“Even knowing you can’t defeat me…”
Gazing at the water shield coalescing in Qing Bai’s hand, Xiao spoke with a hint of bewilderment.
“Yet you still refuse to give up?”
“This young lady hasn’t lost yet!”
Qing Bai defiantly lifted her head, the weariness from consecutive arena defenses vanishing from her eyes as she fixed her gaze on Xiao, who stood not far away.
“Until my health bar is depleted, this young lady will absolutely not surrender!”
“Is that so…”
A spark ignited in Xiao’s eyes as she watched the unyielding Qing Bai, a gentle smile playing on her lips.
“Precisely, this is how it should be.”
“You are a strong player who loves this game! Only then can I truly give my all to defeat you!”
Xiao crossed her twin swords before her, her earnest, bright eyes and sweet smile peeking through the sharp blades.
[Flash]!
She abruptly swung her twin swords downward, sending two intersecting slashes of sword light hurtling towards Qing Bai.
[Flash], a ranged skill by nature, bore a striking resemblance to the sword light conjured by her awakened skill, making it nearly indistinguishable without close observation.
Xiao intended to deceive Qing Bai, making her believe it was a basic attack (TL Note: ‘平A’ or ‘ping A’ is a common gaming term for a ‘normal attack’ or ‘auto-attack’), thereby choosing to withstand [Flash].
Should these two [Flash] attacks connect with Qing Bai, they would likely deplete half of her health in an instant.
After all, [Flash] was the primary damage-dealing skill for the Dual Sword class at Tier 4.
Xiao narrowed her eyes slightly, curious to see if Qing Bai would discern her ‘scheme.’
“Backstep!”
Qing Bai’s body suddenly leaped backward, effortlessly evading the two [Flash] attacks by utilizing her [Backstep] skill.
Cautious by nature, she chose not to directly block the skill.
“Oh?”
Xiao raised an eyebrow, a flicker of interest in her gaze, as she once again swung her twin swords, unleashing two slashes of sword light.
This time, it was a basic attack.
Instead of retreating, Qing Bai advanced, swiftly sprinting towards the incoming sword light. Just before it reached her, she abruptly raised her water shield to guard her head, easily deflecting Xiao’s two basic attacks.
The [Water Shield] skill was a core ability for Staff-Shield players; it could be equipped independently or affixed to an already equipped shield.
[Water Shield] could block all basic attacks, including those from bosses, significantly boosting the Staff-Shield player’s survivability.
With this technique, all of Xiao’s basic attacks were rendered effectively useless.
Witnessing Qing Bai’s successful defense against her basic attacks, Xiao grasped a crucial realization.
“You can actually distinguish between my basic attacks and my skills?”
Xiao frowned slightly, asking with a hint of surprise.
“It’s quite simple, really.”
Qing Bai replied, holding her water shield, her feet never ceasing their movement.
“In truth, this young lady cannot differentiate between your basic attacks and your skills, but I can distinguish between targeted attacks and non-targeted attacks.”
“The moment you unleash an attack, if this young lady rapidly moves forward, a targeted attack will alter its original trajectory and fly towards me, whereas a non-targeted attack will continue along its initial path.”
As she spoke, flames rekindled beneath her feet, and she reapplied the speed buff whose effect had just expired.
“Flame Acceleration.”
“Oh, so that’s how it is?”
Xiao nodded slightly, then cast a helpless glance at Qing Bai.
“It’s truly impressive that you can discern such subtle changes…”
“As long as I keep moving, this change becomes very obvious.”
Qing Bai stated this, and indeed, she acted accordingly; apart from the brief pause to apply her buff, she hadn’t stopped moving for a single moment.
“Horizontal Slash!”
Xiao, disbelieving, unleashed a slash of sword light—the non-targeted Tier 2 knockback skill, [Sweeping Strike].
Qing Bai quickly stepped forward, then swiftly sidestepped, effortlessly evading the sword light.
“Truly impressive.”
Xiao couldn’t help but marvel, acknowledging that Qing Bai’s positioning was indeed top-tier.
“If you can dodge a single attack, then what about a dense barrage of them?”
Xiao abruptly spun her body, rapidly brandishing her twin swords.
“Sword Dance!”
Her rapid slashes transformed into streaks of sword light, and in a blink, the air was almost entirely filled with a dense, shimmering array of them, a torrent of sword light rapidly assailing Qing Bai.
“Wood Spirit – Replace!”
A phantom image swiftly shot out from Qing Bai’s body, landing some distance away. She then instantly swapped positions with the phantom, escaping the range of the [Sword Dance] assault.
Having swapped to the phantom’s location, Qing Bai’s body showed no hesitation, immediately resuming her swift run, warily dodging Xiao’s attacks.
“Using movement skills to evade large-area attacks…”
Xiao pressed a hand to her forehead, a hint of a headache.
“You’ve actually specialized in movement speed as well?”
She watched the incredibly fast Qing Bai with a resigned expression, her brows slightly furrowed.
‘In this state, it will be incredibly difficult for my non-targeted skills to hit her…’
“It seems I’ll have to restrict your movement a little.”
Xiao’s expression turned serious. Then, she gently stepped forward with her right foot.
“Sword Domain!”
A shimmering silver circular domain suddenly unfurled from beneath her feet, encompassing a ten-yard radius around her.
“A Tier 4 AoE (TL Note: Area of Effect) skill, [Sword Domain]?”
Qing Bai’s expression suddenly darkened; she seemed to have realized Xiao’s intention.
Xiao smiled faintly, then, leaving the first [Sword Domain], she began to gradually approach Qing Bai.
[Sword Domain], a Tier 4 Swordsman skill, allows the player to unfurl a domain covering a ten-yard radius centered on themselves. Enemies within this domain continuously take damage, and any sword-type skills they are subjected to will guaranteed hit.
This meant that once Xiao had an area covered by a [Sword Domain], Qing Bai absolutely could not step into it, or she would likely be struck down by several of Xiao’s guaranteed-hit skills in quick succession.
Furthermore, Qing Bai couldn’t get too close to Xiao herself, as the closer she was, the harder it would be to dodge skills.
Xiao intended to use this method to progressively restrict all of Qing Bai’s movements, leaving her with nowhere to hide.
She moved twenty yards away from the location of her previous [Sword Domain], then once again stepped forward with her right foot.
[Sword Domain]!
A second [Sword Domain] arose, encompassing the nearby area.
Indeed, this was a skill with no cooldown (TL Note: ‘CD’ is a common gaming term for ‘cooldown’, the time required before a skill can be used again).
However, most players wouldn’t use it this way. After all, the skill itself didn’t deal much damage, and its lengthy cast animation made it largely ineffective in both 1v1 duels and team battles. Typically, Dual Sword players would at most cast one beneath their feet to boost their own accuracy, then remain stationary.
They had no other ranged skills besides [Flash], meaning they couldn’t utilize the guaranteed-hit effect of [Sword Domain] from a great distance to strike enemies with skills.
But for Xiao, it was different. All of Xiao’s skills could be cast from a distance, which meant that even if she wasn’t within the [Sword Domain] itself, as long as her opponent was covered by its range, all her skills would be guaranteed to hit.
Qing Bai, of course, understood this, so she didn’t miss the opportunity presented by Xiao’s cast animation for [Sword Domain].
“Multi-Ice Lance!”
Chilling air surged from the grimoire in her hand, and five long ice lances swiftly condensed in the air.
Five ice lances – this was the maximum number Qing Bai could currently achieve with her Tier 1 skill, Multi-Cast.
The ice lances shot forth abruptly, tearing through the air with a series of sharp whooshes, and in the blink of an eye, they were before Xiao.
At that very moment, Xiao’s [Sword Domain] finished casting, releasing her from its brief animation lock.
“Flowing Water!”
Xiao, facing the ice lances mere inches away, showed no fear. She brandished her twin swords, creating an impenetrable barrier around herself. As the ice lances struck the paths carved by her blades, they shattered instantly, dissolving into a flurry of frost.
‘Such incredible reaction speed!’
Qing Bai’s heart jolted as she watched the five ice lances utterly demolished by Xiao; she hadn’t anticipated failing to inflict even a single point of damage.
“You have already lost.”
Xiao ceased her [Flowing Water] skill, her twin swords once again adopting a poised stance. She slightly lowered her body, glaring menacingly at Qing Bai.
Qing Bai surveyed her surroundings: two [Sword Domains] now encompassed a vast area, and Xiao in front of her was relentlessly closing in.
‘Is the tide truly against me…’
Qing Bai let out a soft sigh, slowly raising the [Water Shield] in her hand.
‘She was still going to make one last struggle…’
****
Yan stood rooted to the spot, his gaze fixed on the large screen suspended in the sky.
With no one currently challenging the arena, he had ample time to watch the duel between Qing Bai and Xiao unfold.
Upon seeing Xiao unleash her second [Sword Domain], he let out a resigned sigh.
He understood that Qing Bai had already lost.
Xiao still had four minutes remaining of her ten-minute arena challenge time, more than enough to defeat Qing Bai, whose movements were now severely restricted.
He had expected to feel regret, or perhaps anger, upon witnessing Qing Bai’s defeat at Xiao’s hands…
But in reality, his heart remained utterly unperturbed.
For Xiao’s victory was simply too self-evident.
The current Qing Bai was, by a wide margin, no match for Xiao.
Realizing this, Yan immediately felt a sense of relief. This was the nature of ‘Companion God Realm’: any player could become an absolute powerhouse, yet no matter how strong, they would inevitably encounter someone who happened to counter them—or rather, a counter relationship between awakened skills.
Xiao’s [Sword of Drizzling Rain] and [Light and Shadow Enchantment] were Qing Bai’s natural enemies; Qing Bai couldn’t even wound Xiao, let alone defeat her.
Yan turned his head to look at the other arena stages.
There was An Dong, the [Immovable Fortress] on arena stage one; Ivan, the [Fist Master] on stage two; Yan, the [Spear Master] on stage three… which was himself; and Lian, the [Divine-Eyed Archer] on stage five…
Not a single one of them could be defeated by the current Qing Bai. Even Ivan, whom she had just vanquished, would likely be unbeatable for Qing Bai on a smaller, 40-yard arena.
‘You still need to work harder, Miss Qing Bai.’
Yan thought, shaking his head with a bitter smile.
‘Oh? You’re asking about those titles?’
Yan had just seen them on the world chat channel; it seemed the spectating players had come up with nicknames for those currently occupying the arena stages.
‘Well, it’s not like I’d give myself one, I’m not that chuunibyou (TL Note: A Japanese slang term for someone who exhibits delusions of grandeur, especially believing they possess special powers or hidden knowledge)…’
Yan recalled his own nickname from the old server, [Frenzied Greatsword Wielder], and the corner of his mouth twitched stiffly.
‘These guys in the world chat…’
‘They seem to really enjoy giving players nicknames.’