MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

Chapter 1352: Nine Prodigies of Astella (9)

”…Ngh!”

With nothing blocking his opponentʼs attack, Valyr was forced to cast shields in front of him, only to then cross his arms the moment the assassin broke through them.

Whoosh!

Although heʼd gotten into the most stable stance before meeting the attack, the young man was still sent flying in the air just from the sheer strength behind the attack alone.

With that, Valyr took that as an opportunity to mount a proper defense against his opponent while also sending out a counterattack of his own.

”[Orb of Apyrhan]!”

Casting a double-layered barrier around him in mid-air, Valyr went ahead and sent three fiery orbs towards his opponent without hesitation, deactivating [First Sky] after that in a bid to conserve his energy.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Watching the assassin take on all three of the blazing orbs head-on, the young man felt a combination of excitement and nervousness as he landed not far away from the edge of the stage.

ʼSurely that would have stung at least a bit, right?ʼ thought Valyr to himself, knowing that the answer to his question would reveal itself the moment the energy behind the orbs fully disappeared.

Whoosh!

Yet, just as he thought that the aftereffects of the three blazing orbs would continue to wreak havoc on where his opponent stood, the latter merely swung his scimitars outward with all his strength, creating a strong gust that instantly put out the flames surrounding him.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Then, moving away from his previous spot, the assassin took a few steps forward before looking at Valyr in the eyes.

”…That hurt.” Gripping onto his scimitars tighter than ever before, the man raised both scimitars up to the air before slashing down in a cross pattern.

”My turn.”

Swoosh!

Watching both scimitars manifest a sharp blade of energy towards him, Valyr immediately felt as if he were staring at death straight in the eyes.

With his primal instincts telling him that he would die from the attack no matter what kind of defense he put up in front of it, the young man eventually decided to duck under it and roll forward.

”Agh!” Though, just as he was thinking why the assassin hadnʼt mounted another attack on him, Valyr immediately felt a sharp pain radiating from his back, with his opponent standing in front of him at the end of his roll.

”[Lesser Heal].”

”[Lesser Regeneration].”

Activating a couple of healing spells in his arsenal as he slowly stood up, Valyr looked at the assassinʼs covered face for a bit before eventually shaking his head.

ʼYeah… thereʼs no point.ʼ

ʼI may be incredibly strong for my rank… but that level of strength isnʼt something I can match that easily.ʼ

As those thoughts ran through his mind, Valyr slowly turned to look at the arbiter as he let out a slightly disappointed sigh. ”I admit defeat.”

”Gasp!”

”What?!”

”Wooooooo!!!”

In response to his declaration of surrender, a small number of people throughout the crowd immediately let out gasps and shouts filled with shock and surprise.

Naturally, this included Thomas and the others, who had begun to imagine that their friend was nigh-invincible after getting so far in the tournament.

Because of Valyr readily admitting defeat to his opponent, a considerable number of small and medium-scale organizations decided to retract their plans of recruiting the young man, coming to a ʼrealizationʼ that the young man wasnʼt all they made him out to be.

Of course, there were also those who felt that recruiting him into their folds was still a wise choice, with many of them putting even more importance on getting the young man to join their respective organizations.

After all, which normal Rank 2 class holder would be able to stand his ground against a mid-Rank 4 class holder for that long?

Nevertheless, the majority of the crowd still continued to cheer and applaud after a victor was appointed between the two of them, merely appreciating the high-stakes fight that occurred between two of the tournamentʼs top contenders.

Shaking each otherʼs hands after the declaration was made, Valyr shook his head one more time as the two returned where the other 10 were.

ʼI could come up with a lot of excuses as to why I lost to him, but one thing still stands,ʼ thought the young man to himself as he briefly glanced at the assassin.

ʼI shouldnʼt have gotten that complacent.ʼ

Having gone through eight rounds in a row without experiencing any massive loss, Valyr gradually began to believe that heʼd be able to reach the end of the tournament and become one of the top 9 without much issues.

However, his fight with the assassin just now strongly woke him up from that train of thought.

It served as a painful reminder that, even though he was incredibly strong for his current level, he joined a tournament where his current level was the minimum requirement.

ʼThen again, who would think he was hiding his true strength all this time?ʼ asked the young man to himself, recalling the strength his opponent showcased in their fight compared to what he saw from the man in the previous battles he watched.

ʼI guess I flew too close to the sun this time,ʼ thought Valyr to himself in the end, reminding himself that anyone else among them could be hiding their true strength just like the assassin.

With that, the young man attentively watched all of the battles that happened after that, improving his knowledge on his potential opponents as he waited for the second part of the ninth round to start.

Thanks to these battles, he slowly figured out that almost all of the 12 that got this far in the tournament all had physical-based classes.

Though there were some among them who used magic here and there in their repertoire, it was only Valyr among them who purely used magic through and through in their fight.

Because of that, the young man shifted gears as he renewed most of the plan he had in mind for the second part.

ʼ[First Sky] is only effective on those who rely on magic as their combat style. It might be able to catch some of them off guard if they were to become my opponents in the second part.ʼ

ʼHowever, for everyone else… the only way I could turn even a bit of tides to my favor is if I use physical attacks as well.ʼ

ʼWell, if you canʼt beat ʼem… join ʼem, I guess.ʼ

…

With the first part of the ninth round kicking off to an explosive start with the fight between Valyr and the assassin, the remaining battles more or less caught the attention of the entire crowd, with almost everyone holding their breaths in preparation for the outcome.

Unsurprisingly, just like Valyr first thought, almost everyone else who fought after them had been saving their true strength for the finale, with most of them showcasing strength that hovered around the peak Rank 3 to early Rank 4 level.

The only exception to this was a young man nicknamed Nightingale who relied on a combination of throwing weapons to disorient and make the opponent submit.

Just like him, Nightingale was also someone who was stronger than his peers by a great degree. Unfortunately, he also joined the tournament at the minimum level requirement.

With that, it was no surprise that his opponent readily gave Nightingale the bitter experience of defeat, sending him flying out of the stage with a couple of heavy punches to the upper torso.

Though a number of people in the crowd began to talk ill of the young manʼs opponent after that, almost everyone quickly moved on from that as the second part of the ninth round began.

”With our temporary top 6 being chosen, we shall now move onto choosing the three that will make up our temporary top 9!”

As these words left the announcerʼs mouth, Cliveʼs smile became wider as he briefly glanced at the six that would participate in the next three battles.

”Unlike the first part where the participants would select their opponents through numbers, the match-up for this second part has already been chosen by the tournament officials beforehand.”

”With that being said, letʼs get on with the battles!”

With the crowd roaring with excitement in response to those words, the second part of the ninth round quickly kicked off into high gear as the first match was between two people who hid their strength.

Holding nothing back against each other for the sake of getting onto the top 9, the two went all out in both skills and attacks, with both of them even tacitly agreeing on using unscrupulous attacks on each other to achieve their goals.

On the other hand, the fight against Nightingale and his opponent more or less played out just like it did for the young man in the first part.

Although he was able to gain a slight edge over his opponent due to his attacks having a greater range, his luck eventually ran out the moment his opponent made use of a couple more buffing skills, quickly turning the tides away from Nightingaleʼs favor.

ʼ…Huu.ʼ Letting out a long exhale as he went up the stage for the third and final battle, Valyr slowly gazed at the person who would soon become his opponent, a man who he felt was the spitting image of what media considered as a warrior.

Watching the man unsheathe his axe as he activated a series of buffing skills, the young man decided to respond in turn by retrieving a spear he kept in his spatial bracelet before doing the same thing, which immediately elicited a series of gasps from the crowd because of it.

Feeling as if heʼd caught both the crowd and his opponent off guard with his reveal of the spear, Valyr felt confident that heʼd be able to beat the man in front of him and successfully enter the top 9.

Sadly, there was one thing heʼd forgotten to take into consideration.

His skills.