Vanguard of the Eternal Night

translator: xiin

editors: kara

If Vantico's teacher had been able to look at the scene from the same point of view, he would have been able to figure out what Odin was doing.

This style of play, which seemed a little like bullying children, was actually a type of psychological tactics that was used when dealing with young assassins.

There was a kind of psychology called 'learned helplessness'.

If a puppy had been tied firmly to a box from birth and unable to get out, then when it grew up, even if the chain had been removed, and it could walk out of the box simply by lifting its legs, it wouldn't lift its legs, because it was too used to its own helplessness and had learned not to resist it.

The same was true for young assassins. Before they went out to face real blood and real attacks, they learned how to 'exercise', how to break their opponents' moves, and how to perform best within an instructive combat framework. When they finally reached the battlefield, the training practice would soon fade away. This kind of training was more like weaning and would soon become completely replaced by the fighting instinct honed by life and death, blood and fire.

When it came to this point, Vantico had really lost.

He'd never experienced this kind of life-and-death contest before. He'd always been doing simulation training. Although video games could be cruel, it was just like what Odin had been able to see with a glance--e-sport contestants would be given applause when they won, and if they lost, all they had to do was pat off their buttocks and go home. And even if they simply went home, they wouldn't have to worry about survival or starvation.

Like this, with only the mentality of longing for victory, wealth, success, and so on, it was far from enough; only the mentality of longing to live was enough to crush all helplessness, laziness, fear, and despair--people had to experience suffocation in the water in order to cherish the ability to swim; they had to experience blood loss to feel the shock of making a mistake, forcing them to try their best to avoid injury in battle. They had to experience exposure to the desert sun and live on the verge of death in order to learn to do anything in order to obtain resources for survival.

Without the pressure for survival and with only the temptation of a snack, the dog would never jump out of the box.

Bullying such a puppy was very simple. Take out a box, and put it inside. It would sit inside helplessly and start barking.

Vantico had already become a little confused from the fight.

When he hadn't understood Odin's fighting style, his own style could be said to have been fierce or reckless, and he hadn't been afraid to try his best to strive for opportunities, but after he had realized what Odin was doing, he had suddenly become entangled and indecisive.

"Vantico took another step back! And, he used Bow Walk!" The commentator wasn't clear on what was happening, so he guessed, "It seems that Vantico's health levels have fallen below his psychological expectations, so he's now beginning to take on a more cautious play style?"

This didn't seem to make much sense, but the audience no longer cared about this. The public screen was now full of crazy comments, "Don't cower, just charge! Vanvan!"

"Why isn't Lord Four hiding himself? It's clear that his cooldowns have always been available. Quickly take the initiative to fight until you win!"

"Vanvan! What are you dazed for, 'Wind Pressure' has been cut off, but you still have 'Water Sword'! If you can't win with blade fighting, you still have other techniques that you can take out. It's time to give full play to the 'Mysterious Hand's real strength!"

The commentator glanced at the last comment and shook his head slightly. Wind Pressure, Lotus Walk, and Bow Walk, all of which Vantico was the most familiar with, had already been broken continuously. How could he take out techniques that he wasn't as familiar with? Taking out those techniques to shock his opponent every now and then in order to gain a small advantage was fine, but how could he take them out in a situation where he was at a disadvantage and facing an opponent on the level of the great demon king?

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Due to Vantico's caution, the two assassins attacked and retreated in the middle of the arena, and the battlefield soon shifted around to several different places. Vantico's health remained stable at a very dangerous level.

The more he fought, the more stable he became. He had been completely brought into the rhythm of a &#k2018;teaching fight’.

However, in contrast to his fighting style, Vantico’s mentality was becoming more and more explosive like a puffer fish that had been wronged and was about to blow up into a ball. He was full of aggression that couldn’t be let out. If he actually could have, he would have bitten the assassin elder in front of him to death.

As soon as Odin had noticed his state, he almost laughed out loud in the arena.

The master assassin: Oh, hey, this little kid is so much fun.

When the two of them re-entered a stand-off, Odin spread out his hands and made an obvious gesture of 'Come and fight, I'm ready to block you'.

As expected, Vantico used ow Walk and broke into his attack range like lightning.

In the moment he had approached, Odin suddenly turned into a shadow!

"Shadow attack!" The commentator slapped the table abruptly, "Lord Four used Shadow Jump on the spot!"

Shadow Jump was often used to get close to long-range targets, so it hadn't yet been used in this particular game. However, it could also be used as a 0.5-second dodge and backwinding--

At this moment, Vantico's Bow Walk had just ended. A sword light appeared from behind him!

Vantico had only had enough time to hold up his dagger before his entire person had been directly blasted away by a colossal force! In mid-air, just while he was pulling his body inwards, Odin instantly used Flash to approach him. A dagger stabbed into his heart, and the powerful impact had caused Vantico to smash into a wall.

If he smashed into it fully, it was possible that his remaining health would be directly deducted completely.

Vantico's pupils contracted, and he instinctively uttered a syllable--

Shadow Jump!

The commentator had almost lost his voice, "Vantico came back with a shadow attack!"

This critical Shadow Jump had saved Vantico's life temporarily.

Vantico's shadow quickly dissipated from the wall, but Odin had already reached back to catch the dagger that had attacked from behind.

Vantico's other dagger actually swept in from the side, and one of his attacks had managed to land on Odin's waist.

Odin had actually started up his Shadow Dance, but he didn't try to hide--he instead acted completely out of Vantico's expectations, and after having taken an attack, he bumped into Vantico from the front once again.

"Five and six." The master assassin spoke calmly.

When Vantico heard his voice from such a close distance, his mind was full of one thought: I want to open my mouth and bite him to death!!!

Unfortunately, not only did he not have a mouth that was big enough, but that bump had also been enough to take away the rest of his health, and he turned into a white stream of light and flew away.

Odin still had over half of his health left. He casually drew out a sword flower and put his two weapons back into their scabbards. He was in a good mood as he thought to himself: Tsk, tsk, little pitiful thing.

Nobody understood Vantico's mind better than he had when he'd used Shadow Jump. Everyone else might have thought that Vantico had been quick-witted to use Shadow Jump, but the master assassin had understood very well: Hey, hey, the little cub was bullied by the bad guy, so he subconsciously imitated the bad guy's method. Perhaps even Vantico himself hadn't noticed.

It was like a poor child who'd been punished by a teacher to copy lines one hundred times. When he had wanted to be cruel and obtain revenge, his thoughts would have been full of, 'I want to be a teacher when I grow up so that I can punish others to copy lines even more times!'

By the time the two contestants flew back to the stage, the commentators were still playing back the fight in slow motion on a separate channel, speaking as fast as they could.

The stage was brightly lit, and the host flew over lightly.

Vantico suddenly wailed and pounced at Odin, thinking that he could finally fight back. He had even tried to take out a dagger and stab this old bastard in front of his eyes.

This was his mentality exploding after feeling too aggrieved. He'd gotten too deep into the play and didn't realize that he'd 'died' in the virtual arena. He didn't even notice that the environment had changed and still wanted to resist.

However, without the stats bonuses of his game character, his actions were really too slow.

Odin leaned over to get out of his way, then stuck out his foot, and tripped Vantico smartly--

He didn't go too far with it. He had even reached out a hand and pulled this little cub back up by the clothes on his back.

Vantico was drooping all over. He had finally realized that the game was over and that no amount of deep hatred or grievance could be vented.

--Did he feel aggrieved? Suppress it! Who'd told him to lose so miserably!?

Vantico finally stood still, his face expressionless. He bowed his head, and he was very much face-full-of-despair.jpg.

Odin glanced over and then stabbed him one more time with his abominable attitude, "Seven."

Vantico: "……"

He'd already been stabbed six times in-game! The game was over! Did he really still have to attack again--"I've already killed you seven times"! What kind of cruel bastard was this!?

Vantico was no longer in despair. He raised his head and showed crazy-with-anger.jpg.

Tyron was in a very good mood. First, he'd abused Old Friend, then abused this little brat, Vantico. He'd beaten down this couple one after another and now felt that his status as an elder was very lofty and magnificent.

Then, he looked up and saw a scrolling comment that said, "Eh? Why do I want to stand in support for Lord Four x Vantico's CP for one second?" "My god, just now, our Vanvan had been sending himself into his arms, and the big beauty Four is so indulgent that he had helped him up…" "I can't stand you heretics! Are you all blind?! How can this also be YY??"

Tyron quickly put away his smile, picked up the microphone that was shaped like a statue of the goddess of victory that the host had handed over, and spoke solemnly, "Don't form CPs."

The public screen exploded in an instant!

"Am I hallucinating?!!!!

"Lord Four actually reads the comments! Not only did he read them, but he also even spoke words!"

"Ohhhh ahhhhhh!! Our cult is awesome! The War God is speaking to us!"

Tyron glanced at the audience coldly, then read the comments on the public screen again, watching expressionlessly as they swept crazily across the screen.

The brainless swiping and shouting along with the screams from the audience lasted for several minutes. Finally, the comments could be seen with the naked eye once again. "Lord Four told us not to form CPs!"

"I was just saying that some fujoshis' behavior is really excessive…"

"He already has a husband, okay!?"

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As though prompted by something, the screen shifted to show the friends and family section where Victor was seated.

Victor had no idea that he had been caught on camera. He was working hard at the moment, arguing in the comments, "You unruly, no-rhythm, interstellar people! Let go of my old antique! Have you guys ever considered his feelings!?"

Alas, his comments were just a drop in the bucket. In the blink of an eye, they were drowned out like a needle in a haystack, drowned in the sea of other people's comments and barely even occupying a single pixel.

Victor was very angry, and he was also very serious about it. He continued to fight for Lord Four even though there were tens of thousands of people clamoring for him.

There was a smile in Tyron's eyes. He purposely turned around to look at Victor, who'd been magnified many times on the screen.

The public screen: "Damn, caught off guard by a mouthful of dog food…", "Taking advantage of nobody being around to take away my Vic! [Sneaking away like a big bear]", "Don't even think about it! Victor belongs to all of us!"

Just two seconds later, while the audience still hadn't finished with the 'dog food' comments, Tyron picked up the microphone again and said, "Let me say it again, don't form cults. Even I can't bear to have Victor eat vinegar. So, why are you all tossing it around?"