Ch. 71 - Scared Me to Death
Rumble!
In an instant, an earth-shattering roar resounded through the heavens and earth!
A dazzling mushroom cloud shot straight into the sky!
A strong shockwave swept across the entire field, causing the spectators in the audience seats to lean back along with it.
"My God! Is this really the power a Level 25 player can unleash?"
Everyone present was dumbfounded, subconsciously swallowing their saliva.
The VIP box was even more unusually silent. Everyone had only one expression.
Eyes widened, mouths slightly open.
They watched in disbelief, glued to the central screen, as the mushroom cloud slowly dissipated.
And the earth-shattering roar reaching outside the field!
In the competition arena.
The thick smoke gradually dispersed.
The huge arena had long since become a mess.
In the center, there was even a large crater caved in, as if it was struck by a comet!
The crater was still filled with scorching white steam, and the earth was scorched black and fiery red.
Cheng Shi, who was inside the crater, was scorched black all over and smoking. The clothes on his body had long since turned to ashes, and he had completely passed out.
If not for the blessing of the arena formation, there might not even be ashes left of him.
"Phew."
Ye Xiaoxiao let out a long sigh of relief while holding her pitch-black scythe, and she leaped down from her throne.
At this moment, she was surrounded by a large area of pitch-black particles.
Her whole person was like a Queen of Death deep in a dense fog, mysterious and coldly arrogant.
"That guy... should be fine, right?"
This skill was originally intended by Ye Xiaoxiao to be kept as a trump card until the end, but she didn't expect to be forced to use it anyway.
'Sure enough, the top three contestants aren’t so easy to beat.'
She sighed helplessly, and at the same time, she opened the introduction of her new skill.
——————————————————
[Death Sacrifice]
[Skill Level: Level 1]
[Consumption: 20 per unit]
[Cooldown: 4 seconds per unit (Current cooldown: 94 seconds)]
[Introduction: Detonates a specified number of summoned units on the field, causing an ultra-large area damage with a 10% × number of units Spirit amplification effect. (The caster is immune to this damage)
For every one detonated, one point of "Death Energy" can be obtained.
For every point of "Death Energy" possessed, all of one's attributes are amplified by 1%, lasting until the end of combat (Cap 30%)]
[Every level increase adds 1% Spirit amplification effect, and the Death Energy amplification cap increases by 3%.]
——————————————————
Simply put, the greater the power of this skill, the higher the consumption and cooldown!
Fortunately, Ye Xiaoxiao possessed the divine artifact "Scourge Divine Radiance Staff."
It could halve its cooldown and consumption.
That is to say, the original mana consumption of 20 points per unit became 10 points per unit instead.
The same was true for the cooldown time.
When Ye Xiaoxiao fought Cheng Shi, she directly detonated 50 skeleton minions.
This was equivalent to her limit.
After all, Ye Xiaoxiao's mana cap was only 520.
At her current level, in a state of full mana, she could detonate 52 skeletons at most.
Relying on her 118 basic Spirit power, under the blessing of the Scourge Divine Radiance Staff and the divine artifact's attached ability "Scourge Descent"...
She could push her Spirit power up to 177 points.
Plus the 500% amplification effect of 50 skeleton minions…
The power of this strike had already reached a terrifying 1062.
Comparable to the full-force strike of a Level 55 player.
But to achieve this power meant emptying her mana at once and pushing the cooldown to a terrifying 100 seconds.
If it was blocked, then in this battle, this skill was almost considered useless for the rest of the fight.
For example, Kaiyang Academy's cultivation method, Calming Mantra, had a probability of being immune to one attack.
If triggered, it would be equivalent to a wasted ultimate.
Or she might encounter someone with Meng Li's ethereal ability.
In combat, the reasonable use and countering of skills could better suppress the opponent.
Of course, the premise was that the opponent had exposed their trump cards in previous matches.
This was the importance of hiding one’s strength.
"Can you announce the victor of this match now?"
Ye Xiaoxiao took a deep breath, glanced sideways at the dumbfounded referee hiding in the corner, and reminded him coldly.
"Ah? Oh oh oh!"
The host cleared his throat, recovering from his daze.
He scrambled onto the ruined arena and tapped the microphone with his hand.
After confirming that it wasn't damaged, he took a deep breath and announced.
"Top Eight Match 1, Kaiyang Academy's Ye Xiaoxiao wins. Let’s congratulate this contestant on entering the top four!
Let’s thank her for bringing us an… astonishingly artistic performance."
As the host's voice fell, the whole venue remained silent for a few seconds before erupting into bursts of cheers and applause.
At the same time, the medical team also arrived on-site one after another.
Skillfully, they first gave Cheng Shi a simple treatment.
After he regained his ability to speak, they went up and slapped him awake with two slaps.
"Sir, do you choose free or self-paid? If it's free, there's a high probability that you’ll die."
The leading medical captain showed a professional smile and looked at him.
Then a ‘beep’ was heard. After the successful blood recognition scan…
Only then did they lift him with satisfaction into the "intensive care" medical passage.
The scanning in this world included not only facial and fingerprint scanning.
To prevent contestants from becoming unrecognizable in the arena, they thoughtfully prepared blood scanning for them, too.
As long as contestants still had breath left, there were plenty of ways to make them pay up.
"Audience members, because the arena’s too severely damaged, the next match will be delayed for an hour. Please wait patiently.
At the same time, thank you again to the event sponsors, it’s thanks to them..."
After the host blabbered a whole bunch, he left the stage.
Several staff members responsible for maintenance quickly took their positions.
They began working overtime to build and repair the arena.
Among them, they paid particular attention to the damage and reinforcement of the formations.
After all, this was what guaranteed the contestants' lives.
If the power of Ye Xiaoxiao's skill at that time had been just a little bit higher…
The formation might have collapsed!
If someone died in the arena, they, the organizers, would have to bear the main responsibility.
For this, they didn't hesitate to spend more money to raise the upper limit of the formation by two or three grades again.
"The commotion you made is too big. Can't you restrain yourself a little? If this were to..."
Ye Mo frowned and walked into the restroom to reprimand the coldly arrogant Ye Xiaoxiao.
Thud!
Before he finished speaking, Ye Xiaoxiao excitedly hugged Ye Mo tightly.
"Old Mo! I was almost scared to death at that time. I was afraid I would accidentally blow that person to pieces and then be asked for compensation."
Honestly, the battle situation was urgent at that time.
She also didn't expect the detonation power of 50 skeleton minions to be so huge.
The moment the mushroom cloud rose, her brain also went static.
For fear of accidentally bombing her opponent to death and then getting into a lawsuit to pay compensation.
Although logically speaking, if an accident happened in the competition arena, it was the organizer's responsibility…
But what if?
What if she were judged to bear secondary responsibility?
Bombing to death an SSS-Rank player belonging to the Six Saint Sanctuaries in front of everyone?
The amount of money needed to compensate them would be astronomical!
If something really happened, the organizers would definitely try every means possible to shirk part of the responsibility.
After all, the faces of capitalists in this world were all very ugly!
To make money, they could do anything secretly.
Time slowly passed.
The one-hour maintenance was finally done.
The originally messy arena had been perfectly repaired.
Not a single sign of damage could be seen at all.
"Hello audience friends, welcome back to the scene of the top eight competition.
Next, let’s welcome Chu Tianhe, the second place on our popularity list, to draw his match!"
Since Cheng Shi, the third on the popularity list, had already been eliminated…
The draw lots skipped to Chu Tianhe.
Soon…
A handsome young man confidently walked onto the arena to draw lots.
He held high the name of the contestant he drew this time.
At the same time, a line of large characters instantly appeared on the large screen.
[Kaiyang Academy: Chu Tianhe VS Kaiyang Academy: Meng Li!]
——————————————————
T/N - Let’s go! Face slap match is here. Go, Meng Li, kick his ass!
Also, the medical team is brutal. Only healing Cheng Shi’s mouth so he can speak and then slapping him awake to ask him his preferred treatment despite him being just bombed to near death. They even have a blood scan! That one actually got me to chuckle. 😅
E/N: Not even in books you can escape capitalism…