Flashy Adventurer System : Show Off to Get Stronger!

Chapter 371: Lackluster Performance

"Begin!"

Finally, after a few more moments, the audience's most awaited words came out of the referee's mouth, prompting both rookies onstage to make their moves.

The highly anticipated match immediately left everyone dumbstruck as soon as it began.

Why?

Well, the archer and the mage suddenly started charging at each other as though they were both warriors.

Shye wasn't really surprised as crossbows had a fairly limited effective range. Also, against mages, it would be advantageous for the users of the mentioned weapon to fight at a somewhat close range.

Typically, crossbow users had low-cooldown, short-distance repositioning skills that would help them easily outmaneuver warriors and mages while simultaneously peppering them with mana arrows, effectively turning them into porcupines.

This…was exactly Payne's plan, hence, he, like the crowd, was utterly surprised and confused to see Shye charging straight at him.

He couldn't tell what Shye was thinking at all.

However, his confused state didn't last for long as the questions in his mind were answered by none other than Shye himself.

Upon arriving at the optimal range, Shye suddenly started firing spells, causing embers to roar and frosty winds to howl inside the blue dome.

Shooting enchanted mana arrows in retaliation while nimbly evading elemental spells, Payne suddenly felt a surge of anger welling up within him.

It seemed that the bastard's plan was very simple: beat him at his own game!

Realizing this fact naturally infuriated Payne. He felt disrespected.

Shye's intention wasn't to ridicule Payne though as all he wanted was to maximize his system point earnings.

Unfortunately, the current Payne didn't bother to ask him about his intentions.

All the guy wanted now was to "return the favor" and humiliate Shye.

After dodging a few rock bullets, Payne used a few skills in hopes of catching his dastardly adversary off guard.

'Aim Assist!' 'Finger Frenzy!'

The first augmentation boosted his accuracy when firing at Shye while in motion, while the second one enhanced the reload speed and fire rate of his medium-grade platinum-tier wind crossbow relic.

Mere simple enhancements. However, they truly worked wonders for Payne.

As Payne launched three mana arrows in rapid succession, Shye adeptly evaded the first, narrowly avoided the second, and was grazed by the third, sustaining a superficial wound.

'Hoh? This guy's accuracy is rather good. Did he use a skill?' Shye mused, glancing at the shallow wound on the left side of his body, staining his pristine white mage attire with a hint of scarlet.

Shockingly, the next moment, the crowd erupted into cheers, leaving Shye utterly confused.

'Wha–? Pfft…These guys wanted me to lose so badly that they cheered for a mere graze? Fine then, I'll take the villain's role all the way through and conquer this entire city!'

Opting to play Payne's game for a few more exchanges, Shye fired back, almost catching Payne a few times with fireballs and icicle spears, leaving a trace of fear inside the guy's heart.

Unfortunately, in the end, fighting an experienced crossbow user at such a distance proved rather difficult as the guy turned out to be very nimble.

Well, it wasn't that Shye couldn't force the issue but it would simply be unwise to reveal all of his cards in a mere fourth-round match.

It would be much better to just change his approach a little bit.

Suffering a few more arrow wounds which prompted the crowd to cheer even louder, Shye abruptly stopped casting spells, and instead, stood right where he was.

'Phase one, show everyone that my projectiles are way more powerful.'

"Heh, what? Do you understand now how inferior you are to me at this distance? That'll teach you a bit of respect!"

Hearing Payne's words, Shye was confused.

When did he ever disrespect this guy?

"Oh? Perhaps it was when I decided to engage him at a crossbowman's range..." Shye mused, returning Payne's enthusiasm with a nonchalant gaze. 'Oh well…it doesn't change the situation. I still need to do what's necessary to accumulate plenty of points.'

"I'll turn you into a porcupine, Shye Crowley!!"

*FWOOSH!*

As Payne's loud voice echoed across the arena, three bigger-than-usual mana arrows infused with the ferocious element of fire, the gentle yet deadly element of wind, and the violent element of lightning, shot forth, roaring viciously as they flew toward Shye.

'Hoh? Decent power, however, your arrows are still a bit too weak compared to my spells! Earthen spikes!'

The unyielding element of earth clashed against the three elemental arrows, producing a cacophony of elemental explosions.

Shockingly though, the earthen spikes remained planted on the ground—firm, unshaken.

On the other hand, the elemental arrows were utterly obliterated, revealing the difference in power between the two projectiles.

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To make things worse for Payne, the disappointing performance of his arrows elicited dismayed gasps and noises from the crowd, bringing shame to his heart.

Abashed and enraged, the 9th-ranked rookie swiftly returned to action, eager to recover from his earlier embarrassment in the hands of Shye.

Aiming his crossbow at Shye, Payne smiled crazily.

"Let's see how you deal with this then! Thunder Arrow Barrage!!"

*BZZT!*

Lightning ferociously crackled as Payne's crossbow released one huge lightning-infused mana arrow after the other at a rate of three arrows per second, evoking shocked gasps from the crowd which then brought a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Die, Shye Crowley!"

Unfortunately, as fierce as Payne's [Thunder Arrow Barrage] skill appeared, it didn't even cause tiny ripples in Shye's heart—his expression still nonchalant.

'Frozen Thorn Barrage!'

Frosty winds howled as lethal glacial thorns materialized one after the other, shooting at a rate of four shards per second toward the stationary crossbowman.

Soon after, the two skills clashed.

Again, sadly for Payne, as menacing as his skill was in terms of appearance, it was easily obliterated by Shye's frozen thorn barrage, forcing him to dodge the remaining shards of ice to save his skin.

Naturally, the underwhelming performance of his strongest skill in terms of burst-type damage elicited yet another wave of disappointed sighs from the crowd.

"Sigh…it appears that we expected a bit too much from Payne…"

"Indeed, in the end, he's only ninth-ranked while Shye Crowley was ranked second overall in terms of strength."

"I guess we can only depend on those in the top five to defeat Shye Crowley for us…"

Such dismayed sighs utterly crushed Payne's heart, drowning his heart in mixed feelings of shame and anger.