Chapter 1473 - 95: The Gap in Combat Experience

Chapter 1473: Chapter 95: The Gap in Combat Experience

[Welcome to the Trial Field, please select a mode.]

[Auxiliary Mode/Actual Combat Mode.]

...

Su Xiao hasn’t been to the Trial Field for a while. Compared to the fee-charging Trial Field, the free Arena is actually more cost-effective. Moreover, with his current level of sword technique, summoning a mirror image in the Trial Field to guide him is costly beyond imagination, far better to explore through combat.

Su Xiao occasionally sees Marvin Hwaltz; that guy’s knife skills are absolutely top-notch. Whenever Su Xiao has doubts, he asks Marvin during their meetings.

Neither of the two modes are what Su Xiao wants to choose. He flips through the list in front of him and quickly notices a very inconspicuous option: Challenge Mode.

Su Xiao has already acquired authorization for Challenge Mode; therefore, he only needs to spend 5000 Paradise coins to start the challenge.

[You have chosen Challenge Mode, 5000 Paradise coins have been consumed.]

[The challenger is about to enter the Technique Arena, matching opponent: Random.]

[Teleporting...]

Su Xiao’s vision blurred, and when his sight recovered, he already stood inside an arena of about 400 square meters, as big as half a football field.

[Mirror Image generating, opponent matched: Xerxes.]

A silhouette gradually forms; it’s a woman dressed in white robes, around 25 years old, with a black ponytail and some freckles on her face.

The eyes of Mirror Image Xerxes opened, she clasped her ten fingers together, making a gesture of greeting to Su Xiao.

Su Xiao knows that if a mirror image has a specific name, they are usually not easy to deal with. Fortunately, he can view the mirror image’s attributes.

Name: Xerxes

Category: Human

Life Value: 75%

Mana Value: 1200 points

Power: 95 (True Attributes)

Agility: 95 (True Attributes)

Stamina: 95 (True Attributes)

Intelligence: 50

Charm: 50

Skill 1, Close Combat Master (Passive Level 10): Enhances close combat melee attack power by 320%, nerve reflex speed +20%, dynamic vision +26%, punch power includes penetration, blunt attack, muscle paralysis, bone shattering, blood block effects.

...

Seeing Xerxes’s data, Su Xiao is taken aback. From the data, this mirror image doesn’t seem too strong, but it has only 75% Life Value, giving Su Xiao a sense of foreboding.

Su Xiao’s long-standing doubt has been confirmed; above Basic Skills Master’s Level, it is Grandmaster Level.

As soon as Xerxes manifested, she started to do stretches, sometimes pressing her leg and sometimes stretching her spine.

After stretching for half a minute, Xerxes beckoned Su Xiao with her finger.

"Hey there, don’t just stand there."

Xerxes chuckled, exuding a strong aura of a tomboy.

Su Xiao draws the long knife from his waist; obviously, facing such a purely close combat opponent, he has an advantage, plus there is a significant gap in abilities between them; the opponent only has one ability.

With a bang, the wooden floor shattered, and Su Xiao charged directly at Xerxes.

Xerxes’s toes pointed, piercing directly into the floor, followed by a crack, and large fragments of wood shot rapidly toward Su Xiao.

While advancing, Su Xiao raised his left arm to block the fragments before his eyes, and slashed diagonally with the knife toward Xerxes’s waist.

Although slashing toward the neck was more lethal, slashing toward the waist was evidently harder to dodge.

Unexpectedly, Xerxes seemed not to intend to avoid but instead lunged straight at Su Xiao.

The long knife cut through the air, emitting a terrifying howl. Its blade first cut through Xerxes’s clothing, and just as it touched her skin, her right leg, unbeknownst to Su Xiao, kicked toward his side ribs.

Su Xiao had already sensed the incoming kick; the momentum of the slash did not stop, while his left leg bent.

With a bang, Xerxes’s whip kick struck Su Xiao’s bent left leg, a force penetrating directly into the calf and surging into his chest cavity.

A dull pain and sense of oppression arose from within the chest cavity, and Su Xiao was kicked back about half a meter, the long knife just cutting through the fabric on Xerxes’s abdomen, leaving a line of blood on her distinctly toned midriff.

Five minutes later.

Su Xiao was teleported outside the arena, puzzled internally as to why that woman was so strong. Could it be that one Level 10 Grandmaster Level ability was strong to such an extent?

After a moment’s thought, Su Xiao felt that Grandmaster Level ability could be just one aspect; more importantly, it was about combat experience and timing. The woman’s gaze seemed somewhat vacant, possibly from prolonged combat.

Considering these two points, Su Xiao paid another 5000 Paradise coins, facing the same initial scene and the same woman in white.

Ten minutes later, Su Xiao sat beside the Trial Field Hall pondering how to defeat that woman, Xerxes.

Regarding overall abilities, Xerxes barely surpassed Su Xiao. The reason Su Xiao was no match for her was because after being hit by a punch from her, the battle ended. During the second fight, the opponent used one arm as a trade-off and even struck Su Xiao’s shoulder with a punch.

Just one punch, and Su Xiao’s half body began paralyzing, nearly dropping his knife; the subsequent scene is imaginable.

After losing twice, Su Xiao remained undaunted; on the contrary, he felt he wasn’t defeated by abilities but rather combat experience.

Su Xiao got up, starting the third challenge.

Fourteen minutes later, Su Xiao was defeated and rested for about half an hour before beginning the fourth challenge.

The duration of Su Xiao’s defeat kept getting longer, whereas Xerxes became increasingly wounded; in the initial battle, she defeated Su Xiao virtually unscathed, by the eighth fight, she had both arms broken, with only 17% Life Value left to win against Su Xiao.

Paradise coins per battle, totaling 40,000 for eight battles, but Su Xiao felt the 40,000 Paradise coins well spent—it’s just that the process was not enjoyable.

The more Su Xiao fought Xerxes, the more he experienced the prowess of Grandmaster Level abilities. Such close combat strength as possessed by combatants like Xerxes, he indeed encountered for the first time.

Xerxes’s power was not about speed or strength, but rather, as soon as struck by her punch, the battle ended; and getting hit on the vital organs, feelings of that ordeal etched deeply into memory.

During one challenge, Su Xiao got struck chest-wise by a straight punch from Xerxes, which happened to be at the heart’s location. Almost instantly, all blood in Su Xiao’s heart surged out; the result was imaginable.

Inside the arena.

Drip, drip...

Blood dropped down the white robe, and the one-armed Xerxes faced off against Su Xiao.

Su Xiao had large concaves on his side ribs; an unfolded knife appeared in his hand, stabbing near the ribs, pulling the blade out, and spurting a jet of blood far and wide.

With substantial blood flow, Su Xiao’s affected side started gradually regaining sensation.

"So that’s how it is."

Having fought to now, Su Xiao finally understood why Xerxes could paralyze half his body with one punch. This time, it’s likely his most promising victory.

Su Xiao dashed forward a few steps and disappeared instantly.

The hum of the blade traveled from Xerxes’s spine; as she lowered her head, an elbow assault targeted Su Xiao’s chest.

Bam!

Thwap.

Su Xiao flew backward, with blood splattering broadly.

"Oh? How did you manage that?"

Xerxes stumbled a few steps; her back neck was nearly fully slit open, and with a thud, she fell to the ground, Su Xiao also dropped to the ground, his entire torso losing feeling, almost ending in mutual annihilation, leading Su Xiao to acknowledge that his combat experience was yet to be enriched.

"Forget it, knowing doesn’t mean much."

With a crisp snap, Xerxes’s mirror image shattered, the fragmented mirror image gradually forming a medal.

[You’ve obtained Proof of Glory.]

Su Xiao was transported out of the arena, immediately losing all discomfort throughout his body but feeling vastly fatigued.