Vanguard of the Eternal Night

translator: xiin

editors: alamerysl, bear & Pyromancer

After the ten minute Capture the Flag game ended, the points for the two teams were as follows: Seven Kills 461 points; Dreams 139 points.

There was no question that the Seven Kills Team won.

Some members from the Seven Kills Team expressed, "I won by lying down and hugging a big thigh."

Of course, these kinds of words couldn't be spoken to outsiders.

When the two teams came back to stand on stage again, the captains of both sides shook hands amicably.

Seven Kills' captain: "Admit it."

Dreams' captain: "Victory or defeat is still uncertain. We'll see how the next game goes."

.

They only had one minute to regroup before the second BO3 round began.

The randomized map for this round: Moon God Forest.

There were a great number of trees in this map; they were all very tall and thick, stretching up into the clouds. There were many places well-suited for hiding. At the same time, the map contained many neutral creatures. There were three types: snakes, lizards, and apes, amongst which the snakes were highly poisonous and would actively attack anyone who approached.

Randomized mode: Slaughter.

Each team had a quota of 20 lives, and whichever team used up their quota first would lose.

.

The captain of the Dreams Team's heart cracked when he saw this result.

The captain of the Seven Kills Team was so happy that flowers were blooming.

Male commentator: "This game will be difficult for Dreams."

Female commentator: "Indeed. "This map is too well-suited for assassin-type players, and Seven Kills' Lord Four is so **… Well, cough, so cool."

Male commentator: "Oh. Wait a minute. The Dreams coach applied for three minutes of tactical discussion time."

Female commentator: "Could it be that he has a good strategy for Dreams?"

.

The Dreams coach came on stage and huddled with the six players. After muttering for a moment, the Dreams captain's eyes shone and he nodded.

When they returned to the field, the Dreams team showed that they had indeed come up with a new strategy.

Their sorcerer had never showed any outstanding performance before, but during this match, he attracted everyone's attention as soon as he appeared: his ultimate move turned out to be a very unusual warfare-type skill—Mist Lock.

This skill summoned a fog that spread through the map. Everyone caught in the fog would have their vision affected, and where the fog was the thickest, they would barely be able to see beyond their fingertips.

Male commentator: "Great! No wonder this sorcerer didn't stand out much in the previous match. The last match was transparent, so Mist Lock wouldn't have had much effect."

The female commentator followed up, "But it's different for this map. It's a forest map, and with a fog like this, it's expected that the players inside won't be able to see where their teammates are."

Male commentator: “But one person can&#k2014;Dreams’ paladin. Don’t forget he has wings. If he flies up high, he’ll naturally be able to easily detect any movements below.”

.

The Seven Kills Team was a little confused at the start of the round. They hadn’t expected their opponents to have a move like this. They didn’t have any great visual enhancement skills, and only had one ultimate move that lasted for 30 seconds, so they had no choice but to fumble around in the fog.

Their commander: "Try your best not to disperse. Everyone stay in a centralized formation and we'll slowly push forward. Lord Four, you-—"

Before he had finished speaking, he turned around and discovered that Lord Four had long since disappeared.

Main tank: "Should we call Lord Four back?"

Commander: "… Forget it. I'm already used to it."

.

Tyron had always been good at making use of his strengths while avoiding his weaknesses. Since he wasn't good at group fights but was good at ambushes, he would naturally play his strength to the limit.

He also had no way to see anything clearly in this layer of fog, but it was not the worst environment he had ever encountered—the worst was when he had joined a war expedition in the Lord of the Night's plane, in that world where there had never been brightness.

Amongst all the sightless creatures there, spiders had belonged to one of the topmost layers of the food chain. While other creatures were 'hunting', only the spiders were 'killing'.

Therefore, Tyron learned to use a new type of technique.

Hiding silently on the cobwebs and waiting patiently as the sound of footsteps became vibrations along the spidersilk, then quietly climbing along the strands to suddenly impale his clueless prey with his claws.

.

Tyron spent a full three minutes preparing in order to create such a spiderweb.

While he was moving amongst the tall trees, he unexpectedly met the Dreams Team's paladin in the tree canopy.

This time, it was the flying paladin who held the initiative. He curved his wings and dropped down from the sky, his sharp ** carrying a chilling impact as it stabbed downwards.

The male commentator who had to hastily switch the camera over couldn't help but shout, "He's gonna die!"

In the next moment, Tyron suddenly turned around, his two hands holding his weapons in a cross as he just barely managed to block the tip of the spear.

The powerful impact from the paladin dropping down from such a high altitude knocked both of them out of the canopy, snapping quite a few branches with 'Pa!' sounds as they fell. It could be seen that they were about to crash into the ground.

Suddenly, the paladin hit the steel wire that Tyron had just set out in mid-air, and abruptly lost balance in one wing.

The two of them twirled in free-fall. Tyron seized this opportunity to push off against the side of a tree trunk, propelling himself forward as quick as lightning to slam into the paladin!

The paladin was suddenly smashed into the tree trunk behind him by Tyron, and his two snow-white wings shook involuntarily.

Tyron took advantage of the paladin's brief dizziness and inexorably landed a close-combat combo, then used the tree trunk as leverage to pull both his daggers out of the paladin's chest, landing lightly on the ground with a back flip.

The paladin's body dropped away from the tree trunk and disappeared in a flash of white light even before it could land.

.

Both commentators tried to speak at the same time, "It was a truly thrilling aerial encounter."

"In terms of maneuverability, the paladin should originally have had the advantage. But it seems that Lord Four is very familiar with this kind of environment."

"I feel like Lord Four's skills are like a bottomless pit. He can dig out all sorts of good things whenever necessary."

"Yes, yes. Regardless of whether it's an unobstructed map, or this kind of map without visibility, Lord Four's flexibility is simply terrifying."

.

As the commentators finished speaking, the camera had already turned back to the main group.

The two teams had unexpectedly met three times within the fog while Tyron was setting up.

The Dreams Team had a big advantage because their sorcerer was the one manipulating the fog. They won two big victories in their three skirmishes, and the last fight was a draw.

At this point, the quota of remaining lives for each team was:

Seven Kills Team, 8 remaining lives; Dreams Team, 15 remaining lives.

Male commentator: "The Seven Kills Team is in a disadvantageous position. Dreams' Mist Lock has been put to great use. It counters the Seven Kills Team's line-up perfectly."

Female commentator: "Yes. Throughout Seven Kills' history, they have almost always relied on their violent and explosive DPS to deal with their opponents' core, which allows them to build up more of an advantage during the team fights. Once their DPS positions are unable to play a large role, it becomes easy for the Seven Kills Team to collapse. After all, they're a team that relies on damage. Previously, they used to rely on a ninja, and now it's an assassin."

Male commentator: "Dreams' coach has penetrating insight. He was able to tell at a glance what kind of strategy to use in order to restrain Seven Kills' Lord Four's tactics."

The female commentator was amused by his use of the term 'Lord Four's tactics' and laughed, "Hahaha, yes. Let's see what Lord Four is currently doing."

.

When the camera switched over, Tyron was sitting cross-legged on a tree, as motionless as a statue.

His figure was half-hidden between the branches and leaves, eyes almost closed. There was a strange sense of peacefulness to the scene.

The female commentator was stunned for a moment, then said, "Ai, although Lord Four is very handsome, I really don't know what he's doing? Is it a male beauty trap?"

Male commentator: "…"

At this point, they discovered that Dreams' team members happened to be walking along a nearby path, ready to ambush Seven Kills' big group once again.

Previously, they sent the paladin up ahead to scout for them, but the paladin had been killed by Tyron just now and was waiting to resurrect, so their team was now being guided by the sorcerer.

While they were passing by quietly, the sorcerer accidentally tripped and fell to the ground.

He tripped because he had stepped on a steel wire trap. Three arrows immediately whizzed through the air and swiftly crossed the short distance.

But the Dreams Team were almost all there; the tank immediately came forward and blocked the arrows.

They were all nervous for a moment but nobody came out to launch a sneak attack. The commander said, "The assassin probably couldn't find us, so he set up traps everywhere in the hopes that he can take some of us down by chance. Ignore it, let's go."

Knowing that Lord Four wouldn't appear, everyone unconsciously breathed out a sigh of relief.

.

But they had relaxed too early, so they didn't notice that the trap had triggered a series of small wind chimes.

As the chimes rang, the quietly sitting Tyron suddenly opened his eyes and looked towards the Dreams Team's location.

While Dreams was preparing to set up an ambush under the trees, Tyron was silently following them from his position amongst the branches.

He looked down at the five people below, and unhurriedly moved from place to place up above.

Time passed by slowly, and it was the people watching who first lost their composure.

The male commentator really couldn't hold back anymore. His hair was standing on end as he said, "It always feels particularly exciting whenever I watch Lord Four prepare to launch an ambush!"

The female commentator was also extremely anxious, "When will he make a move? When on earth will Lord Four begin?"

Let alone the commentators, even the audience was very nervous as they held their breaths one by one, not even daring to blink.

.

Tyron had been noiselessly trailing behind them for half a minute before he finally brought out some steel wire, looped it around his right leg a few times, then abruptly dropped himself down from the tree.

The other end of the wire was tied to the tree, allowing Tyron to quietly hang there upside down as he slowly, little by little, slid downwards.

Tyron's dark, golden eyes were incomparably quiet.

The person walking at the very back of the Dreams Team was the sword dancer who had been constantly observing the situation behind the team. Tyron had adjusted for over twenty seconds just to find a perfect position. He was hanging in the air directly above the card master, who was second to last in their current formation.

This scene was like a slow motion shot, full of hair-trigger tension.

"The card master is done for…" For some reason, the female commentator involuntarily lowered her voice and spoke very softly.

.

It was precisely in this moment that Tyron's dagger flashed like a fang, glinting with an unparalleled, sharp, cold light!

While he was hanging upside down, the dagger he held in a backhanded grip was poised to strike from the bottom up—

And stabbed abruptly into the card master's jaw from below!

The steel wire tightened at the same time, pulling Tyron upwards and lifting the card master, whose jaw was still nailed by the dagger, up and off the ground.

The card master was just like prey caught by a spider's fangs and left suspended on a spiderweb.

The card master resisted subconsciously, but it was too late. Tyron had already dragged him back into the tree, then stabbed his chest with a sword in a backhanded grip and turned him into a flying white light!

It all happened in less than two seconds. His actions were rapid and coordinated, and people were unable to take it all in at once.

Only then did the male commentator shout, "Oh my mother!"

He sucked in a sharp breath and almost choked, his hand clutching tightly at the paper towel that he had been about to use to wipe off his sweat. It was already half-damp from the anxious sweat on his hand.

"It's too motherf**cking stimulating." He added.

bear: i hope the ** isn't referring to his dick, dicks aren't supposed to be sharp…

Pyro: i guess we can't replace ** with 'dick', lol.

xiin: NO, the ** aren't eggplants, damnit!!

ala: lmao