Chapter 79: A Rare Enemy
As the blade descended, the female mage's pupils contracted to pinprick size. She had no time to cast a chant-type skill and could only rely on an instant-cast ability to counterattack.
The female fire mage was a second-rank contractor, and this wasn't her first time being closed in on by an enemy. She had encountered such dangerous situations before, but for some reason, this time she felt a bone-chilling terror, as if she had met her natural enemy!
"Explosive Flame."
The female fire mage shouted, and fire elements rapidly gathered and compressed around her before finally detonating.
Boom!
A powerful shockwave radiated outward. Although the audience seats were separated by a protective barrier, the workers in the front rows instinctively stood up.
The flames seemed to explode right before their eyes. This thrill was one of the reasons they spent Paradise Coins to watch the arena.
The female mage inside the flames breathed a sigh of relief, her long hair flowing, looking valiant and spirited.
"This guy is a bit off."
The female fire mage immediately prepared her next skill. Just then, a hand wrapped in metal burst through the flames.
"That's impossible!"
The female fire mage instinctively jumped back. Her retreat skill had never failed before.
The metal hand clamped around the female fire mage's neck. In an instant, she felt like her neck was about to be snapped.
"Flame Sanctuary."
A layer of shield formed around the female fire mage, and Su Xiao's hand was repelled by the shield. This shield was her signature defense.
Gasping for breath, the female fire mage flipped a meter-long staff in her hand, ready to unleash her ultimate move. If she didn't, she would have no other chance.
Whoosh~
A whistling sound came. The female fire mage knew it was the enemy's blade slashing toward her, but she didn't care. Her shield had blocked countless attacks from the enemy before.
Clang!
A light blue blade aura flew diagonally, striking the protective barrier in front of the audience seats before shattering.
The arena fell into an eerie silence. The female fire mage didn't cast another skill.
As the flames subsided and the scene on the stage became clear, a large portion of the audience stood up.
"Is it over already?"
"No way."
On the stage.
The female fire mage lay on the ground, one arm and half her body severed. The flame shield, like a broken eggshell, had been neatly sliced open and was now slowly dissipating.
The female fire mage struggled to stand, her lips trembling. She seemed to have forgotten she was in the arena. That slash was so terrifying it made her mistakenly think she was inside a derivative world.
After a few seconds, she realized she was in the arena and wouldn't die.
Letting out a helpless bitter laugh, the female fire mage memorized Su Xiao's blade and the blood-red mask on his face.
"The +10 weapon lives up to its reputation. I surrender."
The female fire mage initiated a surrender. Su Xiao had no habit of slaughtering enemies for pleasure, so he accepted.
Whoosh~
A wave of admiration came from the audience seats.
"Blade-wielder, well done."
Probably having bet on Su Xiao winning, a golden female contractor pulled up her top, and whistles sounded from the surroundings.
Twirling his blade in a flourish, Su Xiao was very satisfied with the current Dragon-Slaying Flash. Its 17-point edge sharpness bonus made it exceptionally sharp.
The most important thing for a blade was to be sharp enough; the attached abilities were secondary, at least in Su Xiao's opinion.
With the opponent surrendering, the match ended, and Su Xiao was teleported back to the rest chamber.
[Personal Battle Ended: Victory!]
[Hunter Rank Increased: From 49,506 to 49,307 (Second Rank).]
...
His rank had increased by about two hundred. It seemed the opponent's rank wasn't high.
To quickly raise his rank, the best method was to go on a winning streak. Once the streak exceeded ten matches, the rank would increase exponentially.
Su Xiao was very interested in the rewards for the top ten in the second rank, but he didn't think he could break into the top ten anytime soon. The saying "there is always someone better" was very applicable in Reincarnation Paradise.
He had never lost in the arena and longed to match against an opponent strong enough to defeat him. That would be a good thing.
Su Xiao participated in the arena not just for the top ten rewards but more importantly to hone his combat skills.
Choosing to continue matching, in less than ten seconds, Su Xiao was matched with a second opponent.
It was still the traditional arena setting. As long as Su Xiao and his matched opponent didn't actively choose, the default venue was the platform.
This time, Su Xiao's opponent was also a woman, a long-legged beauty holding a whip and wearing high heels.
Crack.
The sharp whip snapped through the air, producing a crisp sound.
Just as Su Xiao was about to charge forward to quickly finish the enemy, one of her actions made him stop.
A snow wolf appeared out of nowhere. Not only that, a three-meter-tall gray bear and a five-meter-long crocodile followed.
Within seconds, dozens of beasts surrounded the long-legged woman in leather pants, creating a beauty-and-beasts combination.
This was a summoner, a very rare class. Su Xiao wanted to understand a summoner's combat style.
Glancing at the Dragon-Slaying Flash in his hand, Su Xiao hesitated for a moment before sheathing it and approaching the female summoner unarmed.
"What do you mean?"
The female summoner's expression darkened. Putting away a weapon was clearly a sign of disrespect.
"Nothing. I'm just afraid I might accidentally kill you."
Hearing Su Xiao's words, the female summoner's face flushed with anger, but she soon laughed, seemingly amused by his remark.
She didn't know Su Xiao was telling the truth. Because the second-rank contractor was relatively strong, Su Xiao had used his full strength earlier, and the female fire mage had been cut in two by his single slash.
This wasn't surprising. Although second-rank contractors were strong, Su Xiao had grown much stronger recently. Moreover, he was a Shadow of Law Destruction. With one slash, any mage with low pain tolerance would lose combat effectiveness.
Besides, his current rank was around 50,000. If he couldn't easily handle contractors at this rank, he would surely die when facing second-rank violators.
Su Xiao charged forward quickly, unarmed!
The female summoner swung her whip.
"Children, tear him apart."
A horde of beasts lunged at Su Xiao. The female summoner's face showed a confident smile. As long as she had time to summon, her creatures would keep appearing endlessly, so she was sure to win this match.
Five minutes later.
Thud.
The female summoner crashed to the ground, surrounded by heavily injured or dying beasts that were gradually turning into light particles.
"What... what exactly do you want?"
The female summoner had stopped resisting, lying motionless on the ground.
"No other abilities? Just things like enraging or speeding up the beasts?"
Su Xiao crouched in front of the female summoner.
"None. Just accept my surrender. I've already surrendered five times. There are so many people watching. Give me some face, okay?"
The female summoner faced downward, as if too embarrassed to show her face. It wasn't because she had been beaten by Su Xiao—that wasn't shameful—but because she remembered her earlier confident smile.
"I thought you could summon something big. Never mind."
Two consecutive wins.
A line of light gold characters floated up.
Su Xiao accepted the surrender and disappeared from the arena stage. The audience seats were filled with stunned workers. This kind of one-sided beating was rare.
[Personal Battle Ended: Victory. Two Consecutive Wins!]
[Hunter Rank Increased: From 49,307 to 45,001 (Second Rank).]
...
The benefits of a winning streak appeared. With just two consecutive wins, Su Xiao's rank had jumped by over four thousand.