Yan Tiebi, built like a bear, charged forward with shield raised, closing the distance to the vicious serpent to less than ten yards. Suddenly, he let out a thunderous shout.
An incandescent golden radiance erupted from his entire body, conjuring swirling blades of holy energy that orbited around him.
First-Tier Skill — Holy Storm!
It dealt three waves of holy damage to everyone within an eight-yard radius, each strike carrying 130% of the wielder's Strength attribute and 200% weapon damage.
"This Yan Tiebi really doesn't hold back — he opens with his trump card right from the start. The Holy Storm is meant to bait the opponent into dodging or blocking, but his real killing blow is the Holy Light Judgement he unleashes when they can't resist."
"Exactly! Yan Tiebi rode that Holy Light Judgement — an undodgeable skill — all the way to the qualifiers in the last tournament."
The contestants below the stage who were familiar with Yan Tiebi watched the Vicious Serpent with something like pity.
Yan Tiebi might look like a Guardian Knight on the surface, but the vast majority of his free attribute points had been dumped into Strength, and every gem socketed into his gear was a Strength gem. In practice, he was a full-blown damage dealer — not a tank by any stretch of the imagination.
Purely in terms of Strength, he could go toe-to-toe with a top-tier Berserker of the same level. Add in his burst skill, which primarily boosted Strength by 100% in an instant, and even an equally ranked top Berserker wouldn't stand a chance in a head-on clash.
Watching Yan Tiebi barrel toward him without a shred of hesitation, the Vicious Serpent activated his Dark Power without hesitation. A faint black mist began drifting off his body as he raised his lightning-wreathed warblade and slashed down hard.
Whirlwind Slash!
A vortex of black storm erupted forth.
"Courting death!" Yan Tiebi sneered, charging even harder.
On the stage, the black tempest collided head-on with the golden one, and a blast of wind rippled across the entire arena.
When the storms subsided, the crowd below stood frozen in disbelief.
"Impossible — Yan Tiebi's attack was actually blocked!"
"That Vicious Serpent's Strength is insane!"
Yan Tiebi was famous as a Strength-type Guardian Knight. The number of players who could withstand his assault could be counted on one hand. As long as the first wave was held and the opponent maintained optimal positioning, Yan Tiebi's follow-up — Holy Light Judgement — would never get a chance to land.
Yet compared to the stunned crowd below, the one wearing the most somber expression was Yan Tiebi himself. He stared at the Vicious Serpent with unmistakable gravity.
In that previous exchange, the Vicious Serpent had only been pushed back a single step. Yan Tiebi, on the other hand, had been forced back three, losing four to five hundred points of HP in the process. The gap in raw power was plain as day.
"How can he possibly have that much Strength?"
Yan Tiebi could hardly believe it. To prepare for this tournament, his adventuring party had specifically loaned him an Epic-grade bracer that boosted his Strength considerably. He had even thought he had a shot at cracking the top hundred in the ranking rounds.
Yet here he was, losing a pure Strength contest to an unknown Berserker.
"This omni-equipment the guild leader told me to wear is incredible!" The Vicious Serpent glanced at the skill-completion percentage displayed by the system, a jolt of surprise running through him.
His Strength attribute wasn't actually that much higher than Yan Tiebi's. The massive gap in the exchange had come entirely from his skill-completion rate. His Whirlwind Slash had just hit 90% completion — the smoothest, most effortless execution he had ever achieved. Any completion rate above 85% amplified the skill's power with every additional percentage point, and crossing the 90% threshold was a qualitative leap altogether.
No wonder Yan Tiebi had struggled to hold.
"If Strength won't decide this, let's see who runs out of steam first!" Yan Tiebi quickly regained his composure, immediately shifting his strategy to an attrition war. He activated Protection Blessing, abandoned virtually all defense, and simply hammered his opponent with relentless attacks.
Protection Blessing halved incoming damage. Even with a Strength deficit, a trading-blows scenario was enormously disadvantageous for a Berserker who had no damage-reduction skills of his own.