Chapter 3 Life in the Starry Sky Chapter 23: Cruelty of the Preliminaries
The vast land is divided into tens of thousands of grids, each grid is twenty meters by twenty meters in size.
There are tens of thousands of masters including Xu Jingming, and each of them stands in the center of the grid.
"Hmm?" Xu Jingming could see that the grid where he was was covered by a translucent barrier, preventing the players from interfering with each other.
"The preliminaries are divided into two rounds." A mighty voice echoed across the vast land. "In the first round, you will face arrows! Arrows will appear from the barrier and shoot towards your heads! The arrows will get faster and faster, and those who are shot will be eliminated! The first round begins!"
Xu Jingming saw at a glance that a translucent arrow suddenly condensed on the translucent barrier and then shot towards his head.
"So slow." Xu Jingming watched.
This arrow was ten meters away from him! Its flying speed was estimated to be only one hundred meters per second, which was too slow.
"Such a slow arrow, even if it hits my face, it probably won't penetrate my facial muscles." Xu Jingming knew very well how powerful the perfect body of the planetary life was , but he wouldn't be stupid enough to catch the arrow with his face. He took a step, and his step speed was faster than the arrow! The arrow flew slowly past him.
With Xu Jingming's nerve reaction speed , looking at an arrow moving at a hundred meters per second is like an ordinary unevolved person looking at the crawling speed of an ant, which is really too slow.
An arrow traveling at a speed of one hundred meters per second, even if shot from a distance of ten meters, would pose no threat to the tens of thousands of contestants on the field, let alone Xu Jingming.
Li Miaomiao also dodged.
"call out."
The second translucent arrow condensed faster and its flying speed also increased.
Time passes by every second.
"These arrows are gathering faster and faster, and in irregular patterns. Many of them are shot from behind." Grandpa Xu had already taken off his light armor, because the arrows were all shot at the head. Wearing armor was of little use, and would affect speed and flexibility.
Only one arrow each time!
But it may appear from all directions, such as in front of you, above your head, or behind you, and may even shoot at you as soon as it appears! The speed of fire is also getting faster and faster.
"No way." Old Master Xu felt the vibration from the side and back, and tried his best to dodge, but an arrow still shot at him diagonally from the side and back, and penetrated his jaw, and Old Master Xu's body turned into illusion.
Ordinary third-level players were eliminated one after another.
Li Miaomiao was a swordsman, so she paid much attention to her body movements. With Xu Jingming's guidance, she managed to hold out longer. But as many high-end third-tier players were eliminated, she was also taken away by an arrow.
…
"A large number of contestants were eliminated." The female host watched as the figures in the live broadcast scene turned into illusions.
"Even if you stand in the center, the arrows can only come from ten meters away! Ten meters is too close, and the arrows are getting faster and faster, and many of them are shot from the side or even from behind. You can't see with your naked eyes! You can only sense the fluctuations in the air, which requires too high a level of sensing." Male guest Owen sighed, "There are fewer and fewer players on the field. It is estimated that those who are still on the field are at least at the fourth level."
1201…1156…1083…988…
The number showing the number of players kept jumping and getting smaller.
"This arrow is too difficult to dodge." Xu Hong felt a pain in his ear, and then his body began to turn into illusion.
…
"I'm good at body movement, but I can't take it anymore." Dai Xiaoqing relied entirely on sensing the air fluctuations to fend off the increasingly terrifying hidden arrows, which finally took her away with one arrow.
…
"It's too difficult." Yang Qingshuo also felt it was becoming more and more difficult. He felt that he might make a mistake at any time. Suddenly, the arrow attack stopped.
Yang Qingshuo was a little dazed.
"Congratulations to all 500 contestants for making it through the first round of the preliminaries." The mighty voice echoed across the vast land. "Of course, this first round is just a warm-up. The second round of the preliminaries is the most brutal. We must select the strongest 32."
"In the second round, there will be killers around you. They may appear alone or in groups ! The killers will go all out to besiege you. What you have to do... is to survive as long as possible."
"When there are 32 players left on the field, the second round ends."
"Reminder: Don't think about defending, try to kill the enemies! Otherwise, the number of assassins will increase and the threat will become greater and greater."
"Round two, start!"
As soon as the words fell.
Xu Jingming saw a translucent killer begin to appear at the barrier ten meters away. The translucent killer was holding a single knife and pounced on Xu Jingming the moment he appeared.
Xu Jingming held a shield in each hand. He had no intention of using his spear skills! These challenges were too little of a threat to his spear skills.
"Practice shield techniques more. Shield techniques are more suitable for dealing with unexpected situations." Xu Jingming looked at the killer coming and did not dodge. He directly smashed him with a shield.
boom!
The shield struck like thunder, and while hitting the killer's knife, its speed did not slow down and it hit the killer. The translucent killer was directly dissipated by the impact.
Xu Jingming's shield technique was learned from the possessed rank 10 warrior 'Ambro'! Ambro's shield technique was thick and flawless when defending, but extremely overbearing when attacking, as if carrying the power of the entire space and time to smash the enemy. This extremely fierce shield technique was very consistent with Xu Jingming's temperament.
His shield skills were also known for their strength. According to the virtual world, Xu Jingming and Ambro had a compatibility of 99.9321%.
"The combat range is twenty meters by twenty meters. For a master, this range is very small. It is even more thrilling to face the siege of killers." Xu Jingming thought. Of course, for him, it was not thrilling at all.
Two shields fiercely struck at enemies on all sides.
If one appeared, I would slap him to death! All of them turned into illusions! If three or five appeared, it would be like a tiger slapping three or five people to death in a row.
"According to the information we obtained from the commentary, the killers that appeared are all at the fourth level! And as time goes by, their strength will continue to increase." The female host said, "There are only about 300 masters left on the field, all of whom are famous top masters from various countries. The elimination rate is very fast now."
"The killer is coming too fast." Although Wang Yi has reached the limit of the fourth level, he also has the skill of rapid archery, shooting the killer again and again.
But these killers are also equipped with shields and heavy armor, and their only weakness is their heads.
The range is too small! If you make a mistake, you will be forced to get close.
"Puff." A flash of knife light swept across Wang Yi's body.
Wang Yi was eliminated.
…
"Not good." Yang Qingshuo was struggling more and more in the fierce battle. Facing the siege of five killers, he was struggling to resist. However, three new killers appeared, making eight killers in total... Some were good at hidden weapons, some were good at heavy weapons, and some were good at assassination. They surrounded him and Yang Qingshuo was instantly overwhelmed.
…
There were only 103 people left on the field, and the number was decreasing as time went by. Xiong Tianshan, Gao Chong and other "top" masters from Xia Country also fell one after another.
"We must hold on, hold on."
Li Wenxiu held the Bagua double axes, his movements were ghostly, and he tried his best to kill the enemy.
Only by killing more can you reduce the number of enemies.
But the killers that appeared were getting stronger and stronger! They were at least at the middle level of the fourth rank, and there were many of them, so the threat was too great when they worked together.
"Bang bang." Two killers holding shields collided with Li Wenxiu, affecting Li Wenxiu's body movements. At the same time, two killers released hidden weapons, forcing Li Wenxiu to dodge narrowly. Three more killers attacked him at close range!
Li Wenxiu's Bagua double axes scratched the necks of the two killers, but he felt a pain in his chest! It was a spear that pierced his chest.
"No--"
Li Wenxiu was very unwilling, but her body still turned into an illusion.
The moment he was eliminated, the number changed from 93 to 92. The weakest ones who were still holding on were at the fourth level!
"Li Wenxiu!"
"No--"
"How is that possible?"
Countless people in Silla covered their heads and watched this scene in disbelief.
Their Silla country's strongest man, who was also the Silla master who persisted the longest in the preliminaries, finally fell, and is still far from the top 32 places.
After many top players around the world have stopped at the fourth level limit, what they are competing for is their actual combat ability! With the same "fourth level limit", different people can show different strengths.
"There are still a hundred people left. Are Miyagawa Akihiko and Kiyosato Touichi the only ones left in our Sakura Country?"
"The competition for these 32 spots is too fierce."
People in all countries are very nervous.
