Second World

"What do you think?" Four Winds asked Jack.

"Very strong," Jack replied.

"What do you think your chance is if you go up against him?"

"Without restraint? I'll say decent chance. Not certain, but at least I think I have a chance."

"What about with your current handicap?"

"Then I'll say I will be lucky if I can last an hour."

"An hour?" Four Winds chuckled. "That's much more generous than what I estimate."

"What about you? You can go all out, can't you?" Jack asked Four Winds back.

"Even if I go all out, I also most likely won't last an hour," Four Winds answered.

"Hm… That's a bit longer than what I think."

"Petty," Four Winds sneered at Jack for returning his prediction.

"Seriously. So, we both agree we can't beat him?" Jack asked.

"Not alone," Four Winds replied.

"That mythical-grade fellow has not even shown her cards yet. We will most likely meet them in the final. I doubt she will just stay idle like in this match."

"Whatever the case, we will try our best!" Four Winds uttered.

"That is, of course, without a question," Jack said.

"But if we lose, then you don't get to meet the grand chief privately."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Thanks, man. No pressure."

*

Mkulme and Tumwa returned to their bench. The last teams who had yet to fight entered the arena. Both teams were native tribes. The Spiritcrier tribe and Sharpstone tribe.

On the Spiritcrier side was Roho Spiritcrier, level 76, and Kilio Spiritcrier, level 75. On the Sharpstone side was Kali Sharpstone, level 75, and Jiwe Sharpstone, level 78. All were rare elites except for Jiwe who was a special elite.

Roho carried a ceremonial staff. Kilio carried a large war maul. Kali was holding a large crossbow, while Jiwe held two barbed whips. Both teams had a close-ranged and a long-ranged fighter.

Once Makadi announced the start, Kali immediately fired her crossbow using a skill. The number of bolts that came out of her crossbow with that one shot was not one, but ten. They flew in a fan shape.

Kilio got in front of Roho and made a sideway swing with his large maul. His swing created a shockwave that knocked all the bolts that came their way. With Kilio's protection, Roho cast a spell.

Kali fired again. This time only one bolt came out of her crossbow, but it happened so rapidly. She had used the Repeating Shot skill. This skill gave her an extremely high fire rate, but she had to stay stationary.

Kilio stood his ground. He put his large maul in front of him as a shield, blocking Kali's repeating shot.

The maul didn't have a large surface for an effective shield, so he was battered by some of the bolts. His HP continued to decrease. He activated the battle monk's skill, Steel Body. His skin turned rigid. As it did, the HP he lost from each bolt decreased.

Jiwe, in the meantime, advanced from the side. He was not alone, though. He was riding a giant boar. That boar was his pet. The two whips on his hands glowed with Weapon Master's Ki Weapon.

Jiwe's boar used a skill and it charged forward with incredible speed, leaving a trail of dust in its wake.

Kilio had to make choice, continued blocking Kali's bolts, or stopped Jiwe's charge. Whatever his choice, he won't be able to protect Roho anymore. Luckily for him, he didn't have to make the choice, because Roho's casting speed wasn't slow.

Roho completed his spell and a wide earthen wall shot up from the ground. It came up right in the boar's path. The boar crashed heavily into the earthen wall. The boar bounced back with a dizzied head. The earthen wall was solid enough to resist the impact.

Jack recognized the spell was the same as duke Alfredo's earth walls. Like duke alfredo's, it didn't erect only one earth wall. Roho's spell conjured three earth walls. These earth walls were positioned in a way that surrounded Jiwe, effectively isolating him.

Once the earth walls were up, Kilio stopped playing bodyguard. He rushed toward Kali, who continued to shoot at him. He ignored the shots. He suffered damage but his Steel Body made it so he could endure it. When he got near, his maul erupted with Paladin's sacred flame.

Kali didn't stay in place. She moved away while continuing shooting. She lost her repeating shot due to moving.

While she was busy kiting Kilio, she found out three large humanoid creatures had surrounded her. It was three treants. The treants were summoned by Roho, who was currently casting another spell.

With four melee opponents harassing her, she couldn't continue dodging. She was finally struck by one of the treants. She lost balance and Kilio's maul came at this time, slamming into her side and causing massive damage.

Kali fell to the ground due to the attack. She glanced at the earthen walls as she fell. Sounds of rapid impact could be heard from the wall. Jiwe had been frantically hitting the earth walls that imprisoned him, but the walls were truly sturdy.

Kali knew she couldn't rely on Jiwe's help to escape her current predicament. She pushed herself off the ground and spun. As she did, bolts fired out in all directions, hitting everyone. It also caused knockbacks to the four that surrounded her.

She then fired another bolt at a treant. This bolt exploded upon impact. The treant was blown further away. Kali immediately ran through the opened path. She had to first escape these four's encirclement.

But as she was running, the ground in front of her erupted. It was Roho's spell. Since no one disturbed him, he was free to cast a high-level spell. A large man-eating plant burst out in front of her. It had taken her by surprise that she was unable to dodge.

The large mouth of the plant captured her and swallowed her whole. She was then getting chomped while inside the plant's mouth. Damage numbers continued to appear while she was trapped inside the plant.

With Kali trapped, Kilio and the treants now went to where the earth walls were. When Jiwe finally managed to break down one of the walls, the four were already waiting there.

Aided by Roho's spells, they ganged on him and killed him.

When the man-eating plant's duration ended, Kali was released but her HP was low already. Seeing that she was alone and was surrounded again by Kilio and the treants, she knew there was no hope anymore.

The fourth match ended with a win by the Spiritcrier tribe. With this, all the semi-finalists had been decided.