VRMMO: The Unrivaled

It was a quiet and booze-less night. We all needed to maintain clear heads for the big fight tomorrow.

The next day, early in the morning.

Tok tok...

I was awakened by the sound of someone knocking on the door. When I opened it, I found He Yi standing outside. “It’s 8 am already! The match will start at 9, hurry!”

“Got it!”

I washed myself quickly before calling Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, and the others to eat breakfast together. While we were chowing down some fruits, the host, Fei’er, ran up to our table and said, “WTF, you guys are still eating? Lu Chen, you and your party need to come now since your match with Fate is the opening match! Quickly!”

“Oh, okay!”

We hurriedly put on our participant badges, grabbed our gaming equipment, and rushed to the competition hall with Fei’er. It was completely crowded, and as we entered the hall, countless spectators screamed like they were trying to blow our ears off. Well, I supposed that their reaction was understandable. We were technically gaming stars now, and He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and Beiming Xue were exceptional beauties. In fact, most people attended these gaming events to watch the girls. These days, it was easier to find cuter girls in a gaming venue than China Joy.

……

“Why were you so late?” Fei’er asked in a small voice.

I answered, “I woke up late, but that also means I had a good night’s sleep. I’m sure I’ll perform better than usual today.”

“Hehe, makes sense. What do you think about your first match against Fate? Are you confident that you’ll win?”

“Of course!”

“Okay then, I wish you a great victory on your first match!”

“Thanks!”

Fei’er walked to the front with a mike and smiled brightly. “The parties who’ll be competing in the opening match, please come to the stage. On one side we have Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls led by Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, and on the other, Fate led by Predestined!”

We went up the stage as requested. Li Chengfeng and I didn’t mind the attention, and the moment we came to a stop we started scanning for pretty faces to nurture our eyes a little. Beiming Xue was one thing, but surprisingly, even Murong Mingyue looked a little nervous. I supposed that both of them had never had to face this many people like this before. On the other hand, He Yi looked calm and collected. The GGS vice president’s confidence and extraordinary aura wasn’t something the girls could emulate at all.

Both parties’ levels and classes were displayed on the big screen—

Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls

Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-109 Undead Swordsman

From Water LV-106 Magic Knight

Beiming Xue LV-106 Dark Archer

Murong Mingyue LV-106 Priest

Legendary Brave LV-106 Dragon Warrior

VS

Fate

Predestined LV-106 Warrior

Death Of Dying Words LV-105 Assassin

Hero In A Dream LV-105 Archer

Rebirth LV-106 Mage

Wind-marked Moon LV-105 Blaze Knight

……

Level or class–wise, we didn’t really have an advantage over our opponent. Fate was one of the best guilds in Vanished God City, so it was only natural that their players reflected that strength. In fact, this opening match might just be the most exciting match of all the Top 32 matches.

Predestined was a guy about 30 years old. He gave me a smile and said, “Nice to meet you!”

I nodded but didn’t give him a reply.

The next moment, Fei’er declared that the opening match was soon to begin!

Both parties entered their battle rooms where a couple of beautiful employees were waiting. After they helped us set up our gaming equipment, we officially entered the game.

Ding~!

System Notice: You are entering the competition. You will be teleported to the tournament ring in three seconds!

……

Swhoosh!

A magical energy wrapped around my entire body and pulled me into the tournament ring. Beside me, He Yi, Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue and Li Chengfeng were present, and on the opposite side, Fate’s five-man party was waiting as well. They looked murderous and ready to give it their all.

The enemy party was made up of three melee and two ranged players. It didn’t look like it would be an easy fight. Predestined himself was a CGL Hall of Famer, so his skill and equipment had to be super-tier. At the very least, he wasn’t too far behind Li Chengfeng. That Wind-marked Moon had a secret class called Blaze Knight, and for now there was no way to check what his class was about. This meant that we would have to go in partially blind. None of us was expecting to encounter such a powerful opponent in our very first LAN match.

“How should we fight this out?” He Yi asked.

Li Chengfeng suggested. “Let’s lock onto one target and beat them to death. We can decide what to do later?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

I nodded. “We’ll start off with Beiming Xue using Shock Arrow on a target, stunning them. Chengfeng and I will then Charge them and try to one-shot them immediately. If you fail, then we’ll move onto a different target. There’s no point trying to Charge someone who can dodge even Beiming Xue’s skill.”

“Okay. Who should we kill first, though?”

“I say we target Hero In A Dream. They’ll probably try to kill Lil Beiming first because archers are deadly but have paper health bars, so it’s up to you to keep her healthy, sis. You don’t need to worry too much about me and Li Chengfeng. They’ll have to work real hard to one-shot us, so that can only mean well for us. And lastly, don’t try to conserve your potions. We can always get more from Beauty Lin.”

“Okay!”

Our strategy meeting done, it was time for battle!

The countdown. The first match of the Who Will Rise LAN tournament was about to begin—

3!

2!

1!

Fight!

Beiming Xue released the grip on her bowstring immediately after the barrier disappeared. Shock Arrow was the fourth-promotion skill of Archer. On paper, it had a 50% chance to stun the target, but of course that it wasn’t a fixed percentage. The chance could be higher or lower depending on the difference between the players’ levels, stats and Luck.

Thud!

Hero In A Dream shuddered when he was struck by the Shock Arrow. He was stunned on the spot!

However, he managed to launch his own arrow before he got stunned. Seriously? I’m their one-shot target?

I hurriedly took a step backward and raised my arms. Guard!

Thud!

The Shock Arrow sent me stumbling half a step. Holy shit, his Attack is amazing!

127!

Although Guard minimized most of the damage, the stun still got hold of me. My Guard canceled, I could only wait for the inevitable assault to hit me.

Whoosh!

Predestined and Wind-marked Moon activated their Charge at the same time and stunned me again. Worse, their Attack was higher than I expected. Predestined swung his bloody sword and left a cross on my chest armor—Bloodbreak Fury Slash!

Clang clang!

1763!

1874!

He followed up the combo with a Penetrating Blow that ignored 50% of my Defense!

2895!

This wasn’t good. This was just the first round of attack, and I had already lost more than half of my HP!

Luckily, Murong Mingyue reacted in time and cast two instant spells on me, healing me for almost 6000 HP. Otherwise, I would’ve died to his companions’ two follow-up attacks!

Wind-marked Moon’s spear suddenly became wrapped in flames, and three fire dragons hit me at the same time. The blaze knight’s Attack was unusually high, and a searing pain later my HP dropped yet again—

2284!

2194!

1905!

Heavens, I was almost out of health again!

Luckily, I woke up from the stun before Wind-marked Moon could unleash his second skill. After I parried away his spear with the Heaven-stealing Sword, I growled, “You done yet?”

Pardon! Desperate Gambit!

MISS!

7294!

The one hit deleted over 70% of Wind-marked Moon’s HP. This blaze knight had to be a 5-Strength player because his HP was barely higher than mine!

Tenacity of the Dead! Rank 8 Health Potion!

+2060!

+3000!

I dragged my health over the halfway line and pressed the attack. After parrying a blow from Predestined, I rammed him in the chest and sent him stumbling a couple of steps back. Clearly, his Strength was inferior to mine!

Then, I locked onto the escaping Wind-marked Moon and activated Thunderous Charge!

Whoosh!

It was a success. The guy wouldn’t be able to do anything for 5 seconds!

I shouted, “Beiming, he’s yours!”

I left Wind-marked Moon behind and went back to Predestined. By now, Beiming Xue had taken out Hero In A Dream, and He Yi and Li Chengfeng had successfully deleted the enemy mage, Rebirth. At this point, both sides had thrown all notions of a formation out of the window. It was a chaotic race to kill off the other party’s core players first.

It was at this moment a chill struck my body. Assassin! It was the prelude of Cold Blade!

Senses heightening, I swiftly retreated to the back and fake-slashed at the air in front of me. At the same time, I stomped the ground and used War Crush!

Boom!

A figure withdrew out of harm’s way before the shockwave of energy could hit him. It was none other than the assassin, Death Of Dying Wish!

I gave chase, but to my surprise, he took a few steps backward before rushing me. Just before we would make contact, he abruptly sped up in a different direction and arrived behind me after a perfect S-shaped run. This was one of the advantages assassins had over fighter classes; movement speed and turn speed.

But instead of turning around, I took two steps forward before firing a Thousand Ice Slash behind me!

“Ah?!”

Caught completely off guard, the skill elicited a muffled groan of pain from Death Of Dying Wish!

5664!

Martial God’s 70% Attack boost was nothing to scoff at. Thousand Ice Slash might be an AoE skill, but it was still enough to kill a low-health assassin.

However, Beiming Xue also let out a groan of pain at the same time. I turned around and saw that Predestined had killed her. Goddammit, warriors in the CGL Hall of Fame really can’t be underestimated!

Predestined didn’t stop running after killing Beiming Xue. Changing directions again and again and avoiding strike after strike from Li Chengfeng and He Yi like a ghost, he still somehow got close to Murong Mingyue and hit her three times in a row!

MISS!

4294!

4417!

Murong Mingyue couldn’t survive the attack either. She let out a cry of pain and died.

Predestined had killed two of our players in just the blink of an eye. The loss of our teammates made the rest of us fume with rage.

“Li Chengfeng, seal his flanks so he has nowhere to maneuver!”

He Yi suddenly barked out an order while charging toward Predestined in a straight line. Li Chengfeng obeyed his guild leader’s order and used his sword to block off the enemy’s retreat path. Then, He Yi fired off a Green Wave Slash. The skill had a pretty wide range, and since Predestined had nowhere to run he had no choice but to use Guard!

1029!

The second the Guard took form, He Yi cried out, “Crush!”

Li Chengfeng probably didn’t need the reminder, but it was perfect coordination nonetheless. The second Predestined used Guard, the dragon warrior was already raising his sword and executing Crushing Blow.

5895!

It was a Rank 10 skill executed by none other than the Dragon Warrior Li Chengfeng himself. The impressive damage was only the natural result.

His health dropping to zero, Predestined let out a painful groan and slowly collapsed the ground.

Ding~!

System Notice: Congratulations, your party has won the match! You have obtained 1 point!