Fifth match winner: Rambunctious Buttlover!
RamButt exited the stage with a casual smile, while Noble Soul however looked like he had been mentally raided. He – and the majority of the crowd – were still recovering from the earlier blows RamButt had dealt, so there wasn't much cheering.
After a few minutes, Amber managed to coordinate with the AI to inject the brains of those watching with some dopamine to get them lively again.
6th Match: Deployed Soldier vs Gentle Flower!
Deployed Soldier came up from the left, looking calm and stately as usual. He glanced at Gentle Flower who came up gracefully from the other side with a serious look.
The two faced off silently just like those that came before, pondering how to take down their opponents as efficiently as possible.
The moment Amber called for the match to begin, they both got down to it. Deployed Soldier unleashed his blade and rushed over towards Gentle Flower, looking to cut her down.
Gentle Flower simply smiled and began using her skills. She first began with Ent Guard Summon, which allowed her to call five giant treemen with ornate wooden armor, thick wooden greatswords, and a wooden tower shield onto the battlefield.
｢Name: Ent Guardian (Gentle Flower) – Major Rank monster
Level: 100
HP: 10,290,000/10,290,000｣
Deployed Soldiers eyes narrowed as he engaged these guards straight up. Trying to bypass them to attack Gentle Flower directly would be foolish and would just allow them to surround him from his back, cutting off his path of escape.
After all, in raw combat Deployed was limited compared to the others in the top 32. What gave him the chance to even be here was the Divine Sword in his hands, which he relied on for most things.
Deployed Soldier's skills were all meant for leading an army, and if he did, the buffs and maneuvers he could spring up could destroy anyone.
Alas, his army was not here, so he had to make do.
In order to give himself an edge, he immediately used one of the active skills of Purita, Speed!
｢Active 2 – Speed: This increases attack and movement speed by 300%. Duration: 10 minutes Cooldown: 7 days.｣
Immediately, Deployed Soldier's speed setting went from quick to practically the Flash, only that he did not release lighting. He maneuvered around the large and clumsy Ent Guardians with ease, slashing them repeatedly and dragging their large health pools down with hundreds of slashes per second.
Sure, 10 million HP was hard for a non-offensive class like him to reduce in 3 minutes, but if his attack speed was much faster, it suddenly became less of a problem. This was why most fellows advocated for speed over strength, as it was – in truth – unbeatable.
Gentle Flower saw that her first summon had quickly been reduced to 30% HP and paled. She hurriedly summoned her six Nature Sprites which were only there for support and defense.
Those Nature Sprites immediately formed a lifelink with the Ents and restored their HP, as well as buffed them with higher defense to that reduced Deployed Soldier's damage.
Gentle Flower did not participate by using her wood element abilities to harass Umbra's general even though she could. She was cautiously watching the battle and conserving her strength in case it came down to a 1v1.
She was wary of that skill that Deployed had used to destroy Wee Cunt, Condense, which had allowed him to bring out the combined strength of all of Draco's 360 Sword Skills as a single strike. No matter how powerful one was, that skill was a one-hit KO for sure and Deployed's trump card.
Deployed showed no chagrin at being further disadvantaged, neither did he show excitement. He remained calm and fought steadily, making use of Purita's passive to deal damage that heavily injured the Ents.
｢Passive 1 – Extreme Finesse: The user is able to maximize their swordsmanship to an extremely high degree while in possession of the sword. The speed of attacks is raised by 120% while the critical rate is increased by 60% per strike.｣
Besides the 300% speed boost, he had another 120% on top of that, not to mention that he had a 6 out of 10 chance to get a critical with EVERY attack he made.
Gentle Flower gritted her teeth. Even with the six Nature Sprites working overtime to heal and protect the five Ent Guards, they were still being overwhelmed with ease.
As such, Gentle Flower used one of her transformations skills so she too could provide support.
｢Nymph Form – Active skill
Effect: Transform into a Wood Nymph, mildly increasing your attributes and granting you great healing abilities at the cost of offensive ones.
Duration: 10 minutes.
Cooldown: 1 hour.｣
Gentle Flower went from a pretty young lass wearing a lovely sundress to a sensual beauty that had her various parts covered by some measly vines and leaves. Immediately, all male onlookers 'suffered' nosebleeds while some fellows pitched tents.
They weren't overreacting, it was the power of a Nypmh. In this case, a Dryad. If a Dryad captured you today and showed you what the meaning of pleasure was, you'd probably never look at a human woman again.
Gentle Flower showed no embarrassment by displaying her skin like this. After all, it was part of the transformation, and she had long come to terms with it.
She would never admit to it, but she somewhat enjoyed this new sensation of having the other sex stare at her with raw sexual attraction, as she had mostly attracted attention through her adept mind and ethereal nature.
Unfortunately for her, Deployed was not phased by her looks as he continued his work. In fact, he jumped back and made use of Purita's second passive to finish the job.
Immediately, sword lights were created from the blade that spread over the entire arena, attacking the Nature Sprites directly and destroying them in one hit.
Not even Gentle Flower could save them at this time as her Nature Sprites were basically made of glass metaphorically. Without their buffs from the Nature Sprites, the Great Commander whaled on the Ent Guards and managed to kill two before Gentle Flower could even cast her first healing spell.
The Naturalist quickly used many buffs and healing over time abilities on the three remaining Ent Guards in order to fortify them, but her face remained grim. She realized that the tempo and control of the battle was all in her opponent's hands.
Both herself and Deployed were people who liked to watch the flow of battle and maintain control at all times with a steady head. While Gentle Flower did this by hanging back and observing, then contributing at the opportune moment, Deployed did this while in the midst of battle.
That very nature had gone against her here, especially with Deployed being too fast for her to do anything about it. As such, Gentle Flower stopped holding back and began using her Wood Element abilities in tandem with her Ent Guards.
She conjured a forest of vines around her, having them lash out towards Deployed Soldier and chased him around. Deployed dodged them where he could and cut down some of the approaching vines at other times, but Gentle Flower kept spawning more without holding back.
Now it was Deployed Soldier's turn to frown as he realized that she was going all out, which was extremely unfavorable to him. Having revealed his trump in the earlier round Gentle Flower was surreptitiously guarding against it.
As such, he needed to create an opening. Thinking quickly, Deployed first spun around and created a sword light that slashed around him at a 360-degree angle, clearing all vines and forcing the Ent Guards back.
He then raised his sword up and slashed down towards Gentle Flower rapidly, creating many sword lights within a second that covered the entirety of her section of the stage.
Gentle Flower seemed to have predicted such an attack as she calmly created many wooden walls before her that were even thicker than oak trees, the sword's lights crashing onto them without being able to breakthrough.
Deployed's eyes sharped, using the frame of time where Gentle Flower had covered herself and blocked her own eyesight top rush at one of the Ent Guards and strike at its head as fast as he could burning stamina crazily.
As such, by the time Gentle Flower lowered her defense, she was shocked to see that one Ent Guard had fallen. Just as she was about to call the vines to continue the harassment, Deployed swung hundreds of blows at her again.
She could only grit her teeth and defend herself fully, because leaving even the slightest opening would see her struck and her HP depleted. The Great Commander repeated this strategy to take down another Ent Guard, leaving only one remaining on the field.
At this point, Gentle Flower thoroughly understood his plan, yet she was helpless to do anything against it. Deployed had factored in her tactical mind when coming up with this countermeasure, so he created a method that would leave Gentle Flower completely unable to react.
It was a dead-end for her. She couldn't let his strikes hit her now as it would create a chance for him to use his Condense skill, but if all the Ents died, she would be left to face his attacks head-on anyway.
It was a lose-lose for her.
Having taken down the final Ent Guard, he turned to face her with a calm and neutral glance, no longer in any hurry. Gentle Flower had never felt so frustrated in her life dealing with someone and that caused her to feel bitter at being outplayed.
"…I concede defeat." She admitted tiredly.
A normal member of Umbra would fight to the bitter death, then again, they weren't exactly known and feared for their intellect, now were they?
Gentle Flower had calculated all sorts of outcomes, yet in none of them had she been able to win.
If she decided to go all-out defense, Deployed could use the almighty Condense to destroy everything she could put up and end her life at once. If she tried to pressure him, his speed would allow him to bypass anything she could use to reach her, not to mention his long-range sword lights.
It had never been her style to fight battles she stood no chance at winning.
Deployed Soldier sheathed his sword and nodded, walking over to the aggrieved Gentle Flower. He then patted her on her shoulder, much to her surprise, with a hint of respect in his eyes.
"Excellent. Your mind is wonderful and vibrant, you have my thanks for letting me enjoy such a fine battle!" Deployed Soldier admitted wholeheartedly as he smiled.
Wow, Deployed Soldier actually smiled!
Gentle Flower was left unable to say anything as she swallowed heavily. When the core member turned around and walked away calmly, her cheeks flushed a little as she couldn't help but think back to that smile he had shown her.
Sixth match winner: Deployed Soldier!
The Canadians sighed but did not blame Gentle Flower. After all, they could see more about the battle and each person's abilities, so they knew that the Naturalist had been cornered even though she had kept a trump card to deal with Deployed.
Unfortunately, that the trump card had not been enough to deal with him as a whole.
7th Match: Loving Aunt vs Eye Patch (Boyd)!
Loving Aunt floated onto the stage and smiled playfully towards Boyd who grimaced as he climbed up from the right. He knew he was facing a tough opponent today, especially since she was the one who took out his wife.
As much as he'd love to proclaim here and now that he would get revenge, it would be hard dealing with her bloodline and her toxic abilities. The Five General member sighed and got ready to fight.
When Amber called for the match to begin, Boyd roared and went all out, activating his Legendary Class Berserk skill.
｢Berserk – Active skill
Effect: Unleash all pent-up rage and anger, throwing one's consciousness into the abyss as they let their inner monster run wild. Damage, defense, and HP are increased by 110%.
Duration: 20 minutes
Cooldown: 20 hours.｣
Immediately, a red aura expanded around Boyd as his eye glazed over in madness and his body bulked. Berserk wiped the rationality of a person even as it gave them great power, otherwise they would become too powerful.
However, the worst occurred. Boyd's glazed-over eyes regained sanity and he still maintained his berserk power thanks to one of his Rank 3 passives that he had acquired recently.
Loving Aunt on the other side lost her playfulness and used two of her skills she hadn't deigned to use against Shani.
｢Acid Rain – Active skill
Effect: Spew corrosive acid into the air, turning it into a rain of poison that pours over the area of 3 miles around the user.
Duration: 1.5 minutes
Cooldown: 20 hours.｣
｢Toxic Cloud – Active skill
Effect: Create a cloud of noxious gas that spreads over an area of 3 miles around the user, hampering, and harming all enemies within. This deals 5% poison damage per second.
Duration: 30 minutes
Cooldown: 20 hours.｣
These two skills were utterly terrible, in that they instantly took effect unlike Loving Aunt's passives which were more powerful. Immediately, the entire arena got filled with green raindrops that melted the floor wherever they touched it, covering it with a green mist that made onlooker clench their buttcheeks.
They felt like taking one whiff of that would be enough for them to visit the deity they believed in.
Boyd, who was subject to this, could attest that it wasn't a very good feeling. However, the fellow knew he didn't have time to play around. The fact that Loving Aunt had used these skills meant that she was worried about upsets and wanted to end the battle fast.
She also didn't dare to summon her Blue Water Adder as it would just be sending it to death against someone with Boyd's power.
Even though the Maverick was taking damage, he was also become significantly stronger, much to Loving Aunt's chagrin and Boyd's pleasure. This was due to his Bide skill which allowed him to become stronger the more damage he took in battle.
｢Bide – Passive skill
Effect: The User accumulates damage received from enemies to increase their own damage through built-up rage. The threshold is 130% damage increase per combat encounter.｣
With this, Boyd knew that his strikes could end Loving Aunt quickly, at least if he could get a hit, and the Enchantress sensed this as well. As such, she quickly used her Advanced Transformation Technique to adopt the scales of her Blue Water Adder.
As for Boyd, he simply swung his two axes and charged at Loving Aunt like a behemoth, striking her with both of them cruelly. The Enchantress was sent flying to the side, digging a groove in the arena floor.
She spat out a thick wad of blood and lost 30% of her HP, yet she had survived. Boyd though, was rapidly losing health with each second, so he couldn't allow a single pause in the fight.
He rushed over once again and aimed to smash Loving Aunt into the arena and cut her into half. However, Loving Aunt desperately used her two passive skills to try and salvage an opening for herself.
｢Extreme Attraction – Passive skill
Effect: The User exudes an endless amount of pheromones, enthralling sentient, and non-sentient beings alike. Enemies affected hesitate to attack the User.｣
｢Beauty Trap – Passive skill
Effect: You are able to mark those who have been affected with your pheromones and possess carnal desire towards you. Such targets suffer 20% more damage from you while you suffer 20% less damage from them.｣
With these two, Loving Aunt managed to force Boyd to pause for a split second due to their compound effect. Boyd was not attracted to her, but he could not negate the mental effect of the passive, not at this range.
Seeing that she had a chance, Loving Aunt went all out and immediately fired a jet of high-pressure water from her mouth, blowing a hole through Boyd's chest and destroying his heart.
Boyd shook off the effect of the passive and still struck down to hit Loving Aunt, almost bisecting her anyway. She was saved due to Beauty Trap lowering his damage output, allowing her to come out with 3% HP remaining.
Boyd however, struggled to continue moving without a heart. His Berserk skill was the only reason he was still alive, but there was little one could do with a huge hole in their chest area.
Boyd staggered forward and fell to his knee, coughing blood before the red aura around him fluctuated on and off. Loving Aunt, who was suffering in a crater, barely managed to raise her upper body as she was paralyzed from the waist down thanks to almost being split into two.
She gazed at Boyd who still had yet to fall and tsked in her mind that her darling nephew had really found some monsters to join his guild. However, she could not allow herself to be defeated here, so she mustered what energy she had to use one of her minor poison skills called Poison Spray, which was something Draco gave her.
It dealt negligible damage as it was a Rare Rank skill – at least when compared to Legendary skills of course – but it was enough to seal the deal.
The crowd were shocked, unable to even comment at how fast that battle had been compared to those that came before. Between two powerhouses with such vastly different skillsets, things had been decided in almost an instant!
Loving Aunt sighed with relief and appeared at the side of the stage, fully healed. She stretched her legs and jumped a bit to make sure they were fine. This had the effect of making her huge chest which surpassed Sublime bounce vigorously, many eyes following its movement religiously.
Boyd himself appeared hale and hearty by the side, scratching his head as he frowned. Shani patted him on the back, making her husband feel much better instantly.
He might be the only member of the Five Generals not to advance, but that was because he met one of the two strongest PVP fighters in the guild.
To his credit, he almost won!
