“Battle begins!”
The 5 Bandits vanished instantly as the system prompt message sounded. Bandits’ stealth skills were weakened in the battle arena, and their duration would be shortened to 10 seconds, to prevent any unexpected extension.
“Baili, Charming, chase them out. Ziliang and Gargoyle, barricade the way, Bu Yi, get behind me.” Lin Jie commanded as he stood firmly. The pure Bandit team made use of their stealth and explosion techniques to kill one of the enemies when their guard wasn’t on, before killing the rest with the advantage of strength.
Baili Changcheng grinned as he whipped up his Quicksand Sword, firing up a sandstorm, which blinded the rest. Charming Smile took this chance to set up her runes, which concentrated a chain of lightning to any plausible hiding spots! Instantly, the arena was filled with sand and lightning.
The Mechanical Gargoyle stood in the arena with its wings open, serving as an obstacle.
However, none of the Bandits could be seen even after Lin Jie activated Keen Sight. They seemed to have vanished into thin air.
“Lin Jie, look at the surrounding arena ring,” said Bu Yi softly. It was then when Lin Jie realized that the surrounding arena was expanding.
What did the Bandits plan to do?
The instant their 10-seconds Stealth Mode ended, the Bandits’ shadows flashed as they activated Gale Steps and Forced Invisibility to continue their Stealth Mode. The arena was still expanding!
Ding!
—Battle prompt message: The random battle teleportation will begin after three seconds. 3, 2, 1!
The 30-seconds limit was up! As both parties did not inflict any damage onto each other, the system entered its random teleportation mode. Ten light rays descended and instantly teleported everyone to a new position. Lin Jie was stunned as he was surrounded by Innocent Killer, Charming Smile, and Baili Changcheng, but the frail Bu Yi was nowhere to be seen!
Bu Yi appeared 40 yards away, and next to her were the 5 Bandits!
“Brothers, charge!” One of them bellowed, and four silk strings darted out from the person’s body and dragged the rest towards him. His dagger shone dangerously as it pierced towards Bu Yi!
“Contract Traction!” Lin Jie was stunned as this was a skill that could teleport its target towards the host. ‘So this was their tactic!’ They made use of the arena’s random teleportation ability to forcefully separate their targets and slay any left out targets.
The five daggers were like the reaper’s sickle as they shot towards Bu Yi’s back!
Bu Yi blinked as it wasn’t difficult for her to escape from this predicament despite Ascetic Priests’ lack of self-protecting measures. She only added a Power Word Shield and made no other further actions.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The five daggers landed consecutively, but they were stuck onto a black plate armor.
It turned out Lin Jie had teleported to Bu Yi using Ocean’s Heart, and the five daggers pierced into the Kiara Beast King Armor—the only broke through five pieces of Poseidon’s Scale.
“Hahaha, we admit defeat, it’s Lone Wolf after all!” As Lin Jie was about to instakill his opponent, one of the Bandits laughed and said, “Hey, hey, hey, Leader Lone Wolf, don’t be rash. We have 20% higher chances of getting a gift bag if we admit defeat. Brothers, hurry, retreat!”
Ding~
—”Black Cross Military admitted defeated, your team has gained 1 victory.”
Bu Yi was rendered speechless. “This, what does this mean?”
“These are just average players and have no chances of winning against us. However, they have a pretty interesting train of thought,” said Lin Jie and continued his selection.
The second round of enemies was relatively weaker than the 5 Bandits, but they charged right up the moment the competition started. They ended up getting instakilled by Charming Smile’s lightning chain, and Baili exclaimed how strong her electrocuting skills were.
The remaining battles were even easier than that second round, and they had no trouble dealing with it.
With their abilities, normal teams stood no chance against them, and the only dark horse were the Black Cross Military. However, they were unlucky enough to face Brotherhood’s elite team and were not fated with the competition.
The five rounds of battle took two hours to complete. Other than obtaining some EXP and coins, everyone received 5 [Best of the Best Preliminaries Gift Bag]. There were usually such gift bags being given out during The New Age’s events. This time, the gift bag contained EXP, potions, equipment, enhancement scrolls, and so on.
Bu Yi’s luck was pretty good as she received two pieces of ‘+4′ Equipment Enhancement Scrolls that could boost an item up by 4 levels. On the other hand, poor Lin Jie only received 5 silver coins, and it seemed like his rotten luck would never change.
At 00:00, the game’s official website posted a notice.
“Due to the number of teams that have won all five rounds in the Best Of The Best competition being more than 10, there will be an extension of the competition in the next two days. In the additional rounds of competition, the Gift Bags and rewards are the ones that will be given out during the final round. It will produce items such as Gold or even Dark Gold equipment, Rare Ingredients, Skill Books, Pet Eggs, Mounts, and other great stuff.”
The entire game grew crazy when this piece of news got out.
The additional battles still abided by the five-rounds rule. However, as the competitors this time were much stronger, it would be a much tougher fight.
At Sakura’s bar.
“I got the news you wanted.” Netherblue held a stack of documents, and carelessly drank a sip of red wine. “Why did you suddenly get me to collect the competitors’ details?” she asked.
“I just wanna see if our old friends are here to wreak havoc.” Lin Jie smiled slightly and said, “There are a total of 56 teams that made it to the additional round. If Eighteen Massacres brought the Dark Shrine members, or even ‘that’ team, we will have to be extra careful!”
“They would definitely be here, right? The Best Of The Best competition is extremely significant, and it’s rumored that it might be broadcasted on television. This is the first time The New Age is being shown to the public, The champion would definitely receive many resources, and it wouldn’t be hard to boost up the guild,” said Netherblue.
“Right, we need to get hold of our opponent’s information.” Lin Jie agreed as he focussed his attention onto the there teams.
One of them was from the Kingdom of Glory, and the members were Eighteen Massacres, Baili Xuanyuan, Baizhan Yusheng, Chaos In The Sky, as well as a Priest known as Zi Mo.
The second team was a free team, and the members were called Code 1, Code 2, and so on. That team used skills that were of the average low-grade sort, so they must have excellent manipulation techniques.
The third team was a joint team between Knight’s Glory and Vampire Capital. Very Fat and Dark Earl led it.
“Netherblue, help me check these people whose names begin with a code and give me the details on their equipment and skill set. Other than that, send Star Kill to follow that Zi Mo, and report all his movements to me,” said Lin Jie.
…
The following day, all participating teams gathered at Ragnarok.
Most of the teams were the elite teams from guilds, which were aiming for the final round’s rewards. Amongst them, some also consisted of solo mercenaries that had formed teams and entered the competition. The gift bags tempted many as it was loads better than slaying Bosses in the wild!
“Tsk, tsk, the competitors this time are much better, things are finally looking interesting.” Zheng Ziliang exclaimed excitedly, “My revamped Mechanical Gargoyle can finally unleash its real skill!”
Lin Jie laughed and said, “We cannot drop our guard and must stay alert for every round as the competitors are strong.”
Charming Smile blinked. ‘I thought that with Codename Lone Wolf’s aura, he would instakill the arena just by whipping his arms. It seems like there were some discrepancies between reality and my imagination.’
After the preliminaries, the five of them were no longer nervous as they got ready and aimed for the first place! The winning prize was up to 100,000 worth of cash, and this was considered an astounding amount for a small game event! Of course, this was only to attract those outsiders that weren’t familiar with the game. The real value laid in the gift bags!
Any Dark Gold equipment and rare pet egg would worth more than 100,000 in cash.
Ding~
—”Your team will begin the randomized allocation now. Please be prepared.”
“The competition is starting soon. Based on the number of teams now, winning four consecutive rounds will be sufficient to enter the final round,” said Lin Jie. “However, if we only win four rounds, it will be too embarrassing for us.”
“Haha, that’s right! With our team, we have to win at least five rounds!” Baili Changcheng held his sword and laughed vivaciously.
Bu Yi smiled and looked at the confident-looking Lin Jie. She kept silent but gripped her staff tight. She knew that she would be his shield at any moment in time.
“The first round has begun!”
When their opponents appeared, everyone felt the intensity of the competition. Different from the small fry, there was a significant increase in ability! The team in front of them was very strong—2 Level 44 Hunters, 2 Level 45 Bandits, and lastly, a Level 48 Druid. Their equipment was Gold, and the Druid even had a Dark Gold bladefist.
A hint of surprise flashed through their eyes as they saw their opponent, but they did not lose faith. After waiting for the system, they swarmed up immediately.
The two Bandits activated Gale Steps and bolted up in an S manner towards them! They hid in the midst of Gale Steps, and cold wind blasted as they sped up to attack the back row! The Hunters prepared their bows and a Frostbolt, and Flamebolt soared through the air! The Druid transformed into a panther, and his attacks grew ferocious.
“Hmph, want to raid the back row? Do you think that it will be that easy? Mechanical Gargoyle!”
Innocent Killer raised his right hand, and the Mechanical Gargoyle was summoned from the magic circle with its bat wings wide open. It stood in the middle of the area, just like a metal barricade.
“Summoning altar•Spirit Manipulation!”
Whoosh—
A painful croon sounded from the air as the two Bandits got out of their Stealth Mode voluntarily. Their eyes were bright red as they stabbed towards the Mechanical Gargoyle!
