“That’s right. Currently, All Mouthy King appears to be extremely powerful. However, there are quite a few people like him in the historical records, though all of them sank down in the end, before vanishing into the masses. Truthfully speaking, I’m also a brother King fan, and I really like how he, a commoner, has risen up so far into the sky. However, let’s fall back to rationality and do a proper analysis to draw our verdict. As of now, brother King is indeed still suffering from his injuries. Its extremely easy to lose one’s self in the heart of one’s struggles. When one fails due to excessive praise, there’s a possibility that one would never recover from it.”
“Is there a use in saying all of that? Everything you’ve said is nonsense! If it’s me, I’ll say that All Mouthy King is invincible! So what! I’m a diehard fan! You can dislike me if you’re unconvinced! As if I’m scared! Come fight me, huh! ”
Haha! Let me give a reasonable input. Er, okay. I believe that brother King will have a new nickname added to him. Dragon Slaying Warrior, or how about Dragon Slaying King?”
“After Wolf Exterminating King, he’ll be crowned as the Dragon Slaying King, huh? You’ve no taste! However… I like it! Gagaga, I’ll use this gaggling laugh to celebrate brother King’s creation of yet another miracle, and let all those blabbering people shut their smelly garlic mouths!”
“Everyone, stop arguing! The Tianjing squadron’s match is later this afternoon. How about we pay more attention to Giant God Peak for now? Our Great King of the Peak, Dicaprio is matched up against Hercules squadron, a squadron that’s no weaker than an S rank squadron. At the very least, they’re stronger than Copperfield.”
Looking at the various debates and discussion going on in the Skylink, Zhao Zimo was extremely amused. Dragon slaying?
Many of the people flattering Tianjing and All Mouthy King were hired by him to do so. Although the odds of Tianjing obtaining victory over the Divine Dragon squadron were 1 in 10 thousand, the unique traits of weaklings were ignorance and luck. Therefore, he wanted to make Tianjing swell with praise. When that happens, his benefit when the Divine Dragon squadron squashed them would grow exponentially!
Truthfully speaking, the Tianjing squadron was just like a fattened-up guinea pig that would benefit anyone who could eat them up. Getting rid of Tianjing would definitely be extremely advantageous for the Zhao Family’s plan to enter the upper five families. To them, Tianjing was basically a gift sent from the heavens.
Therefore, before the outcome of the match was known, Zhao Zimo would definitely be a loyal and devoted “Tianjing fan”.
Before the match began, compared to the fiery discussions happening on the Skylink boards, the other official media platforms were reporting the news in their usual fashion.
“This is a special early report from Stuart. The round-of-32 to determine the top 16 squadrons of the CHF will commence at 10:30am tomorrow. Two matches will be conducted concurrently. The first match, between Giant God Peak and Hercules squadron, will take place in the number 1 arena. The second match, between Fiery Arrow squadron and …”
The television screen changed scenes, and what appeared was the interview with the participants of the first match.
Appearing on the television screen, a faint smile was present Dicaprio’s face as he said, “Hercules Academy is a famous veteran academy. So we’ve made serious preparations for this match. I’m extremely excited for this match, as I feel that it should be a hard fought one. I hope that Hercules will not let our fans down.”
The fans of Dicaprio, the King of the Peak, were extremely satisfied with his interview, as it was exactly like his style. “I feel that it would be a hard-fought match”, “Hope to not let our fans down”, was Dicaprio worried that his opponents weren’t strong enough?
The screen changed scenes once again, with it now being the interview of the Hercules squadron. Stepping up to accept the interview was their vice-captain, Cerce.
“How do we feel about the Giant God Peak Academy? We just are a little surprised that all. We’re more interested in meeting an S rank squadron.”
The supporters of Giant God Peak started to jump before their televisions and Skylink while cursing and swearing out. Although all of them felt that Dicaprio was slightly arrogant in his interview, never did they expect for Hercules to be even more rampant. Just a little surprised? More interested in meeting an S rank squadron? Why don’t you all go to heaven? They were completely disregarding Dicaprio and Giant God Peak!
However, the past statistics and history of Hercules Academy were quickly broadcasted.
“They’re rampant due to them possessing the qualifications to do so. The Hercules Academy has been powerful throughout their history. Do you know how many students of theirs have entered the quasi Sanctuary Division? They’re famous among the veteran academies. If not for them being bogged down by internal conflict for the past few decades, they would absolutely be an S rank squadron!”
“Hercules Academy has a rich history. At one time, they were known as the sacred ground among the famous academies, and were nicknamed the academy of legends. They have since declined slightly, but have recovered during the past couple of years. Truthfully speaking, they have the most perfect training methods and the most frightening teaching experience to bring out the abilities of their students, to the point of them being named as the production factory for the quasi Sanctuary Division!”
” In fact, during this past couple of years, the standard of the Hercules squadron has been very high. However, they never had a core, and were just a group of a few great experts, with no one willing to accept another’s opinion. This resulted in severe internal friction, with their brilliance being eclipsed by other famous academies. There were many instances of their internal conflicts dragging on for long periods of times, and this had led to their genuine experts being injured as a result. This had resulted in Hercules being unable to field their strongest lineup in many of the iterations of the CHF.
“For this CHF, a king had appeared in the Hercules squadron. Completing the 12 tests within the Hercules Academy, he swept all of the mountain tops over there and unified the entire spirit of Hercules. In my personal opinion, I feel that they serious in wanting to bump into an S rank squadron. They are absolutely not empty vessels flaunting their ego.”
“Haha. I’m from Hercules Academy, so I’m not afraid of you guys talking big. In the CHF squadron sent by our academy this year, every single member possesses about the same level of strength as a captain from an A ranked squadron. We’re fine with encountering any S rank squadron, as long as it isn’t an S+ rank like Martial Ghost Divine Emperor. We’ll all vomit blood if we were to bump into them.”
When this interview was broadcasted on Skylink, many of the older generations started to recollect about the true glory of the Hercules Academy. From the looks of it, they were about to make a full recovery. Only after looking through the archives stored in the Skylink did the younger generation discover how domineering of a past the Hercules Academy truly possessed. They had always been a factory that produces quasi Sanctuary Division soldiers. Due to various reasons, their fame and reputation did not get propagated widely!
This time, the King of the Peak, Dicaprio had met with a wall.
The match commenced: Giant God Peak squadron Vs Hercules squadron!
First duel, the vanguard of Giant God Peak was left to the giant hammer-wielding Borat. In the previous matches, he had shown himself as brute strength freak. However, other than his brute strength, there was nothing else unique about him. Even his physique was considered to be shorter than ordinary soldiers. Nonetheless, he possessed an extremely astonishing level of brute strength. As for Hercules, their vanguard was their heavy soldier. An expert that held the position of a top 20 heavy soldier in the Federation’s ranking, not only was he talented, his technical mastery and experience were top notch among the third year students.
The Hercules vanguard clearly had a deep understanding of Borat, choosing to wield a light shield to give the impression of wanting to engage in a head-on confrontation. In reality, he wanted to feint a sudden misstep to evade Borat’s attack before finishing him off. However, he had clearly avoided the hammer’s attack, yet was still sent flying, bouncing on the ground many times like a smacked ping pong ball.
An easy victory for Giant God Peak.
With the selection advantage, Dicaprio sent out Fernandes. This assassin, with a petrification special ability, once again showcased his superpowered strength. At the critical instant during his confrontation with his opponent, he unleashed his petrification ability and obtained victory for the second duel.
A completely unblockable attack. It was an extremely powerful weapon when used by itself. Coupled with it being able to be used at every critical instant, the offensive and defensive capabilities this special ability provided to its wielder would cause utter despair to anyone who encountered it.
It could be said as one of the most disgusting special abilities to face in close combat.
The Giant God Peak was leading 2:0.
For the third duel, Dicaprio took the initiative to challenge Hercules’s captain. This time, Dicaprio chose to fight the duel unarmed. During the duel, he had even displayed the Mo Family’s unarmed combat techniques. What’s more, it wasn’t just pure mimicry, but one that possessed sufficient might, especially the 4-pillar spatial explosion fist that Mo Wen excelled in.
However, this was where a problem arose. This Dicaprio felt extremely similar to All Mouthy King. Naturally, his usage of Cross Wheels couldn’t match up to Wang Zhong. However, he was even stronger than the Wang Zhong in some other aspects.
The black horses for this year’s CHF were extremely bold and powerful! Dicaprio had once again displayed his all rounded strength, with Giant God Peak sweeping their opponents in a 4:0 victory, displaying the valiant side of the black horses.
It had to be said that compared to Tianjing, Giant God Peak appeared to be much more “bold and powerful”. Their prospects were good, with their various lineup positions being strong and equal in strength. At the same time, their opponents weren’t as perverted as those Tianjing had faced.
There were times where luck would play an extremely important role. The one to become king at the very end would not only need to rely on the strength of their team, but also their luck. The difficult confrontation that would occur each time one bumped into an S rank was indeed unbearable.
Despite that, the representative of the commoners’ strength, Giant God Peak, had powered their way into the top 16. This caused many people to maintain their hopes and optimism for them. Basically, regardless of how much boasting there was in the Skylink, Tianjing would definitely lose their match against the Divine Dragon Academy. Therefore, the only hope people had was for them to not lose too miserably.
On the other side, there was the match between the Blazing Angel squadron and the Tuymazy squadron. Both squadrons were already in the arena, and were currently undergoing their final checks and arrangements for their combat strategies. The fame and reputation of the Tuymazy squadron were even higher than the Blazing Angel. Despite not having any member being ranked in the Mo’s List, the fame and reputation of their five main members were a level higher than the Blazing Angel, whether it was in the OP system or the competition zone phase. Basically speaking, all of them were on the same level as Papada.
At this moment, the matches were being broadcasted live on Skylink, with the television stations in Stuart City broadcasting CHF-related programs. Of the live broadcasts on Skylink, the most important channel was the one showcasing the explanations and verdicts of analysts.
“This Blazing Angel squadron is slightly unique. What’s more, the feeling they gave people for the past two days is different from the past. Previously, the impression they gave off was that they were especially crazy and violent, appearing to always be in a berserk-like state. This crazed demeanour allowed them to enter the top 32 ranks. However, upon entering the round-of-32, their craziness has suddenly disappeared. It appears as though they are not here to compete?”
“Yes, that’s right. From what I can feel, they appear to be satisfied with their earlier performance, and have already lost the heart for greater victory. However, I still have high anticipation for their heavy soldier Oli.”
“That’s right, regardless of aesthetic appeal, there are still other areas that are worth looking out for.”
“The crux is still in aesthetic appeal, right? Haha, I’m just joking. Participant Oli is an extremely unique heavy soldier, and replies on her special ability to dominate the battlefield. However, with everyone having an understanding of her unique traits, I don’t know how she would stand up against any counterattacks thrown at her.”
“Then let us await participant Oli’s performance in the upcoming match! However, I hope that she would not turn sloppy due to a lost heart for victory! Okay, let’s end our discussion about the Blazing Angel squadron, and focus on the Tuymazy squadron.”
“This is a group battle-centric squadron. If the S rank squadrons were removed from the picture, they would definitely be ranked among the top 3 in terms of their group battle dominance.”
“Ah! That’s right! As everyone knows, Tuymazy Academy is the cradle of our Federation’s military officers! Every year, they would send a large number of commander geniuses to the front lines for the Federation. The way they tackle their group battles have a slight militaristic taste. It’s extremely strict. However, it’s also extremely effective.”
“However, the Blazing Angel squadron is also a group battle-centric squadron. This will be a showdown between rocks!”
“That’s right, this match is worth waiting for!”
The Stuart television channel was currently broadcasting the interviews and publicity videos of the 2 squadrons.
For this round-of-32, the Stuart television channel had invested a large amount of personnel to shadow and conduct interviews with a large number of participants. The majority of the participants would just say their greetings and take pictures, with a few publicity video clips of their regular life.
The Tuymazy squadron had struck poses in a group photo for their propaganda video. Appearing extremely handsome and valiant, they exuded the powerful aura of an A rank squadron.
Hailing from a family of military servicemen, their captain Shi Liu maintained a solemn and earnest attitude when being interviewed. “The goal of our squadron is to be within the top 8. It’s extremely difficult, but we feel that it’s not an impossible feat.”
“The squadron we most want to bump into? That would be the Heaven’s Fate squadron. They are an extremely all-rounded squadron. Having a match against them would be extremely beneficial for us.”
“What are our thoughts on the Blazing Angel squadron? Erm…I feel that they do not have any conviction towards victory in this competition. Nonetheless, I do understand what the goal and philosophy that drives the Blazing Angel Academy. Therefore, the only thing I can say that something like that would never happen in our Tuymazy Academy.”
“As for what we want to say to the Blazing Angel squadron, I would hope for us to be able to learn from one another. They’re extremely strong in their group battles, with their level of cooperation being slightly more tacit than us. I do not know how they are able to achieve such a level of understanding between their members.”
Modest, respectful, and proactive in spirit and mindset! Upon the release of Shi Liu’s interview, he instantly received greatly positive and favourable evaluations from everyone.
The scenes on the television changed, turning into a black screen, before the Blazing Angel squadron appeared amidst the music of their propaganda film. Over 10 figures surfaced from the darkness, as the black screen gradually grew brighter…
Everyone watching before their televisions had their eyes grown wide, all of them afraid to miss even a single frame. According to the norm, what came next would be their performances.
However, they were not there!
Instead, what they got was the entire Blazing Angel squadron huddling together into a clump, before starting to pray towards the heavens…
Upon seeing this scene, many people felt that this was an extremely fake performance by the Blazing Angel squadron. Were there crows flying within their brains? Was this a squadron, or a cult?
At this moment, the director of this program had a face full of embarrassment, and was breaking out in unbearable pain and sadness to the point of wanting to cry. He had never seen such a stubborn squadron before. The propaganda film was to let them showcase themselves. Yet, they had actually done such a thing as to pray before the cameras! Pray? Why weren’t they burning incense? Where’s the craziness you all had earlier? You’re already satisfied with being in the top 32? How can you all be so unambitious!
In the short span of 3 seconds, the scene that caused embarrassment to surface in people was quickly replaced by the interview segment.
The person who received the interview was precisely the one who everyone was looking out for, Oli.
Immediately, Oli’s outstanding appearance instantly caused all of the earlier embarrassment to be swept aside. What’s crucial was her long and slender physique, which ignited the flames of lust in people.
“The squadron that we wanted to meet the most, we have already encountered earlier. Everything will be arranged by god.” Oli appeared extremely calm and tranquil. Her craziness was due to god, while being calm and tranquil was also for god. From coming close, to seeing, before witnessing, their hearts and minds had already completed the journey they had come here for, going so far as to undergo a qualitative change. Next up would be a wait for a change in scenery, just like how the end for a caterpillar was the start for a butterfly. She looked indifferently towards the cameras while thinking, there were some matters that ordinary people were never able to understand.
“…” Painful expressions appeared on the audience’s faces as they rubbed their hands in amusement. Why the hell is she talking about god yet again?
“We’ve nothing to say to Tuymazy. Ah, that’s right, I would ask for them to not give up. Everything is going along in accordance with god’s plans. It’ll be fine just to comply with that.”
Indeed, it was god yet again! The intelligent people among the audience had already guessed her answer.
“…You mean to say, that you are assured of your victory?” The interviewer felt like buying a pile of tofu to smash himself and play dead.
After watching the publicity films and interviews, the absolute majority of the audience was immediately able to get a basic understanding of the two squadrons. After all, there were over a hundred squadrons participating in the competition prior to the round-of-32. There were, in fact, many within the audience who did not have an understanding of the S rank squadrons, what more the entire situation of the CHF.
At the same time, the Skylink and television platforms opened their polls for people to cast their supporting votes.
In an instant, the support for the Tuymazy squadron rose like a ferocious whirlwind!
79% were supporting the Tuymazy squadron to obtain victory in this match. They felt that Tuymazy was stronger, and was more suitable to continue their journey in this CHF. Although the Blazing Angel squadron had Oli, one of the 5 great heavy soldiers ranked in the Mo’s List, their entire squadron was turning increasingly weird and incomprehensible. Was this the same Blazing Angel squadron that had entered the CHF? Many people had their suspicions over this matter. What’s more, just as what the analysts had said, they were unable to find any intense desire for victory within the entire Blazing Angel squadron.
This was already the round-of-32! It was impossible to continue rising through the ranks while having such an attitude.
There were many people who made their verdict with brimming self-confidence. From the scenes broadcasted, coupled with the calm and tranquil expressions of the Blazing Angel squadron, they were even more certain of themselves.
However….
When the match officially started.
The “ambitionless” Blazing Angel squadron forced the match into the group battle phase. On paper, the Tuymazy squadron still held the situational superiority with a 3:2 lead. However, upon entering the group battle, Tuymazy immediately felt that they were matched up against madmen.
Despite the two hard-fought victories the Blazing Angel squadron had obtained in the duelling phase, Oli’s defence was in a class of its own, though her offence was clearly lacking. On the other hand, Papada was a balanced expert, though he did not possess the capability to suppress other people. His other squadron members were considerably weaker by a level.
However, upon entering the group battle, this group of people… had turned utterly crazy!
What originally seemed to be a group battle of attrition turned into something completely different. Under Papada and Oli’s leadership, they swept their opponents off in a single wave. The Tuymazy squadron, who was well known from their extremely strong group battle capabilities, was not given any chance to retaliate. The 5-men Blazing Angel group appeared just like a single unit! One for all, and all for one!
Oli’s godlike all-range defence, Papada’s middle range bombardment coupled with ranged support from their backline allowed this Blazing Angel squadron to appear as though they were born for group battles.
After watching the entire match, there was only one thought going through everyone’s mind. If one didn’t get rid of the Blazing Angel squadron during the duelling phase, one would have to await the tearing jaws of a bunch of madmen in the group battle.
After the end of the first day of matches, four squadrons had entered the top 16. They were the Giant God Peak squadron, Blazing Angel squadron, Eye of the Storm squadron, as well as Martial Ghost Divine Emperor squadron. Other than the Blazing Angel squadron, who obtained victory via group battle, the other 3 squadrons had advanced via total domination. Naturally, even the round-of-16 would be a breeze for an S+ rank squadron like Divine Ghost Martial Emperor. With Gui Hao not taking action and Gui Xinying in the lead, they settled the match with two of their main lineup and two of their substitutes. Although the Soul Beast Masters of the Eye of the Storm squadron weren’t as strong as those on the Mo’s List, the disparity was just a slight notch. When they came together in a squadron, those five were truly frightening, and no one was able to imagine just how strong they would be in a group battle.
Regardless of how splendid or glorious one was in the past, within the CHF, strength was the only factor that was taken into consideration. Although no one could become a big shot over a single night, the abrupt rise of powerhouses could not be stopped. For both the people on Skylink and the officials, they would always place an emphasis on putting the spotlight on the victors. Aristocratic families were never lacking in this aspect, though this was of considerable importance for the up-and-rising Giant God Peak.