Chapter 372: Fret Not
Translator: OneshotwonderEditor: Hitesh_
Gladiolus's aggression had utterly overwhelmed Li Shiming, as aggressive attacks showered the latter. Although it would be hard for anyone to hold his or her ground under such a gruesome assault, Gladiolus reminded himself to be careful and not to let the other gain an opportunity to overturn the situation.
Although Li Shiming held his ground with ease, eventually, Gladiolus had seen an opportunity to release his coup de grace.
"Kill!" Gladiolus suddenly shouted.
In a blink of an eye, rays of bright lights shot off from Gladiolus's blade as it slowed its pace. The blade seemed to be absorbing energy from its surroundings, and soon, it had built up a vast amount of energy that could destroy the entire arena.
As a large amount of energy poured out from the tip of the blade, Li Shiming stared at his opponent with awe. He slowly reached out his right hand towards the blade. Suddenly, a whirlwind appeared in Li Shiming's hand, and he hurled it towards the blade. The energy in the whirlwind was no less than that in the blade. Although Gladiolus's attack had used the divine level energy, Li Shiming's whirlwind attack had also demonstrated his immense real power.
The explosion rippled throughout the arena, and before the dust had settled, Gladiolus's blade slowly fell into Li Shiming's hand.
By then, the blade had been devoid of any energy, just like its owner, who was by then devoid of any will to fight.
Gladiolus stood up slowly. He realized that there was no point in continuing the match, since Li Shiming's power was way above his.
Gladiolus folded his hands and bowed to Li Shiming.
"The winner is LI SHIMING!"
By then, the audiences realized that it had been Li Shiming who had controlled the flow of the battle, despite him being on the defensive side. In addition to his immense power, the strict self-control Li Shiming had demonstrated had deeply impressed the audiences.
After the two rounds of matches, the first day of the final sixteen playoffs also came to an end. Everyone was engrossed in discussing the performance of Patroclus and Li Shiming. Also, the "Zerg incidence" had also been discussed widely over the internet.
The initial response from the Ivantian government regarding the incidence was that Zader had been a human. However, the Zerg had somehow taken control of his body and mind, using methods still unknown. The experts were working industriously to uncover the truth, and so far, they had concluded that the parasite inside Zader was dead, and it would not be able to seek another host.
Although the incident didn't create any immediate damages, its implications had deeply concerned the Confederation.
As for the remainder of the fighters from the Andromeda Galaxy, the Ivantian government had also discovered their whereabouts. However, since their cover had been blown, they all had committed suicide.
Ever since the incident, the confederation had picked up the slack and boosted the number of patrols inside their domain of control, especially inside and around the Andromeda Galaxy. The combatants were unaffected on their home planet, and therefore, they must have been attacked on their way to the moon. Although the confederation had substantial military capital, it was not enough to cover the vast and endless space. When the transport ship was attacked by the Zergs, it didn't even have time to send out a distress signal.
To the members of the council, the fate of a dozen human being was not their main concern. Their priority was to find out the culprit, and prevent such incidents in the future.
The investigators had confirmed that once a human was taken control by the Zerg, it could undergo physical changes, which could be detected using X-ray equipment.
In a very short time, all three major spaceports had purchased such equipment. Everyone lamented that in the age of genome modifications, the humans were forced to resort to primitive technologies such as X-ray.
Nonetheless, it had proven to be an effective method in preventing similar incidences.
Meanwhile in Ayrlarng, everyone was worried for Wang Tong, as he was about to face his toughest opponent, the Enchantress Li Ruoer.
Not only did Li Ruoer have the Tactics of the Enchantress at her disposal, but she also had the legendary sword, "Rosy." Although Li Ruoer was not invincible, as many METAL experts had pointed out that Li Ruoer's attacks lacked intensity and endurance, everyone at Ayrlarng agreed that Wang Tong's victory was only wishful thinking.
Also, Li Ruoer also enjoyed a much wider fan base than Wang Tong. Apart from Ayrlarng, Bernabeu, and the S-Club, the remaining audiences supported Li Ruoer.
Even the S-Club members knew that the time to challenge the real power of their leader had come.
The Sky arena was packed with audiences who wanted to watch the third match in the final sixteen playoffs, and almost all of them were here to watch Li Ruoer, the de facto "Princess" of all earthlings.
Time could change a lot of things, but so far, the royal-like status of House of Li had not changed.
However, among the supporters of Li Ruoer, a group of audiences sat close to each other and cheered for Wang Tong. All of them wore a shirt with a big S printed on it. Many of Wang Tong's supporters were also contestants of the tournament.
Although ninety-nine percent of the audiences were supporters of Li Ruoer, as a previously unknown fighter, Wang Tong's success in the tournament had been impressive.
Regardless of the outcome, Team Earth would have already earned two of the eight seats in the final eight playoffs.
As a matter of fact, should Li Ruoer win the fight and enter the final eight, she could even tag team with her brother and further increase Team Earth's competitiveness in the final.
Although it was still too early to discusses the details of strategies in the final playoffs, earthlings would need to use any advantage they had, since no one, not even an Einherjar, could guarantee to prevail in a fight against other powerful fighters.
Wang Tong sat inside of the resting room, listening to the waves of cheers calmly. Karl stood behind him, and was rubbing his boss's shoulders, trying to relax him.
"Don't you fret, boss. Just think of it as a normal battle. I believe in you as much as I believed in the Blade Warrior!"
"Karl, can you please stop jittering? "Hu Yangxuan asked.
"Buzz off! It's my method of relaxing! We can finally teach those Great Houses some lessons!" Karl announced loudly in a shaky voice.
"Can you two be quiet? The more you talk, the more nervous we feel!" Zhou Sisi complained. Her face was overwrought, and hands were clenched into fists.
Wang Tong cracked a smile. "It's not as bad as you think."
"Haha, what did I tell you? Only you weaklings would feel nervous, not our boss!" Karl laughed and said. Everyone, except for Wang Tong were unnerved by Wang Tong's next opponent, but the person in question seemed to be very relaxed.
Apache stood quietly against the wall and then said slowly. "Don't waste your time worrying about him. He is not even afraid of death."
Wang Tong simply smiled. Truth be told, he really found it hard to be nervous about this fight.