Chapter 729 - Holy Maiden

Each person in the audience and those watching the match with their respective streaming devices could not believe what they witnessed. The two players that were previously dead suddenly stood up with 10% of their health back.

"High Aura Heal!" Anastacia stated as she released an aura that healed all of her team member's health by 50%.

The audience suddenly shouted with tremendous force as they saw how powerful a priest player could actually be. The hashtag with the words Holy Maiden started trending as they tagged Anastacia. The priest players all around the world started to praise her as she is the living example of 'Happy Priest then No Deceased'.

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Meanwhile in the forums…

Anastacia's Fan Boy: As expected of my Goddess, the name Holy Maiden might be lacking to describe her, but her brilliance surely never fades.

Lowly Priest: Finally, someone that can represent us priest job class players. This is how powerful a priest is if they properly get protected from the threats of assassins and high burst players.

Assassin is the Key: Do not kid yourself as you are not on the same level as her.

Lovely Priest: You are just jealous because a Priest player has finally taken the spotlight. This might actually be the era where everyone will finally put us on a pedestal! This is the power of priest players!

The bickering, shading, and praising kept going on while the match is still happening.

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Hou Yiwei saw this and could not easily hide the anger in his eyes. All the skills that he just used became worthless as no one actually died on the enemy team. He could not use another Phoenix Shot as he is just left with skills that need a lot of charge time if he wanted to kill his opponents with one skill.

"Such a pity but this is a competition. You are a great opponent but let me tell you this…you need to work more on your team synergy." Sveto stated as he started to swing his axes towards the stunned Hou Yiwei.

Hou Yiwei turned his bow into two different curved blades and tried parrying Sveto's attacks. The archer tried with all his might, but the buff of a God Killer could not easily overpower Sveto. Champion of Gods or Envoy of Gods are affected by God Killer, but it is weakened as they are still mortal and not actual divinity.

In the end, Hou Yiwei is backed into the cliff with his choices weighing on his mind. He is now stuck on the choice of fighting to the death or retreating. He decided to retreat as his team members already respawned.

Hou Yiwei unfurled his dragon wings and is about to fly when Sveto tossed his axes. The flight path of the two axes formed a curvy cone shape that accurately hit the two wings that Hou Yiwei had. The injured wings could not easily be used to fly which made Hou Yiwei drop towards the cliff.

"Player Hou Yiwei dropped towards the cliff! Will he be fine, or will he die due to the fall?!" The announcer stated as the camera view followed Hou Yiwei's drop into the canyon.

Hou Yiwei plunged headfirst into the canyon, but he easily rearranged this by utilizing his damaged wings. He is able to then use the two swords in his hands as a sort of hooks that he implanted on the rocky wall, but it is not enough.

The two swords seem to be sharper than a rocky wall that he still continued to fall. This action did slow down the speed where he made a descent and landed on a protruded rock cliff below him. The audience saw this and could only say that it is in their prediction. The rank one player is not easy to defeat even with a group of five rankers.

"As expected of the reigning player in the leaderboards!" The announcer stated as the camera panned away from Hou Yiwei since he used a skill that restored health quicker by meditating.

"It seems that he did not die from falling. I apologize for my mistake." Sveto stated as he is not able to finish off Hou Yiwei. If he had the ability to fly, then Sveto would have gone to Hou Yiwei and finished the job.

"No matter. We must claim the area above as his other team members have surely respawned by now. The other players have also started to plant their flags on the ground. We are not sure if the Chinese National Team will actually fight us by capturing our flag." Anastacia stated as she knew that they needed to get the at least three points with their flag raised.

"You are right. One hour is almost up." Sveto agreed and they hurriedly went to the location that they agreed upon with the greatest vantage point.

The highest point of the map with the greatest view of everything but the only downside is that the area is windy and cold. Anastacia took out an orb with their Russian National Flag trapped inside and smashed it on the ground.

The orb broke and released a shockwave that swept through an area of ten meters. Their flag slowly rose from the epicenter. It also released some sort of aura that negated the effects of the weather as this is the first effect of having the flag raised.

[The Russian National Team has successfully raised their flag.]

A message is announced to all the players that are participating. Other teams with flags already raised have become serious as another target appeared but not an easy one. Teams that have yet to raise their flags could only hurry as they felt that they are lagging behind the race.

[The first effect of the flag will be supplied to your team members in the vicinity of your flag.]

[First Effect: Negate the Temperature or climate effects of the area. Only applicable in the ten-meter radius of the flag vicinity.]

"We raised the flag in time for three more hours to use. We can have three points if we protect the flag with all our might in the first round." Sveto stated as his body that swelled with power is finally relaxed, and the aftereffects of his skill has finally kicked in.

"We should focus on defending the flag for an hour first but at least two of us should explore and see if we have other people with their flags raised near us." Anastacia stated as she knows that just protecting the flag is not enough.

Each of the teams must make a decision to either just protect their flag and play safe or risk getting ahead by splitting up and stealing the flag of other teams. This is the essence of King of the Hill as it makes the team challenge themselves on both offensive tactics and tactical defense.

Those that are to steal flags from the opposing team must be able to overpower the defenders or outsmart the ones not defending the flags. Those that defend the flag must have the power to actually protect it from the hands of those that want to steal it.

The flags could be swiped as long as the defenders are not paying attention. It is also not great for the defensive members to focus on just defense as they will eventually tire out from defending. The offensive members must also be ready in case their flag gets stolen which is why they do not need to venture too far from their base camps.

Each of the team also needed to consider the special NPC that is hinted in the rules. They do not know what form it takes but they immediately noticed that the map has no humans or intelligent creatures. The special NPC should be the only intelligent lifeform in the event right now that may turn the tides.

If they utilized the special NPC correctly then they could cleanse themselves of the restrictions of the flags. If they stole four flags and trade one flag for cleansing the restrictions, then they would easily get three flags to their base camps.

"Anastacia and I will guard the flag for now while the three of you should survey the area. Be mindful of the special NPC as it could be a game changer. It could be a small creature, or a bird perched on a tree. It could literally be anything alive." Sveto stated.

"He is right as that NPC could be utilized to its fullest extent and turn the tides of battle. I am sure that the other national teams are thinking of that as well since no one has yet to steal a flag from others. That special NPC will only disappear from its current location if given a flag." Anastacia added.

If a flag is stolen, every team will get notified but the teams that stole and got stolen from will not be mentioned. The developers decided on this to make sure that each team will be on their toes against the others.. It also could be a trigger to those who are passive to become aggressive with the fear of getting left behind in terms of points.