Victory was at hand! Gege grinned below her black mask. Her dagger was about to touch the enemy. However, staring at Silent Acacia's eyes there was no disappointment or despair. Instead, a confident grin emerged. Gege felt a pang of doubt for a moment, but her movements didn't slow down. Her dagger was about to pierce Silent Acacia when the beast master… suddenly disappeared!
Gege trembled. Her thoughts spun. She remembered Silent Acacia's skill [Tactical Repositioning]. The young man switched places with his pet. A large, white alligator now faced Gege, its red eyes brimming with ferocity. Water gathered in Zorn's mouth and was shot instantly. Gege proved her amazing skills once again. At the very last moment she managed to interrupt her own movements and threw her body to the ground, barely dodging Zorn's attack.
[Stance -24]
However, the move was too hasty. Gege didn't manage to immediately get back on her feet. She was delayed by a single second. Yet this second was enough to cause her doom. Just as Gege recovered, she felt a sharp pain radiating from her back. Her body stiffened. She realized that Korn's claw had reached her. The battle was over…
[-6008!]
With Korn landing a hit, [Ensnaring Bite] finally triggered. An illusionary black tiger appeared, ferociously digging its sharp teeth into the assassin's leg. Another 4000HP were brutally ripped away. Gege was on her last leg, with a few hundred HP left. She glanced to her right. An arrow was coming for her, its tip gleaming in the light. A whistle of death.
There was no surprise. The arrow hit and Gege was defeated. The surroundings returned to normal as C announced the result. The combatants were allowed to see the audience again and the enormous cheers rang in their head, making them dizzy.
Gege sighed deeply, her gaze at the approaching Silent Acacia complicated. Where did she make a mistake? Was she too eager for success in the end? Lightly shaking her head, she shelved the thoughts for now since Silent Acacia arrived in front of her, reaching out his hand. The two fighters shook hands and the audience's excitement reached its peak. Suddenly the two disappeared, leaving the arena.
"Such an awesome battle!"
"Did you see the speed they were moving at? How can one's reaction be that fast?"
"Wow, I'm a hunter and I find it difficult to control a single pet. But Silent Acacia… two pets and they move perfectly in sync with him, creating a deadly trap for Gege!"
"Yeah, Silent Acacia made it look easy. But this Gege is not weak. Her ability to stick to the enemy is quite terrifying."
Not only the more casual players were amazed. Many professionals like Earthquake or Sevrance had arrived as well. They felt the pressure. The skill level of this battle was frighteningly high.
Earthquake frowned, contemplating whether he would be able to beat Gege. He felt that his chances were not low, but this was because his class was a good matchup for assassins. He would be able to keep her at a distance with wide, sweeping attacks. Otherwise… it seemed quite difficult.
Among the audience ranks Liam and his friends were cheering as well. Only after the fight did they realize how anxious they truly were. Quickstep jumped, raising her fist while cheering for her boyfriend. Cyclone showed a bright grin.
"Hehe, that Gege still has to learn a lot if she wants to master lightning. She's not on my level at all! Didn't even trigger a single paralysation."
Liam heard this and swept his eyes over his friends. He could tell that everyone thought Silent Acacia won a decisive victory. He allowed them to be happy for a few seconds before pouring cold water over their heads:
"Don't underestimate the enemy. Silent Acacia almost lost."
"Huh? Why do you say that?"
"If I'm not wrong, Gege's class is called [Reliinv's Lightning Strike], a class only available after raising one's relationship with 'Reliinv's Head Hunters'. Her ultimate skill allows her to forcefully paralyze someone she hit with three instances of lightning damage. There is no way to dodge or get out of it. And Silent Acacia got hit twice…"
Liam's words indeed dampened everyone's spirits. The match was not as one-sided as one would have thought. Indeed, one shouldn't underestimate the players of GalanTen. There was a reason for their sudden and forceful rise.
"This is valuable information. We have to treat these one versus one fights as scouting battles so we won't run into traps later."
Everyone agreed with Silver Blade. They told themselves to watch the next fight closely. They shouldn't only be concerned with winning or losing, instead they should learn from the battles. The real important fight was the team battle.
While the friends conversed among themselves, they realized that the audience stands were emptying. GalanTen had left as well. Thus, they also asked C to send them out. They reappeared in front of the arena and immediately spotted Silent Acacia surrounded by fans, struggling to deal with them all. Quickstep's eyes instantly narrowed sharply as a few bold women tried to flirt with her boyfriend.
Quickstep rushed forward and it was like a bunch of rats seeing a cat. The flirting women knew they had done something wrong and escaped in embarrassment. Quickstep snorted and dragged Silent Acacia back to the rest of the group, who were confronting GalanTen.
The mood among GalanTen was understandably low. SpireX consoled Gege for a moment before contemplating how to continue. Their team needed a win now! His eyes fell on CUwUty, who instantly understood.
With a confident grin on her face the tall woman sauntered towards the arena, her whip dangling from her arm. Her tight leather clothes attracted a lot of attention. She opened the next match and turned towards Hotpot with a laugh:
"So, who dares to fight me?"
Silent Acacia glanced at Quickstep. According to the rules he could still fight another battle. But he knew that Quickstep was rearing to give it a try. However, Quickstep remembered what Liam just said about gathering information and not underestimating the enemy. Thus, she let out a sigh and gestured Silent Acacia to go. The latter's ultimate skill was on cooldown. He was at a big disadvantage. Thus, his primary goal was forcing the opponent to reveal her moves so Quickstep could defeat her.
"You are fighting again? Boring. I thought I could experience the skills of the federation's number one. Or at least the number two…"
CUwUty let out a sigh but it failed to provoke Silent Acacia. After his first battle the young man was highly confident. He joined the battle and a moment later the two fighters appeared in the arena. The audience stands quickly filled up. The tension rose. CUwUty and Silent Acacia were isolated from the audience, their surroundings transforming into a spacious cave.
Silent Acacia scanned the battlefield. Except for a few big rocks where one could hide behind, the battlefield was quite favourable for him.
"I hope you can entertain me, just like back then!", laughed CUwUty. Silent Acacia frowned without answering. He wasn't sure what CUwUty was taking about and didn't dare to get distracted. A countdown appeared and suddenly the match started.
The whistle of an arrow rang through the dim cave, echoing from its walls. CUwUty shook her head. Her eyes took on a blazing green colour. Vines suddenly erupted from the ground, embracing the tall wood elf in a thick, thorny armour. The next moment the arrow landed.
[-6756!]
Silent Acacia wasn't happy. His opponent didn't dodge. There had to be a reason. And this reason was revealed instantly. From the thorn armour a vine suddenly shot out with a sharp, piercing tip, the speed incredible. Silent Acacia was caught off guard. The vine hit his shoulder, dealing damage of the wood element.
[-1503!]
[+501!]
A green light brimming with vitality shone from the vine, travelling back to CUwUty, healing her. Simultaneously the armour hidden below the vine armour triggered, increasing the wood elf's STR every time she received healing.
"Haha, time to play, Acacia!"
CUwUty's voice was anything but kind. She activated her skill, gripping the whip in her hand. The weapon seemingly came alive, dancing like a vicious snake. CUwUty swung it forward. The whip enlarged in the air, growing to the size of a tree trunk, slamming into the ground.
Silent Acacia saw the whip coming for him. This time it was rather easy to dodge. The whip crashed into the ground, causing cracks to permeate the rocky floor. With a thought Zorn was summoned. The white alligator gathered mana and shot a condensed sphere of water at the opponent. This time CUwUty didn't stand still, twisting her waste to avoid the attack. Silent Acacia instantly came to a conclusion. CUwUty's thorn armour wouldn't react to magic damage!
Unfortunately, Silent Acacia's means of dealing magic damage were quite limited. He could only allow Zorn to attack continuously. Yet against a player of CUwUty's calibre, the alligator's attacks seemed rather slow, easy to dodge.
However, Silent Acacia didn't mind trading physical blows. The retaliatory damage didn't pose that much of a threat. As long as they traded, Silent Acacia would take the upper hand.