Shadow Hack Chapter 276: Shattered

Chapter 276: Shattered
Translator: Mercurial_ Editor: DarkGem
The second test continued on after Li Yunmu had been the 167th person to awaken. With only half an hour remaining of the three hour limit, many people believed that a lot more people should be awakening at this time.
All the quasi deities on the stage were looking attentively at the image of Goddess Medusa with complicated expressions.
Crack.
Suddenly, there was a sound from the statue.
It caught all the people off guard. The piece of snake scale at the center of Goddess Medusa's image ruptured and fell off. At this instant, it was as if the statue had lost all of its mysterious power; the statue began to crack, and then turned into powder.
A gust of wind blew past, picking up that dust and scattering it all over the arena. There was soon no trace of the statue left.
Goddess Medusa's image was destroyed?
All the quasi deities immediately stood up. They kept looking at the scene with their brows creased tightly and complicated expressions.
"Perhaps my estimation was wrong. The drainage of power from this image of True God had reached a level that was too severe, so there really isn't any True God in our world," said an old man with a sigh and a hint of disappointment on his face. He was the representative of Holy Spirit Continent's ruling power.
Even the image of a True God, which they had obtained from a relic of a demigod, had turned to dust after the True God was gone.
The group of quasi deities couldn't help but feel despair.
There was no true god in this world, and even the remnants left behind by deities were getting fewer and fewer in number. This was the greatest regret of the people who formed the top layer of humanity's power pyramid.
This group had already reached the highest height they could achieve. There was no path to advance further for them.
Even if the whole of humanity called them "quasi deities" and looked upon them as half deities, without any path to advance forward, they could only despair after reaching this point.
"Everyone, Heavenly Transformation is our only opportunity. It can provide a new path for humanity to advance in the future, so we must not lose hope," Battle Sage Vega said promptly.
"Yes, we shouldn't lose our self-control."
"That's right, whatever the case may be, this opportunity created by the Heavenly Transformation, even if we all won't be able to benefit from it, humankind will do so certainly. A whole new power structure should be born in the future."
"Above the quasi deities, some path is certain to exist. These previously appeared Demigods are our true guides."
When all is said and done, quasi deities are quasi deities, they are people with staunch determination. Immediately, their battle spirit was roused again, and it was even denser than before.
This time's Heavenly Transformation was going to change everything. Not only the people above the platform, even the many Flux Sages were all extremely hopeful inwardly.
Their gazes passed over people like Hai Yue, Man Tian, Xiye Hanbei, Zhan Wuya, and even Ling Shuang and Ji Wuxin.
Among the hope that filled their expressions, some other emotions were mixed in as well.
Underneath the platform, there were five hundred people who were still lost within the dreamland created by the image of Goddess Medusa. They were going to awaken now, once the image of Goddess Medusa had shattered.
These yet to awaken contestants woke up one after another, because the dreamland had lost its source of power.
"Dang, how can this Li Yunmu's luck be so enormously good? He became the last person to wake up. If he'd been slower by at least one minute, he'd be part of this group of unlucky fluxers who are now automatically considered as having lost."
"What a disappointment, I'm truly let down today. Li Yunmu was supposed to be extremely fierce, so how could he fall out of the top hundred?"
"Haha, so this is the level of an Overlord's strength, truly unimpressive. The other twenty-nine Overlords are all ranked within the first fifty."
"Senior, you who previously said that Goddess Medusa's image is so terrifying, haven't you lost all face now? At most, it was just a testing tool and nothing more. See now, it was just a one-use item which shattered right after."
"Fancy that, when he explained about the image, you all immediately believed him. Hah, what first time it opened its eyes, five quasi deities were turned to stones; second time it opened its eyes, entire Sunday City was turned to stone. Such an exaggeration, and you all were convinced by his words. Even I was taken in by you all."
Regardless of what the powerhouses atop the platform or the netizens in their forums discussed, the five hundred contestants that were forcefully woken up once the statue shattered were full of disappointment.
It was so unexpected, completely out of anyone's consideration. Even the quasi deities hadn't expected that the power of the Goddess Medusa's image would be depleted so quickly.
The five hundred contestants who hadn't passed the round still had half an hour's time based on the rules. What did that mean?
"Silence."
The representative of the Alliance quickly received word from his superiors and loudly shouted out for attention, regaining the stage.
"All the people who hadn't cleared the round will be given a chance to make up for it. You'll be paired with random opponents. As long as you obtain two consecutive wins, you will be considered as having cleared the second test!"
It was clear that they had been forced to make this decision, since a test which was related to one's soul strength had been converted to league battles. They couldn't not do this, though. If they wanted to keep things fair.
In any case, only the one hundred and sixty seven contestants who had cleared the round were those that mattered to the powerhouses sitting on the platform. As for the others who'd be selected through the battle, they'd just make up the numbers.
The rules for the duels were very simple—to engage in combat without any rules. Every fight would have a five minute time limit, making the tournament very quick.
Although this wasn't quite fair to some people who were certain to have cleared the soul strength test, it was a pleasant surprise to those who wouldn't have succeeded in it.
Regardless of whichever group the contestants belonged to, they could only rely on their personal strength to advance to the next round.
Barbarian Niu was among the group of the people who were yet to clear the test. He was quite fortunate, though, since this supplementary test attached most importance to one's combat strength.
"This Barbarian Niu's strength is even greater than that of Li Qinghong and Lin Jian. His power can already threaten the thirty Overlords."
"But what's the use? He is the same as his master, both of them have formidable combat strength, but the strength of their soul is lacking. Although he appears extremely dazzling now, it is foreordained that he won't advance much further."
Both those who were present on the scene and those who were watching the broadcast had the same evaluation. But at this time, Li Yunmu's mind wasn't here. He was full of astonishment, for he had just learned that the piece of snake scale he had forcefully snatched from within the dreamland was actually the core part of Goddess Medusa's image.
He had surprisingly snatched the core part of Goddess Medusa's image under the gazes of the group of quasi deities. And these great people were yet to realize that…
The supplementary test concluded very quickly.
Because of the presence of many flux sages on the Black Dragon Island, there was no one among the Flux Disciples who suffered major loss or lost their lives because of the battles being too fierce.
Approximately a hundred and forty people were left. In other words, from the seven hundred something participants of this soul strength test, only three hundred and ten people had successfully passed.
The Alliance representative informed them that they had three days to prepare for the next round. The three hundred and ten contestants rushed to do so with great zeal.
At this time, Li Yunmu finally met up with Battle Sage An Jing once more.
"Your majesty, what is it?"Li Yunmu asked while staring at Battle Sage An Jing who had appeared quietly in his tent.