The non-mechanical creation Tasitado had suddenly produced left everyone stunned.
The wooden “Flying Leopard” immediately proved to be every bit as sturdy and ferocious as a machine.
The attacks launched by K-17739’s mechanical creations had no effect on it at all.
Then it sprang forward and crushed a patch of liquid metal on the ground beneath one heavy stomp.
Although K-17739 could not cry out in pain like a human, the remaining liquid metal body twitched faintly all over, which was unmistakable evidence that it had been injured.
“Great!”
Tilar clapped excitedly. Even he hadn’t known Tasitado had this trick up his sleeve. Using a wooden mechanical beast to deal with silicon-based life was undeniably an ingenious idea.
The human spectators were thrilled as well. At last, the oppressive atmosphere that had lingered ever since Lovska’s death eased a little.
Han Qiu was standing inside a Myriad Sense Net Bubble. Looking at the Wooden Flying Leopard in the battle, he thought that it definitely wasn’t made from ordinary timber.
His guess was exactly right.
Tasitado watched the lively Wooden Flying Leopard, feeling both pleased with himself and somewhat relieved.
When he first obtained his exclusive item, he could indeed only develop mechanical creations. It was only gradually that he realized how great a risk it was to have such a limited range of creations.
For instance, if he ever encountered an Ascendant capable of interfering with electronics or affecting metal, all he could do would be stand there like an idiot and wait to die.
This wasn’t needless worry. He had already learned that Ascendants who could “manipulate metal” or create “EMP fields” really did exist.
To counter the disadvantage he would face in such a situation, he had spent a great deal of time further developing his exclusive item, giving it the ability to create non-mechanical creations.
Afterward, he had also managed to acquire special timber produced in Survival Chests. Combined with his workbench, this material could be used to make a new type of creation that wasn’t mechanical or electronic.
The Wooden Flying Leopard before him was his pride and joy.
“Eliminate it!”
At Tasitado’s command, the Wooden Flying Leopard attacked fiercely, stomping at the liquid metal spread across the ground.
Unwilling to back down, K-17739 transformed part of its body into chains and tried to bind the Wooden Flying Leopard, restricting its movements.
As soon as the chains drew near, the two wooden wings on the Wooden Flying Leopard’s back began to spin. Though made of wood, their edges were even sharper than blades.
The chains formed from liquid metal were severed the instant they made contact. K-17739 couldn’t merge them into the Wooden Flying Leopard’s structure, either. This special timber was incredibly dense, and the liquid metal simply couldn’t seep into it!
Seeing that it couldn’t deal with the Wooden Flying Leopard, K-17739 tried to relieve pressure by attacking Tasitado directly. Part of its body continued to grapple with the Wooden Flying Leopard, while another part became a sharp weapon and struck at Tasitado himself.
Tasitado was ready for this. He had made himself a “wooden barrel suit of armor,” leaving only his eyes exposed.
K-17739 tried to pierce Tasitado’s eyes, but an invisible barrier blocked it just before it could make contact.
Watching the fight, Tilar burst into laughter. “To help that kid secure a victory, Manchidon prepared a ton of Defensive Items for him. Several are even barrier-type. It won’t be easy to break through!”
Just as he said, after Tasitado used his barrier tools, K-17739’s attacks were temporarily unable to penetrate them.
Meanwhile, K-17739’s own liquid metal body kept breaking apart under Tasitado’s attacks.
The spectators all noticed that the shattered pieces of liquid metal quickly solidified, leaving only a dry mark on the ground, while the remaining parts grew increasingly still.
This meant that once its body was damaged to a certain extent, it would lose all activity, which meant death.
“Finish it off!”
“Go, Tasitado!”
“Show these alien races what humans are made of!”
With victory seemingly within reach, the human spectators were all worked up, shouting at the top of their lungs from inside their Myriad Sense Net Bubbles.
The commentator also weighed in on the state of the match.
“At present, Tianshui Star’s competitor has a considerable advantage. The Intelligent Crystal Civilization’s competitor can neither break through his defenses nor destroy the creations made from highly resilient timber. It looks like the outcome of this match is almost decided... Hm? What?”
The commentator abruptly changed his tune, his voice suddenly rising. “We can see the Intelligent Crystal Civilization’s competitor retreating at high speed. Is it trying to flee the battlefield?”
What?!
The state of the fight and the commentator’s words left countless spectators stunned.
K-17739’s liquid metal body rapidly drew together, then slithered away from the Wooden Flying Leopard and Tasitado like a snake!
“That’s right! The Intelligent Crystal Civilization’s competitor is fleeing at high speed. We can see Tianshui Star Civilization’s competitor chasing after it, but he doesn’t seem to be fast enough!”
The commentator was absolutely right.
K-17739 was no match for Tasitado in a fight, but when it came to movement speed, it was much faster.
It could move in liquid form and climb into any building, burrowing inside. Tasitado and the Wooden Flying Leopard he controlled couldn’t do that.
Seeing K-17739 climb up the side of a high-rise and nearly disappear from sight, Tasitado was so furious he couldn’t help yelling abuse.
“Bastard, get back here!”
The fight was only halfway over, and his opponent had simply stopped fighting and started running away. He had never imagined something like this could happen.
The rules of this arena environment were crystal clear. When the thirty minutes were up, the city would explode. If neither competitor had won by then, both would be blown to pieces.
As he gave chase, cold sweat broke out on Tasitado’s forehead. A terrifying thought surfaced in his mind.
Could K-17739’s plan be to stall until the thirty-minute mark and let the city explode?
He wasn’t the only one who realized it. Many spectators did, too.
Frowning as he watched the fight, Guan Tong quickly weighed the situation.
If K-17739 managed to stall until the thirty-minute mark, the explosion would kill them both, resulting in a draw.
For Tianshui Star Civilization, which had the advantage in the arena, that was completely unacceptable!
“Looks like the Intelligent Crystal Civilization’s competitor is trying to avoid fighting.”
The commentator had clearly figured out K-17739’s plan and began speaking at length.
“In this arena setting, avoiding a fight is undeniably something a weaker competitor might choose to do. Now the question is whether Tianshui Star Civilization’s competitor can catch up and finish off his opponent before time runs out. Heh, heh... There are eighteen minutes left.”
In the arena, Tasitado gritted his teeth and pursued K-17739, using all kinds of support items, but he still couldn’t catch up.
It wasn’t that K-17739 was particularly fast. Rather, it could freely burrow into buildings and all sorts of pipes.
Even when Tasitado used various miniature tracking machines to pinpoint its location, it still took him a great deal of effort to reach it.
In just a few minutes, K-17739 had vanished completely from his field of vision, and even his reconnaissance creations had lost their target lock.
“No... That can’t be...”
Tasitado stood frozen in place, completely unable to accept the outcome.
Time ticked by, and the thirty-minute mark was fast approaching.
The human spectators were practically going mad.
Some cursed K-17739 for being despicable and shameless. Some cursed the commentator for sounding so gleeful. Others cursed the rules for including a timed explosion. And some cursed Tasitado for not hurrying up and trying harder to find K-17739...
It was over.
Guan Tong looked at Tasitado, standing there in a daze, and knew that he understood this perfectly well.
In a city this large, there was no way to catch up with K-17739 when it moved like that.
Guan Tong thought that if he were fighting this match, the enemy wouldn’t be able to escape his Shadow Domain. He wouldn’t even need to use the Shadow Domain; he could seal off its escape routes with his shadow alone.
But Tasitado couldn’t do that. His Wooden Flying Leopard was astonishing, an outright work of art, even, but it couldn’t stop his enemy from escaping.
“Three minutes remain. The distance between the two competitors has exceeded ten kilometers.”
The commentator’s voice continued rubbing salt into the humans’ wounds.
The spectators weren’t the only ones at their breaking point. Tasitado himself was suffering the most.
After standing there in a daze for a long while, he took off his glasses, threw them to the ground, and stomped on them hard. He threw his head back and shouted in frustration, “I refuse to accept this! I should be declared the winner! Why doesn’t fleeing from a fight count as a loss? Why?! Why?!”
The only response was time, relentlessly counting down, second by second, toward the end.
In the final minute, Tasitado was already slumped on the ground, repeating, “I didn’t lose,” and “I refuse to accept this.”
Meanwhile, K-17739, seen from the omniscient view, was quietly curled up inside a pipe, waiting for the end.
The commentator spoke with a tone of emotion. “Let us pay our respects to K-17739 of the Intelligent Crystal Civilization. This is a being willing to bear the disgraceful title of ‘fleeing coward’ for the sake of its civilization.”
Those words made many human spectators curse furiously. They felt this wasn’t the first time the commentator had given a “biased commentary.”
From the first match onward, the commentator had seemed to favor the competitor from the Bihui Stone Civilization. In this second match, he wasn’t even trying to hide it. He had actually expressed his respect for K-17739!
Still, some human spectators felt the comment wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
They thought that if the Intelligent Crystal Civilization and Tianshui Star Civilization were undergoing the same Doomsday Rules trial, then K-17739 truly could be considered a hero of its civilization.
Because even though it was outmatched, it had turned what would have been a definite loss into a draw. That was the best result it could achieve.
“Time’s up.” The commentator delivered the verdict.
Boom!!!!!
A blinding white light appeared in the center of the city, instantly swallowing everything.
Tasitado and K-17739 were both destroyed along with the city.
Manchidon’s Vice President, Tilar, watched the explosion, then slumped to the ground. For a long time, he couldn’t say a word.
“The result of this match is a draw. There is neither a winner nor a loser,” the commentator said. “The next match will begin in ten minutes.”
A draw.
Some of the human spectators fell silent, while others despaired.
Humanity had nine participants in total, and their record so far was one loss and one draw.
Unless there were more draws later, the remaining seven would have to win at least five matches to ensure they completed the rule challenge.
It was easy to imagine the immense psychological pressure this would put on the seven of them.
“It’s over.”
On the forum in the real world, almost every post was pessimistic.
“This challenge is definitely going to fail. All of us Ascendants are going to have our Mind Power upper limits drastically reduced!”
“Even if Shadow can win, and Shi Jingyi can win, that only guarantees two matches. Who else has any confidence they can definitely win?”
“Hey, how can you be sure those two can guarantee two wins? Isn’t Lovska proof enough? The enemy could be far stronger than we imagine!”
“We’re really done for this time. With so much Mind Power deducted, how long will it take to get it back...”
“Let’s wait and see. It’s not time to pass final judgment yet. Besides, Tasitado was just unlucky. He would’ve won if the arena had been a different setting!”
“Whatever happens, we absolutely can’t lose the next match!”
“Let’s go, let’s go. The arena is randomly generating a new setting. The next match is about to begin!”