Entering the confrontation with the Evil God of Time Aduka, Kraugel was chosen as the leader of the new group. Together with the elite players from each original group, they prepared to experience what those from Group D had to experience in their first trial. It would be a strange battle, but he was always open to new fun and gameplay to enrich his knowledge base.
Aduka appeared before them with a satellite hovering above his head, emitting threatening black sparks. Not only was the Evil God of Time different in his fighting style, but he also had an auxiliary attack tool, this satellite randomly attacked instead of Aduka, and the damage was much greater. Before Group D was wiped out, this satellite had only attacked twice, leaving them unable to figure out its operating conditions. Kraugel and the players in the new group were forced to figure it out on their own, turn by turn. Standing at position 34, Kraugel calmly observed everyone's moves and the Evil God of Time's.
***
[You have suffered catastrophic damage.]
[Your right arm has been severed.]
[The special effect in the sword of the Hundred-Edged Demon Blade Janamelis prevents you from recovering your severed arm.]
[You are experiencing a stunned state.]
[You have resisted.]
This was the notification window that appeared in Kraugel's field of view as Janamelis suddenly appeared in front of him and swung her sword. It was terrifying. If she failed to decapitate the enemy, the severed part would still be affected by a debuff. Kraugel immediately rejoined the fight after using Control Sword to return the weapon to his left hand, and attacked alongside other damage dealers like Regas, Skull, and Asuka.
Taking advantage of everyone's attack, Eat Spicy Jokbal began building a dungeon that was nothing but traps. These were no ordinary traps either, they only activated when they came into contact with a strange mineral that was recorded in the dwarven blacksmith's records. Why did Eat Spicy Jokbal have information about it? Of course it had nothing to do with Panmir. Even though he had joined Overgeared Guild after the Third National Competition, Panmir was still the only blacksmith who had contact with the dwarves, and Eat Spicy Jokbal's field had nothing to do with minerals. He had only accidentally discovered a mineral that automatically reattached itself when broken while building a dungeon in some remote place. That was the volcanic island northeast of Cork Island, which was actually the hideout of a weak fire dragon waiting for the opportunity to gain power.
Janamelis' sword, or rather its blade, was made of this mineral. Eat Spicy Jokbal was sure of it, he just didn't know how she could control it at will. But that wasn't something he cared about because the newly created dungeon had jaffa compounds that somehow always reached out to grip the strange mineral. As long as Janamelis was in his dungeon, using the sword would become increasingly difficult.
After getting their coordination stable and taking turns attacking, Kraugel examined the cut surface of the wound. He saw a tiny piece of metal embedded in his bone. It was definitely a piece of that sword. Kraugel didn't care about it anymore. In the past year, his swordsmanship had reached a new level, and demonstrating it in the National Competition was a must.
***
Fighting Berserker and Asura at the same time—two classes that get stronger the more they hit—made Janamelis somewhat stagnant due to her small body. The skill she used on the one who possesses the most sword energy, Kraugel, had a long cooldown and could not be used immediately, forcing Janamelis to switch to less mobile enemies. She aimed at the magicians and swung her sword. Four more people died instantly.
Standing there, she analyzed the next strong person to take down. It was Skull. Janamelis entered the usual Draw Sword stance of Peak Sword, and her blade instantly split into one hundreds pieces, automatically rearranging into a cracked curved blade shape. Draw Sword is a high-speed sword drawing technique, so a straight design is not optimal, a curved blade makes the drawing speed the fastest. However, the fact that the sword split into many pieces was a clue for Kraugel. He waited until Janamelis' blade was close to Skull's neck so she couldn't retrieve it in time, and activated the Storm Sword to make the small pieces fly everywhere, saving Skull's life. He made his judgment,
"The name Hundred-Edged Demon Blade refers to her weapon being in blade form, not its original sword form, and that blade has exactly 100 small pieces. Every title in Satisfy has a specific meaning, so I think if the number of small pieces decreases, she will weaken. Everyone, find a way to completely destroy these small pieces, don't give them a chance to merge."
Hearing this, Asuka immediately switched her weapon to the Violent Fire Twin Hooks with the intention of vaporizing the blade fragments in the air, and that decision initiated a series of attacks using extremely high temperatures, ending with Regas' Thunder Chariot. The 62 small blade fragments were reduced to pieces and evaporated, dealing direct damage to Janamelis' mind.
In addition to testing the Absolute Color system, the hidden god also had many other experiments on Rebecca's Daughters, one of which was soul sharing. Ikael's Sword contained a piece of Rin's soul, allowing her to be more in tune with it and exert more power when confronting the Yatan Church, and in the 3 months of preparation for the National Competition, the S.A Group redesigned this part, dividing Janamelis's soul into 101 pieces. Obviously, 1 piece was the main soul in Janamelis' body, and the remaining 100 pieces were in the 100 blade pieces on her weapon. The Demon King Subjugation event was created to help players win, so the fact that players would sooner or later understand this mechanism was something the S.A Group had already determined. Everything was in their script.
Having lost 62 small soul fragments, Janamelis's health dropped below 20% in an instant. She held her stomach with one hand, struggling not to collapse, while the other hand held the sword that was covered in sharp fragments due to its misalignment. Blood was flowing down the hilt, signaling her impending death. She raised her head to look, and saw 57 corpses around her. Would Janamelis give up? No way! Even if this next skill killed her, the rest of them would not be left unscathed.
Raising the sword to the sky with a trembling hand, Janamelis recited the incantation with a mouth filled with blood, "Great heaven and great earth, massacre without worry."
A self-sacrificing skill that Damian forbids Rebecca's Daughters to use under any circumstances. It deals massive damage over a wide area, but the body will suffer a corresponding backlash. Under normal conditions when health is at 100%, this skill will deduct up to 90% of the original health, meaning that when successfully activated, even if health is at 90%, the user will still die on the spot. Janamelis only has Rin's skills and personality, not Rin's ego, so Damian's ban means nothing since the name Damian does not exist in Janamelis's memory.
The jagged pieces of the blade split apart again, and a beam of light shot up in place of the complete blade. She used the last of her strength to slash down, hoping that these people would die without reaching the Demon King's castle, but...
"Space Sword."
A cold yet splendid sword strike split her world in two.
Janamelis coughed up blood one last time, turning into gray dust before even falling to the ground.
[Janamelis of the North Gate has fallen.]
[Group B has succeeded in attacking the North Gate.]
[The top contributor to the attack on the North Gate is United State's representative, Kraugel!]
[The second place contributor to the attack on the North Gate is United Kingdom's representative, Regas!]
[The third place contributor to the attack on the North Gate is South Korea's representative, Eat Spicy Jokbal!]
***
Having retrieved her trident, Helix now flapped her four translucent wings to fly into the air. Heterogeneity Vampire Helix officially returned to the battlefield.
The first thing she did was to infuse her weapon with magic power, turning her trident into a cross spear after opening the two sharp tips on both sides to an angle of 90⁰. The six large and small objects that rotated concentrically at the place where the trident was attached to the shaft also changed positions, attaching themselves to Helix's legs and arms. Her speed became faster, her attacks became more accurate, and her damage became more worrying. All of this came at once, making it difficult for Group C to save all the people that Helix was targeting, even if they wanted to preserve their strength.
At the 28th minute—3 minutes after Jishuka was caught by Helix—the 12 people with the highest HP, including 7 tank players, were attacked and killed. The failed play not only did not reduce Helix's HP below 20%, but it also increased it to over 30%, making the already difficult process of defeating her even more difficult. The melee players like Coke and Yura were somewhat in tatters, but at least they were still alive.
In the next few minutes, Helix was targeting the ones with the most health, and the players gradually realized this purpose. Saintess Ruby had a headache considering when to use effective recovery spells without causing Helix to change direction of attack. Peak Sword looked at Grid's sister's confusion and patted her on the shoulder,
"Just calmly observe! The Korean team members are still alive, you're still alive, so our hope isn't lost yet."
"Yes!"
"Draw Sword, String."
Peak Sword attacked as soon as Ruby finished speaking. His resources were only enough for a few more skills, and if he used up all his potions, he would only be able to use one more skill. Peak Sword squinted down at Iyarugt before turning to Coke, opening his mouth to make a request.
"Can you buy me a minute?"
"Don't even think about it, we'll all pass through this gate together!"
"Sacrifice is inevitable, I don't have the strength to hold on any longer."
"Ruby will heal you. You just said our hope isn't lost, right?"
"It's just Ruby and you kids, I've already made my decision."
Peak Sword had been silently charging Iyarugt's Sheath with magic power, and it had reached 94% by now. If it was 2 years ago, he would have had to wait another 60 seconds to fully charge, but after 2 years and with the +7 enhancement, the remaining 6% had been shortened to 42 seconds. It was still high against an opponent like this, but he had to trust his teammates. Yura and Jishuka understood that. They fired magic bullets and arrows in response to his decision.
Elizza Nowak was the same, she appeared and disappeared between the shadows to deal even the smallest damage to Helix. As an assassin, her health was not high, so she accidentally avoided Helix's pursuit in phase 2. She silently thanked them and focused more on coordinating damage, avoiding hindering others.
"3..."
Peak Sword counted down.
"2..."
Iyarugt's Sheath was at 99.97%.
"...1."
The moment has come.
"Draw Sword..." With serene eyes, Peak Sword called out the name of the skill.
"...Annihilate."
[Iyarugt, who is 100% charged with magic power, is in an intoxicated state. He has lost his ego and is running wild.]
[The conditions of use for Iyarugt has been changed to 'person to be sacrificed.']
[It's impossible to summon Iyarugt.]
[Iyarugt's damage has increased by 500%.]
[Iyarugt's state is delivered to Peak Sword through Iyarugt's Sheath.]
Slash!!!
In Peak Sword's perception, the world seemed to have lost all sound, leaving only an endless echo. He could survive if he could retrieve his sword within 12 seconds, but his strength was already exhausted. He collapsed to the ground, smiling before the system signaled his death.
In the sky, although Helix tried to dodge with speed and use the cross spear to defend, her left leg and part of her small left wing were still cut off, making her flight less flexible than before. The lower half of the cross spear was also cut off by Peak Sword, causing an imbalance in its use. There was no better moment for an all-out attack.
Yura immediately fell to the ground. Alex's Magic Engineering Bayonet (Produced by Pagma) was transforming, preparing for the fateful shot.
Helix was still hovering in the air, trying to deflect the attacks and magic directed at her.
Elizza Nowak appeared behind her, grabbed Helix's big intact left wing with her left hand, and used her other hand to hold a karambit to the base of the wing and yank it. Helix's ability to fly was effectively deleted. She fell to the ground, clutching her cross spear before...
Shiiiiiing!!!
Alex's Magic Engineering Bayonet (Produced by Pagma)—in sniper mode—emits a jade light and fires a shot straight at Helix's head.
Boom!!!
Her head exploded, ending the raid in a human victory.
[Helix of the West Gate has fallen.]
[Group C has succeeded in attacking the West Gate.]
[The top contributor to the attack on the West Gate is South Korea's representative, Peak Sword!]
[The second place contributor to the attack on the West Gate is Germany's representative, Elizza Nowak!]
[The third place contributor to the attack on the West Gate is South Korea's representative, Yura!]
37 minutes of fighting with 88 players killed out of a total of 120. They didn't think this year's Four Heavenly Kings would cause such trouble, but at least they weren't completely wiped out like in the first trial of Demon King Subjugation last year.
***
Jishuka and Yura approached Elizza Nowak and expressed their wishes,
"Please join the Overgeared Guild, we need talents like you."