Chapter Seventy-Three: The Heroic Challenge (Part Two)

Xue Han and Xu Lin quickly split up and ran to both sides, while I charged straight ahead and unleashed a flurry of attacks, targeting the mage clad in a full set of white equipment!

"784!" "821!"

Those two damage numbers must have stunned the enemy. After the mage was instantly killed, their priest stood motionless, only coming to his senses when I was within three yards, at which point he finally realized the danger. A Curse of Light landed on me, my health immediately dropping by "50", "50", and my movement speed reduced to 80% of what it was.

The priest quickly began to retreat, but just then an Ice Arrow struck him—Xu Lin's magic attack had arrived!

The effect of the Ice Arrow was powerful, and I followed up with a heavy blow that knocked the unfortunate level-18 priest out of the arena. Meanwhile, behind Xue Han, a crimson glow flared—the enemy rogue had finally made his move!

"284!"

The rogue's backstab landed a critical hit, instantly taking away nearly a third of Xue Han's health. At that moment, a bolt of lightning streaked towards Xue Han's head—an Axe Strike! Xue Han was in real danger!

Li Qing screamed in fright, but Xue Han remained calm, raising her hand and casting an Instant Heal to restore herself to full health. Xin Yu followed up with a Stun Arrow, dazing the rogue behind Xue Han. The enemy knight, meanwhile, charged at Xu Lin, pinning her against the edge of the arena. A single strike with his spear caused Xu Lin to lose 54 health points, but unfortunately for him, his equipment was far too inferior—without any added skills, his attacks couldn't do any real damage to the well-equipped Xu Lin.

When the stun wore off, the rogue quickly used a counter-charge to get close to Xin Yu, who—though knowing that the rogue's attacks weren't lethal—panicked and ran towards me. The level-21 rogue, unaware that the member with the highest attack on our team was right ahead, charged straight at me, only to receive the Dark Sword—

"584!"

Just an ordinary attack, yet the lightly armored rogue turned into a flash of white light and was sent straight to the spectator stands, where he was joined by the two who had fallen earlier...

An attack range of 425-550 truly lived up to its reputation! In a thunderous instant, three players had been wiped out. While their equipment and levels played a part, it was clear that my prowess had already made itself known.

Xu Lin's voice came through my earpiece, "Focus on that Axe Fighter—his attack is high, probably because he's wielding a blue weapon!"

I glanced back to see the Axe Fighter chasing after Xue Han. Despite being slowed by the Ice Arrow, he occasionally managed to land a hit. The nearby knight, recognizing the vast difference in equipment, decided to simply stand by and watch his teammate chase the beautiful little priestess.

Xin Yu nudged my arm, laughing, "Go on, hero! It's your chance to rescue the damsel in distress!"

I shot her a helpless look, "Can't you see Xue Han is leading him away? She clearly wants to duel the Axe Fighter one-on-one!"

"Oh, I guess that's true..." Xin Yu suddenly understood and, bored, nocked an arrow and finished off the useless knight nearby.

Xu Lin and Li Qing also paused, watching as Xue Han lured the Axe Fighter to the edge of the arena. Only when the freezing effect wore off did she turn to cast a curse, then immediately reversed direction and sprinted away.

I couldn't help but smile, "Looks like Xue Han has mastered controlling range attacks. This is going to be a one-sided slaughter."

As I expected, under Xue Han's expert control, the Axe Fighter couldn't get close. Instead, he was tormented by her Light-based curses and smites, his health rapidly dwindling to half.

Just as I thought of his Axe Strike, the opponent's glowing axe came flying. Xue Han's health bar was halved instantly, but as though she'd anticipated it, her one-second cast-time heal landed almost simultaneously, restoring her to full health! The Axe Strike was rendered completely ineffective—timely healing by the priest left the attack without even a hint of threat.

A minute later, this well-equipped level-23 warrior finally fell to Xue Han, the delicate little priestess.

System notification: Congratulations to the Green Vegetable Cocoa Team for winning the match! We hope you'll keep up the good work and achieve even greater results in the next round!

A flawless victory! An auspicious start—complete victory!

Five minutes later, the next match would begin. The system would pair all advancing teams within seconds after the first match ended. All we could do now was wait for the next battlefield's teleport.

"Beep~!"

It was a message from Murong Shanshan: "Did you advance?"

"Of course. How about you?"

"Same here. I killed three by myself!"

I grinned. Murong Shanshan was already level 28, her attack power extremely high. In this city, only I surpassed her among the warriors, and she was also our team's strongest rival.

Five minutes passed quickly, and soon we were teleported into the next match arena. This time, the lineup was frustrating—a full team of leather armor wearers, each wielding a dagger. If they weren't dagger-wielding archers, then five rogues were definitely going to be a headache.

"What do we do?"

Even Xin Yu was at a loss this time...

Xu Lin was also unsettled, turning her gaze to me.

I'd never faced a lineup like this before, but I still knew a few ways to counter it.

"Xue Han, don't worry about healing for now—curse every rogue directly. Potions aren't allowed in the match, and rogues don't have much health. The curse does more than 200 points of damage, which is considerable. More importantly, cursed rogues can't go invisible again. Xin Yu, try to use Stun Arrow to immobilize one of them at the very start, and I'll coordinate with you to finish him off first. Lin, don't attack directly—just move and use area spells to attack indiscriminately. With your high mana, they won't last long."

All the girls nodded in agreement. Li Qing, however, asked from the side, "What about me?"

"Attack however you want—just make sure you stay alive..."

...

The countdown to the match began!

"3"

"2"

"1"

"Whoosh~!"

A dazzling blue light sparked in the air as Xin Yu's Stun Arrow instantly immobilized one of the enemy rogues. The other four promptly vanished into the void. I silently praised, "Well done," and, without hesitation, drew my sword and charged in!