Chapter 174: Strategy

Noah's Pyakugan couldn't see at long distances, so he had to camouflage himself very well while returning to his team's position without the assassin noticing.

He had felt her passing by on the train tracks, while he was walking along a platform above the ground floor to return to his team. As much as he didn't have a good view of her, because of Pyakugan's short range, he already knew more or less where she was. It was possible to see her semi-transparent silhouette running along the dark tracks.

A normal person would not have been able to see this in such low lighting, but the Pyakugan amplified Noah's vision quite a bit to the point that he at least could see a slight outline creeping up the tracks when he paid close attention. He knew she was heading toward his team, so he decided to speed up and get there before her.

The opposing team was considered weak by them, just as they considered Noah's team to be weak. But that was exactly what Noah wanted to exploit: maintain that thought that they had a weak team when carrying out strategies that seemed simple.

And that is exactly what he did. When he noticed the assassin's silhouette stopping at a still position on the train tracks, Noah didn't think twice and teleported behind her.

His vision of her was very blurred, but because of the spatial perception he received from Pyakugan, the vision became as clear as it would be if she were not truly transparent. After all, it was as if Noah could feel her position after she reached the skill range. He could accurately tell her hair size and where each strand was, even feeling that there were three strands of hair covering her left eye.

But this was not something to show off. Taking advantage of the sudden stiffness her body had, probably caused by the fright she felt when a hot explosion happened on her back, Noah used the metal dagger he had to successfully stab her throat, making her body stop being transparent before disappearing into a bunch of shiny particles in the air.

That was the power of an assassination ambush. As powerful as the enemy was (as this woman was a peak Rank D player), because she was ambushed at a speed as fast as Noah's, she didn't even have time to react before she died.

When that message appeared, the two teams were momentarily excited, but only Noah's team maintained that feeling while running towards the other side of the station.

On the other hand, the 9 Clouds Team did not maintain this same animation, since they realized that whoever had died was, in fact, the Rank D assassin in whom they had had total confidence.

"Shit, the numerical advantage that we were counting on is gone. We will have to hide until Translucent respawns." A woman, apparently the leader of the team, gave her order in a serious but frustrated voice while hoping that the opposing team would not come to find them soon.

But unfortunately for her, that was exactly what Noah's team was doing. What better way to avoid revealing assets than just grouping up and causing a group attack with a numerical advantage? Even if one or two of Team From Hell died, killing the remaining four players from Team 9 Clouds would make that sacrifice worthwhile.

James was already frantically bombarding the opposing team's position with the fire bombs he controlled, forcing the other team to hide and try to avoid such a destructive attack.

To hide from the bombing, the best way was to separate, so that if a bomb hit, it would not be everyone who died. Their goal was to gain as much time as possible until Translucent returned, but the ideal situation for an assassin to work was when the enemy separated.

This was the moment Noah was waiting for. With a serious expression, taking advantage of the exact moment and one of James' explosions, Noah teleported instantly, making his teleportation virtually imperceptible to the young 25 year old in front of him, who just felt there was something wrong when his HP bar was zeroed, causing his body to turn into several shiny particles and disappear from the location.

Because of the incessant explosions, it took the other players a few seconds to realize that a player on their team had been killed, which enabled Noah to kill another player while they were still regrouping.

From that moment on, the battle became one-sided. Any opportunity for counterattack Team 9 Clouds had was denied to the point that Noah's team came to control the numerical advantage. They kept two Blessed Ones alive at all times, not killing them all so they wouldn't be respawned together and have a single chance to turn the tables on them.

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{Daaaang! This battle has become totally different from the experts' analysis! While no one expected Lucifer to be able to perceive Translucent during the game, somehow, even though she was transparent, he could still see her despite how dark the environment was! What kind of perception is that? That's just scary!} The narrator began to add more emotion to the battle while stirring up emotions from the audience.

Those who agreed with the analysts were surprised while those who were against the analysts' opinion were even happier: first of all to see them getting frustrated and their analysis refuted live, and secondly, to see Lucifer winning.

"Damn, now I understand why so many people like this Lucifer! He has a Space Blessing!" A small teenage girl said in the excited audience as she watched the game and marveled at Noah's teleportations.

"Didn't you know of him? Damn, you're missing a lot then! His team's matches are almost always the most fun and beautiful to watch. Even the matches where they lose, just seeing a Space Blessing like Lucifer's already makes the time spent worth it," a young adult woman said to the teenager with an excited smile on her face.

"LUCIFER IS A GOD OF VALORWATCH!" a chubby man screamed from the bottom of his lungs, while he was very excited to see his idol killing other players.

But this chubby man's reaction was the only one in the place. As much as Noah had some fans, to truly have many hardcore fans like that chubby guy was still a long way to go.

[Victory!]

It was a window that appeared floating in front of Noah and his team, which was Valorwatch announcing that they won the match.

As much as the opposing team did not show much threat to them from the beginning, still, the emotion of winning the first match in the tournament was indescribable.

Upon being teleported to their private waiting room, still in the virtual area, Noah saw the other boys hugging each other and celebrating their victory, of which he also joined in on the celebration. Each of them praised what the other did, both the arrows they shot at the heads of some, the protections that saved their lives, the bombs that wiped out and distracted a lot of people, the teleports that took many lives; all good deeds were praised, further raising the morale of each member of the team.

As there were 32 teams, the total number of matches that would take place would be 16. With each match lasting an average of 15 minutes, disregarding the break time between each match, there would be more than 4 hours of preliminary matches.

Noah's team was fortunate to be the fifth match, so when their battle was over, they were already free for the day.

Since Noah did not want to deal with the arrogant and boring opponents they had, instead of going to the virtual lobby where other people were, Noah and his team disconnected and left through one of the side doors.

Since their faces were unknown, since they were practically behind avatars, they were completely free to go wherever they wanted without worrying about fans looking curiously or disturbing them.

And again, just like yesterday, to celebrate their victory, they decided to go out drinking!

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Please read the author's notes down here! he he he :3 ↓↓↓

As we reach 7,5k votes last week and I don't update 7 of the extra chapters, for a personal reason that probably you guys already know what it is, this week will have 13 extra chapters! Vote for more next week!! :D

[0/13 Extra chapters this week.] [1/2 Daily Chapter.]

Every 1.200 power stones will be +1 extra chapter for next week beside the 2 daily chapter :)