Chapter 85 - An Alarming Sword (III)
Standing there, as deeply concentrated as in the last fight, Long Hao Chen calmly used [Storing Power], locking it onto the opponent.
Since the preliminaries had started, this was the most peaceful fight of the whole competition: both sides didn’t attack, but motionlessly confronted each other. The mood wasn’t softened either, because even if there was no confrontation, the referee didn’t intervene at all; [Storing Power] couldn’t persist forever after all. Once his spiritual energy was used up, this compressed energy would have to be used, and Long Hao Chen would be forced to launch an attack.
But as time passed, Gui Wu’s face became more and more anxious.
Long Hao Chen was storing power as before, and two entire minutes had passed. As everyone knew, the longer [Storing Power] was used, the more mighty it was, but the spiritual energy consumption would increase as well.
To counter this skill used by Long Hao Chen, Gui Ying gave his son a piece of advice, giving him a detailed breakdown of how [Storing Power] worked. Under the fifth step, each minute of [Storing Power] would consume 500 units of spiritual energy. Two minutes had already passed, so basically, Long Hao Chen had already compressed at least 1000 units of spiritual energy.
_Is he insane? Don’t tell me he’s preparing an attack. But at such a distance, how is that possible?_
Gui Wu’s heart was full of incomprehension, and he was extremely anxious. But, at this very moment, he couldn’t stop halfway. He had already lost his chance to interrupt Long Hao Chen’s [Storing Power]. 1000 units of spiritual energy stored! He could already launch an incredibly powerful attack, and all Gui Wu could do was to wait, as he didn’t dare approach Hao Chen.
Time slowly passed, as in a nightmare. Three minutes, already three minutes. It was not only Gui Wu, but each and every one of the competitors in the lounge had almost stopped breathing.
1500th spiritual energy level? That was already the level of a seventh ranked Grand knight, a power that no youth younger than 18 years-old could possibly have. More importantly, Long Hao Chen’s [Storing Power] was still ongoing!
When four minutes had passed, the whole lounge was already in an uproar. Gui Wu couldn’t help but glare at the referee, loudly saying, “It’s impossible, he cannot have possibly reached the fifth step…”
2000th spiritual energy level implied that he was an Earth Knight, but also implied a liquified spiritual energy. But the spiritual energy he had released up to now hadn’t shown any signs of liquefaction. Still, his [Storing Power] had already persisted for 4 whole minutes! It had far exceeded Gui Wu’s expectations. How could he know that the same skill, when relying on a physique of Scion of Light, was consuming a lot less of Long Hao Chen’s spiritual energy?
Gui Wu stood there, looking at the referee, shouting loudly that _IT’S IMPOSSIBLE_ , as Long Hao Chen suddenly started to move.
His right feet loudly stepped on the ground as he rushed with all his strength, just like a golden arrow that was being launched at Gui Wu. The three seconds of [Storing Power] had started at this very moment.
Because he was in the middle of questioning his predicament, Gui Wu’s reaction was slightly delayed. Regardless of the difficulty, he had to resist this attack. Resisting it was akin to winning, as Long Hao Chen’s spiritual energy was already wasted up to its limit.
A scarlet light shone from his shield, and a red light directly entered his Scarlet Shelled Earthworm’s body. In a split second, the Scarlet Shelled Earthworm roared as it looked up at the sky. His eyes were colored in a crimson red, and his whole body’s aura instantly became tyrannical and chaotic.
The shield Gui Wu held was equivalent to a piece of equipment at the Spiritual Tier, with a supplementary ability, [Blood Thirst]. Under the effects of [Blood Thirst], the Scarlet Shelled Earthworm’s attack, defense and speed were all instantly increased by ten percent for a whole minute.
Meanwhile, the lance in Gui Wu’s hand emitted a dazzling light. It was a Spiritual Weapon as well, with [Body Penetration] as its supplementary ability.
Immediately acting, Gui Wu instructed his Earthworm to go at the fastest speed possible. Charging at mad speed to the lateral side, he was doing his utmost to pull open the distance separating him from Long Hao Chen, to waste time. His sole goal was to make his skill [Storing Power] go to waste, to make this match’s victory inevitably belong to him.
In barely a second, Long Hao Chen had rushed 30 meters forward, and was currently only 100 meters far from Gui Wu. His right feet once again stepped energetically on the ground, and with the help of his compressed spiritual energy from the previous [Storing Power], he slightly changed direction, dashing towards Gui Wu even more rapidly.
35 meters, in the next second, he had actually covered 35 meters. The distance between Gui Wu and him had been reduced to 60 meters.
There were 60 meters left, and Gui Wu’s face was already exposing a victorious smile. To knights below the fifth step, the limit distance of attack was only 15 meters. In the last second, no matter what happened, Long Hao Chen could never cover 45 meters of distance and enter the attack range. In addition to that fact, Long Hao Chen wasn’t charging straight at him!
_Peng_ , as Long Hao Chen’s left foot fell on the ground, a shallow hole appeared forcibly on the ground. Further accelerating, he covered a distance of 40 meters almost instantly.
In 3 steps, within 3 seconds, Long Haco Chen covered more than 100 meters. To a knight of the fourth step, this was a sprint exceeding all records.
But at this very moment, he still had 30 more meters to cover, as he was madly dashing towards Gui Wu.
3 seconds passed, and the spiritual energy that he stored should be scattering.
The word ‘stupid’ appeared in the thoughts of almost all spectators. Even a part of the honorable seniors seated at a location far away from the platform thought the same.
From their point of view, Long Hao Chen was going to be defeated without the slightest doubt. To choose such an offensive style, could it be that he was simply dumb?
From the first row of the lounge, the black clad youth that was looking face to face with Long Hao Chen earlier had a puzzled look, and on his resolute face, his brows were wrinkling, as he murmured, “What is he doing?”
_Ping–_
At this very moment, Long Hao Chen used his actions to answer those who were questioning him. Taking a fourth step, he didn’t even slow down one bit.
_But, will this be of use?_ Every spectator wondered the same thing. [Storing Power]’s spiritual energy was already scattering, so what if he charged? It would only make him the sandbag for his opponent.
This time, Gui Wu didn’t run, the Scarlet Shelled Earthworm stopped moving and suddenly lifted its head. Its tyrannical body was welcoming Long Hao Chen’s strike. Two golden halos blossomed one after another on Gui Wu’s body, and both were amplification skills of Guardian Knights. The lance in his hand thrust towards Long Hao Chen like a lightning bolt, and his round shield was placed before his chest. The current him had his face blossoming with a victorious smile, as he looked disdainfully at Long Hao Chen.
And at the same time, Long Hao Chen who was rising in the air finally made his move. His sparkling Radiant Shield and his glittering Light Sword were heroically thrust forward.
An incomparably dazzling bright light shone upon the edge of the stadium, and a substantial golden blade edge made of light was launched. Gui Wu couldn’t believe what he saw, as his lance struck it.
[Light Thorn], the first long range skill learned by knights. But Long Hao Chen fully used the potential of [Light Thorn], to the extent that this attack obviously outstripped completely the realm of [Light Thorns].
The substantial bright blade edge even had the texture of real metal, and as it closed the distance, it seemed as imposing as if it could split the whole Earth open.
_Hong—_
The spear snapped in half, the shield was broken into pieces, the armor was destroyed and Gui Wu was sent flying…
It seemed as if Gui Wu’s body was hit head-on by a kind of enormous mad dragon, and together with his Scarlet Shelled Earthworm, he was sent flying. They smashed ruthlessly against the protective mantle of light located above the stadium, before bouncing onto the ground.
Gui Wu and the Scarlet Shelled Earthworm’s mouths simultaneously spit out blood.
Including the referee, among the spectators, few were those who could clearly see what happened at the instant when the [Light Thorn] collided against Gui Wu’s lance. At that moment, a little change occurred: the blade edge of light simply struck Gui Wu directly, on his side. But the lance didn’t stop it the slightest bit.
_Pu_ Long Hao Chen steadily landed on the ground, as the substantial bright light scattered slowly around him, accordingly. Looking at his face, it seemed that he didn’t have the slightest change compared to his state at the beginning of the fight.
1. idiom 骑虎难下; it is hard to get off when riding a tiger.
*[Long Taos]: side characters in Chinese operas who perform acrobatics and fight scenes
*[12.47 to 13.07]: don’t ask me about the tree sap