The spectators gazed at Lei Su in shock. They didn't expect this turn of events!
Vacuum Chain Burst was a 10-hit skill. Eight hits dealt 17,000 damage while two random hits critted for 38,000 for a total of 212,000 damage.
Lei Su somehow survived that frightening damage! He was truly monstrous!
Lei Su just barely clinging onto life, with a little over 5,000 health remaining. But he was still alive! This was an undeniable fact!
"What a lucky son of a bitch!" Warlance cursed under his breath. He never imagined Lei Su would survive after taking a Vacuum Chain Burst head-on.
Soul Feather's loss caught the players of the Evil Faction off guard. Even Plenty didn't expect this outcome.
The Righteous Faction was the first to recover from the shock. They erupted into boisterous cheers. Lei Su took home the first win!
"Lei Su, come back." Bladelight chuckled. He knew just what kind of danger Lei Su braved. If Lei Su had tried to force his attack any sooner, it would've missed. If he had been a step later, he would've gotten hit by the Vacuum Chain Burst first. The battle was decided in that one instant as Lei Su attacked at the perfect moment. Even though he took a huge risk, to the extent he didn't even have the time to activate any defensive skills, he relied on his massive health pool to eke out a victory.
Be it War God's Fury or Vacuum Chain Burst, both were killer trump cards. It was clear neither side held anything back.
After just barely scraping by with a victory, Bladelight naturally wouldn't force Lei Su to stay on.
"We'll send our next fighter up first this time. Sun, it's your turn." Bladelight glanced at Sun.
"Got it." Sun nodded.
Seeing Asskickers United sending out a Thief, and Sun at that, Warlance knitted his brows. As far back as Asskickers United's early days, their Thieves were the most difficult to deal with. That remained true even after Nie Yan's departure. Sun, King of the World, Mistaken Smile, Shadow Killer, One Strike Vow, Tyrannical, Hapless Frog, just to name a few had all inherited his skills. Now, they'd developed their own styles, and their skills had reached the apogee. Especially Sun, King of the World, Mistaken Smile, and Shadow Killer, who were dubbed the Four Heavenly Kings by the players of the Righteous Factions.
Warlance had received an order from Plenty before coming here today. Fallen Angel wouldn't make use of any class advantages. If they were going to fight, it would be blow for blow. If Asskickers United sent out a Thief, so would they!
Warlance turned to Ghost. "I'll leave Sun to you."
"Alright." Ghost nodded.
"How confident are you?" Warlance asked.
If the opponent were anyone else, Warlance's question would have incurred Ghost's displeasure. After all, he was the strongest Thief in the Evil Faction! He had yet to meet another Spectral Thief that could best him. However, his opponent this time was Sun. He didn't have the slightest confidence in victory. Truthfully speaking, he would every now and then go online and search for videos of the Four Heavenly Kings. The more he watched, the more shocked he would become. Every session he would discover they had come up with a new tactic or technique.
With so many top ranked Thieves mingling together and learning from each other in Asskickers United, they would naturally progress at a much faster rate. On the other hand, Ghost could barely find any good opponents in Fallen Angel. He had no choice but to stumble forward on his own. However, if he turned down this challenge, how would he know where he placed?
Ghost didn't dare to underestimate his opponent. Three years ago, Nirvana Flame was the invincible Thief. The teachings and insights he left behind couldn't be compared to that of other guilds.
After Sun took the stage, Asskickers United broke out into even more boisterous cheers. As long as he didn't face someone like Warlance, a win was guaranteed! Even if Warlance did come up, he still had ways of adapting!
Those on the Righteous Faction wondered who Fallen Angel would send out in response to Sun. Would it perhaps be Warlance?
At this moment, a Spectral Thief entered the PvP stage. It was Ghost.
The players from the Righteous Faction gasped in surprise.
"That's a large guild for you, forward and upright! They could have easily sent out a powerful Warrior up to deal with Sun, but they sent up another Thief!"
With Fallen Angel unwilling to take the class advantage, the players from the Righteous Faction started viewing Fallen Angel in a new light.
"Damn, I don't see any hope of Fallen Angel winning this round. Even at Nirvana Flame's prime, Sun was right behind him!"
The two Thieves stood opposite of each other on the stage. The referee outside gave the signal to begin.
Both of them vanished into stealth.
Many of the spectators activated their ocular skills. Those without didn't even have the qualifications to view this match. A duel between Thieves was the most difficult to follow. A large portion of the battle was spent in stealth while the actual clashes only lasted a brief instance as the sparks from daggers clashing flew out into the air. Much of what was going on was guesswork. Only the system recorded replay, which would be released at a later time, would show what actually happened in super slow motion.
After exchanging only several moves with Sun, Ghost already felt a deep fear in his heart. What speed and reflexes! He had yet to land a single attack on Sun, and it seemed like Sun was holding back!
Sun appeared to have come from the same mold as the Mad Rogue of yore!
Assassinating Pierce!
Ghost accelerated, the dagger in his hand glowing red hot as he stabbed toward Sun's forehead. Even though Sun was in stealth, Ghost could still accurately lock onto his positions with Demon Eyes.
As the dagger came piercing towards him, Sun slighted to the side and avoided the attack.
Ghost only saw Sun's figure blur before disappearing from his vision. His heart shivered. It was Sun's signature shadow steps! Suddenly, he felt a cold chill as a dagger flashed behind him. He hurriedly twisted around, bending his arm in a bizarre fashion. KLANG! He just barely parried Sun's attack.
Reverse Grip Backstab!
Ghost quickly retaliated, swinging his dagger towards Sun's back.
KLANG! Sun casually parried the attack before pulling away and retreating back into stealth. The two had a dozen exchanges like this in the span of 30 seconds, each lasting only a second or two at most. At the end of the day, Ghost was still the number one Thief in the Evil Faction. He wouldn't be defeated so easily. However, he was clearly being overwhelmed.
Over on the sidelines, King of the World, Mistaken Smile, and the others closely watched the match. They glanced at each other.
"That Ghost isn't half bad. He can actually hold his own against Sun for this long," King of the World said. Of course, Fallen Angel stood no chance against Asskickers United when it came to Thief players!
"From the start of the match to now, Ghost has used three more skills than Sun. That's the gap in strength. When he runs out, Sun will win," Mistaken Smile said. They could tell at a glance which side was superior. Ghost was still a few notches below Sun.
Two minutes into this high tempo battle, Ghost finally ran out of skills. Struck in the spinee by a Backbreaker, he became crippled. A split second later, he was dead on the ground.
The spectators from the Righteous Faction erupted into another round of passionate cheers.
"Another loss…" Warlance frowned. It appeared they had greatly underestimated the strength of Asskickers United's elites. If the two great factions were to go to war, it would be difficult to seize an advantage. Regardless, the die was already cast. They could only see this competition through until the end.
One match after another came to a close. Asskickers United won all of them. It was only in the seventh match, Warlance versus Dark Requiem, that Fallen Angel achieved its first win. However, that was achieved by relying on a class advantage.
These results had the players from the underworld grumbling with dissatisfaction. The players Fallen Angel sent out were their peak experts, not to mention the advantage they had in innate skills. Yet they were losing so badly to Asskickers United! How did this make any sense!?
Fallen Angel had only four more players eligible to compete. If they were killed too, it would be a resounding defeat!
...
Back in Hell, Nie Yan was watching the livestream with a smile on his face. Sun, Smoke Stub, and the others had grown tremendously in his absence. Fallen Angel had really kicked a steel plate this time. With this kind of showing, they likely wouldn't have the face to return to the underworld. Even though Warlance was strong, he was only on the same level as Bladelight and the others. At best, he could force another defeat by relying on a class advantage, but there was no avoiding defeat in the end.
"I wonder if Plenty will show up to save the day." Nie Yan narrowed his eyes. If Plenty felt forced to take the stage, then Fallen Angel had already lost the battle in one respect.
However, if Plenty really were to take the stage, Bladelight and the others would be in serious trouble. The bonuses from the completed Book of Chaos were no joke!
...
Unbeknownst to Nie Yan, Plenty was already starting to get restless. He was pacing around in the Fallen Angel guild headquarters.
"Nirvana Flame, even if you haven't logged on in three years, the people you brought with you back then are still as strong as ever. If you never left, you would've taken over the underworld by now." Plenty deeply sighed, a myriad of emotions stirring in his heart.
The players Plenty sent out all stood at the very peak of their respective classes in the Evil Faction, the number one Thief, the number one Slayer, the number one Mystic, the number one Necromancer, and so on. Yet in front of these players from Asskickers United, they suffered one defeat after another. How could he possibly stay calm?
In this competition, the gap between Fallen Angel and Asskickers United became painfully clear. Even if his strength far exceeded others as the Chairman of the Dark Council, he still had to rely on those below him to win wars. There was a limit to how much he could do by himself!
Plenty bitterly smiled as his gaze landed back on the livestream. "It looks like I'll be forced to make a showing."