Satisfying

Suddenly Rectify felt a prickling on his skin and knew that another arrow was coming for him. The demon quickly rolled on the floor before he finally managed to stand up again.

He huffed angrily, his chest boiling with rage as he stared at Silent Acacia. Noticing that the hunter was already readying his next arrow, Rectify knew he had to turn the situation around quickly.

With a though the demon used his ultimate skill. Immediately flames formed in the air everywhere and rushed towards Rectify. They condensed around him, forming a figure, enclosing Rectify within it.

A terrifying figure formed. It was the upper body of a towering, giant demon with a horrifying maw and large horns, made completely out of flames.

"Die!"

Rectify let out a shout as the flaming fist began to move.

Silent Acacia felt the mountain shake and the hot air scalded his lungs. He let go of his arrow. The projectile shot through the air but when it came close to Rectify it spontaneously combusted, turning into ashes.

Watching this, Silent Acacia knew it was useless to attack. He began to move, jumping left and right, trying to confuse his enemy's aim.

A massive fist barrelled down on Silent Acacia, bringing a flaming pressure, as if the sun crashed to the ground. Everyone watched in horror, praying for Silent Acacia to escape.

But at the last moment Rectify suddenly let out a mocking laugh. His fist abruptly sped up, changed its trajectory and slamming down on Zorn.

"No!"

Silent Acacia let out a shocked cry. He realized that Rectify wanted to take out Zorn because of her earlier skill.

When Rectify raised his fist again, Zorn had lost more than 3500HP. On top of that flames began to burn on her skin as a burn effect was added to her status, continuously draining more HP.

Rectify didn't stop there. Another fist fell instantly. Silent Acacia tried to get Zorn out of the way but both the allegation and the flaming giant were quite big, making it difficult to dodge.

"Roar!"

Zorn vented her pain. Flames latched onto her skin as the burn effect stacked, causing more than a hundred points of damage per second.

Originally Zorn had 15.000HP but now less than half of that was remaining. Silent Acacia hesitated for a moment before he decided to make use of his set equipment.

One of its effects allowed him to exchange his pet should it receive more than 5000 points of damage within 5 seconds.

Rectify had a big grin on his face. The flames surrounding him dissipated into the air, leaving the demon standing on scorched ground. But his aim was achieved, and Silent Acacia had taken Zorn out of the battle.

Swish!

Suddenly a strange sound reached the demon's ear. He was momentarily too late to react as a black shadow flashed past his neck, attacking with dark claws.

[-1529!]

Rectify shook. He glanced to the side and noticed a black tiger hovering in the air.

"How?!"

Everyone knew that hunters were able to take back their pets. But Rectify had not seen Silent Acacia use his item's effect before. He only realized now that Silent Acacia had a way to change his pets mid-fight, which was normally impossible.

Simultaneously he noticed an addition to his status. The attack just now had reduced his armor, making him more susceptible to physical damage.

Silent Acacia naturally wouldn't miss the chance he created. He instantly sent an arrow towards his enemy. He aimed carefully at Rectify's left shoulder.

The demon snorted and dodged towards the right.

[Stance -24]

But this was exactly what Silent Acacia had hoped for. He instantly followed up with a [Biting Arrow]. An arrow shot through the air. Engulfed by an illusionary tiger head with a maw full of sharp teeth it swiftly appeared right before Rectify.

"F*ck!"

Cursing loudly Rectify tried to duck but he was too slow. The arrow grazed his shoulder, leaving a painful bite mark behind.

[-3555!]

"Haha, you are getting slow, old man!"

"You little... don't think you have won already!"

Rectify was close to death but he wasn't reconciled to lose like this. His skills came off cooldown. He suddenly turned into a burning man, once again shooting into the sky.

Silent Acacia grinned. As a meteor streaked towards him, he didn't bother to dodge. He calmly nocked another arrow with [Flurry] activated.

The flaming figure fell from the sky, accompanied by a trail of fire, dyeing the fog a gorgeous orange.

A deafening explosion shook the world. Silent Acacia stood right in the centre. But something he didn't expect happened as the shockwave violently pushed him backwards!

[-3922!]

Silent Acacia stumbled, drawing horrified cries from his fans.

I miscalculated!

The hunter watched as the flames around Rectify quickly dissipated. The demon was close enough to strike with the massive bracers adorning his fists.

No! There is no way I'll lose like this!

Silent Acacia gritted his teeth. He stopped trying to break his body's momentum and instead focused only on his bow. He stabilized the weapon and rapidly unleashed two arrows.

The distance between Silent Acacia and Rectify was not even one metre. The arrows arrived in no time at all. Everyone watched with bated breaths.

Rectify opened his eyes wide in shock. He instinctually leaned his head to the side, dodging the first arrow!

"Oh no!"

In the audience Quickstep balled her fists tightly. She focused on the second arrow. It raced through air and... pierced right through Rectify's chest.

[-2666!]

"No!"

"Yes!"

Instantly the audience erupted with two different emotions. Cheers and disappointed sighs spread quickly.

Silent Acacia also saw his arrow hit. The damage number popped up, showing that Rectify had no last-second counter.

As his body relaxed, Silent Acacia tumbled backward. His feet reached the edge of the mountain top. But it didn't matter, the victory was already his. Smiling brightly Silent Acacia was ready to fall down the mountain when he felt something press against his back.

Glancing over his shoulder he noticed that Korn had appeared at some point, pushing against Silent Acacia's back with his head, saving his master.

"Haha, thanks."

Silent Acacia let out a relaxed laugh as he regained his footing and came to a stop at the mountain edge.

In the audience countless eyes had hearts in them, staring at Korn. The tiger's placement in all cuteness rankings instantly went up several ranks.

Silent Acacia patted Korn's head before looking towards the front, just in time to see Rectify being sent out of the arena.

"Yeah!"

The young man couldn't help himself, venting his emotions loudly. He felt as if shackless were falling off his body after defeating one of his old 'teammates'.

Soon he was sent back to his friends under deafening cheers.

"Awesome, babe!"

"Nice one!"

"That was satisfying!"

His friends happily congratulated Silent Acacia, hugging him, or slapping his back. The young man only smiled brightly enjoying the moment.

But this wasn't the only pleasant event the friends experienced today. As the tournament continued Cyclone and Quickstep soon had to fight as well, snatching two victories.

Finally, everyone participating from Hotpot qualified for the finals on day nine.

Towards the evening Dream Avenue gathered in the guild hall, celebrating their success. Apart from Hotpot there were some others who also made it through, notably Final Fend who made it to the group contest's finals with his team of Dream Avenue members.

This was already a big achievement. Out of the more than a billion participating teams only about five million were left and were now fighting for the crown.

The same could be said for the solo and guild contest. Their participants had shrunk to about forty million and seven hundred thousand respectively.

Although this might sound like a lot, it was nothing when compared to the massive population of the entire federation.

Dream Avenue rightfully celebrated their achievements until the game shut off for the day.

Liam and Serena came back to the real world and could smell a delicious taste in the air. The left their room and saw that Merida was already done with her work, preparing a way too big dinner.

Serena skipped into the kitchen, looking over all the pots.

"Merida, this looks so tasty!"

"Haha, I hope it does."

Liam also followed behind his sister with a smile on his face.

"Do you need some help?"

"NO!"

Both women rejected instantly, causing Liam to freeze in place. Serena giggled seeing him like this.

Liam wordlessly shook his head. He looked at Merdia, asking another question:

"Why is there so much to eat today? Do we have something to celebrate?"

"Of course! You all made it to the finals! How could we not celebrate?"

Liam was startled hearing this from Merida. So far, she never followed the game closely.

"How did you know?"

"How could I not know? Everyone is talking about it. You guys, Galaxy, and Force of Nature. It's all over the news."