The semi-finals began at 3 pm sharp.

The first semi-final was between two super guilds, Snowy Cathaya and Hero Alliance. However, Snowy Cathaya's chances of winning were dimmer because frankly, Sun Qingqing was kinda dragging her team down at this point. Even Lin Yixin admitted that their chances of winning would be much higher if Nangong Lexi was present. The newly-recruited archer couldn't guarantee Snowy Cathaya a trophy, but she sure as h.e.l.l could make it a tight race.

……

Backpack in hand, Lin Yixin looked back at me and asked, “What are your thoughts about this match?”

I replied, “Snowy Cathaya's only chance of winning this game is to drag it out to the duo match. This means you need to win 2 solo matches at least.”

Lin Yixin smiled. “What, you think we can't beat Hero Alliance in 1v1s?”

I shrugged and said honestly, “Frankly, no. It'll be miraculous if you do. I only pray that the enemy doesn't 3:0 you…”

“Hmph!” Lin Yixin pouted. “Just you wait. There's no chance Hero Alliance can 3:0 Snowy Cathaya with me around!”

“Good. Anyway, you should go prepare your line-up…”

“Yeah…”

I let Lin Yixin go and watched her as she led Purple Marquis, Clear Perfume and Shadow Chanel up the stage. Snowy Cathaya's dominating success in this compet.i.tion had garnered a lot of attention. The guild was only the third ranker in the China nationals, and the compet.i.tion in the internationals were far greater. Therefore, Snowy Cathaya had more than proven themselves worthy by entering the semi-finals. Even if they lost, their status and influence in the country would increase greatly.

“What kind of line-up do you guys think Beauty Lin will go with?” Murong Mingyue asked.

He Yi replied, “Knowing Yiyi, I bet she would want to settle the score with Vienna's Sorrow. This means that she would be fighting in the first or the third match. a.s.suming that the first and third matches are taken by her and Purple Marquis, then Shadow Chanel has to be the one to fight the second match. Their chances of winning should be bigger this way…”

Murong Mingyue looked at me next. “What do you think, Lu Chen?”

I thought for a moment before replying with a smile, “I wonder. That line-up is a bit too predictable, and Yiyi is an unpredictable girl. In my opinion, there's a higher chance that Yiyi fights the second match, and Clear Perfume the first match. You've all heard of the story of Tian Ji's Horse Racing, right? If Clear Perfume runs into Vienna's Sorrow, she'll lose, but her team may beat Hero Alliance thanks to it.”

Beiming Xue blinked once. “That makes sense…”

Li Chengfeng spoke up, “Well, the match-ups are out, so you can stop speculating now…”

We looked up. As he said, the match-ups were displayed on the screen—

1v1: Da Vinci's Code LV-185 Shadow Archer VS Clear Perfume LV-185 Archer

1v1: Bethoven's Joy LV-186 Knight of Stars VS Wind Fantasy LV-187 Light Wanderer

1v1: Vienna's Sorrow LV-189 Berserker VS Purple Marquis LV-186 Warrior

1v1: Death Wish LV-187 Mage VS Shadow Chanel LV-185 Dark Tongue Mage

2v2: Vienna's Sorrow LV-189 Berserker & Beethoven's Joy LV-186 Knight of Stars VS Wind Fantasy LV-187 Light Wanderer & Purple Marquis LV-186 Warrior

……

Both line-ups were rather unexpected. Instead of Vienna's Sorrow, Da Vinci's Code was the one who would be facing Sun Qingqing. Da Vinci's Code was a tier above Sun Qingqing in terms of skill, so the first match was a loss for Snowy Cathaya for sure. The second match was the powerful Knight of Stars versus the Fruit Knife G.o.ddess, and it was hard to say who was going to beat who. The third match was Vienna's Sorrow versus Purple Marquis, and Vienna's Sorrow was probably going to take this, which also meant that everything hinged on the fourth match. If Shadow Chanel won her match, Snowy Cathaya would advance to the finals. Otherwise, it would be Hero Alliance!

A short prep later, the game officially began. The first match was Clear Perfume versus Da Vinci's Code!

Swhoosh swhoos.h.!.+

Da Vinci's Code was already standing behind a shrubbery when Sun Qingqing appeared on the map “Gra.s.sy Field”. Judging from the challenging gleam in his eyes, he must've investigated Sun Qingqing in-depth and realized that she was no threat. That was why his expression was as disdainful as it was.

In an archer versus archer match-up, the one with the higher hit rate and better skill usage usually wins.

Pa!

Spiraling Arrow Blade erupted next to Da Vinci's Code and deleted 30k+ HP immediately after the round began. Sun Qingqing had great Attack, but the battle had just begun. Unperturbed by the loss of first blood, the shadow archer withdrew to the back, halted in his tracks and fired a volley of arrows!

A ring of arrows cut off almost all of Sun Qingqing's path of retreat. Then, a dark arrow hit her squarely!

Pa!

78281!

Distracted by the other arrows, Clear Perfume didn't notice the killer move until it was too late. It was the Shadow Archer cla.s.s's signature skill, Shadow Arrow. It reduced the enemy's Defense by 70% for 3 seconds!

Da Vinci's Code then followed up with Skypiercer, and that was basically the end of Sun Qingqing. She couldn't Leap out of the way in time, and her Defense was reduced by 70%. The super AoE skill dealt almost 100k damage and knocked out of the arena instantly.

The second round was more or less the same. Sun Qingqing's tactics, movement and archery didn't reach even 50% of Beiming Xue's level, so she never had a chance of beating Da Vinci's Code. If that wasn't bad enough, I could tell that Da Vinci's Code's archery skill was at the same level as Beiming Xue. My only question was whether his close-combat skill was up to par. As mentioned earlier, any archer who couldn't fight at close-quarters was just a noob before an expert fighter!

The score turned 2:0, and Da Vinci's Code scored first blood for Hero Alliance. Hero Alliance expected it, we expected it, even Lin Yixin expected it judging from the complete lack of surprise on her face. The entire point of sending Sun Qingqing first was to waste one of the opponent's stronger players after all. Of course, had Sun Qingqing somehow defied all odds and won her match, I was sure Lin Yixin wouldn't mind treating her to an entire semester of lunch at the canteen.

……

The second round was the Fruit Knife G.o.ddess versus Beethoven's Joy the Knight of Stars. The guy was a powerful magic knight, but his opponent was the even greater Fruit Knife G.o.ddess. Unless he was a complete fool, he wouldn't dare underestimate his opponent too much. Of course, that didn't stop me from crossing my arms and looking forward to the forthcoming humiliation of the famed Knight of Stars.

Swhoosh swhoos.h.!.+

A pair of lights appeared on the battlefield. Beethoven's Joy rode a mount, and Lin Yixin didn't. However, the rune on her arm buffed her like she was riding the Moonchaser Tiger, but without the turn rate penalty. It was one of the key advantages she held over most of her opponents.

“Wow, you're gorgeous!” Beethoven's Joy praised her, but Lin Yixin didn't let it affect her judgment. She activated Great Earth Transformation and got ready to fight her opponent to the death. On the other side, Beethoven's Joy did the same thing. This guy is a Divine General too?!

So this will be a duel between two Divine Generals. I can't wait!

Pa!

The countdown hit zero, and the knight charged first. He wielded a spear that was surrounded by a 10-meter long pillar of flame. It was his Divine General Skill, Blazing Blade. Just like Vienna's Sorrow Ice Stream Blade, it drastically increased his attack range and area of effect. While the latter property was less relevant in 1v1s than in group battles, the skill was still strong, and a threat one couldn't overlook.

He swung his spear horizontally at Yiyi, and the girl dipped her head a bit to avoid it. At the same time, she ran forward and retaliated with Ice Flame Slash to the shoulder.

78891!

The first exchange went in favor of Lin Yixin, and that angered Beethoven's Joy. After bringing his spear around, he immediately followed up with a four-hit Armor Break Flurry!

Lin Yixin kept her cool and put more distance between herself and the knight. Wielding the Seven-Star Veluriyam Sword in one hand and her dagger in the other, she parried the first two strikes and endured the last two, losing around 100k+ HP. No matter how good a player was, it was near impossible to nullify a skill like this perfectly, not to mention that her opponent was a Divine General like herself.

Pa!

After Armor Break Flurry came to an end, Lin Yixin abruptly ran up a giant rock and jumped into the air. As she soared over Beethoven's Joy, her dagger sliced across his neck in a crescent arc and drew a painful groan. It was a weak point strike, and a huge damage number appeared above his head—99771!

That wasn't even the end of her attack yet. Still in midair, she caught the rein of the mount and pulled herself toward the knight. Then, she acted to thrust the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword right through his chest.

Right before his life's end, the knight flung a shower of flames in front of himself and shouted, “Scorching s.h.i.+eld of Stars!”

The flames transformed into an energy s.h.i.+eld that surrounded his armor and nullified Lin Yixin's second weak point strike completely. The Scorching s.h.i.+eld of Stars was a skill that could nullify any three portions of damage!

Lin Yixin's hands didn't pause even as she read the combat log. After she unsheathed her dagger and hit the knight twice to use up his Scorching s.h.i.+eld of Stars, she landed on the ground and faced toward her opponent. Then, she stretched her fingers fully and launched Ice Storm!

Boom boom boom!

Three icicles. .h.i.t Beethoven's Joy and deleted his mount tenacity completely, causing him to fall off his mount. It wasn't long after he got to one knee that he realized something was wrong and tried to bring his spear into a defensive position, but it was too late. Lin Yixin's attack was already upon him.

Swhoos.h.!.+

Lin Yixin dashed past the knight and stabbed him in the back, unleas.h.i.+ng Barrier Break. Then, she leisurely circled around to his right side, grabbed the hilt of her sword and used Ice Flame Slas.h.!.+

BOOM!

A colorful explosion later, the system announced that Lin Yixin had defeated Beethoven's Joy and increased her score to 1:0.

The audience screamed and clapped so hard I worried that some of them might faint. Few expected a player—a female player no less—to face down the vice guild leader of Hero Alliance and the so-called second best player of Hero City without fear, much less slaughter him like a lamb!

Beethoven's Joy lost his joy as expected. The ridiculing sneer he wore at the beginning of the match had all but disappeared. There were many opponents who couldn't be gauged until you had truly faced them on the battlefield yourself. In this case, the hidden-cla.s.s magic knight didn't just learn of Lin Yixin's prowess, he was scared of it.

If he had any chance of beating Lin Yixin before, it was now gone, along with his fighting spirit. The Fruit Knife G.o.ddess executed a helix maneuver to confuse her opponent, and the poor guy couldn't even face in the right direction to hit her. A couple of strikes and skills later, the battle was over.

The overall score was 1:1. The Fruit Knife G.o.ddess had saved the day for now.

……

Chiang!

After the match ended, Vienna's Sorrow abruptly unsheathed his weapon with a dangerous smile on his face. He said, “It's my turn!”

On the other side, Purple Marquis also pulled his sword out of the ground in front of him and smiled. “A worthy opponent! I'd better put on a shameless performance, hah!”