Chapter 3: Twists and Turns (2)
==============================
Just as the tornado was about to strike with a bang, Lin Nan suddenly thrust his longsword diagonally into the ground.
A thick layer of snow blanketed the ground, half of which had turned into that shadowy, blackened snow.
The tornado whirled up almost all of the black snow in the air, but for the moment, it left the snow near Lin Nan untouched.
The sword didn’t bury itself in the snow; it was a full centimeter above the surface.
Faced with the furious storm, Lin Nan showed no fear whatsoever.
With a flick of his wrist, he deftly skewered a piece of black snow, sending it hurtling toward the oncoming tornado.
As he did this, it was as if countless white carrots manifested before his eyes, and with every gentle flick of his wrist, the sword tip sliced the air into perfectly formed carrot strips.
When this sensation became second nature, without needing to think anymore, Lin Nan’s movements could only be described as lightning-fast.
In less than a few seconds…
As the unstoppable tornado prepared to engulf Lin Nan, a continuous stream of black meteors suddenly collided head-on, creating a small gap in the ferocious winds.
In a blink, Lin Nan performed an aerial roll, diving right into that gap.
Even while it felt like countless black snowflakes were torturing him as they spun and sliced around him, he curled up tightly, guarding his vital spots.
This was his only slim chance of survival.
However, to outsiders, it appeared that Lin Nan had put up a futile struggle only to be consumed by the tornado.
The raging cyclone collided with the arena floor, making a deafening squeal as it twisted and broke several steel railings, scattering debris among the crowd.
Clearly, Lin Nan’s fate seemed sealed.
Despite his earlier impressive performance giving the audience a glimmer of hope that he might defeat the Cold Moon Witch, the unleashing of her “Illusory Sea” skill quickly shattered that dream, tearing the last resilient contender to shreds.
If Gongsun Ding hadn’t had his escape artifact, he likely would have already met his end beneath the Cold Moon Witch’s blade.
And now, Lin Nan had nothing but his longsword in hand.
Surviving this long already exceeded everyone’s expectations, and dying at the hands of the Cold Moon Witch’s ultimate move would at least be the biggest compliment he could ask for.
After all, most people would have likely met their doom the moment the black snow took form.
The howling tornado began to fade into thin air after sweeping past the arena.
Just as Strong Brother and Cold Little Rain were gathering their emotions to wrap up this thrilling live stream, an astonishing sight unfolded right before their eyes.
Everyone had thought Lin Nan had turned into a puff of smoke and returned to the spawn point, but when the tornado dissipated, a body, drenched in bl**d, “thudded” to the ground from mid-air.
He didn’t d*e—he was somehow still alive?
The crowd was dumbfounded.
The power of the tornado was apparent to all; although the Martial Arts Hall had restrained its force within the arena, the surrounding steel railings were still snapped like twigs, with fragments raining down on the audience.
How on earth did he survive such an overwhelming hurricane? This was practically impossible!
As the crowd gaped in shock, the bloodied figure slowly stood up.
At that moment, even the most discerning player couldn’t help but admire his determination and be awed by his resilience.
After all, everyone has a heart.
If they were in the same shoes facing an S-Class test, how many of them would make it this far?
How many could withstand the crushing pressure of the Cold Moon Witch and still stand tall?
It was incredibly difficult.
Truly, it was an immense challenge.
Yet, Lin Nan had done it; how could anyone not be impressed?
While there were still netizens in the live stream cheering for the Cold Moon Witch, support for Lin Nan had surprisingly begun to swell.
Fatty, keenly watching the live updates, immediately started spamming “Go Lin Nan!” in the chat.
Others, caught up in the moment, began to join in too.
In no time, the number of players forming Lin Nan’s support group grew rapidly, nearly rivaling the fans of the Cold Moon Witch.
Strong Brother, with a sharp eye, caught on to this shift.
“At first, players thought these two challengers simply triggered Master Sister Luo Ying’s hidden quest by chance; the S-Class final test seemed to hold no real chance for them.
In almost no one’s favor, these two players fought their way through to the Cold Moon Witch’s lair.
Just as we thought they were about to be utterly defeated, Lin Nan stood up and displayed jaw-dropping sword skills, managing to endure the onslaught of the ‘Illusory Sea’ tornado.
I ask you all, aside from Lin Nan, who else could pull that off?”
A brief silence fell over the live stream.
Self-awareness is important. Most of the audience were seasoned players, and everyone knew what Strong Brother was saying was spot on.
After this battle, Lin Nan had undoubtedly reached legendary status; at least among players, his swordplay skill was top-notch.
Cold Little Rain said, “It would really be too unfortunate if Lin Nan fell now after holding on for so long. I really hope Luo Ying shows up now to declare the test over. After all, no one could possibly do better than him.”
But it seemed that Luo Ying had no intention of doing that.
Everything was far from over.
Any player who had seen the Cold Moon Witch’s combat footage knew that while the precursor to her “Illusory Sea” skill involved winds like a tornado, it was soon followed by swarms of undead creatures bursting from the ground.
The higher the cold value, the stronger and more numerous the undead.
Lin Nan hadn’t been on the ground long when countless decayed hands erupted from the soil, frantically flailing about.
He certainly didn’t want to meet the same fate as the Upgrade Maniac, getting grabbed by those undead and humiliated in front of everyone.
At this critical moment, Lin Nan tapped the ground with his sword’s tip, flipping in mid-air.
The longsword then cut through the air, releasing a brilliant flash as countless fingers and hands were sliced off, spraying rancid black bl**d everywhere like a fountain.
By now, fully formed zombies were clawing their way up from the ground, howling as they lunged at Lin Nan.
He was unfazed, fluidly maneuvering amidst the sea of grasping, gnarled limbs.
At this point, he was almost certain that the Cold Moon Witch’s projection was likely drawn from before they entered the Chaos Forest.
After all, until now, she had yet to engage him in close combat.
All her damage had stemmed from her bug-level skills.
Thus, once those skills were shaken off, her melee capabilities weren’t quite as formidable as the players imagined.
His only chance for victory lay in close quarters.
While this choice would expose the Cold Moon Witch’s weakness, perhaps when players face her again with secondary accounts in the future, it would lead to some delightful surprises.
