Chapter 274: The Battle

“Turns out you guys accepted this mission, too.” Jupiter finally understood why the robot had been like paper—they had stolen the kill.

Rather than apologizing, Jupiter gloated. The Guild of Gods would never step back when facing other guilds. Furthermore, it was their old rival, Sky Territory.

“So what if we stole the kill? Suck it up.”

The argument turned into a conflict very soon. After a group fight, Sky Territory, which was in a sorry shape, was annihilated.

“Jupiter, I fu*k !^&#@&*@&... just you wait!” Rebels Shall Rule private messaged Jupiter.

Jupiter closed the chat window straight away.

Are you kidding me? Why even play the game if you don’t steal kills? They had the mission item, so the people of Guild of Gods returned to complete the mission immediately, and as long as they completed the mission, Sky Territory could only suck it up no matter how unhappy they were.

However, Jupiter and the people came to the high-rank area but were stopped.

“We have completed what Mr. Han Xiao told us to. Why aren’t we allowed to enter?”

“We are ordered to not allow any outsiders in.”

No matter what they said, the guards did not back off a single step. The people of Guild of Gods had no choice but to leave helplessly.

They could only wait for Han Xiao to reappear in order to complete the mission.

The team left, and after walking for a while, their sight was suddenly blocked. A group of rough men surrounded them, led by Jade Green Sky. They had brought the people of Sky Territory to demand an explanation.

“That’s pretty immoral of you, Jupiter. Our men got the mission first, and the target was also damaged to the last health by us, but you stole the kill out of nowhere. You’ve got to give an explanation,” Jade Green Sky said with a long face.

“You’re overreacting. If anything, you should blame yourselves for being unlucky.” Jupiter had no fear. The sanctuary was a safe zone; no one could attack, and they were unafraid of being surrounded.

The eyes of the two clashed midair.

The guild leaders of the large guilds in China knew each other privately. Jade Green Sky and Jupiter never got along, and there was a reason for this. Their conflict started in the pro scene. Li Ge was the pillar of the Temple of God Club, Hao Tian was the representative of Sky Territory, and Hao Tian lost to Li Ge more than he won. He lost to Li Ge many times during crucial battles.

Therefore, the contradiction was very strong—they disliked each other.

This stolen mission became the fuse. Although it was just a small conflict, it might become bigger, more so that they were already rivals.

The surrounding players saw this and gathered to spectate. It was livelier than the market, and the middle of the road was completely obstructed.

They argued with each other for some time before Jupiter said impatiently, “Jade, what do you want?”

“Give the mission item back to us.”

“Keep dreaming.” Jupiter rejected it immediately.

Why did they have to give it back when they stole the kill? Furthermore, he represented the name of the guild; if he backed off, would others not say that he was scared of Sky Territory?

Of course, Jade Green Sky would not suck it up either. Both sides not wanting to back off meant the conflict could not be settled; therefore, they had to talk with their strength. However, he did not want to have a large-scale public fight. The results of both of them losing would mean to be exceeded by other guilds.

Jade Green Sky pondered, and suddenly, he remembered the gamble battle function of the arena. Was that not the most suitable place to settle their conflict?

“Okay, since you’re not willing to return it, we shall go to the arena and have a gamble battle.”

“What, why do I have to fight you? There’s no benefit in winning, and I have to give up my thing if I lose. If you lose, you can only give up on what I already have.”

“Humph, we shall make a bet, too, money, equipment, item, anything at all,” Jade Green Sky said provokingly. “I’m officially inviting you to a battle—accept it if you have the guts.”

He really wanted this chain mission as Black Phantom’s mission rewards were always rich, and it could increase Black Phantom’s relationship points. It was a good deal.

However, Jupiter was not provoked at all. He pushed the people of Sky Territory aside and left.

Anyway, he had the item, and as soon as he completed the mission, he would be the one getting all the benefits—there was no point in taking the risk and fighting a gamble battle.

The people of Sky Territory were furious. Rebels Shall Rule furiously demanded, “Leader, are we just letting them go like this?”

“Provocation! Force them to accept the challenge,” Jade Green Sky said angrily. “I’m not going to tolerate this. Ask the members to all publish posts in the forums, provoke them as much as you can!”

...

As the Sky Territory started their attack of words, scandalous posts about the Guild of Gods appeared rapidly, painting an image that Guild of Gods was unreasonable and immoral, that they were scared to accept the challenge, that they picked on the weak and feared the strong. As only those with a VR-Capsule could post or comment on the forums, there were few sh*t stirrers, but this time, Sky Territory had evidence and reasons—they made all the members publish posts and started the trend.

The rumors were very condescending, but Guild of Gods did not panic at all.

The way Jupiter saw it, he just had to wait for Han Xiao to appear and complete the mission. By then, Sky Territory would not be able to do anything no matter how much noise they made.

However, many days passed, and Han Xiao had yet to appear.

Jupiter started to get anxious. He asked the guards time after time but could not get any information on Han Xiao’s whereabouts.

Han Xiao could see the forums, too. He did not appear on purpose, and it was like putting Guild of Gods in a fire. As long as the Guild of Gods did not complete the mission, the mission item would only bring them trouble.

Before the start of the mission, he had already prepared the plan to force two guilds to have a gamble battle in the arena, attract public attention, and make more players know what the use of gamble battling in the arena was.

As long as someone did it first and showed the players the purpose of the gamble battle, people with potential demand would realize their need.

Guild of Gods and Sky Territory took it as an accident or coincidence; it was impossible for them to guess it was the ‘NPC’ Han Xiao who gave out the mission that was causing all this. It was completely outside their expectations.

Seeing that the rumors were becoming worse to Guild of Gods, Jupiter started to get stressed.

Finally, after another day of Han Xiao being ‘missing’, Jupiter could not take it anymore. He officially accepted the gamble battle in the forums on behalf of the Guild of Gods.

“On behalf of Guild of Gods, I accept the gamble battle with Sky Territory. Our chip is the mission item [Out of Control Ranger’s Chip], and Sky Territory shall provide an item of the same value. The location will be the in the Arena, Best of Five, winner stays, loser leaves. Win or lose, both parties shall accept the result with dignity and no longer find trouble with the other party.”

Jade Green Sky replied very shortly after.

“Sure!”

The battle between two large guilds had all the players in the sanctuary excited.

...

The fairness of the gamble battle service in the arena was guaranteed by the sanctuary officials. The betting chips were collected before the battle and were guaranteed to be given to the winner. To enjoy this fairness guarantee, one had to rent a ring.

Renting a ring incurred fees, contributing to the arena’s turnover.

The two large guilds were rich. As they wanted the other players to judge the fairness of the battle, they rented the largest ring in the center; it was very high profile.

On the day of the battle, players in the sanctuary gathered in the arena, and it soon became crowded.

“Who do you think will win?”

“Guild of Gods definitely. Sky Territory is no match for them.”

“Guild of Gods actually has the moral low ground this time.”

“Are you kidding? What’s wrong about stealing kills in a game? Don’t exaggerate the issue.”

“There’s a dealer opening a bet over there. I’m going there to bet on Guild of Gods.”

“There’s betting‽ Let’s go together!”

The scene was very noisy, almost like a live concert. The audience waited for quite some time until the competitors of both sides showed up late to the scene. When the audience saw the IDs of both sides clearly, they were all stunned.

The competitors were not just guild members—they were all pro players of both of the clubs!

Many players cheered in excitement; their passion was going through the roof.

Originally, most of the audience was just there to check it out, but when the pro players appeared, all the audiences became interested right away.

The Pro League had not started yet, so normal players had yet to see how strong pro players were. Thus, they were very thrilled.

“Temple of God really does have a strong foundation. Everyone that came is a top tier player or not far behind. Sadly, Li Ge is not here, heard he went to take part in the expedition.”

“Exactly, in comparison, Long Sky is a little bit behind. Most of them are second tier players. First tier players Sleepy Winter and Twinkle Fried Rice went to the war too... Wait a minute, is that... Am I hallucinating? God Hao Tian‽”

Hao Tian stood in the Long Sky team expressionless. The audience looked at him in disbelief and admiration.

Everywhere he passed by, the audience lowered their voices. It was like he had an unshakeable aura.

As a pillar of Long Sky, Hao Tian had been requested to attend by Jade Green Sky. His name and skills were much higher than the first-tier players, so he was the pro player that received the most attention in the scene. The contestants felt the pressure when they saw him.

The clubs that both large guilds belonged to requested their pro players to attend the battle without any agreement.

Seeing the members of the other party, Jade Green Sky and Jupiter were both covered in cold sweat. They thought at the same time, Luckily, I got the pro players here. Damn, almost got deceived by that fraud sh*t. The hexagonal center ring was very wide and spacious. The square in the middle was the battleground, and the triangles on the sides were the waiting areas. The people of both Sky Territory and Guild of Gods waited in the waiting areas in the ring.

The audience chatted among themselves and waited with anticipation.

Some of the players were thinking of something different.

Having a gamble battle in the ring seems to be able to increase exposure... some spectating guilds thought.

If I do a Challenge, there will be chances to spar with players of all sorts of styles, and at the same time, I can profit from betting, some PVP passionate players thought.

The spectating pro players nodded too. Not only will Challenge gives exposure, one can hone one’s skills too. It’s quite a good function. Seeing the impact and popularity of the gamble battle of the arena, many players saw its benefits and entertainment value. The reason Han Xiao had triggered the battle between the two large guilds was indeed to make the other players realize what this function could bring, then use the players’ own creativity to improve and expand on this function, fulfilling various demands.

The renting fee earned was not the most important—what was more important in Han Xiao’s eyes was to raise the players’ demand and usage for the arena. That way, the impression of a ‘main city’ would be stronger.