Chapter 59 |
“Hiss, that speed is a bit outrageous! Is he a warrior or an assassin?”
Baruk practically pressed his entire bear face against the crystal window of the VIP room, his black eyes rapidly turning as they followed the red streak moving across the arena.
“Of course he’s a warrior. An assassin wouldn’t charge around so openly like that.”
Mick’s attention, meanwhile, was on finding Alyxia. This merfolk priestess’s concealment ability was truly strong.
Faced with such a terrifying offensive, she had not revealed the slightest flaw. He believed that if it were him in her place, he absolutely would not have been able to handle it so effortlessly.
And on the arena, the situation was quietly beginning to change.
As Ia kept moving and attacking at high speed, a large amount of mist gradually spread across the arena, and a thin layer of frost formed over the smooth arena floor.
Although he still had not managed to force his opponent out, Ia was not anxious either. Magic-type professions indeed had a certain advantage against warrior-type professions, but that was only when it came to single-class professionals.
For professionals who possessed multiple classes, battle was not such a simple matter of direct countering.
Right now, he looked like a headless fly crashing around everywhere, but in truth he was secretly leaving shadow marks behind. While the other party was stalling for time, was that not equally giving him the chance to set up his own arrangement?
In the end, what they were competing over was each side’s control over setup and timing.
Ia was actually rather helpless. As a Berserker, he truly hated these kinds of setups, but on an arena stage, if he wanted to fight those detestable mages, then he had no choice but to play tricks and wage psychological warfare.
They had forcibly turned him, a hot-blooded Berserker, into a swift Scimitar Hunter.
On the other side, Alyxia, floating in midair, was using her merfolk racial talent to easily blend into the mist.
As long as she was not directly hit, she would not leave her concealed state.
Against opponents who did not possess large-scale destructive power, she had an innate advantage.
She naturally had information on Ia. He was a very strong opponent.
If she attacked head-on, her advantage was very small. His resistance to spells and his extremely high agility would let him quickly close in and force her into close combat. At that point, she would definitely lose.
But his weaknesses were just as obvious as his strengths. He happened to lack large-area killing power, and he also lacked the ability to remain airborne.
That gave her plenty of time and space to set up her own arrangement.
Her strategy was also very simple: freeze the entire arena!
The two Grandmasters were both meticulously laying their plans, but the audience was finding it more and more boring to watch.
They had thought they would get to see an intense and exciting visual feast of magic blasting a warrior.
Instead, all they could see was a red streak crashing around everywhere within increasingly dense mist.
Fortunately, this situation did not last too long.
As more and more shadow marks were left behind, and the links formed between them grew clearer, Ia had already judged Alyxia’s possible hiding position.
His qi and blood suddenly surged, the scales all over his body glowing with dark-red bloody light, and the scimitar in his hand also turned crimson, releasing astonishing heat waves! The thick frost covering his body instantly evaporated.
Boom!
He stomped fiercely onto the already frozen arena floor, and the hard ice layer exploded into a giant crater! Using that violent recoil, he himself shot across the arena like a red meteor and slammed headfirst into the protective array!
Dong!
The pale golden protective array shook violently from the impact, rippling with massive rings of waves. A shocked cry of alarm instantly rose from the spectator stands.
“Found you!”
Ia stomped fiercely against the protective array again and shot off in another direction.
Alyxia had been prepared for Ia’s sudden burst of speed, but she had not expected him to lock onto her position with such precision.
Fortunately, the arena was already completely shrouded in cold mist. Alyxia’s two-meter-long white sea-vine staff spun once clockwise in her palm.
In an instant, the cold mist also began turning over like surging giant waves.
Ia, who was charging forward at high speed, was directly carried off his original trajectory by the cold mist, narrowly sliding past Alyxia from the side.
Before he could crash into the protective array, countless icy blades condensed out of the cold mist and shot toward him like specks of freezing light.
Rumble rumble rumble rumble!!!
The protective array rippled like water struck by hail, sending up countless waves. Dense dots of light flashed nonstop, dazzling the audience and making their eyes spin.
At the center of the attack, Ia took the full brunt of this round of blows head-on!
That hit had not been light. Even his temper-forged scales had been shattered in many places, and the armor on his body had become tattered and broken.
Fortunately, it did not affect his movement. He stomped hard on the array again and charged straight at Alyxia, who had changed her concealed position.
This time, he directly drew on all his power and used the Berserker skill “Whirlwind.” He knew this was his final chance. If things dragged on any longer, it would be very difficult for him to turn the tide.
Damn it all that he had no flying skill, otherwise how could he be put in such a passive position!
Alyxia could also tell that her opponent had completely confirmed the location of her concealment, so she stopped hiding.
Faced with Ia, who was charging in like a tornado carrying countless wind blades,
Alyxia spun her staff once more, but this time, instead of stirring the cold mist, she rapidly pulled it all toward herself. In the blink of an eye, a giant sphere of ice appeared before everyone’s eyes.
Facing this giant ice ball, Ia was cursing wildly in his heart. Did she have to be this shameless!!!
But the arrow was already on the string and had to be loosed. Ia concentrated his power into his scimitar and hacked viciously down onto the ice sphere.
Crack——Boom!
A giant fissure split all the way across the ice sphere, and he had actually cut it open!
But Ia felt not the slightest joy. This merfolk was being completely unreasonable. It felt as though she could move freely through ice as if she were some kind of elemental lifeform. It was absolutely disgusting!
Fortunately, that strike had also exhausted the cold mist on the arena, and the other party could no longer easily conceal herself again.
The only problem was that his own physical stamina had been consumed too heavily. He had to finish this quickly!
The scimitar sliced across his arm. The somewhat dimmed blade was reactivated by fresh blood, once more turning into a dazzling crimson. In the next instant, the red streak cut across the arena again.
Naturally, Alyxia was not stupid enough to confront him head-on, nor was there any need to waste what little magic power she had left. Although the cold mist was gone, the arena was covered everywhere with ice surfaces and massive chunks of ice.
So in the audience’s eyes, the scene became one of Ia madly chopping apart one ice block after another.
After smashing who knew how many ice blocks, with darkness swimming before his eyes, Ia finally heard Alyxia’s voice, as beautiful and ethereal as empty music:
“I concede.”
Alyxia had truly reached her limit as well. She did not know how much longer this lizardman could keep swinging, but she did not want to gamble on it either. In any case, she was still young. Her purpose in entering this tournament was to gain combat experience, so there was no need to really fight to the bitter end.
Besides, the tournament used a points system. As long as she won the next two matches, she would still have a chance to make it into the finals.
Especially with this lizardman’s current condition making her uneasy. If he really failed to stop himself in time, she might genuinely end up seriously injured.
At that point, those clansmen who had come with her would probably start jumping around and crying again.
“Tide Whisperer——Alyxia·Nash concedes! Scimitar Hunter——Ia·Zakarias wins!”
Elder Kent’s voice rang out at exactly the right moment, echoing throughout the entire arena.
“Let us offer our warmest applause to these two warriors, who have presented us with such a magnificent duel!”