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Chapter 364: Rivalry
Chapter 364: Rivalry
"W-What the…What…just happened? THE FIGHT!! THE FIGHT’S ALREADY OVER!! AND THE VICTOR WAS, OF COURSE, NONE OTHER THAN THE POWERHOUSE FROM DARK SENTINELS ADVENTURER GUILD, JOHN ONI!!" Corey’s voice resounded in a shocked tone, his voice slightly cracking in utter disbelief.
One moment, the commentator’s eyes widened as it seemed like John Oni was about to be instantly slain, however, the next, it was Boren’s head that separated from his body, turning him into nothing but a mere azure mana ray.
Even Boren had a confused and disbelieving expression upon materializing beside the stage.
Amongst the 60,000 in attendance, only the veteran, emerald-ranked adventurers, and the top ten rookies were able to clearly see what happened.
As for the ordinary ruby-ranked adventurers, although most of them saw what happened, they didn’t see it as clearly as the emeralds or the top ten rookies did.
Still, even such a rough view was enough to compel them to stand up and cheer wildly—utterly amazed by John’s masterful maneuver.
What the third-ranked rookie did was truly borderline miraculous.
Faced with a ferocious trump card combo, John Oni did not panic.
Instead, he calmly activated one of his skills, [Enhanced Reaction Time Lv.5], and stared right back at death with a fearless expression, dodging the katar by a hair’s breadth nonchalantly before countering with a lethal downward neck slice of his own.
The young rookie did everything so fast that even Boren, his opponent, didn’t notice that his neck had been sliced clean off.
Witnessing John Oni’s dueling skills, Shye’s eyes narrowed.
’Hoh? I hope this guy can make our fight interesting and…allow me to earn lots of points, hehehehe….’
If John heard what he was thinking, the poor Dark Sentinels rookie would probably be infuriated again.
Luckily, all the young man heard was the crowd praising him to the high heavens.
"Damn! John Oni is still John Oni!"
"Why did the organizers even seed Shye Crowley higher than John? Although that rookie from Raven’s Blade was truly one of a kind because of his chantless casting talent, there’s just no way for him to defeat such a masterful and talented scout in a duel!"
"I agree, I just can’t see that unripe rookie taking down such a nimble, deft, and vicious scout!"
"At this rate, won’t John even have the chance to defeat Arthur?!"
Such generous praises naturally pleased John, writing off all the infuriation in his heart and replacing it with a pleasant renewed pride and confidence.
During the past year, his name was mentioned only because of Arthur Vermillion, who was hailed as a heaven-defying genius in their generation.
Although the two of them never actually crossed blades in Balkrow yet, they sparred plenty of times back at Roddentrodge City, the second-ranked city in the entire region.
John lost a bit more than he won, however, he had his moments of victory too against Arthur.
If he could take down the heir of the Vermillion Adventurer Clan here—in a competition that mattered—he would feel immense satisfaction even if only temporarily as he was sure that Arthur would settle the score with him.
The two of them have been true rivals since they were young.
Upon learning that Arthur was coming to Balkrow City to join the renowned Iron Jin Adventurer Guild, ranked fourth among all the guilds in the entire Valenzia Region, John was fired up, deciding to follow his rival and join the sixth-ranked overall guild in Valenzia, the Dark Sentinels Adventurer Guild.
To him, only the two of them were in competition…well…In Balkrow City, at least.
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Hence, Shye’s sudden entrance to the rookie scene utterly ruined the perfect competitive world he was building in his mind between him and Arthur.
To make things worse, the darned guy was actually ranked higher than him in the unofficial competition seedings, causing people to think that the true final battle would happen between the bastard and his rival, relegating him to the role of an inconsequential side character destined for defeat, merely serving as a stepping stone in the contemptible Shye Crowley’s narrative.
Naturally, he would never buy such bullcrap, especially not when the rookie in question was a mere mage that he could destroy as easily as snapping his finger.
Burning with anticipation, John descended the stage, making way for the next scheduled match.
As time swiftly elapsed, matches concluded one after another, leaving half of the competitors reveling in sheer delight while the remaining half languished in self-disappointment and sorrow.
In their eyes, they were all "sons of heavens", undefeated in their guilds.
However, as the level of competition increased—currently city-wide—reality immediately slapped half of them hard.
With more to follow.
They were not sons of heaven, but mere stepping stones to those who were deemed true sons of heaven.
Everything was proven by victory and defeat.
Although they were ranked lower compared to others, not a single one of them believed that they would lose as they were champions themselves—albeit in their guild branches.
Hence, actually losing broke not only their ego but also their hearts.
As the truth that they were not special slowly sank into their hearts and minds, most of them, in fact, almost all of them, were bound to deteriorate as the self-confidence they once banked themselves on ruthlessly shattered.
Lost in the four winds and never to be recovered ever again.
Such is the truth of the real world, outside of the protective havens of their parents, guardians, clans, and academies.
Only the fittest…shall be hailed as true kings.
Of course, the so-called perceived true kings amongst rookies won all of their matches, including Shye, who decimated the f*ck out of his opponent with a barrage of skills.
The poor rookie wasn’t even on the level of Percy, only close to that of Chiizai.
[Congratulations! You’ve earned 8,142 points!]
’Tch…There are sixty thousand people in attendance, are there not?! Why did I only earn around 8,000 points?! Sigh... I suppose this is one of the downsides of being expected to make it to the finals...’