Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“Steel Forward Charge!”

The shield that Baizhan Yusheng raised was as thick as a wall and much larger than it originally was when they had met for the first time. Thick iron castings were covered with ancient polygonal cracks, just like the shell of an antediluvian turtle, which was extremely tough.

This shield was the model of the Sub-Legendary shield Turtle Shield! In Lin Jie’s previous life, this shield had once been ranked 4th on the Shield Rankings Board and had been rumored to be capable of evolving to the grade of Legendary. When Lin Jie had fought with Baili Xuanyuan in his previous life, he had held the Turtle Shield. When the shield was activated, it would wrap the person up completely, just like how an ancient turtle retreated back into its shell, and that pissed Lin Jie off!

There was a spike in the heart of the Turtle Shield, which existed as a backstory. It was rumored that it was the ossature formed when the ancient turtle was evolving to Legendary. Turtles were mollusks, but their physiques would undergo huge changes during evolution, hence hardening. However, the ancient turtle was under the attack of monster hunters during its evolution, thereby getting killed.

The hardy prick was tough as steel!

‘I would be cautious if the Turtle Shield had evolved into Sub-Legendary and produced the unlimited reflection skill. However, currently, it is still too weak.’ Lin Jie pondered about the shield’s attributes. Baizhan Yusheng’s Defense had reached 1,100 points, higher than Lin Jie, after being equipped with the turtle shield. Furthermore, the Turtle Shield possessed the deflection skill with which Baizhan Yusheng had planned to consume all of Lin Jie’s energy previously.

In the midst of Lin Jie’s thought process, the mini giant, Baizhan Yusheng, had already closed the distance between them. A layer of fog rose and covered the surface of the shield, instantly filling up and smoothing the cracks.

‘Mirror of Deflection?’ Lin Jie was mildly surprised. That was the shield’s Epic Skill, which was able to undergo Block Judgement once and deflect the attack fully. It was a strength-leveraging skill that was particularly useful against jobs that had a high output but low health points, such as Berserkers and Bandits.

“Life Growl, Battle Desire, Fighting Spirit!”

Baizhan Yusheng grew in size following every growl, and his veins began swelling up like worms. His health bar increased by 700 points, Strength Judgement was boosted by 50%, and he smashed his shield towards Lin Jie!

The series of moves was a combination of defense, counterattack, and suppression! It restrained the opponents by deflecting their attacks and inflicting damage on the opponents if they chose not to retaliate. Furthermore, Baili Xuanyuan, whose strength was unknown, was a dangerous entity as well.

In the face of Baizhan Yusheng’s huge attack, Lin Jie made a move!

He wielded his Broken b=Blade and pierced blandly towards Baizhan Yusheng.

Ding~

The blade collided with the shield.

“Lone Wolf, you are really something! You have indeed seen through and understood that my attack was the Mirror of Deflection that was capable of deflecting the full damage of an attack, so you used a normal attack against me, right? However, you probably did not expect my skill to be enhanced. Thus, it does not take into account any defense during deflection, die! Mirror of Deflection!” Baizhan Yusheng yelled as he raised his shield up high and pressed it down towards Lin Jie!

“Idiot, you will have to go through Block Judgement before deflection can occur.” Lin Jie grew frosty, and Death Light rays were blasted out again from his blood-red eyes while strength seeped into his arms. He flicked Broken Blade, and Baizhan Yusheng flew out after being tossed and stabbed.

The theory behind the Mirror of Deflection was an enhanced block. Once an attack passed through the mirror’s Block Judgement successfully, the Block damage would evolve to ‘attack reduction and deflection’. Therefore, this would not be effective against Lin Jie’s Death Light Helmet.

Attack break!

-1,029!

When faced with the opponent’s Parry and Strength Judgement during blocking, if judgment was successful, the attack would be broken, and 200% damage would be inflicted.

Lin Jie’s Strength Judgement was already ranked amongst the top, with the boost from Kiara Beast King Armor and Broken Blade. So long the Boss was Gold and below, Lin Jie would be invincible. Jobs that relied on blocking such as Shield Specialist would be helpless against Lin Jie!

“Hunter’s Forward Charge!”

“Shield Cut!”

A golden hue covered Broken Blade as Lin Jie pursued and sliced towards Baizhan Yusheng’s throat. If the latter was to raise his shield, its effect would be nullified by the Death Light Helmet, and Baizhan Yusheng would suffer double the damage. However, if he did not block, he would die!

“Red Lotus Knight Slash!”

At that moment, Baili Xuanyuan, who had been restraining himself, yelled out, and a 5-meters long blood-red sword sliced through the air!

Red Lotus Knight Slash! Baili Xuanyuan had been agglomerating this skill since the battle began, this was also his strongest skill. It had basic damage of 40%, and the damage would increase to 300%, disregarding Defense if the chanting lasted longer than 10 seconds.

If Lin Jie did not have the Death Light Helmet, which managed to nullify Baizhan Yusheng’s blocks, the coordination of those two men would land Lin Jie in a sticky situation.

However, all of those were useless now.

“Get over here!”

Lin Jie raised his hand, activating Water Surge, and Baili Xuanyuan was blasted over the water currents. He was about to agglomerate the skill again when roars sounded at his ears.

“Red Lotus Resistance!” A smile flashed across Baili Xuanyuan’s face as he activated the Red Lotus Resistance, and he would be immunized against a crowd control skill once. This would definitely be outside Lin Jie’s expectations! He dipped his long sword as he agglomerated the Red Lotus Knight Slash again.

Dragon’s Roar!

Outraged Roar!

Ice Spirit Slash!

Lin Jie looked cold and detached as he yelled ferociously twice. Baili Xuanyuan trembled and was stunned. The next move, Ice Spirit Slash, froze him up instantly!

“Trash, even after a Hidden Job-Change, you are still trash!” Lin Jie grabbed Baili Xuanyuan by the head and sliced his throat. Death Light exploded once again, and the blood-red rays shot through Baili Xuanyuan’s chest!

-1,228!

-1,884!

No matter how much Baili Xuanyuan leveled up during this period and how much elites’ time he had wasted when he had been making them yo take him along their missions, he had only been at Level 25, and his attributes were not high. Hence, he was instakilled by Lin Jie when the latter’s level was 30% higher than his attributes.

‘I never thought that he would have changed to a Red Lotus Knight.’ Lin Jie’s brows were furrowed. If he knew about this earlier, he would have made Baili Xuanyuan change to an Abyss Knight.

Red Lotus Knights were ranked top 30 amongst the thousands of hidden jobs. However, Baili Xuanyuan had failed to identify the strong suit of this particular job—Red Lotus Knights were the strongest at energy conservation. In his previous life, the Red Lotus Knight then had really done an excellent job. He had been staying in the woods most of the times, and nobody had known what he had been up to. However, occasionally when he would venture out of the woods, he would be equipped with insanely strong powers that were of the restricted curse level—really incredible! Therefore, all the players had assumed that there was a large price to pay in order to cast those spells.

After slaying Baili Xuanyuan, Lin Jie glanced towards Baizhan Yusheng and gestured for him to move forward.

“Steel Forward Charge!”

Baizhan Yusheng’s face was crimson with rage. He had thought that the enhanced Turtle Shield was sufficient to destroy Lin Jie; besides, he had the advantage of being a Shield Specialist. Who knew that he would be so weak?

“Hunter’s Forward Charge!”

Bang—

Both men collided with a loud boom, and Baizhan Yusheng was blasted right off the stage!

The strength disparity was too large.

Lin Jie surveyed him with a faint smile but spared him.

Baizhan Yusheng stood up slowly as he gulped and said, “We will fight again next time.”

“Alright.” Lin Jie nodded, then turned and left.

As the saying went, “A mallet and a handful of sugar.” From their first meeting, Lin Jie had known that Baizhan Yusheng was someone that could be recruited. Although he was Baili Xuanyuan’s guard, his motto of ‘Dignity’ and ‘Singling out others’ would not have worked with Baili Xuanyuan. Lin Jie had first broken Baizhan Yusheng’s attack to crush his confidence. Next, he had slain Baili Xuanyuan in a single move to prove his strength. Lastly, he had spared Baizhan Yusheng to cast doubt in Baili Xuanyuan’s heart, as well as to do Baizhan a favor, for him to change his team.

Lin Jie was really a wily old fox for being able to invoke conflict between both men under such critical conditions.

Everyone couldn’t help but recoil in fear after they witnessed Lin Jie removing the competitors so arrogantly. The most terrifying part was that the NPCs were not able to punish him! They had not imprisoned him after bringing him away, but instead, they had given him a piece of equipment!

“It’s over, all over. How can the other guilds survive in the City of Light if Lone Wolf is being so arrogant?”

“I know, right? The City of Light had 10 times the number of players as compared to other main cities, Lone Wolf is going to dictate the city.”

“Hmph, what are you talking about? The Demon Skull was brought by Lone Wolf, and he had contributed greatly to the flourishing of the City of Light. Even if he were to become the City Leader, there would be no disagreement.”

“He will not be ruthless, haven’t you guys realized how inclusive the Brotherhood is? That Baizhan Yusheng and those that Lone Wolf had killed had gotten into trouble with the Brotherhood previously. Ninth Master was a pervert that was attacking one of the Savage Blade’s female members. Of course Lone Wolf would be pissed. When it comes down to it, Lone Wolf is very protective of his members.”

“That’s right, he is being protective! He is just a judge, he is doing all of these for his teammates.”

“Our Sea Patrol Guild should consider joining the Brotherhood. We are just a second league guild, it will be advantageous if we can receive the protection from Brotherhood.”

“I had the same thought.”

The players in the audience were all interacting and harboring a variety of thoughts. Some were angry, several were envious, and others were filled with admiration…

“I withdraw from the competition.”

“I withdraw from the competition as well.”

Those that were able to make it to the final round of the tournament were all capable men. However, who would dare to make a move now that Lin Jie was standing there glaring fiercely? They would probably be assigned a false crime by the Brotherhood leader if they dared to make any move!

The 3 Great Druids from the City of Elves glanced at each other before withdrawing from the competition.

“What about you?” Lin Jie was extremely pleased with the players’ decisions, and he turned his attention to the Elemental Sword Artist. That fellow was Skyscraper, a player from the City of Sea King.

Skyscraper was ranked top 5 amongst all the participants. He was stronger than Lost Camel, and with his strange attack methods, he would have easily clinched the top 3.

“I will withdraw from the competition, but I hope that you can let me join the Brotherhood.” Skyscraper was straight to the point as he toggled out the selection tab and quit the tournament.

Currently, the Brotherhood had taken up all top 10 slots of the first tournament!