Chapter 346: Unfortunate Set-Up

After their second battle, Michael's team had a little longer break before they would have to enter the combat ring once again. The schedule gave them just enough time to rest a little and replenish their origin energy just before the 3rd fight started.

They won the third battle by applying the same tactic as before and advanced to the next stage. The 4th and 5th battle ended with the victory of the Best Mix team, however, it was progressively harder to win against their opponents. But that was only obvious. The combat prowess of their enemies increased alongside their Tier.

The fifth battle was against a team of humans with two Late Tier-3 Lords as members. Each of the two Tier-3 Lords would have been strong enough to exterminate the Best Mix team if they had been in possession of offensive Soultraits. Even without offensive Soultraits, the two Tier-3 Lords were stronger, faster, and more perceptive than everyone else on the battlefield. Not even Thaor and Lokai were strong enough to compare with the tremendous power the War Rune provided upon getting refined to a high degree.

Most Awakened said that the natural power scale didn't apply to true powerhouses and extraordinary prodigies. They were certain that those with powerful Inheritance techniques, exceptional Soultraits, and individual teaching from the old and well-seasoned war veterans allowed the younger generations to break the natural power scale.

While that might be true to a certain extent, there were numerous factors that had to be taken into consideration. The higher the refinement degree of the War Rune the deeper the pool of power that could be accessed. Even if someone wasn't in possession of a powerful Inheritance technique, an exceptional Soultrait, or profound teaching from old monsters of society, they could be stronger than those who received all of this.

If a Tier-2 descendant who had high mastery in his Inheritance technique, was in possession of an exceptional Soultrait and had also been taught and trained for more than a decade could tap into a pool of power and extract the equivalent of a droplet of water, that droplet of power would undoubtedly be of high quality, pure and incomprehensibly strong. Furthermore, it would be increasingly difficult for a descendant armed with this single droplet of power against someone at the Peak of Tier-3 with a pool of power equivalent to the size of a sea.

Even a normal Awakened at the 3rd Tier would be strong enough to defeat a descendant at Tier-2. That was the natural order of the War Rune's power scale that couldn't be ignored even if one wanted to.

Fortunately, the Best Mix team had Lokai with Burning Fury in their team. Facing two Late Tier-3 Lords with great power resulted in a drastic increase in Burning Fury's enhancement. This allowed the two Tier-3 Awakened in the Best Mix team to stall the Late Tier-3 humans all while Thaor faced the three remaining human opponents by himself.

Michael and Kaleb continued to use their powers to aid the two Berserkers and the Warlock Centaur in battle. They made sure that the Late Tier-3 human Lords couldn't move away from Lokai and Mekhaz while using various means to slow down the three other human Lords.

Michael and Kaleb slowed their enemies before narrowing their paths of escape, creating better opportunities for Thaor to make full use of his size, physical strength, and powers.

The fifth battle was extremely difficult to win, but the effect of Burning Fury allowed their team to narrow the gap in strength just enough to defeat the five humans.

After the fifth fight everyone was exhausted, but the huge round of applause they received from the spectators allowed them to forget about all the pain and suffering.

The first and second fight hadn't been accompanied by cheers. Everyone had been a little bit stupefied seeing humans, Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs fight together. It was hard for the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs to accept that the humans in the Best Mix team interfered in Lokai, Mekhaz, and Thaor's fights, destroying the natural balance the war-loving races honored usually.

But after watching the third and fourth battle of the Best Mix team, their opinions changed slowly. The Best Mix team was set up against opponents stronger than them. All Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs knew how strong Lokai, Thaor, and Mekhaz were. Yet, despite knowing their powers better than anyone, the teams of Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs fighting them in the third and fourth round ended up losing - even though they had always been stronger than the two Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs.

The fourth and fifth battle against Mid and Late Tier-3 opponents sealed the deal. Everyone began to understand slowly that Kaleb and Michael's subtle intervention in their allies' fights allowed them to take out their opponents one after another. Kaleb and Michael allowed Lokai, Thaor, and Mekhaz to make full use of their strengths while also balancing out their weaknesses.

It was an exceptional sight and a miraculous feat that was hard to ignore.

The Chieftain was pleasantly surprised with the Best Mix team's results. They entered the top 100 even though their strength should have barely been enough to enter the top 200. Unfortunately, their opponent in the sixth round was on a completely different level than their enemies before.

"Why...do we have to fight them? That doesn't make any sense. Isn't the result of the fight obvious?!" Kaleb complained to the others.

Michael could only respond with a wry smile. He felt that they were quite unlucky to be put up against the Blazing Sun team. The Blazing Sun team had four members at the Peak of the 3rd Tier, and one member at the Peak of the 2nd Tier.

The student, Ludwig Pearl - Lord at the Peak of the 2nd Tier - was someone Michael was somewhat familiar with. He was the student with the War Flag Soultrait, a Soultrait that enhanced the morale, energy circulation and Soultrait Power of all allies in range. Unfortunately, the worst was that the War Flag Soultrait could be overclocked with the use of more energy. Its range of effect decreased the higher the War Flag was overclocked, but it could increase the Power of all allies' Soultraits in its range by roughly 50%.

This Support-type Soultrait was of exceptional value, especially for the four Peak Tier-3 Students, who had 5-Star and 6-Star Soultraits.

Their leader was a woman called Maria Wang. She had a 6-Star fire elemental Soultrait. Her right hand was also a woman, Sera Kani, with a 5-Star Wind attribute Soultrait, and her left hand was a young man, Ashryn Hard, with a 6-Star Soultrait that was similar to Liopham's Rage of the Primal. The only difference was that his Soultrait enhanced his means of defense alongside taunting his enemies.

Last but not least the Blazing Sun team's fourth Peak Tier-3 member is called Zelda Norman. She had a Soultrait that manifested an ominous dome all over the combat ring. The dome weakened the Soultraits of the designated targets. The higher the difference in stars the stronger the weakening effect, resulting in a drop of more than 50% for 3-Star Soultraits.

Combining the effect of all of those Soultraits precisely granted them a great advantage, alongside the fact that the entire Blazing Sun team was several years older than the Best Mix team. They had several years of time to grow stronger, enhance their War Rune's refinement degree, and reach a higher stage of their individual Inheritance techniques.

"So what? We will definitely not give up, if that's what you're thinking about, Kaleb!" Thaor declared, his voice fiercer than usual.

At this point, Thaor had fully acknowledged Kaleb. He even began to call him by name rather than saying "you", or "hey".

"That's obvious...but I still want to complain, okay?!" Kaleb cursed quietly to himself.

"We will win!" Lokai growled, causing Michael to smile wryly.

"That's the spirit."

Lokai was a slow thinker and rather dense, but she had a strong battle spirit and would never give up. Her combat prowess and battle instincts made up for what she lacked.

Michael was deep in thought after he recollected the information he had about their next opponents. Fighting against a team of Peak Tier-3 Lords who had powerful Soultraits and a great team set-up was rather annoying.

But it was also exciting.

A tinge of excitement spread throughout Michael's entire being as the cogs in his mind rattled tirelessly. A few ideas formed in his mind, but he couldn't refine any of the ideas because the referee called them onto the combat ring.

Michael bit his lower lip while staring at the Blazing Sun team as they entered the arena before he pulled Kaleb next to Lokai.

"I think we can try something," Michael mumbled, revealing one of the ideas that formed in his mind.

Kaleb began to frown deeply as Michael finished laying out his plan.

"But I am not a Supporter. I am a brave Warrior!" Lokai declared with a tinge of anger in her voice. She stared down at Michael and took a step closer to him, making use of her size to tower above the young human.

However, Michael didn't back off. He sighed deeply and lifted his hand.

"You can fight the moment we finish my plan," Michael responded, not budging at all as Lokai took another stride closer to him.

"I like his plan," Mekhaz said, having listened to Michael's idea, "It's just like he said. Join the fight once you guys are done. We might have a chance to win if it works out."

Thaor agreed as well. He nodded while a glint of excitement spread through his eyes.

Lokai cursed aloud but she ended up nodding her head.

Michael and Kaleb looked at each other, unable to control their facial expressions. Vibrant smiles formed on their faces.

"Let's kill them all!" Kaleb announced, only for a chuckle to escape his lips.

Michael patted Kaleb's shoulder, also chuckling lightly.

"Killing might be a bit too much. Let's just freeze them alive!"