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Chapter 175: Deep into the Tactical Core
Translator: Double_L Editor: Hitesh_
"Pick one." Wang Tong said generously. Actually, he was trying to thank Einherjar Wannabe for always helping him at the critical moment.
Einherjar Wannabe glanced over the list of challengers and noticed the number of challengers had increased. It seemed like a lot of weaklings had backed down after Jiang Long's defeat, but at the same time, that match had also drawn a lot of attentions of those who were stronger.
A lot of them were IPA players. They appeared to be quite excited, hoping that Einherjar Wannabe would choose one of them as his opponent this time. Apparently, all of the IPA players in the list were equipped with high-ranked METAL Suits. But that was okay, because Einherjar Wannabe wouldn't mind if his opponent were strong in the virtual world or in reality, as long the opponent worthed his time. He was no doubt the most wonderful opponent an IPA player could get. They couldn't wait to see if Einherjar Wannabe would really pick an IPA player this time.
Everyone waited with their eyes wide open. The awkward silence meant Einherjar Wannabe had not made any decision yet.
"Hey, kiddo, what's this?" Einherjar Wannabe pointed at the spinning globe icon.
"That's Battlecraft Combat. I'm also having lessons for this subject. Unlike METAL Combat, Battlecraft Combat is a battle between players by commanding their own fleets… Kinda like dogfights."
"Battlecrafts huh… commanding fleets… hmm, I think I've done it before. Perhaps I'm really a genius… Yeah, I have to be a genius!" Einherjar Wannabe started to brag about himself repeatedly.
"So, now you're interested in this too?"
"C'mon, let's do this."
…
Wang Tong was speechless, as he stared at the crazy and demanding ghost. But Wang Tong wouldn't mind giving it a try, since he had been training hard for this recently, not to mention he was genuinely interested as well. However, he had never paid much attention to the Battlecraft Combat in PA, and he wasn't sure about the performances of other players.
Wang Tong then decided to click on the icon. Apparently, Battlecraft Combat was also a part of PA, but unlike PA, there were no IPA and TPA in this function, because ordinary people were also capable of operating it. However, their speed in operating and making judgment was obviously going to be slower.
Wang Tong sent out a challenge request.
System Notification: Einherjar Wannabe sent a challenge request.
System Notification: Einherjar Wannabe sent a challenge request.
Everyone stunned, even Cameron though there was something wrong with his ears.
"What the hell's going on?"
"Boss, Einherjar Wannabe really is requesting for a Battlecraft Combat."
"What the f*ck… That kid was insane!" Cameron was left speechless. He wondered why he would give up METAL Combat and dip his feet into Battlecraft Combat instead.
Even the dumbest kid would know that Battlecraft Combat was way different from METAL Combat. METAL Combat was all about throwing heavy punches with one's GN Force, but Battlecraft Combat was all about the brains, a different kind of fight.
Why would the dude choose something that didn't have anything to do with his expertise? This would only increase his probability of losing!
Most importantly, this was not how the business worked!
Cameron was infuriated. However, he couldn't do anything because he had no rights to interfere Einherjar Wannabe's choice. He was the one who had to compromise on this matter.
"Get me someone who's not that strong, someone with a beautiful battle record and moderate strength... God, I really wanna kill this troublemaking sonuvabitch!"
"Roger that, boss."
"Boss… something's not right."
"Hmm?"
"More than a thousand players have reacted to his challenge request. Would it be kinda awkward if we arrange someone to fight with him?"
Mostly, those who liked METAL Combat also enjoyed Battlecraft Combat. Some might only be interested in either one. Nevertheless, they would also watch the matches because the excitement of dogfights was very different from some hot-blooded one-on-one brawls.
"What are you thinking?" Wang Tong asked as he was getting familiar with his maneuvers.
"Idiot, first you should bombard the whole area with these, and you should be focusing on air control!"
"Dude, you got it all wrong. The ground control abilities of air forces are limited, especially in a difficult terrain like this. So, the strategy should be a cooperation between air forces and ground forces!"
"Cooperate my a*s! I know what you're trying to say, but you have to know what the true meaning of control is, which is to let your opponent follow your rhythm. It's all about manipulation for god's sake!"
"Yeah yeah… Since you know a lot, tell me, what's this?" Wang Tong questioned while pointing at one of the battlecrafts.
Einherjar Wannabe replied, "...I don't care what it is called. All I know is it's one of air forces' fleet… Kid, what I'm trying to say is, it's all about control. Whether you're having a one on one brawl or commanding fleets at war, make your opponents become one of your chess pieces and have fun toying with them. This is what you call an ace… Get it?"
"Yea, I'm a human, of course I understand."
"Then why would you set your formation like this? Your Soul Energy should have no problem controlling this, and you're a smart kid. Yet, you're being so defensive. What a fool! Like I said, air control!"
"Shh, if I choose to focus on air control, it'll be completely game over if my opponent attacked me with a ton of ground forces!"
"Are you an idiot? You'll be able to finish them off in a jiffy if you choose to strike first. That's how you get the job done!" Einherjar Wannabe seemed kind of frustrated over Wang Tong's stubbornness.
All of a sudden, Wang Tong was enlightened by Einherjar Wannabe's lecture. Of course he would do that, since his control ability was better than most of the people. Everything became clear in a flash.
"You really are a genius, my friend! I'm starting to get what you meant. To control is actually to lure and manipulate the opponent, something like tricking them to engage by going defensive, or trampling their rhythm by going offensive."
"I have no idea what you're trying to say. Remember this core theory: air forces are designed for interference, and ground forces are designed for battle. Whether you're against mankind or Zergs, it's the same theory!" Einherjar Wannabe explained proudly.
Wang Tong didn't give him a damn though, he needed to concentrate. There wasn't much time left, and he needed to think of something quickly. He needed a strategy that had never crossed his mind, something that was capable of turning the table!
"Boss, we've sorted out the first batch of recommendations, but it seems like Einherjar Wannabe wasn't interested at all..." One of the staff members seemed worried.
Einherjar Wannabe was smart. Perhaps he had noticed that the list of people they provided was not strong enough. They might have good results, but their abilities are not up to his expectation.
"Give him a few minutes. Perhaps he was looking through the list."
Fifteen minutes had passed, and Cameron finally began to worry. Did Einherjar Wannabe really notice something?
"Change it!"
"Right away, boss."
Einherjar Wannabe really was a troublesome golden goose. Cameron was worried if his weak heart would be able to sustain any further. Hopefully, the kid wouldn't pick someone too strong to handle.
Meanwhile, Wang Tong was eager to test out his new idea. During his days of training, his mind was filled with operating maneuvers, strategies and techniques, but lacked creativity. Thankfully, his creativity was finally back, and he couldn't wait to test out his new idea on his upcoming opponent. He would seize this opportunity to prove that he was right.
Like what Einherjar Wannabe was saying a while ago, reconciliation would directly affect a person's perspective, operating maneuvers and also the control of timing! Everyone knew the importance of reconciliation, but what if he were to combine reconciliation and attack?
It seemed like Wang Tong had finally pieced his puzzles together. Mow all that was left was implementation.
Apparently, Einherjar Wannabe was still a nobody in Battlecraft Combat community, even though he was already a celebrity in METAL Combat community. Yet people were shocked to see the well-known Einherjar Wannabe be bold enough to step his feet into Battlecraft Combat community, bravo indeed!
A number of strong players were eager to fight him. They'd like to see if he would also be able to create a legend in the Battlecraft Combat community.
"It seems like he is quite famous. So many people are willing to challenge this guy."
Meanwhile, at the Kaedeians Royal Academy at Mars, this situation seemed to have caught the interest of a girl. Being the best newcomer of the Royal Academy, she was undoubtedly talented in Battlecraft Combat. Not every Kaedeian would be able to perform well in METAL Combat, but they had definitely dominated Battlecraft Combat. Apparently, Kaedeians were born for this task, and most importantly, they were strong in setting fleet formation.
Mankind Confederation was almost the same when it came to fleet formation, despite a few minor differences amongst Earthlings, Ivantians and Martians. However, due to the uniqueness of their bodies and the difference in terms of abilities, the fleet and ground forces formation of Kaedeians was very different from Earthlings'. Both parties had their own specialties, but generally speaking, Kaedeians would have the upper hand in this field. Kaedeians had always be the strongest in terms of Battlecraft Combat, but of course, their number of fleets still fell under the control of the Confederation. Not to mention all of these years, they still abided by their oath of allegiance. Hence, there was nothing much to be worried about.
Nevertheless, Earthlings were always proud of themselves, and had been spending years to prove to everyone that they were the strongest of all in all aspects. But in general, their losses were still greater than victories. Furthermore, Kaedeians preferred to keep a low profile. They would learn from their mistakes and kept their victories to themselves. Thankfully, the personalities of most Kaedeians were able to work along with the arrogance of Earthlings, or else, they would've been completely wiped out by the greedy mankind.
Rhin was curious of why so many people would challenge someone with zero wins and losses. Perhaps he was another ace or elite from Earth?
He had to be some kind of a hidden ace!
Rhin was exceptionally hardworking recently, as the assessment from Her Highness was around the corner. Even though she was already the best newcomer, she would still have to show more effort in order to become Her Highness's reading companion, which was a stepping stone towards her dream of becoming one of the ministers; it was an honor of fellow Kaedeians for one to become a public servant.
Kaedeians had been living their lives with gratitude ever since making peace with Earthlings. Everyone was aware of the fact that it would require a lot of effort for the sake of peace, which was why every Kaedeian was hoping to serve their country, even if it would cost their lives.
Rhin was very nervous for her upcoming assessment. If she were to challenge the Earthling, perhaps it would be a beneficial match. Rhin smiled as she responded to Einherjar Wannabe's challenge request.
Ding Dong…
A series of Kaedeian characters appeared on the monitor. Apparently, Kaedeians would use their real names as their PA ID's. These ID's were quite eye-catchy as well because of their unique languages. But of course, they would be followed by the translated version in the language of the Confederation.
Rhin was one of the toughest ones amongst the Battlecraft Combat community in PA. Kaedeians were known to be talented in Battlecraft Combats, and Rhin was definitely one of the celebrities among the community.
Unlike Earthlings, Kaedeians were not busybodies, but they had also underestimated the busybodiness of Earthlings. Most Kaedeians were natural born exotic beauties, and a lot of men would be attracted by their gentleness, not to mention they were outstanding in terms of Battlecraft Combat. This was why every Earthling from different academies would be paying attention to each year's best newcomer of the Royal Academy.
Chapter 176: Noob?
Translator: Double_L Editor: Hitesh_
Apparently, Rhin had no idea how popular she was. After all, she was seldom seen in PA. Nevertheless, the Kaedeian missy was not aware of the uproar she caused whenever she showed up in PA.
On the other hand, PA's official administration even used Rhin as the "ambassador" to attract players, and they didn't even pay her for using her image. Somehow, Earthlings would always make use of the generosity of Kaedeians. After all, Kaedeians were very kind to Earthlings.
Rhin versus Einherjar Wannabe?!
Every Battlecraft Combat and most of the METAL Combat fighters who were waiting for Einherjar Wannabe were stunned when they saw Rhin respond to Einherjar Wannabe's challenge request. Everyone seemed to be waiting for Einherjar Wannabe's decision. If he were to accept her challenge, it would literally become "the clash between Earth and Mars".
Wang Tong was no God. Of course he'd accept Rhin's challenge!
Wang Tong chose her as his opponent because the name of a Kaedeian looked cool and sounded nice. Furthermore, Wang Tong was aware of Kaedeian's talent in this category; in short, Rhin was the best choice amongst the list of opponents.
"Hmm, this Kaedeian seems strong for being highlighted by the system. She has to be an elite!" Wang Tong concluded after looking at her profile.
Wang Tong couldn't wait to demonstrate what he learned in his recent training. People used to say that there were no weaklings amongst Kaedeians. Hence, Wang Tong would really like to see how good they were and how sick their aerial and ground attack methods were.
"Well hurry up, pick that one with the long-a*s name. You know how much I LOVE those unique ones!" Einherjar Wannabe commanded as he pointed at Rhin's ID.
"Yo mister, have some respect. Those are Kaedeian writings." Wang Tong sighed over Einherjar Wannabe's rudeness.
In the end, Wang Tong selected Rhin as his opponent, and their match would begin in ten minutes. The other Battlecraft Combat lovers seemed excited about the match.
This was definitely the best excitement ever.
Meanwhile, Cameron sat back in his chair. He was sick of this nonsense and felt like wanting to strangle every single staff. Clearly, they had forgotten his order about placing the stronger opponents at the bottom of the list.
"Boss… we're sorry..." His staff members apologized carefully. Actually, they did follow his order, but they didn't expect Rhin would appear out of nowhere and respond to Einherjar Wannabe's challenge request. And they didn't even expect Einherjar Wannabe would accept immediately.
Within minutes, players who didn't use to pay attention to Battlecraft Combats had found out that Rhin was Kaedeian Royal Academy's best new recruit. Apparently, she was even capable of almost wiping out every single freshman of every academy on Earth Confederation.
It seemed like Einherjar Wannabe had a delicate taste in choosing opponents after all!
Einherjar Wannabe gave Cameron not just heart attacks, but headaches as well. The kid's insanity was driving Cameron crazy and torturing him to death.
"Boss, what do we do next?"
"Of course we're not going to call it off since the choice has been made. The only thing we could do now is spread the news and promote this match. It's now or never!" Cameron roared.
"Yes sir, right away!"
The record of Rhin's Cloning Technique was at two hundred and nine fleets when she was accepted into the academy. However, that was her past record, and no one knew what her current record was.
It seemed like Einherjar Wannabe had chosen a "suicidal mission" this time.
On the other hand, Einherjar Wannabe seemed happy about the data he was reading, "Wow, she's good! Hey kid, go out there and teach this missy a lesson, make the Earthlings proud, will ya? Go get 'em!" Einherjar Wannabe laughed.
Wang Tong chose to ignore him though. He was well aware that the opponent he was about to face was a real tough one. Apparently, the speed of this girl was almost the same as him, and she was skillful in other aspects as well, since it was in her blood. Wang Tong knew that he would never stand a chance if he were to challenge her before having those lessons. But now that he had improved, he would really want to see how good he had gotten!
Both players were warming up and clearing their minds, Rhin seemed serious about this match. She was picturing Einherjar Wannabe as a strong opponent, getting herself ready for a real battle.
Tons of Battlecraft Combat and METAL Combat players had gathered up in the arena within minutes. However, most of the Battlecraft Combat players were there to watch Rhin's performance.
People did enjoy watching matches like this. After all, matches that consisted of Kaedeians were like learning materials, because their performances were always flawless and looked like a piece of art.
However, Battlecraft Combat players didn't seem to care about Einherjar Wannabe. Basically, the number of Battlecraft Combat players was larger than the number of METAL Combat fighters in every academy; usually, they were here for learning purposes.
Nevertheless, everyone wished that Einherjar Wannabe would last a bit longer, and hopefully, he wasn't some kind of noob that had no idea what on earth this was.
Check!
Check!
Both players entered speed checking mode and began to warm up their fingers. In the meantime, they were also allowed to check the accuracy of the lock-on ability of their Soul Energy here. However, this check was optional. Both players were not able to see their opponent's checking, but spectators were able to watch both player's checking situation.
The screen was then divided into two columns, and hundreds of thousands of Zergs appeared as the match began. Rhin was the first who made a move. Her fingers then moved at an incredible speed and lit up the skies with countless explosions, hitting every single Zerg precisely.
She was seen cloning out two hundred fleets in no time, without even breaking a sweat.
Meanwhile, Einherjar Wannabe was also making his move… and he was also able to clone two hundred fleets in a short period of time! Perfect!
Everyone was finally relieved as they saw Einherjar Wannabe was not a noob. They didn't expect that he would be able to do something that even Kaedeians were struggling to achieve.
Meanwhile, Wang Tong was already excited. He couldn't wait to go head to head with the girl!
The supporters and fans of Einherjar Wannabe began to sing and cheer. As they had expected, Einherjar Wannabe was capable of doing anything!
The battle had begun!
Both players were seen setting up their formation. Their controlling maneuvers were flawless. Nevertheless, this was just the basis of this category, which meant there was not even 0.1 millisecond of deviation between both players.
Both players' performances were about the same in the first three minutes.
Excitement and anxiety ran through every spectator's heart as the battle between strategies was about to happen!
Kaedeians were known to possess a number of unrivaled battle strategies. The strategies might not be as perfect as they seemed, however, the Kaedeians were able to "adjust" everything to perfection. In fact, Earthlings stood no chance against Kaedeians in this category, unless the person was extremely talented.
Apparently, Rhin had chosen the hardest strategy of all, which contained loads of kaleidoscopic elements, known as Art of the Blazing Flare. This strategy required delicate controlling maneuvers and high mentality of the user. Even the Kaedeians found it difficult to pull out. But if one were able to pull it out, victory would be guaranteed in no time. Normally, Kaedeians would only use this when they were facing a tough opponent in battles.
Many players sighed when they noticed Rhin chose that strategy. Judging from Einherjar Wannabe's impressive performance, she might stand a chance if she chose the radical Art of Lightning, and might be able to win if she was able to seize the chance. Nevertheless, Art of the Blazing Flare was a piece of strategy held dear by most Kaedeians. They were the only ones who knew how to use it, and only they were able to pull it out with perfection.
Furthermore, Kaedeians had been improving this piece of strategy over the past decade, and were able to maximize its performance. Apparently, this strategy was even accepted by the Kaedeian troops, and it was able to increase the effectiveness against Zergs while minimizing casualties of the troops at the same time.
On the other hand, Battlecraft Combat players shook their heads as they noticed a bunch of IPA players cheering and shouting at the other corner. But it couldn't be helped; after all, they had no idea of what was going on.
As the crowd turned towards Einherjar Wannabe, they were shocked by his outrageous strategy. Perhaps, he was a noob after all! Apparently, the crazy fella was busy developing a team of T-5 model Fighter Jets, which was absurd because this type of aircraft was only good against ground forces, but was very weak against air forces. His destiny would be sealed if he were up against stronger aerial forces. Furthermore, this type of aircraft was not the strongest anti-ground forces of all. In short, what the hell was he doing?
Was he planning to gain control of the overall situation?
Everyone who was excited about Einherjar Wannabe moments ago was very disappointed over his insane actions. He really a was noob after all!
Soon, both players began their reconciliation procedures, and both players were doing good in this. However, Einherjar Wannabe's ground forces seemed not enough, perhaps due to the uneven allocation of resources. Rhin was about to begin her first wave of attacks in less than five minutes, but how was Einherjar Wannabe supposed to counter her attacks?
This was totally absurd!
Everyone was disappointed and wanted to leave!
Some were unwilling to see. After all, most Earthlings were not a fan of watching their own kind getting owned by other races. Some decided to get back to their own business instead. After all, no one would like to waste their time watching a boring fight between a Kaedeian genius and a brainless Earthling!
On the other hand, Rhin felt strange as she continued to build her own troops. It seemed strange that her opponent was clueless about battle strategies. Somehow, Einherjar Wannabe had begun to interfere before she could finish building her troops, but his firepower was obviously not enough. What was he trying to do?
Rhin then set up her defense cautiously. Even though Einherjar Wannabe had obtained the upper hand in terms of technology development, he would still be toast in no time once she charged in with her ground forces.
Meanwhile, Wang Tong was seen enjoying himself. Somehow, he had forgotten who his opponent was, and began doing things at his own pace. He finally understood the kind of "control" mentioned by Einherjar Wannabe a while ago. It felt great indeed!
He was able to see what was his opponent was doing. Instead of making attacking units to attack his opponent's respawnable forces, he chose to attack her radar stations and interfere with her progress!
Rhin was good enough to notice Einherjar Wannabe was getting better in his "worthless" actions. Surprisingly, she wasn't able to advance much with her ground forces, but her opponent was able to slow her down gradually by disturbing her base with a few aircrafts. Something had to be going on, after all, his controlling maneuvers were as good as hers!
In the end, she chose to delay her advancement. Meanwhile, Wang Tong was performing good in his operating maneuvers. His, new bases were almost complete, and he had set up a decent defense across ground area. However, he wasn't stopping. Rhin noticed that instead of stopping, Einherjar Wannabe was still developing T-5 model Fighter Jets for some reason.
Soon, people began to understand the true meaning behind Einherjar Wannabe's insane actions. He was trying to build an invisible troop!
The technology of invisibility was first created by Kaedeians, and it had become one of Earthling's main military forces after years of development. However, they required more money to be built, and the opponent's radar systems had to be destroyed beforehand in order to ensure their best performance. Due to Einherjar Wannabe's interference earlier, people were surprised to find that all of Rhin's radar stations had been destroyed!
Goodness Gracious, perhaps Einherjar Wannabe was about to create another miracle again!
Chapter 177: The Ultimate Strategy
Translator: Double_L Editor: Hitesh_
While Einherjar Wannabe had deployed his invisible troops, Rhin was still struggling with her own army. Aside from constantly getting bombarded by her opponent's frustrating jets, her base was also exposed apparently, and Wang Tong was able to observe the overall situation perfectly.
His invisible troops would be reaching in five minutes.
MATCH OVER!
Everything blacked out before she could respond to his attacks!
Einherjar Wannabe had successfully subdued the ultimate Art of the Blazing Flare in eleven minutes and thirty-five seconds, and Rhin was forced to surrender!
Rhin had no choice but to surrender since she had lost all of her radar stations. Without radar stations, Einherjar Wannabe's invisible troops were technically invincible. However, she had no idea how Einherjar Wannabe managed to overpower her in such a short period of time. Her defeat was totally absurd, as she didn't even have the time to demonstrate her superb controlling maneuvers.
Everyone else was also shocked to witness the unbelievable scene, and couldn't help but wonder how exactly Einherjar Wannabe won!
After a short consideration, Rhin decided to re-challenge Einherjar Wannabe.
Wang Tong agreed and accepted her invitation without hesitation, as he also wanted to get familiar with the feeling under the pressure of Rhin's operating maneuvers!
"Einherjar Wannabe versus Rhin, round two begins in twenty minutes."
All of the spectators went crazy, especially fellow students of various military academies, they even chose to skip classes in order to watch the upcoming match.
"Oh my god, check this out!"
"Art of the Blazing Fire was defeated!"
"Einherjar Wannabe subdued Kaedeian Royal Academy's No.1 in ten minutes!"
More and more students were seen giving lame excuses like stomachache, headache and so on in order to skip classes for the sake of the match. After all, Einherjar Wannabe had successfully defeated the unrivaled Art of the Blazing Flare! Moreover, he won with his strategy instead of controlling maneuvers.
Finally, round two began.
Rhin kicked off with the same setup, because she believed that her Art of the Blazing Flare was flawless, and her previous loss was due to her late deployment of troops. This time, however, she would not make the same mistakes!
On the other hand, Einherjar Wannabe was busy developing his own planes, doing exactly what he did in the previous game. As Rhin was about to deploy her troops, Einherjar Wannabe sent in his interference again, and she was unable to defend against it. Apparently, Einherjar Wannabe had obtained the upper hand in the air, and although Rhin had done her best to defend, in the end, she wasn't able to protect her radar stations. Minutes later, Einherjar Wannabe's invisible troops charged in again, and game over encore!
The time was even shorter this time, nine minutes and thirty-five seconds.
However, Rhin was still unconvinced by her defeat, and wondered why she wasn't able to demonstrate her controlling maneuvers as always.
In the end, she asked for round three!
This time. Rhin gave up her Art of the Blazing Flare and began her set up with the Art of the Lightning. She decided to focus more on attacks!
Unlike the previous matches, Einherjar Wannabe chose to build up his defense first this time. Earthlings were known for their strong and tough defenses, and the defenses in Einherjar Wannabe's base were outstanding. Most people knew that the theory of defense was easier than offense, yet the Art of the Lightning was designed to subdue its enemy through superb controlling maneuvers. However, Einherjar Wannabe was able to defend with his flawless controlling maneuvers, nullifying most of Rhin's attacks. At the same time, he even managed to send in fighter jets to destroy Rhin's base without using invisible troops, tearing her whole strategy apart.
MATCH OVER!
She was thoroughly defeated!
Rhin almost broke into tears. Her original intention of challenging Einherjar Wannabe was to learn from the matches, but now, she was totally owned by his dominating strength!
Rhin wondered if he was a senior student from another academy. But as she opened his profile, she was shocked to see he was only a sixteen-year-old peer instead. Both of them were at the same age, but Einherjar Wannabe's absolute power was completely absurd.
Although she was ashamed of her defeat, Rhin held onto her awkwardness and asked, "Would you mind telling me… what sort of strategy was that?"
Hundreds and thousands of students who were stunned by the matches were seen fixing their eyes on the screen, waiting for Einherjar Wannabe's reply. Apparently, what happened just now was even more exciting and outrageous than the usual METAL Combats, because everyone got to witness a brand new strategy aside from the amazing controlling maneuvers. Even the Kaedeians had no idea what that battle strategy was!
Wang Tong was pleased with his performances. In the end, he managed to understand the true meaning of command, even though his battle strategy was not completed. Finally, he learned the essence of perspective and timing. After all, war was all about seizing the right timing. As long as there wasn't any mishap, the opponent would never stand a chance, and might even able to fool the opponent with illusional tactics.
However, Wang Tong had never thought of a name for his "strategy", since he had never considered it as one. It was more like a feeling instead. As long as he mastered this "feeling", he would be able to utilize any battle strategies.
Noticing that his battle strategy emphasized on airborne attacks, he managed to think of a catchy name for it — Art of the Soaring Heaven!
After answering Rhin's question, Wang Tong logged out immediately. He felt great even though he didn't get to join any METAL Combats. Moreover, the previous matches had significantly boosted his confidence.
"Art of the Soaring Heaven?" Rhin murmured the words repeatedly in her heart. She had never suffered any defeat like this before. She was able to last until the end in her previous matches with her seniors, but she totally didn't stand a chance in front of that man. She was completely dominated.
It was indeed a feeling that she had never felt before.
Art of the Soaring Heaven!
Einherjar Wannabe dominating in Battlecraft Combat!
The almighty Mr. Know-It-All!
Was he the reincarnation of Einherjar?
Art of the Blazing Flare was finally defeated after fifteen years!
Was there anything he couldn't do?
Art of the Blazing Flare crumbled after twenty years of dominance!
Einherjar Wannabe's victory had once again become the latest gossip. However, aside from the virtual PA, it had also created an uproar in the real world. Normally, some people wouldn't pay too much attention to METAL Combat, because it was basically only a duel of strength. But unlike METAL Combat, many were drawn to Battlecraft Combat, since it was a match between brains, especially if it were a duel between strategies!
This time, it was Art of the Blazing Flare that got defeated!
While Wang Tong was traveling towards Capth on the plane, Einherjar Wannabe's victory had gone completely viral. Everyone was talking about it. Some students even uploaded the videos of all three matches onto the network of their academies, and the videos even managed to catch the attention of many Battlecraft Combat teachers. Everyone was startled by the amazing footages.
Undeniably, Rhin was pretty skillful herself. However, many students then mimicked Einherjar Wannabe's battle strategy and realized that Art of the Soaring Heaven was able to subdue Art of the Blazing Flare easily, unless the player who used Art of the Blazing Flare had reached the peak performance. In other words, Art of the Soaring Heaven had overpowered Art of the Blazing Flare unless there were improvements, or else, it would be eliminated for sure.
Apparently, Kaedeian Royal Academy had paid attention to those matches, as it had quite a big impact. The Kaedeians still couldn't believe that their ultimate strategy was defeated that easily.
Nevertheless, it took a very talented person to create a battle strategy in Battlecraft Combat, and it took tons of practices to be shaped to perfection. Regardless of Earthlings, Ivantians or Martians, geniuses in terms of Battlecraft Combat had been emerging continuously over generations. Some even managed to become famous captains and generals. But those people were only able to improve and strengthen existing strategies or demonstrate amazing abilities in battles, yet none of them had ever invented a strategy.
After all, the hardest thing to do was to invent! Only God and Blade Warrior had what it took to invent something!
However, Einherjar Wannabe had demonstrated to the world that miracles still existed in the post Blade-Edge Era.
More and more people had gotten interested in the topic, and every news seemed to be talking about Einherjar Wannabe.
Battlecraft Combat experts even confirmed that this was completely a new strategy. It might seem incomplete, but they were certain that there would be more changes and it would kickstart a revolution.
Everyone seemed pleased by the name "Art of the Soaring Heaven". After watching those videos, experts were certain that there would be improvements in the future. However, Rhin was apparently too weak to trigger Einherjar Wannabe's improvement. Obviously, her strategies were no match against his, not even her controlling maneuvers were able to aid her.
"Shut the front door!" The team was startled by the unbelievable news. They weren't paying attention to the matches because they were trying to relax themselves and some were busy doing revisions. They did hear something about the uproar, but were not sure if those were only rumors. But now, they were completely stunned by this surprising news.
"Art of the Soaring Heaven? How dare he use such a punchy name? I need something like that too!" Carl exclaimed. He had come up with an ultimate strategy too, but didn't have time to think of a name for his strategy. He knew it had to be something punchy if he wanted to become famous. Hence, he began to think of a name.
"Rhin was the best student amongst first graders in the Kaedeian Royal Academy, her Cloning Technique was more than two hundred fleet-counts, and her AMP was definitely above four hundred fifty. She was absolutely not a weak opponent!"
"Einherjar Wannabe is truly a monster!"
"Art of the Soaring Heaven, I'll start researching on this once I got home."
"Forget about it, don't get distracted. One has to completely master a battle strategy in order to fully demonstrate its power, or else it'll be kinda awkward."
The team continued their discussion about Einherjar Wannabe after the news ended. Meanwhile, Wang Tong was listening to his music while submerging in his own thoughts, yet it wasn't about Art of the Soaring Heaven. In fact, every battle strategy had its own pros and cons, and one had to pay attention to his opponent's set up. Airborne recon and interference were only one of the early strategies, and one must remember to act accordingly if the opponent was preparing the counter measurements.
The sense of control was kind of like mastering Tactics of the Blade; everything depended on battle experiences.
Wang Tong was able to think of a few formations and battle strategies. He felt good about it even though the strategies were still far from completion. Somehow, he knew that the tournament against Capth would be very fruitful.
Meanwhile, at Capth, Flash and Bisu were also watching the three matches.
"Big bro, this piece of strategy seems interesting. It seemed like one was able to develop anti-aerial systems at the beginning, but it would ruin the player's pace and widen the time gap if he or she chose to do so. Somehow, this battle strategy focused more on the early game, and requires decent controlling maneuvers."
"Hmm, interesting! I'm guessing those were only the first parts of his strategy, and he still hasn't shown any countering maneuvers in his fights. Obviously, the following parts of his strategy were all based on the early game."
"Which is why I said, it is still early to crown him as one of the strongest players. He is still fresh in this category, and I'm sure the Kaedeians would do something about it very soon."
"Which is why we have to seize the chance of challenging if he appears again. I'd really like to see how strong he is, and I have to say he has quite a good battle perspective."
"Yea, after all, he was able to improve game after game in those three matches."
Chapter 178: Despised
Translator: Double_L Editor: Hitesh_
Capth was founded by General Li Feng hundreds of years ago. After going through countless of ups and downs across centuries, Capth was able to develop into a well-known S-Ranked academy. It was indeed a splendid academy that had gone through tons of hardships.
Throughout generations, students of Capth had been contributing a lot to the development of human communities.
Although the front gate of Capth looked normal, it was indeed filled with pride. Especially the unique statue on its gate, it was the sculpture of young General Li Feng gazing across the universe. For centuries, no one had ever surpassed the achievements of this legendary figure. But as time went by, the legendary hero ended up being nothing more than a stone-cold statue, and younger generations only saw him as an unreachable existence. They were not as passionate as the older generations anymore!
This was the first time Wang Tong and the rest of the team stepped foot into Capth. They had never dreamt about walking on the campus of this academy, yet Samantha had provided them a chance to prove themselves in the upcoming tournament.
No one had ever imagined that a bunch of nobodies from Ayrlarng would be able to stand right next to the elites of Capth.
Everyone was agitated as they looked at the statue. This was indeed a historical moment to be remembered, and they were definitely filled with excitement for being able to visit the best academy throughout Earth Confederation.
The academy itself was filled with the latest and best hardware and facilities. After all, Capth was crowned as the society leader amongst S-Ranked academies. They were the ultimate existence in every aspect.
Originally, both Samantha and Martyrus were supposed to lead the team. But in the end, Martyrus decided to stay and wait for news in his own academy. Somehow, he knew that this stage didn't belong to him. In fact, it belonged to Samantha as well as the fellow students.
Nevertheless, Samantha felt strange on returning to the academy she graduated from.
They weren't treated as special guests. Apparently, there were also four other academies joining this tournament. These four academies only had one thing in mind, which was to crush and defeat Capth at all cost!
"Haha, this year's Bernabeu was hilarious!"
"I can't believe they're teaming up with Ayrlarng, pfft!"
The team was soon joined by a group of students wearing olive green uniforms. They all had an L-shaped badge above their academy's emblem.
Those students were from the Academy of Crusx, an A-Ranked academy equally matched with Bernabeu. Obviously, rivalry amongst A-Ranked academies was normal, as they were all fighting to become S-Ranked academies. As a matter of fact, all of the five academies invited to Capth were almost the same in terms of strength, and each team was very proud and happy to be here.
Nevertheless, some liked to prove their strength and bravery by taking on stronger opponents, while some others preferred bullying the weaker ones to show off their dominance.
In the eyes of other academies, Bernabeu had definitely become weaker this time. Either Apache and Best had become worse, or the rest of the teammates were a bunch of fools, or else, they could've never been defeated by Ayrlarng.
However, Ayrlarng had Ma Xiaoru this time, and people couldn't help but wonder why a brilliant girl like her would choose to go to Ayrlarng. In fact, they were quite upset about the waste of her talent. Clearly, she was one of the aces in the team, but still, the girl alone was not enough to shape the final outcome. After all, Bernabeu's candidates were too weak this time.
"Did any of you hear dogs barking just now?" Carl asked aloud all of a sudden. Everyone could hear his loud voice clearly.
Immediately, the eyes of the students of Cruxs turned red; it became an awkward situation at the reception counter.
"You guys want a piece of me, huh?" Apache taunted coldly. He was not afraid to take on anyone that was trying to mess with him. After all, he had been hanging around in the Anti-smuggle Special Unit for a year.
"Calm down, you folks." The teacher of Capth interrupted immediately. It would definitely escalate into a fight if the teacher didn't stop them quickly, and Capth's reputation would be affected if things like that happened on their campus.
Both parties glared at each other, and the other students didn't make a move since he recognized Apache and was well aware of his capabilities. In the end, everyone backed down.
Somehow, Wang Tong looked a bit disappointed. He was actually hoping for a "warm-up" brawl.
Everyone completed their registration under the awkward atmosphere and left the counter.
Meanwhile, all of the principals were having a brief meeting about the upcoming schedules in the meeting room.
Since the other A-Ranked academies were here to challenge Capth, they would need to draw lots in order to decide the order of fighting. Obviously, the later would be the better, as there would be enough time to observe the strength of Capth's candidates.
In the end, Ayrlarng picked the best order and its candidates would be the last to challenge Capth. Somehow the other principals were not happy about it, as they couldn't believe that the weakest team was given the best opportunity. Fate was clearly not on their sides.
On the other hand, Halmond seemed to be worried instead of being relieved, because that meant it would be a bit more challenging for his students. But he was okay with it, because youngsters needed challenges in order to improve. Nonetheless, what mattered the most was victory.
The principals chatted for a while and dismissed. Martyrus used to be the one who did the talking since he was familiar with the other principals, but the situation got a little bit awkward this time due to the presence of young Samantha. Apparently, the older principals were not very fond of someone who became principal using the help of family connections. Not everyone was as big-hearted as Martyrus.
In the eyes of those older principals, Samantha was more of a threat than Capth. More or less, their unpleasant feeling was created by jealousy.
"Ah, Principal Samantha, welcome home." Halmond smiled kindly.
"Samantha will do, Mr. Halmond. Thank you for your kindness. Hopefully, my students and I would be able to learn from all of you this time." Samantha replied respectfully. Back in the days when she participated in tournaments, Mr. Halmond was the teacher who led their team. Everything just felt like yesterday, yet they were now meeting each other in different roles.
"Haha, a ragged colt may make a good horse after all, which is why I'm not letting my guard down and have gathered a team of elites." Halmond laughed. It seemed interesting for being able to compete against his own student.
Being the vice principal of an S-Ranked academy, Halmond seemed wiser and more big-hearted than the others.
"Please be gentle with us, Sir. There's no need to go all out." Samantha chuckled.
"Haha, I can't believe you're trying to bewitch me with the psychology stuff I taught you back then. Don't forget that I'm the mentor of your Ph.D. To be honest, I've prepared this team of elites because of you, most of it because you're one of my favorite students, and I know you quite well. You wouldn't go this far if you were not at least fifty percent confident in your team."
"Sir, this time, it's only forty percent, but I still want to try my luck." Samantha knew that she couldn't fool Halmond. Not only was he an excellent teacher, but he was also an expert in psychology.
"Very well, I shall see you in the arena then!"
"Please treat us with care, Sir."
Halmond nodded. As he was leaving, he turned around and said, "Oh by the way, I heard you've recruited an amazing freshman. I'll be expecting his performance then."
Samantha was startled, and replied with a smile. Clearly, the battle had already begun, and Mr. Halmond would not be making any careless mistakes this time. Her little trick of surprising Capth had failed in the end, and they had no other options but to fight them face to face!
However, Samantha was uncertain if her team was up for the challenges ahead after going through all of the special training. Of course, she was here for the final victory, but even if she lost, she still needed to build up their confidence and let everyone know that Capth was not as intimidating and unreachable as it looked like. She had to implant this mindset in her team and have them spread the idea to the rest of the students once they returned to Ayrlarng.
Ayrlarng's odds of winning were almost nil since Halmond was already prepared. Yet, it would mean exactly the same if everyone was able to build up their confidence. Hopefully, they wouldn't suffer great humiliation. However, Samantha had Wang Tong in her team, so it should be fine.
As Samantha thought about Wang Tong, her heart skipped a beat, yet she immediately gathered herself and calmed down. Right now, she had to stay focus and maintain her mentality. Aside from it being a competition between students, this tournament was also the competition between principals, and she had to make sure that she was not despised!
She immediately regained her confidence as she reminded herself that her success was built on her own, without mastering any utilization of Soul Energy. If she had succeeded her Mind Opening Operation, she would become an even more frightening existence.
Even though she didn't possess any Soul Energy and talents, she was blessed with other capabilities. Because she was unable to utilize GN Force, she was able to concentrate herself in other fields and build up her own achievements.
Although Capth being challenged by five other A-Ranked academies was not as hyped as the collision between S-Ranked academies, it was still a huge event, and people were excited about it.
Students of Capth loved tournaments like this because it was able to boost their confidence. In recent years, A-Ranked academies had improved a lot, and were even able to cause them a few troubles. Yet, the students of Capth were okay with a few bumps. In fact, they loved seeing how students of A-Ranked academies "panted" in between matches.
Nevertheless, the elite candidates from A-ranked academies would also be selected as elite students if they were to enroll in Capth; after all, their standards were almost the same.
The Academy of Cruxs was the first in the order. The decent academy would be facing off Capth in the arena. Students were able to watch the live telecast of all matches for free; as for watching it live in the arena, students would have to get tickets from their teachers as early as possible due to the huge number of spectators.
The matches were in fact battles between aces. High standard matches like these were definitely the perfect entertainment and learning materials for all.
Teams of the other participating academies were also welcomed to watch in the arena. The candidates of all other four academies had already sat down in the arena before the match began.
Cao Yi had even prepared his laptop, as making notes and records was one of his hobbies and specialties. Although they had already obtained enough data, he wanted to make comparisons between the available data and their live performances. Data was only for references, and one would have to see it live in order to believe it. He wanted to analyze the capabilities of Capth on his own. Since Ayrlarng-Bernabeu Alliance was the last to fight Capth, there was definitely enough time for a little more preparation.
Chapter 179: Might of the Victor
Translator: Double_L Editor: Hitesh_
Students from the other four academies were busy checking each other out, probably because they were all elites. It seemed like the rest of the academies were also forming their teams by blending senior students with the freshmen. Hence, only a few recognized each other while most of them were new faces. Seniors were crucial in tournaments like this. If a team were made up completely of freshmen, they would definitely be defeated by Capth miserably.
As students from Capth entered the arena, the candidates from other academies instantly felt like they had become chimpanzees in a zoo. It was a strange feeling indeed as the students from Capth showed no signs of respect and were very proud of themselves, even though the participating candidates were the elites of their respective academies.
Yet, it couldn't be helped since they were the students of a famous S-Ranked academy.
Nevertheless, everyone would admire "celebrities" like Ma Xiaoru; people from every academy was seen drawn to her automatically.
The first match was survival challenge. Unlike the previous one between Ayrlarng and Bernabeu, the scenario this time would be selected from the S-Ranked archive; the difficulty would be extremely high, and the success rate would be lower, and even the students of Capth would find it difficult.
Finally, the match began, and everyone focused on the monitor immediately, staring at the live feed of every participant down there. The winning condition of this S-Ranked difficulty scenario was simple, which was to reach the designated goal and survive until one of the teams was completely wiped out. There was no time limit in this around, which was sort of unfavorable for Capth. Yet, the candidates of the S-Ranked academy were up for a challenge, in fact, they were not quite bothered by it.
The difference between Capth and Cruxs was just like how Ayrlarng and Bernabeu used to be, not to mention a few candidates from Capth were extremely strong. The awaiting candidates were seen gasping and startled by Capth's amazing performances. However, Wang Tong fell asleep in the middle of the match. Apparently, he had been spending the whole night brainstorming his Battlecraft Combat strategies; no wonder he was so exhausted.
As for the rest of the team, some were sighing, and some were clapping as they continued watching the match. Surprisingly, Capth didn't send out all of its team members to take part in this round; even the renowned Li Ruo-Er was nowhere to be seen. Apparently, Capth was confident enough to only send out five students in this round.
In the end, Capth won by 2:0. Clearly, the S-Ranked difficulty was much tougher than expected. The result of this match was not able to fully demonstrate the real performances of Capth. After all, the S-Ranked difficulty was also too much for their own candidates. However, Capth was about to show their extreme dominance in the upcoming rounds.
Up next would be Intel Programming Battle, which was King's field of expertise. Apparently, this boy genius was able to own his opponent even though the opposing guy was a third grader. The poor guy was absolutely crushed, even though he had two more years of experience than King.
King rubbed his eyes after the match ended; it wasn't even challenging. King's victory had officially kickstarted Capth's killing spree! The poor third grader lost not because he was weak, but because King was way too strong!
In the Heavy Armed Brawl, Jia Gang had successfully owned his opponent with his brutal strength; the difference in terms of strength between him and his opponent was like heaven and earth. As soon as Jia Gang won, he immediately unleashed a fierce roar and showed off his muscular body, sort of looking like a giant grizzly bear.
It seemed like Capth was not planning to go easy on their opponents after all.
Students from the other academies felt uneasy, as their ears were surrounded by the cheers from Capth's students, most probably because they were about to face the same opponents very soon.
Clearly, watching their opponents' live performances was way more torturing than looking at their personal data.
Battlecraft Combat was Cruxs' last chance of scoring points. It would be alright if they lost, but nothing was more humiliating than getting zero points throughout the tournament.
In the next three rounds of Battlecraft Combat, Capth had decided to send out another first grader, Kal, to "entertain" their guests!
Battlecraft Combat and METAL Combat were the most important subjects in every academy. These subjects were also the most popular subjects amongst students, mostly because those who were able to shine in this two subjects would become the next celebrities in their academies.
Capth's students went wild as Bisu showed up in the spectator seating area; he was truly a celebrity of the academy. Somehow, the candidates from other academies were startled by Capth's list of candidates. Clearly, Bisu was already more than enough to single-handedly destroy each and every one of them, yet it seemed like Capth had gone a bit too far to put in Flash on the list as well. However, today they would be joining the spectators instead of participating in the matches.
The candidate from Cruxs was pissed off. Clearly the two of them were sitting in the spectating area because they were confident that Kal was definitely capable of handling all three rounds by himself.
Bisu, however, turned towards the students of Ayrlarng and saw his old rival Best. Both geniuses acknowledged each other's presence instantly.
Finally, the match began, and Kal's performance was absolutely spectacular, it didn't take him long to beat the crap out of his opponent. Capth wasn't even bothered to switch out Kal, as they were confident that he would be able to win three rounds in a row!
In round two, Kal had obviously won the moment he unleashed his Art of the Hellfire Spark at the very beginning, knocking out his opponent within ten minutes.
As for round three, Kal's opponent made a terrible mistake at the beginning due to the nervousness of fighting against a stronger opponent. Hence Kal was able to subdue the poor dude easily and won three times in a row, scoring another three points for Capth.
The students of Cruxs were terribly crestfallen, as all matches of Battlecraft Combat ended.
Up next would be METAL Combat, which was the main focus of every academy. As for the unrivaled Capth, this was definitely their best field of expertise.
Capth was still using the same strategy by sending in the first grader for the first round. This time, they sent in Wally, and he managed to nail it perfectly. However, Capth wasn't planning on letting him fight four matches in a row, but giving the other candidates and substitutes a chance instead. In the end, Capth defeated Cruxs by 3:1; obviously, Cruxs' win in round three was a "consolation prize" from Capth. After all, it would be too humiliating if they were crushed completely.
Nevertheless, nine points were more than enough for Capth to prove its dominance.
The students of Cruxs did nothing but sigh after all matches ended. They were extremely confident yesterday, but now, they were terribly devastated.
As Cao Yi summarized his data, he realized that Capth was not impenetrable, even though their opponents were very strong. For example, there were a few candidates in METAL Combat that Cao Yi thought that they would be able to defeat. Yet, Cao Yi knew that this was not the strongest formation of Capth.
In the end, challengers lost dreadfully on day one.
Students of Cruxs went right back into their hotel rooms right after the humiliating defeat and got scolded by their teacher-in-charge. Obviously all of them were totally ashamed of their poor performances.
"Yo Wang Tong, wake up! Stop dozing off." Hu Yangxuan said. In fact, Hu Yangxuan himself was playing his video game all the time, since matches like these were not worth watching; he woke Wang Tong up as the tournament ended.
However, Wang Tong didn't move a muscle. Then, Zhou Sisi turned around and said, "It's meal time dummy!"
Wang Tong bounced up right when he heard the word "meal", "Where? Where's the food?"
Students of Capth that were leaving were surprised to see an idiot like that being selected as a candidate to take on Capth. What a total bullsh*t!
Wang Tong wiped away his saliva and said, "Sisi, I can't believe you're lying to me! As your punishment, you'll have to give me your portion!"
"Hey, don't bully Sisi!" Ma Xiaoru interrupted.
"Haha, I was just joking."
"I can't believe you're able to fell asleep in the middle of those exciting matches. It's kinda disrespectful to the almighty Capth, don't you think?" Hu Yangxuan joked.
"Aw shaddup. Who says I was asleep? I was actually thinking. Meanwhile, you're playing games the whole time. Now, who's disrespectful huh?"
"Hey fellas, cut the crap. Things might get messy if you two carry on joking." Carl laughed as he noticed the unfriendly glares from the students of Capth.
"Haha, relax! Take it easy, I'm just joking." Carl turned around and tried to cool down the atmosphere.
All of a sudden, Bisu walked towards the team, "Are you Wang Tong?"
Wang Tong looked around and pointed at himself, "Well, the name might be a bit dull, but I'm sure I'm the only one with this name here."
"Very well, I'll be waiting." Bisu turned around and walked away cooly after he said that. At that moment, the students of Capth finally realized that Wang Tong had to be something else for being acknowledged by Bisu, no wonder he was so arrogant.
However, Wang Tong replied shyly, "Erm… you don't have to wait for me. I'm not interested in men." Bisu almost fainted as he heard that ridiculous reply, yet he kept his cool and maintained his demeanor as an elite.
"Well, looks like Capth had been studying about us. I've no idea if I should be happy or worried to hear that." Cao Yi said. Clearly, Capth knew about the capabilities of their alliance, which also meant that it'll be harder for them to win by surprising their opponents.
"It seems that he's very calm for not falling for the taunt easily. That's an elite right there." Ma Xiaoru said, and Zhou Sisi nodded in agreement.
The more they learned about Capth, the more they agreed on its S-Ranked title. Not only were the students stronger, but they all appeared to have the attitude and aura of an elite.
Due to the unexpected early end of day one, the other academies were given the afternoon to prep themselves. As the host of this event, Capth had been very generous about this; they even allow the other academies to access certain areas in order for them to get familiar with the environment.
To be honest, there was nothing much to prep for METAL Combat and Heavy Armed Brawl, since those categories were all about the strength of the fighters. However, the team did have to discuss on the strategies of Intel Programing Battle and Battlecraft Combat.
After witnessing Kal's performance, Carl seemed to be more confidence instead of depressed. He was seen practicing by himself afterward. However, he wasn't sure if he would be able to participate, since Best had higher chances of winning after all. Yet, Best would have to brace himself to take on his greatest enemy Bisu, and the intimidating Flash, who had never been defeated ever since he mastered his battle strategy. No wondered Flash was nicknamed "The Excalibur".
Cao Yi seemed to have become the team's "secretary", as he seemed to know a little bit about everything. He even did a few researches regarding Intel Programming Battle. Although he wasn't as talented as the Zhang brothers and Rumi, yet he would still be seen constantly providing them suggestions and thoughts. Furthermore, he was even able to make flawless analysis regarding Battlecraft Combats.
Carl then pulled Cao Yi away to discuss something with him secretly. Even though no one thought that Carl would have the chance to take part, they were impressed by his seriousness. He seemed to be possessing a self-satisfying level of confidence.
Chapter 180: Alliance of Noobs
Translator: Double_L Editor: Hitesh_
The next day was London Military Academy's turn. Their situation was slightly better than Cruxs', but still, only managed to win one more round throughout the tournament. However, the students of London Military Academy were quite happy. At least, they were not the one with the lowest points.
Clearly, the Academy of Capth was filled with aces and elites, as they had sent out different candidates in the same categories, and those new candidates were still able to win round after round, not to mention those were not even the strongest ones.
Nevertheless, everyone knew that London Military Academy would be weaker.
Washington Military Academy was scheduled to take on Capth on day three. They were, in fact, top-notch amongst all A-Ranked academies. Washington Military Academy had always been drooling to become the next S-Ranked academy, and they had always been known as Capth's greatest rival.
The arena was already fully packed early in the morning. Everyone was expecting an exciting tournament.
As usual, the tournament began with the Survival Challenge, and Washington Military Academy already demonstrated a surprising performance; the challengers might have lost, yet they were able to pressure their opponents by a close score of 2:3. The other A-Ranked academies instantly saw a ray of hope; perhaps, Washington Military Academy would really be able to cause a miracle.
Washington Military Academy suffered another loss in Intel Programming Battle. Yet, they bounced back by successfully obtaining a breathtaking victory in Heavy Armed Brawl and scored one point finally! It was not an ordinary point because it was a proof of them winning the whole category. Apparently, the candidate named Ali was born with an extraordinary physical strength, which then led him to become the super-elite, and also the hidden ace of Washington Military Academy. However, the uneasy surprise had heightened the awareness of Capth.
Students from the other academies were deeply encouraged by that round. They finally realized that Capth was not as invincible as it seemed like!
Meanwhile, Jia Gang, who lost that round, was deeply saddened by his carelessness. He blamed himself of underestimating the funny-looking fella, and in the end, he was bitten back by his own ego.
Just as the candidates of Washington Military Academy saw a ray of hope, Capth decided to send out Bisu for Battlecraft Combat, as it was time for him to "warm-up". In a flash, he managed to defeat three opponents in a row with his superb controlling maneuvers. The matches were so quick that his poor opponents didn't even get to see what really happened.
It was totally outrageous! Yet to Bisu, those were nothing compared to his usual warm-ups.
Both Bisu and Flash were crowned as the living legends of Battlecraft Combat, and no one would be surprised if both of them would become two outstanding fleet captains in the future, or perhaps they would even create their own histories.
The excitement of Washington Military Academy immediately died down; they were completely overwhelmed by Capth's dominating capabilities.
The tournament was followed up by the long-awaited METAL Combat, and Wally successfully won four times in a row without breaking a sweat, showing no mercy to the guests. In the end, Washington Military Academy managed to score only one point like Cruxs.
The Academy of Capth was indeed an indestructible fortress.
Nevertheless, Washington Military Academy was still able to shake the arrogance of Capth. At least they had managed to force Capth to send out their aces and exhausted them a little bit; but nothing more than that. What's worse, that wasn't even Capth's strongest formation.
On day four, To-So Military Academy's fate was even more depressing; they suffered a devastating humiliation of 0:10. Obviously, Washington Military Academy's surprising performances had triggered their alertness and bloodthirstiness, but To-So Military Academy was the one to suffer in the end.
Students of the A-Ranked academies who were pretty confident a few days ago were utterly crushed after day four; the humiliation was unbearable. Without a doubt, every academy had recruited quite a few talents of their own. However, they had forgotten that elite "head-hunting" was not a difficult task in the era of talents blooming across the continent, and being one of the best S-Ranked academies, Capth would never miss a chance of recruiting their own aces as well. Regardless of Capth or the other A-Ranked academies, everyone had been busy all year round, recruiting talents and aces for the sake of their fame and glory.
Halmond didn't show up during the competition against To-So Military Academy; there was no point of him being in the arena since the outcome was not a suspense at all. However, he was very excited about facing Samantha's team, a team led by someone who was one of his best students. And to be honest, he was actually overjoyed by the rivalry between him and his former student!
Anyhow, people seemed not quite interested in the final tournament. The Ayrlarng-Bernabeu Alliance sounded quite weak to most of them. After all, two weak parties teaming up would only make themselves even weaker! Moreover, there was no way that the alliance would be able to do better than Washington Military Academy.
Only a handful of Capth's students showed up, as most of them were already bored of watching their team owning every single academy, not to mention their aces might not be participating since the alliance was too weak for them to get involved.
Any match would have its own spectators if a tournament were held in some ordinary academy. However, this time the tournament was held in Capth, and due to the pride of enrolling in an S-Ranked academy, the students of Capth were quite "picky" when it came to battle matches.
Yet, unlike how the others reacted, Capth's team seemed to be paying attention to the alliance. Perhaps it was due to Ma Xiaoru's presence, or perhaps it was because Samantha was a former student of Capth, even Vice Principal Halmond had shown up.
As for the other academies, apparently, only Cruxs' team showed up in the spectating area. Yet no one knew if they were here to see the alliance got humiliated or for other purposes. Clearly the rest of the academies had given up on them.
Samantha led the team into the arena; this too was the only day she showed up. Obviously, she knew that the matches during the earlier days were not worth her time at all, since that wasn't Capth's true performances.
"Vice Principal Halmond, what sort of competition system shall we use this time?" Samantha addressed him in a formal manner. The clash between the teacher and the student was about to begin.
"I'll leave that for you to decide, we're not bothered at all!" Halmond laughed in confidence.
"Since this event was all about self-discovery and learning from each other, actually, I have an idea. Why don't we imply KOF system for both Battlecraft Combat and METAL Combat?"
"So, you were saying, three wins out of five rounds for Battlecraft Combat, and four wins out of seven matches for METAL Combat?"
"Indeed, so that everyone would get a chance to learn from each other."
"Haha, it seems like you're pretty confident today, Principal Samantha. Very well, I accept your idea!" Acknowledging that this method would only increase the winning rates of Capth, Halmond had no reasons to turn down Samantha's idea.
Li Ruo-Er finally showed up at the arena, and everyone seemed to have gathered their attention on both Ma Xiaoru and her for today, not to mention the girls were even more attractive as they showed up in their uniforms.
Both girls looked at each other. Li Ruo-Er gave her opponent a relaxed and confident glance, like she knew she would win in the end. On the other hand, Ma Xiaoru kept her cool and stayed alert. In fact, their battle had already started the moment they saw each other. Only Tactics of the Enchantress users were able to demonstrate such psychokinetic "attacks". Both Li Ruo-Er and Ma Xiaoru seemed to have shown an outstanding mastery of Tactics of the Enchantress.
Round one would be S-Ranked difficulty Survival Challenge as always. Capth would be sending out Li Ruo-Er, Cisco, Terrance, Wang Ben, and Wally!
Students of Capth were stunned by the "luxurious" formation. Aside from Li Ruo-Er, there were both former second grader No.1 Cisco and the current second grader No.1 Terrance, first grader No.1 Wally and the incredible Wang Ben. Everyone wondered why would Halmond arrange the super formation that was normally used against another S-Ranked academy to fight against a team of weaklings. It was like he was trying to shoot down mosquitoes with machine guns.
"What a team, Principal Halmond!" Samantha was surprised too. She didn't expect Halmond would get so serious in the first round.
"Likewise. Frankly, I'm saving the best for Ayrlarng because all of us appreciate your participation very much! May the best team win." If Halmond hadnt said that in a serious manner, the whole sentence would sound like an irony instead.
The spectating students were confused because Li Ruo-Er was clearly more than enough to handle Ma Xiaoru. Yet Wally, Terrance and Cisco's participation seemed a bit too much…
Even though Cisco had lost his No.1 title, he was still an elite amongst second graders. However, he seemed to be emotionally traumatized after the fight with Einherjar Wannabe. Yet, Halmond didn't give up on him. A talented person like him needed to learn how to bounce back from defeats, which was why Halmond arranged his participation in this round.
Nevertheless, Halmond was not able to understand Wang Ben. Clearly, he still cared a lot about Ayrlarng, but he insisted on fighting against them. At first, Halmond wondered if Wang Ben was trying to let them win, but he immediately excluded that idea because the kid was the son of the honorable General Hu Ben, and he wouldn't disgrace his family for sure.
Meanwhile, students of Ayrlarng were obviously infuriated as they saw Wang Ben's appearance.
Ayrlarng-Bernabeu Alliance would be sending out Ma Xiaoru, Wang Tong, Apache, Hu Yangxuan and Cao Yi.
Apparently, the students of Capth only knew Ma Xiaoru, and had no idea who the rest of the were. Although Apache had won before, that was a long time ago, and no one seemed to remember his name.
Both teams decided to only send in the best candidates, because the weaker ones definitely had no chance surviving the scenario with an S-Ranked difficulty. Meanwhile, the spectating students were thrilled. Everyone knew how precise was Principal Halmond's observation. and this formation meant that the opponents were very strong!
The scenario was then randomly drawn, and everyone went silent when they saw the drawn map. Apparently, the scenario was absolutely insane; the difficulty was impossible to be exact. However, the spectators thought that the alliance was lucky in drawing that map, as it would be humiliating to suffer a defeat in an easy scenario instead.
All of the ten candidates were randomly placed at the edge of the map, and everyone was given the same set of equipment. This time, it would be a race towards the designated goal, and those who were unable to finish before time limit would be eliminated, just like how the military treated its soldiers who failed their given missions.
In tough challenges like this, candidates had no choice but to go head on with even more complicated Zergs, well-equipped with higher intelligence and stronger powers. However, some of the Zergs' data was altered in order to make them slightly stronger. After all, tougher difficulty would be able to increase fighter's chances of survival during real battles.
This time, all of the ten candidates didn't rush off blindly, but they began after taking their time in checking the equipment and memorizing their routes.
Everyone was given a navigation system which was able to detect Zergs' presence at some point. However, the screen of the navigation system was filled with red dots, which indicated Zergs. Hence, it was kind of useless in this scenario. If anyone of them were to encounter a horde of Zergs, he or she would be toasted for sure.
Nevertheless, the coaching teacher had provided the team with some tips on handling S-Ranked scenarios like this. But to Wang Tong, those "tips" were a bit too technical for him, not to mention all of them had to beat the time limit as well. In the end, the best method was to charge!
Chapter 181: Clear-cut
Translator: Double_L Editor: Hitesh_
Wang Tong was well aware that this was the time for him to prove himself to Samantha. Instead of talking, he knew this was the best time to do something to answer the affection of an amazing girl like her. Moreover, Capth's candidates had really drawn Wang Tong's interest.
He remembered Old Fart saying once, "Women had to be won by conquering their hearts. If there's someone you adore, then show her your strength!"
Wang Tong was well aware that Samantha really wished for a final victory, yet she didn't put in too much hope because the gap in terms of standards was too big. The bigger the desire, the greater the disappointment; but without a victory, Wang Tong would not be able to win Samantha's heart for good.
Realizing that this was his final chance, Wang Tong finally got serious. Knowing that his opponents were all elites, he would have to be extra careful as well!
Wang Tong started as the slowest amongst all candidates, and he didn't use any of the given equipment because they were in his way. Instead, Wang Tong chose to follow his own instinct. Soon, he realized that his sense of smell had picked up an unfamiliar scent. Even though he used to live in a zoo of Zergs back at Norton, yet all species were not covered. However, almost like Cao Yi, Wang Tong had a good habit of summarizing things. Wang Tong was born with a good memory, and was able to store all experiences in his brain.
As a matter of fact, Zergs had a strict division of species, almost as strict as their ranking system. Their evolution patterns were mostly traceable, as they were all based on the specific primal species. Different Zergs might have a different level of ferociousness. However, most Zergs of the same species had the same characteristics. But the fighters would need to have a calm judgment under huge pressure when fighting against those creatures in order to find the similarities.
Both Li Ruo-Er and Ma Xiaoru were advancing at an incredible speed. As the match went on, people started to notice the difference. They began to realize that Apache was speedy but lacked variations. On the other hand, Ma Xiaoru seemed to have unleashed her real strength under Li Ruo-Er's pressure. Both ladies were leading and had even outraced everyone else, after all, the two of them were the successors of Tactics of the Enchantress. Meanwhile, spectators in the arena seemed to have increased as they found out that Li Ruo-Er and Ma Xiaoru were participating. Everyone's attention was still focused on the two "princesses".
People seemed to like comparing the two of them with each other since they both studied the same tactics. The House of Li was deeply rooted in the military while the House of Ma was Earth Confederation's one and only financial tycoon. So, of course, these two ladies would always be living under the spotlight. Fortunately for the ladies, public media had been very nice to them.
After all, if any of these two families were being offended, Zergs would be the only "party" that one could turn to.
Obviously, Zergs were not very fond of "unwelcomed guests", and they would swarm in from all directions in order to eliminate the threats. The long-awaited battle had finally begun, and this was, in fact, the test of one's strength, experience, intelligence and different capabilities. No one would be able to extinguish all of the Zergs. Winning required a good strategy, unless he or she possessed the strength of an Einherjar.
Somehow, Li Ruo-Er and Ma Xiaoru were able to free themselves from being surrounded by Zergs by demonstrating an extreme speed and various combinations of movements.
As for the rest of the candidates, they were all being very cautious and kept themselves hidden while advancing at a moderate speed. Yet, encounters were unavoidable in the base of Zergs. When one was being surrounded, shaking them off as quickly as possible was important because that would be like achieving a stage by stage victory.
S-Ranked difficulty focused on survival and speed. It might be a bit too tough for most of them. However, this was the standard of Capth. The elites of Capth didn't even bother to look at the scenarios of lower ranked difficulties, as most of them had high requirements for themselves.
The elites of Capth usually trained in S-Ranked difficulty scenarios. However, luck was still an important factor when it came to winning. Obviously, the candidates of Ayrlarng would find it even more difficult. Even though they had been taught by the coach and went through a lot of special training, situations like this would still be a bit too much for them.
Hu Yangxuan and the rest of the alliance weren't the only ones who were surrounded by Zergs. Apparently, the candidates of Capth were also stuck in a mess, as Cisco, Wally and Wang Ben too were surrounded by hordes and hordes of Zergs. Wally tried to break off by unleashing a burst of GN Force. However, he was trapped again within less than ten meters.
It couldn't be helped because the scenario was randomly drawn and it was truly outrageous.
On the other hand, Cao Yi seemed to be doing better as he was moving very carefully. He managed to stay calm as he knew that he wasn't in a rush. Although he was weaker compared to the others, Cao Yi was aware that there was still a chance for him to win if he could stay calm and focused. His strategy was to proceed according to the surrounding situation. This was why Cao Yi was seen advancing at a slow speed. He would stop and observe the situation if there were Zergs around the corner, and would choose to avoid confrontation if he were able to do so. Even if that weren't possible, it was better to make clear observations before attacking.
However, he would never be able to reach the final goal if he kept traveling at that speed. But clearly, Cao Yi wasn't completely focused on winning. He was here to train for improvement.
Wally, on the other hand, was keen on showing off. But more importantly, he was eager to prove himself better than Wang Ben. Unfortunately for him, his burst of GN Force had drawn the attention of even more Zergs, and he was struggling to kill all of them.
Nevertheless, Li Ruo-Er and Ma Xiaoru were still the strongest of all. Both of them were moving with an extreme nimbleness like swordmasters, and always managed to dodge the Zergs before getting surrounded. This level of variation was all driven by the Tactics of the Enchantress. Others who practiced different tactics would've died of exhaustion already if they were to move like how they moved.
Aside from movements, both ladies were also performing amazingly in terms of attacking, slicing through enemies with their superb sword skills. Clearly, both of them had been professionally trained, and they were equally experienced. However, the only thing that got everyone else worried was their stamina.
Wang Tong seemed to be advancing at a decent speed. He wasn't going full force yet as there was still time. He was waiting for the perfect timing. To be honest, he hated those Skulk Zergs, but the ruckus caused by the other candidates had provoked every single Zerg in this map. Unlike mankind, Zergs were not able to invigorate each other through words and languages. However, they were able to secrete a substance that would stimulate all Zergs to go rampage and significantly boost their strength while toughening their defense at the same time. Normally, fighters would never hope to fight against a provoked Zerg, and would prefer to ambush those creatures instead.
However, that was what Wang Tong wanted, because only then would he be able to tell what was going on, as the creatures' scent was completely dispersed throughout the environment. Nevertheless, this round was going to be rough, as engaging in tough battles in their base would be unavoidable.
Li Ruo-Er and Ma Xiaoru's strength was truly terrifying, and were able to startle the students of Capth and Cruxs. They might be at the same age as everyone else, yet the gap in terms of strength was indescribable. With the absolute dominance of such incredible tactics, no wonder the Five Great Houses were still thriving today.
As for the reason behind House of Ma's glory, aside from staying away from politics, the most important reason had to be their development of the state of the art technologies. Even though the number of technologies were not many, they were still able to let the House of Ma maintain its unshakable position and unique existence among the other four Great Houses.
Rumors had it that the House of Ma actually possessed a piece of technology left down by the Blade Warrior himself. Even the House of Li had no idea what the secret was. Due to an agreement made ages ago, the House of Li had no rights to know what it was.
It seemed like the agreement was made by General Li Feng himself.
Minutes later, both Li Ruo-Er and Ma Xiaoru too were being attacked by Zergs from all directions. Most importantly, they had no idea what was going on in front, as their Soul Energy detection was only able to cover an approximately ten meters radius. It might sound amazing, but the detection ability was not able to keep up with their moving speed. Hence random encounters were somehow unavoidable.
As they were being attacked, both "princesses" were still able to counter while not affecting their traveling speed at all, which was totally absurd. Even though both ladies were not in the same area, it did feel like both of them were competing against each other.
As for Best and the other candidates from Bernabeu, they finally realized that Ma Xiaoru didn't even demonstrate her true strength during their previous tournament against Ayrlarng. If it weren't because of the agreement made by both principals, all of them would have been KO-ed by her alone.
Li Ruo-Er and Ma Xiaoru were the first, but their speed had started to decline, and their battles had become more difficult, not to mention that their stamina had also started to decline after charging for a long period of time. They needed to conserve energy in order to look out for any ambush.
Both ladies were seen using the same strategy; to both of them, the early stage of the round were easier even though it was quite difficult for the others, which was why they chose not to waste any time and dashed towards the core of Zergs' base. As for now, they would need to be more careful and utilize the time they saved earlier at this stage.
Clearly, both princesses were not some brainless beauties. They appeared to have great minds even though they didn't have great knockers.
However, a dandy once said, "Not to judge b*obs by women's cup sizes."
Everyone was absolutely drawn to the ladies while they were fighting; they were indeed the perfect combination of beauty and strength. Even the teachers were truly amazed by their performances. Normally, people would either scream and shout or keep a long face while demonstrating their tactics. However, Tactics of the Enchantress were less loud and coarse; no matter facing what sort of situation, Li Ruo-Er would always show an elegant faint smile while Ma Xiaoru would remain gentle as always. Even her sword skills looked gentle, but actually were very lethal. Only a dying Zerg would be able to tell the fear from her attacks as it was being sliced into half.
Somehow, the whole arena was packed with spectators after a while, and the monitor seemed to be focusing on Li Ruo-Er and Ma Xiaoru only. Since Li Ru-Er was barely able to be seen in Capth for most of the time, a lot of spectators seemed to have come just to witness her elegance, not to mention people were excited about the clash between House of Ma and House of Li's descendants.
As for the other candidates, their situations were shown in the smaller windows on the monitor. Apparently, the personnel in charge of the control room were well aware that the spectators didn't care much about the other candidates. Even though Wang Ben was famous, his case was still not as interesting as Li Ruo-Er and Ma Xiaoru's.
Wang Ben had been demonstrating a stable performance. He seemed not to be worrying about the time. At first, the students of Capth were worried if he would purposely let their opponents win, yet they were immediately relieved as they noticed that he was doing good while Wally was still struggling.
It seemed like Wang Ben and Cisco were the second fastest candidates.
Chapter 182: S-level Difficulty
Translator: Double_L Editor: Hitesh_
Hu Yangxuan, Apache and Cao Yi's placing was right behind Wang Ben and Cisco's. However there was still quite a gap between those two batches, and it was clearly caused by the difference between strategies. Even if everyone were able to survive in the end, the gap between both batches' advancement speed would still roughly show the difference in terms of their overall fighting abilities.
On the other hand, Wang Tong was still the slowest candidate of all. However, he was seen closing the gap between him and the third batch of candidates. Wang Tong could've accelerated early as the match began, but he chose not to do so due to the complicated scent he picked up from this S-Ranked scenario. He needed to get familiar with the surrounding first before he could speed up afterward. If Wang Tong were to charge recklessly at the beginning, he would be thoroughly drained in this round of bloody brawl with the Zergs, and he wouldn't have enough stamina for the upcoming matches.
The other candidates too were thinking about the same thing. Since they were unable to reach the goal in time, it would be better for them to conserve energy and survive this round. Even though that had nothing to do with winning, still they need to do so in order to defend their reputation as aces.
Wang Tong was calculating time while advancing. Noticing that the clock was ticking and his analysis was not done yet, Wang Tong knew that it would cause him to be eliminated in the first round. In the end, Wang Tong decided to speed up and charge in order to keep his promise to Samantha!
"Damn, they're so lucky!" One of the students of Cruxs sighed as he envied Capth's and the alliance's amazing performances. Clearly their team would never be able to keep up in that harsh situation.
"They looked good because they had Ma Xiaoru in their team, but I think they're still not gonna make it in the end. Li Ruo-Er was clearly leading." Li Ruo-Er was indeed leading Ma Xiaoru by two minutes, and even though both ladies were equally strong, Ma Xiaoru would still be pressured by Li Ruo-Er, who was up ahead of her.
On the other hand, Halmond remained calm on his seat. The situation might have looked bad, but he was certain that Li Ruo-Er was slightly stronger than Ma Xiaoru. Nevertheless, Samantha was lucky as both teams were given this hideous scenario. If the difficulty were to be lower, Capth would've won in no time. However, Halmond realized that he still had underestimated her team. Surprisingly, her team was doing quite well even though they were facing such a difficult challenge.
As expected from Samantha's leadership!
Halmond recognized Apache, who had won last time because his opponent held back. After all, Capth would still have to look after its challenger's reputation. Back then, the kid was too naive, but he had improved now and became more rational. The other candidates seemed to be doing fine too. Halmond turned towards Hu Yangxuan, a decent, talented kid from Court of the Templar. Obviously, Capth was quite familiar with Court of the Templar, since Terrance, the current No.1 amongst second graders, was also one of the Templar's disciples, and he was also Hu Yangxuan's upperclassman.
As for Cao Yi, the boy was truly talented, as he knew how to act according to his strength and was able to keep calm and stay focus. Hence, he should be able to shine in the future. Geniuses would often make mistakes, and some even wouldn't appreciate their gift, while a focused and cautious person like him would be able to go places. In fact, Halmond saw a bit of himself in Cao Yi. He too was not a born genius, and wasn't as talented as his classmates. Yet, he was hardworking and had successfully become the vice principal of Capth, and those talented classmates of his were unable to achieve anything in the end.
Nevertheless, Principal Martyrus was still one of the best in terms of recruiting talents.
Yet, Halmond seemed to have forgotten someone else…
Halmond was confident that he had everything under control, and he was certain about the final outcome that it would be either a draw or they would win by a close victory. Li Ruo-Er's slight advantage over Ma Xiaoru was all he needed.
This level of difficulty might have restrained his team's performances, but they should learn that life was fair, and luck wouldn't always be on their side. Instead, they should be overcoming every difficulty with their true strength. If they were able to keep calm, victory would be on their side.
After all, it would be wrong if they were too arrogant.
"Oh?"
"Look at that speed!"
"Did you see that? That dude sped up in a blink of an eye!"
"Go get it, hombre!" Carl jumped up and cheered, without even bothering about the other spectators. The word shyness was definitely not in his vocabulary.
Meanwhile, Wang Tong was still accelerating. For some reason, he was able to increase his speed even though the pressure was getting bigger from time to time.
"So that's Wang Tong huh. Isn't it a bit late to start charging now?" Halmond murmured to himself, or perhaps to Samantha as well.
"Sir, don't make conclusions until the very end. You taught me that once." Samantha smiled. To be honest, she was relieved as Wang Tong made his move after such a long time. She was anxious because no one was able to make it yet, not to mention the Survival Challenge was all about testing one's experience and overall strength.
As for now, all Samantha could do was to trust Wang Tong while watching his performance through the monitor and cheer for him from the bottom of her heart.
Wang Tong was seen dashing across the map. With his detection ability of approximately thirty meters in radius and his knowledge about Zergs, Wang Tong was able to roughly identify the species of Zergs and the number of Zergs within this radius. This was why he was able to be fully prepared to attack way before encountering the creatures, making sure that he stayed out of troubles and saved a lot of time.
After five minutes, Wang Tong had overtaken Hu Yangxuan and the rest of the third batch members. The ability to detect was very crucial in a dangerous environment like this, and Wang Tong was basically born with the advantage of telling the numbers of Zergs with his Soul Energy and identifying their species through his sense of smell. Most candidates might need to think of a strategy, but Wang Tong knew Zergs very well, just like how they knew themselves. Also, the way he fought was based on his instinct, wasting no time at all.
Unlike most people, Wang Tong was able to notice that Zergs' attacking moves were basically instinctive formations. In fact, Einherjar Wannabe taught him how to do so back at Norton, which was why he was able to save himself from hordes of Zergs from time to time. Speedy judgment was crucial in battlefields, and fighters should be able to have spontaneous reflexes that responded quicker and more precise than the brain, like an instinct.
Wang Tong's spontaneous reflexes kicked in like a natural instinct. He knew he had to do so in order to win, or else he wouldn't be able to keep his promise to Samantha. As a man, promises had to be kept at all costs. He remembered Old Fart used to say that, and then there was also his habit of pawning anything valuable in the house for fulfilling his promises to the ladies.
Wang Tong was dispersing a murderous aura because he felt the sense of pressure which was quite different from what he had felt on Norton. He would've stayed hidden while advancing if this was Norton, because exposing to the environment was very dangerous. But he had no choice except exposing himself to danger and getting familiar with the environment. This was after all how mankind trained themselves since the beginning of time.
Time was running out fast, and Wang Tong was still charging towards the goal. He had successfully overtaken the second batch of candidates, and was seen approaching like a hurricane, stunning everyone else among the crowd. Meanwhile, Li Ruo-Er and Ma Xiaoru, who were leading in front, had slowed down and were proceeding carefully. As the descendants of House of Li and House of Ma, they had to achieve everything that seemed impossible for most people because they were the offsprings of legends. Although the ladies were able to keep their cool while confronting crisis due to the might of their Tactics of the Enchantress, yet both of them sensed that they were no longer able to accelerate.
The system would announce the name of any candidate that was able to make it to the core area of the map. Li Ruo-Er was expecting her and Ma Xiaoru's name to be announced as they entered. However, she was quite surprised to hear a third name announced by the system.
The other candidates of Capth stood up unwittingly, and the spectators had gone quiet. Everyone was very nervous!
For the first time, students of Capth felt an uncertainty towards their victory.
Although Wang Tong was still falling behind both ladies, he was closing the gap rapidly. Unlike Li Ruo-Er and Ma Xiaoru, the way Wang Tong charged was intimidating and strange. Somehow, he always managed to get ready to fight even though there was still a distance between him and the enemy. And for some reason, he would always change his routes whenever some special species of Zergs or pack leader Zergs were waiting in front, like he had known everything in advance.
His speed was mind-blowing.
Li Ruo-Er immediately felt the pressure as soon as she realized that it was currently two against one. She didn't expect someone that strong in the opposing team.
Wang Tong too was getting worried as the time was disappearing quickly. Apparently, he was greatly burdened by the creatures. He had even made a few mistakes in his recent judgments and almost ended up getting KO-ed by one of the Zergs. The Zergs were also getting stronger; their species had increased, and their scent had got even more complicated. If there were more options, he wouldn't have chosen to advance like this. After all, the lesser the risks, the better.
Wang Tong gathered himself and stayed focused in order to complete his mission; nothing would be able to stop him now.
One minute to go, the three of them were approaching the finish line. Wang Tong had narrowed the gap!
Halmond started to get worried a little. The spectators were holding their breaths, wondering who was going to win this round.
Was it going to be them?
Furthermore, this was how S-Ranked difficulty looked like?
All of a sudden, a strange hissing sound came out of nowhere, and the pathway ahead was blocked entirely. Then, Skulk Zergs and its pack leader Zerg began to attack, intercepting Li Ruo-Er, who was the first one who was trying to reach the goal. She was being attacked from all directions under the command of the pack leader Zerg.
Even the descendant of Tactics of the Enchantress would never be able to break through that easily.
Time was running out. However, Li Ruo-Er would never be able to pass through even if she were to unleash a series of GN Force, because in the program, the creatures were modified to be very defensive in order to protect the core area. Just like how they would protect their Space Hives, they would protect the area at all costs, even if meant using their bodies as meat shields.
Li Ruo-Er then unleashed her Sword of the Enchantress in an elegant manner, slicing up Zergs into halves as she moved. However, she was still unable to move an inch closer, and was even pushed back because she wasn't equipped with any METAL Suit. Her GN Force alone was unable to defend against too many attacks, and to get hurt would be even more dangerous as she might get herself KO-ed before she could reach the goal. Nevertheless, she believed that no one would be able to pass through if she was unable to do it.
Meanwhile, Ma Xiaoru too had unleashed two continuous slashes with her Sword of the Enchantress, and slew a huge amount of Zergs. However, she wasn't able to get through at all. Hence, in order not to get KO-ed by the stronger Zergs, Ma Xiaoru chose to switch from going offensive to defensive.