“What tenacity… it’s almost moving.”

“I didn’t expect him to last this long…”

“He *was* the champion of S1, after all… even if he’s just an idiot.”

The members of the Sengoku Team had been watching Tianma Xingkong and Oda Ai fight for a full five minutes as they spoke.

In daily life, five minutes isn’t that long. It takes about that much time to make instant noodles, brush your teeth, take out the trash, shave… just about any little task.

But in the game world, in a high-paced battle, five minutes… is enough for two players to exchange blows a hundred times over.

“Argh—this is getting more and more infuriating!” At this point, obvious anger was showing on Oda Ai's face. “Are you some kind of unkillable cockroach, you bastard!”

“Hmph…” Tianma Xingkong’s legs were trembling as he barely managed to stand, confronting her. “I’m the only one left on our team, I’m carrying the hopes of all my comrades… how can I fall so easily!”

“Hey, hey… where did you see ‘easily’ in all this?” Wu Tian Zhi couldn’t help but retort from the side after hearing Xiao Ma-ge’s words. “From any angle, you should have fallen a long time ago, okay?”

“Indeed… I’m starting to feel like cheering him on,” Shang Shan Ren said with a serious expression.

“Oh?” Ming Zhi Xin couldn’t help but reveal a smile upon hearing those words from the girl with the long black hair beside him. “So, you like this type?”

“No.” Shang Shan Ren’s expression changed slightly, and she replied straightforwardly, “I just think that people who are earnest are worth encouraging.” She paused for half a second, then added, “Although… he’s an idiot.”

“Yeah…” Wu Tian Zhi and Ming Zhi Xin simultaneously shook their heads and murmured, “He really is an idiot…”

“Aaaah—” A few seconds later, Tianma Xingkong let out another long roar, and his fighting spirit blazed.

At this point in the battle, Xiao Ma-ge was already covered in wounds, and even the Saint Cloth he wore was tattered, but… one couldn’t see the slightest hint of fear or fatigue in his eyes; all that was in those eyes was soaring fighting spirit and burning passion.

“Haa… this is really pissing me off…” On the other hand, Oda Ai’s breathing had become labored, and the hand gripping her sword had begun to tremble slightly. “I even said a line like ‘I’m going to crush him all by myself,’ but I still can’t end the battle… this is just too unsightly.”

Right now, Oda Ai, the one with the advantage, had instead become the anxious one. Tianma Xingkong’s unbelievable courage and resolve were something she had never seen in any duel before. In fact, before today, she thought people like Xiao Ma-ge simply didn’t exist in the real world; they were a dime a dozen in manga, though…

“I’ve decided!” Suddenly, Oda Ai shouted loudly, and the stance she held with her sword changed accordingly. “To think you’d make me lose my composure like this… watch me slay you with my most magnificent move!”

As soon as those words came out, the audience watching the live stream became excited. However… Oda Ai’s three teammates all changed their expressions.

“Ai, don’t be rash,” Ming Zhi Xin reminded her loudly from behind. “If you save that move to use against…”

“Captain!” Oda Ai interrupted him and turned her head slightly, revealing the ferocious look on half her face. “Please don’t say any more…”

The next second, her teammates fell silent.

When they saw Oda Ai’s expression, they had already given up on trying to dissuade her. They would rather let Oda Ai use “that skill” here on a whim than risk further angering her at the risk of her going berserk.

“Hmph!” Tianma Xingkong also shouted fiercely upon seeing the other side's reaction, responding, “Come at me if you’ve got the guts!” With that, he extended his body and launched a fist technique again. “Tianma Meteor Fist!”

Don’t think that Tianma Xingkong only has that one move he keeps using, because his actual combat skills are definitely not as simple as they look.

Many people may have forgotten that when S1 started, Xiao Ma-ge was ranked twentieth on the player combat power rankings. Moreover, he wasn’t a specially invited player; he relied on his own strength to fight his way from the preliminaries all the way to the finals. If Xiao Ma-ge was really just a guy who “mindlessly spams Meteor Fist,” he definitely would have been eliminated long ago…

Think about it from another perspective… a player who only ever uses one active skill, yet can compete on the same stage as those high-level players without falling behind, even if he can’t be called a “genius,” is at least a “freak.”

This feat that could be called a miracle… cannot be achieved without extraordinary combat intuition and combat IQ.

Right now, Tianma Xingkong had keenly perceived a trace of an opening before the other party could use their ultimate move and decisively launched another round of attacks.

If someone else were to use the [Tianma Meteor Fist] skill, each time it was unleashed, it would be roughly the same. But Tianma Xingkong’s Meteor Fist… could achieve micro-level control with every round, every fist.

Take this move he’s unleashing right now, for example… eighty percent of the fist barrage only added the basic damage of the skill itself, but the other twenty percent of the fist radiance carried extremely penetrating, super-powerful fighting spirit, and this twenty percent of fist radiance… under the cover of the large fist barrage, flew towards the various weak points in Oda Ai’s stance in unison.

“Damn it…” Oda Ai suffered a heavy blow while charging up her move. Without even looking, she knew that her survival points were dropping sharply. “I underestimated him too much…” In that instant, her heart was filled with not only anger but also a hint of respect. “To be able to bring something simple to its ultimate potential… it seems he’s not just an idiot…”

This respect quickly allowed her mind to regain some clarity, and it also stabilized her slightly trembling stance.

Originally, Oda Ai might not have been able to successfully unleash the skill, but after regaining her composure… she successfully withstood the Meteor Fist’s attack and activated her finishing move!

[Name: One-Sword Style. Iai. Lion Song]

[Skill Card Attribute: Active Skill, Disappears after one use]

[Skill Category: Combat]

[Effect: Draw the sword and slay the enemy (can only be activated with a long sword or katana)]

[Consumption: 40% of maximum Stamina Value]

[Learning Requirements: Level 40, Combat Specialization A]

[Remarks: An Iai divine skill that can only be comprehended by swordsmen with extremely high comprehension; the move appears as fast as lightning, difficult to see with the naked eye, cuts iron like mud, and is a guaranteed one-hit kill.]

All that could be seen…

Was the figures passing each other, and the flash of a blade.

Everything only happened in an instant.

And victory and defeat were decided in that moment.

*Pfft—*

Tianma Xingkong fell. Before his blood could spread, he had already turned into white light and disappeared.

“Did… I win?” Oda Ai murmured blankly.

Two seconds later, she seemed to realize something and looked down at her left chest, only to see a bloody hole…

“Heh… I see…” Oda Ai gave a miserable laugh. “He changed the path of his fist at the instant I slashed him, using my momentum to return a punch that injured me…” She shook her head. “What an idiot… leaving me speechless…”

As she said that, she also fell down, turning into white light…

…………

Looking again, in another scenario…

The match between [Red Sakura Team] vs. [Order Two Team] was still ongoing.

At this point, Order One Team and Hyotei had already decided their outcome, and the result was the same as what Feng Bujue had predicted… Order One Team had ultimately won. And Hell Frontline and Sengoku One Team had also each achieved victory. Thus… the match before their eyes had become the final, most closely watched match of the night.

And so, on top of a giant peak made of solid ice, a six-person melee was unfolding.

[Brave Fearless] wielding a long spear, and [Brave Invincible] wearing gauntlets, were working together to launch a fierce assault on [Xu Huai Shang].

Although she was fighting two opponents at once, Xu Huai Shang had a pair of dual blades in hand, and her movements were graceful and fluid, seemingly holding her own.

On the other side, Red Sakura’s [Blood Rose] was stepping on a giant eagle, chasing after Order’s [Ye Zhi] in the air. The latter was fighting and retreating, defending and evading, with almost no room to counterattack.

Fortunately, there was a “sixth person” covering her…

More accurately, it wasn’t really a “person,” but a long-haired yeti. This NPC was naturally the “momentum” that Ye Zhi had obtained in the scenario, equivalent to a free summoned creature with no time limit.

In the previous scenarios, this long-haired yeti had already brought Order Two Team considerable advantages. The fact that they could currently maintain a three-on-two situation was because this yeti had played a surprising role in the initial encounter.

However… Red Sakura, with only two people left, had not fallen into a disadvantage.

Although Red Sakura had one fewer player than the opposing side, the two who had been killed were both support-type players. Xu Huai Shang and Blood Rose, who were stronger in solo combat, had both survived unscathed. Furthermore, the Red Sakura Team had also borrowed “momentum,” except that this “momentum” was not a summoned creature, but a buff-like, intangible resource.

Looking at Order Two Team’s side, although they still had three team members plus a long-haired yeti, the one who had been eliminated… was the team’s main force, and was also known as the strongest shooting-type player in the entire Order studio, [Bar Code].

If it were in previous years, a master like [Bar Code] would have been fully capable of being selected for the first team, but this year, Order One Team’s lineup was too glamorous, to the point that one of the Drunken Dreams was even a substitute, so Bar Code could only be relegated to the second team.

In terms of strength, he was also a man who had broken into the top fifty during S1. Of course… he didn’t have much chance to show his skills in the finals before being turned into a corpse by Ludo. But in any case, compared to the other three people in the team, Bar Code’s level was undoubtedly more outstanding.

Unfortunately… his encounter this time was the same as in S1, receiving his lunchbox before he even got to perform, not even getting a line, like Yin Tianchou’s treatment.

In addition, we must talk about that long-haired yeti again… This NPC’s intelligence is very low, one could even say lower than a summoned creature’s. Because low-intelligence summoned creatures… such as dogs, bats, wolves, turkeys… these things can at least be controlled by the summoner’s own will or commands, but this yeti cannot…

This long-haired yeti completely lacks the ability to communicate like a higher-level being, and does not obey anyone’s orders. Since it was discovered by Ye Zhi, its pattern of behavior is roughly “follow and protect Ye Zhi,” and it doesn’t care about anything else.

And thus, the scene described above appeared…

Even though they had a numerical advantage, the loss of the shooting-type player’s support meant that Order Two Team could not create effective pressure on Xu Huai Shang and Blood Rose.

Given similar specializations, it wasn’t a big deal for a top player like Xu Huai Shang to fight two first-rate players at once.

And Blood Rose was very cleverly keeping a close eye on the enemy’s medical specialist, Ye Zhi. By doing so… on the one hand, Ye Zhi couldn’t support her teammates, and on the other hand, she was indirectly restraining the long-haired yeti. In any case, this monster only had high attack and high health, and basically no aerial combat ability or intelligence, so she could kite it however she wanted.

“Invincible, don’t rush,” as the battle entered a stalemate, Brave Fearless said to his teammate while fighting, “Steady, just don’t show any openings.”

Brave Invincible completely understood his teammate’s meaning, and replied while fighting, “Don’t worry, I understand.”

“Hmph… you want to exhaust my stamina, is that it…” Xu Huai Shang also calmly joined the two’s conversation while parrying.

“That’s right, that’s what we’re planning,” Brave Fearless admitted very frankly. Since he dared to say it in front of the other party, it meant that there was nothing to hide about this tactic, and he also didn’t have the strength to hide it…

“Even if you can maintain equilibrium in a one-on-two situation, that equilibrium can’t be maintained forever.” Brave Invincible took over his teammate’s words, saying to Xu Huai Shang, “We have two people, there will always be moments for alternating breaks during the battle; we also have more leeway in terms of skill selection and error tolerance.” He paused, then added, “But you… can’t relax for even a moment.”

Brave Fearless struck with his spear, then continued, “Simply put… in this battle, your stamina value consumption will inevitably be faster than ours. Maintaining the status quo is absolutely advantageous to us.”

“Heh…” Brave Invincible smiled, “Captain Xu, if I were you, I’d abandon defense and attack with all my strength right now, maybe you can still take one of us down.” As he spoke, he took a few steps sideways and unleashed three punches. “Otherwise… when your stamina hits bottom, you won’t even have a chance to counterattack.”

These two were singing in harmony, and although there was a sense of trying to lure the enemy, most of it was still the truth.

But… these words were quite harsh to the fans of Xu Huai Shang who were watching the live stream.

“Despicable guys! They’re actually using a war of attrition!”

“Fight Shang-shang in a one-on-one if you have the guts! What kind of heroes are you in a two-on-one!”

“You have a numerical advantage, you should have attacked first! Too hateful!”

Obviously, the above were all comments or bullet comments made by brain-dead fans. It’s perfectly acceptable to use any tactics in a match, and the Order players wouldn’t choose tactics that were obviously disadvantageous to them just to please the other side’s fans.

And Xu Huai Shang was also very clear about this.

“The two of you… do make some good points.” After fighting for dozens of seconds, or rather… thinking for dozens of seconds, Xu Huai Shang actually opened her mouth to reply, “Continuing to delay will only increase my chances of losing.”

As soon as these words came out, the two “Braves” changed their expressions. They immediately tensed up, preparing to face a round of fierce attacks.

“Then…” Xu Huai Shang didn’t make them wait too long, “…I won’t be polite.”