Zhou Fu’s strategy was actually quite simple.
Since Lu Ran had given him a chance, and he had prepared thoroughly, there was no way he was going to just stay on the defensive and take a beating.
Lu Ran’s legend and the way his previous matches had played out were simply too terrifying.
And while the Earth Knight had incredible defensive power, its damage output was pretty average in return.
That was also a problem.
Because in Lu Ran’s match against Zhao Xuan, even when Zhao Xuan went all out with his burst damage, Lu Ran didn’t lose a single point of health!
Zhou Fu figured that his own damage output probably wouldn’t have any effect on Lu Ran either.
But Zhou Fu had his own ideas.
Similar to Zhang Zheng, he planned to use the Earth Knight’s skills to knock Lu Ran off the stage!
Since you’re invincible and I don’t have enough damage, I’ll just knock you off the stage—then you’ll lose too!
And the Earth Knight did have skills that could alter the terrain!
First up: Charge!
Close the distance to Lu Ran quickly, then execute the next step of the plan.
Unfortunately.
His speed was still too slow.
After all, Charge needed distance, and no matter how fast it was, it still required space and time.
But Lu Ran’s Blood Spear was far faster!
And the closer Zhou Fu charged, the sooner the Blood Spear would hit him!
So.
As Zhou Fu stacked every buff he had and charged at full speed.
The Blood Spear landed smoothly right on Zhou Fu’s body.
And then.
Zhou Fu realized that his health bar had been emptied!
He was left with only the bare minimum health, and naturally, this battle ended in defeat.
“Uh…” Zhou Fu’s mouth twitched.
Looking at his buffs—aside from the passive ones that increased his defense—every single shield and barrier had been shattered by the Blood Spear!
And in the process of shattering them, it had also dropped his health to rock bottom!
As for the Blood Spear’s true damage potential, well, he couldn’t test that either. All he could say was—it was unfathomable!
The host’s reactions were getting faster with each match.
He was practically glued to Lu Ran!
Seeing this, he immediately announced Lu Ran’s victory with great excitement.
And as the host made the announcement, the surrounding spectators finally snapped back to reality.
Lu Ran had won again!
It was expected, but still surprising!
Even the Earth Knight’s all-around defense couldn’t hold up!
At this point, which contestant could possibly withstand that?
Add to that Lu Ran’s invincibility and the fact that he didn’t lose health—how the hell were you supposed to fight that!
“Damn, that’s way too broken!”
“And no one still knows how he does it?”
“With damage that high and being invincible on top of that—even the legendary mysterious Necromancer big shot is nothing more than this, huh?”
“The Necromancer class is seriously something else. What’s going on with it?”
“Even the Earth Knight can’t tank it. Holy crap, put Necromancers on the list of heavy-hitting classes!”
“The championship is already Lu Ran’s. There’s no doubt about it!”
“Even if Cong Shuang fights Lu Ran, there’s no way she’d win, right?”
…
Amidst the endless noise.
Lu Ran looked at Zhou Fu.
Zhou Fu scratched his head sheepishly and said, “Yeah, still couldn’t do it. You and I are just not on the same level. Your damage is way too high—I couldn’t even get close. Even with the Earth Knight’s full defense, I couldn’t hold on. Still, thank you for giving me the chance. I accept this loss completely!”
He had a good personality and a solid mindset.
Lu Ran said, “I’m a bit of a special case. Don’t get discouraged—the Earth Knight is still a very strong class.”
Zhou Fu laughed and said, “I know. Don’t worry, I won’t get down about it. I’m really proud of being an Earth Knight. I’m already a provisional member of the War Banner National Guard, and the captain, Lei Tai, is also an Earth Knight. I’m very confident about my future!”
You could tell that Zhou Fu genuinely took pride in his class.
With that.
The two of them walked off the stage amicably and headed toward the resting area.
Su Ting had already grown used to Lu Ran’s strength and performance—she wasn’t surprised anymore.
After all, even if Su Ting measured herself against him, she figured she wouldn’t get any advantage in a fight against Lu Ran.
This Necromancer seemed to have completely transcended the boundaries of the Necromancer class.
Way too overpowered!
Even Cong Shuang, watching from the sidelines, furrowed her brows. Sure enough, Lu Ran still had no weaknesses—totally untouchable!
In that case, she’d just take care of her opponent first and secure the win in this match.
At least she had to make it into the fight for second place.
Cong Shuang was quite confident about that.
Unfortunately.
Her opponent, Zhang Zheng, was also very confident.
“Done watching? When do we start?” Zhang Zheng looked at Cong Shuang and asked.
He hadn’t even taken the chance to sneak an attack while Cong Shuang was distracted watching Lu Ran’s fight.
“Let’s begin.” Cong Shuang didn’t say much else.
Then.
Zhang Zheng pulled out his weapon.
It turned out to be a coiled rope clutched in his hand, radiating a golden light.
One section had a handle that Zhang Zheng gripped, making the rope look more like a whip-type weapon.
Cong Shuang was taken aback.
What was this? Wasn’t he supposed to be a magic-based class? Something similar to an Earth Mage? But this whip-like weapon left Cong Shuang puzzled.
Still, that didn’t affect the outcome.
Cong Shuang shook her head, raised her staff, and went all-out against Zhang Zheng.
Although she was very curious about Zhang Zheng’s class, curiosity didn’t outweigh her desire to win—it didn’t shake her determination to finish the fight quickly and claim victory.
But Zhang Zheng didn’t dodge or evade. He stood perfectly still.
Not only that, he hadn’t even unfurled his whip. Instead, he smiled at Cong Shuang and slowly crouched down.
This strange movement made Cong Shuang feel a creeping unease in her heart.
But the arrow was already on the string—there was no turning back now!
Cong Shuang’s skills were related to the stars, using the power of starlight to unleash massive bursts of damage, suppress opponents, control them, and finish them off!
And the visuals of her skills were all incredibly flashy.
But the result?
As her skills got close to Zhang Zheng, earthen walls began to appear around him, as if automatically defending, constantly blocking and deflecting Cong Shuang’s barrage of attacks.
Full coverage, seamless!
“Such strong and flexible defense—this Earth Walker is pretty troublesome!” Cong Shuang analyzed in her mind.
So if that was the case.
She’d just have to use targeted skills—ones that couldn’t be dodged or blocked by other abilities!
Unavoidable!
Unfortunately, she wouldn’t get that chance.
Zhang Zheng, still crouching, suddenly lashed out with his whip.
It shot out like lightning and wrapped around Cong Shuang’s body.
Cong Shuang tried to fight back, but found her body bound—and to make matters worse, she couldn’t cast any skills for a short while!
“Crap!” Cong Shuang’s expression shifted drastically.
She realized then that while the Earth Walker had been defending and not attacking earlier, he must have been channeling or charging up some kind of control skill—one that silenced her!
As a mage, getting locked down by a silence effect was a death sentence—all she could do was take hits!
And magic classes were notoriously squishy!
She glanced at her status bar.
Sure enough!
Seven seconds of silence, plus being physically bound, rooted in place—she was a sitting duck!
At that moment.
Zhang Zheng slowly stood up, a yellow-brown glow beginning to shimmer around him.
He said calmly, “My target is Lu Ran. You, Cong Shuang, have never been on my radar. The Heavenly Daughter of Tianfu Society? Nothing more than this. You’re just a stepping stone.”
