Chapter 184: Individual Match Concludes

Chen An walked onto the stage, his eyes blazing as he stared at Huo Yutong.

Huo Yutong ignored him, she was fully restoring her soul power through the Milk Bottle.

Seeing that neither of them intended to communicate, Huang Jinchu also stopped talking and directly announced:

「The match begins! 」

In an instant, Chen An shot out like lightning, swiftly rushing toward Huo Yutong.

Unlike Chen Fei, a long-range attacker who relied on speed for maneuvering, his younger brother Chen An is a close-combat-type soul engineer; with his Flashbird martial soul, he excels at using his extreme speed for swift assassinations.

Coupled with his powerful close-combat offensive soul tool and his own extreme speed, he is far more troublesome than an ordinary agility-attack Soul King.

The pair of short swords in his hand had been reforged by him seven times, each time making the lightning short swords stronger.

Because of his single-minded dedication, this pair of short swords has become a sixth-rank soul tool; one blade carries a flash effect, with incredible speed, while the other carries a thunderstorm effect—once it hits, the thunderstorm erupts fully to blast the enemy, simultaneously creating an opportunity for Flash.

A hundred-meter distance was crossed in a single breath; Huo Yutong stopped restoring her soul power, lightly sidestepped, and in the nick of time dodged Chen An's assassination, while at the same moment her scorpion tail thrust out fiercely, attacking him at the critical juncture when his old strength was exhausted and new strength not yet born.

Chen An's face darkened, his fourth soul ring lit up, and his already great speed increased further; his whole body seemed to turn into a bolt of lightning, dodging Huo Yutong's attack and then striking back with countless bolts of electricity.

Huo Yutong activated Ice Emperor Body Shield while waving her long sword, coordinating with her scorpion tail to block his attack flawlessly.

At the same time, a blizzard blew up, obscuring Chen An's vision and forcing him to hastily retreat.

However, this time the pursuer turned out to be Huo Yutong; she showed no mercy, and her Emperor Sword, relying on the cover of the Snow Dance Extreme Ice Domain, slashed at Chen An.

Chen An deployed a fifth-rank soul tool shield, only to discover in shock that it couldn't even last two seconds before Huo Yutong cut it apart; he had just wanted to switch to an invincible shield when a soul impact surged over, followed immediately by Huo Yutong's snow-white little hand.

The blizzard cleared, revealing Huo Yutong restoring her soul power with the Milk Bottle and Chen An turned into an ice sculpture.

The spectators in Star Net Plaza were momentarily unsure how to react; this match ended far too quickly, lasting only about five seconds.

Simply put, Chen An rose, Chen An launched an attack, Chen An was at a disadvantage, Chen An lost.

His extreme speed not only failed to become a weapon to defeat Huo Yutong, but instead made him the fastest to lose among all members of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.

Huo Yutong absorbed the soul power stored in the Milk Bottle while glancing lightly at the contestant seats below.

At this moment, Ma Rulong's face was as black as it could get.

Li Yan, Xiao Hongchen, Meng Hongchen, Chen An—Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy has already lost four people in the individual elimination round; considering that three Soul Kings were seriously injured in the recent team battle and cannot continue, even counting Ma Rulong, they only have two people who can still compete in the individual elimination round.

Behind Huo Yutong, meanwhile, Dai Yaoheng, Tang Wulin, Bei Bei, and Xu San Shi are waiting; they have fully restored their soul power during Meng Hongchen's match and are now itching to go.

Undoubtedly, this individual elimination round was a loss for the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy; no matter how unwilling, they must admit it.

Ma Rulong took a deep breath, found the team supervisor, and whispered a few words.

The team supervisor showed an expression of doubtful surprise.

「Are you sure? 」

Ma Rulong nodded heavily. "Hmm, I think this gives us a higher chance of victory."

The team supervisor's expression was torn; he hesitated for a moment, then finally sighed and said:

「Alright, you handle it as you see fit. 」

Just now Ma Rulong told him that the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy should surrender in the individual elimination round, because continuing like this would bring no benefit to the academy.

Shilake Academy undoubtedly excels at individual elimination matches, and now they also have a numerical advantage; the outcome of this match is already decided, and whether to continue depends on the impact of the upcoming 2-2-3 match.

Shilake now has five people left, including Huo Yutong and Dai Yaoheng, while Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy has only two left; anyone with a bit of common sense knows that, with both sides possessing Soul Emperors, the sole role of Soul Kings is to drain the opposing Soul Emperor's soul power—meaning this situation is hardly different from letting Ma Rulong single-handedly take on five opponents.

In that case, the final situation would likely become Ma Rulong losing to Huo Yutong or Dai Yaoheng, his soul power exhausted, after which the ultimate final would arrive.

This is a situation he must avoid, because his greatest trump card has not yet been used—and that trump card not only consumes soul power, it even burns life; if he expends his soul power in the individual elimination round, he won't be able to use it in the 2-2-3 match.

Hearing Huang Jinchu's announcement on stage that the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy was surrendering in the individual elimination round, the entire Star Net Plaza erupted in an uproar.

In past tournament finals, Shilake and Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy always fought to the bitter end, refusing to yield without victory; this time, however, the finals began with Shilake surrendering in the team battle, followed by Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy surrendering in the individual elimination round—this back-and-forth added a touch of drama to an already exciting competition.

The Shilake members looked at each other, then all turned their gazes to Wang Yan, awaiting his arrangements.

Wang Yan's face was somewhat grim at this moment; the match had finally reached its most critical juncture.

He took a deep breath and said:

「The opponent's first entrants will certainly be Ma Rulong and Lin Xi, who didn't appear in the individual elimination round, while Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen are definitely locked in to compete; considering the opponent only has six people able to fight, this ace sibling pair surely won't be saved for the last lone battle, so all the pressure falls on the first two matches. 」

He glanced at Ling Luochen and said: "Ling Luochen, you don't go on stage first; you'll go up in the final match."

Ling Luochen was stunned for a moment.

「Teacher, I'm not afraid. 」

Wang Yan had just said the first two matches bore the greatest pressure, yet she thought Wang Yan feared she couldn't withstand that pressure.

However, Wang Yan shook his head.

「Don't misunderstand; it's precisely because you are our team's fourth strongest that I want to keep you for the final match. 」

Seeing Ling Luochen still not quite understanding, Bei Bei explained on Wang Yan's behalf: "Teacher Wang, this is a precaution; if you compete in the first match and still lose, then our final match will have to be fought by me and Xu San Shi against the opponent's two Soul Kings."

Only then did Ling Luochen suddenly understand.

Shilake had indeed accumulated a certain advantage in the individual elimination round, but because Huang Jinchu kept watching from the sidelines, they couldn't inflict serious injuries on the opponent as they had in the team battle.

That means both sides now have only six people left; although the final match format is called 2-2-3, in practice it has become 2-2-2 for both sides, as neither can muster seven people to compete.

And if Ling Luochen and Dai Yaoheng go on stage together and lose, then Shilake would have to field two Soul Ancestors against two Soul Kings in the final match—basically a certain loss.

As the team supervisor, Wang Yan must prevent this situation from occurring.

(End of chapter)