Chapter 2271: To the Third

Marron's scream reverberated throughout the arena.

Agony and pain apparent in her tone. It was filled with so much emotion that even Sam's cold heart felt a quiver upon hearing it. But he is very aware of the fact that he is the one who caused it, so he brushed it off.

Marron collapsed to the ground.

*BAM*

Sam's staff landed on her head and sent her flying. By now the arena is flooded with reddish water and it stunk of blood. She fell in the middle of that stinky and bloody water.

Marron shivered and quivered with pain and tried to get up.

Sam stood at his spot for a moment. He is panting heavily, its as if an obese old age man ran a marathon. His gasping and heaving could be heard in that loud silence.

The fusion form was cancelled and so did the vampire form. She stood there barely managing to hold himself from falling off of the dizziness.

The energy he had to expend for that attack is way too much. On top of his energy consumption until this moment, just to stay alive... it is safe to say that he spent too much of his energy in this. After the current situation is resolved.

Marron's veins are bulging as she stood up with the support of her staff.

She tried to say something, but the pain is way too much and she could feel that her body is not responding well to her thoughts. Even just standing up took a lot of her energy and had to endure so much pain.

As for the reason...

It is curse and poison. As soon as Marron was decided as his opponent, Sam already knew what to do. He knew Shadow element is the only thing apart from the light and space that could keep up with her. The latter two demand too much energy and he knew that it will be a longer battle with her, so he made a decision.

He used the daggers that are infused with the curses before.

These curses are combined with the hydra poison and some other pain inducing poisons that Sam concocted. The curse is a bit of a late bloomer. Sam didn't want Marron to immediately feel the effects. With the difference in power, Sam didn't want to take any chances.

He guessed that most of the students here are prepared with antidotes and anti-curse devices that might help them at least alleviate whatever that he can concoct.

So, he made it a bit slow acting and it acted when the opponent is at their weakest and distracted.

Marron put a lot of energy into that last attack, her concentration was completely on controlling that large amount of blood. The perfect time for the curses to activate. By then, the curse and poison circulated all throughout her body and they affected her spine more than anything.

She collapsed and is now struggling.

But Sam could already see that the curse and poison are being suppressed slowly.

Sam had to hold back a little when he decided on the curse that he infused into the daggers. He cannot have them made too powerful. They might be rejected according to the rules and disqualify him. So, it was a bit held back and closer to mediocre than he wanted.

That is the only reason why she managed to resist so much.

Sam walked towards her slowly.

When Marron finally had enough control and was about to conjure up some energy to wield her staff...

*BAM*

He raised his hand, his hand gun appeared and he shot her in the chest.

*SPLASH*

He fell in to the pool of bloody water once again.

"Sam won."

Ling Tian finally announced his victory.

*SWOOSH*

Harbinger appeared and carried Sam away. As he sat down, he threw a potion to Ling Tian.

"The antidote for the poison and the curse."

Ling Tian caught it and nodded. The water was removed from the arena and Ling Tian administered the first aid. He made her drink the antidote and removed the bullet. He let the healers do the rest.

He still has the tournament to run after all.

The crowd stayed still. They are still amazed at how Sam managed to acquire victory. The battle was long, strategic and most of all, the underdog who no one thought would win, had won. Even aesthetically, the battle was a pleasure to look at, with all the flashy projectiles flying all over the place.

Cheers erupted the arena as they clapped for Sam.

Meanwhile, the arena came back to normal and Ling Tian announced the next fight.

The peak stage second graders are a bit nervous. It is one thing that Crow managed to snatch a victory from a peak stage second grader. He is considered a wild card himself. But Sam appeared to be a wilder card.

His victory might not be as overwhelming, his struggle is higher compared to Crow, but he still managed to land a flawless victory. In their minds, they were thinking when Marron might have slipped up and made a mistake that gave Sam a victory.

But they couldn't think of any. In their minds, based on their knowledge of her skills, she did everything she could, but Sam still won. Which means it is a much cleaner and more powerful victory compared to Crow.

This put a pressure on them. If the middle stage kids managed to do this much damage, what about the Late stage ones? Won't they have much more chance to beat them? This pressure mounted on them very much.

Maybe because of that, in the next fight, the peak stage second grader didn't even think of going easy. Since the start he unsheathed his sword and used his ultimate move. It is instant and decisive.

The opponent didn't even have a chance to think of what is happening. He was crushed immediately and the watch was over within seconds.

Looking at this, the rest of the peak stage second graders also decided that this is the way to go.

Because of Crow and Sam, the late cultivators are suffering without even having a fight chance. The next four matches went like that. That concluded seven fights that had five peak stage wins and two first grader wins.

The eighth match though, turned the tide.

Even when the peak stage second grader used his ultimate move, the other party managed to defend himself. And once he managed to survive in a state just enough to wield his weapon, the peak stage cultivator appeared beat and exhausted.

It was actually a relatively easy victory, except for the damage which can be recovered soon with some high level medicine.

The next two once again were taken by the peak stage second graders.

The next one was a victory for the late stage and the remaining all were for the peak stage second graders.

Now, that means, there were eleven victors from the peak stage, two from late stage and two from middle stage.

Fifteen people that moved to the next round. A voting was conducted by using the arena formation. The audience voted. Breaking the records of all the years, two fights that were won by the two middle stage cultivators were considered as the best ones so far.

Sam barely won with around ten votes. Crow was the close second. Sam heaved a sigh. Even though he recovered quickly, he really did appreciate this break. It helps him understand his next opponents better.

Sam moved to the third round, but the remaining matches should happen.

First match in the second round is between Rashma and another peak stage cultivator. The victory is once again flawless for Rashma. There is actually no different in terms of effort in her first round fight and second round fight.

This peak stage opponent stood just as much chance as that middle stage opponent.

It is almost ridiculous.

The second fight is between Crow and a late stage cultivator. In a usual case, it could be considered lucky, but this late stage guy is just as strong as an average peak stage guy, if not above average.

Crow fought tooth and nail and won.

Sam is mighty impressed. He must say that he really underestimated his true strength because of the fight with White, which is something Sam usually doesn't do.

This is a decent wakeup call to make sure that he doesn't repeat this again.

The rest of the fights went on. They are all, peak stage cultivators. No, late stage cultivator managed to win anymore.

With that Sam's break is over. Only eight members remained. One more win and he would be in top four. He can guarantee his position as a representative of Gambler academy in the solo combat. That is all he needs from this tournament.

For the third round, Rashma is the first one to fight again.

Once again, without much effort, she destroyed the next opponent.