Chapter 278: Warm-up Match (17)

Rhode found that arranging for Anne to be the last contestant was a mistake.

As the MT, Anne's ability to pull aggro had reached MAX. Originally, Rhode had seen that those people had no intention to fight, but after hearing Anne's words, those people immediately brimmed with anger.

Moreover, Anne was not being provocative. In her opinion, what she said was factual.

But sometimes, the truth hurt more...

If he knew that Anne's natural sarcasm was so lethal, it would have been better if he had just put her first. Just by hearing her few words, those mercenaries would definitely be angered and want to knock them dead. Then, they wouldn't be so wimpy like before.

Unfortunately, there was no use in regretting it now.

As Rhode shook his head in regret, the battle in the ring had already begun.

Unlike previous teams, the strength of these people was clearly stronger than the people from before—that's why they were placed last. Among these five people, almost all were from a top 10 mercenary group in Paphield. The two-handed swordsman was a mercenary from Burning Blade, the Thief was from Dark Fang. As for the other three, they came from Mark White, Blue Bird, and Sky Sword. Although those three weren't as strong as Burning Blade or Dark Fang, they were still the best of the best in the Paphield region. Because of this, they were more aggressive than lower ranked mercenary groups. Originally, because of continuous failure, they had somewhat lost their confidence.

However, after hearing Anne's words, they immediately flew in with rage!!

They just defeated a bunch of third-rate mercenaries; what is there to be proud of? They aren't even qualified to be a regular in our mercenary group, and now this little brat is actually comparing us to that bunch of idiots?! How can this be tolerated?

For Anne, who was too excited to fight, her opponent's anger was but a trival matter. Rhode had let her wait for four matches while only letting her watch the others win. She had suppressed herself for so long and finally, it was her turn. She immediately felt excited. She only wanted to vent the raging flame inside her. As for what the other side was thinking about, did she ever care about that?

Because of this, the two sides immediately collided like Mars and Earth. The first one to launch an attack was the two-handed swordsman. He was provoked by Anne and immediately shouted and rushed forward. His sturdy body and his solid muscle could be seen. He lifted his giant of a sword and swung it towards Anne. The wind and the air pressure squeezed both sides like a wave. The strong wind even made the other four people subconsciously retreat. This showed just how powerful that strike was.

However, facing this attack, Anne didn't seem to plan to dodge it. She shouted and lifted her shield in order to protect her head. At the same time, that giant sword heavily collided with the fine gold shield.

Boom!!

The deafening noise echoed through the entire colosseum. The slate under Anne's feet instantly cracked and the cracks quickly spread around the ring. Not long after, it created a gap more than half a meter wide. Even so, the two of them didn't seem to retreat. Anne clenched her teeth and forcibly lifted her hands up high. On the other hand, the two-handed swordsman's face was flushing red. He swung his sword down on the shield again. Sparks ignited on the surface of the shield, accompanied by a squealing noise. However, neither retreated!

To the spectators, the scene before them was unbelievable. Anne was not short, but she still was young and slender. Even if she were two meters tall, facing an angry and sturdy double-handed swordsman who had activated a savage's fury made the difference extremely stark. It was a like a world-famous model and Mr. Olympia standing on the same stage. The stark contrast made one feel like it was beauty and the beast. Just one look at it left one's eyes burning.

In everyone's eyes, Anne, who was holding the shield, could be crushed by the giant sword at any time. Her body was slowly shrinking and bending, which made many spectators feel frightened and shocked. Before, they were extremely bored because of uninteresting battles, but now, they could feel the tense stimulation of the scene before them. They widened their eyes and focused on the ring. Some people even stood up and clenched their fists as they watched the two of them struggle. It was as if Anne was going to be crushed to a pulp soon!

At this moment, Anne suddenly launched a counterattack.

As she bent down, Anne abruptly straightened her body like a spring. Then she shouted, and following her cry, the shield in her hand was also lifted up. The struggle between them finally came to an end!

Clang!!!

Accompanied by this dreary sound, the sword in the hands of the two-handed swordsman flew to the side. The impact made the swordsman's body stagger. Apparently, Anne didn't stop there. Instead, she suddenly jumped up and rushed to the opponent while holding her shield.

"Ah!!"

Seeing this scene, everyone couldn't help but scream. They didn't expect that this slender girl would actually block the sturdy man's attack. Moreover, she immediately attacked after gaining the upper hand!

This was a match not a life-and-death battle!

The two-handed swordsman was still hanging on the side. However, the fine gold shield had already arrived before him. The two-handed swordsman didn't panic. As an elite mercenary from Burning Blade, of course he had a way to take care of this problem. That's why he didn't dodge and instead brandished his sword!

The sword that was hanging aside returned to its owner and heavily knocked against Anne's fine gold shield. However, it didn't change Anne's intention to attack. Facing the opponent's attack, she flexibly rolled to the ground and slid to the side in order to break the impact of the swordsman's attack. She hadn't yet stood firm when she immediately jumped again. This time, she held the shield single-handedly while circling around in the air. Then, she swung her shield and forcefully slammed it down.

"Boom!"

The fine gold shield didn't manage to slam down its target because, at that moment, the two-handed swordsman had jumped and dodged Anne's attack. However, it didn't mean that he wasn't harmed, because when Anne slammed her shield against the slate, the impact she caused was no less than that the swordsman's previous attack. Followed by spectator exclamation, the originally hard ground had a one meter deep and three meters wide hole!

The gravel scattered around the air and hindered their movement because they had to avoid it. Even the referee from the Mercenary Association also needed to jump down from the ring in order to avoid this terrible attack.

The two-handed swordsman was also unable to block such a powerful impact. Although he lifted his giant sword in time to block it, it simply unable to withstand such a barbaric force. The gravel left some flesh wounds on him. Even though they were not heavy injuries, the bloody wounds made him looked frightening.

"Attack together!"

Seeing that their comrades were attacked, the other four naturally didn't stand still and immediately responded. Before, they were unable to interfere with their battle because the fight was too intense. They collided with each other like tornadoes, and so the others didn't have the chance to butt in. They even felt that if they forced themselves to join the battle, they might get mercilessly torn them apart.

But now, seeing that their comrades had been attacked, they wouldn't just sit still. Soon, the Thief from Dark Fang quickly shouted. As the others heard him, they quickly responded and surrounded Anne. At this moment, the elites from the top mercenary group showed off their skills. Unlike the third-rate mercenaries from before, they were not overwhelmed. To the contrary, they worked together to find a loophole in the battle by using their strength and experience.

Soon, they began to attack.

When Anne stopped moving, a gust of wind echoed behind her. The Thief moved like a shadow, aiming his dagger at Anne's back. At the same time, the other two mercenaries also took out a sword and attacked Anne from two sides. Not only that, the two-handed swordsman once again swung his sword to attack.

At this moment, Anne was completely surrounded on all four sides.

If it were the others, facing such a situation, they wouldn't know what to do. Although it was their first time fighting together, their strength and experience made up for their lack of familiarity with each other.

This time, Anne was facing five enemies at once. Even the one mercenary who didn't rush in was shooting arrows at Anne. Obviously, he intended to disrupt her attack.

Facing such a scene, there was almost no hope for a comeback.

But Anne didn't care.

To the contrary, she felt even more excited.

Good, things have just gotten more interesting!

At this moment, even though Anne was surrounded, she still held her heavy shield in her left hand, while her right hand slightly touched the shield's surface. Followed by a sound, the shield opened up like a flower blooming. The shield transformed into something they didn't expect.

Accompanied by Anne's hand movement, the shield split apart into two shields. As the shield was transforming, Anne suddenly jumped back and welcomed the Thief's surprise attack!

I got her!

Seeing Anne was taking the initiative to attack him, the Thief thought his attack would succeed and swung the dagger in his right hand without hesitation. It almost hit Anne's head. In fact, he knew very well that the attack from both sides was a feint, and only his and the two-handed swordsman's attacks were real. After she just completed a powerful blow, her strength should not have returned, so now was the best time to take her life!

But at this time, a dark shield suddenly appeared in front of the Thief.

What is it?

Perhaps this shield appeared too suddenly, so the Thief was unable to react in time. He stared at the black flower patterned shield in front of him. He even thought of something that was completely unrelated to the fight.

But before he found the answer, the cold, hard, and heavy shield had hit him in the face.