I said with a smile, “Of course I will represent my team. As long as you can beat me, I’ll consider it your victory.”
A man wearing red armor from the Devil Squad bellowed in rage, “You’re looking down on us too much! Even a Radiant Knight might not necessarily be able to defeat us when we combine our forces. Brothers, let’s charge him and let him pay the price for his arrogance.”
The three warriors charged at me together. The two mages had also started to chant their incantations. “Great Fire Elements, gather at my side, condense into a dragon of fire and annihilate the enemy before your eyes!” A fire dragon. It seems this person is a fire mage. “Great Water Elements, gather at my side, condense into a dragon of water and annihilate the enemy before your eyes!” This is a water dragon. So he’s a water mage.
A pair of rank six spells, the water and fire dragons, approached me. The three warriors, each possessing the strength of an earth knight, attacked once more in concert. They were truly strong and clearly enraged with me, charging towards me with all their strength.
If it was three or four years ago I definitely would have been greatly injured by this combination of martial skill and magic, but as of now that would be out of the question.
As their spell took form, I teleported to the corner of the arena to buy myself some time. I began chanting, “Oh great light elements, I request to borrow your formidable strength, let the infinite light permeate the earth and shine!” My body suddenly emitted a dazzling light and in a flash it overcame the twin water and fire dragons. As for the Devil Squad, they had all been knocked off the stage by my Brilliant Empire.
When they touched the spell, I reduced a portion of its magic power. It had only knocked them out the stage without injury. The pair of water and fire magic dragons were not weak. Even when compared with the absolute power of Brilliant Empire, they could not be considered inferior. However, their magic power was far inferior to my own. In addition, my psychological tactics had succeeded. Had they not recklessly charged at me in anger and rather defended against me together, it wouldn’t have been easy for me to defeat them. With such advantageous conditions, it was only natural for me to easily win.
The audience gave me a round of enthusiastic applause. Contrary to the atmosphere, I hadn’t felt the need to whistle towards the sky and many had asked from above who was the imposing hero that stood where I was.
When I walked down the stage, Dong Ri quickly came and excitedly said, “Zhang Gong, you truly are so powerful! It turns out magic is actually so useful!”
I said smugly, “Learn it properly then. Learn all you can from big brother and shake the world when you go out! Haha!” After revealing my strength in this battle, Gao De and Xing Ao were finally convinced that I hadn’t beaten them that time with a cheap trick. They were completely obedient to me now.
The following battles were very easy for us as we didn’t meet any teams stronger than this one. We played our triumphant hymn the whole time and in one breath, we had reached the top 32.
From the observations made by Xiu Si and I, all of the Wind Dragon Battle Squad had made their appearances. All of them were warriors, just as we predicted. Aside from the Earth Knight that appeared first, the rest of them all had the strength of a sky knight. However, it was unknown whether or not if they had concealed any of their real strengths. The one that posed the biggest threat to us was Bi Qi’s eldest son. In all of their previous battles, not once had he truly used his strength. He only acted once or twice, when the other members of his team were in a pinch, thus allowing them to smoothly win afterwards. As the commander of the Second Earth Dragon Corps, he had innately possessed the air of a commander. Regardless of the battle’s circumstances, he would definitely be able to lead them. Even if Mt. Tai (if there was a Mt. Tai) collapsed in front of him, he had the mettle to remain calm and continue leading. He was about 190 centimeters in height with a lean build. Explosive power could be felt whenever he issued an order. I couldn’t help but be anxious. He absolutely must not break through the bottleneck to become a Radiant Knight, otherwise we will be humiliated.
Our next opponent was here to protect the Royal Prince Qi Lu Xiuda’s Prince Battle Squad. It is said that they were highly expected to win. They were the most powerful opponents we had faced yet. All five of them were sky knights. Furthermore, they were well coordinated during the battle. Evidently, this was the fruit of their many years of training together. The Prince’s Battle Squad was the greatest obstacle if we wanted to surpass the Wind Dragon Battle Squad that Bi Qi sent.
I didn’t know whether or not I would be able to meet Zhan Hu’s father, Prince Qi Lu, and accomplish the only mission big brother had given me.
69
Volume 3: Chapter 25 – A Battle of Strength
As long as we can enter the sixteen strongest, we will come across Duke Bi Qi’s Wind Dragon battle squad. Therefore, we must overcome the Prince’s team. After a day of rest, we arrived at the same stage as yesterday and prepared to compete in our hardest match yet. For today’s battle, I specially wore my Light God Robes. Xiu Si and the rest of the team had also worn their best armor.
Standing on the stage, a feeling of unease sprung up when I saw our opponents. They presented a strong sense of unity. But in order to make up for our mutual weaknesses we had to fight as a team.
The competition had yet to start, so I let my teammates warm up beforehand. Grasping my magic staff, I walked two steps forward and politely said, “Hello, we feel very honored to have the privilege of competing with the Prince’s team.”
All of our opponents were wearing silver warrior’s attire. They had replied to me courteously. The tall team member in the middle walked forward two steps and said, “Hello. We saw your performance yesterday. Your magic is quite powerful, but today we will certainly halt your advance here. Our target is the championship.” Although he spoke in a very polite manner, his self-confidence was evident in his pleasant words.
I carefully looked at him. I noticed that he and Big Brother Zhan Hu had many similarities. The main difference was that he was a bit older. I couldn’t help but ask, “Excuse me, are you Prince Xiuda’s son?”
Clearly surprised, he said, “How did you know? I am Shan Yun Xiuda and the corps commander of our country’s First Earth Dragon Corps.”
He was Zhan Hu’s older brother! I had prepared myself, but the fact that he was an Earth Dragon Corp’s commander scared me. After a pause, I asked, “Is Prince Xiuda well?”
Shan Yun suspiciously looked at me and casually said, “He is very well, why do you ask?”
I smiled, “I’ll tell you after the competition. Let’s use all of our strength in this match and see whether or not you can truly stop my advance.”
My words stirred Shan Yun’s heroic spirit, with a bright voice he said, “Very well. Younger Brother, let me witness whether or not your magic is truly ferocious!”
The judge announced the start of the match and in accordance with our prior plans, Xiu Si, Xing Ao, and Gao De were in front. They were responsible for obstructing the opponent’s assault while Dong Ri and I were behind them. I was responsible for casting magic and Dong Ri was responsible for protecting me with covering fire, to let me focus on attacking.
I didn’t dare hesitate. I waved the magic staff in hand and started chanting.
“Light Elements, my friends, use your endless light to expel evil.” Holy Light, it bestowed upon teammate’s clarity of mind and also increases their defense.