Vanguard of the Eternal Night

translator: xiin

editor: kara

Competition map: Ancient fighting arena.

Coincidentally, this was a reduced version of the map from the brawl. It looked like the funnel-shaped arena from Ancient Rome, and in the middle of the arena was a ring-shaped fire pit that created an island. In order to cross the fire pit to the island in the center, there were four treacherous pieces of wood. When it came to concealment, there was an iron gate on both sides of the main area that held wild animals that could be used, and after going in, there was a wall that could be used to circle around.

It was hard to say who had the advantage when it came to this map.

For assassins, there was no way to launch an ambush without cover. However, it was almost the same situation for priests. There was no good way to avoid being chased. As a priest, Jiuzhou was most vulnerable when attacked by close-combat professionals. His movement skills, 'Around The Pillar' and 'Kite', would be very important in this match.

At the beginning, when the two players were transported to their starting positions on the map, they really ended up facing each other across the ring in the middle. It would only take one or two seconds of movement to get within range of the priest's furthest attack distance.

The two of them hadn't yet shown much of their intent, but the commentators were already nervous, "What kind of seal will Jiuzhou use this time?"

"I suspect that it will be the 'Seal of Honor'. When Jiuzhou had attacked Vantico back then, that had been the opening move he had used. If he can't initiate the fight against an invisible target, then he can first stack up his own advantages. This routine is now standard practice for priests against assassins."

The so-called 'seal' was actually a temporary state. All of the priest's seals shared a 5-second cooldown time, and opening a seal lasted 10 seconds at a time. That meant that there could only be at most two seals on his body at one time.

There were a total of eight types of seals; each of which had a different function, and they all strengthened a certain aspect:

Seal of Humility: Strengthens defensive skills.

Seal of Honesty: Increases the ability to trigger and resist abnormal states.

Seal of Mercy: When dealing damage to the enemy, heal yourself according to the damage dealt.

Seal of Valor: Increases movement speed.

Seal of Justice: Increases attack power.

Seal of Sacrifice: As your health decreases, your abilities' chanting and cooldown time will be greatly reduced.

Seal of Honor: Allows the summoning of 2 spirit angels to assist.

Seal of Soul: Increases healing power.

In general, priests would usually only take two or three seals with them. For example, priests who played in team games usually carried a 'Seal of Soul' for healing and 'Seal of Humility' for self-protection. When they were fighting, they would pay attention to keeping the two seals active.

However, Jiuzhou’s &#k2018;Seal Dance’ technique took all eight types of seals and switched between them according to what was needed. His core skill was &#k2018;Condemnation’, which caused a certain amount of damage to the opponent. Every time he used it, the cooldown time and duration of his seals would be reduced by 0.5 seconds, but the release time would also require 0.5 seconds.

So, this was why the technique was called the 'Seal Dance'. When Jiuzhou pushed it to the limits, he could switch seals every 3 seconds. He could use the strengthening ability of a seal to deal a combo with 'Condemnation', switch seals instantly, and then launch another series of combos…

He'd once forced his opponent to remain airborne for 8 seconds without being able to do a single thing. At the time, even the commentators had been shocked.

It was also very difficult to attack the priest when he was in defensive mode, but once he became fierce, he was bloodthirsty, very unlike his gentle appearance.

The countdown ended. At the very start of the game, Jiuzhou indeed used the Seal of Honor!

Two angels appeared behind him in an instant. The spirit angels were the lowest level of creatures amongst angels, and they had no intelligence and no face. Only two balls of light with beautiful wings could be seen floating behind Jiuzhou.

At this time, Odin started off with a burst of speed. He didn't use stealth at all and came within Jiuzhou's magic attack range!

Jiuzhou was fighting as he retreated, but his speed couldn't match Odin's, and the distance between the two sides shortened infinitely!

The commentators: "Odin kept his stealth skill and didn't use it! It seems that he's going to test things out first."

The two sides reacted extremely quickly. As soon as Odin had entered his range of attack, Jiuzhou had already sent the first 'Condemnation' at his enemy, and the spirit angels behind him had already begun to chant. They launched auto-attacks at their opponent, using 'Holy Light', which only required one second of casting time to attack.

Condemnation couldn't be evaded. Fortunately, the damage dealt was very low. The first hit only dealt less than 1% of his health as damage.

The two attacks from the spirit angels had also arrived in front of Odin in the blink of an eye. Everyone watched as he continued running, but his body suddenly dropped down--

And, Song of Triumph came out of its sheath in that instant!

A brilliant light flashed out to meet them head-on, and the two Holy Lights shattered apart in the sky!

In that instant, it was as though stars were shining in all directions.

The next moment, Jiuzhou's second Condemnation arrived, and Odin flashed through the shattered starlight.

The commentator: "Odin used a Speed Difference and is about to get close! Let's see how Jiuzhou reacts!"

Speed Difference was a common skill for the melee classes. The speed of the movement skill started off slow and then accelerated as they approached. It was used to interfere with the opponent's ability to predict their position.

At this time, Jiuzhou's second seal was also on cooldown, and he'd already cast a second Condemnation. There were two more seconds left before the seals finished their cooldowns.

He was unhurried as he faced the assassin head-on. He actually even cast a third Condemnation.

Odin's health was now at 98.5%, and he used a Flash to directly enter the range of a close-combat attack. He instantly started up his Shadow Dance, and the light from his two blades was like a school of swimming fish, arriving near Jiuzhou's figure from the side.

Jiuzhou side-stepped and avoided damage to vital areas. While taking the attack, he simultaneously opened up a 0.5-second shield.

However, this shield wasn't strengthened and was only worth 5% of his total health. It was broken apart by Deep Silence in the next second!

"Shadow Dance!" There was a shout from the commentators.

Odin had started with Shadow Dance. Jiuzhou could no longer rely on his ordinary skills to dodge, and the fragile priest's health bar dropped amidst the uproar!

Within a second, the system immediately determined that it had been a seven-hit combo with damage from a Flash mixed in.

In the blink of an eye, Odin appeared by Jiuzhou's left, subtly but absolutely interrupting Jiuzhou's attempt to attack.

In the next second, Jiuzhou began to chant a large healing spell. This was a 1.5-second long chant --of course, nobody believed that a grand master, who had been the second place runner-up in the National Championships, would chant for such a long time when an assassin was nearby.

This chant was clearly a fake!

An assassin had the ability to slice his throat, causing silence and spell interruption. However, the silence effect can only be triggered once every 10 seconds on the same target--as long as he was able to trick the assassin into using silence, then he wouldn't have to worry about being interrupted by a throat slice for the next 10 seconds!

As soon as Jiuzhou had begun to chant, the blade of Song of Triumph had already approached his throat!

At 0.2 seconds, Jiuzhou stopped chanting, taking the initiative to cancel his own spell. It was just a little bit short of a perfect fake.

At 0.3 seconds, Song of Triumph was about to slice across his throat, but at the instant of the attack, the attack route changed lightning fast and turned at an incredible angle, slicing across the corner of Jiuzhou's eye!

The system judged: Critical attack! Blind!

This time, the confrontation time was so short that the commentators could only shout, "Two acts were exchanged!" And then, they had to hurry and continue to explain what happened next.

.

When a casting profession was blinded, it was impossible for them to cast directional spells against their enemies. However, they still could use other spells.

While the two had been fighting each other, Jiuzhou's seals had already cooled down.

At a time when most people believed that he would switch to the Seal of Honesty (enhance the dispel ability, allowing it to be cast instantly) and counteract his blinded state, Jiuzhou suddenly switched to the Seal of Valor and enhanced his mobility instead!

It had to be said that he was currently still blinded. His vision was dark, and if it had been another player, they may not have dared to move much at all. However, not only had Jiuzhou dared to switch seals, but he had also dared to use Flash!

This series of operations were all completed within one second. First, he moved 10 meters away. Then, he opened up the Seal of Valor to remove the cooling time for his movement skill, then continued to Flash and cover another distance of 20 meters. In an instant, he'd already reached the iron gate on one side of the arena.

If his current 'blind' status hadn't still been hanging over his head, nobody would have believed that he really couldn't see anything.

Over such a short period of time, Odin's response speed was countless times faster than that of the commentators. After Jiuzhou's first Flash, he'd already used a Flash of his own to chase.

By the time Jiuzhou had Flashed towards the iron gate, Odin was already within 20 meters of him.

Jiuzhou hadn't yet managed to stand firmly when Odin unhesitatingly used 'Shadow Jump' at its maximum range. His figure moved across the large distance and appeared directly behind Jiuzhou!

The director's camera flew over rapidly and was just in time to catch this scene: Song of Triumph's sharp blade stabbed into Jiuzhou's back, and the latter party darted forward blindly, dodging behind the pillars inside and blocking himself from Odin's vision.

This loss of vision caused Odin's combo to become interrupted halfway. He'd only been able to press Jiuzhou's health down to 60%, and he had to start up Shadow Dance again and restart the combo.

However, Jiuzhou didn't give him this opportunity. He didn't even forget to send over another 'Condemnation' right away.

Odin was halfway through his Shadow Dance and had started up his combo attacks again. He was about to enter the second half that would deal super high damage!

At this critical moment, Jiuzhou immediately used 'Guard Double' and exchanged positions with one of the angel spirits 30 meters away!

"He hadn't taken the two spirit angels with him when he Flashed," The commentator exclaimed, "Jiuzhou had done this for the sake of a second positioning change!"

Song of Triumph was unable to take Jiuzhou down to 50% of his health and allowed its cunning prey to escape from its blade. It could only cut down the spirit angel that had been transmitted over instead.

Odin had just turned back to look at Jiuzhou when another Condemnation was shot over.

Jiuzhou had never been hurried with his attacks and would always launch them at the right time, never missing any opportunity to use Condemnation.

Now the two were 30 meters away from each other again, and the assassin's Shadow Jump ability that was used to close the distance in an instant was also on cooldown.

After Jiuzhou finished casting Condemnation, the Seal of Honor's timer had already run out. His Flash was also on cooldown; he only had one angel left, and he was at 57% of his health. Taking advantage of the safe distance of 30 meters between them, he immediately switched to the Seal of Soul and began to heal himself.

Odin couldn't use the 'Shadow Jump' skill, but the silence effect from slicing the other's throat hadn't yet been used, and his health bar was at 94%. He sheathed both weapons, and his figure disappeared into the shadows without leaving a trace.

The commentator: "It can be said that in the previous exchange of attacks, neither side was able to gain much advantage! Right now, the great demon king has activated stealth!"