Vanguard of the Eternal Night

translator: xiin

editors: alamerysl & bear

The game was now at the eleventh minute.

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

Seven Kills, 8 remaining lives; Dreams, 14 remaining lives.

.

Dreams' card master support had died in two seconds!

Their commander only realized that they had lost a member of their team a few seconds later when he received the system's notification. He asked in shock, "When did the card master die? How did he die?"

The card master was unable to speak while waiting to resurrect, and the rest of the team were stunned, "He's been walking in the middle this whole time. We weren't aware of any movement from the front or the back. How could someone have gone around us and killed him?"

The commander suddenly recalled their coach's instructions and guessed, "Lord Four likes to attack from above. He might be hiding in a tree. We've already lost two people, so we'll wait for a bit first to let the paladin return before looking for Seven Kills."

The four of them entered a defensive formation and slowly made their way forward, the executioner watching the tree canopy vigilantly.

.

But, they had guessed wrong again.

Instead of remaining above them, Tyron moved quickly and was now lurking on another path.

The male commentator spoke with regret, "Ouch! Dreams wasn't cautious when they needed to be, and now Lord Four has already left and they've missed the chance!"

Female commentator: "Actually, you've spoken in reverse. It should be that Lord Four understands the situation too well! He seems to know when his opponents will stop, and when they'll act. What a terrifying sense of strategy!"

Halfway through their conversation, they were surprised to discover that the paladin had arrived.

The paladin had come at a perfect time. Tyron had just concealed himself when the paladin showed up in Tyron's field of vision. Moreover, of all places, he flew directly towards the place where Tyron was concealed!

The male commentator was stunned: "It's almost as though they planned it!"

Female commentator: "I don't believe that this is another coincidence. Lord Four definitely set up an ambush here because he knew the paladin would come! But the question is, how did Lord Four know?!"

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The pitiful paladin had been killed by Tyron even when he held the initiative in their previous encounter, and also knew that he absolutely had no way to beat Lord Four on his own.

This time, he was the one ambushed by Tyron. The moment he saw Tyron, he was basically scared to the point where his soul was sent flying.

This ambush again ended in under ten seconds, and Tyron nailed the paladin who hadn't had a chance to defend himself directly onto the tree.

Male commentator: "Ouch, what a tragedy! I can't watch anymore."

Female commentator: “Sigh, I also won’t say much. So far, in the arena, there hasn’t been anyone who can beat Lord Four in a single player fight.”

.

The paladin died again. Tyron was idle and had nothing to do, so he went back to stalk Dreams’ main group.

The Master Assassin's grasp of the situation and people's hearts was terrifying. He only needed to glance over the enemy to know who amongst them was already lowering their vigilance, and could fully seize the fleeting opportunity to make a kill.

A mere few dozen seconds later, Tyron had killed another person.

Dreams' commander couldn't hold back anymore and said, "We can't go on like this. We can't stand alone. This assassin is really damned… Facing off against him alone is not a solution. We'll go together and catch him twice. After we kill him a few times, he won't dare come out to ambush our people alone anymore."

The remaining three team members began to search for Tyron's tracks. Since they had lost the card master, the sorcerer cast a scanning spell called 'Environmental Recall': any spot where their enemy had been would glow a fluorescent blue. The more recent it was, the brighter the glow would be.

The spell finished casting, and everyone was horrified.

Because, overhead was a dense blue glow that indicated all the places Tyron had crouched.

They had all looked up from time to time, but had never discovered his presence at all! What kind of ability did Lord Four have that allowed him to avoid other people's gazes like this?!

Commander: "…" He was terrified just thinking about the fact that someone had been pondering how to kill him from so close by!

The audience, who had watched Tyron's progress the whole time, saw that Dreams had finally discovered this fact, and all felt quite refreshed: Hahahaha, are you guys scared? Are you scared yet?! Baby was really scared just now too!

.

At the moment, Tyron was a small distance away.

He knew that they were casting some sort of scanning spell as soon as he saw his opponents' movements, so turned around and left without hesitation.

The male commentator praised, "This is another of Lord Four's specialties—even if he has the ability to complete a counterattack with two versus four, he'll never take the initiative to win more with less. He's much clearer on this point than many other impulsive players who are high on their success."

Female commentator: "Indeed. Lord Four has impeccable operation and excellent strategic awareness. You can see from his current actions… Er."

Male commentator: "… It's starting again."

Female commentator: "… Yeah."

The two of them looked towards the camera and were silent for a moment before sighing at the same time.

-- Tyron had started blocking the resurrection point again.

How should they comment on this? There was nothing to say!

If one person resurrected, he killed one; if two people came out, he killed both!

When it came to one-on-one, or one-to-two small-scale ambush fights, killing was a simple matter for Lord Four. On average, it took him less than 20 seconds per head!

The audience's comments on the public screen: "My god, hahaha! They must be in a frenzy!"

"Who told you to be singled out and killed? Who asked you to be so unlucky and catch Lord Four's attention?!"

"Lord Four is really carrying the whole fight! If they don't break out of his tactics, there's basically no way for any team to continue playing. Lord Four always has a way to split up the enemy team and then chase and kill the smaller enemy group; Dreams has no way to gather everyone together and start a fight. Fighting a team battle with three people missing is a fast way to suicide, but if they hold back from starting a team battle and play with Lord Four, it becomes chronic suicide…"

.

The 'chronic suicide' Dreams Team held on for another three minutes, during which Lord Four harvested four heads. They were suddenly left with 8 remaining lives.

The Dreams Team hadn't yet found a way to break out of this infinite cycle of death, but the Seven Kills had already arrived to provide pressure.

The fog was so bad that Seven Kills had lost three times in a row during the group skirmishes. They then proceeded cautiously and steadily until they finally re-engaged with Dreams' main team.

And Dreams was currently missing a few members; their healer and support had just been killed by Lord Four and sent home—

The outcome was predictable.

Seven Kills redeemed themselves and straightforwardly managed a four for one exchange, which could be considered a big victory.

After the group battle, the male commentator said, "At this point, there's already no suspense about the rest of the match. As long as Lord Four remains in the rear, it will be difficult for Dreams to recover their momentum."

.

Sure enough, two and a half minutes later, the last of Dreams' lives were used up as Tyron once again went for the unlucky paladin.

The Seven Kills Team won once again.

The BO3 score reached 2:0. The Seven Kills Team won the semi-finals.

.

As players from both sides were transported back onto the stage, the screen at the back began to show cuts from the chosen MVP:

The Dreams Team's card master's upper body appeared on the screen, followed by the upside-down figure of Tyron as he hung down from the trees. Tyron's actions were light and unhurried as he silently aimed his dagger towards the card master's jaw and suddenly brought him close!

The card master was immediately pulled up into the canopy and disappeared.

-- It was the scene of Tyron's first ambush.

The audience revisited this wonderful scene again and couldn't help but shout loudly as everyone on the scene burst out into applause and constant whistles.

The public screen was scrolling with comments: "66666666" "The most brilliant scenes from this month will be dominated by Lord Four once again!" "It wouldn't be too exaggerated to put this shot directly into a film!"

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Contestants from both Dreams and Seven Kills were also looking back frequently; they basically hadn't seen Lord Four's figure during the match. They were shocked when they saw that Lord Four had used this kind of method to kill off the card master.

When Dreams' commander came over to shake hands, he said, "I really have to admit my respect…"

Seven Kills' commander humbly followed up and said, "No, no. Your performances were also spectacular."

The two of them shook hands and simultaneously aimed small smiles towards the audience. The organizers immediately caught this as a screenshot.

"I'm acknowledging Lord Four," Dreams' commander continued in a low voice as they shook hands, his expression unchanging. "Without Lord Four, we would've slaughtered you in the second round."

"…" The commander of Seven Kills kept smiling and also answered under his breath, "Our coach has good vision and treats our team well. Hey hey, Lord Four picked us--at the end of the day, the truth is that all your envy is useless. Lalalalalala~"

Dreams' commander: "… I almost forgot that your coach is Qian Sheng." Your coach Qian Sheng is the very essence of shamelessness. I have no way to compare!

.

After the game, the audience expressed their satisfaction one after another. They felt as though they had just watched a big blockbuster.

For some members of the audience who didn't watch the individual competitions, this was the first time they had gotten to know Lord Four. It was also their first time seeing someone who could completely avoid group battles, ignore cooperation and reason, and simply rely on personal strength alone to defeat a team.

--How incredibly cool! They definitely had to dig out videos of Lord Four's previous single competitions! How come they hadn't realized that 1v1 could also be so brilliant before this?!

Many spectators were so excited that they remained behind even after the contestants had left the stage, simply staying on to listen to the relatively boring part of the program that came after--the evaluation and commentary from coaches and journalists.

In the past, this segment of the program had been prepared for those who lived and breathed e-sports and e-sports news, so it was rather boring. Unexpectedly, many spectators couldn't bear to leave after the game, wanting to hear the coach talk about Lord Four's affairs--over half of the audience remained, and the unsuspecting organizers were all green with excitement.

.

The reporters were also a little excited as they came up and asked, "Coach Qian, how would you evaluate this game?"

The coach laughed slyly, "Lord Four's performance was not bad, but it seems that he hasn't adjusted yet."

Reporter: "…" Qian Sheng was starting to act shameless again.

Audience: "…" This was called 'hasn't adjusted yet'?! Was he f**king kidding?

Another reporter asked, "What kind of special strategy did Lord Four use that allowed him to accurately find solo players in the fog? Was it 'Lord Four's tactics'?"

Coach: You're asking me? Who should I ask? I also f*cking want to ask that commentator what he meant by 'Lord Four's tactics'!

However, his head could be hurt, his blood could flow, but he could never stop putting up an act.

The coach gave a deep and enigmatic smile, "Yes. Lord Four has a special set of tactics, but I can't tell you about it now. I'll see you all at the next game."

He waved his sleeves after he spoke and casually walked away.

Reporter: "…"

Male commentator: "…" I blindly mentioned a 'Lord Four's tactics' out of excitement. Unexpectedly, I really hit the nail on the head?!

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