Talia was truly strong and just as she had stated, she managed to face someone a stage older than her, however, the fight had reached a stalemate in which neither side was advancing or retreating, evidently Talia still lacked strength compared to her rival.
The person she was facing lashed out at Talia, "Surrender, Scarlet Meteor. Although we have one less fourth-stage practitioner, our third-stage practitioners far outnumber theirs."
"And your point is?" I asked as I attacked him from behind.
The man managed to defend himself from my sneak attack, however, another much stronger attack came from the side, Talia took advantage of his carelessness and took him out of combat in an instant, we really had to be thankful that we were on the same team.
Talia briefly thanked him and without saying a word rushed to help Great Bull, together they managed to defeat the last third stage practitioner.
Watching all his companions being defeated, the fourth stage practitioner had no choice but to surrender knowing that he would have to face five people at the same time.
—Team four has been eliminated by team seven, there are still four teams left to be eliminated, remember that only half of the twenty teams will make it to the next round, so do your best to make it to the end! —
We all looked at each other for a moment, six teams had already been eliminated in a matter of just a few minutes, much of it thanks to the tyrant who was in charge of disqualifying the weaker teams.
Tajo fulminating ignored the announcement and congratulated us all —Well done, everyone, we just need to wait a bit and we'll be able to qualify for the next round of teams—
"Wait?" a deep voice replied.
A tall figure with a toned body clad in luxurious garments and a halberd at his feet looked at us with laziness and mockery in his dark eyes.
The place fell silent, the pressure coming from the other side was immense, compared to the team we had just faced, this man gave us no hope of winning, if we faced him, we would undoubtedly lose.
—Tyrant — Slash muttered nervously.
Hearing the person's name, everyone panicked, one of the strongest men in the circus arena was standing in front of them.
Furthermore, the difference between a fifth stage and a fourth stage was too much, the only way we could win is if Lucius or Lightning Slash had mastered a killing technique to the intermediate or advanced level at least. However, considering that the two of them had to fight together in order to go against someone of their own level, it's unlikely that they have a good command over their own abilities.
He understood that fact well, for starters if it weren't for the transparent window, it's unlikely he would have even managed to get into the beginner level of a graded technique.
"I don't have that many skill points either." Even if I spent all my skill points, it wouldn't be enough to raise the Flowing River Rock technique to the intermediate level.
Although it would probably be of little help even if he brought the flowing river rock fist to perfection.
Copper Body/Physical (Advanced 96/100) (Mortal)
Perhaps if I took the copper body manual to the intermediate level, there might still be a chance to do something.
Copper Body/Physical (Intermediate 6/200) (Mortal)
A mysterious layer of copper silently covered my body, not only did my skin become more resistant, I felt like an explosive power entered my body.
"This should be the lightning affinity the weapons master told me about."
It wasn't an element I could control at will, it was more like breathing, my body would unconsciously become more agile, with explosive movements full of power.
With this power, even if it would be impossible for me to face the tyrant, escaping shouldn't be a problem, either way, as long as one person could make it to the end of the round, the team wouldn't be considered disqualified.
The tyrant, who still maintained a face full of laziness and disdain, brandished his halberd with great skill and in an instant reappeared in front of Tajo fulminating, who was the closest to him. The speed with which he moved left us all paralyzed, practically bordering on the inhuman.
Lightning Slash was the only one who was able to react in time, he could barely withstand the blow of the halberd, being sent several meters away, he almost fainted from the blow of the halberd and his twin axes did not fare any better since there were clear breakage cracks in both axes.
The tyrant, who was approaching him step by step, was forced to stop halfway.
Lucius fired a series of devastating projectiles that the tyrant had to block, the sound behind each arrow was enough to make me feel like my eardrums were going to burst.
Now I realized Lucius's power, I certainly underestimated him, I didn't take into account that the reason why his previous attacks didn't have much effect is because he was trying to avoid killing our opponents by accident.
Even the Tyrant was surprised by Lucius's strength, although none of the arrows were able to reach him, he was still forced to use his abilities to the fullest to avoid getting hurt.
"That's why archers are annoying," the tyrant muttered, spinning his halberd at high speed, hitting the ground, raising a large amount of dust in the process.
With dust everywhere, Lucius had a hard time knowing which direction to shoot his arrows.
If he were alone, he could use his auditory senses to locate the Tyrant and fire, but with so many people in the area, it was difficult to know which sound belonged to whom.
—Even under these circumstances, do you still have time to think? — muttered the Tyrant who had already arrived in front of Lucius.
Without giving Lucius a chance to react, the Tyrant brandished his halberd at Lucius, the halberd striking him in the side at incredible speed, it was only thanks to his reaction that Lucius managed to interpose his metal bow between himself and the blow, only receiving minor injuries.
The tyrant calmly approached Lucius who was struggling to get up from the ground. The tyrant placed his foot on him, preventing him from getting up from the ground.
—You and your partner were quite disappointing for someone of your level — The tyrant raised his halberd, ready to knock Lucius out, he could only grit his teeth in reluctance without being able to do anything else.
Once he knocked him out with the back of the halberd, The Tyrant looked for the other members of the team, but to his surprise, only Lightning Slash and Lucius under his feet were there.
—Those cowards escaped— After looking at the terrain, the Tyrant couldn't locate which footprints belonged to whom, so he could only take a random direction, it was humiliating for him that they had escaped so easily.
. . . . .
"Do you think he'll catch us?" Talia asked worriedly, not stopping her steps.
—I don't think so, during the time he was having fun with our leaders, two more teams were already disqualified, we just have to hold on a little longer and we'll be able to move on to the next round — Big Bull felt ashamed of having to flee from a battle, but circumstances didn't allow him to complain about it, it was his pride or winning.
—By the way, do you think your friend is going to be okay? — Big Bull asked.
—It should be fine, it's tougher than it looks — Talia didn't explain further and kept running.
. . . . .
Along the way, although I encountered other teams, none of them cared about my presence, luckily for me, most of them were fighting their own battles as for the others, with my enhanced stamina catching me is not an easy thing.
—Team 16 has been eliminated by team 18, if one more team is eliminated, we'll be done for this round! —
I sat in a corner where I could go unnoticed by the others; with the speed with which teams were eliminated, I wouldn't have to wait long before the ten-team quota was selected.
Glancing at the transparent window, I wanted to know if I had gained anything by helping defeat the enemy team.
Strength level:
Body Refinement: Bone Refinement
Practice method:
Breathing (Beginner 56/10,000)
Copper Body/Physical (Intermediate 6/200) (Mortal)
Spiritual techniques:
None
Physical techniques:
Boxing Methods (Perfection)
Flowing River Rock (Advanced 25/100) (Mortal)
Skill Points: 4
It seems that the stronger someone is, the more mastery points they gain, although this amount may be influenced by the talent I acquired in fist techniques.
—Team 9 has been eliminated by Team 18, with this the first round is over! —
I breathed a sigh of relief, this meant that at least for now, I was out of the Tyrant's reach.
However, the next round was a defense game, so he could only pray that he wouldn't have to compete with teams that had someone at the fifth stage of Body Refinement.
"Everyone please return to your rings, you'll be given a half-hour break before we start the next round!" the employee said in an excited voice.
The audience began to applaud, very satisfied with the fights they witnessed from above; some could already see the tyrant as one of the undisputed winners at the end of the event.