97. The Trial of the Hundred Dragons' Night Parade

After yanking the chainsaw out of the gun-bodied machine warrior’s chest, Chen Shang proceeded to hack off its limbs and carve the body into pieces.

He was not doing this out of any particular hobby or taste. It was sheer caution.

Half-mechanical beings possessed stubborn vitality; if they were not completely dismantled, who knew whether the thing might crawl back up and put a bullet through him.

Only after Chen Shang had reduced the gunman’s body to wreckage did the contemptuous male voice return over the loudspeaker above:

“It looks like the match has already been decided! Let us applaud the final victor!”

The mechanical fake spectators around him suddenly raised their hands in perfect unison and began waving them wildly. The spectacle was so grand that Chen Shang was reminded of a horde of zombies spotting living people.

A metal ladder slowly descended to the center of the arena. Chen Shang picked up a few portable weapons from the ground and strapped them to himself before grasping the ladder and climbing upward with care.

“Once again, let us send off our champion of this contest with thunderous applause!”

The noise behind him gradually faded. Chen Shang reached the end of the ladder, where a round disk like a manhole cover waited above.

He pushed upward, and the cover opened with ease, flooding the opening with blinding light.

After climbing out of the underground battleground, Chen Shang instinctively closed his eyes, letting them adjust once more to the sun.

“This is...” He found himself inside an abandoned desert hotel whose roof had been torn away.

He tried to contact the other teammates, but all he could hear was meaningless static.

“Not out yet?” Chen Shang sighed.

Just now, after using the aura of the abyss, he felt double vision and hallucinations creeping back in; his mind was dazed and unfocused.

Chen Shang hid beneath the bar counter and curled up to rest.

...

“Incredible! The strategist contestant actually pulled off a reversal at the critical moment and won Arena 01!”

Flavie’s voice rang out in a frenzy.

“I have no idea how he made that machine warrior covered in guns stop moving, but the way he took the enemy apart with a chainsaw at the end was seriously cool! I almost want my daughter to meet him and see whether he can turn her bisexual... anyway, let’s look at the other arenas.”

Seeing the feed on the screen switch over, Chiyo let out a breath she had not realized she was holding.

“I told you he didn’t need you worrying about him,” Sakura Honbu said, resting both hands on Chiyo’s shoulders as she too relaxed.

“I was too impulsive just now...” Chiyo leaned back slightly, a subtle smile tugging at her lips. “I really underestimated him.”

...

While Chen Shang was fighting to the death in the arena, White Fox and Greatsword had also entered their own battlegrounds.

“Welcome to Arena 08. The theme for this match is Night Parade of a Hundred Dragons, inspired by the real Night Parade of a Hundred Beasts that once took place in Night Nexus City!”

Greatsword rested his weapon on his shoulder, while beside him stood a hooded assassin, likely from a competing team called Assassin Faith.

They were in a broad open-air plaza, where the entrance passage was only wide enough for three people and blocked by anti-cavalry stakes and sandbags. At the same time, several artillery emplacements stood within the square, each three meters high.

The electronic female voice over the broadcast continued:

“In the southeast and southwest corners of the plaza, there are large quantities of items and traps. Five minutes from now, a tide of mutated beasts made up of dozens of creatures will launch an assault on the northern entrance.”

“All you have to do is survive three waves of the beast tide. Make full use of the artillery and the terrain, and use the items and traps we have provided wisely!”

A five-minute countdown then appeared above the plaza.

“Hey! Want to team up?” the hooded assassin nearby asked with a warm, friendly tone.

For a trial task that was obviously tower-defense in nature, having one more helper would certainly improve their chances.

Besides, as the name “Assassin Faith” suggested, the group consisted of professional assassins. They would be fine if asked to kill people, but facing beasts was another matter entirely.

“I don’t care,” Greatsword said coldly as he carried his weapon toward the southeast corner.

“Humph, what’s with the attitude?” The hooded assassin let out an annoyed snort, and could only turn toward the southwest corner to search for supplies.

Rummaging through a pile of odds and ends, the hooded assassin immediately frowned. “What the hell is this junk?”

“What brand of automatic rifle is this? Wasn’t this obsolete trash from twenty years ago? Even a dog wouldn’t use it!”

“And what is this beast trap supposed to be? It doesn’t even have an electronic bomb attached. Isn’t this the kind of thing primitives use?”

“Are you sure this pile of garbage isn’t expired stock dumped by Radiation Bird Company? We’re supposed to stop a beast tide with this?”

While the hooded assassin complained, Greatsword was already working with calm precision.

He placed several beast traps in the harder-to-defend dead corners of the plaza, then tucked clay bombs with exposed wiring beside them.

Next, he set up every automatic rifle in the junk pile so they all aimed at the entrance, and left extra ammunition in several positions that were easier to defend.

Finally, he dug out a few incendiary bombs and electromagnetic bombs from the pile and kept them on his person.

Watching the veteran’s practiced movements, the hooded assassin nearly stared blank.

“Hey, man, do you really think these things can help us hold off the beast tide?”

Greatsword answered casually, “Back in my day, we didn’t even have equipment this good.”

“Huh?” The hooded assassin scratched his head, baffled.

Soon enough, the five-minute countdown in the sky reached its end. The two of them had barely finished their preparations and stood on separate artillery emplacements, waiting for the beasts to attack.

Amid a distant roar, several scarlet bipedal dinosaurs led a massive horde of mutated beasts of all shapes and sizes charging toward the entrance.

“Damn it! They’re serious!” The hooded assassin had never seen such a scene before and immediately panicked.

“Don’t panic. Wait until they’re inside the passage before firing.” Greatsword lit a cigar and tucked it into the gap of his helmet, exhaling a thin plume of white smoke.

“How are you this calm?” the hooded assassin muttered as he loaded a shell into the barrel.

Greatsword smiled faintly, a fervent light flashing beneath his helmet. “It’s normal that a youngster like you hasn’t seen a scene like this. I’ve seen worse than this before.”

As they spoke, several dinosaurs leaped up, clearing the obstacles at the entrance and rushing straight into the plaza.

“Fire!” Greatsword barked, swinging the gun barrel and blasting at the leading bipedal beast.

Boom.

The shell landed squarely on the creature, blowing it sky-high. Its shattered corpse slammed into the sandbags and became a new obstacle.

The hooded assassin copied him, aiming at another bipedal beast and firing, but the shell missed and struck the ground near its feet.

The dinosaur sprang nimbly aside, easily avoiding the fragments from the explosion.

“Shit!” Seeing the bipedal dinosaurs break through the line and charge toward them, the hooded assassin sucked in a sharp breath.

Fortunately, Greatsword quickly fired another round at the creature, blasting it away and barely stabilizing the defense line.

“You’re amazing, man!” the hooded assassin exclaimed, his tone shifting into one of genuine admiration.

“Don’t get distracted. One mistake is all it takes to turn you into their food!” Greatsword lectured sternly, then continued to aim at the incoming beasts with complete concentration.