Child of Destiny

United Cup Playoff Rounds, Day 3

Earners Mercenary Group (Home) versus Empyrean Talons (Away) – All-out Team Competition

Earners Mercenary Group Representatives:

Team Captain:

-Magic Freak Flouree (Maverick God)

Members:

-Exiled God Sylas (Godlike Player)

-Invoker God Kael (Godlike Player)

-Godly Sniper Aiming (Godlike Player)

-Healing Saint Matilda (Maverick God)

-King Slayer Yamamoto (Maverick God)

-Human Artillery Crimson (Maverick God)

-Titanic Fortress Wang Zhou (Maverick God)

-Thousand Daggers Sakura (Maverick God)

-Divine Exorcist Calix (Maverick God)

-Sky Dreamer Lucid (Maverick God)

-Knight King Gernard (Maverick God)

-Void Swordsman Morris (Maverick God)

-Elven’s Hand Maris (Maverick God)

…

Both the people watching from the live stand and the online broadcast could not help but suck a deep breath after seeing the stunning lineup that the Earners Mercenary Group had.

In terms of the quality of players, there was no doubt that they were among the best within the league. Even those top guilds, huge organizations, or famous adventurer teams might not have such an overwhelming lineup.

Even the Empyrean Talons and the God’s Paradise, who was known to have a lot of all-star players in their ranks, might even be slightly inferior compared to them.

In the eyes of the true experts of the game, only the mysterious Pandemonium Descendants were the ones who could have such a huge number of godly experts in their ranks.

The Empyrean Talons and God’s Paradise might still have a slight edge when it comes to the quality of their members, as they had quite a lot of godly experts who stood at the peak of the Godly Rankings of the game.

But the Earners Mercenary Group was a huge organization with a mysterious and rich history, which even the hidden experts within the game were wary of.

A lot of people already knew that this Mercenary Group had at least a hundred Monster Class Players in their ranks, who came from different games before. But no one would have thought that it would be this serious.

Three powerful Godlike Players and a bunch of Maverick Gods, such a lineup was truly scary.

When comparing it with the lineup of the Empyrean Talons, which used to be very impressive, people started to think that these guys were in deep trouble.

…

Empyrean Talons Representative:

Team Commander:

-Gentle Goddess Arielle (Godlike Player)

Members:

-Battle God Sickarius (Godlike Player)

-War God Simba (Godlike Player)

-Elemental Goddess Charlotte (Godlike Player)

-Dancer of the Shadows Diablo (Maverick God)

-Sanguine King Alucard (Maverick God)

-Dark Knight Owen (Peak Titled Ranker)

-Herald of Chaos Chaotic Luck (Rookie Contender/ Unusual Maverick Ranker)

-Archer Queen Ithilien (Peak Titled Ranker)

-Beastmaster Akailu (Peak Titled Ranker)

-Bird of Hermes Archimedes (Peak Titled Ranker)

-Calamity Witch Daulla (Peak Titled Ranker)

-Samael (Rookie Player)

-Huahua (Rookie Player)

…

The Empyrean Talons were truly in serious trouble in this match, given the difference in their lineups.

Even if Owen was on the borderline between a Peak Titled Ranker and Godlike Player, only waiting for the perfect opportunity to gain himself a Godly Title in an official event, their lineup was still far inferior to their current opponent.

There was also Chaotic Luck, who even the system could not properly rank due to his unusual ‘ability.’

Even if these two were considered as Maverick God to a certain extent, they were still quite far from matching the current lineup that the opposition had sent for this match.

Moreover, they also have a pair of baggage in the form of Samael and Huahua, who were complete rookies in the professional competitive stage. These two would most likely hold the team back later if they did not perform well, especially with the pressure that the lineup of their opponents had.

The veterans of the Earners Mercenary Group would also not be that naïve to miss such an obvious weakness. So long they constantly put pressure on these two rookies, they would be able to limit the strength of their opponents during the battle later.

This was also not the end of the arrangements of these guys. The map that they had chosen was also quite tricky to deal with, which also somehow countered any kind of response the Empyrean Talons had.

…

Twisted Corridor.

This was the map that the Earners Mercenary Group had prepared for this match.

It was kind of a map with a special feature. It forced both teams to divide their forces into three smaller groups before sending them randomly into different locations.

This would greatly weaken the all-star lineup of the Empyrean Talons, which would also affect their overall strength.

They had to divide themselves into smaller teams with good composition to maintain a good balance. But this would also thin out the quality of their all-star lineup, which would make it easier for the opposing side to deal with them, especially when they had a bunch of godly experts in their ranks.

This match would be determined by the all-star members of each group. The Empyrean Talons had a slight advantage in this area because the all-star members that they had in their ranks were much better than the opposition, particularly Cloe, Shin, and Leonard, who ranked quite high in the Godly Ranking List.

Diablo and Alucard were not that bad either, especially when they go all-out with their powers.

Alucard even killed his opponent without anyone noticing in the previous match, which proved his overwhelming advantage over his opponent.

Putting these guys together could also pose an immense threat to the members of the Earners Mercenary Group, so they had to think of a way to force them to divide themselves, since dealing with them separately would be much easier.

But if the Empyrean Talons chose to form a single elite group while leaving the rest with the other groups, then the Earners Mercenary Group would have a huge advantage in isolated battles due to their advantage when it came to the quality of players.

By choosing this specific map, the Earners Mercenary Group was forcing the Empyrean Talons to choose between these choices – whether they would be thinning out the quality of their members to maintain the balance or choosing to form an elite group and hope that they could deal with the experts of their opponents before their overwhelming force was gathered.

Shin understood this very well, which made him frown quite deeply. He understood why a lot of people claimed that the United Cup was not as easy as it seemed.

…

The system had given them enough time to make some arrangements for the division of the team before sending them out to the battlefield.

Knowing that it was useless to curse their opponents for being so tricky, Shin started arranging the grouping of their members.

“I will go with Chaotic Luck, Samael, and Huahua,” he started.

The others did not comment about this either, as they knew that it was best for him to be with those two, as he had to lead the ‘troops’ under Chaotic Luck and Huahua to maximize the might of their army.

As for Samael, this guy was a paladin from the Church of the Sun of Moon, so his abilities would synergize well with Shin. He could also make some arrangements during the battle, especially when Chaotic Luck’s Legion of Chaotic Sun was also related to the ‘Sun.’

“Owen, Ithilien, Archimedes, Daulla, Charlotte, and Arielle will be another group,” he continued, arranging the pairs with the best synergy and understanding with one another to maximize their individual and combination abilities.

“You guys will only have to focus on protecting yourself. Don’t engage too much with the other side and avoid fighting them if possible. The two groups will do their best to rush to your side as fast as they can.”

He then paused as he turned to the rest, who were yet to be mentioned. “Simba, Diablo, Alucard, and Akailu will be the strike team.”

“You guys are free to do whatever so long as you are confident with it. Just avoid engaging the battles with much bigger risks,” he added, warning them not to get too excited when engaging in battle.

After all, their opponents were not some random dudes that could be seen in the streets.

After confirming the arrangements, the group informed the system that they were now ready to be sent into the battlefield.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Not long after, everyone disappeared from the preparation space and appeared in different parts of the map.

…

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Right after arriving at the map, Shin first swept his gaze over the surroundings, checking the map.

The expression on his face suddenly became somewhat dark after confirming what type of stage they were on.

“It looks like even the map itself is meant to counter us,” he said after observing the corridor.

It was spacious enough to be a stage for an intensive battle, but it was too narrow for an entire army to fit in.

Shin could tell that the opposing side had meticulously chosen this stage to limit the number of solar undead they could summon.

If Chaotic Luck summoned too many of his legion, then maneuvering them in such a tight place would be very hard.

With such a ‘narrow’ space, Shin knew that he only had a very limited number of choices when maneuvering such a small number of troops.

There was also the concern about the large-scale spells that their opponents had. In such tight places, spamming such spells could easily blow up their army.

“Tsk!” he clicked his tongue before mumbling. “I guess I have underestimated the professional stage a little too much.”

……..