Chapter 83: Refresh
Su Xiao walked toward the arena, his pace neither hurried nor slow. Since his ranking in the third-tier arena was too far behind, this trip would likely be a curb-stomp match.
Bang.
A contractor walking toward him bumped into Su Xiao’s shoulder. Su Xiao glanced sideways at the other party. For some reason, at that moment, a trace of anger surged within him.
After being looked at by Su Xiao, that second-tier contractor stumbled back a few steps.
“Bro, I was spacing out just now. Your eyes… isn’t this a bit much?”
The second-tier contractor felt a chill in his heart from Su Xiao’s gaze.
“It’s nothing.”
Su Xiao walked away. The trace of anger that had risen in his heart just now wasn’t due to narrow-mindedness. If it were the past, being bumped on the shoulder wouldn’t bother him at all.
The reason for this was that he had absorbed a small amount of the Resurrection Dragon’s energy. After all, that dragon energy had passed through his arm and most of his shoulder. No matter how gentle the Resurrection Dragon’s energy was, it was still draconic energy, and the greatest characteristic of draconic energy was its ferocity.
This ferocity wouldn’t affect Su Xiao permanently. It would only make him more irritable over the next few days. Fortunately, he could control his emotions well. After a few days, the side effects of absorbing the dragon energy would disappear.
Soon, Su Xiao arrived at the arena. Contractors were constantly entering and exiting through the arena’s entrance. This facility, where one could hone combat experience without fear of death, was the contractors’ favorite—bar none.
[You have entered the arena. Please select a mode.]
[Arena Mode / Spectator Mode.]
[Spectator Mode: You can watch other contractors compete. Costs 5 Paradise Coins per hour. You may select matches to watch.]
[Ongoing matches: 7,354.]
[To watch the top 1,000 arena competitors: costs 30 Paradise Coins per hour.]
[To watch the top 100 arena competitors: costs 100 Paradise Coins per hour.]
[To watch the top 10 arena competitors: costs 300 Paradise Coins per hour.]
…
Su Xiao had never spectated before and had no interest in doing so, so he directly selected Arena Mode.
[Arena Mode is divided into ‘Solo Battle’ and ‘Team Battle.’ Please choose.]
Su Xiao selected Solo Battle. A teleportation sensation appeared, and he was transported to a rest room.
The rest room’s layout was simple: a crescent-shaped sofa, a coffee table in front of it, and on the coffee table were food, fruit, drinks, etc., all free to consume. The treatment for a third-tier contractor was indeed different.
Floating in front of the sofa was a semi-transparent screen, which displayed Su Xiao’s information and the ranking list.
[Hunter’s arena ranking has been refreshed. Current rank: 125,743 (Third Tier).]
[Competitor: Su Xiao.]
[Status: Good.]
[Rank: 125,743 (Third Tier).]
[Consecutive Wins: 0.]
[Top 10 Reward: Not obtained.]
…
Su Xiao’s rank was around 120,000, meaning that over 120,000 people in the third tier had participated in the arena.
This didn’t mean there were only a few hundred thousand third-tier contractors. The mortality rate among contractors was extremely high, and they all died in derivative worlds. It was difficult to get an exact count. What could be inferred was that third-tier contractors were definitely not just a few hundred thousand. Contractors were constantly advancing to the third tier, so there could be several hundred thousand, or even more.
[Matching opponent for the hunter.]
[Matching…]
[Matching complete. Opponent’s rank: 125,641.]
The opponent’s rank was about a hundred places higher than Su Xiao’s, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to handle.
A teleportation sensation appeared. It was still a stone circular arena platform, surrounded by circular spectator stands. Unlike when Su Xiao fought in the second-tier arena, his ranking in the third-tier arena was now at the bottom, so the spectator stands had no more than ten people.
“Go, Garlic Head~”
“I feel like Garlic Head is going to lose.”
“Impossible. Garlic Head’s defense is very strong. The opponent is clearly a melee fighter; it’ll take a while for him to deal with Garlic Head.”
The few spectators were all friends of Su Xiao’s current opponent, so it was essentially like having no audience at all.
[Three, two…]
The countdown began. Su Xiao looked at his opponent. This opponent was quite peculiar.
The reason he said the opponent was peculiar was that the man named Garlic Head held a shield in each hand and had something like a pot strapped to his back for defense. If you drew stripes on it, it would look like a turtle shell.
Not only that, but the opponent wore a yellow hard hat. The hard hat flashed with a dark purple light, indicating it was a dark purple-grade piece of equipment.
Overall, this opponent had wrapped himself up tightly, as if he felt very insecure. The only exposed part was his eyes.
“Matching with an opponent over a hundred ranks apart? Lucky break.”
Garlic Head raised an eyebrow at Su Xiao, his demeanor quite provocative.
[Competition, begin!]
The moment the start was announced, the Dragon-Slaying Flash at Su Xiao’s waist was drawn. His gaze instinctively swept around him—a habit developed from long-term combat.
Once the battle began, Su Xiao would immediately release his aura. This had nearly become his instinct.
A crimson red metal mask covered the lower half of Su Xiao’s face. Combined with the aura he released, Garlic Head, over ten meters away, suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
Crouching, he gathered strength in his legs.
Boom!
Su Xiao shot toward his opponent like a cannonball, the air rippling with rings of shockwaves from his high-speed charge.
“This is bad!”
Garlic Head panicked. He had originally thought this fight was winnable, since his opponent’s rank was over a hundred places lower than his. In the third-tier arena, a hundred-rank gap usually led to a one-sided battle.
“Brother Garlic Head, surrender! Durability!”
A cute girl in the spectator stands shouted. In the arena, one wouldn’t die, but if equipment was damaged, it still had to be repaired at a cost, just like when equipment durability was lost in derivative worlds.
Hearing this shout from the stands, Garlic Head immediately wanted to surrender. However, a faint red aura swept toward him.
The faint red aura passed over him, and Garlic Head felt a stinging sensation all over his body, causing him to pause just as he was about to shout his surrender.
Whoosh~
A sharp sound of wind rushed in. Before Garlic Head could figure out what was happening, he suddenly felt the world spin. In his field of vision, he vaguely saw a shield cut in two.
When Garlic Head regained consciousness, he was already in his exclusive room. Still holding half a shield in a defensive posture, he looked somewhat comical.
A few seconds later, Garlic Head realized what had happened. The gap in strength was too great; he had been one-shot.
Heart aching from the broken shield to the point that his lips trembled, Garlic Head opened the battle log.
[Prompt: You have been eroded by an unknown ability, entering a state of panic. Stamina consumption +27%, Body Defense -15. When releasing skills, there is an 8% chance of failure.]
[Prompt: You have suffered fatal damage (decapitation). Damage statistics are as follows.]
[You have been eroded by unknown energy, losing 205 Mana Points.]
[You have suffered 328 points of True Damage + 240 points of Defense-Ignoring Damage + 267 points of Blade Damage + 64 points of True Damage + 305 points of Base Damage + 438 points of Lethal Damage.]
[Damage received has exceeded maximum Health Points.]
[Vital area hit. Due to arena mechanics, instant death judgment failed.]
…
After seeing the string of defense-ignoring damage, the never-before-seen blade damage, and the terrifying amount of true damage, Garlic Head swallowed hard. He couldn’t help but think: what if he encountered such an enemy in a derivative world? He would definitely die. With the speed the enemy had unleashed, running away would be pointless.