Chapter 222: The Necromancer Without an Undead Legion (3/3)

"When Boss Fang set the rules, did he somehow overlook Necromancers?" Lin Shao clearly had a decent understanding of the class. "It's true that monsters and corpses affect the matches slightly, but if the arena is swept completely clean, and players aren't allowed to enter other maps to find monsters, how is a Necromancer supposed to play?"

"Exactly!" Xu Luo chimed in, feeling the injustice. "He was the one who recommended this class to Fatty Wang in the first place, and now he doesn't even consider it when making the rules!"

Nalan Mingxue knit her brows slightly. She knew a bit about the Necromancer's skills. Wang Tai was already at a disadvantage; if there were corpses, he might still stand a fighting chance, but now...

With these restrictions, she could only offer the fat youth her silent condolences.

...

Because all martial arts tourneys and duels in this world had no concept of a multi-game series to determine a victor, Fang Qi kept things thoroughly down-to-earth: the entire Diablo solo tournament would be decided in a single, sudden-death match!

After all, in the minds of many in this world, there were no second chances on a real battlefield!

To say he wasn't nervous would be a lie.

At this moment, the hand with which Fatty Wang gripped his staff was slick with sweat.

Though he had already played twenty matches before this, truth be told, when had he ever seen such a grand spectacle?

A massive crowd was watching from below, and his opponent was a super-expert in reality—someone completely out of reach for ordinary folk!

He wasn't a genius like Song Qingfeng or Nalan Mingxue, nor did he possess gear that surpassed others by a mile; during the qualifiers, he had even been beaten so badly at first that he couldn't find his bearings!

Because there were no corpses on the field, he couldn't summon skeletons. The Skeleton Army, which was a Necromancer's finest tool for charting new territory, had become an utterly useless spell here.

Just imagine how simple combat would be with hordes of skeletal frames in the vanguard and ranks of skeletal mages in the rear!

But now, let alone summoning an undead legion, even Corpse Explosion—the Necromancer's most terrifyingly powerful skill—was similarly impossible to cast!

A single rule, while not explicitly banning the Necromancer's skills from the outset, had indirectly forbidden his two main abilities!

This had forced him to reallocate his skill tree, changing from a summon-focused Necromancer into one that specialized in bone spells.

Unlike the others, who already had fixed routines and playstyles, he had been constantly tweaking his approach from his very first qualifier match, and even now, it could only be considered barely finished.

This was also why Wang Tai's gear and level were near the top, yet he had only broken into the top sixteen toward the very end.

To call it finished was actually an overstatement, as he was still hesitating over many skill distributions.

For instance, whether to use Teeth or Bone Spear as his primary offensive spell, how to distribute his summons, whether to summon an Iron Golem or a Clay Golem, and so on.

However, an Iron Golem required a metal item with excellent attributes to be summoned to unleash its power, so after some thought, he still chose the Clay Golem for its higher safety.

Come to think of it, the only thing he could summon now was this single, solitary golem (various golems could not coexist; only one could be summoned)!

On the other side, Old Man Fu checked the charges on his Teleportation Staff, then inspected his other equipment. Clearly, with teleportation, dealing with a short-legged mage who couldn't even run left absolutely no room for suspense.

He wouldn't even need to reveal the fact that he had received a Teleportation Staff; perhaps this trump card could be saved for the next match.

As both sides adjusted their equipment and skills, the countdown began, and they teleported into the arena.

In Old Man Fu's view, against a mage without teleportation, a direct charge forward followed by a Smite to stun him would bring the battle to a swift end.

But in the next instant, almost at the exact moment the match began, he saw a solid, insurmountable wall of bone rise between the two of them!

Through the gaps in the skeleton structure, he could even see the somewhat stout youth on the other side casting his next spell with a hint of frantic haste.

Bone Prison!

A massive ring of towering bone walls abruptly manifested from all directions, trapping him completely in the center!

Too few people played the Necromancer class, and many had never even seen its skills. Coupled with the fact that Wang Tai hadn't thought about investing points into these skills during the qualifiers, everyone was left utterly dazed now that he unleashed them!

To slowly climb out of such a high wall of bone was enough time for any ranged class to riddle him like a sieve!

The area before the big screen, which had just been clamoring with noises and shouting condolences for the fat youth, fell dead silent in an instant!

Old Man Fu knew he could wait no longer. The only way to break the deadlock was the Teleportation Staff; hiding it at this point would be asking for death!

Just as Old Man Fu pulled out the Teleportation Staff, Wang Tai also cast his third spell in sequence—this was the casting order he had prepared beforehand.

The two cast their spells almost simultaneously, but comparing the casting speed of a mage to a warrior, there was no need to guess who would finish first.

Decrepify Curse!

In the next instant, Old Man Fu teleported right behind Wang Tai!

Crack!

The sound of the swirling bone shield being knocked away rang out. Only then did Wang Tai snap to awareness, hurriedly pulling back to create distance.

Almost everyone stared at the big screen in utter bewilderment. They saw Old Man Fu's Smite swing with agonizing slowness; after breaking Wang Tai's bone shield, before he could even hit the boy, he was actually evaded!

"What's going on?!"

Old Man Fu felt a wave of bewilderment in his own heart as well. He felt his body grow incredibly heavy—this body felt even more decrepit than his real-life self! He couldn't even exert half his strength!

Almost simultaneously, the Clay Golem that had been guarding Wang Tai's side struck!

Unfortunately for Old Man Fu, he was currently afflicted by the Decrepify Curse; even if he reacted, he couldn't dodge it!

Old Man Fu avoided a vital strike from the golem's attack, letting it hit his arm, resulting in low damage.

But next, he discovered that his body grew even heavier! It was as if a thousand-pound boulder were hung from his arms and legs!

Slow Curse! The Clay Golem's attacks carried a slowing effect!

Everyone watching the big screen now saw that Old Man Fu's movements were like a slow-motion scene in a movie, incredibly sluggish!

Slow and Decrepify stacked together!

At the same time, an overwhelming barrage of bone spells and the golem's attacks came crashing down!

"My goodness, how do you even fight this?!"

"Can this warrior even walk out of there?!"

"This is even more unsolvable than a mage's teleport!"

"A mage's teleport can still be countered with a Teleportation Staff, but how do you counter this?"

The crowd in front of the big screen erupted into absolute chaos!

Xiao Yulv, who had confidently asserted moments ago that Wang Tai couldn't possibly win, had a handsome face that was now flushed red: "Old Master Fu teleported away with his shield up! There's still hope!"

"Several teleports in a row! The distance has been completely widened!" The surrounding crowd cried out in astonishment.

"What am I seeing?! A mage is actually hunting down a Paladin!"

"What on earth is that?!" Immediately after, everyone watched as Wang Tai gave chase, waving his staff to summon one phantom after another!

These spirits moved incredibly fast, as if they had caught the scent of the living, drifting straight toward Old Man Fu's direction!

"It's over!" many wailed.

In the arena, one could only drink mana potions, not health potions. A Teleportation Staff generally had only around a dozen charges, and half of them were already used up!

"Old Man Fu cast Holy Shield on himself! Holy crap! He teleported back!" Everyone watched in horror as Old Man Fu actually teleported straight back!

The duration of the Decrepify and Slow curses had already expired!

"What did Old Man Fu activate?!"

The moment Old Man Fu teleported back, arcs of electricity flashed beneath his feet!

"Holy Shock! Smite?! It hit! Zeal!" A Holy Shock Paladin possessed the highest burst damage. Free from the shackles of the Decrepify Curse, the crystal sword in Old Man Fu's hand came down almost like a phantom! At the same time, a clean, swift sidestep dodged the golem's attack!

Wang Tai's bone shield was shattered almost instantly, and then his entire body was struck into a stagger, nearly collapsing to the ground!

Half of his health vanished in an instant!

But a bone specter, freshly unleashed by Wang Tai, loomed nearby. Driven by its innate urge to hunt the living, the creature abruptly veered and slammed into its target. A deathly chill washed over Elder Fu, reducing his remaining life to the absolute brink.

At that exact moment, another specter from further away caught the scent and raced back.

"Can the curse still land?!" someone cried out just as Wang Tai raised his hand to cast the spell.

"He blinked away! He used Teleport!" The crowd before the massive screen erupted into a collective roar.

Everyone watched as Elder Fu, executing a flawless prediction, vanished into thin air.

"He escaped! The curse missed!"

"Incredible!"

"Ah! Look behind him! Specters!"

"Teleport again! Keep teleporting!"

"It is over!!" Two specters that happened to be drifting nearby caught the scent of life and surged forward with terrifying speed.

Had Wang Tai won?!

The spectators stared at the spectacle, utterly unable to believe their eyes.

Confronted by this sudden outcome, the entire arena fell into a stunned, breathless silence.

Could it truly be this unassuming, heavy-set youth who had emerged victorious?!

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