Chapter 784 – The New Replacing the Old

“Who is that human newcomer? I can’t believe Returning Blade lost to her.”

“Gentle Snow? Could she be a monster secretly nurtured by an apex power? The power of that move has definitely reached the standard of Level 200, Tier 6 Gods already, but why haven’t I heard of her before?”

“With such strength, she can probably rank among the top 15 experts in this championship.”

After the unexpected conclusion of Gentle Snow’s first match, the many parties that initially had their attention focused on Returning Blade shifted their emphasis to Gentle Snow. Some of the former top-ranking Holy Race and Crystallian parties also began to investigate Gentle Snow, wanting to know all there was to know about her.

Returning Blade was a key member of one of the last championship’s top 8 parties. Besides the former first- and second-ranked parties, every other party was paying close attention to him. After all, if they wished to enter the top 4, they would inevitably cross paths with Returning Blade.

Of course, the reason why even top-ranking parties had decided to pay attention to Gentle Snow wasn’t solely because of her victory against Returning Blade. It was also because of how handily she had defeated him. It was obvious she still had some strength hidden, so the various top-ranking parties had to be wary of her.

While a party’s overall strength played an important role in the Continental Championship’s preliminaries, the individual strength of party members would become much more important in the main event. It wasn’t strange to see one or two individuals dictating the performance of an entire party.

…

What a powerful sword technique! Verdant Rainbow couldn’t help but grow excited when she saw the conclusion of Gentle Snow’s first match. No wonder Guild Leader Black Flame was so confident! With such strength, she can probably hold her ground against even the former top-eight monsters!

Initially, Verdant Rainbow was still considerably worried about Gentle Snow’s performance in her supposedly hellish group. She feared that Gentle Snow might fail to score even one point. Should that happen, their party could forget about advancing to the main event.

However, after seeing Gentle Snow’s strength, Verdant Rainbow was confident the woman could compete for the group champion position, let alone the top 10.

Meanwhile, so long as a party had one member who managed to become a group champion in the preliminaries, the party would have a considerable chance of getting past the preliminaries. After all, there were only 120 groups in the preliminaries, and the party members of the former top 16 parties would usually become the group champions of most of these groups. This left only a small limited number of slots for other parties.

Hence, if a party could have two group champions, so long as the other party members didn’t perform too terribly, the party would virtually be guaranteed a spot in the main event. This was also why Verdant Rainbow had originally sought to add two Level 200-plus experts from Zero Wing to her party.

…

Contrasting Verdant Rainbow’s reaction, Death Wind revealed an ashen look when he finished watching Gentle Snow’s match. He never imagined Gentle Snow would be this strong. She was like a completely different person compared to when she fought in the defensive siege against the Sun Dynasty’s Holy Guard.

Unfortunately, this was only the beginning of the bad news he would receive…

While Death Wind was pinning his hopes on Zero Wing’s Fervent Samsara and Heavy Abyss, the two concluded their respective matches and shook Death Wind’s world once more.

Inside Miniature World 023, Fervent Samsara went up against Monoeye Florist, a member of a former top 16 party from the Crystallians, and emerged victorious!

Inside Miniature World 045, Heavy Abyss went up against Nightmare Soul, a member of a former top 32 party from the Holy Race, and emerged victorious!

Although neither Fervent Samsara nor Heavy Abyss had put on an amazing performance like Gentle Snow, their victories left no room for doubt regarding their strength. Additionally, both Monoeye Florist and Nightmare Soul were group champions in the last championship’s preliminaries, so while not as strong as Returning Blade, they could still be considered powerful experts.

…

“Party Leader Rin, the party assembled by the Seven Luminaries Alliance’s Verdant Rainbow is quite good. If we include Verdant Rainbow herself, her party now has four potential group champions,” a young Crystallian man who was over seven meters tall and carrying a war hammer said as he finished watching the noteworthy battle videos his subordinates had collected for him. “Moreover, these three newcomers have all defeated former group champions. That Gentle Snow woman, in particular, is practically as strong as my party’s Dusky Dove. Quite a few geniuses have popped up on the human’s side since the last championship.”

Standing beside the young man, Rin, carrying a staff on the back of her six-meter-tall body, similarly revealed a look of interest after she was done watching the battle videos her subordinate had prepared for her.

“It’s not just the humans. The Holy Race’s Sun Dynasty and Thunder Empire have also added two incredible newcomers to their parties,” Rin said as she shared two battle videos with Dead Soul, the tall young man.

Although Rin and Dead Soul did not belong to the same power, with the latter being the leader of an independent party, Dead Soul’s party was incredibly strong, having secured fourth place in the previous championship. Dead Soul, the Dragon Hammer, was also one of the few experts who could trade blows with the Holy Race’s Divine Fist Garuda.

Meanwhile, of the two battle videos Rin shared, the first showed the match of Roaring Flame, a new addition to the party led by the Sun Dynasty’s Daystar, while the second showed the match of Extreme Feather, a new addition to the party led by the Thunder Empire’s Garuda.

Roaring Flame was a young man with crimson skin and golden holy patterns in his eyes, looking like a Flame Elf at first glance. In his video, he could be seen wielding a silver saber, and he used it to defeat a key member of a former top 8 party in one blow. The might of his attack was so powerful that it had destroyed the entire ring and nearly punctured a hole in the miniature world.

As for Extreme Feather, she evoked the image of “cold” for those who laid eyes on her. In her video, she could be seen wielding two crescent blades as she moved about the ring at unbelievable speeds. She created over a hundred afterimages across the ring with only a step, and it took her only three moves to defeat Six-Eyed Mad God, the strongest member of Returning Blade’s party and one of the top 10 experts in the previous Continental Championship.

“It truly is a surprise. I did not think so many of the last championship’s top experts would be defeated so soon into the preliminaries. I wonder how many of the former top twenty experts will remain by the end of the preliminaries,” Dead Soul said with eyes full of anticipation.

“I expect only half will remain,” Rin calmly commented. “The standards of the newcomers this time are quite high.”

Dead Soul nodded in agreement. He felt that there were indeed quite a few monsters among the newcomers this time. Among them, there were even a few whom he had to be careful against, let alone the other former top 20 experts.

…

While the leaders of the former second- and fourth-ranked parties were chatting, the contenders in Miniature World 085 started a discussion on the upcoming match-up:

Black Flame versus Venom Tail.

“As expected of Sovereign Mark’s newest Holy Child, Venom Tail has become a lot stronger compared to last time. Not only did he bring a Divine Artifact with him this time, but the dangerous vibes I am getting from him have also intensified considerably. I wouldn’t be surprised if he can match Returning Blade right now.”

“I wouldn’t count that Black Flame fella out just yet, though. I think he’s a member of the Verdant Rainbow Party, and you know how incredible the party has been performing thus far. It is now considered second only to the human’s Star Maiden Party.”

“I wonder how strong Black Flame is. If he is as strong as Venom Tail, the Verdant Rainbow Party will have a good chance of entering the top sixteen this time. It might even become the first human party to enter the top eight.”

“The top eight? Aren’t you underestimating the former top-eight parties a little? The Verdant Rainbow Party might have defeated Returning Blade, but this season’s parties are evidently of a higher standard. Even if Black Flame can match Venom Tail, the best the party can hope for is the top sixteen. Any higher will just be wishful thinking.”

Aside from the contenders in Miniature World 085, many players who were paying attention to the Verdant Rainbow Party had also tuned in to watch the match between Black Flame and Venom Tail. They were curious to see how far the Verdant Rainbow Party could make it in the championship.