Chapter 54: Drawing a Circle
A gentle breeze blew, stirring fine sand across the yellow sand arena.
Su Xiao’s opponent was a man with a cross sword at his waist, dressed in a white long coat. He hailed from Watchful Paradise.
Watchful Paradise had a considerable reputation. While its fame wasn’t as fierce as Reincarnation Paradise or Death Paradise, the overall strength of its contractors ranked in the upper-middle tier.
Contractors from this paradise shared a trait: during World Wars, they were especially fond of acting in groups. Hundreds of contractors, not a single one isolated—who knew how they managed it.
Because of this, Watchful Paradise had a decent win rate in World Wars, unless they encountered Reincarnation Paradise or Death Paradise. Against Apocalypse Paradise, as long as Apocalypse didn’t have a powerhouse like Xi, it was usually manageable.
The existence of Apocalypse Paradise itself was a miracle—they never won team battles, but they were absurdly wealthy. Quite magical.
“Shana, Watchful Paradise.”
Clang!
A blade aura struck, and Shana immediately drew the cross sword at his waist.
Clang!
Sparks flew, and the surrounding yellow sand spread outward as if a bomb had been detonated.
Crack, crack, crack…
The edges of the longsword and cross sword scraped against each other. Shana held his sword with both hands, leaning forward. From the bulging masseter muscles on his face, it was clear his strength was inferior to Su Xiao’s.
Suddenly, Shana felt the force on his longsword lighten. If it were an ordinary contractor, they would have stumbled forward half a step. But Shana lunged forward, planted one hand on the ground, and flipped his body mid-air to disperse the force.
With a snap, a binding force clamped onto Shana’s forearm, like a steel vise locking tight.
A surge of power pierced through Shana’s forearm, heading straight for his torso. He swung his sword back, aiming to sever the arm gripping him.
Clang! Fragments of pale blue crystals scattered. The force penetrated Shana’s body, numbing half of it, followed by a dizzying sensation of weightlessness.
Boom!
Shana crashed onto his back in the sand, creating a massive crater.
Inside the crater, Dragon-Slaying Flash flipped in Su Xiao’s hand as he thrust it into Shana’s chest, straight through the heart.
Pfft.
The longsword pierced Shana’s body. His form twisted, leaving a pool of blood behind as he reappeared in the distance.
Once steady, Shana shook his head. That fall had nearly snapped his spine, and the follow-up strike was so fast it was instantaneous.
“Thrilling. Let’s continue.”
Shana wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, staring at Su Xiao a dozen meters away. In his view, the exchange with Su Xiao was fascinating—his opponent’s techniques made every move as polished as a skill.
Just as Shana locked eyes with Su Xiao, brimming with fighting spirit, Su Xiao sheathed his longsword. The battle was already over.
Blue light flickered in Su Xiao’s hand. A dozen meters away, Shana clutched his chest, collapsing to his knees in agony.
“When… did this…”
Blood splattered as Banishment burst from Shana’s chest, forming a hiltless rapier. It streaked through the air like a blur, stabbing toward his temple. The protection mechanism triggered, and Shana was teleported away.
Only then did the silent audience erupt into noise.
“This guy… is freaking ferocious.”
“A madman from Reincarnation Paradise—you think that’s a joke?”
“Even for Reincarnation Paradise, this is ridiculously strong. I feel like he’s on the level of Sea God·Ancient Sage One.”
“Don’t joke around. No one in the fifth rank can beat Ancient Sage One.”
While the audience buzzed with excitement, the Feather Race commentator on the stage was deep in thought.
[The Hunter has won this match. Return to the rest room or continue consecutive matches? If consecutive matches are chosen, the Hunter’s ranking will increase based on win streak × battle evaluation.]
Su Xiao chose to continue. He aimed to at least break into the top twenty this time. Of course, if he had a chance to reach the top ten, he wouldn’t pass it up.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our next competitor. Today, he has the honor of challenging a monster from the top ten echelon of the arena.”
The Feather Race commentator adjusted the small round sunglasses on his nose, his laughter echoing across the entire arena.
A burly man appeared on the field—a main tank specialized in arena combat.
Seeing this opponent, Su Xiao raised an eyebrow. Finally, someone durable. The previous two had been sent away before he could really cut them down.
Ten minutes later.
Su Xiao stood with one foot on the burly man’s shoulder, Dragon-Slaying Flash thrust from the enemy’s shoulder, nearly piercing his entire torso.
“This… is a loss.”
The blood-covered main tank spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. His shield lay on the yellow sand, covered in slash marks.
With a swish, Su Xiao pulled out the longsword. The main tank collapsed face-first and was teleported out of the arena.
Ten hours later, at the center of a ruin.
Scattered rubble lay around. Several energy spikes were embedded in Su Xiao’s chest and thigh.
A few meters away, a little girl leaned against a pile of debris. She looked like an adorable loli, but she was clearly a hedgehog-type fighter.
The girl raised her arm, pointing at Su Xiao.
The moment she pointed, Su Xiao slashed the air in front of him. With a sharp crack, he shattered an incoming energy spike—invisible to the naked eye, barely detectable through his instinct.
The ground beneath Su Xiao’s feet rumbled. In an instant, he appeared before the little girl.
“Hey there.”
The girl took a deep breath, releasing a mental shockwave like an invisible hammer slamming into Su Xiao’s head.
Bam!
Su Xiao’s head jerked back, but his hand didn’t stop. He cleaved the opponent in two with a single slash.
“Shit! A freak immune to all control!”
With that parting remark, the girl was teleported out of the arena.
This little girl was troublesome—she’d reached 12th place in the fifth-rank Paradise Arena. She was a wild support-type contractor with mid-to-high attack power, but her control abilities were absurdly strong.
She dabbled in physical control, mental control, and soul impact, excelling most in soul impact, followed by mental control, then physical control.
With these three categories and 14 control abilities, this contractor from Death Paradise had killed countless strong foes—until she met Su Xiao today.
Soul impact was basically useless against Su Xiao. After consuming the Soul Fruit and using a massive amount of Soul Crystals, his soul strength was 60 points.
Beyond soul strength, his blade technique-derived Soul Severing Blade ability granted 50% immunity to soul damage.
As for mental control, he ignored it through his blade technique’s mental cultivation.
Physical control was resisted by his Melee Combat Grandmaster ability. Most controls couldn’t bind him, and those that did, he forcibly broke free from. The 30-point judgment correction from Melee Combat Grandmaster wasn’t just for show.
In most cases, unless he was focused down and killed instantly, trying to control Su Xiao with an ability was highly impractical.
As a lone wolf, the worst fear was being controlled by an enemy in a one-versus-many fight, then bombarded to death—a truly frustrating way to die.
[The Hunter has returned to the rest room. Match result: Victory.]
[Your ranking has risen to 11th. Continue matching opponents?]
Su Xiao chose not to continue. Over the past ten-plus hours of combat, he’d faced all kinds of opponents: poison healers, mages who drained their mana in close-quarters combat lasting nearly five minutes, damage-reflecting tanks, and more.
The most bizarre was a quirky girl who could draw a circle to curse Su Xiao—not a metaphor; she literally drew circles and had curse abilities.
After fighting so many enemies, Su Xiao was exhausted. Reaching 10th place this time was satisfactory enough.
[Tip: The Hunter has received a new challenge. Challenger’s arena ranking: 12th.]