Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
—
“By the way, Mu Ningxue hadn’t recovered yet?” Feng Li asked Song He.
Song He shook his head and said, “It seems like she’s still too weak. I’m afraid she won’t be able to take part in the match.”
“Without her, the overall strength of our team will drop significantly,” Feng Li sighed.
“What does it matter? Mu Tingying’s Ice Magic isn’t any weaker than hers. Besides, Mu Tingying also has a Soul-grade Ice Seed!” Mu Gong immediately spoke up.
Feng Li was left utterly speechless by Mu Gong’s words. Even someone as dumb as a pig could tell the great difference between Mu Tingying and Mu Ningxue. It was unnecessary for the man to try and bring attention to the person he was supporting.
—
The finals had begun. The first, second, and third matches had been spectacular. The teams would no longer conserve their strength in the finals, since they were up against strong opponents now. The students were clearly stronger than their performances in the knockout round and the treasure hunt. The resources that the students had acquired during the treasure hunt played an important role too, as those with outstanding loot could easily distance themselves from the rest of the participants!
America was going up against Greece. Greece was an ancient country of magic, and was also a country that had a sacred organization, the Parthenon Temple. Greece had always been a strong country, and was one of the few countries that could take on America.
The match went on for quite a long time. Even the three members that were substituted into the match had outstanding performances that left the spectators across the world in awe. The students that were around the same age as the participants were left in shame, as most of them were still stuck in the Basic and Intermediate Levels!
In the end, the Greece team beat the American team and was placed in the winner bracket.
Following that was a match between England and France. There was quite an obvious gap between the strength of the two European countries. England had a great advantage, and the captain of the English team, Zorro was started applying great pressure to the French team with only his Summoning Element!
Many people were totally impressed by Zorro after watching the match. In addition to that, some members of the English team even teased that the Summoning Element was not Zorro’s strongest Element. He still had two other Elements that he was still keeping a secret. The man was full of mysteries!
England went into the winner bracket, while France was placed in the loser bracket.
The third match was a showdown between Canada and Egypt. The two countries were not particularly strong, but the Egyptian team was abused their Undead Element as part of their strategy to wear their opponents out. After a long match, to everyone’s utter surprise, they managed to defeat Canada.
Many people thought Egypt was only lucky to make it to the second round, since they were not up against any of the strong countries in the first round. However, their result in the treasure hunt was not bad, either.
The people thought the Egyptian team would be crushed during the finals, yet they had surprisingly defeated their first opponent and made it to the winner bracket. The people of Egypt felt like breaking out in tears!
Meanwhile, the Canadian team seemed to have underestimated their opponent, and the threat posed by Egypt’s Undead Element. They did not try and end the match as quickly as they could, allowing the Egyptian team to stack up their armies of undead and secure the victory!
A team battle was not just a test to the participants’ strength, but required synergy between the members, and their ability to react according to the situation into account too. The fact that the Egyptian team was able to defeat the Canadian team that was believed to be stronger highlighted the importance of teamwork and strategy!
—
“To be honest, we aren’t really confident in fighting Germany. We would rather fight Canada or Greece. It feels like we know nothing about the German team. They have really done a great job of keeping their information a secret. The tournament has been going on for quite a while, yet they didn’t really expose much about their team,” Jiang Yu said.
Going up against an unknown enemy was the trickiest, since the key members of the Chinese team had basically exposed their strength in the previous matches, allowing their opponents to learn more about them.
On the other hand, the German team did not really have any member that was outstanding in particular, during the knockout round or the treasure hunt. That was the reason why the German team was scary, as they had managed to come so far without exposing much information about themselves!
“Mo Fan, you’ll be on standby first, watch the match closely,” Feng Li said to Mo Fan.
“Sure, I’m happy to show up in the end,” Mo Fan did not seem too bothered by the arrangement. It simply meant he was the ace on the team.
That being said, Mo Fan was aware that he had shown too much of his strength during the treasure hunt. He was also ranked fifth among all the participants, so the enemy team must have done their homework. If he was among the starting members, they would surely pick on him!
“Ai Jiangtu, you will take charge of the match!” Feng Li said.
Ai Jiangtu nodded.
The Chinese team could not afford to keep Ai Jiangtu on the bench. Without him, the team would be crushed in an instant, and it was unlikely that he could turn the tables by joining the match late.
“Mu Tingying, you’ll be manipulating the environment,” Feng Li said.
Mu Tingying’s eyes glittered. She was finally given a chance to perform. Her Thistles Ice had improved recently too, and it was surely going to bring her some attention.
“Zhao Manyan, you’ll start first too,” Feng Li hesitated for a moment, before choosing Zhao Manyan as one of the starting members.
Zhao Manyan was fairly shocked. After all, many people simply assumed he was the weakest on the team.
“Sure, advisor!” Zhao Manyan responded confidently.
“Their team has a strong destructive Mage, be prepared,” Feng Li said.
The only information they had on the German team was about the destructive Mage Reed, who was included in the ranking. His primary Element was Fire, secondary was Lightning, and tertiary was Space. All three Elements had outstanding offensive ability, and each of his spells could easily bring destruction upon the place. The reason he was ranked in front of Mo Fan was because of his Innate Talent, which further strengthened his destructive Spells.
“Jiang Shaoxu, you’ll focus on protecting the team and harassing the enemy with your Psychic Element.
“Nanyu, you’ll disrupt the enemy and help the team as an overseer.”
—
Someone quickly voiced their doubts as soon as the starting members were decided.
Clearly, the formation was not really good at attacking. Both Zhao Manyan and Jiang Shaoxu were typical supportive and defensive Mages. Zhao Manyan was good at elemental defense, while Jiang Shaoxu was good at spiritual defense. However, they were not particularly great at offense.
Nanyu’s Sound Element was good for attacking, but her secondary Water Element, and her tertiary Plant Element, were not really that useful in attacking.
The only members with offensive Elements were Ai Jiangtu and Mu Tingying, yet the destructive Lightning and Fire Elements were not really their strengths.
“We don’t know much about the German team. It’s better to focus on our defense at the start of the match, instead of falling into their trap. With a strong defense, they will have to expose more when trying to break through our defense. We’ll then make adjustments accordingly, and the match will be easier for us,” Feng Li defended his choices.
Everyone agreed with the advisor. The Egyptian team had won against the Canadian team because they kept focusing on their defense and dragged the match out. The defense of their current formation was fairly outstanding; even if the enemy had three destructive Mages, they would still have a hard time breaking down their defense!
—
“Han Ji, didn’t you say you had something to announce to the people of the country?” Pang Lai asked after recalling something.
“There’s no rush for that. I’ll announce it when Mo Fan is up,” Han Ji replied.
“It seems like you were invited as a special guest by the commentators for the match. Are you planning to say it then?” Pang Lai asked.
“Yeah, it’s something that the world should know about, but we just kept dragging it out until now.”
“I still don’t understand why you demanded that the chairman’s secretary Zu Huiyin apologize to Mo Fan,” Pang Lai murmured.
Han Ji had only discussed the matter related to Mo Fan with Chairman Shao Zheng, and the chairman had agreed to make it public, too. Pang Lai and the others could not hear what they were discussing…
“You will understand soon enough. Zu Huiyin has been crossing the line lately, abusing her influence to coax people to side with her. It’s time to teach her a lesson,” Han Ji replied.
Pang Lai was utterly confused. He said, “I have no idea what lesson you have in mind, but I’m afraid some people have purposely spread Zu Huiyin’s comments on Mo Fan’s attitude around. Mo Fan has been a hot topic among the people recently. Even though what he did during the treasure hunt isn’t going against the rules, it’s not really the right way either. Besides, with the Lu Clan manipulating things behind the scenes, they will only twist the truth even further.”
“They are only asking for trouble!” Han Ji said.
—
—
The five members of the German team were in position.
The person leading them was the destructive Mage named Reed. His attire was rather strange. He was wearing a red bandanna on his head, and an outfit with purple-golden decorative designs and silver-white squares. His outfit seemed to be hinting at what kind of a Mage he was.
Despite his bright outfit, he had a stiff expression, as if he had nothing left to live for as soon as he stepped onto the stage.
—
“So that’s Reed, the third-ranked student. I heard that many participants have failed to resist a single Advanced Spell from him!” The spectators were already discussing things.
“I saw it clearly during the treasure hunt! It was a representative of the Japanese team named Akira Matsuki. This man defeated him with a single spell, shocking everyone back then!”
“I saw it too! The scene switches to somewhere else right after that, but I will never forget it. I wonder how he did that?!”
“Speaking of which, it doesn’t seem like the Chinese team has sent the Fan Xue Bandit Group in. Can the others really stand a chance against the German team?”
—
The students proceeded to take their positions. The two teams were totally unaware of their enemy’s formation prior to the start of the match. Only the spectators knew who the participants were.
The stage of every match in the finals was different. The stage of the current match was covered in golden sand, with an abnormal wind blowing the sand into the air at times!
