Chapter 92: Acquaintances
Tree Arena, Sand Field.
A gust of wind blew, stirring up grains of sand. The female warrior, her nerves stretched taut, lowered her body, her pupils constricted to the limit as she stared at Su Xiao. For a moment just now, she had almost forgotten that this was the Tree Arena, where death wasn't permanent.
Even realizing this, sweat still seeped from the female warrior's palms. The pressure was too intense. It felt less like she was facing a fellow competitor and more like she was in a mission world, confronting a human overlord-level creature. The overwhelming pressure made her breathing heavy.
The audience seats grew quiet. Most contractors sensed the shift in atmosphere.
"Ha!"
The female warrior let out a low shout. Sand flew beneath her feet as she burst through a wave of air pressure, her long spear thrusting forward with a whistling sound.
The wind pressure closed in. Su Xiao tilted his head slightly, the sharp spear tip passing by his ear, stirring his black hair. The enemy's movements were too slow.
*Thump.*
Before the female warrior could register what had happened, she felt a blunt impact at the back of her neck, as if struck by a knife-hand. The overwhelming force, almost impossible to resist, made her vision blur and darken.
With a thunderous crash, the female warrior slammed into the ground, creating a crater in the sand. The impact sent the surrounding sand billowing outward in a ring. The force was so strong that she bounced up slightly upon hitting the ground.
*Shiiing!*
A long blade pierced through the female warrior's calf. Su Xiao flicked his wrist, and she was sent flying.
Su Xiao stamped his foot on the ground. Blood energy radiated from him as the central point, scattering sand in all directions.
Still mid-air, the female warrior was enveloped by the blood energy. The impact made her grunt. She reached down with one hand, landing in a half-crouch, skidding far before stopping. Blood seeped from the vents in her faceplate.
"A rare opportunity."
The female warrior gritted her teeth against the searing pain in her calf, slowly standing up. In her view, matching against a stronger opponent was a stroke of luck. In the arena, where death wasn't real, she could hone her combat experience.
With that thought, the female warrior erupted with energy. A silver dragon appeared behind her—her strongest ability.
Two seconds later, she stood in her exclusive rest room, the broken half of her spear still held in a thrusting pose.
*Clang.*
She threw the broken spear to the ground. The idea of honing herself through battle with a stronger opponent had vanished. Just now, she had only seen a cyan-blue slash, and then... nothing.
...
[Competitor has won. Rank promoted.]
[No Rank (Seventh Rank). Ranking visible within the top 10,000.]
In the rest room, Su Xiao remained in a meditative state, accelerating his mana recovery. Earlier, in the ancient battlefield, he had consumed 27,000 points of Cyan Steel Shadow Energy to construct a simplified version of the Devouring Core.
After meditating for a while, Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, and Beini all appeared in the rest room. As Su Xiao's followers and permanent summons, once they arrived, they could also join him on the field.
Su Xiao planned to have Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, and Beini engage the enemy in subsequent matches while he meditated to recover mana. With Bubu Wang's Frost Aura, mana recovery would be even faster.
First, he needed to win six consecutive matches to unlock the continuous match mode. Continuous matches were the only hope for climbing to a high rank.
"Moo."
Amu pulled out the Dragonheart Axe, forming an Ice Shield in his right hand. The Life Rebound effect was strong in the arena. Since recovery items and consumables were banned, anyone who attacked Amu would regret it.
[Matching opponent...]
[Matching successful. Opponent: No Rank.]
A teleportation sensation washed over him. The sound of flowing water reached his ears. Su Xiao looked around; he was in a lush canyon, a small stream trickling nearby.
He found a strange rock, leaped onto it, sat cross-legged, and began to meditate.
Several dozen meters away, a man with a curved sword in his right hand and a short gun in his left seemed lost in thought. A cross-shaped tattoo marked his forehead.
"Has it started? Yeah, it's started. The enemy... is a summoner?"
The man's eyes were dazed. After scrutinizing Su Xiao for a moment, he concluded that the enemy was probably a summoner.
A countdown appeared above. When it hit zero, the battle began. Bubu Wang, Baha, and Beini vanished simultaneously, leaving only Amu.
Seeing this, the dazed man muttered a curse under his breath. This match was intense. Five opponents—one sitting cross-legged on a boulder, seemingly meditating, and three of the other four disappearing from his perception. Who could handle that?
After a fierce battle, the dazed man surrendered. After attacking Amu's Ice Shield, he suffered the Life Rebound effect, not only experiencing full-body pain and a drop in health but also being slowed by the ice energy from the rebound.
The gang-up tactic centered on Amu and Baha proved effective. After meditating in several different scenes, Su Xiao achieved a 12-match winning streak. Thanks to the continuous meditation, his mana recovered to 27,530/29,940 points.
In the rest room, Su Xiao activated the continuous match mode. This time, he didn't bring Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, or Beini.
When the teleportation sensation faded, Su Xiao stood atop a mountain peak. It was a spire that reached into the sky, its summit sheared flat like a horizontal cut. The surrounding cliffs were steep; anyone knocked off would be teleported away and judged as defeated.
The summit platform was 100 meters in diameter, roughly circular. Dark clouds gathered above, rumbling with thunder, and lightning occasionally streaked through them.
"So, you're my opponent?"
A short-haired girl in black soft fabric gloves was doing stretching exercises. She was clearly a close-combat brawler type.
"I'm rough, don't mind me."
The short-haired girl winked at Su Xiao with her left eye and licked her lips. The next instant, she lunged forward, her smile twisted and manic. She was probably a contractor from Reincarnation Paradise.
A moment later, the short-haired girl hummed a tune as she was teleported away, enveloped in golden light. This was the arena's protection mechanism, triggered when a fatal attack was imminent.
The consecutive matches continued. Blade auras crisscrossed the mountain peak. Various attacks occasionally appeared but were all suppressed by the blade auras.
*Ding.*
The Dragon-Slaying Flash was thrust into the ground. A wiry, monkey-like man leaped back repeatedly, covered in wounds. His physical defense had been drastically reduced. The blood energy increased his stamina consumption and rapidly lowered his defense.
Su Xiao had already fought 48 consecutive matches. The first dozen or so opponents were around the early seventh rank. He overwhelmed them with speed and slashes. When there was a gap in strength, this was the most effective way to fight.
After 40 matches, the opponents became troublesome. If Su Xiao hadn't been away from the arena for so long, he wouldn't have been able to fight this many in a row.
'Blade Path Sword: Nether Abyss.'
The slash rang out crisply. The surroundings plunged into darkness. The monkey-like man, who had just merged with space, suddenly reappeared. Three slash marks appeared on his chest, and blood splattered everywhere.
"If you're so tough, go fight the top ten—Yueshitu, Secret Art Master, and the rest. Picking on the weak is nothing special."
The monkey-like man, now enveloped in golden light, spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. He was ranked 2,550th in the Tree Arena.
The monkey-like man vanished. If Su Xiao could match against high-ranked competitors, he wouldn't refuse, but for now, it wasn't possible.
Three seconds after the monkey-like man disappeared, a new opponent arrived. This was a man wearing a mask, his wild hair like a lion's mane cascading down his back. He looked strong. Clearly, after another win, Su Xiao's opponent was now within the top 1,000.
"Hold on."
The imposing man spoke, then chose to surrender. His almost beast-like instincts told him not to fight Su Xiao.
Su Xiao waited. But after this opponent surrendered, over ten seconds passed without a new opponent appearing.
[Prompt: Competitor has fought 50 consecutive matches. Due to excessive win streak, the next opponent will be a competitor ranked between 60th and 100th in the Tree Arena.]
Su Xiao chose to continue. He wanted to break into the top ten and see if there were any rewards for the top ranks.
*Tick, tock, tick, tock~*
A massive circular clock appeared above, beginning a countdown. For competitors ranked in the top 100, the entrance method was different.
A spatial gate opened. Steps appeared inside, and a figure descended along them.
A breeze blew. Pink short hair swayed. Crimson water droplets coalesced into a long, slender firearm, grasped by a hand.
"You—"
The opponent, who had made a grand entrance, suddenly froze. She instinctively hid the long firearm behind her back, but realizing this was the arena, her face flushed with embarrassment.
"Since we've met here, let's have a fight."
Morei raised her long firearm. Haunted by the shadows of Su Xiao and Huishenshi, even meeting Su Xiao in the arena made her uneasy. But as a Battle Angel, surrendering was out of the question.
Blade light slashed into afterimages. Energy bullets roared with sonic booms. A moment later, Morei, pinned to the ground, chose to surrender. It wasn't a lack of spine; the pain of Cyan Steel Shadow Energy invading her body was unbearable.
After Morei surrendered, Su Xiao began matching a new opponent. This time, he would likely face someone within the top 20.
At this rank, encountering acquaintances was highly probable. In previous worlds, Su Xiao had interacted with many contractors in the top 50 of the Tree Arena—Gourmet, Mu Xiao, and others were all within that range.
A figure appeared. Before Su Xiao could even see the opponent's face, he received a victory prompt. This round's opponent had surrendered without even showing themselves.
In a rest room, Flame Master sat on a sofa. The dark, blank screen in front of him reflected his expressionless face.
"Damn it!"