Seeing the player covered in mud layer rush at him with a knife and the intent to kill, Jay remained calm and assessed the situation. He found the player's moments were slow and flawed. The player's mud exoskeleton seemed to be hindering his moments.
As the player neared him, Jay swiftly grabbed the knife on the ground beside him. He intuitively dodged the player's attack, went behind him, and stabbed the knife in the back of his skull.
The thick layer of mud put up little resistance against his knife's penetrative force but absorbed the blood, avoiding splashing any on Jay. The player fell to the ground, lifeless, and the mud exoskeleton covering him dissipated.
Before Jay could catch his breath, he noticed it was raining fire. Grabbing his and the player's knife in each hand, he hurried out of its range.
Moving to safety, he observed that the blonde player who had attacked him with a mini tornado was fighting a player with a fire-related skill. They fired their mini tornados and fireballs at each other, the two attacks colliding in mid-air sent the fire flying in all directions. Soon, the grassland caught on fire and began to burn violently.
Leaving those fools be, Jay scanned the domain. To find that all the weaker players were eliminated and only a small group of strong players remained. Unlike Jay, the remaining players all had powerful skills. Right now he was in a pickle, caught between two players: one summoned thunderbolts, while the other shot ice cones from her palm.
Standing equally far from two players, Jay's mind remained eerily calm. He had no thoughts of running away. Instead, his eyes keenly monitored the two players' movements. He observed they were of the same age group as him, but from different parts of the world, and neither took the initiative to attack. They appeared to be scared and unable to decide whom to attack first.
Having used their skills to massacre other players, both players knew their skills though powerful had their limitations. Their skills had a long-range, wide area of effect, but they could not cast it in two directions simultaneously, not to mention the skill refresh time after each casting. They could ignore Jay and attack each other, but seeing him hold a bloody knife, the two players didn't underestimate him.
Until now the death match had been smooth sailing for the two players, killing players left and right with a wave of their arm. But now, facing an opponent of equal prowess and a seasoned killer, they felt the gravity of their predicament. Whatever the system used to help them adjust to the new reality had worn out. Scared, they hesitated to take action, but in their hesitation, Jay saw an opportunity.
Precisely throwing the knives at both the players, Jay dashed toward the one with ice ability. Startled both players dodged, and instinctively cast their skills without aiming. By the time the player with thunderbolt skill collected himself and scanned his surroundings, the female player was lying on the ground, lifeless, with her head twisted at an inhumane angle and the other player was nowhere to be found.
The remaining player frantically searched for Jay, but he suddenly felt sleepy and fell to the ground asleep. Soon a middle-aged woman subtly crawled next to him and stabbed him in his heart. Killing him, she lay next to him without any moment pretending to be a corpse.
Not far from there, Jay who was buried among corpses, praised the cunningness of the middle-aged woman, but noticing that the fire was spreading to her side, he sneered and patiently waited since she could only escape in his direction.
There were no players left standing on the field. The blonde player with tornado-related skills and the player with fire-related abilities were burned alive by the fire they started. But Jay believed more players were hiding similar to him and the middle-aged female player.
When Jay lay in wait for the woman, he suddenly heard the sounds of footsteps coming from his side. However, he could not see anyone, yet the footsteps grew closer and faster. He did not let the unknown paralyze him in fear. Instead, his mind ran thinking of a possible solution.
Throwing a corpse in the direction of the sound, Jay simultaneously swept his leg. His intuition was correct, he tripped his attacker who became visible as he fell to the ground. It appeared the player's skill was deactivated when Jay's leg touched him. Jay quickly climbed on the player and stabbed him multiple times.
Just then the middle-aged female player had gotten up and rushed toward Jay. Noticing her, he ran, knowing her skill could put her target to sleep. Confronting her would only render him defenseless. So, he didn't try to kill her by exchanging damage for damage.
Seeing him run, the woman picked up her speed, but just then Jay turned around and threw his knife at her. Precisely piercing her forehead. As she fell to the ground, Jay received a system prompt:
[ System Notification,
> Death match concluded. Clearing Astral domain.
> Congratulations! You are the last player standing.
> Rewarding ownership of the Artral domain to the player.
> Player ascended to the rank of Astral Lord.
> Requesting Astral Angel to help Astral Lord establish their domain. ETA: 3mins.]
Standing on his Astral domain, Jay noticed the corpse and blood covering it vanish along with all the damage done to it, reverting to a beautiful patch of grassland. With no threat in sight, Jay collapsed to his knees, exhausted by the chains of events. But he didn't rest. Instead, decided to familiarize with his skill before the Astral Angel arrived, he muttered, "View status."