Chapter 345: Deciding Match (7)

The collision resounded in the arena.

The ice-cold shield struck her chest, which mercilessly ripped apart her skin and pierced into her.

Anne flinched.

But she stomped her foot forward to support herself. Then, she straightened her body.

Rosen knitted his brows and retracted his shield using the steel chains.

But what left him baffled was that the instant his shield came back into his hand, he felt an enormous strength that pushed him back. The shield also trembled non-stop and he even felt his left hand numbed.

She's so powerful?

Rosen dubiously scanned her from head to toe. Although he was exhausted from the continuous matches, he didn't think that he was weaker than a young lady in terms of individual strength. But now, this counterattack from her actually left his hand numb?

On the other hand, Rhode knitted his brows as he remembered ordering Anne to consume the 'Life Guardian Mixture'. Within 30 minutes, this potion would grant her invincibility as long as her brain or heart weren't lethally damaged. This was also specially prepared for Anne as he was aware of her insane fighting style. However, that potion was only used to guarantee her safety and wouldn't lead to her bursting with strength. How did this happen?

At this moment, she lowered her head and concealed her face with her golden long hair. Although her expression couldn't be seen, a wild, dangerous aura exuded on the arena for some unknown reasons.

"Grr...."

She let out deep growls and her body trembled.

This is...

Rhode sulked and hurriedly turned to Lapis.

"Lapis! Did you give her anything else?!"

"Ah!"

As though electrocuted, Lapis jumped and gestured with her hands out of fear.

"N-Nothing, Leader, I didn't..."

"What did you give her?"

Rhode disregarded her explanations. After all, she was too bad in lying as her panicky reactions exactly gave her thoughts away. He didn't even waste a second trying to expose her and asked instantly. Facing his ice-cold stare. Lapis shuddered, lowered her head, and said softly, "It's... the Awakening Potion... Leader."

Crap!

The Awakening Potion was an extremely potent potion. In the game, this potion was treated as both an angel and demon due to the certain percentage of luck involved when consuming it. The description of the Awakening Potion was to 'Arouse and Awake the Hidden Strength of the Consumer', which meant that it would provide the player a certain chance to upgrade their level.

Of course, this certain chance wasn't high and after continuous experiments, the players dictated that the success rate was less than 10 percent. Furthermore, the amount of increased levels were also randomised. Some grew from between three to five levels and the most one player grew was ten levels, which was unprecedented.

However, this potion also had a side effect, which was similar to russian roulette; if one missed, the other would rejoice. Otherwise, not only would it not raise one's level, but it would also add an 'Enrage' buff that lasted for ten minutes. Within ten minutes, the player's attributes would multiply manifold and break through their limit. But, after the ten minutes were over, the buff would be replaced with a 'Weakness' debuff, which would lower the player's attributes to 10 percent of their original stats. There were only two ways if they wished to remove this debuff. The first way was to commit suicide and respawn, and the other was to get it cured by a High Priest. But that wasn't all. After the player successfully removed the debuff, their avatar would instantly drop from between five to ten levels!

Even the most masochistic player wouldn't choose this method to gain levels. With an abysmal success rate of less than 10 percent, and a 90 percent rate of dropping levels, one must be insane to use this method. Moreover, the formula for the Awakening Potion was rare and the required materials to craft the potion differed among players. Originally, Rhode never thought of allowing Lapis to concoct such a risky potion. However, never did he imagine that it was actually invented by the Alchemist Elves. Therefore, when Lapis first concocted this potion and showed it off to Rhode, his first response was to get her to throw it away. But, in the end, he allowed her to keep it as he respected her work and warned her to not give the potion to anyone under any circumstances without his permission.

But now...

To hell with it!

Rhode glared at Lapis for a moment before shifting his attention to the arena. At this moment, all he could do was to hope that Lapis' alchemy techniques would yield a higher chance of success. Alas, Rhode's heart sank after he discovered an irregularity in Anne's behavior. As an experienced player, he recognized the symptom one would face when the potion was about the fail.

A terrifying atmosphere enveloped the arena and not a single sound was heard. The trembles on her body turned violent and even Rosen twitched his brows in astonishment because he sensed a dangerous aura.

It's time to end this monkey show!

Rosen clutched his shield handle. After clicking on the mechanism, the embedded thorns were revealed and shimmered in ice-cold radiance. Then, he threw his shield out.

He gave all his might in this attack. Almost in the blink of an eye, the pitch-black shield arrived in Anne's face. But, it was this moment that Anne did something which left everyone dumbstruck.

She straightened her right arm and stopped the spinning shield.

"—!"

The shield stopped spinning and the sharp thorns pierced her palm. However, she didn't seem to be in any pain at all. To the contrary, she tightened her grip and clamped onto the thorns.

Then, a pair of furry ears emerged on her head. At the same time, a fluffy, big tail emerged from her back.

Right now, her pretty face appeared sinister while the crazy smile plastered across her face left everyone frozen. Her expanded pupils emanated a glaring, green radiance.

"Aowuuuu—!"

She looked up to the sky and let out an ear-deafening howl. She stooped over with her right hand tightly gripping the shield and tugged.

"This is...!?"

Anne's sudden transformation left everyone flabbergasted. Rosen took two steps back subconsciously to tug his shield back from her hands.

"Full of tricks!"

Rosen came back to his senses quickly. Anne seemed to have turned into a totally different person. Without any hesitations, she pulled her palm out from the steel thorns, somersaulted twice in the air, and landed steadily on the edge of the arena.

"Aowuuuu—!"

Anne looked at herself and let out another chilly howl. She lifted her right hand, extended her tongue, and lightly licked off the bloody wound. Her pair of green eyes emanated increasingly brighter. Not only that, but everyone also witnessed a green whirlwind emerging around her.

This is... the half-beast form?!

Rhode was baffled.

A half-beast was a mix between the human and beast bloodline, and because of this, they were in their human forms most of the time and would only transform into beasts after experiencing certain traumatic events. The reason was that when they faced danger, the beast bloodline would be stimulated and generally, beasts which could mate with humans and give offsprings were high in their levels and humans could never withstand the strength of the beasts' bloodline. Therefore, when the beast bloodline was stimulated, the half-beast would lose its human form and transform into a beast. This incident happened to Anne before where she became a huge wolf. However, this was normal as it was impossible for the human bloodline to be more powerful than the beast bloodline and it was only a matter of course for the latter to overpower the former.

However, in her case, to only reveal a portion of a beast's traits and maintain her human form was totally unimaginable. In a half-beast bloodline, the human bloodline had always been weaker than the beast bloodline as the human body couldn't withstand the powerful strength of the beast, which was why the beast bloodline chose to hibernate in order for the human bloodline to be kept under control. However, once the beast bloodline awakened, there was no authority left for the human bloodline anymore. Both bloodlines would immediately swap out—the human bloodline would hibernate while the beast bloodline took over.

It could be said that they were two extreme ends and there was no point of balance. Only Gillian was able to maintain her half-beast form, which was extremely powerful. She held pure elemental affinity and dominance over those formidable beastials. However, at this current state, Anne actually took on the half-beast form too? Furthermore, judging from the elemental powers surrounding her, did it mean that she could sense the powers of the four elements?

Rhode's suspicions weren't answered because at this moment, Anne struck.

She landed on her four limbs and leapt forward. In the blink of an eye, she emerged before Rosen and brandished her shield.

"Heyah!"

Rosen charged forward with his shields.

Two whistling whirlwinds once again rose from level ground from his shields. It was this particular move that thoroughly beat Anne and injured her heavily before. But this time, would Rosen be successful?

Anne had no intentions of giving up.

"—!"

The sound of ear-deafening friction resonated in the arena.

Anne gritted her teeth and her green eyes emanated even brighter. She forced her way through the powerful whirlwind.

Oh lord! What's with this young lady!?

Rosen never knew that his Storm Shielding technique could be destroyed by brute force.

Rosen's a goner!

Rhode exclaimed inwardly.

Although he wasn't aware of her beast bloodline source, he dictated that it was definitely from a wind elemental beast with elemental mastery higher than Rosen's!

Equally-ranked elements naturally cancelled out one another and now, they needed to compare which side was stronger. It was apparent that Rosen, as a pure human, wasn't comparable to Anne with a beast bloodline and a high-level wind elemental strength! Not to mention, Anne was fully awakened now.

"—!"

Anne dispersed Rosen's whirlwind with her shield and their shields collided. The powerful collision instantly erupted and blasted at him, which he quickly released his shields and retorted with his right fist.

Rosen's punch landed on her cheek and the strong force shook her slightly. But at the next moment, he regretted his decision. Anne glared coldly at him even though blood was leaking from her mouth and nose. Rosen thought that he was thoroughly in the claws of a crazy, dangerous, and bloodthirsty beast.

Indeed, at the next moment, his premonition came true.

Anne turned around and bit his hand. Her sharp fangs punctured through his palm and her green eyes shone.

"Argaaaaaaah!!"

As the saying goes, all ten fingers were linked to the heart, and even Rosen couldn't tolerate the pain as he screamed in horror and kicked her stomach. Then, he retracted his right arm—along with the splashed fresh blood in midair, he lost his index and middle fingers while his palm was mostly torn and revealed a ghastly sight.

However, Anne's aggression didn't stop.

After spitting out his fingers and flesh, she pounced on him and smashed her shield on his shoulder.

"You monster!"

Rosen was infuriated. As Anne tried to pin him to the ground, he reached out for his shield and thrust it into her stomach.

"Go to hell!"

Rosen snarled and pressed a switch on his shield handle.

"—!"

The sharp part of his shield which was supposed to stabilize firmly on the ground punctured her stomach instead and crimson blood spurted instantly. She stopped moving abruptly as though she were dead.

"Damn it!"

Rhode clenched his teeth. On the other hand, Lize and Lapis gawked with ashen expressions.

Is Anne—dead?

"Phew..."

Rosen let out a long breath. He didn't expect her to be so powerful to give him a tough fight —but it didn't matter anymore, since she was already dead.

Rosen let out a sneer and pushed off the corpse before him.

At this moment, Anne lifted her head all of a sudden.

The green radiance emanating from her eyes shone brighter than ever and her face had totally transformed into a beast in his eyes.

"H-How is this possible...!"

Rosen clutched his shield in attempt to fling her off. But this time, he felt that his shield was as though a thousand kilograms which couldn't budge at all. At this moment, Anne lifted the shield in her hand and her pupils abruptly shrunk.

"CraayMedon." (Slaughter Mode)

The shield in her hand split and re-assembled in a series of gear crankings. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a large, mechanical, wide-open mouth of a beast.

She held the shield with both hands and brandished.

"Noooo!"

Rosen put his hands out for defense, but it was all for naught.

Anne's weapon broke them and crushed his skull.

Bam!

Rosen's head ruptured like a balloon. The mixture of bones, blood, and brain splattered across the arena. His detached body shuddered and finally stopped moving after a few seconds.

However, Anne didn't stop. She kept smashing again and again at the headless corpse. Then, she tossed the weapon away and dug through his thick armor and chest with her bare hands. She searched and eventually narrowed her eyes as though she found something that she wanted.

Anne pulled herself away from the shield that punctured her stomach. Then, she stood high and mighty with her right arm in the air.

A bloody heart that had stopped beating was in her hand.

Green radiance emanated from her eyes and she raised her head to the sky.

"Aowuuuuuu—!!"

"—!"

She crushed Rosen's heart into bits and it splattered all around her.

Then, she swayed and collapsed to the ground.