Translator: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97
At the market, the various servers were already broadcasting the finals. The narration of the Pi Li Chinese Opera was more immersive than the commentary from Pan Feng and Hwa Xiong. The system’s narration occurred basically at the same time as the player action, and they were well-described on top of that. Of all the servers, Feng Bujue’s audience server was the most packed. This did not mean he had a lot of fans, but he had attracted plenty of neutral players to observe his match. On top of that, many of Xu Huai Shang’s fans grouped to be at Brother Jue’s server.
There was a song lyric that explained this well. “Laughter and tears, standing back to back. Love and hate, turning around to see each other.” After Xu Huai Shang was eliminated, who was her fans going to follow in the finals? Since their goddess had fallen, then why don’t they go and see that pervert get beaten up. That would be fun, right?
Therefore, in Brother Jue’s server, such a weird population had gathered. One group of people raised the banner with the words “The Craziest MOFO.” Another group stood far away from the former with derision on their faces, and the last group curiously huddled in the middle. Other than that, there were many players who followed Brother Jue’s performance in the conference room. They included members of Red Sakura, Blade Edge, as well as Underworld Frontline.
Back to the scenario. Since the city was filled with various mutated monsters and lost souls, chances of player combat were high. The finals had just started for a few minutes, and sounds of battle was already echoing all over the city. So far, there were no matches between single players yet. Naturally, the system was behind this. To increase the audience of the matches and to minimize the impact of accidental factors, the players were spread sparsely throughout the map.
The players’ reactions in their battles with the monster encounters were crucial. After all, the longer they fought, the greater the exhaustion. In the finals, recovery potions were banned, and that seriously challenged the players’ tactical minds. To prevent the loss of Life Points, one had to waste more Stamina Points or use skills. To save Stamina Points and ensure that skills won’t be in CD when one did came upon another player, one had to suck in the loss of the Life Points.
In any case, there were many things to consider, unless…
“If I maintain this speed, I’ll encounter one or two monsters every five minutes on average,” Shiva concluded as he controlled the stone plates of Heavenly Hourglass to destroy the monster before him. For players of his level, killing these monsters was as easy as breathing. (Hell, breathing, in this case, was harder due to the horrible smell.) Shiva was currently at Level 44, and he was ranked 3rd on the personal player level. Of his Sorcery Weapon’s 8 special powers, he had unlocked 6—Earth, Fire, Water, Air, Sun, and Moon. Only Wind and Null remained locked.
Other than that, five days prior to the Battle of the Butterfly, he finally learned more about the ability of Soul’s Eyes. Therefore, after that day concluded, he rose back to second place on the combat stat ranking. Compared to when he was back in the Battle of the Cowl, Shiva had definitely become much stronger. But at the same time, the fact that he was only still number two on the list troubled him.
“Traveller from another world…” A bee-like buzzing noise was suddenly heard behind Shiva. “I would plead for you to stop moving forward.”
Shiva had not sensed the person’s advance at all, and that unsettled him. However, the narration had not started yet, so it meant that the person or thing that approached him was not hostile. He was not in a battle. Shiva turned around and saw a large humanoid creature. The thing was two meters tall, and it had a swimmer’s body that was covered in a yellow-and-black-striped shell. Its limbs were much stronger than that of a normal human, but the strangest thing was its head, which was that of a giant wasp.
“You are…?” Shiva asked probingly. Since the person was willing to communicate, then he was most likely an NPC.
“My name is Hetsup,” the man replied. “I am one of the twelve time wardens, serving under the Master of Time.”
Shiva was not unfamiliar with the four Pillars of Divinity. He asked, “Why did you ask me to stop?”
“Because the area ahead has been sealed off,” Hetsup replied.
“By whom?” Shiva asked. “You?”
“Me and three other time wardens,” Hetsup said gravely. “You can walk around it, but please do not enter it.” When he spoke, his limbs extended and scratched noisily in the air. Instantly, the area around Shiva was covered with a sheen of orange-colored, blurry fog.
“Do not enter this area,” Hetsup repeated.
“What is inside it?” Shiva pressed.
Hetsup was silent for a few seconds before he replied in a serious voice. “Only danger. Nothing else.”
Hearing that, Shiva contemplated before answering. “Fine. I’ll walk around it.” He had no reason not to do so. After all, he had been wandering about for no reason. Furthermore, the Master of Time was one of the Four Pillars of Divinity, so his people were quite powerful. Since the Waspman did not attack him, he did not see any reason to argue or fight with him.
“You better leave this place soon.” When Hetsup said that, he had already turned around to leave, away from the orange fog-covered area. He looked down the decaying street and said, “Something very troublesome is coming.”
Shiva was still trying to process that when a white laser beam shot from afar, aiming right at Hetsup’s body. The latter reacted fast and wreathed his two arms forward, twisting them together into a ball. Then, he opened his palms, and it blossomed into a flower. Using the flower as a shield, Hetsup blocked the laser. One second later, the laser landed on the petals. Hetsup steadied his ground, not retreating for one step. The laser was blocked by the petals and split into small beams of lasers, which refracted everywhere, destroying the nearby building. Instantly, the buildings around had their walls poked through with holes, and they started to crumble. Some of the fleshy walls even had a sticky, foul-smelling yellow liquid leaking out from them.
Seeing that, Shiva took in a cold breath. His own Heavenly Hourglass also relied on lasers as a method of combat, but compared to what he just saw, his laser was like the one a lecturer would use in class.
“Such a powerful monster exists in this scenario?” Shiva’s Terror Points jumped, and an urge to run rose. “It’s not wise to stay here for long. It doesn’t matter who is behind that laser beam. Since I am not his target, there is no reason for me to get between that person and this NPC.” At this point, he turned to leave. But then…
“Oh… that’s quite impressive.” A young man with disheveled red hair and a smile stood at the street to the side of Shiva. He wore a large white coat. Shive saw his guild logo. It had a white scale on a sea-blue background. The word “Regulation” was emblazoned on the back of his coat.
“Phantom Dawn…” When Shiva realized who it was, his Terror Points rose up to 70 percent.
When did he arrive? Why didn’t he attack me? Is he cautious of me or is he planning something else?
Many questions formed in Shiva’s mind, but on the surface, he tried to remain calm. He tried to answer Phantom Dawn in a casual tone. “I’m surprised that you are the first player I’ll run into in the finals.” He paused. “Very well. Eventually, this fight is inevitable, so—”
“Can we talk about this later?” Phantom Dawn interrupted him rudely. His eyes had been fixed down a direction since he arrived. “Someone very powerful is coming.”
Shiva was rather annoyed that this kid did not see him as a threat at all, but the battle that was going on beside them was quite distracting.
A figure slowly walked towards them from where the laser battle had occurred.
———
Data analysis…
Breaking through firewall…
Downloading information…
Initiating counter tactic…
Appearance recognition database initiating, downloading, inputting, correcting, inputting, inputting…
———
Name: Hetsup
Forces: Master of Time
Race: Hexpolian
Level: ???
Height: 203 cm
Weight: 500 kg
Fighting Style: Energy control ??
Possessed Skills: Flower Shield of Light ??
Danger Level: Medium
Voice Recognition: Constructed
Current Location: Y-090
Tracing triangulation: Unachievable
Control Status: Not controllable
Battle Strategy Option: Calculating…
———
“This is such a headache…” The Anomaly who was approaching appeared to be a male about 1.9 meters tall. He was covered in a glowing armor, and he spoke in an extravagant-sounding tone. “And you’re telling me there are eleven more such troublesome creatures?”
When he came closer, Shiva saw that the man was not wearing a glowing armor but a translucent armor. Every inch of this strange creature’s skin was glowing. He was a literal “lightman.”
“An Anomaly?” Phantom Dawn said as he stared at the man. “Looks like a Level 2, but… something’s off.”
“Oh? You are quite knowledgeable,” said the lightman when he heard Phantom Dawn. He turned to them and continued, “But you are merely a human player.”
“Actually, I don’t know much,” Phantom Dawn said, then he scoffed coldly. “Like I said, what I gather is from looking and observing.”
“Hmph…” The lightman glanced at Phantom Dawn, but he did not continue the conversation because he was in a hurry. He turned his focus back to Hetsup. “Well, I’m sure you’re not going to let me pass if I don’t kill you, right?”
“With the order from the master, no one is allowed…”
Pee!
Before Hetsup could finish, a laser beam already rushed at him.