Chapter 2293: Decisive Battle?

The Top Ten Strongest Contest, Day 4, morning.

The snow piled up at the cave entrance was pushed away. Su Xiao walked out of the cave, breathing the cold air. He moved his left arm. The Ancient Secret Medicine plus Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang's Ice Snow Halo allowed his injuries to recover, and a night's rest also contributed.

The blizzard pressed from behind. Looking at the distance, it would approach in at most half an hour. At this time, the blizzard area was already very dangerous. Once shrouded in it, survival was almost impossible.

From the third day, the blizzard's advancement speed became faster and faster. Before arriving at the Peak Mountains, the threat of the blizzard would not be lifted.

Su Xiao's squad stepped on the journey again. At this moment, four people had been eliminated, among whom three—one was calculated by Su Xiao (Yamu), and the other two simply died in his hands.

After traveling for two hours, Su Xiao walked out of the Frost Forest. During this period, he didn't encounter danger, and didn't even see a living creature.

Walking out of the Frost Forest, Su Xiao saw winding mountains in front. He took out high-magnification binoculars. Because there was snow falling in the distance

Just as Su Xiao was about to put away his binoculars, a scorching red afterimage flashed across his field of vision.

Ta~

A loud noise echoed through the mountains. Because the distance was too great, the sound Su Xiao heard was like the cracking of a whip.

There were participants fighting in the distance. Including Su Xiao himself, there were six participants left: the Void team of Shug and Quanyu, the combination of Nameless Saint and Afni, and the only ones left alone were Monde of the Demon race and Su Xiao.

It wasn't that Su Xiao didn't want to form an alliance with Monde, but rather that he hadn't encountered him. The ideal outcome would be for him and Monde to join forces to eliminate the others first, and then the two of them would decide the winner.

Determining the general direction of the battle, Su Xiao went full speed ahead. The only one who could keep up with him in terms of speed was Baja, while Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, Amu, and Benny followed behind.

Below the Peak Mountains, in a canyon.

Snowflakes drifted down from the sky, and black flames and demon flames melted the snow in the surrounding area.

Monde stood before a rock wall. Two half-meter-long feathers and a piercing spear made of black flames were embedded in his sturdy torso, the high temperature corroding his skin and flesh with a hissing sound.

"Hey, this guy is way too durable. Do all Demons have this constitution? Feather race, how do you even fight against the Demon race?"

Nameless Saint squatted on a giant rock, and behind him stood Afni, holding a small folding fan.

"That's not it. Monde is a pure-blooded Battle Demon. In terms of defensive power, he is definitely the strongest among his peers. Be careful, the more severely Monde is injured, the stronger his power becomes. I've fought him many times."

Quanyu stood in mid-air; if one looked closely, they could see transparent silk threads beneath his feet.

"I suggest we continue to surround and attack him. Bai Ye from Reincarnation Paradise already has four Hegemon Badges. I heard that the Law Breaker and the Demon race are allies. If the two of them join forces, they will be hard to deal with."

Afni spoke with a smile, still smiling as slyly as ever.

As for the last person, it was Shug from the Arcane Eternal Star. He never spoke, black flames rising from his body.

Shug and Quanyu had indeed joined forces, and the combination of Nameless Saint and Afni, which Su Xiao had guessed, also existed.

At this moment, these four were surrounding Monde. It went without saying that they were preparing to take out Monde and Su Xiao first to avoid a situation where Su Xiao and Monde formed an alliance, resulting in a three-team standoff.

Fortunately, it was Monde who was being surrounded; if it were anyone else, they wouldn't have been able to hold out by now.

Below the rock wall, Monde gripped the black-flame piercing spear in his chest with one hand. Just as he was about to pull it out, his vision blurred. The object had pierced his soul; if he pulled it out by force, he wouldn't be able to continue fighting.

This was the terrifying aspect of Shug. Other spellcasters mainly cultivated mana or mental power, while some cultivated their bodies. This guy was more high-end; he cultivated the soul.

Initially, Shug was so weak that he was talked about and even secretly mocked. However, no "face-slapping" plot occurred later. Those who had talked about or mocked Shug, after truly coming into contact with him, secretly felt guilty. One person even died covering Shug's retreat while they were exploring ruins together.

This is human nature; no one opposes others for no reason. Dignity is earned through one's own abilities and conduct, not given by others. Shug firmly believed in this.

No one stipulated that one could only cultivate spellcaster abilities on the Arcane Eternal Star. Shug was exactly like that. At first glance, he appeared to be a fire-element spellcaster, but in reality, he was not. He only had magic patterns inside his left arm; his core combat ability was black flames—black flames that could burn the soul. He was incredibly weak in the early stages and grew stronger in the later stages.

This was a hard counter to Monde. He only had a powerful physical body; it wasn't that he lacked the ability to resist soul-type attacks, but unfortunately, he wasn't proficient in them.

Monde was so severely injured that over 60% of his injuries came from Shug, and the remaining 30% from Nameless Saint. As for Quanyu, he understood Monde the best. The two had fought many times on the battlefield, so he often seized opportunities to suppress Monde's outbursts.

Afni had completely turned into a healer. She was having a mental breakdown; among the remaining participants, she was the weakest and couldn't beat anyone.

"Don't give him a chance to reach the brink of death; that's when he's at his strongest. If he doesn't hand over the Hegemon Badge, kill him right here."

Quanyu had the deepest personal grudge against Monde. The Demon race and the Feather race were in a great war, and Quanyu's best friend had died at Monde's hands, his head torn off by Monde. How could Quanyu not hate him?

Quanyu knew it was a war between two races and some things were unavoidable, but his best friend was dead. His best friend, who had played with him in the Cherry Blossom Forest in their childhood and peed in the mud together, was dead. A month and a half ago, he had died just dozens of meters away from him, his head torn off by the Demon in front of him.

Quanyu's fists clenched until they cracked. He had tried his best not to bring personal grudges into this siege, as that would make him impulsive and cause him to lose his judgment.

"You sissy from the Feather race, that blue-haired guy from a month and a half ago was your friend, right? I remember the look you gave me when I tore his head off."

Monde grinned, revealing teeth stained red with fresh blood.

"His name was Tanu, a kind and cheerful Feather..."

"Quan, stay calm."

The usually lazy Shug acted out of character, interrupting Quanyu. A small giant made of black flames stood behind him. This small giant was about five meters tall, holding a white flame bow in its hands. It had already drawn the string and nocked an arrow—a nearly three-meter-long arrow formed from black flames.

"You want this thing? It's simple: slaughter me, and it's yours."

Although Monde knew that handing over the Hegemon Badge would save his life, it would mean he had surrendered. He would rather die standing than live on his knees. That was just his stubborn personality.

Monde tossed the Hegemon Badge into his mouth and swallowed it with a gulp. He was almost certainly going to die today, so of course, he didn't care what would happen if he swallowed the Hegemon Badge.

"Stupid."

Quanyu stepped on the silk threads beneath his feet, leaving a few black feathers in place, and suddenly appeared in front of Monde.

"Feather Realm."

Black feathers appeared in the surroundings, and transparent silk threads used these feathers as anchor points, wrapping around the area and binding Monde.

Bang.

Two muffled sounds occurred almost simultaneously. The moment Monde broke free from the silk threads, a black flame arrow struck right in front of him. Having just struggled to break free, Monde had no chance to dodge.

"Blade Dao Blade · Green Ghost."

Clang!

The blade edge cut through the air, slicing through the black flame arrow before cutting into the mountain wall opposite. One slash, two pieces. Green Ghost could only attack in a single line, but on that line, no one of the same tier could rival it.

Su Xiao had arrived two minutes ago. After observing the situation, he prepared to join in.

The crunching sound of footsteps on snow approached. Su Xiao, holding a long blade, walked in from the outside of the canyon, followed by Amu and Baja.

Previously, all participants except Su Xiao had gathered here; naturally, he wouldn't miss it.

The Ten Strongest Hegemony Battle hadn't even reached the fifth day; it was only the morning of the fourth day, and all participants had arrived.