Chapter 38: Victory

After clashing with Falling Snow Cherry Blossom several times, Nightfeather gradually formed a rough understanding of her attack style. He then took hold of his ancient zither and aimed it at her, the corners of his lips curling into a faint smile.

“I already understand your method of attack. Now let’s see how strong your defenses are!”

With that, Nightfeather’s hands swept across the strings. A deep violet rainbow of light shot toward Falling Snow Cherry Blossom’s position.

“Moon-and-Snow Intersecting Radiance.”

The violet beam streaked fiercely toward Falling Snow Cherry Blossom, while the crisscrossing rays seemed intent on sealing off every possible avenue of retreat.

A cold glint flashed through Falling Snow Cherry Blossom’s eyes, and her brows drew together slightly.

“You really are capable. You actually found the opening in my skill’s cooldown and launched an attack? Unfortunately, the opponent you’re facing isn’t one of those two weaklings from before.”

As her voice fell, the staff in Falling Snow Cherry Blossom’s hand flickered with a dim black radiance. At the center of that darkness, a strand of ghostly green light gathered, its faint glow carrying an icy chill.

“Gu Art: Resentful Prison Heart-Eating Gu.”

A demonic hound suddenly materialized behind Falling Snow Cherry Blossom. Around it floated more hounds with savage faces, while terrifying evil spirits emitted mournful cries like howling wolves.

In an instant, everything changed. Nightfeather’s Moon-and-Snow Intersecting Radiance was forcibly resisted by Falling Snow Cherry Blossom’s skill, vanishing without inflicting the slightest damage upon her.

Even so, Falling Snow Cherry Blossom’s movements appeared somewhat awkward. She seemed flustered and barely able to keep up, proving that she had previously relied on overwhelming offense to defeat her opponents.

“I’ve more or less understood the spellcasting style of Gu Emperor players. If I encounter stronger Gu Emperor spellcasters in the future, I should be able to witness even more impressive techniques. For now, this is enough.”

As Nightfeather spoke softly, elegant zither music flowed from the ancient instrument in his hands. A violet halo slowly spread from his body, and the violet rainbow surrounding him transformed into enormous, incredibly solid chains that shot toward Falling Snow Cherry Blossom.

“Autumn Swing Shackles.”

The immobilizing skill took effect with absolute certainty, fixing Falling Snow Cherry Blossom in place. Astonishing violet chains bound her tightly, and no matter how desperately she struggled, she could not break free. She could not even use her skills.

In an instant, the advantage she had built up earlier vanished completely.

“How is this possible? What’s going on?”

Falling Snow Cherry Blossom had never truly fought against a string-class player. Whenever she had encountered one, she had crushed them with overwhelming force. Among the classes in the arena, the string class could be said to have one of the lowest win rates.

As a result, Falling Snow Cherry Blossom knew absolutely nothing about string-class skills. She was completely at a loss.

“Gu Art: Blood Gu Seal.”

Falling Snow Cherry Blossom immediately unleashed two skills. The first calculated additional damage based on her remaining mana, while a terrifying giant blood insect condensed in midair and shot toward Nightfeather.

The corners of Nightfeather’s lips lifted slightly. There was not the slightest trace of panic in his expression as he looked at the blood insect.

“Purple Strings: Wind Returns to the Clouds.”

A violet hurricane condensed directly before Nightfeather. As he played his ancient zither, it surged toward the descending blood insect and collided with it head-on. The two skills instantly canceled each other out.

“Gu Art: Soul Gu Flooding the Heavens.”

Falling Snow Cherry Blossom was naturally shocked by what she saw, but she was not frightened. She quickly found another way to counter him. Countless Gu insects suddenly appeared in the sky, surrounding her completely.

The silence effect had disappeared, but Nightfeather’s sustained immobilization had turned Falling Snow Cherry Blossom into a stationary target. If she wanted to defeat him, she would have to rely on skills capable of dealing overwhelming damage.

“Zither Notes Break the Red Plum.”

Faint zither music rang out. Nightfeather continued using the violet hurricane to block as many of the Gu insects as possible. Yet the moment the music sounded, Falling Snow Cherry Blossom’s health suddenly began to plummet, while the health Nightfeather had lost gradually rose again.

“This string-class player never used that skill before.”

“Exactly. That’s the Red Plum-Breaking skill, isn’t it? But there seems to be a targeted enhancement in his custom talent tree. The skill drains the health of a single target and converts it into the user’s own health, effectively creating a healing effect. If this continues…”

“If this goes on, the string-class player won’t fall, while Falling Snow Cherry Blossom will be drained to death by that skill.”

The entire situation changed in an instant. Nightfeather’s disadvantage gradually became an overwhelming advantage—an utterly unstoppable one.

A vast swarm of Gu insects was completely destroyed by Nightfeather’s violet hurricane. Holding his ancient zither, he played it gently. The elegant music was filled with an icy chill, and the faintly perceptible killing intent reached Falling Snow Cherry Blossom personally.

“Perhaps the string class seems weak to you, but you should never underestimate its players.”

Nightfeather’s voice was so soft that only Falling Snow Cherry Blossom could hear him.

The smile on her face froze. She had not noticed her health decreasing earlier; it was only after hearing the voices from the surrounding audience that she realized what was happening. When she tried to resist once more, Nightfeather spoke again.

“Secret Fragrance in the Strings.”

The violet sonic attack transformed into a ribbon of mist that swept toward Falling Snow Cherry Blossom. A faint fragrance drifted through the hazy cloud.

The moment Falling Snow Cherry Blossom inhaled it, her health rapidly dropped to zero. Even her mana plunged sharply.

At the instant her health reached zero, it recovered to five percent.

Seeing this, Nightfeather slowly put away his ancient zither and breathed a quiet sigh of relief. The violet currents flowing around his body gradually faded. His face still wore a gentle, mild smile, making him appear warm and amiable—almost a completely different person from the one who had fought moments before.

“I hope you won’t hold what happened earlier against me. I’m really only a beginner. I haven’t had a proper, fair match against players of other classes, so I wanted to learn about their attack styles and gain some practical experience.”

As he spoke, Nightfeather walked slowly to Falling Snow Cherry Blossom and extended a hand. His warm, sunlit smile reflected in her eyes.

Falling Snow Cherry Blossom stared blankly at him for a moment, seemingly captivated by his face. But she quickly came to her senses, slapped away his outstretched hand, turned around, and walked straight off the battle platform.

“It’s only a game. Why take it so seriously? Isn’t winning and losing perfectly normal?”

Nightfeather watched her leave in a huff and spoke with a bitter smile.

At that moment, the entire audience erupted in thunderous cheers. The volume rose to such an astonishing level that Nightfeather was forced to cover his ears.

“He’s incredible! This string-class player is truly remarkable!”

“His skill combinations are so calm. They look slow, but he’s actually waiting for his opponent to reveal an opening before striking.”

“This string-class player is actually from a beginner server? He managed to fight three opponents alone the moment he appeared!”

The black-robed woman and the man who had been watching Nightfeather’s battle from the audience showed no major change in expression. Yet a trace of delight flashed through the woman’s eyes.

“You have to admit his talent this time, don’t you?”

Her voice was calm. Given her current position on the arena ladder, appearing here was somewhat absurd, but she had come specifically to watch Nightfeather fight on the battle platform.

“He certainly has considerable talent, and his age works in his favor as well. He’s only eighteen, yet he can display this level of ability. That does indeed prove his strength.”

After hearing the man’s assessment, the corners of the black-robed woman’s lips curved into a faint smile. Although her veil concealed it, the man could still sense her delight.

“All right, we should leave. This is only the Unyielding Silver division, after all. I doubt there will be another player as outstanding as him.”

After pondering for a moment, the man spoke. The black-robed woman said nothing, apparently satisfied. The two of them immediately transformed into streaks of light and vanished from the audience.

Elsewhere, the members of the Purple Void Illusion Realm who had entered the arena to watch erupted in astonishing cheers. Nightfeather turned toward them and found that Cup Wine Traps Heroes and Luo Feng were already sitting casually in the audience, eating snacks and chatting merrily.

“I say, how did the two of you end up over there?”

A faint trace of anger appeared on Nightfeather’s face as he scolded them helplessly.

Cup Wine Traps Heroes bit into a huge meat leg without even looking at Nightfeather. Staring only at his food, he laughed loudly.

“Since you were already in such good shape, there was no need for us to take the stage. The Old Priest and I decided to come straight to the audience and watch you fight by yourself.”

“Exactly. We’re both benchwarmers, after all. You took all the glory for yourself.”

Luo Feng nodded in agreement, continuing to sip his drink with a cheeky smile.

A faint anger appeared on Nightfeather’s face, though inwardly he was utterly exasperated. Clearly, Cup Wine Traps Heroes’ thickheaded attitude had spread to the others as well. A vein appeared on his forehead as he shouted, “But don’t you have to forfeit in order to leave? Did you two really just choose to forfeit?”

Hearing this, Luo Feng merely smiled without answering. Cup Wine Traps Heroes removed the meat leg from his mouth, glanced at Nightfeather, and said irritably, “Of course we forfeited. We’re confident you can handle it, so there was nothing to worry about.”

Seeing how calmly he said it, Nightfeather finally lost all trace of helplessness and became genuinely furious.

“You forfeited without hesitation. Weren’t you afraid I’d be defeated by the other side?”

“Relax, relax. We have plenty of confidence in you. Besides, while we were in the audience, we noticed two players from the Brilliant Diamond division watching your battle. They left as soon as the fight ended, and it seemed that they were paying attention only to you.”

Luo Feng’s words caused Nightfeather’s heart to tighten slightly. Earlier, he had sensed a gaze fixed upon him. Those eyes had seemed vaguely familiar, but he could not identify their owner. He also had no idea who could have known that he would enter the arena at this time.

After thinking it over, Nightfeather decided the two had probably just happened to be there by coincidence.

“Stop talking nonsense.”

Nightfeather refused to let them change the subject. He looked at the two of them with undisguised disdain and spoke in a deep voice.

Seeing this, Cup Wine Traps Heroes hurriedly stood and looked at him.

“At worst, you can just rest and wait during the next battle-platform match. Since today’s result was settled without any surprises, there’s nothing to worry about, is there?”

After saying this, Cup Wine Traps Heroes slowly rose, stretched, and continued, “We should keep leveling later. At present, you’re the only one who has reached Level 60.”

“What? Go leveling? Aren’t you going to check the information on our next opponents?”

Nightfeather slapped his left hand against his face and asked with a frown, as though he could not bear to look at them.

Cup Wine Traps Heroes merely shrugged, completely unconcerned.

“I’m saying that registering here isn’t important at all. Besides, the other side doesn’t know anything about us, do they? Except for you—and you don’t even need to take the field anymore.”

“You do make a fair point. In that case, I’ll see you later in Purple Void City.”

After hearing Cup Wine Traps Heroes out, Nightfeather found that his argument was not entirely unreasonable. He could only respond helplessly.

Every type of arena competition lasted at least five in-game days. The champion match for that stage took place on the fifth day.

Because Nightfeather’s opponents had been Level 80 players, far beyond the Level 60 to Level 70 range, the opponents encountered by his team could vary unpredictably. The battle-platform tournament followed a rather unusual system, unlike the other two types of competition.

Furthermore, among the earlier wagers, only the champion of this small-scale competition could be bet on and earn prize money. Thus, all of Nightfeather’s team’s wagers centered on winning the battle-platform championship.

Naturally, they had bet on themselves. What Nightfeather did not know was that the black-robed woman and the man had also placed their wagers directly on his team in Group A. Their enormous bets had caused the odds to shift in an instant.

… …