Chapter 162: Total Domination

The five of them gathered at the stone tablet in front of the guild hall, waiting for the challenge match to begin.

"Do you guys think Matchless Gentleman will really forfeit? In that case, once we enter the challenge map and find no opponents, will the arena match just end immediately?" Wind Cloud Blade asked out of boredom.

"Don't worry, they won't forfeit. Even coming up here to get beaten is better than forfeiting. How shameful would forfeiting be?"

"That's good. I hope Six-Tube bro leaves someone for me to hack at. Don't you dare finish them all off by yourself."

"Don't be too careless, or you might flip your car," Wind Cloud Little Secretary reminded him.

"Are you kidding me? If this car flips, I'll eat shit doing a handstand."

"Yeah, with God-Tier bro carrying us like this, fighting five people is just child's play," Wind Cloud Qingqing chimed in.

As long as Zhang Shan operated properly, taking on dozens of players was entirely possible, let alone an arena match where the opposing side only had five.

There was simply no way to lose.

"That may be true, but we should still take it seriously. It's a guild challenge after all, hehe."

"What guild challenge? Matchless Gentleman is basically here to deliver welfare to us. One hundred thousand gold coins per person, plus guild contribution points. He's practically a wealth-bringing boy."

"Blade, you're getting a bit too full of yourself. Besides, this has nothing to do with you; you probably couldn't even hack down a single person if you went up there."

"Who do you think you're looking down on? With my Berserker's Rage and dual-wielding charge, every swing brings someone down."

"Then try hacking at me," Wind Cloud Little Secretary said with a cheeky smile.

This completely shut Wind Cloud Blade up. Against a tanky guardian warrior like the Little Secretary, there was no way he could possibly hack her to death. If she just stood there and let him hit her, it would probably take him a good half a minute.

The five of them bantered happily, completely devoid of any pre-battle tension. Wind Cloud Skies hadn't bothered to arrange any tactics either.

Just brute force your way through and steamroll them, and that would be the end of it.

As soon as the challenge time arrived, Zhang Shan and the others followed the prompts and entered the challenge map.

The arena map for five-player matches was very small, featuring only a compact platform. Upon entering, they spawned directly onto the stage.

Before long, Matchless Gentleman and his team also entered the arena.

"Hey, Matchless Gentleman, didn't you say you were going to forfeit? Why did you show up after all? You're not planning to ambush us, are you?"

"I didn't want to come either, but a beating must be taken facing forward. I had no choice." Matchless Gentleman said helplessly.

Looking at the Matchless Guild's lineup, Zhang Shan was utterly speechless. What on earth were they trying to pull?

Who brings five melee blade-users to an arena match? What kind of strategy was this? Zhang Shan honestly couldn't understand it at all.

Among the five members of the Matchless Guild participating, four were Berserkers, plus Matchless Gentleman himself as a Magic Swordsman.

It was entirely composed of close-range blade-users. Could this kind of composition even work in the arena? Weren't they just asking to be kited to death like dogs?

"Brother Gentleman, what's the meaning of this? Five melee fighters in the arena?" Wind Cloud Skies asked with genuine curiosity.

"Just playing around for fun. We can't win anyway, but with this lineup, we might at least have a chance to take down one of you. Any other composition would be even worse; we probably wouldn't even be able to scratch a single one of you."

You had to hand it to Matchless Gentleman; he was a guy with ideas.

And he was right. Berserkers had both health and output, and crucially, they had the Charge skill. As long as they closed the distance, four or five people focusing their fire on a single target gave them a very real chance of instantly executing someone first.

Of course, that was about the extent of it. Once their charges were spent, they would be kited like fools and easily worn down to death.

Unfortunately, while Matchless Gentleman's plan was good, Zhang Shan was not going to give them the opportunity.

Wind Cloud Skies and Wind Cloud Qingqing would undoubtedly position themselves in the back row, staying safely out of charge range.

In the front were Wind Cloud Blade and Wind Cloud Little Secretary, and Matchless Gentleman surely had no interest in targeting those two.

Taking down a warrior class in an instant wasn't that easy; everyone here was a paying gamer.

No one's equipment was lacking, and the differences mostly lay in skills. Warrior classes with comparable gear weren't so easily cut down.

*I suppose their target is me,* Zhang Shan guessed silently.

If they wanted to focus all five of their fires to instantly burst him down, they were simply dreaming. If they tried that, the Matchless Guild would crash and burn even faster.

Zhang Shan's health pool was not the slightest bit smaller than Wind Cloud Blade's; his defense was just slightly lower.

However, relying purely on five blade-users to hack him to death was impossible, even if the gear on Matchless Gentleman's five members was currently the absolute top tier in the game.

"Get ready to start. Let me experience the might of five blade-users," Wind Cloud Blade said, eager to try.

Zhang Shan summoned his panda cub, which immediately stood guard by his side.

The Wind Cloud Guild took up positions in a simple formation: two melee fighters in front, two ranged and one support in the back.

Meanwhile, the five members of the Matchless Guild lined up abreast, clearly intending to launch a hard charge right out of the gate.

The one-minute preparation time ended.

The five members of the Matchless Guild rapidly closed the distance. Just as they were about to collide with the Little Secretary and Wind Cloud Blade—

Suddenly, all of them executed a jump skill simultaneously, directly leaping right over the two front-line players of the Wind Cloud Guild.

The four Berserkers immediately activated their Charge skills, hurtling straight toward Zhang Shan.

*Holy shit, all five of them have jump skills?* That skill book was notoriously difficult to acquire.

Their Wind Cloud Guild had only ever dropped one, which Wind Cloud Skies had won in a roll. Others had wanted to buy one on the auction house, but the jump skill books were simply too fiercely contested.

They had never managed to secure one.

As a universal skill usable by all classes, and an absolute god-tier ability for both life-saving and closing the gap, whenever one appeared on the auction house, it was instantly snatched away.

The price had once been hyped up to tens of millions of gold coins. It was incredible that a skill with zero damage output and only displacement utility could consistently command such exorbitant prices.

Consequently, despite having plenty of unallocated skill points, Zhang Shan hadn't even entertained the thought of getting it.

It was simply too expensive, and since it didn't help with clearing mobs or defeating bosses, what was the use of it?

Now, seeing all five members of the Matchless Guild execute the jump skill together, Zhang Shan finally witnessed the true terror of it.

The five members of the Matchless Guild leaped over the Little Secretary and Wind Cloud Blade, and the four Berserkers charged directly at Zhang Shan.

However, since Matchless Gentleman was a Magic Swordsman, he lacked a charge skill. Although he had followed the others in leaping over the Wind Cloud Guild's front line, he couldn't advance any further.

Realizing he had been played, Wind Cloud Blade became furious.

With a single Charge, he intercepted Matchless Gentleman, while Wind Cloud Little Secretary followed up with her own charge, the two of them surrounding and hacking wildly at Matchless Gentleman.

On Zhang Shan's end, he was being charged by the four Berserkers, and a barrage of burst skills landed on him all at once.

Damage numbers exceeding four thousand popped up above his head, instantly dropping his health bar dangerously low.

Standing not far away, Wind Cloud Qingqing continuously cast healing spells on him while dropping her totem pillar to the ground.

Wind Cloud Skies wasn't idle either, unleashing wave after wave of magical burst spells.

As for Zhang Shan, since their initial wave of burst damage had failed to finish him off, the Matchless Guild naturally lost their only chance to take him down.

Zhang Shan activated his Berserk and Zeal skills, simultaneously commanding the panda cub to execute its Combo skill.

He swiftly mowed down one of them, while the remaining three were instantly beaten to the ground by the combined burst damage of him and Wind Cloud Skies.

As for Matchless Gentleman, he was still standing, desperately trying to survive as Wind Cloud Blade and the Little Secretary hacked away at him from all directions.

Unable to take him down immediately, Zhang Shan quickly swiveled his barrel, firing two consecutive shots that dropped the opposing guild leader straight to the ground.