Vanguard of the Eternal Night

translator: xiin

editor: kara

So, Tyron inexplicably had another day off and had even directly accumulated three points. He casually took a look at the other two games in the first round of the top six.

Any player who could come this far was a national-level player. Other than him and Geng Chen, there were four others:

Paladin, ID 'Forgetting Worries'. Highest rank: 24th.

Druid, ID 'Meowmeowmeow'. Bixiong District newcomer.

Ability User, ID 'Little De'. Highest rank: 47th.

Hacker, ID 'Universal Day'. Previous National Championship contestant, highest rank: 33rd.

This morning was the paladin vs the hacker, and the match in the afternoon was the ability user vs the druid. After the first round ended today, round two would begin tomorrow. The timing was extremely tight.

Tyron and Victor changed their virtual images and went into the virtual world to watch the game together.

Overall, the games had been quite spectacular.

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There was even a little episode in the middle because the IDs of the druid and ability user were 'Meowmeowmeow' and 'Little De', so the two commentators ended up acting cute the entire time.

Female commentator: "Meowmeowmeow is in danger, meowmeowmeow!"

Male commentator: "No, Little De must still have something up his sleeve…"

Female commentator: "Little De's health line is in danger. If he doesn't bring it out now, he won't have a chance to anymore!"

Male commentator: "I'm not talking about the druid, I'm talking about Little De!" (The druid profession is sometimes referred to as 'Little De' in Chinese)

Female commentator: "Meowmeowmeow?"

Everyone: "……"

The audience was about to die of laughter. Victor was trembling from it as he clutched Tyron's arm.

Tyron didn't laugh. He had his head up as he watched the game, but when he had turned to look at Victor, he became amused by his appearance and reached out to scratch Victor's palm.

"Ah!" Victor finally laughed out loud, the ends of his hair shaking.

Tyron went back to watch the game. He reached his hand out without looking and mussed up Victor's hair completely.

Victor shook from the rubbing, leaning his head against Tyron's shoulder as he said jokingly, "This ability user… is quite strong."

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Tyron circled the professions 'hacker' and 'ability user' in his mind. This was mainly because he didn't have enough experience against them, as the two professions were unique to the interstellar era.

Generally speaking, hackers fought by giving &#k2018;instructions’. These instructions could be issued by voice or by hand. Tyron regarded them as an alternative to mages, who required chanting and gestures.

It was just that a hacker’s instructions were quite intriguing. They could affect the player’s avatar&#k2013;&#k2013;causing them to suddenly change into a sheep while fighting, or change the terrain&#k2013;&#k2013;so that 10 square meters of ocean would suddenly appear in the desert. It could also affect the opponent or their own weapons&#k2013;&#k2013;dagger to a spiked club, wooden stick to gun, and so on.

In short, these instructions encompassed all sorts of things.

However, a hacker's biggest weakness was that their instructions could be seen by their opponents. It basically consisted of English and occasional chunks of programming languages.

As for Tyron, he'd once been blessed by the gods and could understand all languages.

So, he placed the threat level of a hacker a little behind that of the ability user.

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The ability user was the one who Victor had said was 'quite strong'.

The ability user with the ID 'Little De' had mainly plant-based abilities. He could grow vines from every part of his body, and the vines were also considered part of his body. This meant:

He could grow ivy from his hand, and then more ivy from the ivy.

Plants didn't move quickly, and it was impossible for a vine to sweep and move through the air like a whip, but it was difficult to avoid when there were many of them. When they intertwined together, they became equivalent to a fortress that firmly protected the ability user within.

And, this was even a moving fortress. Once the vines were able to catch hold of the opponent for a moment, the rest of the vines would immediately surround them and hold them tight so that the ability user could freely use his ultimate attack…

Female commentator: "Oh, Meowmeowmeow is done for."

Sure enough, the ability user had finally won the match. The druid struggled helplessly within the entanglement of countless veins before turning into a streak of white light.

When the two contestants returned to the stage, the audience was filling the screen with, "Tentacle monster 66666"

Tyron noticed this nickname and asked Victor, "What does tentacle monster mean?"

Victor blushed and muttered incomprehensibly, then said, "It means his abilities are great…"

Tyron: "???"

Although he still didn't understand the actual meaning, he had come to realize that 'tentacle monster' probably meant something quite dirty.

Things that could make the children of the interstellar era blush had to be extremely dirty.

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The afternoon game ended at around 3 o'clock. It would originally have been followed by the game between Odin and Geng Chen, but Geng Chen had abstained, therefore changing the schedule.

They sat there for a little while longer and saw the new points ranking come out:

Ability user 'Little De', 4 points.

Assassin 'Odin', 3 points.

Paladin 'Forgetting Worries', 3 points.

Hacker 'Universal Day', 1 point.

Elemental dancer 'Geng Chen', 0 points.

Druid 'Meowmeowmeow', 0 points.

The system listed the next round: Assassin 'Odin' vs Ability user 'Little De', Paladin 'Forgetting Worries' vs Druid 'Meowmeowmeow', Hacker 'Universal Day' vs Elemental dancer 'Geng Chen'.

So, Odin's game was tomorrow morning, and it was against the 'powerful' tentacle monster.

Victor: "……"

Tyron had seen a bit of the replays of the ability user's games before, but he had nothing else to do that evening and watched another two games to further refine his thoughts.

At this time, Victor said nervously, "Let's change the leather armor and cape into chainmail! Steel armor! No, how about changing it into a spacesuit?"

"……" Tyron asked, "Do you want me to change professions and fight as a mummy?"

Victor's face was full of fear, "Those are tentacles! It's a tentacle monster!"

Tyron: "What's there to be afraid of?"

Victor: "Flashing others!!!"

Tyron: "……"

On that day, the old antique went onto the internet and researched tirelessly, finally learning a brand-new, completely impossible-to-perform style of play: Tentacle play.

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The next day, the old antique felt the strange feeling of 'being unable to look directly at one's opponent' for the first time.

The two players shook hands to the cheers of the audience, and the ability user 'Little De' gave a friendly smile that showed eight teeth.

The smile had seemed normal yesterday when Tyron had been watching him from off-stage, but today it suddenly felt as though it was full of filthy thoughts, and Victor's two words, 'tentacle monster', kept echoing in his mind.

Tyron: "……" I've been led astray by my Vic.

He also took a look at the public screen while the system was drawing their randomized map.

The public screen at this moment: "Rainy day map! Rainy day map! Rainy day map! Make it rain, daddy!"

"Heeheeheehee the number one beauty of e-sports vs the number one tentacle monster. I'm pulling out my camera in excitement…"

"Don't rain, don't rain, don't rain…"

This last, rather out-of-place comment had probably come from Victor.

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Soon, the randomized map result came out: Crocodile Swamp.

Amongst the audience, there was a desperate hiss from the rainy day cult…

One just had to look at the name to know what kind of map this was. The entire map was basically a swamp, and there was only one stone path that was relatively safe. Much of the swamp was covered with vegetation, making it impossible to judge whether or not it was safe to step on at first sight. There were also some crocodile-like creatures that actively attacked in some areas. Of course, these crocodiles didn't pose a threat to the e-sports contestants, but it would be easy for them to fall into a disadvantage during the fight if they were held back by the crocodiles for a second or two.

Male commentator: "Oh, this map gives Little De quite a big advantage."

Female commentator: "In fact, this map is very difficult for Odin. First, there isn't enough shelter, and second, there's nowhere that's completely safe for him to land. Thirdly, his opponent is very well suited to this map."

Male commentator: "Some viewers may not know why plant ability users are so strong on swamp maps. In fact, it's because it's very easy for them to remain afloat on the surface… Even if they cannot, their profession allows them to stand still without having to worry about ending up in the swamp and struggling for a long time."

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The swamp was really a tricky environment for the master assassin. He quickly went over this map in his mind and realized that he would have to fight quickly.

His opponent was the kind of player who was good at endlessly creating vines, and once the competition dragged on for too long, he would have the opportunity to improve his close-combat defenses.

After they were transmitted onto the map, the two competitors each stood on one end of the winding stone path. Two well-camouflaged crocodiles could be seen peeking out beside the path.

As soon as the countdown was over, Tyron did one thing first: Take off his cloak.

--Cloaks would only get in the way in the swamp, and it was the same with hoods.

His actions caused a small series of shrieks to rise up from the audience.

And at this time, what Little De did first was even more reasonable: He sprouted vines from his feet and took the lead in creating an advantageous tool for moving around on the swamp. He then stepped directly onto the swamp… His footing was a little shaky, but it soon turned steady!

Male commentator: "Little De knows how to make use of his own advantages. He went directly into the swamp, and Odin will have to step in if he wants to fight against him. Even just stepping in will be a risk for him."

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By this time, Tyron was already running quickly along the stone path.

Other than Flash, he had rarely ever demonstrated his running speed. At this time, he really allowed the audience to relive his fast burst of speed from a long time ago.

A few seconds later, Tyron was already within 20 meters of Little De, who was stepping on a piece of green floating vegetation. He first threw a series of darts from his hand!

Female commentator: "Odin has launched a tentative attack. Little De's current situation is that his movement speed is extremely slow, and almost half of the darts managed to hit. However--"

Male commentator: "Little De has already covered himself with plant armor, reducing the damage from projectiles by 50%. He's simply like an immobile fortress."

At this point, the hearts of the audience have begun to lift up towards their throats: They could see that Odin was reaching the end of the stone path. Would Odin choose a foothold to get closer and fight? Or, would he use a long-ranged harassment tactic? Or, would he allow Little De, who was currently at an advantage, to take the lead?

Then, in the next second, they saw a flash!