THE STRONGEST THUNDER SWORD, VOLUME 8 - Season 15 Episode 17

From the moment the bell signaling the start of the match rang until the moment the system displayed its end, less than five seconds had passed. The match was so overwhelmingly one-sided that Falling Flowers hadn’t even had time to scream before she transformed into particles of light and disappeared from the stage.

At this point, Group Five’s stage had become a smoldering mess…

“Huh?”

Looking at the stage, Zhao Yueru was momentarily dazed. She struggled to believe that it had been her doing.

“What just happened?”

The audience watching Group Five’s battle wore dumbfounded expressions, their minds unable to process the unexpected outcome.

Originally, everyone had assumed that the fight was between two players of equal strength; they had never expected this outcome.

…

“Triple-casting! Just who is she?!” Blue Phoenix stared at Zhao Yueru in shock.

Current peak magical-class experts were just barely learning to triple-cast, and Zhao Yueru could already triple-speed-cast. Even Blue Phoenix had yet to grasp that level of the technique. Even after entering the legacy space of Zero Wing’s Secret Spellcasting Technique, she had only grasped double speed-casting.

Moreover, based on the power of Zhao Yueru’s Spells, it was obvious that her Skill Completion Rates were very high.

“How many secrets is Zero Wing hiding?” Phoenix Rain couldn’t help but glance at Zero Wing’s room from her seat next to Blue Phoenix.

Zero Wing had previously revealed that it had powerful magical-class experts such as Violet Cloud, Aqua Rose, and Alluring Summer. Now, the Guild had revealed Zhao Yueru.

…

Due to Zhao Yueru’s astonishing performance, the audience began to pay more attention to Zero Wing.

“How strong is Zero Wing?! It even has such a powerful Elementalist expert!”

“I had thought that Zero Wing’s only capable expert was the Sword King, Black Flame. Now, it turns out that the Guild has such a magical-class expert.”

…

After this match, the Black Dragon Empire’s players began to look into the Guild known as Zero Wing.

The moment they did, however, they flabbergasted.

They had never thought that Zero Wing would be Star-Moon Kingdom’s number one Guild.

“The this ranking competition is going to be interesting!”

“So, Zero Wing is pretty strong. We’ll likely see a change to the Black Dragon Empire’s top-ten Guild list.”

“Zero Wing should have no problems ranking among the top ten. However, getting into the top five will probably be a challenge. After all, the five first-rate Guilds in our empire have many powerful experts. Why would it be easy to surpass them?”

While everyone discussed Zero Wing, the various large Guilds turned their attention towards the Guild as well. They began to search for a method to deal with Zhao Yueru.

Although Zhao Yueru’s ability to triple-speed-cast was powerful, she wasn’t undefeatable.

Following which, the spectators’ astonishment grew as they watched one match after another, Zero Wing’s five representatives improving their battle records.

Fifteen consecutive victories… Twenty consecutive victories… Thirty consecutive victories…

It seemed as if no one could stop Zero Wing’s representatives. Not even top adventurer reams and first-rate Guilds’ top-tier experts were a match for them. In the end, all five qualified for the final phase. Zhao Yueru, in particular, had displayed overwhelming power from start to finish.

On the other hand, some of the representatives from first-rate Guilds and top adventurer teams, who had been expected to make it to the final phase, were disqualified…

“Zero Wing is too awesome. All five of its representatives made it. Even the five first-rate Guilds couldn’t accomplish the feat.”

“I’ve heard that the Zero Wing Guild developing in the Black Dragon Empire is only a Branch Guild. If even the Branch Guild is this powerful, how much stronger is the main branch?”

“I think I heard that Zero Wing’s Branch Guild in Lake Heart City has been recruiting members. Once the competition is over, I must go and apply to join the Guild!”

Before anyone had realized it, Zero Wing had become a rival for the Black Dragon Empire’s top five first-rate Guilds. Its fame in the empire skyrocketed.

…

“Guild Leader, are you sure about giving them so many All-rounded Devices?”

The outcome of the competition had shocked Gentle Snow. She was very familiar with the standards of Zero Wing’s five representatives. Although their combat power had increased thanks to the weapons and equipment Shi Feng had provided, the improvement was limited. I wasn’t possible for them to achieve such exaggerated results.

She might have understood if only Zhao Yueru had been victorious, yet despite their assignment to the death groups, the other four representatives had won their matches as well. This was unbelievable.

Fierce Snake and Negative Life’s performances were particularly shocking. They had contended with Refinement Realm experts. In the end, they had relied on superior Basic Attributes and high Skill Completion Rates, barely defeating their opponents.

Gentle Snow had found this outcome incredible. After all, she was fully aware of just how powerful a Refinement Realm expert was. Such experts should have no issues defeating non-Refinement Realm experts, even with 30% higher Basic Attributes. Furthermore, Fierce Snake and Negative Life’s Basic Attributes weren’t much higher than their Refinement Realm opponents.

The only explanation for their unexpected performances was the All-rounded Device.

Gentle Snow hadn’t expected such amazing results from the All-rounded Devices. They were so effective that they allowed Fierce Snake, someone who wasn’t even a Half-step Refinement Realm expert yet, defeat a Refinement Realm expert.

“Relax. While the All-rounded Device’s production is somewhat costly, we can make as many of it as we want.” Shi Feng hadn’t expected the item to be so effective either.

After fighting so many matches, Fierce Snake and the others had obviously improved. If they could continue fighting different Refinement Realm experts, it wouldn’t be long before then entered the Refinement Realm as well, becoming cornerstones for Zero Wing.

“As many as we want?” Gentle Snow was at a loss for words as she stared at Shi Feng’s calm expression. She felt as if this was the first time she had met the man.

If it were possible to mass-produce the All-rounded Device, then with Zero Wing’s current foundations, they could nurture a batch of Refinement Realm experts in a short time.

She would never have dared to dream of such a thing in the past.

…

After the competition’s initial phase ended, the true ranking competition that everyone had looked forward to began.

Unlike the initial qualifiers, participants that lost a match during the final phase would be eliminated, while those that won would proceed to the next round.

Meanwhile, to prevent the various large Guilds and adventurer teams’ representatives face off against their own, the system would try to assign them to different matches as often as possible. This assured that the various large Guilds and adventurer teams could collect the maximum number of points possible.

Aside from Zhao Yueru, Fierce Snake and the others were strong enough to rival Refinement Realm experts. In the end, they easy passed the first three rounds and ranked among the top 150 in the competition. However, three had lost the fourth round due to Refinement Realm expert opponents with Epic items. In the end, only Zhao Yueru and Negative Life had won their fourth matches in the final phase.

During the fifth round, a Refinement Realm expert with more than one Epic item had eliminated Negative Life. He had lost with little resistance.

“Guild Leader, Zero Wing is far more powerful than we had expected. What should we do now?” the Shield Warrior named Lonely Castle asked Crimson Fox worriedly in Crimson Castle’s VIP room.

Although the two experts Nine Dragons Emperor had sent had made it to the fifth round, the other three representatives had been eliminated in the second match.

“What’s there to worry about? Didn’t you see Zhao Yueru’s next opponent?” Crimson Fox asked unhurriedly as he pointed to the virtual screen above the center stage.

“What?!” Lonely Castle was stupefied when he saw the names on the screen. He was instantly elated.

Zhao Yueru’s opponent for the fifth round was Yi Luofei, the FFF adventurer team’s vice commander. She had the nickname Frost Empress and was one of the Black Dragon Empire’s Four Great Elementalists. The Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion had even offered her the position of vice commander over its main force to recruit her.