Chapter 2744

On the walls of the Ice Hoof Fortress, Ice-born soldiers wearing chainmail and iron helmets were forming a defensive line. The enemy had appeared too suddenly; the scout unit's news had just arrived, and the enemy army had already appeared in their line of sight. This marching speed was already somewhat terrifying.

Su Xiao could sense those affected by the blood energy, but as for what was happening over there, he could neither see nor hear it—the distance was too great.

Once the blood energy imprint he had formed came within a certain range of him, he could immediately sense it.

This was the price of projecting mental power for perception; the sensing range was indeed far, but once the mental power was affected, it would immediately feed back to the user of the ability.

In Reincarnation Paradise, this is known as "Perception Reversal." Experienced sensory types, when performing ultra-long-range perception, will strip away a small portion of their mental power separately to use for sensing, cutting it off immediately if the situation looks bad to avoid this outcome.

Su Xiao retracted his blood energy. Before this, he truly didn't know blood energy could be used this way. Aside from using the Blood Beast, his blood energy had only one other use: clashing with other auras.

At the current stage, Su Xiao's blood energy had not fully awakened. He could feel that once his Charm attribute dropped below 0 points, his "Aura Projection" ability would be restored, at which point he could go to the Ancient Battlefield to continue enhancing his blood energy.

He hadn't gone before because he had encountered the Sword Demon. After joining the Starry Sky Seat, as long as he didn't run into a Sword Demon in a mindless state, there would be no problem.

Su Xiao checked the time; it wasn't even 4 o'clock yet, and it was still raining outside. He planned to launch a major assault on the Ancient Tree Fortress at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning. They had just fought a hard-fought siege battle during the day, and the wolf cavalry needed rest.

Su Xiao picked up the "Deathmatch" terminal from the bed. Just as he was about to activate it, a dog head nudged up beside him, and Baja also flew over to the small table at the head of the bed.

As for Am, it was sitting at the doorway in a state of self-isolation. Its attempt to become a "War Bull Knight" had failed. It had previously offered food to that warg multiple times to gain "riding qualifications," but now, the warg still shivered when it saw Am; after eating all the food Am gave it, it turned and ran. Am's simple-minded personality was completely helpless against this.

Ignoring the self-isolating Am, Su Xiao pressed his thumb onto the Deathmatch terminal and successfully activated it. Several strings of text and a 3D image of a monster appeared.

"Loading..."

"Loading complete. Your deathmatch monster data is as follows."

Monster Name: Predator.

Strength: E

Agility: D

Stamina: E

Energy: E (Trait not yet acquired; will awaken energy trait upon reaching B-rank)

Body Height: 2.37 meters.

Weight: 150 kilograms.

Deathmatch Count: 0 matches.

Points: 0.

Comprehensive Combat Power: E.

Seeing the monster data displayed on the terminal, Su Xiao was somewhat puzzled. Based on the monster height and weight he had initially set, the Agility should have reached B, or at the very least C-rank. The current D-rank was clearly not suited for game balance.

Su Xiao prepared to play one deathmatch first to see what his opponent's stats were like. He was a novice in this game, so the opponents he was matched with should be similar.

"Matching started..."

"Opponent found. It will take 5–10 minutes to prepare for the deathmatch. 50% of the earnings from this deathmatch will be recorded in the prize pool. For every 5 deathmatch victories a player achieves, this company will mail the prizes to the player's location (shipping costs covered by this company)."

"Both players may communicate before the deathmatch preparation. Please do not engage in mutual insults, slander, threats, etc. If such remarks are discovered and a player is reported multiple times, they will be subject to communication restrictions."

After Su Xiao closed the system message, a chat box appeared on the screen. His opponent was named "Player TT11."

Player TT11: "Comprehensive Combat Power E? How did you manage that? Are you just giving away points?"

A thick sense of mockery emerged. Baja, who was leaning over to peek, widened its eyes.

"Boss, let me handle this stage!"

"..."

Su Xiao tossed the terminal to Baja. Although Baja couldn't control the monster in the game, it could send text through the terminal.

A moment later, Baja handed the terminal back. A red system message appeared on it: "You have been reported by Player TT11."

Su Xiao gripped the sides of the terminal, activating all the sensors. The screen was pitch black, with only the sound of the monster's breathing.

At the same time, in the XII Deathmatch Arena—an octagonal ring with five-meter-high protective walls made of rock and metal. The reason for the rock was twofold: first, to set the atmosphere; second, to make the fighting scenes more exciting, creating scenes of gravel flying everywhere.

The surrounding tiered spectator stands were pitch black and packed to capacity. The front of the VIP boxes consisted of large floor-to-ceiling glass.

At the edge of the octagonal ring, blue-purple light rings were embedded in the upper side of the protective walls. Several spotlights were positioned above, keeping the ring bright without being blinding; light that was too strong was not conducive to setting the mood.

The audience stood or sat in the surrounding stands. It was pitch black here and very quiet. The previous deathmatch had ended just a few minutes ago, and everyone was waiting for the new one to begin.

With a snap, all the lights were extinguished. A spotlight shone down from directly above, and a referee with slicked-back hair wearing a vest appeared in the light, becoming the only highlight of the entire arena.

The referee raised both hands, and cheers and shouts followed immediately.

"Tonight is an extraordinary night! Right here, a deathmatch between monsters will take place—a fight to the death, with blood flying everywhere."

As soon as the referee finished speaking, a heavy, short bass sound began to play. Under this bass, the atmosphere gradually built up.

With a hiss, steam erupted on the left side of the deathmatch ring. Dark golden lights lit up on the protective wall, which gradually rose, and heavy footsteps could be heard from within.

Boom, boom, boom~

Following the heavy footsteps, a monster five meters tall, its arms covered in biological armor, walked out of the darkness.

"It's here! This is the combination of strength and armor, the monster among monsters! Please welcome, Horn... Armor! Tonight, it will go on a killing spree!"

Thump! Thump!

The monster known as Horn Armor smashed the ground with fists the size of millstones, causing large cracks to appear on the ring floor. Under the influence of the strength and the music, the audience erupted in cheers.

"Next, please welcome the cruelty in the darkness, the nightmare of the weak, the harvester of life—Hunt... Predator!"

The referee pointed to the right side of the deathmatch ring. Several rows of screws on the protective wall turned on their own, clicking and clacking as they sank into the wall. The wall opened to both sides, and deep blue light shone in.

Zing~

In the darkness, a blade hummed. A monster just over two meters tall, its face wrapped in a pale white carapace, walked out from the wall. In its hand, it held a long blade nearly two meters long.

The handle of this long blade was very long, occupying one-third of the entire blade, and the spine of the blade was like a groove, half-enclosing the blade in front.

"Everyone, are you ready... to welcome this battle of the century! Blood! Blood! Blood!"

After the referee shouted a few times, the surrounding cheers grew even louder.

A few seconds later, the referee's body gradually turned into particles of light, drifting upward to form the number 3, which soon changed to the number 2. This was the countdown.

Beep~

A sound rang out around the deathmatch ring, signaling the start of the deathmatch.

With a bang, the Horn Armor beast opposite smashed its fists together and looked down at Predator. The player controlling the Horn Armor beast was full of rage; he had been so thoroughly roasted by Baja earlier that he was almost depressed, and his attempt to mock the opponent had backfired, leading to his own defeat.

The Horn Armor beast charged forward. When it was still a few meters away from Predator, it struck a punching pose. The momentum was strong, but it looked very much like a street fight.

Predator switched from holding the blade with both hands to one hand, its body crouching low.

Swish.

The long blade cut in from under the Horn Armor beast's armpit, first severing its entire shoulder and right arm, then cutting into its neck. The rock armor on the neck was sliced open, followed by muscle, bone, and finally, it exited from the side of the back of the neck.

Blood plasma splattered, and the entire arm and a massive head fell to the ground. The headless Horn Armor beast crashed into the protective wall, struggling to stand up, and after smearing blood everywhere, its single arm hung limply.

The surrounding cheers and shouts came to an abrupt halt. A young girl in the VIP box nearly sprayed the cola in her mouth out through her nose. She swore this was the fastest of the 107 deathmatches she had ever seen.

After a moment of silence in the spectator stands, deafening cheers erupted. The long blade in Predator's hand gradually merged into its body; the two blade segments hid into the bones of its right forearm and upper arm, and the main structure transformed into a long tail with a tail blade at the tip.

Not only that, the comprehensive combat power of Su Xiao's monster soared, rising from E to B. As for the monster's enhancement, after every victory, the game's staff would inject various types of active culture fluid into the monster to increase its strength.

In a bedroom with a strong sense of technology, a mechanical maid stood in a corner. A teenager wearing diamond earrings sat on the sofa, looking at the deathmatch terminal in his hand. The screen was pitch black.

The teenager tapped the terminal in his hand, suspecting it was broken. A few seconds later, the system prompted that his monster had died.

Yesterday, he had been ecstatic to unwrap the game, activate the deathmatch terminal, and design his own monster.

And today, he started his deathmatch battle. Before the battle, because he mocked his opponent, he was almost "wiped out" by the opponent's roasting, with his parents dying repeatedly. Just as he was preparing for revenge, he was gone, because this trash game had "lag," causing his screen to go black, and his monster was slaughtered.

At least that's how it seemed to the teenager: trash game, lag too high.

"Ah!"

The teenager let out a sound resembling a groundhog. A moment later, the veins on his neck bulged, and he smashed the terminal in his hand against the wall.

"Trash game, refund!"

Su Xiao looked at the data in the terminal. He truly hadn't expected the player he encountered in the first match to be so weak. Even if the opponent had walked over slowly, he would have had to slash a dozen times to potentially severely injure them, the reason being that the monster Predator's strength was limited, and the blade wasn't sharp enough.

If the opponent charged directly, that was a different story. Su Xiao controlled Predator and, relying on the opponent's forward momentum, sliced them in one stroke.

Generally speaking, this game relies on reaction speed and judgment. Of course, neural connection is another matter; that uses the terminal as a medium to completely control the monster, with visual, pain, and tactile feedback. Su Xiao was not yet prepared to try this method of control.