Vanguard of the Eternal Night

translator: xiin

editors: bear & celtic

Earth District Team Finals.

Seven Kills vs Heaven's Inquiry.

Although both names sounded appealing and pulled inspiration from classical Chinese literature, the two teams' pre-match declaration went like this:

Heaven's Inquiry's coach: "Heaven's intentions are difficult to perceive, but my life is in my hands and does not depend on fate!"

Seven Kills' coach Qian Sheng: "Ah? What is the Seven Kills Star, the greedy Sirius star? The reason our team is called Seven Kills is because our goal is--block our opponent at their resurrection point through bloody slaughter! We can kill them seven times with six people, isn't Seven Kills more vicious than wiping them out six times?!"

"……"

The host's expression was too horrible to look at.

Seven Kills' old fans: We can't bear to think back on this shameful past, please let us die.

The new people in the audience showed a myriad of confused faces.

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Returning back to the story. Heaven's Inquiry was also an old team. Their club had three long-established teams operating independently of each other at the same time. Every time the Team Competition came up, they would break up the three teams, bench the weakest players, and form a team that consisted of the strongest players that would then compete as the Heaven's Inquiry Team.

Their club had implemented a high-level operating model, which was highly commercialized and based on individual performance. It was cruel but very effective.

Therefore, the characteristics of Heaven's Inquiry were: each individual's combat effectiveness was outstanding and they had a sense of team cooperation (after all, they came from team backgrounds), and relying on their personal strength to make up for the lack of tacit understanding between the players.

Each of their players was like a time bomb with an uncertain explosion time. They might suddenly break out with a series of extremely amazing moves, creating a sudden element of surprising behavior that could directly cause confusion amongst their opponents during a team battle.

However, they have also suffered brutal defeat because two players accidentally interfered with each other and created a marvelous counter-attacking opportunity for their opponents.

That was to say, the team's fighting power could fluctuate so much that even their own coach had disparaged himself and said, "The meaning behind the name Heaven's Inquiry is 'drawing divination sticks every day to determine how to play the next match'."

In any case, the individuals' strength was still there, and the lower limits for their performance wasn't low at all.

Heaven's Inquiry had always remained in the top four positions of the Earth District's Team Competition, and even won the League's Championship seat in one stroke during the last competition.

.

The players attracted cheers from the crowd, and the commentators switched on their mics.

Male commentator: "Our Heaven's Inquiry Team has had a fresh infusion of new blood. They really have fresh faces every year. Of course, the same is also true for Seven Kills. This year, the performance of their Lord Four has been very outstanding."

Female commentator: “Let’s look at what the lineup is like for both sides.”

Seven Kills: (Main Tank) Great Shield Warrior, (Deputy Tank, Commander) Scourge Knight, (Healer, Support) Goblin Summoner, (#1 DPS) Assassin (Tyron), (#2 DPS) Launcher, (#3 DPS, Crowd Control) Puppet Master.

Male commentator: “The Seven Kills Team has always been a very straight and narrow two-tank, one support lineup. Their core position is the #1 DPS. I think that I don’t need to say much about Lord Four’s reputation.”

Female commentator: "Their core tactics are also centered around Lord Four. As soon as Lord Four takes down their opponents' core, or manages to remove two of their opponents' players from the fight, the fastest moving scourge knight will force a team fight so that they can begin to accumulate advantages."

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Heaven's Inquiry: (Main tank, Commander) Dragon Druid, (Healer) Priest, (#1 DPS) Bounty Hunter, (#2 DPS, Crowd Control) Nightmare Knight, (#3 DPS) Ash Lord, (Free Position), Blood Mage.

Male commentator: "This time, Heaven's Inquiry's lineup is really violent, it's a little scary. Other than their priest healer, almost everyone else can occupy a DPS position."

Female commentator: "Among their newcomers, the dragon druid can take on dragon form at any time, allowing him to become invincible for the next twenty seconds. The ash lord is very rarely seen and is a profession that can summon the undead. Other than the newcomers, there are also the team members who were part of the previous championship lineup: priest, bounty hunter, nightmare knight…"

"There's also another newcomer that you missed--their blood mage." The male commentator said, "The blood mage can DPS, tank, and even heal. Their position is very flexible, and we'll only know what role they'll take up once the match starts."

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The audience was also buzzing with discussion. Meanwhile, the captains from both sides had already shaken hands amicably.

The results of the draw for the first round came out.

Randomized mode: Tower Defense.

This was a very classic mode. Both sides had a base in front of their resurrection point, and the team that was able to break their opposing team's base would win. The base would continuously send out a stream of small troops that would split up along three paths and push forward. The small troops would provide vision for their players, and also assist with attacks.

In this mode, players could resurrect infinitely. They only needed to wait 15 seconds after death and would automatically be returned to the resurrection point behind the base.

Randomized map: Land of Skeletons.

It was a gloomy map. Other than the open area in the center, the rest of the map was basically a forest.

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When the thirty-second countdown ended, both sides set out from their respective resurrection points and headed towards the middle.

It could be seen that all of the members from both teams were now heading towards the center of the map along the middle road.

Male commentator: "It seems that both sides want to fight a group battle right from the start."

Indeed, the two teams were moving forward at a uniform speed, meeting in the center of the middle road. They looked at each other across a shallow stream.

Suddenly, the dragon druid from Heaven's Inquiry used his ultimate move without saying a word, transforming into a gigantic red dragon!

At the same time, their nightmare knight immediately followed suit and used his ultimate move. The skill 'mind control' shot towards their opponents.

Female commentator: "My god! They used their big skills right away! Heaven's Inquiry's dragon druid and nightmare knight…"

"They're too violent! Seven Kills' launcher was still attacking, but suddenly fell under their control!"

"What a great opportunity! The dragon druid is going to use its dragon breath!" The female commentator yelled, "He's definitely about to spray!"

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Sure enough, the dragon druid's red dragon used a 'dragon breath'. Instantly, large raging flames dropped from the sky, and the site turned into a scene from purgatory as it applied <burn> and damage to everyone.

The launcher from Seven Kills had just been controlled and was the first to turn into a white stream of light.

Their main tank immediately used his ultimate move, 'Saintly Ruler's Shield' to withstand the dragon's wing strike; following that, the scourge knight tried to pull the other team's priest over, but Heaven's Inquiry's blood mage didn't seem to value their life as they stepped forward to block the move. They were then pulled to the middle of the fight.

Instantly, all of Seven Kills' DPS focused fire on the blood mage, and in two short seconds, the blood mage's HP had almost emptied out.

But the blood mage directly sacrificed themselves (self-exploded) and used their death to simultaneously cause a large amount of damage over a wide area. The attack insta-killed the squishy puppet master.

Male commentator: "Seven Kills lost two of their DPS! Heaven's Inquiry has only lost a blood mage, but the time limit for their red dragon transformation is about to run out. Who will Seven Kills prioritize to deal with first?"

Female commentator: "We can see that Lord Four has made a beeline for Heaven's Inquiry's main group!"

.

All of this took place over a mere few seconds. Even if the commentators had plugins, they wouldn't have been able to comment on it all. By now, Tyron had already shot forth like a meteor into the rear of Heaven's Inquiry's formation.

Heaven's Inquiry's dragon druid, blood mage, and bounty hunter were all at the front line dealing with Seven Kills while the priest healer was at the back, protected by the ash lord and the team of undead that had been summoned to protect her.

To Tyron, the speed of those undead creatures was as slow as the movements of a snail.

He moved leisurely through the white bones and pounced on Heaven's Inquiry's priest!

At this time, the ash lord waved to create a bone shield around the priest, allowing the priest to withstand Tyron's first attack, and then unhesitatingly followed up with a bone wall that blocked Tyron from the priest.

"What a beautiful move!" The male commentator shouted, "This series of moves was too decisive and amazing! The priest's life has basically been saved!"

As soon as his voice fell, they saw Tyron kick off from the bone wall and flip his body over to attack the ash lord.

The ash lord moved all of the undead he had summoned to protect himself, and for a time, the white bones surged forth like a wave.

However, Tyron simply stepped on the pile of bones, his figure moving like a flying swallow towards the woods nearby.

The ash lord only had enough time to look back before he was suddenly pulled up, flying out of the circle of protection that his undead provided--Just now, when Tyron had passed by, he had twisted a steel wire around his skull!

The ash lord flew into the woods and turned into a stream of white light two seconds later.

"…How amazing, my dear lord." The male commentator was startled as he said, "'You dare to stop me from killing the priest? Then you'll have to pay for it with your own life!'"

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Heaven's Inquiry's priest had just experienced a thrilling escape from disaster and was now on the back of their dragon druid's dragon form as she cast 'Holy Light's Embrace', a skill that raised the blood volume of the remaining Heaven's Inquiry's team members.

By this time, two of the six Seven Kills' members had fallen. Other than Tyron, there were the two tanks who were no longer at full health, and their support.

Heaven's Inquiry had lost their blood mage and ash lord.

The dragon druid's transformation ended, and he landed behind the rest of the Heaven's Inquiry Team with the priest.

Right after, Tyron appeared like a ghost, leaping down from the air without sparing the dragon druid a single glance. He made use of the powerful force of impact to directly nail his two sharp blades into the priest's chest.

The priest turned into a streak of white light, but at the same time, a figure emerged from the white light--

It was the priest's soul.

The soul couldn't be attacked at all, but it could administer heals to its teammates and would disappear after five seconds.

The priest's soul acted as though nobody was nearby and directly healed the three remaining members of Heaven's Inquiry to full health before returning to the resurrection point.

By now, Heaven's Inquiry's bounty hunter and Seven Kills' scourge knight had already finished their fight, and both of them were sent back to their respective resurrection points.

Seven Kills was left with their main tank, support and Lord Four, while Heaven's Inquiry was left with their dragon druid and nightmare knight who had both already used up their ultimate moves.

.

Female commentator: "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, this is definitely targeted at Lord Four's style of play!"

The male commentator followed up and said, "The ash lord protected the priest the whole time, and the priest had a passive skill that allowed her to continue healing after she dies. Even if she was cut down by Lord Four right from the start, she would still be able to play a role in the team battle!"

Female commentator: "Exactly. If the ash lord hadn't died first, he could have also revived the dead team members as skeletons. This is simply… It could be said that two of their big moves have been set up just for the sake of countering Lord Four!"

The two commentators became increasingly surprised as they thought about it, and the male commentator spoke up again, "For now, the dragon druid can temporarily take on the role of a healer while the nightmare knight can do crowd control. My god! Heaven's Inquiry's line-up clearly sends the message 'We aren't afraid of losing members, Lord Four, if you have the ability, then face us straight on'!"