Vanguard of the Eternal Night

translator: xiin

editor: kara

The situation had developed to this extent, but Duke hadn't come forward at all. It was only his fans who were still spreading that he 'had no way to access the internet after entering the ICU', but it was unknown if it was true or not.

After the majority of the excitement had slowly cooled down, people discovered that someone unexpected had actually been involved in this incident--

Vantico.

Back then, Vantico had directly sent out a microblog in support of Duke, helping to denounce Odin.

Unfortunately, this series of events had finally proven that Duke had been acting as a white lotus, and his reputation had turned so bad overnight that it affected Vantico too. Many questioning voices appeared on his blog.

Vantico had never thought that things would turn out like this within a day of his message. It was like sending out a slap that rebounded and landed back on one's face.

His own fans were of two minds regarding this matter. The first was that 'Vantico has nothing to do with this matter at all. To be more direct, maybe he wants to be closer to Duke, or does he have a grudge against Odin?', and the second was 'It's not so complicated. Perhaps Vantico got tricked by Duke?'.

Well then, this matter was now over, and Vantico had two choices when it came to clearing up the matter:

He could either accept the first opinion and admit that he had been in league with a white lotus;

Or accept the second opinion and admit that… there was something wrong with his IQ.

Vantico: "……"

In this era, people who had ideological or moral problems would lose fans like water going down the drain, so Vantico gnashed his teeth all night and finally chose to send an apology out on his blog, admitting that he had an IQ problem and had believed in that white lotus's wicked words.

This was really f*cked up. He didn't even know what he'd been thinking back then!

Duke really had nothing to do with him! He'd really just rushed up to get slapped in the face!

.

The next day, Duke, who was supposed to be in the hospital for emergency treatment, suddenly announced that he'd withdrawn from the A-League provincial competition.

Additionally, he would never take part in the provincial competition again!

--He made it sound as though he could continue to play in the next season. In fact, the A-League's official regulations would have been revised by that time. Even if he had wanted to sign up, he would have been 'persuaded' to go to the special group for seriously ill contestants.

All of Duke's fans felt like they'd just f*cked a dog after they read through the statement issued by Duke's coach on his behalf, suddenly feeling as though their time and enthusiasm over the previous years had been trampled into the ground.

Perhaps they should also count Vantico amongst their numbers. Vantico's nose was blue, and his face was swollen as he silently watched along with them as Duke withdrew like a turtle into its shell.

Not only did they feel sad and tragic, but they also had to watch Odin's fans' revelry in the meantime…

.

After all, this war of words was nothing but a short moment of hype, and Odin's fans had more reasons to celebrate.

This was because Odin being in the top six for the provincial competition meant that he had a spot in the National Championships! Lord Four was going to fight against players from throughout the whole Alliance!

&#k2013;&#k2013;Although, before that would happen, Lord Four’s beauty was already on the verge of conquering the entire Alliance!

The fans were so happy that they were extremely cheerful, wanting the whole world to join them in jubilation, and rushed around spreading the news. They were beside themselves with happiness as they ran around crazily and held gatherings, both online and offline, in order to raise up their glasses, cheer, watch replays, and&#k2026;. lick lick lick.

Due to the big waves kicked up by the beauty tactics from before, many fans reluctantly released the images that they'd been hoarding for a long time.

One of them was a godly person who released a dozen game videos of Lord Four with his face exposed--

Of course, these were matches from the NPC Lord Four.

The 15th simulated A-League competition game was the first one to have Lord Four's exposed face in it, and it was the only one that allowed the Lord Four NPC to play through the entire game with his face exposed the whole way. Although the conditions required to achieve this easter egg were very harsh, there were no gains with no pain!

This god-like fan had played the 15th simulation A-League game every day and had finished it over a hundred times, spending over 2000 hours in the game. During this time, they'd performed all kinds of data analysis and modeling, and the whole purpose of all this was to unlock the game's ultimate egg--NPC Lord Four's exposed face model.

Then, he had really obtained the egg.

He started to feel great. He took the Lord Four NPC and passed the game dozens of times, creating thousands of holograms of Lord Four in each map.

Now, he was releasing these images in batches.

His blog had exploded with Lord Four fans that very same day!

.

For fans of Lord Four, it was normal for them to pull out their hearts and lungs for the sake of an image of his face only to be unable to obtain one. Now that they could get a large number of images all at once, it was like rain after a drought or life-saving assistance!

All of a sudden, tears streamed down the fans' faces as they incoherently expressed their boundless gratitude.

Although there was still a gap between an NPC and a real person, and the facial expressions, temperament, and actions weren't as natural and harmonious as a real person's at all, at the very least--they could imagine the real Lord Four through these NPC pictures!

For example, the real Lord Four would probably never blush, but the NPC had this setting! If there was enough goodwill, he would also express gratitude and goodwill to the player of the game. That appearance was so cute that people fell to their knees and couldn't get up again, unable to extricate themselves.

Another example was the wet Lord Four, who'd already been pushed up to godhood, who was also available in the game. The NPC could be sent out to play on rainy days so that water-dripping images could be created on purpose. They could also give him instructions to take a long time, then… wait for his clothes to be soaked through!

After that, a cult emerged amongst the Lord Four fans. They called themselves:

Rainy! Day! God! Cult!

These followers of the Rainy Day God cult's daily activities were: Insert three incense sticks, kneel down to worship the rain doll, then murmur to themselves, "May the next game be on a rain map, next game on a rain map, rain map, rain…"

.

President Li was not happy!

Although the NPC didn't reveal any skin, and it was just soaked clothing at most, it was still… his figure! His figure had been recreated proportionally!

Victor: "Next game isn't a rain map, isn't a rain map, no rain, no rain, no rain…"

Tyron: "……"

Victor bought a sun doll and hung it at home, determined to fight against the 'rainy day cult' to the very end.

Tyron found it amusing and said, "I'll just pay attention next time."

Victor's lips were pulled down, and he sulked about it for two days. Finally, he came up with a magical move and tore down the bathroom wall, replacing it with transparent glass.

The master assassin who discovered this when he took a bath that night, "……" Alright, you interstellar people really knew how to play.

President Li was very satisfied with himself. He sat cross-legged on the bed and said, "Mine, mine, all mine."

Tyron came over and flipped the proud and self-satisfied Victor butt-up over his shoulder, carrying him like this directly, "If you want to see, just say it straight. Child, hiding to the side and peeping isn't good behavior."

Victor struggled for a while and was slapped on the buttocks by Tyron. Suddenly, his entire face turned red, and he spoke faintly, "Peep, peeping is also a kind of play…"

"Any kind of play that doesn't lead to making love is indecent behavior." Tyron's face was solemn when he said this.

.

President Li was carried into the bathroom for a thorough lesson.

It penetrated too deep and moved too shallowly. Victor was moved to tears and almost sobbed, gasping out intermittently, "No way, the bathtub is too slippery, I can't hold on…"

Tyron said, "… Eyes up and hands down, President Li."

Victor was going crazy, "I'm not doing that! Don't goad me, you old rascal!"

Tyron pondered for a moment and gave up the goading tactic. He decisively used another method that Victor couldn't resist.

He turned on the showerhead, and hot water immediately covered them.

Victor: "……"

Tyron: "Come and lick?"

Therefore, Victor really couldn't hold on anymore. His legs went a little soft just by looking at the scene and were barely able to keep from collapsing despite being held up. After a while, he used his teeth fiercely and bit down on Tyron several times.

"…. Hiss."

A very neat row of teeth marks were gnawed onto Tyron's collarbone, then numbed by the hot water. He wondered internally when his Vic had evolved into having steel teeth.

.

The two people mutually hurt each other in the bathroom. After they came out, Victor's eyes were unfocused, and his entire body gave off an aura of post-activity bliss.

Each time he finished 'bullying' Victor and took in his miserable little appearance, this bad, old rascal would suddenly become very gentle, helping him to wash up before attentively serving him food and drink in order to supplement his physical strength.

Victor huddled in a bath towel and browsed through the news, leaning his head back against Tyron's leg. Every single pore on his body seemed to say, "I blame you for bullying me to this point. Hurry up and coax me."

After a while, Victor spoke in a hoarse voice, "The order for the games between the top six just came out. Your next opponent is Geng Chen…"

"That elemental mage?" Tyron asked, "I see."

"Last time you bullied her until she cried…" Victor went back to the report from that day and wanted to laugh a bit when he saw it.

Tyron's head didn't even turn back as he said, "Nobody cries more beautifully than you do."

After that, the old antique once again imagined the scene of his planned proposal, where Victor cried until he became the most pitiful, miserable little Vic ever, tsk tsk tsk….

.

However, competing in the top six would take some time. There were at least three games before he could win the championship, and that was the best case, the luckiest scenario. However, one of the advantages of the matches among the top six was that the schedule was very compact, and there was almost no recovery time between the two rounds. It could be regarded as another test of the players' physical strength and willpower.

The first round for the top six was Odin vs Geng Chen.

Geng Chen really didn't have it easy. She'd been eliminated into the loser group during the group matches and had made her way back amidst massive competition. Even though she was a player at the National Championship level, she still had to fight her way back to the semifinals of the provincial competition in the end.

Then, she had once again encountered Odin in the top six…

The online reviews all said, "It's over, our condolences."

"She's too unlucky. Geng Chen once again encountered the Great Demon King! It feels like emotional tears are splashing…"

"Try hard and see if she can make it a draw? After all, it's a point system. Getting one point is still useful."

.

While netizens were still discussing the topic, more news came out:

Geng Chen had abstained from the first round.

Everyone: "……"

Although everyone was very surprised at the start, it was reasonable when they thought about it carefully.

When Geng Chen and Odin had finished their first match previously, her willpower had almost been destroyed. By the end of the second game, she'd directly burst out crying to the point where her nose had been wrinkled.

During a process as tense as the top six competition, there basically wasn't enough time to readjust their mentalities if anything went wrong. Therefore, it would have been a little risky if Geng Chen had insisted on playing, and it might even have affected her next few games. Based on her strength though, she should still be able to compete for the top three without much of a problem.

From a certain point of view, it was a brave move for her to dare to abstain directly.

.

But from another point of view, Odin's fierce reputation had become more and more ferocious, and he was now the Great Demon King of Terror.

The netizens: "Great Demon King Odin! Beat Old Friend until he had a nosebleed! Beat Duke straight out of the A-League! Beat Geng Chen until she cried and didn't dare to fight again!"

"You guys forget that he casually played a match in the Third Star Province and beat Kiss of the Goddess until he called Daddy…"

"Shivering and trembling!"

"Kneeling down to worship the Great Demon King…"