The Return Of The God Level Assassin (WN)

WHEN Luo Yan opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a village. They were quite a distance away from it and were standing on an elevated land. That's why they could clearly see the whole place.

The village was not that small but not so big either. But the thing that caught everyone's attention first was the state of the village. There were billowing smokes somewhere, some of the houses and buildings were destroyed. And they could also see some villain-looking men wandering around the village.

Before any of team Yunyue could speak and ask what they were supposed to do here, a virtual screen appeared in front of them.

[Yunyue vs Valor]

[Battle Arena Match!]

[Objective: The small village has been under attack by a group of villainous bandits. To gain points, defeat the bandits, capture the four watchtowers, and defeat the bandit leader. The team who has the most points after the game will win. The match will automatically end the moment the bandit leader is dead.]

[Points allocation:

Bandit–10 points

Watchtower–100 points

Bandit Leader–1000 points.]

[Match will start in five minutes. Good luck!]

Then a countdown appeared. Once it reached '0', the match would begin.

"How thoughtful, giving us five minutes," Bai Ze said in a slightly sarcastic tone. "They should have given us a map as well.

"Well, we can see the watchtowers even from here and the bandits are just roaming around the place. The only one we really needed to find is their leader," Luo Yan said. "So, a map wouldn't really be that big of a help."

"What, do you want the game to spoon-feed you now?" Su Yuqi asked with a smirk while looking at Bai Ze.

"Hey, you—"

"Okay, don't fight," Shen Ji Yun said before the two started a new round of bickering. "Let's use these five minutes wisely."

"What strategy should we use?" Luo Jin asked in a rare show of enthusiasm.

"Hmm... I think 'divide and conquer' would be good," Luo Yan suggested.

"We could deal with things much faster if we do that," Su Yuqi agreed with a nod.

"But it could also be dangerous if we're not careful," Bai Ze said. "After all, the enemy team could surprise us."

Su Yuqi raised her brow. "Since when did you become the voice of reason?"

"Yes! It doesn't suit the big lion's character!" Eclipse suddenly chimed in. "Being brazen and a bit stupid is your forte."

"Eclipse, you shouldn't learn bad things from this bad girl," Bai Ze said in a voice as if he's scolding the boy.

Eclipse pouted. "Pink Sister is not a bad girl."

"Why do I feel that you're discriminating against me?" Bai Ze said with his arms crossed.

Su Yuqi then chuckled. "Haven't you noticed? This boy only looks at the face."

Before Bai Ze could react to what Su Yuqi was implying, Shen Ji Yun suddenly cleared his throat.

"Let's go with the strategy Ya- I mean, Noctis suggested," Shen Ji Yun said before the conversation completely deviate to what they should be discussing.

Luo Yan nodded. "Then should we relegate which one of us should do what?"

And as the team, finally, properly started discussing strategies, the barrage section of this match's live stream was also quite noisy.

Those people who were watching could choose which perspective they want to watch. Of course, the majority of them chose to watch the side of team Yunyue. There was just too much curiosity for the first team that won the Arcadia Cup and was later on tagged as the 'fallen champions'.

[Their strategy is a bit... isn't it too simple? I mean, could you even call that a strategy?]

[What's wrong with it? If they're individual skills could back it up, which I highly think they could, then, it's the fastest way to win the match.]

[Aren't they underestimating the opposing team too much?]

[Well, it's true that team Valor is a fairly new team. So...]

[But who was that little boy with fox ears? Aren't there supposed to be only five players fighting for each team?]

[Yeah, I've been wondering about that as well.]

[Ah, you guys probably didn't watch the Rookie Carnival. That's Noctis' pet.]

[Huh? A pet? You mean a pet could be a humanoid monster NPC?]

[Isn't that a bit of a scam? This match is literally 6 vs 5.]

[LOL overkill much?]

[What scam? What overkill? The game system approved this. There's nothing illegal about it. If the other teams are envious, they could also bring a pet with them.]

[Right? They're talking as if Noctis didn't put in any effort to raise his pet to the level it has now.]

[But isn't that pet too, I don't know, human? Are you sure he's just an NPC?]

[I feel the same way! Although it's a bit weird, why couldn't I stop thinking that he's cute?]

While the barrage was debating whether Eclipse was really an NPC or not, on the other side of the village where team Valor was, a serious atmosphere filled the air. It had been so since their opponent for this match was revealed. It's because the majority of the team were not feeling too confident about their chances of winning.

"Don't be too down. Even if our opponent is team Yunyue, it doesn't mean that we would automatically lose," the captain said to cheer up his team mates.

"Captain is right. Team Yunyue hadn't played a single team match since they won the first Arcadia Cup. They also have two new members. They're almost the same as a rookie team, if you ask me," another member said.

"Besides, we trained like hell. The efforts we put in for this Cup won't betray us," the Captain said again. "So, cheer up and let's do our best once again!"

The heavy atmosphere was slowly dissipating, and the dark expressions on the faces of the other members of the team finally brightened.

"Yes, Captain!"

A loud alarm suddenly sounded. When they looked up, the timer had now reached '0'.

This qualifying match finally started.