Martial Online.

As the tension grew in the challenge room, another game master appeared out of thin air.

The game master shifted his gaze between the two teams and felt his heart race with nervousness.

He was a new employee at Martial Company and was assigned to the game master position for the duration of the tournament.

This was his first game master gig, which already made him slightly nervous as he didn't want to mess this up, but now he could barely contain his nervousness.

He didn't expect to be the game master for a match of such high level!

If it was only Zadkiel and Julian against some random players, their opponents also happened to be true powerhouses!

He glanced briefly at Ambrose and gulped.

He witnessed his fight on television in Martial Company's break room, and he still remembered it very vividly.

Other workers were also watching there when some were on break, and they cheered louder than ever before as they witnessed him single-handedly beat impossible odds.

The game master took a deep breath and raised his arm.

"The dice have been rolled, and the challenge has been decided to be floor is lava."

The floor began to shift and transform, revealing a treacherous terrain of molten lava. However, the molten lava was still covered in a thin layer of solid rock.

"Each thirty seconds, a portion of the ground will disappear and expose the scorching lava beneath. The team is out once the lava has killed both members.

"None of the players have health, but you can lose an arm and get injured, which can hinder your ability to play effectively."

'So, we have to focus on pushing our opponents to lava.' Ambrose thought. 'This can be good for me as I can fly.'

Moriarty stayed silent, as if all the words had passed through his ears. He stared straight at Zadkiel, fire burning deep in his eyes.

"Floor is lava, huh." Zadkiel laughed and pulled out a pair of Sai from his belt.

"…"

Julian stayed quiet and pulled out his long, cross-shaped sword that was shaped like a crucifix.

"Zadkiel is mine." Moriarty whispered to Ambrose. "Keep Julian busy and do not interrupt me."

"Aight…" Ambrose frowned and felt like there was indeed some past connection between Moriarty and Zadkiel, which seemed to run very deep.

The game master shifted his gaze between the two teams, nodded after seeing that they were ready to begin, and snapped his fingers on his raised arm.

"The round shall begin."

Snap!

With that single snap, he vanished into thin air, and the lava below the solid, black rock started boiling.

"Zadkiel!" Moriarty screamed and started running, spear in hand, towards the nemesis of his nightmares.

As Julian was about to move to stop Moriarty, Zadkiel stopped him with his hand and grinned.

"This fight is mine."

Julian nodded in agreement and stepped aside, watching as Moriarty charged towards Zadkiel.

Then he moved his gaze to Ambrose and shifted his gaze to the great sword that Ambrose was holding. It looked like a very powerful weapon.

'I can feel it…' Julian began walking towards Ambrose. 'The sword in his hand also wants to fight. My swordsman instinct is ringing loud and clear. The instinct inside me wants to fight!'

Ambrose breathed heavily and started approaching Julian while dragging the Great Crimson behind him.

'I feel pressured. This is a rare thing.' Ambrose chuckled. 'The pressure is even stronger than with Cerberus.

'He might, very well, be the strongest swordsman player in the game. That is, if I don't count myself, I guess I'll find out whether I am anywhere near his level or whether I am already the strongest.

'There are so many stronger NPCs than me, but I wonder where I would rank among players. This is the perfect chance to find out!'

Moriarty stomped on the ground, causing the black rock below his feet to crack, and then brought his spear down fiercely towards Zadkiel.

Zadkiel laughed as if he were having plenty of fun and blocked the spear with his sai's.

The sai's were sharp and sturdy, made of the finest steel. However, they were small and not created for blocking such heavy blows.

Still, Zadkiel managed to hold back the spear without showing any signs of struggle.

"How've you been doing, Moriarty?" Zadkiel asked with a laugh. "You still losing?"

"Fuck you!" Moriarty pushed the Sai's aside and twirled the spear around before lashing it out towards Zadkiel, aiming for his exposed side.

Zadkiel grinned and backflipped over the spear with ease, landing gracefully on the other side.

"Whistle~" Zadkiel whistled as he playfully wiped off his sweat and then started slashing with the Sai's.

Those attacks were faster than anything Moriarty had dealt with before.

Moriarty backed off and blocked the Sai's, but they were far too fast to deflect. Therefore, his ultimate defense didn't activate.

'Cursed!'

Zadkiel laughed humorously and pushed Moriarty further and further back until his back collided with the room's wall, which was also made out of strange volcanic rock.

"What's wrong, Moriarty?"

Zadkiel asked with a laugh while he rained down Sai attacks that Moriarty was struggling to block against.

"I thought you had changed, but are you still the same loser back then?!"

"Shut the fuck up!" Moriarty shouted, grabbed the spear with both hands, and then smashed Zadkiel's face with the shaft of the spear.

"Pu!"

Zadkiel staggered backwards with blood running down his nose and grinned with bloodied teeth.

"Not bad!"

Moriarty gritted his teeth and charged forward, then plunged the spear towards Zadkiel's chest.

Before it could reach its final destination, Zadkiel veered to the side and swiftly parried the spear with his own weapon.

"That was close." Zadkiel twirled the sai's in his hand with deadly mastery and grazed the sai across Moriarty's arm.

"Not good enough, though!"

"Tch…" Moriarty clicked his teeth and rushed forward while stabbing relentlessly with his spear.

Zadkiel smiled and backed off calmly while parrying the strikes with effortless grace.

On the other side of the room.

Julian and Ambrose hadn't made a single move yet.

They were staring at each other, their swords ready, and their minds running.

In the fight of master swordsmen, any mistake could be fatal, and the start of the fight often started with analyzing each other's stance and strategy.

'How fast can he swing with that sword?' Ambrose wondered as he saw that it was quite long, abnormally long.

However, his Great Crimson was quite similar in length but had a much thicker blade than the one his opponent held.

'He'll be faster than me unless I change to my dual-wielding stance, but I have to keep that secret for now. I might be able to surprise him by changing it unpredictably.'

Julian stared at Ambrose and moved his sword into another stance. This time, it was over his shoulder, with the tip of the blade pointing backwards.

'He is no longer using dual-wielding?' Julian wondered. 'I have a feeling like he ain't a person that would give up on his fighting style.

'I'll have to be careful. I can't underestimate him, or I'll be defeated.

'I watched his video of his fight with Zahhak on ForeverTube. His skill level has greatly increased.'

Ambrose and Julian exchanged glances.

The atmosphere was so suffocating that an ordinary player wouldn't be able to breathe around them.

In that moment, the thirty second mark was reached, and the ground started shaking violently.

In one portion of the ground, the black rock vanished, revealing the scorching hot lava below that was dangerously boiling.

Ambrose glanced over his shoulder and saw that it was only two meters behind him.

At that moment, Julian rushed forward and started hacking down his sword, but Ambrose quickly blocked it before it went straight through him.

Still, Julian continued rushing forward, slashing and hacking as he tried to go straight through Ambrose.

Yet, Ambrose kept his ground and blocked the strikes nicely, but soon, he noticed that he was forced to take few steps back as he relentless assault was slightly too much to be able to stop without taking a single step back.

He then felt heat, like no other, steaming from behind him.

Ambrose's eyes widened in surprise and even though he didn't turn around to see what it was, he knew exactly what was behind him.

'I see. Julian is trying to push me straight to the lava pit.'

'He must've noticed it.'

Julian thought as he noticed Ambrose's attempt to veer away from the lava pit.

Then, he raised his sword over his shoulder and cut through the air vertically.

As Ambrose raised his Great Crimson to defend against the sword, Julian suddenly changed the direction of the blade, heading straight towards Ambrose's throat!

'Self-Possession.'

The mighty sword went through the throat like it was hitting empty air, but Julian's eyebrow jumped as he could swear that he did in fact hit his target.

Without further ado, Ambrose stopped using Self-Possession as he believed Julian had reached second gate already and thus could hurt him, badly, with the usage of Inner Power.

Julian hopped few meters back, moved the sword next to his waist, and turned it around till the blade was pointing backwards.

It was a stance that he had barely used. It was a stance used for purely strength-based swings. He hadn't used it a lot because he wasn't a person who fought with strength.

Instead, he was all about technique.

'It looks like he is going for a strong swing.' Ambrose smirked. 'Fine, I'll take you on.'