In this team match, Zhu Zhuqing's speed-based attacks wouldn't be much use against the Berserk Team's final berserk state.
So this time, the seven who took the field were:
Tang Wu, Tang San, Xiao Wu, Dai Mubai, Ning Rongrong, Oscar, and Ma Hongjun.
Before the battle began.
The Berserk Team's captain was a burly man over two meters tall, his body knotted with muscles. His Martial Soul was a rhino.
Looking at the team of fair-faced, clean-cut children who were only eleven or twelve, he sneered and taunted them:
"Where'd all you little brats come from? Hurry home and suckle your mothers. The Spirit Fighting Arena isn't a place for kids like you."
As soon as the Berserk Team captain said that, his teammates behind him burst into laughter and chimed in.
"Exactly, exactly. If you get hurt by accident, we can't afford to pay your medical bills."
Faced with their mockery, Dai Mubai was the first to step forward in protest.
He swept his gaze over the opposing Berserk Team and scoffed:
"Oh, is that so?"
"You wouldn't happen to be scared, would you? Getting nervous? These low-down tricks won't work on us."
"Boss Dai is mighty! Boss Dai is freaking awesome..."
With Dai Mubai leading the charge, Oscar and Ma Hongjun weren't about to fall behind. They cheered him on from the back.
Then they joined in, firing back at their opponents.
"Look at that big, burly frame of yours. You're trying to play mind games like everyone else? I'd say you're ugly as sin and full of cheap tricks."
"Eat shit..."
The two traded barbs back and forth, trash-talking before the match. They managed to break the Berserk Team captain's composure on the spot.
His eyes bloodshot, he glared at the two of them and roared in fury:
"Enough! I'm going to rip out both your vocal cords!"
Oscar and Ma Hongjun saw things were getting bad and hurriedly ducked behind Dai Mubai.
"Boss Dai, help!"
But just as things were about to get dangerous, the referee's voice rang out, calling both teams onto the stage.
Only then did the Berserk Team captain stop in his tracks. He shot a vicious glare at the two hiding behind Dai Mubai and threatened them:
"You got lucky this time. Watch your mouths, unless you want to be torn apart. We'll see you in the arena..."
"Bring it on! Who's scared?"
After their opponent left, Oscar still made a face in the direction he'd gone.
It was only trash talk. Who couldn't do that?
"I didn't realize Oscar was so good at provoking people."
Tang Wu folded his arms and walked over, unable to help commenting.
With just a few words, Oscar had enraged their opponent so badly that the man had nearly lost his reason and started a fight before the match.
"Foolish. Utterly foolish behavior."
In the private box, Gangzi had seen the whole dispute between the Shrek team and the Berserk Team.
He criticized Oscar's decision to provoke the Berserk Team without holding back.
When faced with an enemy's taunts, this did them no good. Instead, it would make the other side fight with everything they had in the match.
The best thing to do was to pretend you hadn't heard the taunts.
To take a beating without hitting back, and an insult without answering—that was what a wise person would do.
"Xiao Gang, it's normal for young people to have hot tempers."
"If you're not hot-blooded when you're young, are you even young?"
Flender disagreed with Gangzi.
When he was young, he'd been a real hell-raiser himself, so he understood why Dai Mubai and the others had acted that way.
Flender's words left Gangzi at a loss. He knew the man had a point.
But what sort of person was our Grandmaster?
He could call white black and black white, and he'd still stubbornly insist he was right even with death staring him in the face.
"So what?"
"Even if they did the right thing, that doesn't mean they weren't wrong."
Was this some kind of inequality?
Without a word, they'd mastered the T0 strategy!!!
Haki Gang, you rascal!
Inside the Spirit Fighting Arena.
Both teams had arrived and stood facing each other from opposite sides.
When the audience saw the seven members of the Berserk Team take the stage, they erupted with enthusiasm.
They were all people who'd bet on the Berserk Team to win.
"Go! Crush them!"
"Charge! Break their bones! Don't let the fight stop!"
"The Berserk Team will win! The Berserk Team will win! The Berserk Team will win..."
The audience's cheers gathered into a wave of sound, each one louder than the last. By contrast, the Shrek team had scarcely any supporters.
The Berserk Team captain spread his arms, thoroughly enjoying the atmosphere:
"Don't worry. I'll break your legs!"
The moment the referee announced the start, the match officially began.
The Berserk Team's strategy was a savage charge—the most direct collision of flesh against flesh.
Moreover, most of their Martial Souls belonged to the thick-skinned, tough-bodied type.
The Berserk Team captain was especially fearsome. After his Martial Soul Possession, his charge was like a runaway Dayun.
He elbowed everything in his path with wild abandon!
Man!
Facing this scene, Tang Wu wasn't the least bit flustered. He was completely confident.
"Everyone, stick to the plan we discussed."
"Understood." ×6
Hearing this, the others all answered in unison.
Blue Silver Grass spread rapidly from beneath Tang Wu's feet, soon growing as tall as a person.
The Blue Silver Grass completely concealed the figures of the other six as well.
Rumble—
The ground trembled, and heavy footsteps rang out, as if an army of thousands were marching in perfect formation.
"You think a little Blue Silver Grass can fool me? A cheap trick like that, and you dare show off in front of me? I'll smash every last one of these plants!"
Seeing the patches of Blue Silver Grass ahead, the Berserk Team captain didn't slow down. He looked at them with disdain.
But...
After smashing every last strand of Blue Silver Grass in his path and charging straight into the thicket, unstoppable as a splitting wave, he couldn't find Tang Wu and the others anywhere.
The seven members of the Shrek team had vanished from the Spirit Fighting Arena as if they were Gui Mei, disappearing into thin air.
"Where are they? They were just right there!"
"I don't know?!!"
The Berserk Team captain and his teammates stared at the empty arena, their eyes clouded with confusion.
What they didn't know was that...
Five meters or so underground, a broad tunnel had somehow taken shape.
The Strangling Banyan's vines spread over every part of the walls, holding the space firmly in place.
"Who would've thought we could dig out such a huge space beneath the arena in no time?"
"The enemy's in the light while we're in the dark. We can attack whenever we want. When it comes to dirty tricks, you're the man, Brother Wu..."
Oscar gave a thumbs-up and laughed without the slightest shame.
Dai Mubai rubbed his fists together and said with a wicked grin:
"Now we're the only ones who can hit them. They can't touch us at all."
Everyone looked at one another and saw the same mischievous grin on each other's faces.
Tang Wu had been able to build this space so quickly thanks to the Strangling Banyan's ability to grow roots in the air. Its roots had burrowed underground, spread rapidly, and then reinforced the area.
The same method could also be used to send people back up.
At a depth of five or six meters underground, unless they had a highly penetrating Soul Skill, their attacks simply couldn't reach this far.