The noise below the platform dropped sharply. Several Recruits who had been itching to try their luck swallowed and edged back half a step.
But that was not enough to extinguish the will to win among nine thousand people.
"If I give up now, it'll only be harder to break into the top thousand later..."
The third challenger, a tough fighter skilled in the Military's grappling techniques, leaped onto the platform.
He made no attempt to trade punches with Jiang Yue. Instead, he lowered his stance, hoping to drag Jiang Yue into a ground fight with holds and locks that would be hard to escape.
But he never even touched Jiang Yue's clothes. Jiang Yue's Roaming Dragon Stance displayed terrifying agility within that tiny space.
With the slightest sliding step, Jiang Yue circled behind him and struck the artery in the back of his neck with a precise knife-hand blow. The third challenger's eyes rolled back, and he crumpled.
Next, a fourth Quasi-Martial Artist who refused to believe it stepped up. Jiang Yue shattered his jaw with a plain Thrust Punch, sending him flying with blood pouring from his mouth.
The fifth took a kick to the knee. His ligaments tore, and he rolled off the platform screaming.
The sixth, the seventh...
Time passed, second by second, with merciless indifference on that seemingly endless arena of slaughter.
The defense battles had been going on for an hour and twenty minutes.
At that moment, anyone looking down from above Arena 34 would have seen a sight that might have made people of the old era physically ill.
Only modern medicine made it bearable. As long as someone did not die on the spot, they could usually be saved. Otherwise, the scene would have scared the courage out of many onlookers.
Blood