Vanguard of the Eternal Night

translator: xiin

editor: kara

The randomized map results came out. There was no Night of the Full Moon or the top of the Forbidden City. It was the 'Desert Temple'.

It was a map that had appeared before. It was surrounded by flat desert, and the remains of an ancient Egyptian temple covered most of the middle of the map. The temple had three floors, and there were several hidden platforms on the top and narrow sewers on the bottom. Only the middle of the temple was very open, and it had a dry fountain in the center. The venue was large enough for ten people to play a team competition in.

The commentators didn't need to evaluate and say it, because the audience could already see: This was a map that suited professional assassins.

Ambushes could be set up from anywhere; sneak attacks could happen anywhere; and it was also suitable for close combat.

Now, the only question was: Who would be able to snatch the advantage? As everyone knew, one of the biggest advantages an assassin had was the ability to launch a sneak attack.

At the start of the countdown, the two assassins landed facing each other, looking at each other from a distance of over 20 meters away, with the fountain between them.

The audience was very nervous! They rubbed to clear their eyes, wanting to see who would take the lead.

The reason for this was that, in this fight between Vantico and Odin, it was no longer a question of who was better, and who was inferior. It was a question of which school of assassins would flourish in the future, and which school would have to quit the mainstream stage!

When the countdown had ended, everyone's jaw dropped.

Nobody had tried to gain an advantage, and nobody had entered stealth!

As soon as the countdown had ended, the two assassins had moved directly towards each other.

The commentators also instantly got to work, "They didn't enter stealth! The two of them are preparing to fight it out directly! It can be seen that Odin started with a 'Flash', and Vantico started with a 'Bow Walk'--"

The two movement techniques brought them together, and the two assassins entered each other's attack range within two seconds of the start of the match, meeting to the left of the fountain.

In the first wave of attacks, their blades only struck once each!

They could see a bright white, slash-like flash in the air. Then, the two people had already switched positions, and their health hadn't changed at all.

The scene seemed to freeze, and it was as though time had slowed down due to the strong tension during the confrontation. Then, Vantico completed his turn using the technique, 'Lotus Walk', and his two daggers turned into virtual shadows at the same time--

It was just like a hurricane had squeezed through narrow cracks, like turbulence had forced through the narrowest part of the river. The surging force was bound and forced through a well-tempered track.

The narrowest part of the river also moved the most quickly. The track wasn't free, but in exchange, it pushed the limits of speed and strength!

The commentator called out the name of the technique, "'Wind Pressure'! Vantico came up and used his main DPS technique!"

The golden eyes beneath Odin’s hood instantly showed a sharp, cold light. It was as though he’d just seen something interesting. He held his dagger in a reverse grip and met the strike without retreating.

In a flash, there were three sharp noises in the silent temple!

In the short instant when the two daggers had collided, there had been sparks and the sound of metal colliding. The system judged that the stats of both sides were equal, and they encountered the same reactive force.

Odin was first to take a step back, and then, he attacked even more quickly. In his right hand, Song of Triumph instantly started up a continuous stream of counter-attacks!

Vantico's 'Wind Pressure' was like a charging stream of strength while Odin's combo was like a spider web that spread out quietly--it appeared gentle and leisurely on the surface, and sometimes, only a trace of it could be seen. If it wasn't for Vantico's blade moving to meet it, it would basically have been ignored.

However, nobody believed that this net was harmless. This was because the dagger, Deep Silence, was waiting behind it, and Deep Silence was like the fangs of a dragon.

"It's four attacks per second now, and it's gradually speeding up! They're about to enter the rhythm of a blade fight!" The commentator cried passionately, "Do both sides intend to start blade fighting!?"

Less than a second later, the other commentator immediately spoke up, "It's now more than six knives per second and still increasing at the speed of light! Odin is forcing Vantico to fight!"

The commentator didn't have enough time to explain the situation. He'd never before seen such a cruel and violent method of coercion before.

The sudden strong pressure smashed apart Vantico's plan to escape in an instant. He gritted his teeth and used the skill, 'Eagle Claw'--this technique used the hook claw to hold onto the enemy's neck, shoulder, or elbow, and it used the strong grasping characteristics of the hook claw to limit one side of the enemy's range of movement. Apart from him, no other player had ever been able to use the hook claw as a weapon at such a close range.

During a blade fight, this move was deadly.

"Clang--"

There was a loud noise, and the hall suddenly fell silent again.

The 'Eagle Claw' had landed, but it hadn't hit the position Vantico had aimed at--Odin had held the dagger, Deep Silence, up and aimed straight at his golden hook's claws. Both sides fell into a temporary stalemate, and the rhythm of the blade fight had also slowed down.

Odin had lost 1% of his health from the shock of the hit, but his golden eyes seemed to brighten.

Vantico, who was the closest person to him, even felt that he'd heard him say, "Interesting."

The commentators were explaining eagerly, "Vantico avoided making a mistake! He didn't fall into Odin's dominant fighting rhythm and broke through with his technique!"

"Sure enough, he doesn't want to take the risk of blade fighting with the great demon king!"

The next second, the two assassins attacked at the same time!

Odin's body spun, and he launched a double attack, shown by two snow-white sword lights that flashed across Vantico's body--one landing against his dagger and the other slicing gently across his throat!

Well-trained fighting instincts made Vantico subconsciously use 'Bow Step'. He retreated one meter away in the blink of an eye and immediately retreated from the range of close-combat attacks.

He followed up with a 'Bow Walk' and continued to move away, because he thought that Odin would take advantage of having the upper hand to pursue.

However… Odin didn't.

Odin stood there, holding the dagger, Deep Silence, close to his forearm, and he made a gesture with his finger--

One.

Vantico's eyelids trembled slightly.

The feeling of being gently scratched across the throat by such a dagger seemed to linger on his neck.

Vantico stepped back and disappeared amidst the structures, even as Odin did the same thing.

"The first round of face-to-face clashes has just come to an end. Vantico used four techniques in a row, and he really deserves to be known as the runner-up with the nickname, 'Mysterious Hand'." The commentator wiped his sweat, recovered slightly, and continued, "His strategy of refusing to engage in a blade fight is absolutely correct, but the problem is that Vantico has now created a weak point out of thin air--Odin certainly understands this."

At this point, the commentators had no way to speculate further, because they had no idea how Odin would exploit this weakness. They didn't even know if Odin would take advantage of it at all.

The great demon king, Odin, was the grandmaster of e-sports strategy, and anyone who attempted to predict what he would do would be slapping themselves in the face. They had no choice but to leave some space for the great demon king to play however he wanted to.

Before the commentators could finish sorting out their ideas, their heartbeats had already sped up again.

This was because the two assassins were really treating time like it was money!

Or, rather than saying that, maybe it was better to say that they were saving time!

They'd just finished the first round of direct combat, but the two of them didn't go off to find suitable ambush locations. They instead wanted to turn back around and take the other party by surprise.

In this situation, Vantico pretended that he'd retreated, but in fact, he'd found a hiding spot on the upper floor of the temple and decided to launch an active ambush there.

As for Odin, he was even more daring. He stepped up onto the door post of the temple and found Vantico's position with a Flash--so, to some extent, he hadn't been predicted incorrectly.

The two of them met face-to-face on top of the door post. The terrain around them could be described with these words: a single wooden plank!

At that moment, there was no time for the commentators to react. The confrontation burst out like a flash of lightning!

In this kind of situation, a blade fight was inevitable.

Vantico was instantly stuck in a dangerous situation!

Song of Triumph's gorgeous death net was approaching. Before the death god could close his net, he had to either retreat or kill the immortal death god!

However, in such a narrow place, there was no space for the two players to show their movement techniques. Vantico couldn't use 'Lotus Walk', which was good for movement and turning, and Odin couldn't use 'Shadow Dance', which was good for dodging and back-winding--however, they still had suitable disengagement techniques.

"Whoever uses invisibility first will lose!" The commentators couldn't keep up with this dazzling confrontation for the moment. Instead, they could only wait for the slow-motion replay of this wonderful scene in order to explain it properly. Now, they chose to focus on the situation at hand, "Vantico still has 'Bow Step', this technique is suitable for instant advance or retreat, and it can be used to quickly cut in or get out of the front lines. However, Odin has 'Flash', which is relatively more versatile. If the two god-level assassins want to retreat, they can get out of this terrain safely with one movement skill followed by invisibility, but the problem is--whoever retreats will lose!"

As soon as his words fell, Vantico's 'Eagle Claw' flashed again!

This time, there hadn't even been a sound of a clash. In the blink of an eye, his hook claw had already left his hand!

Odin hadn't used a high-speed combo to force him into blade fighting this time. Instead, his dagger, Deep Silence, had been waiting for precisely this moment. At the time when the 'Eagle Claw' had appeared, Deep Silence had already been waiting to strike down on Vantico's elbow like lightning--

At the same time, it had sliced across Vantico's ribs and extracted two drops of ruby red blood, sending them flying through the cold sky!

The system judged: Disabled state, one-second duration.

As Odin approached, the dagger moved gently towards Vantico, sending a chill towards his main artery.

At this moment, Vantico's pupils contracted.

The commentator shouted, "Bow Walk! What critical timing!"

At this critical moment, Vantico used the technique, 'Bow Walk', which was very suited for retreating. In the twinkling of an eye, he'd fallen down from the log bridge!

However, the action didn't stop there. There was an unexpected change once again!

"Flash--"

This graceful and startling figure suddenly approached Vantico once again!

At this moment, the two people's body postures and positioning remained almost unchanged. It was just like the two outlines on the wooden plank a moment ago yet shifted motionlessly one meter away!

Odin's left hand was so stable that the position of the dagger was exactly the same as it had been before, and it was still gently pressed against that same spot--the place where it had just left a murderous mark.

--However, he clearly had had the opportunity to use a combo to deal higher damage. Why was he so persistent about slicing his throat!?

Even Vantico's brain seemed to blank out for a moment.

"Two."

He heard Odin say this without any fluctuations in his voice.