142: Chapter 143 Another Instant Kill

Lin Muyang's seventh match was about to begin under the watchful eyes of the crowd.

The Night Elf Maiden Seraphina stood quietly at the edge of the contestants' area. Deep within those violet eyes, a nearly imperceptible trace of the subtle tension unique to a warrior before battle flickered. Her slender yet explosive fingers unconsciously tightened, gripping the ancient-looking, pitch-black dagger hanging at her waist, which only emitted a terrifying glint of cold light along its edge.

This was no ordinary weapon, but a legendary-grade dagger named 'shadows kiss.' Its level wasn't exceptionally high, but its attached special effect, 'Extreme Blade,' was practically a god-tier skill—it added a severing effect to all of the wielder's attacks based on their attack strength. The stronger the attack, the more terrifying the severing power. Theoretically, with enough strength, nothing in the world could not be cut!

Although she had always followed Lin Muyang through secret realms and deep-sea training, hunting countless monsters, this was indeed her first time formally facing off against another Class Transferee's summon on a stage.

A trace of unfamiliar nervousness lingered in her heart. However, this nervousness didn't turn into fear; instead, it made her violet eyes even colder and sharper. To her, an enemy was an enemy. Whether it was human, beast, or some other existence, they were essentially no different from the monsters she hunted daily—they were targets to be eliminated, obstacles to be cleared for her master.

Soon, the information for the participating summons from both sides was submitted and confirmed.

"Group Two, Match Seven!"

"Contestant Lin Muyang, participating summon—Night Elf Assassin, Seraphina!"

"Contestant Wang Yanzhang, participating summon—Dark Gold Iron-Bone Beast!"

The moment the information was announced, Seraphina's figure vanished from her spot.

No, she hadn't vanished; her speed was simply too fast! So fast it exceeded the visual tracking limit of the vast majority of the audience! Everyone felt as if a blurry wisp of pale violet smoke had flickered past the edge of the contestant area. In the next instant, that slender and lithe figure, dressed in a form-fitting black assassin's outfit that outlined her breathtaking curves, was already half-crouched like a phantom near the center-left of the stage, silent and still.

She knelt on one knee, her body leaning slightly forward like a cheetah ready to pounce, 'shadows kiss' held in a reverse grip across her chest. Her long violet hair fluttered for a moment due to inertia before falling smoothly over her shoulders and back.

She lowered her head slightly, revealing only a section of her fair and elegant jawline and those violet eyes flashing with cold light in the shadows. Her entire posture perfectly displayed the speed, stealth, and lethality of a Night Elf Assassin, and an invisible, heart-palpitating Aura of danger quietly spread out.

This lightning-fast entrance caused a collective gasp to ripple through the arena!

"So fast! I didn't see it at all!"

"Teleportation? No, it's pure speed!"

"This... this Night Elf's speed is just ridiculous!"

Even her opponent, Wang Yanzhang, had a sudden change in expression, his pupils shrinking! His own attributes weren't low and his perception was keen, but even so, he had only barely managed to catch a faint violet afterimage just now, unable to even fully determine Seraphina's movement path! This kind of speed had already exceeded his understanding of an assassin of this level!

"Damn... this speed..." Wang Yanzhang's heart sank. His original slight contempt instantly vanished, replaced by intense vigilance. He realized he might have once again underestimated how terrifying these beautiful girls under Lin Muyang were.

Immediately following, the ferocious beast summoned by Wang Yanzhang let out a muffled low roar. Pushing off with its four limbs, its massive body, carrying a gust of bloody wind, landed heavily on the other side of the stage.

This was a massive creature over four meters long with a shoulder height of nearly two meters! It looked like a lion but was far more grotesque. Its entire body was covered in dark gold, heavy bones that looked as if they were cast from metal. These bones weren't entirely hidden within its body; they protruded menacingly at the joints and along its spine, glinting with a cold metallic luster.

A set of custom-made, heavy iron armor covered in spikes and runes wrapped tightly around most of its body like a second skin, leaving only its head, limb joints, and tail exposed. Two curved, scythe-like pale tusks, half a meter long, protruded fiercely from the corners of its bloody maw. A pair of copper-bell-sized beastly eyes were blood-red, locked onto the petite violet figure opposite it with murderous intent, though a hint of instinctive dread and high alertness was hidden deep within.

The Dark Gold Iron-Bone Beast was one of the ace ferocious beasts with the strongest defense and survival capabilities under Wang Yanzhang, possessing the SS-Rank Talent 'Unyielding Iron Wall'! Its talent effect was practically perverse: when it suffered an attack for the first time, it would receive a 99% additional damage reduction for that attack! For the second attack, a 98% reduction! The third, 97%... and so on, until after accumulating 20 attacks within 600 seconds, the additional damage reduction would stabilize at 80%.

This meant that unless one could instantly unleash a burst of damage dozens of times its endurance limit, or attack continuously more than 20 times at a very high frequency in a very short period, it was almost impossible to quickly defeat it.

Combined with its own exaggerated base defense, heavy iron armor, and the 'Thorn Retaliation' effect attached to its talent—which reflected a portion of damage back to the attacker based on the damage received—this beast had become a nightmare for countless opponents. In the Qinghe City regional matches, no one knew how many powerful summons had ultimately fallen to their own reflected damage.

Wang Yanzhang's intention in sending it out was very clear: he didn't seek a quick victory, but he sought not to be defeated! At the very least, he wanted to test the depth of Lin Muyang's third summon, exhaust its strength, and perhaps even use the reflected damage to heavily wound the opponent. In his view, the best response to this kind of high-attack, high-speed assassin was extreme defense and reflection.

As the Dark Gold Iron-Bone Beast and Seraphina faced off from a distance on the stage, the entire martial arts hall, which held 150,000 people, actually fell into a strange, pin-drop silence. Everyone subconsciously held their breath and widened their eyes, staring intently at the stage for fear of missing the potentially lightning-fast exchange that was about to occur. After all, Lin Muyang's first two girls had ended their battles too quickly! So fast that often by the time one blinked, the winner had been decided.

"Do you think... it can still be an instant kill this time?" someone in the audience asked in a hushed whisper.

"Hard to say... that Dark Gold Iron-Bone Beast looks incredibly tough at a glance, and it's Wang Yanzhang's ace. It shouldn't be instant-killed again, right?"

"Didn't Lin Muyang's first two girls also instant-kill their opponents' aces?"

"I think it's unlikely this time. An assassin's burst is high, but that beast's damage reduction is too perverse, plus there's the reflection. The Night Elf might end up being reflected to death herself."

"Don't forget, none of Lin Muyang's girls have been injured yet! I bet it'll still be an instant kill!"

"Heh, naive. A top-tier tank beast with an SS-Rank Talent, wearing heavy armor with perverse damage reduction and reflection—if it can be instant-killed by an assassin of the same level, whose actual level is even lower, I'll eat this railing in front of me on the spot!"

"Look! It's about to start!"

Whispers surged like a tide through the audience seats as tension, anticipation, doubt, and excitement intertwined, pulling the atmosphere to its absolute breaking point.

At the organizers' seats, the expressions of the three Nation-Guarding Level Experts were even more serious and solemn than before. Sword Saint leaned forward slightly, his hand resting on his sword hilt. Xu Ruohan's cold eyes didn't blink for a second, as if she wanted to see through the surface and perceive the true power contained within that Night Elf Maiden.

"A Night Elf, Assassin class—her speed is indeed astonishing," Sword Saint said in a low voice. "But I have heard of Wang Yanzhang's Dark Gold Iron-Bone Beast; its defense mechanism is quite troublesome. This battle likely won't be as easy as the previous two."

Xu Ruohan didn't speak, but her slightly pursed red lips showed that her heart wasn't entirely without ripples. She knew better than the other two that the strength of a top-tier Summoner lay not just in the summon's own talent, but in whether the Summoner could provide the summon with support and solutions for various situations. How would Lin Muyang support this assassin girl in breaking through the 'Iron Wall + Reflection' predicament before them?

"Match—Start!"

The referee's command was like a spark igniting a powder keg!

At almost the same instant the word 'Start' fell!

She moved!

Seraphina moved!

No, to be precise, she disappeared! Leaving behind an extremely faint, slowly dissipating afterimage in her original spot!

No, it wasn't a disappearance! It was her speed soaring to an inconceivable level in that instant! Thirty times the speed of sound? No, with the God-Tier Aura and her own skills and attributes, her instantaneous starting speed had approached forty times the speed of sound! This had completely exceeded the dynamic visual tracking capability of 99.9% of the audience. Even for many high-level Class Transferees, only a blurry violet flash tearing through the air remained in their eyes!

No, it wasn't just speed! At the same moment her figure launched, a full twenty-three 'Blood Shadow Flying Daggers'—formed entirely from highly concentrated killing intent and shadow energy, thin as a cicada's wing with edges flowing with a mournful blood-red light—appeared out of thin air on both sides of her charging path without warning! This was the qualitative change she gained after raising her Origin Skill 'Blood Shadow Flying Dagger' to Level 22—the number of daggers surged, and each one contained the 'Extreme Blade: Severing' effect from the 'shadows kiss' dagger!

The twenty-three Blood Shadow Flying Daggers were not scattered in a chaotic mess; instead, they were like a living swarm of death. Following Seraphina's charging form, they transformed into a scalp-numbing curtain of blood-colored blades. Moving in a profound and lethal trajectory, they arrived first despite being launched later, enveloping the Dark Gold Iron-Bone Beast that had just raised its head to let out a threatening low growl!

Fast! Too fast! From the moment she started to the daggers reaching the body, the entire process took no more than 0.01 seconds!

In the Dark Gold Iron-Bone Beast's crimson beastly eyes, that trace of wariness instantly turned into boundless terror! It didn't even have time to assume a complete defensive posture; it could only barely lower its head, aiming its hardest frontal bone and fangs forward. The dark gold bones and iron armor across its body glowed intensely as it pushed its 'Unyielding Iron Wall' talent and 'Thorn Retaliation' effect to their absolute limits simultaneously!

However, in the face of absolute speed and the ultimate 'Cutting' rule, the so-called 'Iron Wall' seemed like a pale joke.

Schi! Schi! Schi! Schi! Schi...!

A series of sounds so faint they were almost inaudible, like sharp blades slicing through the finest silk, rang out in dense succession.

There were no deafening collisions, nor were there explosions from clashing energy.

Under everyone's disbelieving gazes, those twenty-three Blood Shadow Flying Daggers were like hot knives Cutting through solidified butter. Without any resistance, they precisely 'cut' through the Dark Gold Iron-Bone Beast's proud dark gold bones, its heavy specialized iron armor, and its incredibly tough muscle fascia...

When the first flying dagger sliced through, the 99% damage reduction took effect, but the remaining 1% of 'Cutting' power still left a deep, bone-exposing gash on its shoulder armor.

The second flying dagger followed immediately: 98% damage reduction, the gash deepened, and cracks appeared in the bone.

The third, the fourth, the fifth...

The attacks of the Blood Shadow Flying Daggers did not hit all at once; instead, bolstered by Seraphina's terrifying speed, they formed a continuous millisecond-level strike! Furthermore, the damage reduction of 'Unyielding Iron Wall' was calculated based on a 'single attack'! This meant that every single Blood Shadow Flying Dagger was enjoying the high damage reduction of a first strike!

But this was meaningless.

Because the weapon's special effects inherently carried a degree of 'True Damage' and 'Rule Penetration' attributes, rather than relying entirely on base attack power. Moreover, Seraphina's attack intensity under the enhancement of Auras like [Source of Strength] and [Agility Overlimit] had already reached an inconceivable level. Even if only 1% or 2% of the damage remained, once amplified by the 'Cutting' rule, it was enough to cause terrifying destruction!

More importantly, Lin Muyang had already quietly activated the [Inviolable] God-Tier Aura. All 'Reflected Damage,' 'Backlash Effects,' and 'Curse Feedback' acting upon Seraphina were smoothed out, dispersed, and neutralized by an invisible force of supreme rules the moment they touched her body. The Dark Gold Iron-Bone Beast's 'Thorn Retaliation' failed to stir even a single ripple.

Thus, in the eyes of the audience, they witnessed a scene that would be unforgettable for a lifetime, and was even somewhat bloody and terrifying:

That blurred purple lightning flickered for a brief instant around the Dark Gold Iron-Bone Beast's massive body in a trajectory that the naked eye simply could not track.

Immediately after, the Dark Gold Iron-Bone Beast's body seemed to be simultaneously penetrated and sliced by countless invisible yet extremely sharp fine lines!

Its lowered head, maintaining a hideous expression, separated from its neck.

The heavy shoulder armor, along with large patches of flesh, slid off.

Its thick limbs were cleanly severed at the same height.

Its massive torso was divided into dozens of flesh-and-blood cubes of varying sizes by crisscrossing cut marks.

Fragments of dark gold bone, scraps of iron armor, mixed with gushing hot beast blood and organ fragments, collapsed and exploded in the center of the arena in an instant, like a building block toy being violently deconstructed!

Puff—!

A mist of blood filled the air, instantly staining a large portion of the arena red.

A thick scent of blood, accompanied by the Aura of death, spread out.

Meanwhile, that purple lightning had already shifted from extreme motion to extreme stillness behind the center point of the beast's exploding body, once again revealing Seraphina's slender and upright figure.

She remained in a half-crouched position with her daggers held in a reverse grip. The tip of [shadows kiss] pointed diagonally toward the ground, and a drop of viscous beast blood was slowly sliding down that freezing cold blade edge, dripping onto the arena floor with a soft 'tap' that sounded exceptionally clear in the deathly silent stadium.

She slowly stood straight, her long purple hair cascading down like a waterfall, covering a small portion of her exquisite profile. She tilted her head slightly, her violet eyes glancing calmly and without a ripple at the mess of flesh and blood ruins behind her, her gaze as indifferent as if she had simply cleared away a pile of trash. Then, with a flick of her wrist, [shadows kiss] did a nimble flourish at her fingertips before returning to the sheath at her waist. The movement was smooth and elegant, carrying a composure unique to a Night Elf after a kill.

Silence.

A deathly stillness, deeper and more oppressive than when the Phoenix Heavenly Maiden had made her move, enveloped the entire venue.

An instant kill!

Another instant kill!

Moreover, it was an instant kill more violent, more direct, and bloodier than the previous two! The first time, the Elf Priest used purification; the second time, the Phoenix Heavenly Maiden used purification and incineration, both carrying a sense of 'holiness' or 'transcendence.' But this time, what the Night Elf Assassin displayed was the most primitive, naked aesthetic of slaughter—the physical destruction brought about by the combination of ultimate speed and sharpness!

"Hiss—!!!"

After an unknown amount of time, the sound of people sucking in cold air spread through the stands like a plague, followed by a sudden explosion of even more violent and frenzied waves of sound!

"My god! It was... sliced to pieces?!"

"That was an SS-Rank Talent Dark Gold Iron-Bone Beast! It just turned into chunks like that??"

"Those flying daggers! Those blood-colored flying daggers! What skill is that?!"

"The speed! Did you see her speed? I didn't see anything!"

"What about the damage reflection? Where was the Dark Gold Iron-Bone Beast's reflection? How is that Elf Assassin completely fine??"

"Monsters! Everyone Lin Muyang summons is a monster!!"

"To that brother who said he'd eat the railings earlier, please begin your performance!"

"Wang Yanzhang's ace is just gone like that? He can't even summon it for a whole day??"

The spectator stands went completely wild! Shock, horror, fanaticism, adoration, fear... all sorts of emotions swept over everyone like a tsunami. Using the third maiden he summoned, Lin Muyang once again told everyone a fact in an indisputable, crushing manner: the strength of those under him was not an isolated case, but universal! Every time one appeared, it meant the fall of a group rival's ace!

"Thirty times... no, nearly forty times the speed of sound for that initial burst! And the Cutting rule of those flying daggers..." In the organizers' seats, Sword Saint slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air. "Those daggers are imbued with extremely strong 'Defense Break' and 'True Damage' traits. Most importantly, the Dark Gold Iron-Bone Beast's damage reflection was completely ineffective against her!"

Xu Ruohan did not speak, but her clear eyes seemed to have a storm brewing within them at this moment. What the Night Elf Assassin displayed was another kind of ultimate strength—ultimate speed, ultimate defense breaking, and ultimate slaughter efficiency.

This once again confirmed the increasingly clear guess in her heart: the breadth and intensity of the 'buffs' provided by Lin Muyang's Summoner talent absolutely exceeded the scope of SSS-Rank! Otherwise, there was no way to explain why every maiden under him, regardless of race or class, could display this kind of crushing, rule-touching terrifying combat power at the same or even lower level!

"Just what is his talent?" In Xu Ruohan's heart, this question grew wildly like weeds.

Meanwhile, by the arena, Qinghe City's number one Summoner, Wang Yanzhang, looked as pale as death, his whole body stiff as if all his strength had been drained in an instant. He stared fixedly at the pile of flesh and blood ruins on the arena that belonged to the Dark Gold Iron-Bone Beast, then looked at the summoning rune in his hand, which had gone completely dim and developed fine cracks. His eyes were filled with despair, regret, and a deep trace of fear.

It's over! It's all over!

Not only was this match a certain loss, but he had lost his strongest defense and damage reflection core, and there were still three matches left! Without the Dark Gold Iron-Bone Beast to hold the fort, what did he have to compete with other opponents? The group advancement spot that was originally a sure thing had now become precarious! And all of this was simply because he chose to send out the Dark Gold Iron-Bone Beast in the seventh match to face Lin Muyang's Night Elf Assassin...

"I... I..." Wang Yanzhang's throat was dry. He wanted to say something, but couldn't utter a single word. A massive sense of frustration and uncertainty about the future completely submerged him.

Seraphina had no interest in the commotion behind her or Wang Yanzhang's despair. After confirming the target had been completely eliminated, her figure flashed, and she returned to Lin Muyang's side at a speed difficult for the naked eye to discern. She sat down quietly, as if that bloody instant kill just now had nothing to do with her.

Lin Muyang nodded to her with approval in his eyes and gently patted the back of her hand. Seraphina's purple eyes flickered slightly, her long eyelashes lowered, and the cold killing intent around her quietly retracted, making her as quiet as an exquisite doll.

The seventh match: Lin Muyang wins again! And it was in a manner even more shocking and overbearing than the previous two!

The situation of the group stages had become completely clear. Lin Muyang's dominance was like an insurmountable mountain standing before all the opponents in the second group. And everyone was filled with an unspeakable curiosity and awe toward the stunningly beautiful maiden with nine fox tails who was about to appear next.