit an invisible barrier instead. 

That took Xia Lei by surprise.  But he quickly got over it.  Because he knew that a simple misstep could cost him a lot.  So, he readily swung his sword again.  This time, the golden flame around it was even stronger.  And again, it was met by the barrier.  He did not stop.  The more he swung, the stronger the force of his attack was.  The fourth time he hit the barrier, it began to crack. 

Before he could fully destroy the barrier, he saw the green crystal on Star Anise's staff glowing.  He could see that the other was about to use a skill.  But he did not care about that and just swung his sword again.  The barrier completely shattered.  As his sword was about to hit the girl's neck, he suddenly felt weakened for no reason.  He almost lost gripped on his sword.

His knees shook and he could visibly feel his HP draining at a fast speed.  He glanced at the green crystal that was still glowing and knew that whatever was happening to him right now was definitely Star Anise's skill. 

He then saw the other's free hand turning into some kind of pointed branch.  His opponent was about to thrust that to his chest.  But at the last second, Xia Lei managed to jump back and get away from the other.  And that's because of the dragon wings that he subconsciously used.

He flew back at a fast speed, feeling quite embarrassed.  He promised before this match that he would win this with just his swords skill.  But at the end, he still used the advantage of his race.

Now that he was a distance away from his opponent, he no longer felt his HP being sucked away from him.  Evidence that the other's skill would only take effect if her opponent was at a very close distance.

A skill that could greatly affect one's stats, the girl was probably not a Mage but most likely a Priest.

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