Vanguard of the Eternal Night

translator: xiin

editor: kara

At that moment, on the public screen, the audience hadn't even had time to see how the round of exchanges went. They couldn't wait to fill up the screen for a while to vent their crazy mood:

"Hahahaha what the hell!!! This is the first time I've seen a tomato used against a mage shield! Have you all ever considered how tomatoes feel?!!!"

"It's too cruel ahahahaha… I'm laughing so hard that I'm going to have eight abs!"

"Tomato: Are you blaming me?"

"Am I the only one who can see from Lord Four's actions that he's reached the lofty realm of following the heart, plucking leaves from flying flowers, and being above material things? A real War God can use a mere tomato to kill others… No more, I can't continue making things up anymore 2333333"

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It was easy for the audience, who was immersed in laughing, to miss the fleetingly fast exchange of moves.

Although Tyron had viciously started the game with a tomato, the commentators were very proper and didn't call it a tomato. Instead, they had called it a 'Godly prop that affected vision', and immediately brought the atmosphere back on the right track.

At this moment, Tyron had already flashed twice: once from behind Old Friend, followed by another flash to arrive beside him.

Old Friend's vision had been blocked twice before he finally removed his ice mage shield--in order to prevent his vision from being further affected. At the same time, he continued with another casting action.

As he finished his first move, a cold shockwave spread out in a circle with him in the center!

The snow-white torrent that was visible to the naked eye stretched outward like a wave on the ground.

Tyron leaped up off the ground and entered the air with a relaxed, freestyle move--

"Windmill combo!" The female commentator cried out excitedly, "Come on! Do it! Hit the mage a few dozen times and disable him!"

The male commentator also shouted, "No, that's not right, it's not an instant ice ring, it's a custom spell!"

.

This custom spell of Old Friend's had the exact same initial cast action and appearance as the ice ring he'd used in his first attack, and the chanting was also the same, but there was one big difference--

It was a custom channeled spell! As long as he didn't end the gesture, this spell would be able to continue releasing for a few seconds until it reached its limit!

This similarity was done deliberately by Old Friend, and it had indeed deceived everyone present. Nobody had expected him to have a second shockwave.

After the first shockwave went out, and Tyron had arrived just in front of him, the second shockwave that was outside of everyone's expectations burst out!

Everyone was given a great shock. Only the male commentator, who'd seen a hint of it ahead of time, was able to react, "He's going to be frozen! Odin's going to be frozen!"

Anyone hit by the ice shockwave would freeze in place for about one second, unable to move.

By this time, Tyron had already been able to carry out two consecutive attacks of his windmill combo when the ice shockwave appeared close by.

As long as he touched the ground for even a moment, the ice would instantly spread over him!

But, how could a windmill combo not touch the ground? The cold ice wave covered a radius of two meters, and there was no place for him to jump from to gain some distance.

.

The second shockwave had spread out, and the ground was now icy blue. He would inevitably be affected as long as he landed.

Tyron's windmill combo was about to end. By the time he had landed his ninth consecutive hit, his momentum was already about to reach its end.

Everyone was waiting for him to land.

But, he didn't land!

He reached out a hand and propped it against Old Friend's shoulder, his entire person passing behind him, light as a shadow, without any weight at all even as a silent dagger stretched out from the shadows.

Throat slice!

Chanting interrupt!

Not only did Old Friend's chanting stop, but he also lost his balance and staggered backwards. Even so, his gestures remained unaffected as he released a third shockwave.

At this time, Tyron once again borrowed strength from the mage's shoulder and went up into the air.

From beginning to end, he had never once landed on the ground.

If any of these movements had been even a second slower, Old Friend might have toppled over from lack of balance and wouldn't have been able to support another person's movements. However--how fast had these movements been? They were so fast that Old Friend hadn't even had enough time to fall to the ground due to the overwhelming inertia.

He was like a person who'd been forced into use as a tumbler doll with a pair of invisible hands that always pushed him back into place.

It had already been two seconds of air time!

The fourth shockwave had already been released, but Tyron still hadn't landed on the ground!

The female commentator was in a shocked daze, "This is naked, dazzling technology!"

The male commentator also sighed emotionally, "Another control skill! This linkage! This control over his center of gravity! Contestant Odin is like a bird playing with a branch!"

.

As though finally tired of playing with this human branch, Tyron finally stepped on his back and leapt back calmly. He touched down on the floor with one hand, then pushed up lightly and flipped back onto the stone wall next to him.

It was just that this one touch had caused the ice to freeze his left wrist.

He ignored the ice and instead held his right wrist flat. The dagger, Deep Silence, which was held in a reverse grip, reflected the sun in a rare streak of iridescent light.

In the next second, there was another flash!

The female commentator was left stunned once again, "I thought he was going to retreat! But, it turned out to be a hoax!"

Old Friend also had thought that he was going to withdraw!

But, he hadn't retreated. He'd tricked Old Friend into temporarily stopping his customized ice shock spell and then once again entered the ice-covered field.

Male commentator: "This isn't a wise move at this time. The area is still frozen!"

As soon as his voice fell, they saw Odin use his frozen left hand as leverage against the frozen ground and approach Old Friend with ease.

Old Friend had just finished preparing a damage spell that tracked the target, but when he was approached by Odin again, he had to temporarily interrupt his spell in order to release another instant-cast control spell--

Winter Wind!

All of a sudden, there was a gust of cold wind blowing violently out from behind Old Friend.

The sharp wind was very powerful as it swept out, pushing Odin one meter away.

Odin wasn't anxious or hurried as he adapted to the change in mid-air almost immediately. He pushed sideways against the stone wall--flash!

He came close once again!

This flash was almost completely horizontal, and because he had enough leverage, it went faster and further than before. He'd arrived in front of Old Friend once again in just the blink of an eye!

.

Frost mages were best at controlling the field. It wasn't all purely for show like in the performance match, and Old Friend didn't use those fancy and relatively impractical compound spells. Instead, he had been using instant cast spells for most of the match.

This was because he knew that when faced with an assassin like Odin, he had absolutely no time to chant for too long. Any chanting was risky!

Even at this time, Old Friend still had a fourth self-preservation instant cast spell. He chanted a short syllable and called out a small block of ice that surrounded his body.

Male commentator: "His famous 'Ice Sword Array'!"

It made perfect sense that Old Friend was so good at dealing with assassins. His famous technique was very shocking; it summoned many small icicles simultaneously and then controlled them one by one to attack the blade of the assassin, who was attacking in close combat. Generally speaking, the faster the blade was, the more demanding it was on the angle of the blade, narrowing down the range that it could hit. Once the icicles attacked the blade that was about to attack, as long as it caused it to deviate by even a centimeter, the assassin's combo attack damage would be greatly reduced.

This technique had been nicknamed the 'mage's knife fight'.

This was because for every blade an assassin sent out, a mage would also use an 'ice blade' to fight against him. If one party failed to keep up with the rhythm, they would be defeated. This was basically exactly the same as a fight between two assassins.

At present, Old Friend had chosen this moment to sacrifice his famous technique, because he'd decided that: Odin had no way to enter a blade fight with him at this time!

Because, he had no place to obtain leverage from!

.

However, Old Friend was once again left with a face full of confusion.

Odin, who had used flash to charge over, hadn't pulled out his blades at all!

After Odin used his extremely fast speed to deceive him, because his left hand was still frozen, Old Friend had been staring continuously at the dagger in his right hand. However, Deep Silence was acting as a cover!

Tyron's movements just now seemed as though he wanted to use his dagger to end him at once, causing Old Friend to check himself completely.

Old Friend had sent out an ice blade out of conditioned reflex and was ready to parry his dagger, when Tyron--

Sent his leg flying through the air…

And knocked Old Friend flying with the kick!

--Everyone was stunned!

The female commentator was almost screaming, "He tricked him again!"

Tyron's flying kick carried the huge impact brought about by his high-speed flash and directly kicked the fragile mage one meter into the air, causing him to topple across to the other side of the stone wall!

The poor mage hit the wall, then fell back to the ground due to gravity. The dozens of icicles that surrounded him also followed suit.

After that, Tyron placed all his weight on his left hand that was still frozen and borrowed strength from the ground to arrive like a shadow in front of the mage on the ground--

They were now out of the frozen area.

.

The female commentator finally found her voice again and said blankly, "Three-hit combo… five-hit combo!"

Odin mercilessly attacked the mage, who'd been knocked down again with a dagger. In one set of moves, he directly knocked his health down to 50% and sent him into a relatively critical state.

Old Friend didn't have time to adjust his center of gravity and stand up completely. He once again cast a spell that nobody had ever seen before on the spot.

The icicles swirled and roared forward, causing Tyron's movements to slow slightly.

At the same time, it seemed that Old Friend's figure was suddenly pushed away by an invisible force, his entire person flying out towards the other side of the lane.

The male commentator speculated, "This should be a spell that combines ice and wind. It can control the field while allowing him to move himself--"

He didn't have time to praise this custom spell any further. Thanks to his spell, Old Friend had already come to a quick landing at the end of the lane.

He had already started preparing the next spell while he was moving back.

A row of ice cones formed behind him, and they fired out one by one towards Tyron.

At this time, there was still a significant amount of ice left in the center of the lane, and there was no other suitable route that Tyron could use in order to approach Old Friend, who was now several meters away.

As the ice cones approached, Tyron moved quickly on the ground, then leapt up, and landed on the stone wall.

A series of muffled thunks could be heard as the ice cones stabbed into the stone wall, forming a row.

Tyron's figure quickly flipped over the stone wall and disappeared behind it.

Old Friend took advantage of this precious time to immediately give himself a shield, and just as he was preparing a new trap spell to protect himself…

He suddenly flew upwards from his spot…