Chapter 79: The Hero’s Tournament (Part Eight)

The unauthorized legend of online gaming—no pop-up windows. When I woke up, daylight was already streaming in. Last night, I accompanied Murong Shanshan in her wild antics until midnight. Although the experience points we gained from each bear-killer diminished with every battle, an entire night’s work had pushed our reputation past ten thousand. The next step was to wait for the release of the team trial certificate, after which we could establish our group and form alliances.

Murong Shanshan had many admirers, especially in the official forums for Jiangsu and Shanghai. Now that our PK videos were uploaded, nearly every local player knew that the second top player, Murong Shanshan, was not only formidable but also a stunning beauty. When she forms her team, simply spending a thousand gold coins on a system announcement will guarantee a flood of applicants. With her personal influence alone, she could easily stand as an independent leader.

I once asked Xu Lin for her opinion about forming a personal legion. She had little interest in such matters; as far as she was concerned, as long as she could earn money, there was no need to establish a grand team or chase after glory.

Perhaps she was right; we were merely a small studio, so why bother getting mixed up with those people? My only worry was that our numbers were too few. If we ever received a large-scale quest, such as battling a high-level boss, our group would barely make a dent. We would lose many lucrative opportunities.

After breakfast, everyone returned to their rooms to log in. Today was crucial for our little studio—whether we could fly our flag in Jiangsu and Shanghai depended on whether we could seize victory. At this moment, I almost regretted not agreeing to let Murong Shanshan join our team. If she replaced Li Qing, winning the championship would be as easy as picking coins from a purse. Murong Shanshan’s operations were unexpectedly fierce. In yesterday’s duel, if not for my superior attributes, I might not have beaten her. Even in my sleep, I dreamed of our PK fight, the excitement lingering.

I logged in late; only five minutes remained before the match began.

The round of sixteen to eight was still held simultaneously. After the system prompt, our five-member team was instantly teleported to the finals arena. The system announced: “Hello, your team has been teleported to Arena 7. Currently, 1,520,324 players are watching your match. After this round, the finals will feature live hosts.”

Everyone stared in astonishment at one another. There were eight arenas, but just our match alone drew over a million viewers. What about Murong Shanshan’s arena?

Every match in the quarterfinals would be held on the finals stage. At that point, all players in the city would be watching. The thought alone was nerve-wracking. What did “live hosts” mean? Were they really inviting people into the game to commentate?

While I was pondering this, Xinyu nudged me with her elbow, saying, “Lin is discussing tactics. Focus.”

Only then did I pay attention to our opponents—

Two female mages at level twenty-six, a female priest at level twenty-seven, and two swordsmen at level twenty-five. Simple composition, but their gear was decent—each wore one or two blue items. The gap between our strength and theirs was shrinking, a sign that the matches ahead would be fierce.

“Lin Fan and Xinyu, take down the priest. Xuehan, cooperate with me to suppress their swordsmen. Don’t let them get close. Li Qing, use your summons to harass their mages and disrupt their casting, giving Lin Fan and Xinyu time to attack.”

Xu Lin’s tactics were maturing, displaying leadership and confidence. The enemy swordsmen had good gear; if we didn’t suppress them early, our mages would be forced onto the defensive, which would be disastrous for the later rounds.

The battle began!

Almost instantly, Xinyu’s shock arrow immobilized the retreating priest. Under the cover of Xu Lin’s frost arrow, I dashed in, sword raised, and landed a triple combo—high damage, knocking out the priest in one blow. Yet, in her final moment, she cursed me. Xuehan was busy rescuing Xu Lin, who was surrounded, and had no time for me. The enemy swordsmen were no pushovers; both charged at Xu Lin from forty-five degree angles, giving her no chance to dodge. Two combos and a heavy strike drained her health instantly, but Xuehan’s timely healing kept her alive, allowing Xu Lin to escape their range with frost armor’s speed reduction.

Sweat trickled down my brow. Amid the enemy’s cries of surprise, I veered toward one of the mages. Xinyu, sensing my intent, followed up with a guiding arrow, cutting off the mage’s retreat. I caught up and struck hard—a heavy blow plus a normal attack, eliminating her in seconds. Although their cloth-wearing jobs were all women, none were particularly beautiful; compared to our trio of beauties, they were not even in the same league.

Only the last female mage remained. I was about to charge when something unexpected happened—

Xuehan was suddenly killed in an instant…

While the swordsmen attacked Xu Lin, they abruptly switched targets. Both swords cleaved into Xuehan, and only then did we realize their focus had shifted. The mage I had blocked turned and cast a fireball, finishing off Xuehan, whose health was already depleted. It was clear the enemy swordsmen had astonishingly high attack power—four hits drained Xuehan’s nine hundred health, despite her top-tier gear!

Soon after, Li Qing made a careless mistake and was also eliminated. The scales of victory seemed to tilt toward the enemy.

Xu Lin fired a frost arrow at the mage, saying in team chat, “Kill the mage first!”

I was beside the mage, so I seized the opportunity. My dark sword swept up, and the bloodless mage burst into white light, sent to the spectator stands.

At that moment, a familiar cry sounded behind me. I turned to see Xu Lin fading into white light; without a priest to heal her, she couldn’t withstand the attacks from the two powerful swordsmen.

Only Xinyu and I remained on stage, while the enemies were down to their two swordsmen.

Damn it, I never expected these swordsmen to be so fierce. If we lose, it’ll be entirely because of them.

“Xinyu, how long until your shock arrow’s cooldown?” I asked.

“Eight seconds!” Xinyu replied calmly.

“Get behind me and prepare to attack the one in black armor!”