Chapter 616 - Group Tournament 5

4th Match: Italy vs England!

The Italian team returned to the stage with valiant expressions, led by Loving Aunt, while the English team came on stage with their full power.

Silent Walker, Sublime Notion, Noble Soul, Happy Scholar, and Lucia. Four Legendary Classes and one Epic Class vs one Legendary class and four freaks of nature with bloodlines.

Just who would win?

When Amber called for the match to begin, neither side honestly knew who would come out on top. Silent Walker assumed crowd control by casting his shadow tendrils and using the shadows to bind his main target, the boy with the Horned Demon Inheritance.

Lucia buffed her teammates fully, stacking all she had on them. Sublime Notion also opted to support today, adding her own cleric buffs and H-O-Ts on her teammates.

Shockingly, only Noble Soul took the fore, and he chose the two girls of the Dark Angel Inheritance as his opponents. The girls had a blue outline around their bodies as they manipulated weapons to attack the group.

Happy Scholar also charged his mana into a single anti-toxin rune, which he cast out. He could only sigh bitterly, as he would only be able to use auto-attacks for the rest of the battle.

However, he had done his part. Just as Loving Aunt activated her slew of toxic skills to create her unique Death Zone, it was forcibly suppressed by the barrier Happy Scholar had set up, which prevented it from breaching where the England team stood.

Of course, it continued to eat away at the barrier, for something made by an Epic Class could not forever bar a Legendary Class from acting, so the exterior of the barrier was continually sizzling, sounding like bacon that was thrown into hot oil.

Loving Aunt's eyes narrowed as she went all out. She dual summoned her Blue Water Adder and Dark Swamp Serpent using the Advanced Manifestation Technique.

Just like with Draco, the moment they came out, they switched from sustaining themselves using Bloodline Energy to using in-game Worldly Energy. This was why Loving Aunt had brought the most talented juniors of the Lucifer Lineages' new generation to fight for Italy.

The other Lineages had surely recognized Boundless' special nature by now and would be migrating in, but none would have the advantage that the Lucifer and Amaterasu Lineage had with their close ties to Umbra.

Well, the Buddha Lineage and Merlin Lineage might try to squeeze their way in through Kiran, yet it would be hard to say the least given that the leader of the Five Generals had no good feelings towards either one of them.

The boy from the Horned Demon Lineage was named Lucian and he had long blonde hair that reached his shoulders, and dark green eyes. His face was long and tapered to a point, bearing a sort of soft handsomeness.

This was further enhanced by his Horned Demon state as his muscles stood out, and a set of horns grew out the side of his head that were shorter than Draco's.

He roared and ripped apart the bindings placed upon him. The strength of the Horned Demon Inheritance was only surpassed by the Primal God Inheritance of the Pangu lineage, so bindings were not very effective for long.

He charged at Noble Soul who was engaging the two psychic ladies, Evelina and Serafina. They were twins with the same short black hair and light brown eyes as each other.

Lucian came between them and blasted Noble Soul back after punching him. The Hero parried with his sword but was still sent flying, his arms feeling slightly numb.

He was shocked by the sheer strength of the red-skinned fellow, and that dude didn't even have a notable class!

Silent Walker grimly summoned his Shadowguards, namely two of them, one of each holding off Loving Aunt's familiars as the woman herself began attacking the barrier directly.

Silent Walker faced her, but Loving Aunt easily avoided all his attacks as she began going all out. The wealth of her techniques and battle experience could not be matched by Silent Walker who was a mere actor.

The battle raged on as each side fought desperately and with everything they had. Happy Scholar's barrier came down, and the England team members felt the countdown on their lives as the death zone engulfed them.

Luckily, Sublime and Lucia had prepared for this by casting endless buffs, so they were not in dire straits right away. What infuriated them was that the moment the barrier fell, Italy entered defensive mode, waiting for them to naturally expire.

This forced the English team to go on a strong offensive, but such a thing led to many weaknesses popping up if things were not handled well. For one, poor Happy Scholar had been abandoned by his teammates as his weakness was obvious and his utility had plummeted.

This gave Selena, the last girl from the Lucifer Lineage who was part of the Serpent God Inheritance, the chance to eliminate him by bombarding him with attacks in tandem with her serpent familiar, the Green Tree Python.

This elimination did not ruin England's battle power, but certainly harmed morale. The next to be eliminated was Lucia, who only had one offensive spell that could be easily blocked or dodged as long as one was aware of it.

Sublime switched to offensive mode in order to salvage the situation, yet she had to abandon healing Silent Walker and Noble Soul, further solidifying their deaths in the face of this onslaught and poison.

In the end, Italy managed to clinch the shocking win over England, using the Lucifer Lineage's battle power to overwhelm the other team's class advantage.

Fourth match winner: Italy!

Amber announced: "Now that we're done with the Quarterfinals, let's not waste any time and continue straight to our very exciting Semi-finals! Here are the matchups!"

1st Match: India vs Mexico

2nd Match: France vs Italy

Amber's eyes gleamed. "Without further ado, let's get into the first match, India vs Mexico!"

The crowd became heated at the prospect of watching a hot match occur. From the left came the Indian team led by the powerful Kiran as well as Slight Breeze, while on the right, the three musketeers of Mexico appeared on stage with sharp expressions.

Tunder glared at Kiran who had eliminated him during the Individual Tournament, planning to turn things around this time, while Kiran's gaze was aimed at Essence for obvious reasons.

Uno eyed Slight Breeze coldly, banging his shield on his hammer in order to intimidate her. His actions wasn't without success.

When Amber called for the match to begin, both sides revved up immediately.

"ESSENCE OF A SUPER WARRIOR!" Kiran roared as he directly burst into his Super Warrior 2 form, his aura blasting the arena a little a creating a tangible shockwave.

"YOUR SOUL IS MINE!" Essence stated evilly as he pointed at Kiran. He then transformed into a Dragon and charged at Kiran.

The two titans collided midair, moving so fast that they left many afterimages. Each clash they made caused a great shockwave, but because they were airborne, those below only felt slight winds.

Uno banged his shield calmly and charged forward, using an aggro skill to force the attacks of the remaining four Indian team members on himself.

Tunder calmly knocked Critix and aimed at Slight Breeze who was airborne. He fired his Legendary Arrow without even bothering to enter his Wood Elf form, because that shit drank stamina and Slight Breeze was not a worthy enough foe.

Slight Breeze saw this and paled, defending herself by trying to augment the arrow's path using her Wind Element abilities. In truth, she was really the perfect counter for Archery-based classes, but that was moot in front of raw power like Tunder's.

Critix ignored any diversionary tactic or dispersement attempt and struck her right in the forehead, making Slight Breeze freeze in a mix of confusion and horror. She didn't know that Criticx had surestrike, as Tunder had concealed his special arrows before this competition.

Well, it wasn't that he had concealed them, but the fellow was so gone most of the time, doing his own thing, that no one had thought to ask and he didn't get a chance to show off.

Slight Breeze lost more than 80% of her HP with that one strike due to Critix insane damage-dealing capabilities. Slight Breeze would have been one shot if it wasn't for the fact that she had summoned her Wind Sprites and was tethered by Lifelink.

As such, the Wind Sprites had taken the majority of the damage and died, leaving Slight Breeze with only 20% HP. Tunder frowned slightly, signaling to Uno.

Uno saw the move and grinned widely. "This is gonna be good, heh heh!"

He slammed his shield down and activated Absolute Defense!

The giant carapace-like blue shield erupted and spread over the requisite distance. Unlike in the previous battle where it would push enemies offstage, Amber had accounted for that and had greatly enlarged the stage.

Tunder and Uno were aware of this and weren't relying on some gimmick to win. In fact, Uno did spread the barrier over the entire distance as he didn't need to, it was simply cos90.

He could easily control how far it would go, and condensed it around his other three teammates including Tunder. Once that was done, Tunder's eyes flashed with a dark intent as he took out a fiery red legendary arrow and nocked it.

When he fired it, the team members on the side of India felt dizzy, their battle senses screaming for them to flee and forget this battle. However, it was impossible for them to do so, so they could only grit their teeth and huddle together to defend.

Tunder smirked, as this was the choice he wanted them to make, and the worst possible one.

The arrow he had shot out was Xplod, the literal nuclear warhead condensed into an arrow. So, with such a description, you could imagine what happened next.

The moment the arrow got within range of the enemy group and out of Uno's barrier, it released its payload.

Oh, and what a payload it was.

For those in the spectator seats who wonder what the first droppings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki looked like from close range, they got to see what it was like.

Amber immediately covered the entire stadium in a protective dome that prevented the heat and ensuing shockwave from vaporizing them, but they still felt the strong winds and the intense warmth that filtered through.

Not to mention Amber forcibly made all viewers wear the Holo-Visors provided by the game so that they wouldn't lose their eyesight due to the bright flash.

Soon, the brightness died down as they got to see a small mushroom cloud that stayed as it was for more than a few moments. Unlike the real world, this was Boundless and this was especially so for the competition realm, so the cloud was dispersed to reveal what was left.

Well… there was nothing. The entire arena was gone, leaving only superhot chunks of rock clustered together. On top of one of these chunks were two bodies, one of Uno and the other of Tunder.

They were slumped over, out cold but alive. The rest of the fighters though? Not a chance of survival. All of them had been evaporated, even the two other Mexican teammates.

At this time, a form crashed into a rock and smashed it in half. Kiran coughed blood and tried to raise his upper body, but a punch from Essence's dragon claw forced his back down.

Essence took a deep breath and showered Kiran with his Void Breath, eroding the fellow's red aura and depleting his battle energy. Kiran roared and tried to fight back, but was soon forced back into his Super Warrior 1 form due to intense energy consumption.

From here, Essence's win was guaranteed.

First match winner: Mexico!

2nd Match: France vs Italy!

The French team leaped up onto the stage, led by the ever scantily clad Cobra as well as his alluring sister Bella with her red crown braid and Young Duel who looked valiant.

On Italy's side, Loving Aunt led her ducklings into the stage, Lucian, Serafina, Evelina, and Selena. Both sides eyed each other calmly before the match was called to begin.

Loving Aunt didn't immediately use her death zone, wary of Cobra's Disable Dart. Rather, she just stuck to her Toxic Supremacy passive and summoned both her snakes out.

She then roared to the others. "Lucian, use Demonic Vision! Serafina, Evelina, use Telesthesia to gauge the battlefield! Selena, use Infrared Eyes!"

The others were startled but obeyed the Grand Teacher immediately. When they did, their faces greatly changed as they noticed that Cobra was behind Lucian and about to strike already!

Lucian roared and entered his Horned Demon True Body then stomped, cratering the arena around him and unbalancing Cobra who was shocked.

He then noticed that all five of the Italian team members could sense his position using various means, making him curse. System-based skills would never succeed, but this bloody bloodline was noted to system limits, even transcending the AI in many ways.

Seeing this, he directly exited Extreme Stealth as it was pointless for now. Rather, now that he was in the light, he could make use of his martial skill to prevail.

Loving Aunt sent her two snakes to deal with Bella's Shadow Clones who had been summoned, while Selena's own summoned serpent fought the main Bella together with her.

Lucian fought with Young Duel head-on, the two trading crazy blows. Young Duel fought in tandem with his Sword Clone which was in defensive mode, letting it take the hits while he dished out the damage.

Young Duel initially had the advantage, but Lucian adapted so quickly that the tables were turned in no time. Young Duel was left in disbelief, as to how a person could be so talented in combat.

His years of playing FIVR games were rubbished by a dude with a Common Class! What the hell!

Loving Aunt fought against Cobra, the two evenly matched for now.

Loving Aunt's eyes narrowed. During the Individual Tournament, she had been able to outsmart Cobra repeatedly in order to beat him.

First, she had baited him to use disable, letting her familiar take the fall. Then she had used her own infrared eyes to render his invisibility useless. With her Death Zone active, she had eventually cornered him and strangled him to death, but his fierce counterattack had shown that his close combat skills were no less than hers.

Now though, Cobra wouldn't fall for the same trick twice. This was why she didn't dare activate all her skills and only left the passive up. However, its current potency was enough to ensure his death in due time.

Cobra too seemed different, instead of avoiding Loving Aunt like previously, he rushed at her and began attacking in a flurry. Loving Aunt quickly got into a defensive posture to protect herself, and the two clashed openly.

Evelina and Serafina were also fighting France's other two members, so the battlefield entered a short stalemate. It wasn't until Loving Aunt's passive toxin began to permeate and o its work that the battle began to change.

Cobra's face was incredibly ugly as Loving Aunt intended to beat them to death like this, refusing to use her other toxic skills so Cobra could use Disable. In fact, even if she did, it would change little as the passive was truly troublesome to deal with overtime.

Even though the battle was roughly equal with France at a slight disadvantage, they still lost in the end due to the advent of this poisonous technique. This was why Loving Aunt was a bane for all forms of PvP, especially if one could not end her quickly.

Second match winner: Italy!

"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for, the final battle of the entire Group Tournament! The Finals are here and who are the teams participating?!" Amber queried the crowd.

"MEXICO!!"

"ITALY!!"

The crowd was alight with passion as they found it quite intriguing to watch such intense battles featuring teamwork and strategy. Amber mirrored the crowd's energy as she continued.

"That's right, Mexico and Italy! Two powerhouse teams are facing off in the Finals, let's see who will win. Both teams, enter the stage!"

With that call, the Mexican team proudly came up the stage on the left. Essence was flourishing his red halberd lazily while Tunder checked his arrows. He had switched out all his Rare ones for Epic arrows, aiming to go all out this time.

Uno swung his bell hammer menacingly, grinning at the Lucian fellow as if he would love to crush his head.

As for the Italian team, they came up with pride on their faces, but they were wary too. All the four lads gazed at Essence with trepidation, feeling intense bloodline intimidation from someone higher up on the food chain.

Loving Aunt waved her hand, dispersing Essence's aura of intimidation and letting the young lads breathe. She folded her arms and didn't try to coax the fellow this time, as his team would not tolerate any of that nonsense from her.

She simply smiled. "May the best team win."

Amber was satisfied with the pre-match exchange and called for the battle to begin right away.

Like a blur, Loving Aunt activated her Death Zone while Lucian roared and charged Tunder, his path blocked by Uno who knocked him back easily with his shield.

Tunder entered his Wold Elf form and nocked five arrows at once. Two Legendary and three Epics were fired out, each one heading in different directions, some even went where Tunder wasn't facing!

The two Legendary Arrows were Destruco and Spatio. Destruco was fired towards Loving Aunt who was engaged by Essence, passing through her toxins and almost striking her head-on.

Loving Aunt grimaced as she summoned her Dark Swamp Serpent to take the fall, and it was insta-KO'ed by that one strike.. She then paled then spat out a gob of black blood, creating an opening which Essence didn't fail to capitalize on.