Chapter 12 The Expected Instant Kill

After winning the first two matches, the pressure on the Hell Frontline team had basically disappeared. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, once this "Lieutenant Battle" was over, they would advance from the first round with a score of three to zero.

On the other side, the members of the Super Monster Squad all looked very nervous...

The reason for their tension wasn't that they were worried about losing the next match, but that... until they lost, Xu Huai Shang wouldn't take the stage.

Today, the main reason the Super Monster Squad hadn't just forfeited was because... the entire team were fans of Xu Huai Shang.

Although they weren't quite at the level of obsessive stalkers in the "Xu Huai Shang Fan Club," these seven were definitely qualified to be called "die-hard fans"; to have the opportunity to play a match against their idol in a competition of this caliber, like the Peak Tournament S3... they naturally didn't want to miss it.

Indeed, based on the content of the first two matches, the Super Monster Squad's seven members felt despair at the difference in strength, but that was expected from the start... They had long been prepared to be swept three matches straight.

However, they would find it very difficult to accept if they lost without even catching a glimpse of Xu Huai Shang.

For the sake of fairness, the Super Monster Squad had even specially used rock-paper-scissors before the match to decide their lineup, so that... no matter who Xu Huai Shang ended up facing, the others wouldn't complain; it all came down to luck anyway.

However, now, the first two matches were already over...

In the first match, after Red King went on stage and saw that Snow was the one he was facing, his enthusiasm for battle was extinguished for the most part. Under the same conditions, if it had been Xu Huai Shang fighting him, let alone the opponent escaping on a motorcycle... even if they were taking a rocket into the sky, Red King would have chased after them regardless of the cost; but Snow... forget it.

Then, in the second match, Jetton and Bemular went on stage and discovered that Hell Frontline still hadn't sent out Goddess Xu, but instead sent a couple; that was truly... "How much sorrow can there be? Just like two single dogs"... In any case, they fought with all their strength and were quickly defeated.

In the blink of an eye, it was match point, and according to the lineup submitted before the match, the Super Monster Squad was sending out a player specializing in reconnaissance for the "Lieutenant Battle" – [Baltan].

Everyone understood that this was basically going to be the last match of the night, so, for the Super Monster Squad, this was also their last chance to see Goddess Xu take the stage.

...

"My name is Lin... forget it, names don't matter.

"I'm just a supporting character, an extra.

"With an ordinary mind and ordinary looks, I'm destined to be born ordinary and die ordinary; that's my life.

"However, because of a game of rock-paper-scissors, my world has become dazzling!

"To have a one-on-one duel with Xu Huai Shang on the stage of S3, with this memory... I can live out the rest of my life with ease."

The above were Baltan's inner thoughts after being transported to the arena and seeing Xu Huai Shang standing across from him behind the barrier.

Since there were only thirty seconds of preparation time, by the time his mental monologue was over, the system was just about to start counting down.

And on Xu Huai Shang's side, facing the fanboy's adoring gaze, she seemed very calm; after all, being looked at with such eyes could be said to be her daily routine...

As one of the strongest melee specialists in the game, Xu Huai Shang naturally didn't need to retreat at the start... She just stood there, quietly waiting for the barrier to disappear.

[Five... four... three...]

Just as the system counted down to "three," suddenly, Ruo Yu, who was in the spectator space, gazed at the battlefield and said three words: "It's over."

Even Feng Bujue didn't understand why Ruo Yu would use such a confident tone to predict that the opponent would be instantly killed before the fight even officially started.

But three seconds later, when the isolating barrier disappeared with the system's "fight" announcement, things... happened exactly as Ruo Yu had said.

In that instant, Xu Huai Shang's position on the stage suddenly changed.

Her movements were fast, agile, light, and swift...

While people's eyes were still fixed on the place where she had originally stood, watching her afterimage, she had already arrived at another spot, standing silently.

The wind blew.

Xu Huai Shang's sleeves fluttered in the wind, and her beautiful hair swayed gently.

Her hands, as white as jade, quickly moved away from the hilt of her blade.

This... wasn't anything worth marveling at; what was puzzling wasn't when her hands left the blade, but when her hands had grasped the blade in the first place.

Was it during the system's countdown? Was it when the barrier disappeared? Or was it during her movement?

At least, none of the Super Monster Squad had the dynamic vision to see it.

Of course, this answer was already secondary.

What was truly terrifying was – since she had now released the hand that held the blade, it meant that she had already drawn her blade...

*Pfft-*

*Hiss-*

A second later, two strange sounds finally came out.

"Eh? I..." Baltan, who was still standing in place, unaware of what had happened, suddenly felt the scenery in his vision spinning and moving, eventually stopping at a "horizontal" view; in his eyes – half of it was paving stones, half of it was the sky.

Then, in the corner of his eye, he saw a headless corpse wearing the same clothes as himself... slowly falling down from a standing position.

It wasn't until he watched the replay later that Baltan finally understood that the legendary "sword skill so fast that you don't even feel like you've been cut" actually existed, and he had even personally experienced it in the game...

...

At the same moment, in the spectator space, Feng Bujue immediately turned his head to Ruo Yu and said, "Interesting... how did you know this would happen?"

"I naturally saw it," Ruo Yu replied calmly.

"Oh? Could it be that you've mastered the ability to... 'see a few seconds into the future'?" Brother Jue asked again.

Ruo Yu shook her head. "I don't have that kind of ability. I just saw Shang Shang's stance and made a judgment."

"Oh?" Brother Jue asked curiously, "Did she activate any skills before the barrier disappeared? How come I didn't see it? There was no change in the data energy."

"It's not a skill, it's a technique," Ruo Yu continued, "At that time... she looked like she was just standing there, but in fact, she had already entered a special 'relaxed' state; different from generally relaxing the body, this is an advanced technique that requires a lot of training to develop... When mastered, the next action performed in the 'relaxed' state can be endowed with astonishing explosive power.

"A waiting situation like just now is a good opportunity to use this move; considering that the opponent still hadn't moved with three seconds left, and was standing within the arena... I could determine that he would be instantly killed as soon as the barrier disappeared."

Hearing this, including Feng Bujue, the others on the Hell Frontline team deeply felt the power of these two female heroes in their team; honestly, even Brother Jue would be in danger against this kind of method that even the "data perspective" couldn't defend against.

"Um... there's still one thing I don't understand," Xu Huai Shang said thoughtfully; she had been teleported back to the spectator space when Ruo Yu was halfway through her explanation, so although she hadn't heard Brother Jue's question, she could roughly guess the context.

"Hey hey... you're the one who did it, why are you asking me?" Ruo Yu narrowed her eyes and made a "Feng Bujue face" to complain.

"The bystander sees more than the player," Xu Huai Shang looked at Ruo Yu's expression, knowingly smiled, and continued, "I just want to ask... how did you know that my blade would definitely be an 'instant kill'? If the opponent also had an S-level melee specialization and was proficient in speed, there would still be a chance to avoid the vital points, wouldn't there?"

"Hmm..." Ruo Yu thought for a moment, "This... I can't explain it either, I just saw him standing there and knew he definitely couldn't dodge it."

"Oh, I know the reason for that," Feng Bujue said.

"I don't even know, and you do?" Ruo Yu also asked curiously.

"The bystander sees more than the player," Feng Bujue then imitated Xu Huai Shang's tone, smiled at Ruo Yu, and said, "But this is a bit complicated to explain, I'll tell everyone in the conference room later."

Brother Jue did know about this. As early as before S2 (relevant content in Chapter 653), he had noticed that... Ruo Yu possessed an ability similar to the "Mystic Eyes of Death Perception"; this wasn't soul intent, it wasn't a skill... but a talent of her own, just like Brother Jue's "Truth of Falsehood," which could also be used in the real world.

Now, Ruo Yu's ability was obviously stronger than before, so she could even perceive things that Brother Jue couldn't see through, such as the fact that Xu Huai Shang had used the "relaxed" technique just now, which only Ruo Yu could see.

...

[The match has ended]

The system prompt finally arrived five minutes after Xu Huai Shang completed the instant kill.

[Final score: three to zero]

[Winning side: Hell Frontline]

[Teleportation will begin in thirty seconds]

Just like that, Hell Frontline had passed the first round of the Thriller Paradise Peak Tournament S3 without any real surprises.

A clean sweep, zero casualties; apart from the first match, the other two... the mid-tier battle was over in three minutes, and the lieutenant battle was even an instant kill, setting the record for the fastest kill in the first round.

With such impressive results, logically speaking, countless media outlets should have written news articles within two hours, adding headlines like "Defending Champions Crush and Advance" to grab all sorts of headlines.

However, that didn't happen...

Because, compared to this one-sided battle where the defending champions crushed casual players, there was an even more noteworthy and extremely exciting match in the first round that hadn't finished yet.

Seeing this, some people may have already guessed who the opposing sides in that match were...

That's right, it was [Order] and [Gods].

Whether it was fate or the trickery of the universe, these two teams were matched against each other in the first round of S3.

Needless to say, this was bound to be an earth-shattering battle.