Chapter Seventy-Four: The Hero’s Challenge Tournament (Part Three)

A flurry of swift attacks left the rogue before me with only a sliver of health, and a single ordinary strike finished him off, his body dissolving into white light as he was sent flying to the spectator stands. But when I turned, I was startled by the chaos behind me.

Our team had been thrown into utter confusion by four enemy rogues. Xu Lin was reduced to almost no health under the assault of two stealthy attackers, while Xue Han retreated, casting curses as she went. Li Qing was so flustered she nearly lost control. When Xin Yu and I joined forces to attack the rogue chasing Xue Han, she finally regained her composure, and the summoned water elemental finally had a target to attack.

Xu Lin was being chased so desperately she was nearly calling for help—the rogue after her had activated Sprint and was closing in fast, and Xu Lin, such a frail little mage, was on the verge of collapse!

A silvery glow swept over Xu Lin, saving her life—Xue Han’s major healing spell instantly restored her health to full from under eight hundred hit points.

The rogue chasing Xue Han took a four-hundred point hit from my sword and immediately activated Sprint, slipping out of my range, but, unfortunately for him, he was still within Xin Yu’s reach. A volley of Flame Arrows and Piercing Arrows finished him off in an instant. With her Night Elf Bow, Xin Yu’s attack power was truly extraordinary!

With three rogues left, the pressure on Xue Han eased considerably, and Xu Lin was much safer. Her Frost Armor not only provided significant defense but also slowed the rogues, and without this skill and her top-tier gear, no ordinary mage—no matter how skilled—could survive so long against two poisoned rogue daggers.

The rogue originally chasing Li Qing switched targets to intercept Xu Lin. Sensing danger, Xue Han quickly cast a Mana Shield on Xu Lin, hoping to spare her a few more hits. At least everyone was doing their best—it took real determination for those three rogues to pursue Xu Lin so relentlessly.

Xin Yu’s Stun Arrow was ready once more, and together with my relentless strikes, we took down another rogue. I’d been holding back my Frost Slash and Warrior’s Rush skills, saving them for the finals—no need to reveal my trump cards too soon. It's best to surprise the opposition at the critical moment.

“What are you all doing? Hurry up and kill them!” Xu Lin finally couldn’t hold back, turning around and shouting at us in exasperation.

“No one’s slacking off!” I rushed forward, landing a heavy blow, and with Xin Yu’s Explosive Arrow, we finished off another rogue.

Only one rogue remained. With the pressure off, Xu Lin turned and unleashed a barrage of magic at the rogue who’d been chasing her all this time, her fierce nature laid bare!

Everyone stared in disbelief, the hapless rogue included, as Xu Lin incinerated him with two massive fire spells.

Another flawless victory, though Xu Lin had nearly been killed several times. The rest of the team remained at full health throughout. Overall, we’d simply been overwhelmed by the coordinated attack of those five rogues at the start, but in the subsequent running battle, we performed well and gained valuable experience for future encounters against rogues.

I calculated: we had to play twelve matches in three hours this morning, while nearly ten million players in Hurricane City were playing simultaneously. With twenty-four rounds, the champion would be decided, which meant tomorrow’s matches might be single-elimination live broadcasts for the top sixteen.

Our next opponents were still mostly players with white-tier gear. The best team we encountered was a three-mage, two-priest formation, each with about two pieces of green equipment. Unfortunately, their levels were much lower than ours, so the battle was never in doubt.

It wasn’t until our final match of the morning that we finally faced a worthy team:

A level 24 knight clad in green gear; a level 23 warrior, half-equipped in green; a level 23 mage, mostly green with a single blue mage’s cloak; a level 22 priest—a girl, though she looked like a disaster site, with average gear; and lastly, a level 22 rogue in full green, though wielding a white-tier dagger.

These were just rough assessments based on their appearance, since the game “Eternal Moon” only showed others’ gear quality if the player enabled equipment display—otherwise, no one could see exact stats.

“This team is well-balanced, their gear decent, and their levels high,” Xu Lin commented, then turned to me. “Lin Fan, what’s your plan?”

At critical moments, they always asked me.

I’d already thought this through and replied smoothly, “Xin Yu, use Stun Arrow with me to take down the priest first. Ignore the rogue for now—his weapon’s poor, so he can’t do much damage. Xue Han, focus on healing. Xu Lin and Li Qing, work together on the mage. When Xin Yu and I finish off the priest, we’ll come help.”

No sooner had I finished than the match began. Xin Yu’s reflexes were astonishing—her Stun Arrow struck the enemy priest at once. The hapless priest barely had her hand raised to cast a curse before she was interrupted and killed on the spot. But the unluckiest one wasn’t her—it was our summoner, Li Qing.

In the blink of an eye, the enemy mage’s instant Fireball and the warrior’s combo slammed into Li Qing, whose low health meant she was instantly slain.

“Qing!” Xue Han cried out in alarm.

“Stay calm! Stick to the plan!” I called out, even as I closed in on the enemy priest. My sword rose and fell, landing a solid combo of blows.

Instant kill!

As the priest vanished in a flash of white light, I delivered a heavy strike to the nearby mage, wiping out more than half his health. I caught a look of panic on his face before following up with a normal attack. With that, both of the enemy’s ranged attackers were gone.

But our situation wasn’t ideal either—the enemy now focused on Xue Han. Fortunately, Xu Lin slowed them one by one with Freeze Arrows, while Xue Han kept moving and cursing them. In no time, the three melee fighters were all slowed, shambling around like “red men.”

The power of ranged attacks shone at this moment. Xue Han and Xin Yu’s strong attacks were impressive enough, but Xu Lin was even more outrageous, casting area spells from spots the three opponents couldn’t reach, perfectly controlling the distance. The three well-equipped melee players were so frustrated, it was as if they wanted to bash their heads against the wall. In this moment, I keenly felt the misery of melee classes—without magic immunity, melee fighters stood little chance against skilled mages and priests.

In the end, the three big men were thoroughly trounced by three delicate-looking women. With that, the morning’s matches drew to a close. Everyone was exhausted—though there hadn’t been that many battles, our nerves had been stretched taut the entire time.

“At last, time to eat…” That was the only thought in my mind as I logged off.