Sword Among Us

Due to the lesser amount of people, the third segment ended very quickly!

When they fought, those involved in the fight still could not see the battles of the other participants. A rule had also been set that they could not leave the game. Happy understood this very well, and he did not log off the martial arts tournament anymore. He swiftly ended the three elimination rounds for himself, and after achieving complete victory, he emerged as one of the ten competitors who were left.

Just as expected, the other nine competitors were Orochimaru, Brother Tea Words, NotaRascal, Puffy God, Phoenix Dances, Rampaging Dragon, One Circle, and Butt Shaker. The only thing that took Happy by surprise was that the female opponent he faced during his first fight, Glutinous Rice, was also among them.

When he felt the fiery gazes of the two female players on his face, Happy turned his gaze away in slight awkwardness!

Phoenix Dances stared at him because she had placed her hopes on defeating Orochimaru on him, as for the other one, she might still be angry that he had kicked her off the stage in one go.

‘Glutinous Rice…’

If she could reach this stage, she was definitely quite good. Why did he not have any memories of her from his previous life?

Happy remained puzzled until the system notified them about the rules for the fourth segment!

The rules for the final segment of the tournament were rather unique.

The ten competitors would be randomly split into Group A and Group B. The five competitors in each group would fight against each other until they competed against every member in the group besides themselves. They would fight four rounds, and the person who won the most would emerge as the victor in that group, and they would fight against the victor from the other group.

Once the rules were announced, Happy was immediately taken aback.

The next moment, he was teleported to another stage. Brother Tea Words, Phoenix Dances, Rampaging Dragon, and NotaRascal stood beside him. None of them could move, as if they had been fixed to the edge of the stage. Happy raised an eyebrow, and his gaze landed on the other stage thirty-two feet away from him. His target, Orochimaru, was there, and he had an evil smile that stirred up aversion in others.

“First round. Participant Happy will go up against Participant Brother Tea Words!”

The instant the system’s gave its notification, Happy felt the power that was placed around him suddenly vanish. He could not resist leaving the group of people when he could move around freely again.

Brother Tea Words also moved out. He cast Happy a profound glance before he sighed. “If nothing goes wrong, the victor of Group B should be Orochimaru. I’ve already lost once against him, so I won’t join in the fun. Phoenix Dances is right. You hold promise, so we’ll let you handle this important task.”

Once he finished speaking, he returned to the ranks.

The system made an announcement. “Participant Brother Tea Words from Group A gave up his right to participate in the first round. Participant Happy won automatically. Arranging his second opponent.

“Second round. Participant Happy will go up against Participant Phoenix Dances in Beautiful Robes!”

Happy spread his arms in resignation. He had already forfeited once against her because he had been struck by a wave of sentimentality from the friendship they had shared in his previous life. This time, he would not back down again.

“Participant Phoenix Dances in Beautiful Robes from Group A gave up her right to participate in the first round. Participant Happy won automatically. He has now won twice. He will now automatically enter his third round,” the system announced emotionlessly.

The other two people in Group A were puzzled by Brother Tea Words and Phoenix Dances’ actions.

When it was NotaRascal’s turn, he did not have the intention to follow in the former two’s footsteps. Even though the abilities Happy displayed and the fame he gathered were very astonishing, he still wished to personally tests Happy’s strength. If he could, he did not mind destroying the legend around him as well.

The two of them stood across each other. Rampaging Dragon had an attentive look while standing among the audience at the edge of the stage.

Happy had won two rounds without a fight, and if Rampaging Victor wanted to emerge as the final victor, Happy would be the one he had to pay most attention and the one he had to defeat!

“Please grant me your instructions.”

Thud!

A bronze spade that was around seven feet long slammed against the stage! The stage trembled, and the spade’s aura instantly spread out. Along with NotaRascal’s tall and thin figure, his sharp gaze, and the incredibly domineering presence that came from him despite his honest face, he instilled fear in people the moment they saw him.

He had a long-ranged weapon that was rarely used by others. In a one-to-one fight, it had a psychological advantage against others, and the user also held another advantage in terms of battle experience, because the user definitely had more experience handling this weapon compared to their opponent. This was especially so for new players, who lacked battle experience. The effect would be incredibly clear when dealing with them.

However, Happy seemed to be unaware of this. He flung his sleeves and appeared to be relaxed and indifferent. He gestured at NotaRascal to begin.

He was never lacking when it came to experience.

Besides, he knew very well that NotaRascal was not actually very confident. During the later stages of the game, he specialized in martial arts and weapons that others rarely used so that he could add to his strength and increase his chances of winning. If he did not have this unique thought and creativity, his strength would be far behind that of Puffy God and Phoenix Dances.

Also, Happy had a lot of experience and methods to use against long-ranged weapons.

“The battle begins!”

The moment the system announced the start of the battle, all the people noticed that Happy did not bring out a weapon. He seemed to have the intention to use his hands to go up against NotaRascal, who had absolute weapon advantage. Phoenix Dances and Tea Words both had solemn and nervous expressions.

NotaRascal knew that Happy was very good with his fists from Puffy God. He did not risk being prideful and ending up being careless. He took up the horse stance and immediately swung his bronze spade. It brought a loud boom as it sliced through the air with an astonishing momentum!

Whoosh!

“I see, so it’s Shaolin’s Arhat Spade.”

Happy easily dodged the attack from the spade, which grazed past his face with a cold gust. When he was about to close in, he suddenly noticed Rascal switching tactics. His bronze spade spun and danced in the air at an incredibly fast speed, and the crescent blade at the end swept toward him at an even faster speed. It forced Happy to stay where he was instead of moving forward. He was even forced to take half a step back to avoid the second attack.

When he fell back, NotaRascal seemed to have gained some sort of motivation. His eyes lit up, and he started swinging his bronze spade like a wheel. The crescent moon and the spade at the front end of the weapon chased after the retreating Happy.

NotaRascal did not rush in, however. He only made sure to force Happy back while not facing the risk of letting his opponent draw close to him. His defence was impenetrable, and it was incredibly troublesome.

Happy took several consecutive steps back, and soon, he was forced to the edge of the stage.

NotaRascal’s movements became even more nimble. He pressed closer, and even as he launched a crazed offence, he made sure that he maintained sufficient vigilance and caution. He was worried that Happy would close in on him like he had done with Puffy God when he was careless, and once Happy did that, he would completely lose his chance to counterattack.

To the spectators, Happy was in a very dangerous situation, because he still had yet to bring out his weapon. Under NotaRascal’s violent offence, he had absolutely no chance of getting closer, much less counterattacking. It was already a feat for him to be able to remain unharmed under NotaRascal’s fierce attacks.

‘This guy!’

Phoenix Dances and Tea Words felt nervous for Happy when they saw him being repeatedly forced back.

Phoenix Dances had truly placed all her hopes on Happy for her plans for revenge, and Tea Words knew that he was no match for Happy based on the battle replays, because he could tell that Happy had a lot of battle experience, and his skills were of veterans. To preserve his dignity, he chose a peaceful way out of the fight and gave up on his first round. However, if Happy lost to NotaRascal, his action would seem ridiculous and ludicrous. In fact, NotaRascal would even stand above him in the future.

This was something he absolutely did not want to see!