Chapter 221 – Strength of the Bull
Nie Yan and Sleepy Fox headed up to the viewing balcony along with their experts, while the players streamed into the arena below. They would fight however they wished to. An endless string of one-on-one bouts of single combat would end up taking forever, and there was plenty of space available in the open area. It made more sense to have everyone fight in whatever way they deemed appropriate, be it single or group combat.
Nie Yan and Sleepy Fox chatted as they watched the fighting below.
Nie Yan had given Resplendent Bladelight a Level 30 Gold one-handed sword with a life-steal property, one that Tang Yao had just recently obtained while grinding. Although Bladelight’s attack power wasn’t as overwhelming as his defense or enough for him, it was considered one of the highest in the game. Especially after factoring in the fact that he was four or five levels higher than his opponents, every slash from his sword would end up dealing massive damage. It was a shame that Nie Yan couldn’t trade the Chapter of Courage around and lend it to Resplendent Bladelight. With the Chapter of Courage, he’d be able to toy with these players from Holy Empire.
Nie Yan continued his idle conversation with Sleepy Fox for a short time before finally suggesting, “How about we have Resplendent Bladelight spar with your people for a bit?”
An awkward expression flitted across Sleepy Fox’s face before he protested, “Nie Yan, are you trying to bully us? Just look at Bladelight’s level! And his equipment! You want my subordinates to line up and die?”
“How about you send out ten players against him?” Nie Yan countered. Bladelight would be hard-pressed in this battle. Nie Yan didn’t know if Bladelight could actually defeat ten elites from Holy Empire.
Sleepy Fox started before asking, “You want him to fight in a 10 vs.1 battle?” Is it even possible? In this arena, with such limited space, no player of any class should be able to take out ten other players around their level. This Resplendent Bladelight is only a Level 30 Fighter, not some Level 40 or 50 monstrosity.
“He loses neither equipment nor experience from dying in the arena, so why not?” Nie Yan said as he laughed. Despite his confidence in Bladelight’s ability, it wouldn’t be proper to brag excessively.
Sleepy Fox stared oddly at Nie Yan for quite some time. After realizing that the other was actually serious about this, he nodded in consent, “Alright.”
Sleepy Fox began picking out a few of his subordinates. Eternal Phoenix and Battle Fervor obviously couldn’t go up, because sending his best to participate in a 10 vs. 1 fight would be a sign of weakness. Everyone else was roughly on the same skill level, so he casually chose ten of the stronger players at his disposal.
Ten players from Holy Empire, five Berserkers and five Mages, made their way into the arena after Sleepy Fox called them out. The classes of the players he picked were all solo-focused, deliberately choosing not to put a support class like a Priest into the group. After all, this was the arena! Sending a group of ten players that included a Priest just to deal with a single person was beyond bullying. That would absolutely be a team capable of fighting bosses in the wild! A team composed of five Berserkers and five Mages would be more than enough to make Resplendent Bladelight suffer.
The ten players, on the other hand, thought their leader sent them out to engage in battle with an opposing team, so they began preparing accordingly.
Nie Yan said to Bladelight, “They’re already in place. You should go over too.”
Resplendent Bladelight nodded and started walking. As the Holy Empire players saw him making a move, their hearts all tightened. They were all painfully aware that none of them could beat him in a duel.
Here, in this arena, Bladelight was invincible! He stood tall, towering over the area in a sturdy-looking suit of metallic armor, a gleaming Silver shield on his left arm and a glimmering Gold sword held aloft in his right hand. He radiated an aura of oppressive domination. No one knew who his opponent would be.
“Boss Bladelight went up!”
Several of the players from Asskickers United let out pent-up sighs of longing that couldn’t be held back anymore as they watched him. Resplendent Bladelight, in his Everlasting Set, was truly unmatchable, and this was only the Everlasting Silver Set. If they could get their hands on, and equip, the Gold set or even the Dark Gold version that would be a dream come true!
Unfortunately, the set Resplendent Bladelight was wearing wasn’t completely in its final form. If he could socket a bunch of good gems into the armor, Resplendent Bladelight’s stats would significantly increase. Bladelight gallantly threw himself into the arena, bounding over the enclosure and directly opposite to the ten players in the battlegrounds.
Seeing that Bladelight was now looking intently at them, the ten Holy Empire players tensed up. If the first player to enter was this powerful, how could they possibly stand a chance in this team fight? However, even after waiting for a while, no one else looked like they were coming up. The players from Holy Empire couldn’t help but look at each other doubtfully.
Sleepy Fox looked at the players he had picked. In line were Ruined Maple, Reflected Crane, Windswept Clouds, and several other players. Although they weren’t the top elites of Holy Empire, they were still excellent players.
“You may begin,” Sleepy Fox proclaimed. He really did want to see just how strong Resplendent Bladelight was.
Just him alone? The ten Holy Empire elites were stunned. Even if he’s ridiculously overpowered, that shouldn’t be enough to take on all ten of us, right?
With a full ten players on one side and only a lone powerhouse on the other, this unbelievable matchup suddenly drew the attention of everyone else. An almost incomprehensible line had just been uttered. Resplendent Bladelight was going to fight one on ten?
“Begin,” Bladelight repeated. His deep voice caused his words to carry a majestic air.
After seeing that Resplendent Bladelight actually intended to fight the ten of them on his own, the Holy Empire players looked at each other and split up, surrounding him from all sides.
“Out of respect for your prowess, we won’t hold back,” warned Reflected Crane. Although it was a stretch for a peak expert like Resplendent Bladelight to take on ten players at once, it wouldn’t be much of a problem for him to take out four or five of them.
“Whatever you have, throw it at me. Let’s start!” Bladelight answered them by raising his sizeable sword.
Charge!
Opening the fight with a Charge, Bladelight blitzed towards one of his opponents. He needed to take out a couple of his opponents as quickly as he could to weaken his opponents from the onset. After all, health potions and other such consumables were unusable in the arena. His opponents could potentially fight him into a stalemate and slowly chip his health down to zero.
Seeing that Resplendent Bladelight was charging towards him, the Berserker Ruined Maple let out his own battle cry as he also rushed forward.
The other four Berserkers moved around Bladelight, working together to flank him. They moved into a classic combat formation, composed of five Berserkers in a circle of slaughter.
Bladelight himself also understood the ramifications of being surrounded by a circle of Berserkers. Once he was caught in their attacks, he would be headed straight to his death!
Charge!
Resplendent Bladelight roared as he suddenly used another skill. Holding his heavy shield in front of him, he rammed forward like a heavy tank.
Ruined Maple hadn’t expected Bladelight to suddenly cancel his Charge and activate Shield Bash. Unfortunately, it was already too late to react. The sturdy shield was about to slam into him. As shields had a blocking property, he knew that his attack wouldn’t do anything. Instead, he hastily tried to move his sword into a defensive position. Before he could, however, the shield smashed into his body with a crash. Ruined Maple was sent flying by the enormous force.
The four Berserkers had been late by just a step, but Bladelight had already escaped their encirclement. Instead, he rushed straight for the Mages behind, locking in on an Arcane Mage.
Each of the Mages produced flashes of light as they cast spell after spell. Every single one was a crowd control spell.
Repel!
The Arcane Mage quickly cast a Repel, trying to stop Bladelight’s onslaught. With a wave of his staff, he began casting the spell. Unfortunately, Bladelight was able to read the gestures and predict what spell was coming.
Strength of the Bull!
Bladelight’s muscles bulged out explosively, and his aura began to rapidly climb. With domineering momentum, he ignored the effects of Repel and rammed into the Arcane Mage. After activating Strength of the Bull, he wouldn’t have to fear mind magic, repels, and binds, and the effects of all Elementalist crowd control spells would be greatly reduced.
「Bang! Bang! Bang!」A hail of icicles fell from the sky and covered Bladelight in a layer of frost.
Although Bladelight was somewhat slowed, he was still able to rely on his unparalleled strength to break free of the ice with a Charge.
That Arcane Mage didn’t expect Bladelight to be able to predict his Repel in advance just from the movement of his staff and counter by activating Strength of the Bull.
Bladelight’s charging speed was quite fast. It basically gave him no time to react.
The Arcane Mage raised his feet in preparation to run. He waved his staff and was just about to buff himself with Gale to make a quick retreat.
However, Bladelight let out an angry roar and slashed down on the Arcane Mage with Tendon Break, incapacitating him. A damage value displaying over 300 floated up above the Arcane Mage’s head.
「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Several spells bombarded Bladelight’s body. A string of 30s floated up above his head. Some of the spells barely dealt a little over 20 damage.
“Shit! Why are we doing so little damage!?”
These Mages from Holy Empire didn’t expect themselves to deal so little damage. Compared to the single slash from Bladelight which dealt over 300 damage, it was practically like the difference between heaven and earth!
Bladelight endured the attacks of the four other Mages, and with a Divine Strike, he sent the Arcane Mage flying
The Arcane Mage fell limply to the ground, never to get up again.
“One down!” Bladelight coldly announced. Without pause, he rushed toward another Mage.
A Berserker charged up from behind Bladelight, about to intercept him. In the next moment, it seemed the two were going to collide. However, Bladelight raised the heavy shield in his left hand, then lightly swept out with his left foot.
It was a trip!
The Berserker’s leg was hooked, but his body couldn’t stop the powerful momentum. Combined with the fact that he had missed his attack, he ended falling to the ground with a loud crash and slid more than three meters.
After evading the Berserker, Bladelight activated a Charge of his own and rushed toward a nearby Mage.
Everyone was looking on with foolish expressions. Those who could proficiently use the trip action were very few. The trip Bladelight pulled off just a moment ago was practically perfect! Whether in timing or grasp of the opponent’s movements, he wasn’t lacking in any respect! In a short period of time, he was able to use a simple trip action to temporarily incapacitate the charging Berserker who had caught up to him by making the opponent take a heavy fall.
The players from Asskickers United below the stage erupted out into cheers and cried out with praise.
“Boss Bladelight is amazing!”
“Too awesome!”
One Strike Vow, who was among the crowd, had her eyes sparkling in splendor.
Even the players from Holy Empire next to them couldn’t help but let out sighs of admiration at Bladelight’s performance.
Bladelight let out an angry roar. Taking advantage of the remaining duration on Strength of the Bull, he charged up to a Holy Mage. Arriving in front of the opponent, he slashed down with his sword.
With decisive momentum, he weighed down with a pressure that was akin to the weight of Mt. Tai, leaving the Holy Mage unable to resist.
