291 The Top Contenders

Words : 2306 Updated : Oct 7th, 2025

The current Shadow Ranking Cup took a lot of attention from the whole gaming industry, that was why a lot of entertainment companies were trying their best to take advantage of the current event. Right now, the entertainment company that was most happy on these kinds of events was the 'True Sight Industries'. It was an entertainment company that was already established since the VR games took a huge hit from 15 years ago. And that was why all of their topics were only focusing on the gaming world. At the same time, their coverage of any tournament of the game has always been a huge hit for any gamers all around the world. And as usual, their coverage of the Shadow Ranking Cup was the one with the highest rating. One of the reasons were the announcers that were covering the tournament; Ms. Bunny and Mr. Cool Guy had a huge fanbase, so it was natural for the battles and events that they were covering to have a high rating. Aside from that, these two were also good at covering any fights and battles of expert players. Currently, these two were in the middle of a hot discussion. The entire first stage of the Shadow Ranking Cup was on fire. Everything was in absolute slugfest, especially when the crowd favorites were starting to introduce themselves one by one. The 'Beastmaster: Akailu' who were slaughtering all of the other participants with the help of his strange monster pets. The assassin rivals of 'Innocent Nightmare: Gairen' and 'Midnight Devil: Raptor', who seemed to be competing with each other on who would kill the greatest number of participants despite being in a different battlefield. These expert players along with many others were reminding the whole gaming world who they were, making their fans go crazy in excitement. These guys already had their own reputations from their previous games. And now that they were re-introducing themselves once again, all the spotlights were being focused on them. But the new generations of experts were not going to lose either. These new talents were the rising stars that came from different Kingdoms and Empires of the Atlas World, that was why they also had some supporters of their own. Some of them even got a title of their own despite not joining any kind of official tournaments yet. The most famous and noticeable ones from this group were the 'Wolf of the Begging: Liszt' and the 'Psychic: Janine'. The former was a WolfKin Master Berserker, who specialized in the art of Saber Swordsmanship. And with the help of the innate speed of a WolfKin from the Beastman Race, his fighting style became even more aggressive that could pressure his opponents when fighting against him. Meanwhile, the 'Psychic: Janine' was not as flashy as the others, but what made her stand out from the rest was her strange fighting style together with her mysterious class. Her race was a Dark Elf, which made the others to mistake her class as an Elementalist or Twilight at first. But when she was against someone, her opponents were going to die for unknown reasons despite her doing nothing but playing music with her flute. And in the middle of this chaotic battlefield, everyone was just killing each other while ignoring her presence despite her standing at the center of the battle arena and just playing with her flute. Due to this sight, everyone seemed to be suspecting her class an illusionist or something with similar ability. But amidst all of these great fights from a lot of battle arena, there was a certain battlefield that attracted almost everyone's attention. It was not because the fights here were much chaotic and more intense than the other battle arenas, but it was actually due to how silent this battlefield; not a single person was making their moves to attack the others, which was pretty much odd for all of the viewers. Due to this oddness, Mr. Cool Guy and Ms. Bunny took interest in it and discussed this. "This is interesting. The Battlefield no.25 are in complete silence; no one wanted to make their moves. What do you think about it, Ms. Bunny?" said Mr. Cool Guy while turning his head to the girl on the other table. It didn't take long for Ms. Bunny to give her reply. "Hmm… This is indeed interesting. From what I can see, these guys are pretty much clever for not moving at all. They are taking advantage of the flaw of the rules of the First Stage of the tournament." Going with the flow, Mr. Cool Guy immediately caught up and said. "Oh~! By flaw, do you mean about the 'survivors' of this stage?" Ms. Bunny flashed a smile before continuing. "Yes, you got it right. As you can see, the rule only states that the survivors after the thirty-minute battle will advance to the next stage and it didn't say any limit for the players that are going to advance." "Oh~! So, you are telling us that as long as these guys didn't make their moves, all of them can advance for the next round?" asked Mr. Cool Guy while wearing an interested look with his face. Ms. Bunny nodded her head and answered. "By theory, then yes; all of them can pass based on the rules-…" Then she trailed her words for a little before adding in it while having a mysterious smile with her. "But you can't say for sure about that. In this kind of tournament, the pressure that a player can get is no joke. And there will always be an impatient person that will not be able to handle it." "But before all of that, how about we check on the participants in this battle arena? From the looks of it, these guys are quite experienced since they are able to see the flaw from the tournament rules." Hearing this, Mr. Cool Guy suddenly nodded his head and agreed. "That is a good idea. Let's do as you say then." After that, the two started assessing each of the participants in this battle arena. And while they were doing that, both of them suddenly discovered that this certain battlefield had quite a number of famous players. When they started naming them one by one, the two became even more shocked at their discovery. The sheer number of famous participants in this battle arena alone was more than enough to overwhelm the other battlefields. And due to this, the viewers started naming this certain battle arena as the 'Arena of Death'. "This is becoming even more interesting. To think that there are a lot of Rankers participants on this battlefield alone? This explains why they are too calm despite being in this 'Arena of Death'," said Mr. Cool Guy while nodding his head repeatedly. With that, Ms. Bunny couldn't help but agree. "You are right. Being in this battlefield is really troublesome for them. It is no wonder they didn't want to make their moves. It is for the sake of not showing their strengths too early." After she said those words, the battle arena suddenly became chaotic due to a certain guy that failed to handle the pressure. "And there is our first victim," said Mr. Cool Guy after seeing the guy die almost instantly. Ms. Bunny nodded her head and said. "It is natural. The first one to move are the guys with the weakest willpower, and they are most likely the ones that are going to make mistakes." Then she swept her gaze at the whole battlefield and added. "But the guys with the most experience are the ones that are going to benefit the most in this kind of situation." Hearing this, Mr. Cool Guy also turned his attention to the battlefield and looked at the remaining guys who were still idle and not making their moves. "Are you talking about those guys, who are the previous Titled Rankers from their respective games? These guys are really clever to make the weaker ones fight among themselves before cleaning all the things at the end." Just like what he said, it didn't take long for these quiet guys to make their moves. They started killing the weaker ones after a few minutes of watching their so-called battles. And after removing the weaklings that might distract their battles, it was time for the main event; it was the fight among themselves. But contrary to everyone's expectations, the anticipated battle didn't immediately commerce. Instead, the Potential Titled Rankers turned their attention at a pair of guys at the corner of the battle arena. And due to this, the viewers finally noticed that they were still two participants that were not making their moves up until now. "Woah~! Woah~! Woah~! To think that even us are going to get fooled by these two? I didn't notice them at all! Even from the start of the battle. Now another interesting drama is about to unfold," said Mr. Cool Guy when he saw that these two seemed to provoke the group of potential Titled Rankers. Ms. Bunny couldn't help but agree with him and replied. "You are right about that. But it seems that these two are also quite skilled. Let's close up the view a little so that we can see their identities." With those words, the camera lens suddenly zoomed it, making for them and the viewers to see their appearances. And when the pair of broadcasters saw that, they couldn't help but became even more shocked. "Woah! To think that we are going to have yet another surprise! This guy with a knight class is definitely the famous rising star of the Lightborn Empire, the 'Dark Knight: Owen'!" said Mr. Cool Guy while looking at the Knight with a pair of excited eyes. Hearing him, Ms. Bunny immediately added. "This guy has a similar reputation as 'Liszt' and 'Janine'. And he was known with his absolute defense and perfect counter." "Yes, and his battle prowess is as strong as those two if not slightly stronger," said Mr. Cool Guy a little later. But he suddenly frowned his brows after a moment when he saw that this knight named 'Owen' was challenging the other side. "Looks like Owen wanted to fight against the guys on the other side. I doubt he can take them all by himself. Those guys are real Title Rankers from their respective games, and there are eighteen of them. It is going to be hard to believe that he can take them on." When Ms. Bunny heard this, she suddenly pointed out. "But from the looks of it. He is going to team up with the other mysterious guy in cloak. And if my guess is correct, this guy is my bet for this tournament." Mr. Cool Guy suddenly became interested and said, "Oh~! The 'Nameless Swordsman' of the Saint Heaven Kingdom? But I still doubt that they could win. As I said ear-… lier-…" But he was still in the middle of talking when Shin suddenly killed the TirgerKin Master Berserker in one hit, making him to suddenly choke with the words that he wanted to say. "Are you saying something?" asked Ms. Bunny with a flash of beautiful smile, as if she was rubbing some salts on his wounds. Hearing this, Mr. Cool Guy couldn't help but have a weird expression on his face. And due to this, the corner of his mouth was still twitching when he saw that Shin and the opposing side were assuming their respective battle stances. When he saw this, he couldn't help but take a deep breath before saying. "Heh! He only caught that guy off-guard with his surprise attack. He will not be able to do it if the other side is ready for him," while also wearing a confident smile on his face. But that confident smile of his suddenly turned stiff on the very next moment. And it was because Shin killed yet another opponent in just a blink of an eye. At this point, Mr. Cool Guy felt that Shin slapped him in the face when he saw how this guy killed the Elementalist in just a little span of time. Even seeing all of this, Mr. Cool Guy still refused to believe it and tried to convince himself. 'No, he just got lucky with that one. Yes, it is just luck. The guys from the other side are already aware of his trick, so it will not happen again.' But while he was in the middle of this thought, Shin gave him yet another slap on his face by killing the Musketeer of the group. And when he saw that, he suddenly felt a burning sensation on his cheek as if the imaginary slap really hit him. If it just happened once, then it might be just a fluke; and if it happened twice, then it could still be considered as a coincidence-luck. But if it happened trice in a row, then it was really something else. And with all of this, Mr. Cool Guy didn't have any other choice but to admit that Shin really had some skills. Having these thoughts in mind, Mr. Cool Guy unconsciously raised his hand to rub his cheek while swearing to himself to become Shin's number one hater for this humiliation that he got. Seeing all of these, Ms. Bunny couldn't help but giggle at him while thinking to herself. 'That is what you get from being too much of an anti-fan.' After that, the two of them resumed looking at the screen and continued watching the ongoing battle. ...…

291 The Top Contenders

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