Chapter 275: Warm-up Match (14)

Although the situation was bad, Hubert did not give up. To the contrary, he quickly calmed down and focused on guarding his own back. Soon, Hubert suddenly stepped forward and waved his sword to block Joey's sudden attack.

I failed again!

Once again, Joey's attack had been seen through by Hubert, which made Joey quite disappointed. He had learned his lesson from before and immediately chose to attack Hubert first, but was he that gullible? Joey had suffered once under his hand; obviously, he could guess that Joey would certainly attack him once he disappeared, so he stayed vigilant. However, when Hubert thought he finally found another chance to attack, Joey suddenly swung his dagger forward and winded it towards Hubert's sword. Followed by this action, Joey suddenly turned his body around and flashed through Hubert.

Hubert finally realized that he was on the edge of the ring!

Bad!

At this moment, Hubert was already feeling very frightened, but before he could come up with a better idea, Joey had already flown forward and heavily kicked Hubert's butt. Hubert was unable to block the kick and fell from the ring embarrassingly. Naturally, it was counted as his loss.

After taking care of Hubert, Joey seemed to gain some courage and this time, he didn't hide anymore and directly charged towards the enemy like a fighter.

Seeing Hubert's loss, that person fell into panic and didn't know how to react when facing Joey's attack. In the end, Joey also kicked him out of the ring and ended the battle.

The outcome turned out to be good, but when Joey came down from the ring, he wore an awkward smile on his face.

Even though he managed to escape by seizing opportunities in the previously chaotic situation and defeated the remaining two, but his performance was still very pitiful. Randolf and the others wanted to comfort him, but they couldn't. Because everyone could see the scene from before; although he managed to win the fight, it was obvious that he made several mistakes because of his indecisiveness. Rhode was clear from the beginning to the end; if Joey didn't make an opportunity that led to Hubert's mistake, he would have lost. Rhode was sure that if Joey fought once again, the result wouldn't be as good as now.

"Leader, I... I passed right?"

Perhaps Joey noticed his own mistake; after going down from the stage, he immediately rubbed his hands and smiled. However, hearing his question, Rhode didn't say anything and only waved his hands.

"Don't try to find an excuse."

Upon hearing this, Joey's face turned gloomy. He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. Then, he sighed and sat down. At this time, Lapis had already prepared some potions and bandages and was about to bandage his wounds. The voices around him were no longer as unified as before; the feedback was mixed. Some were cheering and some were mocking him, and it was unusually noisy around them. It was no wonder that most of the spectators felt that way. They expected a lot after watching the first battle. Although Lize's battle was somewhat inexplicable, seeing that she was a beautiful, innocent girl, they didn't make things difficult for her. However, Joey was different; he wasn't handsome or strong. Although he still won, his pitiful performance from before still made them subconsciously think that Starlight had barely won. They needed to fight perfectly or else the spectators wouldn't be satisfied.

"Starlight is just so-so."

"He fought so poorly. As expected of a Thief; no courage at all. The girls are far stronger! What's the point of hiding all day?"

"Just look at his face..."

These words could be heard everywhere. Joey lowered his head and his expression couldn't be seen. It was clear that he couldn't accept such an evaluation. Indeed, he didn't fight perfectly, but he still won, right? Was there anything more important than winning? Wasn't the fact that he could defeat five elites at the same time enough to prove his strength?

Joey's heart was full of grievances, and he wanted to refute those sarcastic words, but he also didn't know what to say. In the end, he said nothing and chose to remain silent.

Because in his opinion, there was no point in saying anything right now.

That being the case, then it would be better to say nothing.

Rhode didn't even look at Joey as if he were a loser, not a winner. He didn't even turn his head and just stretched out his hand and made a hand gesture towards Randolf. Soon, Randolf stood up. Although he wanted to say something to Rhode, after seeing Rhode's expression, he decided not to say anything. But from the looks of it, Rhode didn't care about that. After Randolf stood in front of him, Rhode nodded at him.

"It's your turn."

After listening to his words, Randolf didn't prepare anything and stepped into the ring. However, this time, the situation was a bit unexpected.

Even though Hubert had lost, the remaining two teams used the same method as him. At this moment, there were three mercenaries on the stage. Just like Hubert, they said that they weren't a match against Starlight, so they wanted to fight together. They also thought that it was very difficult to win against Starlight single-handedly. Although the spectators thought that Joey's performance was pitiful and embarrassing, the fact that it was a 5 vs. 1 battle couldn't change. That's why these elites decided to throw their original discomfort and pride. They began to accept the gap between them and Starlight and play shamelessly.

In their opinion, even if they lost, there were others who would share the same mockery. At least, it was better than fighting alone pitifully and getting mocked by everyone.

Also, by fighting this way, the odds were greater. Just look at Hubert—didn't he nearly succeed?

However, these elites didn't have the ability to command five people at the same time like Hubert. So after they discussed it, they decided to let the three weaker mercenaries to go first, while the stronger two were responsible for suppressing the opponent from both sides. Seeing their attitude, Rhode didn't seem to have any protests. If it were just a regular match, then it would be strictly limited to a 1 on 1 battle. However, the challenge match was relatively loose, and as long as both sides agreed, then even 1 vs. 10 was allowed. Now, Randolf's opponents would be the three of them. Clearly, the situation was somewhat unfavorable for him. Randolf didn't mean to have stage fright, but he hesitated for a while. In the end, he still agreed and walked towards the ring.

"L-leader, is it really okay like this?"

Lapis looked at the ring with a worried expression. Although they were not siblings by blood, Lapis had always regarded Randolf as her brother. Naturally, she was worried for him now.

However, Rhode didn't answer Lapis's question and continued to focus on the ring.

The fourth match finally began. 1 vs. 3 was very unfavorable for a Ranger because Rangers were similar to Thieves. They were better at long-range attacks than melee attacks. If a Thief was like an Assassin, then a Ranger was like a sniper lurking in the forest, hiding in the dense jungle and aiming from afar. An arrow that suddenly appeared from nowhere was enough to scare off most enemies. No matter how strong the enemy was, they were not so strong when a Ranger was in the forest. Many times, even if they tried their best, it was still difficult to find the Ranger.

However, the current situation was different. In this ring, there was no place to cover him up, and the magical cloak that was able to change color based on environment was already given to Joey. That was why it would be very difficult for him to face the enemy. Not to mention, to avoid any accidents in the ring, he had already turned all his arrow shafts before the battle, making it less lethal and reducing the danger for the enemy. If the opponent forcefully went up against those arrows to come into close contact with the Ranger, then the situation would be really bad. Those mercenaries were obviously aware of this. Randolf noticed that they were wearing standard mercenary clothing. They held a shield in their left hand and a sword in their right. If they got close to him, then they would greatly suppress him.

If this were the previous Randolf, then he wouldn't even have the confidence to fight with one of them, not to mention three. But now, he wasn't not as powerless as before.

Looking at the three mercenaries before him, he stayed silent. His left hand held the longbow while his right hand hung at the waist, as if he was holding something. Soon, Randolf moved his finger and an arrow slid into his hands. Looking carefully, it didn't seem to be any different from his usual arrow. There were several loops in the twine around the arrow, but its purpose was unknown.

Followed by the sound of a horn, the three mercenaries immediately made preparations.

Judging from their gestures, it could be seen that the three of them had planned something beforehand. As soon as they heard the horn, they immediately scattered while raising their shields and rushed towards Randolf. Clearly, they wanted to use this method to break down his focus and get closer to him. If they succeeded, Randolf would definitely lose.

At this moment, Randolf raised his bow. He took three arrows and aimed towards the opponent that on the left side. Soon, the three arrows flew towards its target.

The three of them had certainly made preparations to face Randolf's attack. They were waiting for this moment. The mercenary on the left quickly slowed down his movement, trying to make Randolf focus on him so the other two could limit Randolf's movement.

However, he didn't expect Randolf to shoot those three arrows without even looking at him. Randolf immediately turned around and aimed towards another person.

What happened? Isn't he afraid that something might go wrong?

Seeing Randolf's strange counterattack, the other two people were surprised too. Especially the mercenary that Randolf was aiming for—he immediately stopped moving to cover himself with his shield.

Are these three arrows just a bluff, and this is the real one?

Unexpectedly, when he raised his shield, the situation wasn't as he had expected. There was no sound of an arrow passing by or hitting his shield. What was going on?

The mercenary who had lost his target fell into panic. He didn't know what happened. However, at this moment, the spectator exclamations could be heard.

The mercenary was not be able to see the situation clearly because his line of sight had been blocked by the shield. However, spectators could see everything clearly. This time, Randolf had shot a total of six arrows and none hit a target. They weren't even aimed towards them and just mysteriously flew towards other places where they couldn't even see.

This did not seem to be the skill of an ordinary mercenary. Even an ordinary mercenary's archery skill was not as bad as this.

The crowd was laughing at him for being useless and having a low archery skill. However, the mercenaries had a serious expression on their faces. After seeing that battle with Starlight, they knew that they were not easy to deal with. Even though this Ranger didn't have good archery skills, who knew what might happen? Perhaps it was a new battle technique or even a trap?

Randolf shot out six arrows continuously, but already reached his limit. The ring was so big and his opponents' speed was not slow. Soon, a mercenary had arrived before him and swung his sword towards him.

Randolf's response was also very unexpected. Facing his opponent attack, he only rolled back and dodged. Then, he immediately turned around and charged towards his opponent.

What the hell is happening?

Seeing Randolf's abnormal behavior, the mercenary was surprised. Although Randolf was not a threat towards him, for the sake of insurance, he still placed his shield on his chest while subconsciously stepping back.

At this moment, Randolf took something out of a small bag and threw it.

Soon, a white smoke spread out, and the two men were wrapped in it.

"Quickly attack!"

Seeing that both of them were being attacked, they were surprised. They didn't know what Randolf was trying to do, but they knew that the situation was bad.

When Randolf rushed over in the smoke, they also made up their minds and rushed towards Randolf.

"Ouch!!"

At this time, a mercenary suddenly fell heavily to the ground. This sudden fall made him subconsciously cry out. He hurriedly lowered his head to see what was going on. After he saw his feet, he was shocked. Currently, his leg was firmly tied by a rope. When he looked up, he finally realized that his surroundings were filled with arrows and ropes.

I see!

The mercenary finally realized the meaning behind Randolf's attacks. He had no intention to attack them in the first place. Instead, he was shooting arrows to set up a trap for them. He was shooting at the areas where they most likely would move. When the arrows hit the ground, these special rope traps were immediately scattered.

Since they were not physically attacked, they naturally would not pay attention to the arrows whereabouts. Not to mention the color of these ropes was very deep and very similar to the color of the ring. If they didn't look carefully, no one would be able to notice it. Therefore, they were unaware that they had fallen into a trap.

"Be careful; there are traps!!"

His reactions were fast. He quickly reminded the other two mercenaries.

But at this moment, Randolf once again took something out of the small bag.