A loud noise echoed throughout the competition arena.
Many among the spectators here were from the other resident guilds. In other words, they were part of the faction opposite Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild for this Blood Verdict.
After Angel Wu announced the member that Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild would send out, no small number of the other guild members clamoured up.
In their opinion, this was a scheme by Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild.
Tian Ji’s horse racing trick was not some secret and many knew of this case. The moment they knew of the contents of their participant list, they understood Bluesea’s intention.
This cunning fox!
Indeed, In Zero City, Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild’s Bluesea was also known as ‘Wisdom Fox’.
However, slight sneering expressions appeared on the faces of several figures in the centre position of the opposing grandstand.
It was as though they were showing disapproval toward the list of combatants announced by Angel Wu and also…
Triumph.
“Tian Ji’s horse racing trick? A good scheme Bluesea… unfortunately… did you really think of others as idiots?”
…
Angel Wu stood before the controlling arbiter’s seat. After he was done announcing the names of combatants for Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild, he released what appeared to be a sigh. He then cast a glance at Qiao Yifeng. There were conflict and frustration in his face.
Next, he took a deep breath, opened his mouth and announced loudly:
“The list of combatants from the accepting side for the three battles in this first Blood Verdict is as follows:
“Rodriar Guild, Spiritshadow…”
When that name was mentioned, there were no special reaction from Qiao Yifeng and the others from Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild. But then…
Angel Wu continued his announcement.
“Knights of Darkness Guild, Jacob.
“Knights of Darkness Guild, Oswald!”
Woah!
Once again, the audience erupted into an uproar!
This time, the noise created was far greater than the one earlier when it was announced that Bluesea would participate alone on Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild’s behalf!
In the spectators’ area, the members of the other guilds revealed expressions of excitement after hearing that. Some instantly cheered out and clamoured while pointing at Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild’s grandstand position.
As for Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild’s side, their members all fell into a dark state of silence!
Qiao Yifeng’s face instantly turned pale and he clenched his teeth.
Qiao Qiao who was beside him knitted her eyebrows and asked, “What is it?”
Qiao Yifeng’s fingers were trembling; he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as he said, “Failed… they had long since figured out Bluesea’s scheme!”
“What do you mean?”
Qiao Yifeng smiled bitterly. “That Spiritshadow fellow sent by Rodriar Guild is not much. However, the two figures sent out by Rodriar Guild, Jacob and Oswald… they are both [A+] class experts!”
[A+] class!
…
It was only natural for Zero City to have a criteria for the assessment of strength for guild members.
For each resident guild, the core powerhouse in combat power would usually be the Guild Leaders of the respective guilds.
In this game, might makes right. The Guild Leader must thus be the strongest member of the guild. If not, would the Guild Leader be able to give commands to the experts under him and have them obey?
The so-called men of nobility and virtue cannot exist in this cruel game.
The Guild Leaders for each resident guild must fit Zero City’s criteria: That person must be an [S] class expert.
[S] class, the highest rank known to all.
What did it mean to be an [S] class expert? Just by having one attribute in the [S] class would not cut it.
Far from it!
To be recognized as an [S] class expert, there were three conditions to be met.
The first condition: At least two attributes must be at the [S] class. Additionally… equipment would not be part of the assessment! Even if one acquired an [S] class equipment, that person could not be considered a standard [S] class expert.
The second condition was more direct: That person must have defeated [A+] class experts at least three times.
Winning in internal competitive arenas would not count into the second condition.
There were two situations where one could meet the condition of defeating [A+] class experts three times, First, enter a decisive battle of life and death in Zero City’s competition arena with an [A+] class expert and win. Or… kill [A+] class opponents in instance dungeons. These opponents could be Players or even other Awakened ones.
The same standard was true for [A+] class experts.
Two of their attributes must be [A+] class and they must have defeated [A] class experts three times before.
In Zero City, the Guild Leaders of the resident guilds were all undoubtedly [S] class experts. Resident guilds of Zero City that had no [S] class expert in them would not be able to survive long.
Such was the case of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild.
Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild was able to rise quickly thanks to the existence of Skyblade. With the [S] class expert known as Skyblade leading them, Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild was able to acquire the qualification to permanent residence in Zero City. Additionally, they were able to face the other resident guilds of Zero City without faltering.
But Skyblade then went missing. Normally, the disappearance of their strongest powerhouse would normally make no difference. However, in face of the highly competitive quests, Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild would face failure after failure.
In a game, when your opponent pulls out their trump card while you do not have any, it would only natural for them to be able to stomp all over you.
In the eyes of most people, Bluesea was naturally a master.
However, in the eyes of the resident guilds of Zero City, he was not an apex existence.
Bluesea’s assessed strength was [A+] class.
This was the strongest combat power that Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild could afford to send out.
When facing this Blood Verdict, Bluesea had speculated that the other guilds would not send out their Guild Leaders, the [S] class experts of their guilds. They already knew that Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild’s Skyblade had gone missing. Thus, they would never casually mobilize their [S] class powerhouse.
Rather, if Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild had an [S] class expert around, there would have been no need for Blood Verdict.
Even if they were to consider the fact that Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild had the two experts Bluesea and Thunderflame – the both of them were only [A+] class experts. To defeat these two people, the other guilds might choose to send out one or two [S] class experts. However, this would not be done at such an early stage.
Because this was a decisive battle that would decide the fate of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild. Thus, no one would have expected Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild to send out their strongest member, Bluesea out this early on.
For the first Blood Verdict, everyone would generally attempt to test out the strength of the other side. Thus, only second-rate experts would be sent out.
If such was the case, the Tian Ji’s horse racing trick by Bluesea might have succeeded.
Unexpectedly, the other side had managed to see through it!
They had sent out two [A+] class experts!
Any one of these two would have been a match for Bluesea!
With things as they were, Bluesea was as good as dead!
The chances of victory in a fight between two [A+] class experts were very small.
In fact, Bluesea might not be able to win even one battle.
Even if he did manage to defeat one, it would most certainly be a pyrrhic victory!
Thus, when he went up against the second [A+] class expert, Bluesea would certainly be killed!
The opposing side however, was not in that much of a danger.
Because of the rules in the Blood Verdict.
The initiating side cannot surrender and the battle will only be over when their side was dead.
The accepting side however, was not subjected to that rule. Even if the [A+] class expert fighting against Bluesea was unable to win, he could simply throw in the towel at the appropriate moment. Thus, he will not die – all he needed to do was to exhaust Bluesea’s strength. The best-case scenario would be for him to force Bluesea into a situation where both were injured to the point where neither side could win. When there was no more hope for victory, surrender and allow their companion to finish off Bluesea. End of story.
No matter how they assessed this… Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild would lose today’s Blood Verdict!
Additionally, they would also lose their strongest powerhouse!
…
Qiao Yifeng’s expression was extremely ugly to behold!
He had even wanted to rush down and stop the decisive battle.
However, there were members of the Angel Corps eyeing him with tiger like gazes.
Once Blood Verdict began, it cannot be stopped unless there was a victor!
Should the members of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild throw up a ruckus now, the Angel Corps would never show mercy. They would suppress them with absolute force!
Furthermore, the other six resident guilds would not just sit back and watch.
…
Angel Wu had already seated himself on the exclusive seat for the controlling arbiter.
After his announcement, a change occurred in the competition arena.
A ring of strange looking pillars appeared in the middle of the competition arena. The pillars had appeared from underground and each pillar was as tall as an ordinary human.
An invisible force field swiftly appeared out from above the pillars and the force field separated the competition arena from the surrounding grandstands.
The decisive battle between experts would create powerful collisions. In order to ensure that the shockwaves from the collisions would not spread to the surrounding grandstands, there was a necessity for such a measure to be put in place.
This force field came from Zero City’s core program and was powerful enough to insulate even the shockwaves from the decisive battles between [S] class experts.
In the history of the competition arena, no one had been able to break open the force field.
Naturally, there was one in the square who was not subjected to the blocking powers of the force field. That was the controlling arbiter, Angel Wu.
The clamour of the audience slowly subsided after the force field appeared.
Everyone was waiting. They were waiting for both sides to enter the arena.
…
“I’m sorry, Bluesea.”
Within a passageway, a middle-aged man wearing Angel Corps uniform was facing Bluesea who wore white clothes. The middle-aged man sighed and said in a whisper, “The opposing side had handed in their list at the last minute. Besides, the rules had stated that we are not allowed to tell you about it. Although our relationship is not bad… you should understand. As a personnel of the Angel Corps, it is my mission to protect Zero City’s rules.”
“I understand.” Bluesea gave a gentle smile. It was a very relaxed smile. It was as though he was about to participate in a friend’s dinner instead of a decisive battle that would surely kill him.
“If you have any words you want to convey… I can help you with it.” This member of the Angel Corps whispered.
Bluesea considered it for a bit before smiling. “It’s fine. The things that had to be entrusted had already been entrusted. I also have nothing else to say right now.”
“Although your chances are slim, I can only say… I wish you good luck.”
After saying that, the Angel Corps member slowly moved to the side. “The passage will open up in one minute’s time. Once you enter the competition arena… … the battle will not be stopped unless you die or Zero City is destroyed!”
“One minute? That’s enough.” Bluesea smiled.
He looked at the Angel Corps member and suddenly said, “There’s something funny I need to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“The sensation from waiting for death… … … doesn’t feel that annoying.”