Chapter 192 – Legendary Equipment’s Might

Slumber City, Abyssal Tower:

Following the ringing bell sound, an ancient and sacred aura spread across Slumber City, this aura instilling a sense of awe and submission into everyone in the city.

After this aura swept across the entire city, players who had chosen to spectate the Abyss Battle found themselves teleported to a magnificent arena located in the middle of a sea of stars.

The arena was massive, occupying an area of over a dozen sports stadiums. It could easily fit several hundred thousand spectators simultaneously. Of course, that definitely wasn’t enough to accommodate Slumber City’s several hundred million players. However, players weren’t teleported directly to the arena’s spectator stands.

Instead, players were teleported to the countless independent spaces that existed within the arena, and each of these independent spaces had a replica of the main arena. So, even though the main arena itself could only accommodate several hundred spectators, it could, in reality, allow all of Slumber City’s players to spectate the upcoming Abyss Battle simultaneously.

The only people on the arena’s stage currently were Shi Feng and Solitary Soul, and both of them were at Level 120. Evidently, the Main God System had equalized their levels for the sake of fairness.

Meanwhile, after the participants and spectators were teleported to the arena, a timer appeared above the stage, indicating the seconds left until the Abyss Battle’s start.

Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven…

“I am really surprised. I didn’t expect you to have not only significantly higher authority than me but also Tier 4 Mana. You can find yourself a place even in Shadow City with your strength and status,” Solitary Soul said to Shi Feng, smiling after he scanned the stage. “If you hadn’t disrupted our plans, we would have never wanted to make an enemy out of you.

“Unfortunately, you’ve made the wrong choice from the very beginning, which leaves us with no choice but to eradicate you and your team. This outcome will not change even if your Mana has already reached the Tier 4 standard!”

When Solitary Soul finished speaking, the timer also finished counting down. Then, Solitary Soul’s figure thoroughly vanished from the stage.

What a skillful Soundless Steps! When Hidden Soul saw Solitary Soul disappearing from her sight, a solemn expression appeared on her face. Not only has he perfectly concealed his presence, but he’s also using his killing intent to layer his concealment. He’s even managed to create up to nineteen decoys. How much of a monster is he?

Although Hidden Soul was sitting on the spectator stands, everything taking place on the stage was perfectly presented to the spectator stands. So, watching the fight from the spectator stands was no different than watching it directly on stage.

Meanwhile, Soundless Steps happened to be a combat technique Hidden Soul was also skilled at. It was also the reason she dared to assassinate Tier 6 God-ranked experts.

For a skilled Assassin, it wasn’t difficult to perfectly conceal their aura. What was difficult was using one’s killing intent to misdirect one’s target. Meanwhile, the more decoys one tried to create using killing intent, the more difficult it would be to accomplish the feat.

Currently, Hidden Soul could create up to sixteen decoys only. Moreover, that was after she had become a High Demonkin. If she wanted to further increase that number, the complexity of the technique would increase by several times. Meanwhile, as far as she knew, not even one of her many Assassin friends could create nineteen killing intent decoys.

In addition to showing how skillful he was, the fact that Solitary Soul could create nineteen decoys with his killing intent meant that he could fake his attacks up to nineteen times. So long as Shi Feng made even one error in his judgment against Solitary Soul, it could become a fatal mistake.

No matter how powerful a Tier 3 player was, there was a limit to the number of reactions they could make simultaneously. A player would be considered an expert among experts if they could carry out twelve or thirteen reactions simultaneously. Typically, this was the level that Domain Realm experts were at.

In the case of Tier 6 God-ranked experts, while they might be more skilled than the average Domain Realm expert, most God-ranked experts could only carry out around fourteen or fifteen simultaneous reactions. Hence, with her ability to create up to fifteen decoys in the past, she could fell even Tier 6 God-ranked experts if they weren’t careful.

However, against Solitary Soul’s nineteen decoys, the average Tier 6 God-ranked expert would fall with a 100% certainty…

At this moment, Hidden Soul wasn’t the only person who had realized Solitary Soul’s prowess. Crimson Heart, Blood Hammer, and the others similarly wore grave expressions on their faces.

It was especially true for Blood Hammer and Marion. They never thought they would come across such a terrifying expert in Slumber City, which was only one of many NPC Cities in the Stratified Abyssal Realm.

“A fourth-floor expert!” Blood Hammer couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw Solitary Soul disappearing from his perception. “Weren’t Stratified Abyssal Realms supposed to have only a handful of fourth-floor experts? Why are there so many fourth-floor experts in this Stratified Abyssal Realm?”

According to the information Blood Hammer collected through eavesdropping on the conversation of others, he knew that Solitary Soul only ranked among the top five of Slumber City when it came to strength. More specifically, he ranked fourth or fifth. This meant that there were three or four more players of Solitary Soul’s caliber in Slumber City.

There were hundreds of NPC Cities found in the Stratified Abyssal Realm’s Level 100-plus maps. If every NPC City had around five fourth-floor experts…

…

While Blood Hammer and Marion were in a daze, Shi Feng briefly scanned the empty stage before him and said, “Put away your little tricks! This move is useless against me!”

After saying so, Shi Feng brandished the Winter of Eternal Night.

Sword’s Orbit!

After Shi Feng had continually developed Sword’s Orbit during his previous life, it had already reached the standard of Bronze Combat Techniques. The instant he executed the combat technique, several dozen sword lights spread out from him like a blooming lotus flower. Not only could each of these sword lights reach up to several dozen yards away, but every one of them also left a dark rift in space as they moved away from Shi Feng.

The sword lights left no room to hide on the stage, and Solitary Soul was quickly forced to break his footwork and come out of Stealth. However, before any of the sword lights could hit him, he suddenly switched to a seemingly slower footwork. Then, as if Solitary Soul had become a ghost, Shi Feng’s sword lights passed through him harmlessly as he rapidly closed the distance between himself and Shi Feng.

When Solitary Soul moved within ten yards of Shi Feng, the two daggers he wielded suddenly snapped forward like whips, leaving behind countless afterimages as they executed over a dozen different feints and attacks in the blink of an eye.

What a well-honed Godspeed Reflex!

Shi Feng couldn’t help but be surprised by the rapid shifts Solitary Soul executed in his attack. Even so, he did not stop brandishing the Winter of Eternal Night.

Sword’s Orbit could be regarded as Shi Feng’s roots. It was also the defensive technique he was most proficient in. After developing it to the Bronze standard, the combat technique was improved significantly. In the technique’s current state, unless he was going up against an overwhelmingly stronger opponent, it was highly unlikely for any attack to break through his defenses.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of explosions rang out on the stage, each subsequent explosion louder than the one before. The explosion count quickly reached into the hundreds, and it felt as if several hundred missiles were bombarding the stage. Space in the middle of the stage had also shattered completely, several dozen one-hundred-meter spatial tears forming on the stage. At one point, the explosions had gotten so powerful that their shockwaves had even spread through the barrier isolating the stage, reaching the rest of the arena.

After the explosions ended, Solitary Soul’s figure appeared among the mending spatial tears. At this time, Solitary Soul had already lost 30% of his HP, and both of his hands showed faint signs of trembling.

This scene dumbfounded the spectating audience.

“What’s going on? Solitary Soul is actually at a disadvantage?”

“How strong is this Black Flame guy?”

The spectating crowd widened their eyes in shock when they saw Shi Feng completely intact.

Solitary Soul’s strength was widely known and recognized. Yet, even with a piece of Legendary Equipment, Solitary Soul had still lost to Shi Feng in a direct confrontation.

However, Solitary Soul didn’t seem to mind this outcome as he looked at Shi Feng with a calm expression.

“I can see why you dared to challenge me. Your Strength Attribute is simply monstrous,” Solitary Soul said as he tried to shake the numbness out of his hands. Then, narrowing his eyes fiercely, he continued, “I had thought of saving this move for the Glimmering Sword, but now it seems that I’ll have to use it on you first!”

Immediately after Solitary Soul finished speaking, the glowing runes covering his black leather top shone with a much brighter glow. At the same time, everyone in the arena could feel something change within Solitary Soul. Specifically, everyone experienced a suppressive effect that resulted from a difference in Life Rating.

“You’ve thoroughly entered the Tier 4 standard already?” When Shi Feng sensed the change in Solitary Soul’s Life Rating, he realized that the Assassin was no longer a Tier 3 player. Instead, Solitary Soul was now a bona fide Tier 4 player.

Previously, Solitary Soul’s Physique, Basic Attributes, and Mana might have reached the Tier 4 standard already, but he still wasn’t a true Tier 4 player. He was only a pseudo-Tier 4 player.

In fact, when it came to the Strength Attribute, Shi Feng wasn’t the least bit afraid of Solitary Soul.

In addition to being a Primal Human, Shi Feng was also in possession of the Winter of Eternal Night and the Abyssal Eye, two top-tier Fragmented Legendary items. He might not be able to match a player with a Legendary Weapon, but he had no problems matching an Assassin with only one piece of Legendary Equipment.

Not to mention, while everyone in the Stratified Abyssal Realm was subjected to the power of darkness, he had the Abyssal Eye’s help to halve the effects of this suppression. Hence, when it came to the Strength Attribute, there was no way Solitary Soul could beat Shi Feng.

Now, however, Solitary Soul had clearly reached Tier 4 already. His Life Rating was completely different from that of a Tier 3 player.

“Indeed. I have now transformed into a Tier 4 Shadow Manipulator. All of my Basic Attributes have increased by 40%, and I have also gained access to all Tier 4 Skills and Taboo Skills available to the Shadow Manipulator class,” Solitary Soul said, a hint of excitement appearing in his eyes. “Now, I’ll let you experience the strength of a true Tier 4!”