Chapter 178: Hunting Match
Currently, the match-ups are piping hot.
Only eight teams remained and shockingly, all three dark horses managed to make it into the quarterfinals, baring their fangs and striking down the elite academies to forcefully take their spots.
However, two of the three dark horses, Grumblethorne and Poiper, were now in front of two behemoths.
If they want to grab a spot in the semi-finals, then they would have to defeat one of the top three academies.
Grumblethorne was matched up against Eusford while Poiper was pitted against the expected champions of this year, Aslan.
Luckily, Colzen was matched up against Kossin and although strong, Kossin wasn't on the same level as the top three academies.
Since the Dark Horse vs Kingly Academy matches were banger matches, Colzen and Kossin were assigned to fight first, becoming mere undercards for the anticipated battles.
However, what could they do?
In their world, ranking decides worth and value.
If you want better treatment, you need to achieve a better rank…and remain unshaken for a long time and since they were deemed as the "less important academies", they had no choice but to become the opening act…for now.
If they make it through the quarterfinals, they would be one of the top four academies so both Colzen and Kossin treated this match as a blessing in disguise.
The quarter-finals would still be a best of one though so they had to carefully decide which representatives to send out.
Under the searing heat of the sun's rays, the referee stood in the middle of the stage, unbothered.
He was holding a small jar while waiting for the representatives from both sides to settle down in the ringside seats.
Once they were ready, the professional arbitrator finally pressed the button on the jar, prompting the familiar small holographic screen to appear.
The words on the screen changed rapidly, unbothered whether people understood what was displayed or not.
After a few seconds, the selection stopped, displaying the type of match in which Colzen and Kossin would engage.
"Hunt: (C) ranked - Orc Captain"
Sighs of relief sounded on the left ringside where the Kossin representatives were stationed, knowing that it would be challenging to defeat Colzen in a survival match after witnessing the protective capabilities of the Colzen priestess representative.
Luckily, the match type was "Hunt".
If there is anything the Kossin representatives were proud of, it was their teamwork.
They've been hunting creatures together for over a year now and they were confident that as long as the creature isn't way too out of their league, then they would be able to bring it down faster than anyone.
An orc captain was strong, however, they've already brought one down before. As long as they approach the battle using their past hunting strategies, then they should win.
Equally as confident were the Colzen representatives who were quite pumped due to the chosen match type.
This was the first time that they would be able to show their prowess as a party of seven.
Thus, after a few quick stretching exercises, all seven representatives ascended the stage.
Multiple azure rays shot from the sides of the dome, covering all representatives inside with a protective mana coating, ensuring their safety regardless of what happens inside the blue dome.
Subsequently, an azure barrier rose in the middle of the dome, preventing both sides from interfering with each other.
Once again, the dome was separated into two little worlds.
"People, are you ready?! Colzen vs Kossin, the first quarterfinal match. Both sides are looking good and both parties seem confident, however, only one shall walk out victorious. Will it be Colzen?! Will it be Kossin?!"
The vigorous and resounding voice of the commentator once again reverberated from four huge mana-powered speakers, hyping up the undercard quarterfinal match.
Following the commentator's voice was a primal bellow, rumbling across the entire arena as a three-meter tall creature with green skin, bulging muscles, and two protruding sharp tusks on the lower corners of its mouth, appeared in front of the representatives.
It wore a full set of makeshift leather armor and held a huge two-handed battle-ax as a weapon, looking extremely daunting.
However, its appearance didn't intimidate the representatives in the slightest.
On the contrary, the tough-looking creature simply ignited the fighting spirits of the competitive young adventurers.
How glorious would it be to methodically take down such a mighty creature in front of hundreds of thousands of eyes?
Finally, after a few more seconds, the orc captains fiercely rushed towards the representatives at the same time, signaling the start of the match.
To accurately determine the winner, a running timer suddenly appeared on the upper part of each half of the dome, indicating how much time it took for the representatives to take down the creature.
It would only stop counting once the dome registers the death of the simulated creature.
The main stage rumbled as the fierce charge of the two orc captains violently kicked up dust and dirt.
Brandishing their battle axes, the two orc captains swung their weapons downwards in an attempt to destroy the puny representatives in front of them, unfortunately hitting nothing but the ground as the representatives nimbly dodged the heavy blows.
Like a well-oiled machine, the Colzen representative party efficiently got into formation and before the orc captain could even regain its balance, Wendy had already finished casting four buff skills, strengthening their main attacker, Shye.
Feeling the familiar warm feeling coursing through his body, Shye charged out, gripping the Nightbringer with both hands, he bravely engaged in a head-on clash against the orc captain.
He felt his innards shake due to the absurdly strong blow of the orc captain, however, he could take a few heavy hits head-on so this one wasn't a problem for him.
Meanwhile, Kiin, Harry, and David fired projectiles at the stationary orc captain who was busy clashing against Shye.
At the same time, Siegfried and Ian activated their self-buff skills as they hacked, slashed, and stabbed at the orc captain.
In just a few seconds, the orc captain who was in charge of fighting the Colzen representatives was chillingly bloodied, sending waves of panic into the hearts of the Kossin representatives.