Chapter 298 So Cool!
The third round of the Twin City Cup arrived as scheduled.
No colossal arena was needed this time since the format of the third round was different from the first two. Therefore, using the three-day break, Mayor Corinth of Lancaster invited a ranked priest from the Earth Sect to conjure several arenas on the vacant lands to the vest of the city.
The usually isolated western outskirts became crowded almost immediately, with many smart citizens imitating the newbie Players by setting up stalls selling snacks that earned them a little fortune.
Before the third round began, the thirty-two contestants headed to the mayor’s residence to draw lots, and by following the number sequence of number 1 dueling number 2 and number 3 dueling number 4 with the victor proceeding to the next round until the final winner was decided.
Still, being one of the main organizers, the Church of Games naturally fiddled a little with the lottery albeit without really oversteppingthey basically made it so that the first rounds pitted strong contestants with weak contestants so that seeded contestants wouldn’t have to secure hard-fought victories where they would be injured as well, so that the weaker contestants who would meet them in later stages would benefit as well. As such, the first stage of duels wasn’t all that exciting as the stronger contestants virtually had no problems eliminating their opponents and proceed to the next round.
Nonetheless, the air became charged once the tourney moved on from the last sixteen to the quarter finals.
*
*
*
Following the serial number and matchup displayed on the magic mirrors, Jones, one of the wyvern knights had managed to find the arena where his captain was fighting-only to realize that the match was over.
“Are you alright, captain!?” He asked Isaac anxiously, who was panting heavily beneath the stage.
“I’m fine, I just underestimated my opponent a little. He’s a ranked believer of Gurus, God of the Hunt-and I had assumed that there was nothing to fear worry about in an arena where he couldn’t distant himself and couldn’t set traps, but he still proved to be a surprisingly tough nut to crack.” Isaac had managed to utter a reply. However, from the looks of his rapidly healing wounds thanks to some cola, along with several arrowheads scattered on the ground that were dipped in his blood and were clearly pulled out of his body just now, it wasn’t as easy as he described.
“Captain…”
“Relax. I could at least last another two rounds.”
Isaac was not about to look vulnerable in front of his own squadron member. The truth was that he had definitely miscalculated-even if the believer of the God of Hunt couldn’t use their full power, he was in the same situation since he couldn’t summon his wyvern either.
If they had been fighting normally in the wild, he could have directed his wyvern to shield himself from his opponent’s rain of arrows with its thick scales, and then take him down in a instant when he was exhausted.
Under such conditions, the believer of Gurus was no different from small fry and far from being a worthy opponent. “By the way, captain…” Recognizing the cue and deciding not to press the topic, Jones instead pick another topic which Isaac was interested in. “I just heard from arena number seven that two Church of Games followers have already won their match earlier and are about to fight each other.”
“Those two have entered the quarter-finals already?”
Isaac stood up and followed Jones to the arena, not forgetting to instructing his comrade. “But the fact is it’s meaningless even if we go to watch the match. They are both believers of the God of Games so they won’t really resort to violence-at best, they would use two or three weaker sacred arts before the weaker one surrenders, allowing the other one to join the last four.”
“Really?” Jones was slightly surprised. “For sure. Even if those two had a grudge against each other, they would be thinking about the honor of their church and would let it go, so that the stronger one could achieve a better result.
Even as they conversed, the two of them arrived beneath the arena.
Incidentally, they knew both Church of Games members on the arena.
To the east corner was Jom, whom Isaac had offered an alliance before (Terry had been eliminated earlier), whereas to the west corner is Edward, the champion of the God of Games’ believers.
“The one called Edward would win.” Isaac was almost instantly certain that Jom would surrender. “Really? But I think Jom is quite strong too…” Jones was puzzled when he remembered how Jom fight.
“For example, if you were matched up with me in the arena, would you really fight me with your full power?”
“No way, you’re my captain… oh!”
Jones understood with a start at that. “I see.”
After all, the replays on the magic mirror already proved that Edward was quite strong in the first round. Then, in the second round, it was also proven in the battle against the Night Tide Dragon that Edward was high-ranked amongst the God of Games’ believers, and could command the other believers to some extent.
On the other hand, while Jom had some extent of ability, he wouldn’t compare to Edward. From how Jom had to ask the higher-ups about an alliance, he didn’t look like his position in the Church of Games was that high. Their duel was therefore pretty much a counterfeit compared to the one Isaac and Jones had, which was why Isaac could tell who would win so quickly. However, even as Isaac thought that and the umpire declared the start of the duel, the two youths on the arena moved. Edward started things off with a barrage of Black Dragon Hellfire-a dark inferno that assumed the form of a dragon, carrying a horrific presence and rolling heat as it lunged towards Jom.
Careful as ever, Jom raised his hand to summon a giant clam that firmly blocked the attack.
All at once, the sweet seafood scent of baked clam filled the air.
Then, several tentacles shot out of the ground towards Edward.Edward reacted by swinging Happy Flamesthe tip of the staff unleashed another blaze, which soon shrank into a straight line and increased in speed just like a laser. It sliced off the tentacles with a gentle swipe, and also cut Jom’s clam shield in half!
Jom continued to summon more creatures such as walrus and sea centipedes that poured towards Edward, which he handled respectively. He promptly blasted the ground into magma, burying the sea centipedes that were pouring towards him before unleashing Black Dragon Hellfire on the walrus that was charging fiercely at him, killing it where it stood!
The two traded blows without compromise, their battle growing exceedingly fearsome and leaving the whole arena in tatters, not that it stopped their battle.
And beneath the stage, the atmosphere amongst the Players heightened at the sight of the fierce fight, with arena number seven instantly becoming the most popular arena.
Jones watched as fire and ocean beasts danced over the stage, explosions and ocean tides kicking into the air before turning around to look at Isaac, whose mouth was hanging open as well.
Surrender the match? It felt like they were about to beat each other’s brains off instead…
Even as Jones watched them trade more blows with their skills, a mysterious feeling arose in Jones’s heart just then.
“The believers of the God of Games are so cool!’