Team Battle (IV)

Especially those three melee fighters-one of them was a Beast Tamer with Stealth, just like Gongsun Qianxun.

Their chance of victory rested on him. As long as he could sneak up beside Jiang Hao and deliver a fatal blow, taking down Chubby and the other five would be as easy as reaching out a hand!

So the moment the match began, he slipped silently into Stealth. Jiang Hao happened to catch sight of it.

It would have been a lie to say he was not nervous. He was squishy, after all. Even with Big Hen sharing his damage, a critical hit from his opponent could still finish him off.

Unfortunately, Big Hen could not carry him into the sky. Otherwise, he would have been a proper mobile artillery platform, firing wherever he aimed without any danger.

A Beast Tamer in Stealth was extremely difficult to detect, unless...

Heh, I've got a trump card.

Jiang Hao tossed out a Transparent Egg. As long as his opponent was within fifteen meters, Lure would force him out of hiding.

Sure enough, the instant Lure activated, a figure appeared ten meters diagonally behind him, then ran uncontrollably toward the spot where the skill had gone off.

"Got you!"

Jiang Hao chuckled. The next moment, he cast Six-Shot Fireball without hesitation and took him out in one attack.

Less than three seconds had passed between the start of the match and the bell ringing on that fighter. The Assault Squad had already lost its greatest asset.

With the threat removed, what followed was easy to imagine. It was an utterly one-sided slaughter. Not a single Beast Tamer competing could withstand damage exceeding ten thousand without going down.

They easily picked up two points, and everyone witnessed Jiang Hao's strength. Those who had vowed to beat Jiang Hao's squad until they were crawling around looking for their teeth quietly shut their mouths, no longer daring to bluster.

Some still refused to believe it, however. Teams that thought themselves capable challenged Jiang Hao's squad, only to be beaten flat by Jiang Hao without exception. He never took more than three minutes. Soon, Jiang Hao's squad secured ten consecutive wins, earning an extra point and firmly claiming first place on the team points leaderboard.

By all rights, nobody should have been so clueless as to volunteer for a beating. Yet some saw an opportunity to make a name for themselves: if they could defeat Jiang Hao's squad, they would surely attract enormous attention. That was no exaggeration; it was simply the truth.

The first day of the Team Competition ended with everyone frantically volunteering for beatings and Jiang Hao's squad frantically handing them out. Over the course of the day, Jiang Hao and his teammates earned a full thirty-two points. One more victory would give them a Thirty-Game Win Streak.

That number was nothing short of terrifying. From that moment on, the entire Shenzhou Kingdom took notice of the boy riding a chicken.

A chicken could actually be a Beast Pet?

Many people could not help wondering whether they had stumbled into some blind spot in their understanding, but the facts were right before them. Even three-year-olds began riding their families' chickens all over the place, declaring that when they grew up, they would sweep through all opposition just like Jiang Hao.

Although Jiang Hao repeatedly stressed that his Beast Pet was a descendant of a Phoenix, only an idiot would believe that.

Jiang Hao still had no idea his name had swept across the entire Shenzhou Kingdom. The next day, the squad's seven members eagerly climbed onto the Fifth Arena to keep crushing weaklings, only for a strange scene to unfold.

After their twenty-nine consecutive wins yesterday, the other teams had finally realized that stepping up was simply handing them points. As a result, Jiang Hao and his teammates waited a full hour without a single team daring to challenge them.

This isn't good. No challengers means no points. What are we supposed to do?

Jiang Hao glanced at the unmoved competitors below and signaled for Chubby to go provoke them.

Having followed him for so long, how could Chubby fail to understand? He immediately folded his arms and walked to the edge of the Competition Platform, lifting his chin and puffing out his chest with an expression that practically begged for a beating. "What, did your grandpas beat the courage out of you? Just look at your sorry faces. Before the matches started, you were all barking pretty loudly about knocking Jiang Hao's squad's teeth out. Now you don't dare come up? Pah! You're all a bunch of shameless cowards!"

"With this temper of mine, who's going to stop me? I'm going up there to slap that bastard across the face!"

A burly man could no longer restrain himself after hearing Chubby's blatant taunts and charged onto the Competition Platform. His teammates failed to stop him. Seeing that he had already gone up, they could only follow with bitter smiles.

There was no helping it. They were all on the same team. The moment one of them stepped onto the Competition Platform, their entire team was considered to have issued a challenge.

Unsurprisingly, Jiang Hao thrashed them from head to toe and knocked them flat once again, securing his Thirty-Game Win Streak.

After that, nobody dared step onto the Fifth Arena for another beating. Plenty of people gathered below, but they were all there to watch the show and see how long anyone could last against Jiang Hao's squad. Their own teams would rather challenge another arena than seek abuse on the Fifth Arena. Watching was enough.

The other arenas were blazing with fierce competition, yet nobody had come up to theirs for ages. What were they supposed to do? The rules did not force other teams to challenge them. Realizing that this could not continue, Jiang Hao had a new idea: since the others would not come to them, they would go knocking on their doors instead.

He asked the referee whether, under these circumstances, they could give up defending their arena and challenge another one.

The referee's answer was clear: once they gave up defending the arena, they could no longer extend their winning streak. As for challenging other arenas, that was none of his business. In other words, they could go, but once they left the Competition Platform, any victories elsewhere would not count toward their streak.

Fine. That was their only option.

The seven members of Jiang Hao's squad stepped down from the Fifth Arena. The spectators, unaware of what was happening, watched their retreating figures in confusion. Hadn't they already won thirty matches in a row? Why were they leaving? Were they still the arena holders or not?

At that moment, the Cat Cat Squad, the holders of the Fourth Arena, had also achieved eighteen consecutive victories and were preparing for their next match.

Then their captain, Yu Guangguang, suddenly caught sight of Jiang Hao among the spectators out of the corner of his eye.

Huh?

What's this?

Did someone knock them off their arena?

Who's that badass?

His face was full of questions. Before he could even start admiring whichever mighty hero had accomplished that feat, Jiang Hao and his teammates climbed onto his arena, and his expression abruptly changed.

"Holy shit, what are you trying to do?"

He had blurted out his thoughts instinctively, then immediately regretted it. Didn't that make it obvious he was scared?

Jiang Hao was equally baffled. They had come up for points-no, for a challenge match, of course. Surely the rules did not forbid them from taking their act to another stage?

Ignoring him, Jiang Hao walked straight to the Fourth Arena's referee and registered their squad's name. Once the referee confirmed everything was in order, the match entered its preparation phase.

They really were here to challenge his team. Yu Guangguang's face instantly darkened. They already had eighteen consecutive wins and needed only two more to reach twenty. That would not only earn them two extra points but also set a new record for their streak. Few teams had managed ten consecutive wins, and Jiang Hao's squad was the only one to have reached twenty or more. If they achieved twenty consecutive wins, wouldn't that make them the strongest team after Jiang Hao's squad?

Now everything might go up in smoke!

Every spectator below craned their neck, eager to see which of the two teams with the longest winning streaks would come out on top.

"Brother Zihan, I never expected Jiang Hao to be this strong. If we ran into them, what chance would we have of winning?"

Wei Zihan considered the question with a solemn expression. They had deliberately watched Jiang Hao's squad compete yesterday. The others were nothing to fear, but Jiang Hao, who could instantly take people out, was troublesome. Wei Zihan had never even heard of those bizarre skills.

Even the most ordinary Fireball became something spectacular in his hands. He had seen other Beast Tamers cast Fireball, but their power fell far short of Jiang Hao's six-shot version. With damage that high, who could withstand it?

And what was that skill that dragged people out of Stealth?

What was that skill that blazed like fireworks yet could strike ten people at once?

Those were bad enough, but what was even more absurd was that nobody could block the skills cast by Jiang Hao's Beast Pet. Even hiding behind a defensive teammate did nothing. There was simply no answer to it.

"Begin!"

The referee gave the order.

Chubby was just about to charge into the center of the Competition Platform when an opponent got there even faster. Clearly, they understood Jiang Hao's team's combat patterns. If they could disrupt those patterns, perhaps they would have a chance of winning.

It was a defensive fighter tucked inside a turtle shell. His Beast Pet was a Primordial Turtle, with exceptionally high defense.

Chubby unleashed Heavy Strike three times in succession, yet could not even break through the opponent's most basic defense.

The enormous turtle shell was like a tent. The two supports hid inside it to keep Jiang Hao from instantly taking them out.

Yu Guangguang was also a ranged fighter. His Beast Pet was an Elf Cat-a cat that could throw snowballs.

The Cat Cat Squad likewise had only seven members. Apart from the Primordial Turtle fighter with his immense defense and the two supports, everyone else was a damage dealer, with the ranged attacker Yu Guangguang being the strongest among them.

With the center taken, Chubby had to settle for a position a few meters to the right of the turtle shell. From there, he could provide Jiang Hao with some vision. As long as Jiang Hao took out those damage dealers, they could win.

Before Jiang Hao could attack, Yu Guangguang, who also understood the advantage of striking first, threw a probing Snowball at him without another word.

Chen Xiaolin quickly intercepted the Snowball with Spider Web. Watching the web freeze instantly, Jiang Hao focused and held his breath. That Snowball was no simple thing.

Sure enough, at that moment, his passive skill, Hen and Eggs in Ruin, which had struck terror into so many teams at the mere mention of it, was actually countered.

Jiang Hao had just cast Wind Orb and Fireball.

Two eggs bounced toward the turtle shell one after the other and exploded. Wind Orb instantly dealt a swath of damage to the opposing team, but just as the second egg burst, at the very moment Six-Shot Fireball was about to hit Yu Guangguang, six snowballs intercepted the six fireballs with speed and precision.