Sword Among Us Novel - Chapter 61

Chapter 61: Three Dark Horses
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Butt Shaker burned his Fire Burning Staff until it was a hot and fiery-red iron staff at the moment of danger. When he used his full strength, he knocked Happy to a much higher place, and he flew way out of the stage’s area.
But Butt Shaker still did not win the round. The lancet knives were murder weapons in Happy’s hands. Right after Butt Shaker attacked, he was killed. Even when Happy fell off the stage, he did not hear the system tell him that he had already been defeated.
Even so, Happy still broke out into cold sweat!
Secret techniques were indeed killing techniques that could easily turn the tides in a one-on-one fight. If he had not reacted quickly, Butt Shaker might have turned the tables before he lost.
By the looks of it, Happy had to practice Black Dragon Murder hard once the tournament ended.
Butt Shaker had nearly killed him. How was he, a veteran with experience of the game from his previous life, supposed to accept this?
How mortifying…
“You won the fifth round! You can now choose to enter the sixth round or wait for the next segment of the tournament.”
The system notified Happy.
He had already won more than four rounds. Based on the rules, even if he lost the next two rounds, he would still move to the next segment of the tournament, but he did not intend to end this segment just like this.
He wanted to understand the other people’s strength and see whether he would run into more people like Butt Shaker who had secret techniques or someone who had other outstanding aspects in other areas.
He supposed this could be considered as him trying to get more information for the final segment, which was bound to come.
However, his next two opponents were of average skill. He easily went to the next segment.
But Happy did not know that once the first segment of the University of South China’s martial arts tournament ended, the students who were eliminated from the tournament logged into South China Martial Arts Ranking Board and began to discuss the tournament with each other. One of the hottest topics was Happy, who was dressed in blue robes, used a triangular cloth to cover his face, and behaved in an incredibly arrogant manner!
“Happy?”
As the organizers of the event, the Three Lonely Wolves kept a close eye on the discussions on the forum and how they progressed. When they watched the battle replays some people uploaded, they looked at each other at a loss.
“No way.”
Bai Lang gulped even though his throat was dry. The masked swordsman in the battle replay acted just like the assassins who ruled over the country in movies. He ended his fights with at most two attacks, and his sword moved as agilely as dragons and snakes. He instantly subdued his enemies, and all of them were kicked off the stage without exception. When all his fights were gathered together, the feeling they got out of it compared to the other fights simply could not be compared.
If they had to believe that the masked swordsman was the top student who was usually studious and made an effort to strive for good results, even if someone pointed a gun to their heads, they would not believe it.
However, they did remember vaguely that before he joined the game, Happy had refused to set his name as Young Lonely Heart, and he mingled around World of Martial Arts with Happy as his in-game ID.
If the masked swordsman was indeed Happy, then he would be that mysterious and powerful swordsman. It would mean that the brat’s abilities would definitely give him a firm foothold in being one of the top three in South China Martial Arts Ranking Board! When they thought about this in-depth, the three’s eyes went wide in surprise, and they sank into inexplicable excitement and extreme delight!
If that was true, then Happy might be able to bring back a part of the reward for them from the martial arts tournament.
“By the way, we must absolutely keep this matter a secret. We can’t have any outsider know that Happy is from our dorm!”
“Yeah!”
“What about the reward?”
“Do you even need to ask?! All those who know his status have a share!” 6
The Three Lonely Wolves put their heads together and cackled nonstop at their shameless decision. 2
*****
The University of South China had only been able to join the regional martial arts tournament organized by the official developers because of Happy’s unintentional suggestion, which led to the tournament being organized. The development of the event had progressed differently from Happy’s previous life. Hence, a few dark horses had come out one after another in the martial arts tournament that should not have been organized! Aside from the masked swordsman Happy, there were also two other people who also caught everyone’s attention.
One of them was known as Rampaging Dragon, and the other was One Circle!
Not only had the former reached Gate Realm, he could also use the Yellow Emperor’s Thirty-six Sword Techniques quite proficiently. He won all seven battles, and among his opponents were NotaRascal and Phoenix Dances in Beautiful Robes. He won against them with an overwhelming advantage. However, he used a very powerful and lethal secret technique…
Rampaging Dragon’s identity was revealed in the end by his own dormmates. He was a Junior in the Department of Electronic Business and Commerce. He lived outside campus, and he was a loner. He was currently single.
One Circle’s name was rather amusing. It was derived from the one circle tile in Mahjong. He also appeared rather like a circle. He studied foreign languages and loved soccer. He was even a goal keeper. He used an extremely outstanding Iron Shirt, which made his body as hard as stone after he repeatedly struck things to toughen himself in World of Martial Arts.
Even though he had not reached the extent where no weapons could harm him, once he activated that martial art, all his body would seem to have turned to metal. Normal weapons would find it difficult to harm him, and One Circle had relied on the foolish fighting style of injuring both fighters severely to force Brother Tea Words, who was the top dog in South China Martial Arts Ranking Board, to call for a deuce. While he smiled bitterly, both participants entered their next fight. Hence, One Circle’s fame grew, everyone began to call him the Number One Tank!
As for Happy, his crisp attacks and movements made others call him the Masked Swordsman. Compared to the former two, the Masked Swordsman was not as domineering or unique, but he was more mysterious than them.
Two of the three dark horses defeated Butt Shaker and NotaRascal, and one of them forced Brother Tea Words, who was ranked first, to call for a deuce. Not only did this cause an uproar on the forum of the University of South China, but many people came to realize that there were powerful players beside them, and they, who were average, might be the next brilliant stars that might rise to fame.
“After this martial arts tournament, I wonder which of us will be able to rank at the top of the ranking board for the powerful.”
“Yeah.”
Some of the powerful players who originally ruled over the ranking board in the University of South China might have won repeatedly, but when they saw Tea Words, Butt Shaker, and Rascal suffer setbacks, they, who originally thought very highly of themselves, awakened to reality. Aside from the three dark horses who got themselves famous by accident, there were also quite a number of people who showed themselves to be quite good later on. Once the first segment ended, they would surely witness an even more brutal fight between two-equally matched forces.
If they wanted to get a good rank, they had to do something about it instead of just talking about it.
*****
One hour later, the first segment of the martial arts tournament ended.
More than three thousand people were eliminated. There were less than nine hundred people in the second segment, and among them, there were fewer than two hundred people who were in Gate Realm. The regulations changed from winning four rounds out of seven to winning three rounds out of five. The system also set a rule that the participants had to defeat three enemies that it would randomly generate. Only when they won all three fights would they earn the right to enter the third segment!
They had to win three rounds out of five!
At the moment the system ended its announcement, Happy saw his first opponent. It took a moment for the woman’s face to become clear. When Happy saw her, his lips twitched slightly.
It was her!
Phoenix Dances in Beautiful Robes…
She was the creator of Beautiful Robes Faction and once a comrade of his. He did not think that once he defeated Butt Shaker, the second familiar face he met would belong to her.
While Happy sighed in his heart, Phoenix Dances, who was tall and had a cold and prideful face, observed him with a complicated gaze. She was dressed in thin white clothes, and her elegant longsword exuded a cold, chilling glare. She looked like an immortal in the wind. She stood tall, and her graceful bearing made it clear that she lived up to the name of South China’s Talented Lady. Indeed, no matter where she went, she was the center of attention.
After she fought all seven rounds, she logged off for a while and had naturally heard about the Masked Swordsman Happy. She knew that he was a powerful player who had the ability to compete for the top three, so when she saw the person who had a cloth tied around his face, she knew that she had unfortunately hit jackpot. A barely noticeable crease appeared between her beautiful eyebrows.