Chapter 30: Predator
Inside the two-story building, the blood-colored phantom between Su Xiao's hands dissipated. He had just successfully compressed his blood energy to form a brand. Whether it had attached itself to an enemy remained uncertain for now.
Su Xiao could sense those affected by his blood energy, but as for what was happening on their end, he could neither see nor hear—the distance was too great.
The blood energy brand he had just formed would immediately be detected once it came within a certain range of him.
This was the cost of projecting mental perception outward. The sensing range was indeed vast, but once the mental energy was affected, it would immediately feed back to the ability's user.
In Reincarnation Paradise, this was called "Perception Backlash." Experienced perception-type contractors, when performing ultra-long-range sensing, would isolate a small portion of their mental energy to use for sensing. If things went wrong, they would cut it off immediately to avoid this situation.
Su Xiao retracted his blood energy. Before this, he truly hadn't known blood energy could be used this way. Aside from using Blood Beast, his blood energy only served one other purpose: aura clash.
At this stage, Su Xiao's blood energy hadn't fully awakened. He could sense that when his Charm attribute dropped below zero, his "Aura Release" ability would recover. Then he could go to the Ancient Battlefield to continue enhancing his blood energy.
The reason he hadn't gone before was encountering the Blade Demon. After joining the Starry Sky Seat, as long as he didn't encounter the Blade Demon in its mindless state, there would be no problem.
Su Xiao checked the time. It wasn't even 4 o'clock yet, and it was still raining outside. He planned to launch a full-scale assault on the Ancient Tree Fortress tomorrow morning at 8 AM. They had just fought a tough siege battle today, and the Wolf Cavalry needed rest.
Su Xiao picked up the "Deathmatch" terminal from the bed. Just as he was about to activate it, a dog head poked over beside him, and Baha also flew over to the low table by the headboard.
As for Amu, it was sitting by the door in self-isolation, having failed in its attempt to become a "War Bull Knight." It had repeatedly offered food to that dire wolf to earn "riding privileges," but now that dire wolf still trembled at the sight of it. After eating all the food Amu gave it, it turned and ran. Amu's simple-minded personality was completely helpless in this situation.
Ignoring Amu in its self-imposed isolation, Su Xiao pressed his thumb onto the Deathmatch terminal, successfully activating it. Several lines of text and a 3D image of a monster appeared.
'Loading...'
'Loading complete. Your Deathmatch monster data is as follows.'
Monster Name: Predator.
Strength: E
Agility: D
Endurance: E
Energy: E (No trait acquired. Upon reaching B-rank, an Energy trait will awaken.)
Body Height: 2.37 meters.
Weight: 150 kilograms.
Deathmatch Fights: 0.
Points: 0.
Overall Combat Power: E.
...
Seeing the monster data displayed on the terminal, Su Xiao felt a bit puzzled. Based on the monster's height and weight he had originally set, its Agility should have reached B-rank, or at least C-rank. But D-rank was clearly unsuitable for game balance.
Su Xiao decided to first conduct a Deathmatch to see what his opponent's attributes were like. He was a newbie in this game now, so the opponents he matched with should be similar.
'Matching begins...'
'Opponent found. 5–10 minutes required for Deathmatch preparation. 50% of the earnings from this Deathmatch will be recorded in the prize pool. For every 5 Deathmatch victories a player achieves, our company will mail the prize to the player's location (shipping costs borne by our company).'
'Both players may communicate before Deathmatch preparations. Please refrain from insults, slander, threats, etc. If such speech is detected and the player receives multiple reports, speaking restrictions will be imposed.'
...
After Su Xiao closed the system messages, a chat box appeared on the screen. His opponent was named "Player TT11."
Player TT11: "Overall combat power E? How did you manage that? Giving away points?"
A strong sense of mockery emerged. Baha, who was peeking over from the side, widened its eyes.
"Boss, let me handle this stage!"
"..."
Su Xiao tossed the terminal to Baha. Although Baha couldn't control the monster in the game, it could send text through the terminal.
A moment later, Baha handed the terminal back. A red system message appeared on it, reading: 'You have been reported by Player TT11.'
Su Xiao gripped the terminal on both sides. All the sensors on both sides activated. The screen went pitch black, with only the monster's breathing sounds audible.
Meanwhile, on the XII Deathmatch Arena, this was an octagonal ring surrounded by five-meter-high walls made of rock and metal. The reason for the rock was twofold: first, to build atmosphere, and second, to make the fights more thrilling, with scenes of shattered stone flying everywhere.
The surrounding tiered audience stands were pitch black, packed to capacity. The VIP boxes had floor-to-ceiling glass panels at the front.
At the edge of the octagonal ring, blue-purple light rings were embedded on the upper side of the walls. Several spotlights were positioned above, keeping the ring bright without being harsh. Overly strong light wasn't good for building atmosphere.
The audience stood or sat in the surrounding stands. It was pitch black and very quiet. The previous Deathmatch had ended just a few minutes ago, and everyone was waiting for the new round to begin.
With a *pop*, all the lights were extinguished. A spotlight shone down from directly above, revealing a referee with slicked-back hair and a vest. He became the only focal point in the entire venue.
The referee raised both hands, and cheers and shouts followed immediately.
"Tonight is an extraordinary night! Right here, a Deathmatch between monsters will take place—life or death, blood flying everywhere."
As soon as the referee finished speaking, a heavy, short bass note sounded. Under this bass, the atmosphere gradually built up.
With a *puff*, steam erupted from the left side of the Deathmatch ring. Dark gold lights lit up on the wall. This wall slowly rose, and heavy footsteps sounded from within.
*Boom, boom, boom~*
After the heavy footsteps, a monster, a full five meters tall with biological armor covering both arms, emerged from the darkness.
"Here it comes! This is the combination of power and armor, a monster among monsters! Let's welcome... Horn... Armor! Tonight, it will go on a killing spree!"
*Thump! Thump!*
The monster called Horn Armor slammed its millstone-sized fists into the ground, causing large cracks to spread across the ring. With the power and music building the atmosphere, the audience erupted in cheers.
"Next up, we have the cruelty of the darkness, the nightmare of the weak. It is the reaper of life... Pred... ator!"
The referee pointed to the right side of the Deathmatch ring. Several rows of screws on the wall turned on their own, making a *click-clack* sound as they retracted into the wall. This wall opened to both sides, and deep blue light shone in.
*Clang~*
In the darkness, a blade sang. A monster, just over two meters tall with light white carapace covering its face, walked out from within the wall. In its hand, it held a longsword nearly two meters in length.
The grip of this longsword was very long, taking up a third of the entire blade. The spine of the sword was like a groove, half-wrapping the blade in front.
"Everyone, are you ready... to welcome this battle of the century?! Blood! Blood! Blood!"
After the referee shouted a few times, the surrounding cheers grew even louder.
A few seconds later, the referee's body gradually turned into particles of light, floating upward to form the number 3, which quickly changed to 2. This was the countdown.
*Beep~*
A sound came from around the Deathmatch ring, signaling the start of the match.
With a *bang*, the Horn Armor beast across from it slammed its fists together, looking down at Predator. The player controlling Horn Armor was filled with rage. He had been completely shut down by Baha's verbal abuse earlier. His taunt had backfired, and he got owned instead.
Horn Armor charged forward with large strides. When it was a few meters away from Predator, it assumed a punching stance. The momentum was strong, but it looked more like a street brawl.
Predator switched from a two-handed grip to a one-handed grip on the longsword, lowering its body.
*Shrrrrk!*
The longsword cut in from under Horn Armor's armpit, first severing its entire shoulder and right arm, then cutting into its neck. The rock armor on its neck was split open, followed by muscle, bone, and finally exiting from the side of the back of its neck.
Blood splattered everywhere. The entire arm and a massive head fell to the ground. The headless Horn Armor crashed into the wall, struggling to stand up, smearing blood everywhere before its single arm went limp and fell.
The cheers and shouts around abruptly stopped. In one of the VIP boxes, a young girl nearly shot the cola in her mouth out through her nose. She swore this was the fastest match she had seen in her 107 Deathmatch viewings.
After a moment of silence, the audience erupted in ear-splitting cheers. The longsword in Predator's hand gradually merged back into its body. The two sections of the blade were stored in the bones of its right forearm and upper arm. The main structure transformed into a long tail, with a tail blade at the tip.
Not only that, but Su Xiao's monster's overall combat power skyrocketed from E to B. As for the monster's enhancement, after each victory, the game's staff would inject various types of active culture fluids into the monster to increase its strength.
...
In a very tech-styled bedroom, a mechanical maid stood in the corner. A young man wearing diamond earrings sat on the sofa, staring at the Deathmatch terminal in his hand. The screen was pitch black.
The young man slapped the terminal in his hand, suspecting it was broken. A few seconds later, a system notification informed him that his monster had died.
Yesterday, he had ecstatically unboxed the game package, activated the Deathmatch terminal, and customized his monster.
Today, he started his Deathmatch. Before the fight, because he taunted his opponent, he almost got verbally annihilated—his entire family line was "continuously wiped out." Just as he was preparing for revenge, he was gone. Because this garbage game had "lag," it caused his screen to go black, and his monster got killed.
At least, that's how the young man saw it. Garbage game, too much lag.
"Ah!"
The young man let out a sound resembling a groundhog's shriek. A moment later, veins bulging on his neck, he hurled the terminal in his hand against the wall.
"Garbage game, give me my money back!"
...
Su Xiao looked at the data on the terminal. He truly hadn't expected the first player he encountered to be this weak. Even if the opponent had slowly walked over, he would have needed to slash it a dozen times to seriously injure it. The reason was that the monster Predator had limited strength, and its blade wasn't sharp enough.
If the opponent charged straight in, that was a different story. Su Xiao controlled Predator, using the opponent's charging momentum to cut it down in one stroke.
Overall, this game was about reaction time and judgment. Of course, neural interface was another matter entirely. That involved using the terminal as a medium to completely control the monster, with feedback on vision, pain, touch, and so on. Su Xiao wasn't ready to try this method of control yet.