Vanguard of the Eternal Night

translator: xiin

editors: alamerysl & Pyromancer

If he couldn't even discover where his opponent was, as a long-range profession that had no choice but to fight an assassin in close combat, if this wasn't seeking his own death, what was?

Flower Blower exhaled softly and used another skill.

A vine slowly grew out from the pouch at his waist and snaked its way up his arm. It not only healed his wound; his arm was also strengthened by the vine's tenacity.

Female commentator: "Vine Symbiosis! It is Flower Blower's rarely seen life-saving ability. Does he believe that he's already at an extreme disadvantage even with 60% of his life left?"

Flower Blower took out five arrows and shot them into the sky.

"It's a Scatter Shot." The male commentator said, "Flower Blower tactfully chooses an AOE skill that does not require guidance. Although the landing point is random, it can be used to detect the enemy's position at this point in time!"

His voice had just fallen when Flower Blower's head suddenly turned!

In this instant.

The cold light of a dagger struck at his throat for the third time. This time it was too close, and he had no way to avoid it!

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"Ah!" The female commentator screamed uncontrollably, "From behind!"

The male commentator could also feel his hair standing on end as he said, "Number 419 was standing in his shadow the whole time!"

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This attack was brilliant. After the sword and dagger performed a dual attack, Flower Blower's HP bar was directly cut to below 30%.

Flower Blower made one last stand, and pulled out his own short sword to clash against Tyron.

But it was only a counterattack performed in despair. His skill with the sword was inferior to his skill with the bow, let alone when compared to that of a master assassin.

That cold light flashed by, and a mere two seconds later, Flower Blower's short sword 'Lyra' was sent flying.

Tyron twisted once again and stood behind Flower Blower, holding the dagger in a reverse position against his neck. From the front, others could only see a figure that did not even look back as it moved.

The scene seemed to freeze for a second, and then the dagger sliced across.

One stroke across the throat took away the remainder of Flower Blower's life.

The battle ended, and it was clear who the winner was.

.

During those two seconds, even the commentators were quiet. It was only now that the male commentator finally spoke, carefully enunciating each word, “Truly terrible.”

The female commentator had obviously been a little intimidated as she sad, “I was really scared just now! I thought number 419 had been beaten back by Flower Blower, and would have no choice but to hide from his arrows&#k2026;”

"Unexpectedly, he deliberately pretended to retreat while he was in stealth mode, but in fact he was hiding in Flower Blower's shadow. He waited until Flower Blower used a detection skill—seizing the less than half a second opportunity where he would be unable to use skills in order to launch a bold attack from behind."

Female commentator: "In fact, Flower Blower's response time was actually very fast, but player 419 was just too close!"

"Yes, if 419 wasn't behind him, Flower Blower would absolutely have been able to at least let off one arrow. It can only be said that contestant number 419's battle awareness is truly amazing."

After a while, the female commentator spoke again, her voice still carrying traces of trepidation, "That moment can only be described as terrifying. As soon as I think about the fact that the assassin was quietly hiding behind Flower Blower and waiting for him to turn his head… I get scared."

While the commentators were speaking, the two contestants had already flown back to the stage.

The members of the audience who understood what had happened were beginning to get excited, while those who still hadn't understood slowly became enlightened as they listened to the commentators' explanation. They began to exclaim one after another, "Baby was so scared I almost peed myself!"

"I dare say that there is no assassin more assassin-like than Lord Four in the e-sports circle!"

"Oh my goodness, Flower is going to have nightmares when he returns home tonight…"

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Flower Blower indeed appeared to be in a trance, his breathing rather agitated as he hurried to stand on the stage. After a while, he reached out a hand to Tyron, "Congratulations."

Tyron shook hands with him, but said nothing.

He did not speak because nobody ever spoke to the losers or humbled themselves on the killing field. This would only occur in the peaceful competition arena. What's more, those who lost to Tyron were often already dead.

And his silence, in the eyes of outsiders, came across as rather mysterious.

When the host came over and asked him to share a few comments, Flower Blower said, "I feel like I have witnessed the birth of this League competition's champion."

The audience applauded.

The microphone was once again handed over to Tyron.

Host: "Dear contestant 419, you have already obtained a ticket to the finals. Would you like to announce your real identity now?"

Tyron had not even spoken yet when the audience already began to shout out in succession with calls of: "No!" "Hee-hee… It'll definitely be 'no'."

Tyron: "No."

Host: "…"

The audiences suddenly became lively again as they whistled and applauded one by one. They even pulled out a huge banner with the words "Lord Four I Love You!"

The host didn't know whether to laugh or cry as she took back the microphone. She first added to the excitement at the scene as she announced that contestant 419 had successfully qualified to enter the top four in the competition.

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Before the top four, after the initial free-for-all, each competition consisted of a single one-on-one battle, where winning or losing would determine whether or not they were eliminated from the competition.

But the rules for the finals were different. The four contestants would fight against each of the other three contestants according to the "BO3" system, which meant 'the first to achieve two victories would win'. After participating in all six matches, they would be ranked according to their ratio of wins.

In addition to the finals, there would also be competitions amongst the remaining contestants from the top 32, to give the losers a chance for a comeback. The comeback contestant had the qualification to compete against the champion, and could replace them if they won.

To make a long story short, Tyron received an official invitation in his mailbox.

In the next month, if he won three more individual battles, he would be able to obtain a prize of 5 million, get directly promoted to the A-list, and win an interstellar-level Championship trophy.

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After this match, the information on 'Lord Four's official page was updated again.

In addition to the previous comments, his PVN score was pulled up to level A, which raised his overall score to the top of the B-list.

An additional motion image had been added, which showed him with his back facing Flower Blower, using his dagger to slice his opponent's throat.

The image was captured from an angle facing him, and it caught the look in Tyron's eyes in the moment of slaughter—

Dark golden eyes were slightly narrowed, showing a trace of languor and indolence. It was hard to say whether it was due to the satisfaction that came at the end of the battle, or if it was due to pity for his dying opponent.

But there was no doubt that those eyes were extraordinarily beautiful.

Tyron looked at the picture and tried to recall what his thoughts had been, but he came up with nothing.

In fact, even he wasn't clear about it.

Generally speaking, everyone would be bored if they did the same thing too much. And so it was the same for Tyron—it was a commonplace occurrence for him.

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Tyron switched pages and skimmed through the League's official Earth Region website for news. The cover image had already been replaced with pictures of the four finalists.

Everyone else's photo was beautiful and styled. He was the only one who was hiding within his hood, with the number 419 over his head.

Even so, his popularity was still high, and it was no less than that of the other three well-known players.

The other three's professions were: Shadow Warrior, Sorcerer, and Slayer.

Tyron was scheduled to fight the slayer next. His opponent's ID was 'Lu Chaofan'.

He turned to his opponent's official page and read the GNA's comments on him: "His fighting ability is mediocre, but he has excellent strategic awareness. His core skill lies in setting traps, and he can often catch opponents in unexpected situations. So far, in the eight battles that he has participated in, the locations where he chooses to lay his traps are often very elusive."

This 'Lu Chaofan' was the most popular character amongst the top four finalists this year because his real identity was also quite extraordinary. He was a famous pop star, and his name 'Lu Chaofan' was also his stage name. He had suddenly announced this year that he planned to compete in e-sports. Previously, nobody had held high hopes for him, but who would have guessed that he would manage to make his way into the top four? This was unexpected for his fans, but it also made them proud, and this had already made many headlines on the internet.

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Tyron suddenly became interested, and searched for the battle that made 'Lu Chaofan' famous—his battle in the 32-12 round of the competition.

In this game, Lu Chaofan placed a trap under his feet right at the start. His opponent suddenly trampled on it a good three minutes and forty seconds into the fight, and it was the most intense, critical moment of the battle. All of a sudden, it had laid down the foundation for his victory.

The viewers left a barrage of comments: "The heck? This must be luck, right?"

Tyron switched to another battle. Lu Chaofan's performance here was even more miraculous. In the middle of the battle, it seemed as though his hand shook, and he stuck a trap against the door. Unexpectedly, his opponent really jumped back and happened to step into the trap again.

The crowd of viewers left a barrage of worshipful comments: "Although we don't quite understand, it appears to be very amazing."

After that, Lu Chaofan's fans came out to 'help them explain'. They came up with an even more obscure theory that stated: Lu Chaofan was using his superior IQ to crush them all. Ordinary mortals would never be able to understand his thoughts.

To make a long story short.

A small pop star jumped into the competition stage, and turned into an unexpected black horse. His fans were basking in the glory, and had already boasted and inflated the matter to the point where it was as big as the sky, claiming that 'given our idol's IQ, the championship is already in our hands!'.

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And for Tyron, he rubbed his chin after watching two matches and said in his heart: Silly children, this was all for show.

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No one knew more than a master assassin about how to observe the battlefield and evaluate his opponents' strength.

Tyron watched the way Lu Chaofan had thrown his trap, and saw the 'surprised' expression on his opponent, and even noticed the faint searching look before he stepped on it… All he saw was a big play that was full of flaws.

This scam was too crude, and everything was taken too much for granted.

Only this crowd of silly, sweet, and innocent interstellar residents who believed in 'fairness, justice and credibility' would have no doubts about these matches—because this was a world where technology had developed to the point where there were very few fraudsters in reality. But trust between people was not something that would exist just by talking about it.

So now, in the virtual arena, a cheater had already wantonly arrived at the position of 'top four in the Earth region'.

There were no fluctuations in Tyron's heart, and he even found it a little amusing. And then, he shut down the website and went off to read books.