Chapter 489: Eve of the Quarterfinals
The semicircular canals are inner ear sensory organs related to maintaining an organism's posture and balance. A person's tolerance for balance is often innate.
Of course, acquired training can also be used for targeted strengthening to gain tolerance to dizziness, but for some people who have not received professional training, once the threshold is exceeded, they will still feel dizzy.
Although Baobao Fan's agility and strength were not low, it was her first time to spin at high speed for dozens of seconds in one go. Her body couldn't handle it for a while, and her breakfast had already said goodbye to her.
But Iori Yagami was not much better.
orochi blood is not infinite energy; berserking is ultimately limited.
Furthermore, the main reason for his berserk state was that his original body was weak and offline, and the orochi blood regained the upper hand. However, during the sustained period of the Musou Ranbu just now, the one whose fighting spirit and emotions were drained was the orochi blood side, which caused the Orochi Power, which had originally held the upper hand on the scale, to be forced back into a state of balance.
"What is this…?"
Iori Yagami murmured, clutching his forehead.
Iori Yagami, who had fallen into a berserk state because his original body was drained, actually regained his self-awareness because the Orochi Power was intensely drained for dozens of seconds!
The player group's berserk space prompt had been lifted.
This was something that no one in the know, including Cheng Tian, had anticipated.
Kusanagi Kyo and Kagura Chizuru had even prepared to intervene at any moment, but Iori Yagami miraculously returned to normal ahead of time!
One can only say that this situation was very difficult to replicate.
Iori Yagami's obsession with the 996 Team before berserking caused him to still target Baobao Fan after entering the berserk state. Baobao Fan's Musou Ranbu left Iori Yagami unable to find an opening. The continuous absorption of fighting spirit by the ring blades prevented Iori Yagami from accumulating enough to unleash a Super Special Move to end the Musou Ranbu. The continuously absorbed fighting spirit powered the Musou Ranbu, effectively hard-controlling him in place and draining him for dozens of seconds.
Any deviation in any of these links would have led the final result in a completely different, unknown direction.
However, just as the audience thought the match would continue, Iori Yagami, who had been standing still for a moment, turned around and left without looking back!
Had he once again been so easily controlled by this cursed bloodline?
Iori Yagami was incredibly angry, and it was anger at himself. He couldn't easily forgive such a weak and incompetent self!
His action left the 996 Team, who had already prepared to escort Baobao Fan off the stage and substitute someone for the third match, very surprised, and then they all showed expressions of joy.
Had their opponent forfeited?
On the other side, after exchanging glances with his teammates and confirming the current situation, Kusanagi Kyo also quietly chased after him.
"After repeated confirmation by the tournament organizers, contestant Iori Yagami has chosen to completely withdraw from the remaining matches."
"Therefore, the winner of this match is the 996 Team! Let's congratulate the contestants!"
A few minutes later, Sunglasses Mustache's announcement confirmed Iori Yagami's withdrawal and declared the 996 Team's victory.
The entire 996 Team, who had only intended to try their luck at advancing, were ecstatic. Baobao Fan, the greatest contributor among them, was even hoisted up by the 'dog men' of her team and began to be tossed into the air repeatedly. One might have thought they had won the Champion.
"Dizzy! Dizzy! Stop throwing me!"
Baobao Fan, who was being thrown, shrieked repeatedly. Her semicircular canals, which hadn't fully recovered, started buzzing in her head again.
With the 996 Team's advancement, according to the schedule, the tournament entered its final match of the Round of Sixteen.
However, a very big surprise occurred at this point.
When the Ikari Team's trio had already ascended the arena, not a single member of the Big Nose Team was present.
"Dragon Dragon Dragon Team? Are the players of the Three Dragon Team still here? Please, staff, confirm if there are any signs of heavy drinking in this team's lounge~"
Sunglasses Mustache began to search for traces of the Dragon Dragon Dragon Team.
However, the three big noses were long gone from the main arena.
After Ryuji Yamazaki was defeated earlier, the two international police officers, Hong Fu and Lei Wulong, whose target had always been only Ryuji Yamazaki, the international criminal, unhesitatingly gave chase.
Logically speaking, only Cheng Fu in the team was a pure alcoholic, with no obligation or responsibility to arrest anyone, but he was so in sync with his two sworn brothers that he uncharacteristically didn't drink during the match and followed them immediately.
Ryuji Yamazaki, who had initially tried to cause trouble in the main arena because he thought Cheng Tian and the organizers were biased, decided to give up on causing trouble after Cheng Tian's unintentional remark, "Ryuji Yamazaki is more righteous than you," and had already actively fled the scene.
So, the three big noses who chased after him naturally forfeited the match.
Originally, compared to yesterday's exciting matches, today's events already seemed somewhat lackluster. As a result, apart from one death match that slightly stimulated the audience, the subsequent matches were progressively worse.
This naturally accumulated a considerable amount of dissatisfaction among the audience, including those teams eliminated in the preliminaries who might not have been weak in strength but mostly had bad luck.
Thus, seeing the audience begin to show signs of disgust, and with ample time remaining today, the organizers directly implemented a temporary remedial rule.
The organizers first used the broadcast to summon all the preliminary teams currently still in the main arena and not yet departed to gather on the stage. They planned to have each team send a representative for a free-for-all brawl, and the team corresponding to the last player remaining on the stage would fill the void left by the Dragon Dragon Dragon Team.
As soon as this rule was announced, the audience, who had been planning to leave, rushed back to their seats.
One can only say that the organizers truly understood what the audience wanted to see. This remedial measure was almost universally approved by the audience.
Of course, this was also after consulting with the Ikari Team. After all, according to normal rules, the Ikari Team could have won without a fight and advanced directly, but they clearly did not want to accept such an unearned victory.
The player teams still in the stands also became excited, as they received a space notification that they had a chance to regain a spot in the Top Sixteen. This was equivalent to a baseline B-rank main quest settlement!
Even if they didn't advance further, it didn't matter; being able to settle was a huge gain!
The player teams still remaining in the arena basically resigned themselves to their fate and stayed in the instance, hoping to at least collect some data to compensate for their losses. They never expected the space to give them another chance, so they naturally wanted to seize it as much as possible. Thus, they cast aside the idea of a Top Eight spot and only aimed for the Top Sixteen, sending out the strongest player from each of their teams.
A match this chaotic clearly left no room for commentary, so Cheng Tian openly slacked off.
Ultimately, the winner among the preliminary teams was a player team, and this player apparently gathered all the high-level consumables and equipment from his entire team, barely surviving to win.
The act of winning also exhausted the team's supplies suitable for the Fighting Tournament (such as Shī Quán Chóng's meat buns). So, after a symbolic team clash with the Ikari Team, they happily accepted their fate of stopping at the Top Sixteen.
At this point, all eight quarterfinal teams were decided. According to the schedule, tomorrow, the third day of the main tournament, the first match of the quarterfinals would be between Cheng Tian's Oli Lilli Team and the Scarlet Devil Mansion Team from Fantasy Village!