Chapter 99: I Let You Run 29 Meters First (Fifth Update)
The smoke cleared, and Su Xiao was on one knee, panting heavily. Each breath felt like a dull blade was cutting through his lungs.
A gaping hole the size of a bowl had opened in Su Xiao's chest. Through it, the scene behind him was even visible. The muscles, bones, and organs inside the wound had been vaporized by high temperatures. More critically, the surrounding area was also severely burned.
To the other third-rank contractors watching, the clash between Su Xiao and Huang Fen could only be described as horrifying. It wasn't the aura they unleashed that was terrifying, but how their seemingly restrained exchange suddenly erupted into lethal moves.
Save the ultimate technique for last? Not a chance. Once an opportunity arose, both sides would immediately try to finish the other. If the cooldown for Demon Hunting Hour hadn't been active, Su Xiao would have already activated it to teach Huang Fen what an unavoidable slash truly was.
Su Xiao was in bad shape, but Huang Fen wasn't much better. One of his arms was severely twisted, all the ribs on the right side of his chest were broken, and several had pierced into his organs.
Huang Fen's survivability was also impressive. After taking Su Xiao's kick, he hadn't been shattered. Now, he was trembling as he stood up.
"Heh, hehe."
Huang Fen leaned against the energy barrier, looking at the battered Su Xiao in the distance. For some reason, he started laughing. The hostility between them was entirely caused by the clash of their power fields.
"You... come here!"
Huang Fen shouted. Su Xiao, crouched and coughing, was stunned. He looked at Huang Fen with surprise, wondering if he had misheard.
Su Xiao had originally thought Huang Fen was a gloomy person. But at this moment, he realized that might not be the case—at least, the Huang Fen in battle wasn't a gloomy man.
If Huang Fen were truly gloomy, how could he have awakened an ability like Heart Flame?
Su Xiao stood up, took a few steps forward, then stopped. Huang Fen's previous attack had been too brutal. If Su Xiao hadn't had survivability exceeding that of a main tank, that strike would have killed him instantly.
"Then I'll come over."
Huang Fen struggled forward a few steps, but before he had gone five paces, he started coughing up blood. Having 60% of his organs shattered by a kick was no joke.
Inside the arena, aside from self-healing abilities, no recovery items could be used. Even if they could, no one would bother—this wasn't a derivative world where life and death were truly at stake.
Their eyes met. The situation was awkward. Both had such powerful offensive capabilities that after injuring each other, they couldn't even reach the other.
Su Xiao reversed the Dragon-Slaying Flash in his hand and stabbed it into the dirt beside him, using it as a support.
Huang Fen, sensing trouble, tried to release his Heart Flame, but his injuries were too severe.
Realizing this, Huang Fen produced a gold-quality revolver and fired several shots at Su Xiao.
Blood blossomed on Su Xiao's body. He used his left arm to protect his head and his right arm to shield his heart.
After enduring six shots from Huang Fen, flames erupted on Su Xiao's body. His health plummeted, nearing a dying state. Huang Fen, meanwhile, began reloading.
As Huang Fen reloaded, a pitch-black sniper cannon appeared in Su Xiao's hand.
Huang Fen glanced at Su Xiao's sniper cannon, then at his own thirty-centimeter revolver. The corner of his mouth twitched.
Su Xiao took a deep breath, lifted the Duke of Annihilation with all his strength, and aimed through the iron sights at Huang Fen. Huang Fen's revolver also aimed at Su Xiao. This was the advantage of all-around development—no obvious weaknesses.
In the audience, Stan stood up and vanished from his seat.
"NO!!"
A despairing roar came from the stands. It wasn't from the Blood Gate members, but from a middle-aged fat man—the president of the Black Sail Merchant Guild, Qian Dapang.
Qian Dapang's face was pale, his eyes wide with fury. At that moment, Su Xiao and Huang Fen both pulled their triggers. Compared to Su Xiao's +13 Duke of Annihilation, Huang Fen's gold revolver seemed pathetically weak. It was like two people fighting—one with a wooden stick, the other wielding a thirty-meter-long blade.
Boom!
One figure vanished from the arena. The other crashed to the ground.
Su Xiao lay on the dry dirt. Blazing flames ignited beneath the soil.
Whoosh!
White-hot flames surged from underground, engulfing the entire Death Swamp. But Su Xiao felt no heat. The match was over. He had won, defeating an opponent he once couldn't match.
Under Qian Dapang's despairing gaze, Su Xiao disappeared from the arena. On the stands, Bubu Wang and Amu simultaneously flipped off the Blood Gate members, triumphant. The Blood Gate members' expressions shifted, and they eventually turned and left. They all knew one thing: they needed to be careful from now on. Some fourth-rank members, witnessing that kick, were secretly alarmed.
More importantly, Su Xiao was a lone wolf. Once he advanced to fourth rank, if they encountered him alone, the outcome was predictable.
Of course, this was a concern for only a few fourth-rank members, most of whom had recently advanced. Core members like Iron Rat and Gray Smoke Gun weren't afraid of Su Xiao at all.
Su Xiao's figure vanished from the arena. When he returned to the rest room, the wound on his chest had disappeared, replaced by a wave of fatigue.
[Prompt: Your arena rank has risen to second place. You receive the following rewards.]
[You gain 3 attribute points. Total gained: 22 points.]
[Yes/No to promote Victory's Glory (Mark) to an arena-exclusive title.]
[Prompt: The Hunter may continue to challenge the first-place arena rank. If successful, the arena-exclusive title quality will significantly increase.]
Su Xiao had two choices: immediately promote [Victory's Glory (Mark)], or first challenge Kuang Hu and then promote the arena-exclusive title, which would result in a higher-quality title.
Su Xiao didn't choose to promote [Victory's Glory (Mark)] immediately. Now that he was in second place, why not take the chance to challenge first place? He needed ten hours.
Ten hours was enough for Su Xiao to recover his stamina and reset the active effect of Wood Spirit.
Su Xiao temporarily set aside the matter of collecting debts from the Black Merchant. There was no rush—the contract ensured the Black Merchant couldn't default.
Su Xiao fully relaxed. His fight with Huang Fen had been intense, but since it wasn't a life-or-death battle, it hadn't drained much mental energy.
Ten hours passed in an instant. Su Xiao sat up with a whoosh and chose to challenge the first place of the third-rank arena, Kuang Hu.
[Matching opponent...]
[Match successful. Opponent rank: First place.]
The matching speed was surprisingly fast. A teleportation sensation hit, and Su Xiao appeared on a stone platform. It was another semi-public match.
The arena was still half a kilometer, but this time it was a flat stone platform. Behind the energy barrier was the audience.
In the audience, besides Bubu Wang and Amu, there were only four people: Divine Emperor, Old Goat (Divine Emperor Adventure Group's financial manager), Matcha (the twin-tailed chief healer), and Crazy Milk.
Aside from Matcha, the healer, Su Xiao had seen the others before.
"Brother Fox, teach him a lesson!"
A shout came from the audience. It was from Crazy Milk, the combat healer Su Xiao had once taught a lesson. Kuang Hu was actually his master, but in Reincarnation Paradise, master-disciple relationships barely existed—they got along like brothers.
"White Night, crush that dead fox!"
Hearing this shout, Su Xiao was surprised. The cute girl shouting seemed to be from the Divine Emperor Adventure Group. Judging by her attire, she was likely a healer. Her brain wasn't working right—she was cheering for the enemy.