Chapter 1371: Rise of the Fire Dragon

The referee cleared his throat and declared loudly, "Dark Iron Sword, a Level 211 eighth-promotion Master Swordsman is challenging Ray of Sunshine, the Level 225 Master Swordsman of Blaze to a fight. However, Ray of Sunshine possesses the right to decline any challenger who is 10 levels below him. So, do you accept his challenge, Ray of Sunshine?"

Ray of Sunshine stared at me for a moment. His eyes were indifferent, and his posture screamed arrogance. Then, he shrugged and said, "You can challenge me if you want, but you’ll have to pay a ‘challenger fee’ of 10k gold. If I win, the 10k gold is mine. If you win, I’ll pay you ten times the amount. What do you say?"

I looked up and declared, "Accepted!"

I submitted 10k gold to the system without hesitation, and the referee shouted on top of his lungs, "What are you waiting for, players? The battle will start in 180 seconds, so place your bets now while you still can!"

The spectators immediately did as told, and as expected the total bet on Ray of Sunshine skyrocketed to a whopping 470k gold. Barely anyone thought that a shabby-looking guy like me had any chance at beating Ray of Sunshine.

At the back, Lin Yixin and He Yi wordlessly bet 50k gold on me. Even so, when the timer had finally run out, the gold gap between me and Ray of Sunshine was still insanely huge—

Dark Iron Sword 119287, Ray of Sunshine 1782626.

God damn, the betting odds were a whopping 17:1! It was clear that everyone thought that I was going to lose besides Lin Yixin and He Yi. It would’ve been even lower if it wasn’t for some fans following the Fruit Knife Goddess and From Water’s example and betting a couple thousand gold on me.

Mind you, their sentiment was completely understandable. Ray of Sunshine was a Top 1000 [1] player considering his level, solo ranking and champion arena ranking. He was already kind of famous in the sense that he rejected multiple guilds’ invitations to remain a solo player, but now he had the strength to match it after acquiring a powerful hidden class a week ago. Today, he even defeated famous experts such as Ẅho Will Fight Me, Tempest Shadow and Lone Moonshade. Why would anyone not bet on this guy?

On the other hand, I was a nameless person who was only Level 211. My poor equipment luster also made it look like I was wearing Earth-grade equipment at best. What could you do? Humans were easily fooled by the eyes and ears, and the Master of Disguise Ring on my finger was specifically designed for this purpose. Ray of Sunshine’s arrogance was doomed to be extinguished from the start.

……

Pa!

The banner hit the ground and signaled the start of a duel. I had already made up my mind to defeat Ray of Sunshine without using a single skill. I had to, or the entire world would know that the number one player on the CGL Hall of Fame had disguised himself to bully a no-name who was far weaker than him… not even my face could survive that kind of embarrassment.

Of course, that didn’t mean I was going to let Ray of Sunshine off the hook. No one gets to insult me like that and walk away scot-free.

The countdown began. I had selected Sparring Mode instead of PK Mode because there just wasn’t any point. Ray of Sunshine’s equipment wasn't particularly impressive, so I saw no reason to use Chains of Freedom on him. It would also blow my cover because practically everyone in the China server knew that I was the wielder of Song of Freedom right now. Sure, Eternal Moon Corporation hadn’t publicized the owners of the 72 Ghost Armaments, but at this day and age it wasn’t realistic to hide most information for long.

3!

2!

1!

Fight!

Ray of Sunshine hid his sword behind his back and ran toward me in a straight line. He then leaped about half a meter into the air to gain a tiny bit of height advantage and swung a Crimson Flame Slash at me. The skill had a passive that increased its Attack by 75%, which made it just a tad better than the common fighter skill, "Blaze”. It was a straightforward strike, but it was a good way to sound out my strength. If I was weak, the one strike would almost one-shot me. If I was strong, he had plenty of ways to save himself.

I didn’t activate Battle Astral Wind, but I did have Ghost Deity Shield turned on. I moved my left foot about half a meter to the side to alter my center of gravity before swinging out with the Chill of the Nine Provinces, parrying the skill with ease. Still spinning, I thrust the hilt of my sword at Ray of Sunshine’s torso and elicited a cry of surprise from him. He clearly wasn’t expecting my technique to be this steady and practiced. He hurriedly raised an arm and blocked my attack!

70927!

Ray of Sunshine’s surprise turned into full-blown shock when he saw that my sword hilt had dealt 70k damage to him. To his credit, he stopped underestimating me immediately and buffed himself with Dance of Conflagration. Now that his attack speed and movement speed were much greater than before, he charged me like the wind and executed Barrier Break + Ultimate Strength Break combo without hesitation. He had figured out from that brief contact alone that my technique was sublime, so he was trying to kill me via stat difference instead.

Swhoosh!

I turned my body just in time to miss the Barrier Break. I couldn’t dodge the Ultimate Strength Break because it was an AoE skill, and I didn’t have Fusion Armor turned on to move out of its range. However, I wasn’t worried because my opponent wasn’t mounted. What were the chances that my opponent had higher Strength than me while dismounted? Well—

Boom!

1000!

My body trembled a little, and my HP dropped by 1000. That was it. 1000 was literally the lowest damage Ultimate Strength Break could do, meaning that the attacker’s Strength was literally lower than the attacked target. It was more than enough to break Ray of Sunshine’s confidence like glass.

"How… how is this possible?" Ray of Sunshine’s pupils shrank into needles as he exclaimed in shock. I didn’t let the counterattack opportunity slip through my grasp, however. I swung my sword across his unprotected neck to score a weak-point attack, and despite Ray of Sunshine’s attempt to move his neck out of the way, my blade still nailed his weak point like a homing missile.

Pa!

542987!

That one hit had deleted 50% of Ray of Sunshine’s HP. At this point, even the spectators were crying out in astonishment, "Holy shit! Who the fuck is this Dark Iron Sword? How on earth did he delete 50% of Ray of Sunshine’s HP with one basic attack?!"

Ray of Sunshine backpedaled away from me after suffering the strike, but I couldn’t use Thunderous Charge or God Binding Art to paralyze him, or use Burning Blade Slash or Thousand Ice Slash to kill him outright. So, I ran after him. However, Ray of Sunshine had Dance of Conflagration turned on, so his current movement speed was more or less equal to mine.

Ray of Sunshine gritted his teeth and waved his arm once. A draconic, bloody light immediately surrounded him and regenerated his HP at high speed. It was that Dragon Flame Recovery skill, and it restored 7% HP per second to its user for 15 seconds. It was unlikely that he could be killed while the skill was active.

Swhoosh!

When Ray of Sunshine’s HP returned to 70%, he activated Charge and rushed me again. This time, he acted even more decisively than before and fired Dragon Flame Flurry at me. Each swing of the blade came at me from a different angle. The technique had clearly been honed by god knows how many open-world battles. Moreover, only those who were used to dancing on the edge of a knife would know how to end their opponent’s life in the fastest and most direct way possible.

I moved the Chill of the Nine Provinces like lightning to parry the skill from three different angles as well. I managed to parry the first and second hit of the skill, but not the third.

190187!

Surprise jolted through Ray of Sunshine again. He just couldn’t believe that his prided Dragon Flame Flurry had failed to deal more than 200k damage, let alone what he normally dealt to his opponents. It also meant that my Defense was way higher than everyone he had fought up until this point.

Pa!

I stepped on a patch of grass and dashed forward. It was my turn to make a move now. I kneed Ray of Sunshine in the chest and slashed him again for—

59293!

391209!

……

"Ugh…"

Blood spilled out of Ray of Sunshine’s lips as he skidded toward the back, but his expression was one of rage. He abruptly dropped to one knee, raised his sword, and summoned a bloody cloud in the sky above his head. Then, the earth started shaking, and humongous bumps started appearing on its surface. Then, columns of fiery red, dragon-shaped energies burst into the sky! I was shocked. Is that my Rise of the Guardian Dragon??

It wasn’t, but it was almost identical. The skill was called Rise of the Fire Dragon, and just like my skill, it damaged everything within 100 yards indiscriminately!

Swhoosh!

I immediately tossed my sword at Ray of Sunshine. No, I wasn’t using Coiling Dragon Revolution. It was just a basic throwing attack!

Puchi!

312267!

Ray of Sunshine trembled once, and he slowly collapsed to his knees.

On the other hand, the fire dragon exploding beneath my feet only managed to inflict a giant MISS above my head. Everyone was stunned by this, and even Ray of Sunshine was uttering in anger and disbelief, "How is this possible? How did my Rise of the Fire Dragon miss?"

I hid a snicker. It was thanks to the Pardon of the Gods of the Pity of the Purgatory Gods of course. It gave me a 30% chance to avoid any magic attack, and clearly this Rise of the Fire Dragon was considered magic, not physical like Rise of the Guardian Dragon. Now that the battle was over, it became clear that I hadn’t even lost 25% of my HP. No one was expecting me to take our Ray of Sunshine with just basic attacks. To be fair, he never stood a chance from the beginning. My equipment alone was way better than his, and the gap between our skills was even bigger. Sure, one might argue that this was completely unfair, but then again, what is life if not unfair? I wasn’t going to strip myself until my stats were the same as Ray of Sunshine’s. Plus, hadn’t I accrued all of these "unfair" advantages fair and square? Sometimes, true fairness is shown in inequality.

……

Dead silence enveloped the place for a moment. It was because everyone who bet on Ray of Sunshine had lost their money, and that was a LOT of people. No one was expecting the Master Swordsman of Blaze to lose this easily even after he had been forced to reveal his ultimate skill!

Ding! I received 100k gold for winning the match. He Yi and Lin Yixin also won a whopping 1.7 million gold for betting on me, which was almost everything in the betting pool. We really had made a fortune with my false identity today!

I walked up to my sword and pulled it from the ground. Ray of Sunshine also revived soon after, though he didn’t lose anything because this was a sparring match.

……

Pop Culture’s players immediately laughed at Ray of Sunshine with derision, "You thought you were the hot shit, didn’t you? You used your ultimate, and you still got pounded soundly like a dog! Hahaha, you didn’t even manage to delete 25% of your opponent’s HP! If that isn’t embarrassing, I don’t know what is! Now get lost! Stay the fuck away from Sky City, or we will kill you every time we see you!"

"..."

Ray of Sunshine didn’t respond to the jeerings. He simply stepped away from the crowd and left behind a lonely back.

He didn’t get to go far, however. On the eastern bridge inside Sky City, a handsome man surrounded by a group of players called out to him, "You are a battlefield veteran, Ray of Sunshine! One defeat isn’t going to crush your fighting spirit, is it?"

1. T/N: I think this should be 100 actually, but since it involved 3 criterias I gave it the benefit of the doubt and left it ☜