Second World Novel

"Next!" Pallas exclaimed. His tone still carried annoyance due to the weird pair from the last match.

*

Rogue Section Match 3

Indigenous, level 46 Technocraft (dwarf) Vs Darkradiant, level 46 Assassin (ethereal)

*

The two combatants entered the arena. Darkradiant was from Wilted's camp, so Jack would be cheering on her.

The two readied their weapon. Both of them used daggers. Darkradiant wielded twin black daggers, while Indigenous used a dagger that looked like a miniature chainsaw, similar to what Paytowin used. That dagger was considered a mechanical weapon, so technocraft received a boost using this type of weapon. This dagger also allowed him to still utilize his Rogue's skills.

When the match began, Indigenous immediately threw out his techno golem ball. It transformed into a large robot that looked like an oversized astronaut suit. The robot immediately rushed over to Darkradiant with its large steps. Indigenous followed a few steps behind.

The robot made a hard slam once Darkradiant came into its reach. Before its fist arrived, Darkradiant vanished. The mechanical fist slammed onto the arena ground and caused a crack.

"Vanish? Why use it so early? Isn't that an escape skill?" Paytowin asked.

"Not necessarily," Jack said.

While everyone was waiting for Darkradiant's Vanish duration to end, Indigenous suddenly jerked up. Darkradiant appeared behind him, her daggers were embedded on Indigineous' back.

Darkradiant could have dodged the robot's slam easily, but her purpose was to utilize the invisibility ability of the Vanish skill instead. Sneaking up on Indigenous with Ranger's Silent Step and landing backstabs using her twin daggers, scoring critical damages.

Indigenous tried to escape, but Darkradiant kicked his legs, tripping him up. All the while continuing her stabs.

The techno golem hurriedly turned around to save its owner. It punched once it got into range, but its fist stopped mid-way.

Darkradiant had used Rogue's skill, Finishing Blow, which dealt bonus damage to an opponent with low health. Indigenous' HP had emptied out when his robot came to save him. The robot then reverted to a ball and disappeared back inside Indigenous.

"Good burst attacks," Paytowin said.

"Yeah," Jack agreed.

After Darkradiant and Indigenous cleared the arena, Pallas called out the participants for the next match.

*

Archer Section Match 3

Synapses, level 46 Beastmaster (vampire) Vs Thick Needle, level 46 Hidden Weapon Specialist (orc)

*

Synapses wore claw weapons on her two fists, while Thick Needle was gripping three knives at the ready.

Once Pallas announced the start of the match. The knives on Needle's hand were immediately thrown. Synapses used her claw weapons to swipe and smacked the three flying knives, just as a huge azure tiger appeared beside her.

Needle also summoned her pet, a thick-haired lynx. The small cat lunged towards the azure tiger that was rushing forward. It was not at all intimidated by its cousin which was three times its size.

Needle's knives never stopped flying. He used the same trick as Anotherday, where the Flying Dagger skill was intertwined with Ranger's Throw Weapon and Archer's Precise Shot, increasing his throw rate.

Synapses could not knock all the non-stop knives. Several still hit her, she suffered the Bleed effect from the hits. She ran at high speed to make it harder for Needle to hit her, all the while trying to shorten the distance between her and her opponent. But Needle was not slow, he moved back to keep the distance while throwing his knives, kiting the beastmaster that tried to approach.

Seeing that she couldn't get near Needle, Synapses called out her wolf pack. Seven wolves appeared and rushed towards Needle.

Needle didn't panic seeing the number of his opponents increase. He used Concealed Needle, the needles flew in all directions, hitting the wolves that had come near. The Wolves received Paralyze from the needles. When he was about to resume throwing knives at Synapses, he found that his opponent was not where she was before.

A shadow loomed over him. He looked up and saw a large humanoid cat in the air, it was coming down at him. He jumped away in the last second just as the large cat struck the spot where he stood before.

The large cat was Synapses in her beast form. The werecat form not only increased her attributes but enhanced her super jump further, making her able to jump even higher than a normal beastmaster. The HP recovery of her beast form also helped in slowing down the bleeding effect she suffered from Needle's throwing knives.

Needle threw her Boomerang in addition to flying knives to try to keep Synapses at bay, but Synapses in her werecat form was truly fast. Neither his knives nor his boomerang hit. Synapses closed in very fast.

When she was close enough to claw, Needle waved his hand and a cloud of powder spread out in front of him. It was Hidden Weapon Specialist's level 40 skill, Powder Throw. The skill dispersed powder in a fan-shaped area, dealing 30% earth damage with a 100% chance to inflict Blind.

Synapses was too close to dodge. The powder also covered a wide area. She suffered damage, but the most troublesome was the loss of vision.

Needle immediately made a follow-up attack using his level 45 skill, Exploding Bullet. A small ball shot out from his hand, heading towards the blinded Synapses.

Out of instinct, Synapses moved away. She couldn't see nor sense the incoming attack, but she figured that this would be the best time for her opponent to land an attack, so she had to keep moving. She moved away just as the small ball came. It passed by right beside her.

*BOOM*

When the spectators thought Synapses had dodged the bullet, it exploded. At level 1, the bullet dealt 200% fire damage in a two-meter radius area and also had a 20% chance to inflict Disoriented status. Synapses who had dodged a direct hit was still damaged by the blast.

Needle was about to follow up with his knife-throws again, but he suddenly heard howlings. He turned and saw the wolves coming at him. They had come out of their paralyzation. He hurriedly used Ranger's Roll to escape from those beasts.

Just as his Roll ended, he saw a shadow fly past him and fell not far away from him. It was his lynx pet. Another shadow loomed before him again. The azure tiger was now before him, it was raising its paw to claw at him.

He made a quick backstepped to evade, but found something else blocked his escape path. It was Synapses. Unfortunately, the Disoriented status from his Exploding Bullet did not activate. Synapses opened her maws and bit the back of Needle's neck.

Synapses was of the vampire race, which received the first active race skill, drain life, in her fourth month of age. The skill sucked 100 HP each second from the victim she bit, replenishing the life she had lost.

Needle tried to break free, but Synapses in her beast form was too strong for him. While he was struggling, Synapses' wolves and azure tiger arrived. As a ranged class, he was unable to fight off so many melees after getting surrounded.

The spectators then saw the scene of a miserable victim getting torn apart by beasts.

"That… was wild," Paytowin said.

"Yeah," Jack repeated his remark.

Needle came back to life. He and Synapses left the arena and the tournament proceeded to the next match.

*

Mage Section Match 3

Silverfield, level 46 Archmage (orc) Vs Flarement, level 46 Summoner (draconian)

*

The match started exactly the same as the previous mage match, the two magic users cast Mana Bullet and Energy Bolts for their first strikes, which they then blocked using Magic Shield.

"Well, I guess magic-user classes have less variety considering their turtle movement. All they can compete for are their casting speed and the choice of their spells. It's basically watching two people standing and throwing energy to each other," Paytowin commented.

Similar to the previous match, the two started to compete with casting speed again after those basic spells. These two both chose advanced spell this time. Flarement chose Barrier spell which needed only one rune, while Silverfield cast Arcane Turbulence which needed three runes.

Flarement's Barrier was completed first, he then proceeded to cast the next spell. Silverfield's Arcane Turbulence came up under Flaremen't feet but the draconian was protected by his Barrier, his spell casting proceeded without being disrupted. Silverfield realized then he had made a wrong choice for his first spell casting.

Silverfield continued shooting standard attacks in the hope that the Barrier was destroyed while the Arcane Turbulence was still in effect. His standard shots were coated in fire instead of the normal pure energy shot. This was the effect of his familiar, a small imp that was floating beside him.

This imp had the passive abilities to increase mana regeneration of its partner by 30% and added 20% fire damage to its partner's standard attacks. Silverfield's staff was also of high grade so his damage was high.. He managed to burst Flarement's barrier bubble before his Arcane Turbulence ended.