Chapter 345: A Giant Who Never Gives Up! (1/2)
Three other referees arrived at this time. They seemed to be the ones in charge of roaming around for communication and inspection of results.
Upon seeing the thoroughly incapacitated golden metal puppet before Ayrin, the three of them were momentarily petrified.
One of the medical masters couldn’t help but ask, “What’s the status of the other academy teams?”
“Not a single person from the other teams has passed through this ‘Dueling Arena’ yet, this fellow is the first. What variant of golden metal puppet did he go against?”
“The Spirit Analysis Field in the previous chamber judged this fellow as the person with the most balanced abilities in this lot, so he went against the balanced puppet, the strongest of the bunch!”
“What? And he still managed to come out first?”
……
“Combinations are indeed effective!”
“A sharp offensive using a well-designed combination of skills can overwhelm opponents, limiting their ability to counterattack and allowing for a quick and decisive victory!”
Upon seeing the golden metal puppet stop working, Ayrin excitedly approached it as if he wished to continue attacking it.
He was completely unaware of the shock which he had inflicted on the observing arcane masters.
But upon arriving before the golden metal puppet, Ayrin abruptly stopped in his tracks as he thought to himself, “What if the Office of Special Affairs put a lot of energy and resources into restoring these golden metal puppets…”
“Let’s just head out for now. I wonder if I will be able to see the others upon exiting.”
Thoughts continued to pass through Ayrin’s mind as he shot towards the exit before him.
“I’m only trying to pass through! Don’t keep hindering me!” Stingham cried despairingly as the golden metal puppet facing him with two massive shields on its arms began quickly approaching him.
“Rip!”
The sound of air being torn abruptly interrupted Stingham’s screams as the golden metal puppet arrived beside Stingham and chopped at Stingham’s neck with the shield attached to its right arm.
“You are actually trying to kill me! You are so vicious!” Stingham continued to scream.
Upon nearing Stingham’s neck, the shield abruptly stopped moving as Lover’s Corpse activated, covering Stingham in a layer of dim yellow light.
At the same time, Stingham threw a punch at the golden metal puppet as his body slightly trembled in a strange manner, directing all the force contained within the shield strike into the ground beneath his feet.
“Bang!”
Before his punch could reach the golden metal puppet, a shield appeared before it.
“What should I do?!” Stingham shouted in frustration as he withdrew and threw his hands in the air.
Although the golden metal puppet posed no threat towards him, he similarly was unable to do anything towards it. Regardless of whether he used physical attacks or arcane skills, he was completely unable to deal any damage to it.
……
“Of the six members of Holy Dawn Academy’s team, Chris and Rinloran should also have no trouble passing this challenge. But for the other three, it will be long and arduous.”
A voice abruptly sounded from behind the observing referees and medical masters.
“Clancy?!”
The referees and medical masters jumped in surprise as they all turned around and asked, “Why have you come here?”
“Leonardo?”
But upon turning around, they were only more surprised.
Before them was not only the head referee of the national tournament, Clancy, but also “Cocktail Master” Leonardo.
Compared to before, Leonardo had not changed very much, but Clancy’s right sleeve hung limply at his size. It was evident that he had lost his arm in the war.
Clancy’s face was also extremely pale and thin.
“What? Am I not allowed to come and watch the competition anymore because I lost my arm and am recuperating?”
Seeing the shock on all of the faces before him, Clancy smiled as he said, “Even with an arm gone, I’m still alive, aren’t I? So I must finish the task assigned to me.”
One of the arcane masters smiled as they spoke, “It seems like you are hardier than we had thought. Well then, Leonardo, what have you come here for? Are you considering joining our team of referees?”
“It is possible that I will be the vice referee for the following championship match,” Leonardo replied with a nod. Afterwards, he turned and looked Ayrin, who was running towards the exit and thought to himself, “But for now, I am purely here to watch this competition… at any rate, this fellow can be considered half my student.”
“Anyway, as you were saying Clancy. You think Chris and Rinloran will be passing through without difficulty, but the other three will face some danger?” asked one of the referees as they turned back towards the chamber.
……
Rinloran’s cold pupils gradually contracted as he stood motionless atop the arena-like chamber and observed the golden metal puppet before him.
Naturally, the golden metal puppet before him looked the same as the ones which the others were facing. However, an invisible force slowly emanated from this puppet’s feet, causing it to float about a meter in the air.
At this moment, Rinloran seemed to abruptly disappear as he shot towards the golden metal puppet’s left side at a speed invisible to the naked eye.
Simultaneously, the golden metal puppet also moved, accurately appearing in Rinloran’s path. As its hands moved slightly, a strong wind containing dozens of transparent revolving blades surged towards Rinloran.
Rinloran shot through the gaps between these blades with astonishing agility as his body began to release pulses of arcane energy.
Dark green patches of moss began to appear atop the cold metal floor from which crimson vines began crazily sprouting. These crimson vines shot towards the golden metal puppet and wrapped around its legs.