Chapter 408: Collapse (2 in 1)
Translator: Radiant Translations Editor: Radiant Translations
He wasn’t afraid of either Gaden or Adam gracing the competition stage for the 2nd duel. However, this was different from the match against Bierlia Academy. Wanting to destroy their opponent in the dueling phase was a task nigh impossible to complete. They will undoubtedly head into the group battle phase this match. Therefore, it would be the best case scenario if they were able to maintain Grai in peak fighting condition for the group battle.
This was why Wang Zhong wanted to take the risk and send Colby as their vanguard. If his gamble had succeeded, this would result in the group battle being somewhat more relaxed. If he loses the best, Tianjing would still be able to put up a fight. Under such thoughts, there was almost no difference in sending Grai up in the previous match or the incoming one. In all, Tianjing still had a chance left.
Wang Zhong looked towards Barran. Seeing this, Barran nodded his head before standing up. He knew that it was the time for him to face up to the challenge!
Everyone in the squadron had their own unique portion of importance in Barran’s heart. Regardless of the comparatively lesser amount of time Colby had sent with Barran, seeing the latter being knocked unconscious and stretchered away caused Barran’s heart to be lit aflame with the fires of fury.
“That’s Barran!” the eyes of quite a few people watching via the Skylink lit up. In the matchup between heavy soldiers in the previous round, the image of the top 40 heavy soldier of the CHF, Dan Dong, being smashed to a pulp by Barran had left a considerable deep impression in the hearts of quite a few people. If Wang Zhong and Grai were the trump cards of Tianjing, that Barran was, at the very least, a star participant of his squadron.
“They’ve chosen one of the TOP5 heavy soldiers of the elimination round, Barran! The heavy soldier with an S rank offensive power!”
“We’ve just given you the earlier duel! This time, we’re not sending a substitute up! Tianjing’s starting to exert their strength!”
“Go, Barran! Take back one point!”
“Ha ha! What a ridiculous fellow to still be talking about the TOP5 heavy soldiers of the elimination rounds! That’s a completely worthless ranking! Only the Tianjing people would pay any attention to it.”
“The eyesight of country bumpkins are indeed worrying to actually be relying on a youth like him to get a point back for this match! Do they assume that Bella Dean is equivalent to that pile of waste, Bierlia?”
“Ha ha! I don’t know about the TOP5 most spectacular performances, but I know about this Barran’s exceedingly eye-catching show in the TOP5 laughs! The eastern region’s nervous bro and the 7-second real man! With such a poor level of endurance, it’s just a waste of his big size.”
The Bella Dean fans responded with fierce counterattacks, causing the fiery and explosive atmosphere within the Skylink live chat feed to grow even more intense. Frankly speaking, Wind God felt that those who come out with such retaliatory remarks were geniuses for causing trouble. There were times that even he could not think of such awesome replied. Indeed, there were experts present within the masses.
At this moment, Divian was also paying attention to the situation of this match.
Sitting spacious room while sitting a glass of orange juice, she appeared to be enjoying a rather leisurely moment. Although the Seer squadron also has a match scheduled today, this incoming match just didn’t even amount to any challenge for the Seer squadron. Divian even had no intention of appearing for their match, as handing it over for the other fellows to handle was more than enough. For now, she wanted to spend her time and energy towards watching things that she wanted to see.
“They’ve actually sent that heavy soldier out?” Karl was the only person other than Divian that’s free to watch this match. With there being 1 more match left for his ban, he had been forcefully grounded by Divian for the past 2 days, preventing him from leaving their accommodation area. Fortunately, he wasn’t too bored by the ongoing match between Tianjing and Bella Dean. “Are they still planning to deal with the king and prince of Bella Dean? That Wang Zhong’s have a really vivid imagination. Bella Dean’s not the kind of squadron that’s riding on the back of 2 to 3 people.”
“The pains of a weakling squadron.” replied Divian with a smile. Once one’s true intentions were revealed, things like schemes and strategies would become meaningless, especially towards a squadron like Bella Dean. This Wang Zhong’s too naive to believe that other people would not have the same kind of thoughts as he.
Why was Bella Dean evaluated to be an S ranked seedling squadron? Was it merely due to the Mo’s List experts in their ranks? Or was it due to them possessing the name of one of the 10 great families?
All of these guesses were wrong. A genuine S ranked seedling squadron was powerful due to the depth of their benches and equal spread of strength! Even an obscure substitute of theirs, like the one for the Seer squadron, who have been training day and night with Divian, were experts that were able to undergo a couple dozen exchanges with the latter! She who doubts nothing, sees nothing. There’s basically no weakling in any S ranked squadron, just like the substitute assassin, Dooley that subdued Colby in the 1st duel. While others did not know, Divian knew that he was an outstanding person that was close to being promoted into the Quasi Sanctuary Division 2 years ago!
Playing mind games with an S ranked seedling squadron? Doing a counter play?
That’s basically a pipe dream, as a truly powerful squadron isn’t afraid of being countered! The only way for the weak to defeat the strong was in a straight up confrontation. All fancy moves would be useless. In the end, Tianjing would still have to rely on Wang Zhong and that Grai. And those were the fights that Divian was genuinely anticipating.
She believed that they would know about this point after the previous duel.
Walking up the stage, Barran quietly waited as for his opponent.
Bang!
A pair of gigantic leather boots stepped onto the competition stage. The person wearing them had a physique the size of a small mountain. Towering at the height of 2.45 metres, with hairy and suntanned skin, he appeared just like a brutish gorilla! Smashing his fists fiercely against each other, a bang rang out. Just like the release of gases from a pneumatic piston, the soul power shockwave rushing out from the collision of his fists blew past Barran’s face.
“You’re dead, brat.” with a sneer, he gave a thumbs down sign towards Barran.
“Paulista! Paulista!”
A wave of cheering instantly rang out from the viewing gallery as the audience started chanting the name of Bella Dean’s chief heavy soldier!
Although Barran was a big and burly person, he was apparently a size smaller than Paulista, be it his height or circumference of his waist. As for their respective auras, the disparity was even more evident for all to see!
“That’s Paulista! He’s ranked 7th among the heavy soldiers for the elimination rounds, and is Bella Dean’s chief heavy soldier! There no way to counter a seasoned veteran of a genuinely powerful squadron. Counter soldiers with arms, and water with an earth weir. Naturally, such a result should be within Tianjing’s expectations. They should have already made sufficient mental preparations when they chose to send Barran up. Most likely, they’re hoping that this youthful general that’s able to pull off an S rank strike would be able to create miracles for them. However, I really want to say that they’re out of their minds!”
Various kinds of ridiculing cries and uproars rang out from the surroundings and the broadcasting platform. Everyone was here to enjoy the lively atmosphere. Those little tricks of Wang Zhong were utterly useless. Wanting to lure out the king and prince of Bella Dean after playing an ace was an utterly naive move.
As the camera cut back to Wang Zhong, Wind God gave a laugh before saying, “Looks like Tianjing’s captain Wang Zhong is still brimming with confidence! Let us enjoy this upcoming duel.”
Ma Dong immediately shut off his Skylink off. If Wind God were present in person, he would definitely use the feet to squash that crazy aunty. What the fuck was with his incessant grumbling! Was it due to Tianjing being reared by his stepmother, causing such disdain within that fellow?
Since he loves to bootlick those aristocratic families, Wang Zhong will let him know who’s the real expert!
Ma Dong didn’t say any of his thoughts out loud. Although he knew that Wang Zhong was All Mouthy King, the latter was by himself, being up against the entire Bella Dean squadron. If it was just a 1v1 duel, Ma Dong believed that Wang Zhong would be able to reach the quarterfinals. However, Tianjing was indeed extremely behind in group battles. Being a member of the Assassin Family, Ma Dong was possessed the level of eyesight to see this. What’s more, hailing a family of assassins, optimism wasn’t part of his nature.
Barran wasn’t affected much by the ridiculing words from Wind God and the audience. Having gained much experience from his journey in this CHF, he had grown quite mature. Yesterday, while looking through the videos of the Bella Dean squadron during the elimination rounds with everyone, he took note of their chief heavy soldier by the name of Paulista. His offensive strength was rather outstanding, being evaluated to be of rank S, while his foundation and defensive capabilities were nothing to scoff at. This meant that an offensive was the only way Barran could deal with the former.
Staring firmly at his opponent, Soul Power started to condense around Barran. Give up on all complicated thoughts to go all out against one’s opponent!
I’ll treat this fight as my last! It’s either your death or mine!
The goal of all the training he had done was to build a habit in his body towards the reflection of strength. At this moment, he felt as though he had returned to the Prodigy Society’s training grounds, causing a familiar feeling to surface within him.
Calm down my breathing, stabilize my rhythm…
Hu…Hu…
Start!
Barran’s eyes immediately turned scarlet red! He gave a ferocious stomp, unleashing the power stored in his legs, sending him shooting out like a rocket!
The iron like figure towering in Barran’s vision had already transformed into the battering machine present in the Prodigy Society’s training grounds.
The 2nd drive that he had trained for tens of thousands of times was the capital he was relying on to fight in the CHF!
All of the blood in Barran’s body was lit aflame, with his opponent being the only thing within his vision!
This was the moment!
Thud.
A soft thud followed by a light breeze, before his opponent suddenly disappeared from the vision of the rapidly approaching Barran.
Having lost his target, Barran made a forceful stop. Without anywhere to go, the power and momentum he had caused banging sounds to ring out from the thick and firm competition stage as sent them through his feet.
His opponent, had evaded from his sight?
Paulista had only taken a step back. However, the distance of that step had sent him out of the radius of Barran’s attack, allowing him to get a good look at the smaller unique heavy soldier before him.
There were no other thoughts present in Barran’s mind except to attack, attack, and then, attack! With a ferocious stamp, he rushed forwards once again!
However, what happened during the first dash occurred once again.
His attack had struck air. Such a feeling was extremely unbearable! His opponent was just a tad out of his radius of attack! Increasing his strength output, he widened the range of his dash. Yet, his opponent away remained just right of that boundary!
Shades of amusement and contempt were present in Paulista’s eyes as he shot a grin towards Barran. Crossing his hands as he stood, he waited for Barran to turn around before sending a taunt towards the former with a cheeky smile on his face.
“Ha ha ha! Paulista’s bullying our little friend! This is fucking amusing!”
“This duel’s over for that Barran. Although he appears quite imposing when he starts his dashes, he’s too stupid, and his reflexes can’t even keep up to Paulista! This fellow cannot really be a newbie, right?”
“He’s merely a brute, that’s all. How did he get flattered to such a level! Haha! He can only put up a fight against wastes like Bierlia Academy. When faced against genuine experts, there’s truly nothing in him.”
The roars of laughter by countless people flooded the screens of the Skylink, causing the roaring sounds of laughter to fill the competition stage.
The experts from the various academies watching via the Skylink could already tell that the 2 people duking it out on the stage were in entirely different realms of strength. Barran only knew a single move, which was completely seen through by Paulista. A move that relied on the simple explosion of strength could be used to deal against a stationary target or brainless people. Although his distance separation appeared just like a simple retreat, everything from rhythm, number of steps and distance were entirely under the control of Paulista. Just from this, only could tell that he more than a notch above Barran.
“Roar!”
The successive failures of his dashes did not affect Barran’s fighting spirit. From the very beginning, he had never felt that he himself was an expert at all, and was more than used to being duped and played around. At this moment, Barran had only one thought in his mind, and that was to smash his opponent!
If the 1st time fails, he’ll go for the 2nd time! If the 2nd time fails, he’ll go for the 3rd! Regardless of how nimble or agile his opponent was, wanting to defeat him would require bodily contact! That was the moment Barran was waiting to launch his counterattack!
The imposingness of a heavy soldier could be summed up in a phase, “1st time’s full, 2nd time’s wavering, 3rd time’s dry.” That was common knowledge to everyone. However, that seemed to be not applicable to Barran.
BaTuLu~~
As a loud roar rang out, Barran’s aura grew even denser. Just like a bullet, he shot towards Paulista! Soul Power radiating out from his entire body, his current state was even higher than before!
However, once again, the towering figure disappeared from his vision, before a howling wind like sound rang out behind his head.
Bang!
The heavy giant shield smashed violently at the back of Barran’s head, causing his vision to spin and turn blurry. His entire body lurched forward, though he did not fall onto the ground. However, a gigantic whirlwind had already come smashing down on him, as Paulista appeared by Barran’s side. With a mighty swipe, the giant shield smashed down once again on Barran’s head.
Bang…
Barran was smashed and spun around like a top. Paulista appeared to have caught interest in this, as proceeded to use the agility movement skill of a soldier to move to and fro. While doing so, he swung his gigantic shield at Barran in a manner as though it had no weight, causing the latter to start bleeding at multiple areas.
It wasn’t that Barran didn’t think about counter-attacking. However, any strength he was able to muster was engulfed by the incoming smashes that landed on his body. Like a skiff caught in a storm, he lost control over his strength as he continued to be battered by Paulista’s shield. This time, he was the one that had turned into a stationary target.
However, he wasn’t willing to fall over. He knew the difficulty of this duel. He wanted to secure a victory! At the very least, he wanted his opponent to expend his energy to deal with him! Nonetheless, despite Barran’s face already being battered to a pulp by the shield, he still wanted to launch a counter-attack.
A sliver of a sneer appeared at the corner of Paulista’s mouth as he thought, “If this continues, this idiot’s going to die.” Paulista didn’t want to get his record tarnished from playing a person to death. After all, with such an absolute disparity present in this duel, it would definitely attract some trouble for him if Barran dies.
With a deft twist, he spun his body around, showing not one ounce of unwieldiness with his massive frame. In the next instant, his giant shield smashed against Barran’s back.
Bang!
Bang!
Barran was flattened on the ground, his arms and legs splattered out. A loud bang rang out once more as his head struck the stage. With his hand holding onto the back of Barran’s neck, Paulista pressed his knee right into the former’s back!
Bang…
Barran’s head was smashed once again against the ground, knocking him out, while blood slowly tricked out from his wound.
Paulista took a spit as he stood up, before shooting a dissatisfied look towards the Tianjing side. How the hell are they considered to be black horses when they dared to provoke the mighty Bella Dean with such puny level strength!
In the Skylink, the Tianjing supporters have immediately gone silent, with the same thing happening in Tianjing Academy. The miraculous Barran was thoroughly beaten into a sack of potatoes in this duel. That little bit of fluke he had did in the 1st round was so laughable in the face of the powerhouse, Bella Dean.
During the 1st duel, Colby being subdued could be associated with him being a substitute. However, for Barran to be dealt with such ease…everyone initially thought that Tianjing had the capital to put up a fight with any powerful squadron. Now, could everyone really be so egotistical?
There isn’t any hope for weaklings!
No, there should not be any hope at all.
While the Tianjing side remained silent, Bella Dean’s side was filled with high spirits. At this moment, the Skylink live chat feed had been wholly taken over by them. “Paulista 6666!”
“Looks like this is all there is for Tianjing! Even if with that Wang Zhong and Grai, that’s all they’ve got! As long as they dare to step up, they’ll all be beaten back to shape!”
“Ha ha! After defeating that Bierlia Academy, they’ve become a squadron that lost all sight of their limits! Why aren’t they crying out know?”
“So it’s 2:0 already? I’ve just bought my breakfast and have yet to finish it. From the looks of it, the competition’s over?”
“Ha ha! This competition’s going to end at a relatively fast time. Perhaps the Tianjing squadron should clear their heads. Let’s ignore the issue of Bella Dean being their opponent first. Regardless of their opponent, after entering the 2nd round, it’s impossible to obtain victory just by dealing an odd hand. Having reached such a stage, experience was the accurate indicator of one’s foundation, with resisting a beating also being rather important. That young heavy soldier from Tianjing has already received a pretty good lesson.”