Above the mage

Chapter 743 Rock City

"As for the fifth round, if it really drags into a one-on-one duel, the choice of who will fight in this round will depend on everyone's condition at the time and the opponent's situation." Fritz's tone softened, with a hint of caution.

It's not appropriate to finalize the pairings for the fifth round's one-on-one duel in advance.

Since it's a one-on-one duel, the restraint of the players' styles becomes extremely important.

You can only figure out who your opponent will be and their specific fighting style after playing the first four games.

These all require on-site adaptability.

Fritz's gaze swept over everyone, and he emphasized, "Therefore, we will not make a decision on the players for the fifth round for now. Everyone should be prepared to go on the court and deal with any unexpected situations."

At this point, the lineup and core tactics for the five matches were largely finalized.

Barring any major unforeseen circumstances, such as Gareth, who was participating in the two-player duel, being seriously injured in the first capture-the-flag match and unable to participate in subsequent two-player duels.

Or perhaps Cedric's magic consumption is too high, making it unable to support the team's output in a deathmatch. Under normal circumstances, this tactical arrangement will not change.

Fritz then shared his experience and explained the possible situations and strategies for the game.

After a brief three-day break, the second round of elimination matches, the quarterfinals, officially began.

The opening match on the first day was highly anticipated.

The Holy Empire versus the Rock City-State.

The arena's circular stands were packed with spectators from all sides of the continent, including mages, nobles, merchants, and even ordinary people.

A subtle, magical resonance permeated the air.

That was a sign that the arena's protective array was in operation, strong enough to withstand the full-force attack of a fourth-ring mage.

With the Holy Empire participating, although the tournament does not require all teams to attend the matches, the Holy Empire is a potentially formidable opponent, and its tactical style and combat strength in each match are worth studying carefully.

Therefore, the members of the Golden Flower Dynasty Mage Team all came to watch the match with great tacit understanding.

The Holy Empire's rival, the Rock City-State, was also quite unique.

As you can tell from the name, this is not a country.

Rock City-State is a power formed by the alliance of many mountain city-states.

Its rise is nothing short of a miracle in the history of the Nolan continent.

The first mountain range on the continent of Nolan is the Erwinaya Mountains, which separate the northern border from the outside world.

This is an indisputable fact across the entire continent.

Not only because of its magnificent scale, stretching for thousands of miles, with its main peak reaching tens of thousands of meters high.

Furthermore, because it stretches across the north and south, it effectively isolates the frigid air currents of the north from the creatures of the icy landmass, thus creating a warm climate suitable for life in the central and southern parts of the Nolan continent, which has given rise to diverse civilizations and powers.

In contrast to the Erwinaya Mountains, located at the southern end of the Nolan continent, there are three other continuous mountain ranges.

The world refers to them as the Three Southern Mountains: the Sword Mountain Range, the Silver Mountain Range, and the Warzhu Mountain Range.

Of the three mountain ranges, the Sword Mountain Range is located in the east. Its terrain is treacherous, its peaks are covered with rare magical plants, and its depths contain abundant leyline biological resources.

It had long been incorporated into the territory of the Golden Flower Dynasty, becoming an important source of extraordinary resources for the dynasty, supporting the dynasty's magical research and potion industry;

The Silver Mountain Range is rich in mineral resources, especially renowned for its extremely high-purity silver ore, and is under the jurisdiction of the Holy Empire.

It is the core source of raw materials for the Imperial Alchemy industry.

Only the Waerzhu Mountains, located in the middle section, have the most complex terrain, with overlapping peaks and crisscrossing valleys, and have been unclaimed land since ancient times.

Scattered across the Valzhu Mountains are numerous small city-states inhabited by people of different races.

These city-states were independent and occasionally had conflicts with each other, but they never managed to form a unified force.

Everything only began to change after one thing happened:

Beneath the Valzhu Mountains, a vast vein of magic crystals has been discovered.

The value of the magic crystal is immeasurable; it represents the most fundamental energy source.

The Oric Crystal, refined from the magic extracted from it, directly contributed to the glory of the Ian family in Linhai City, becoming the foundation for their position among the top merchant guilds on the continent.

It is not only the core power source of all large-scale alchemical machinery, but also an essential component for the operation of rune arrays.

From airships traversing the skies and giant alchemy rock drills used in mining, to magic crystal power furnaces powering cities and large alchemy war machines in war, everything relies on the power of magic crystals.

Its status is like that of oil in Gao De's past life memories—it is the lifeline that supports the operation of the extraordinary civilization of the entire continent.

Possessing a treasure is a crime.

After the discovery of the abundant magic crystal resources beneath the Valzhu Mountains, the news spread like wildfire, instantly attracting the covetous eyes of major powers across the continent.

In an instant, exploration teams, mercenary groups, and even some countries' secret adventure groups flocked to this once-untouched mountain range.

The Valzhu Mountains were engulfed in turmoil.

Faced with threats from various forces, the small city-states on the Valzhu Mountains finally realized that they could not protect this divinely bestowed wealth, nor could they resist external invasions, by relying on the strength of a single city-state.

In order to protect themselves, and in order to truly control this resource that belongs to them and achieve growth.

These small city-states, which were originally fighting their own battles and even had many frictions and conflicts with each other, put aside the grudges and estrangements accumulated over generations.

Led by the three most powerful city-states at the time, a sacred alliance agreement was reached, and the Rock City-State was formally established.

After forming the alliance, the Rock City-State adopted a strategy of mutual exchange and mutual support.

The various city-states broke down barriers of resources and technology. City-states skilled in mining were responsible for excavating magic crystal veins, while those skilled in alchemy were responsible for processing and utilizing magic crystals...

With the huge profits from the development and sale of magic crystals, the Rock City-State quickly accumulated massive wealth.

They continuously purchased advanced alchemy machines, expanded the scale of magic crystal mining and processing, and vigorously cultivated local mages. They even spent a lot of money to hire wild mages from all over the continent to build a powerful mage team.

In just over a century, it rose from an insignificant mountain alliance to become a major power on the continent of Nolan.

The most distinctive feature of the Pan Shi City-State Dharma Masters is their diverse ethnic composition.

This is the inevitable result of the multi-ethnic community living together in the Warzhu Mountains over the years, and it is also their most unique competitive advantage.

The largest group of people are the indigenous people of the Waerzhu Mountains, the Waerzhu people.

The Walzhu people have dark brown skin, are short and stocky, and have well-developed muscles.

Even ordinary Valzhu people possess physique and endurance far exceeding that of ordinary people.

The Val'zhu mage, on the other hand, is particularly skilled in earth elemental and defensive spells.

Secondly, there is the Grey Elf race that migrated from the continent of Terra.

That was in the Middle Ages, for some unknown reasons: some say it was due to internal divisions, others say it was due to the destruction of their homeland.

In short, this group of elves chose to leave the continent of Terra, cross the ocean, and eventually settle in the Valzhu Mountains.

The elves are inherently "closed off" and rarely appear in the secular world, making them a rare sight.

As a niche branch of the Elf race, Grey Elves are even rarer and more uncommon.

Unlike the stereotypical image of elves as agile and handsome, grey elves have light grey skin, dark green eyes, and are slightly taller than humans.

Though not as delicate as an elf, it possesses a greater degree of resilience.

Most peculiarly, the Grey Elves are not a long-lived species; their lifespan is similar to that of humans.

This is quite different from the traditional elf race. There are also legends that they were cursed by some kind of bloodline, which is the real reason why they left the continent of Terra.

In terms of magic, gray elves excel at nature magic and illusion magic.

In addition, the city-state of Rock is home to a large number of human refugee descendants from all over the continent.

Most of them were refugees who lost their homes in war and were forced to migrate to the Valzhu Mountains. After several generations, they gradually became an important part of the Rock City-State.

What's even more special is that, due to the diversity of races within the city-state, a large number of various mixed-race individuals were born.

They do not have an official racial name, but they inherited the racial advantages of both parents.

Some possess the resilience of the Valchus and the agility of humans, while others combine the illusionary talents of the Grey Elves with the adaptability of humans, resulting in a more diverse combat style.

It is precisely because of this diversity of races and the uniqueness of the city-state that the seven young mages sent by the Rock City-State each have a very distinctive combat system and flexible and varied tactics.

This allowed them to stand out among many forces and successfully enter the top eight.

Although they faced the Holy Empire in this round, it was clear that the players from the Principality of Rock in the player area had not lost their fighting spirit.

They attach great importance to this year's Unparalleled Fighting Tournament.

The prize money from the competition was secondary to them.

The city-state of Rock may lack many things, but it certainly doesn't lack wealth.

As elite mages cultivated by the city-state, they never lacked cultivation resources.

What they truly value is using this competition to showcase the strength and potential of the Rock City-State to the entire continent of Nolan.

On the one hand, it was to attract more talented monks from all over the mainland to join them, make up for the shortcomings of the city-state's monk ranks, and strengthen its own strength.

On the other hand, they also hope to use this opportunity to build momentum, establish the name of the Rock City-State, and shed the label of a nouveau riche who only mines magic crystals.

Panshi City is urgently seeking transformation.

Although the magic crystals beneath the Valzhu Mountains are far from being fully mined, the city-state's rulers have long understood the importance of being prepared for any eventuality.

They knew that while magic crystals brought in money quickly, they were not a long-term solution and could not achieve sustainable development.

Only by creating powerful superhuman strength and a sustainable ecological environment can we truly gain a foothold on the Nolan continent.

The match started quickly.

The final outcome was not unexpected by most people.

The gap in strength between the two teams remains significant.

The Holy Empire swept aside the Rock City-State with a score of 3-0, becoming the first to advance to the semi-finals.

However, the score does not fully reflect the course of the game.

In terms of the competition, the Rock City-State did indeed cause considerable trouble for the Holy Empire, even forcing their players to reveal some of their true abilities.

First up is the capture-the-flag battle in the first round.

The Holy Empire sent the same group as when they were in the round of 16.

That is, two substitute players, Beatrice and White, and one regular player, Herbert.

However, in the round of 16, this combination could easily crush their opponents without any pressure.

But in this match, things won't be so easy.

Because the Rock Kingdom's team included three mages at the early fourth ring level.

Therefore, in this match, they fielded two fourth-ring mages in addition to their ace player, plus a third-ring mage as their main player.

Judging from the major levels of mages, they are on par with those of the Holy Empire.

Naturally, the game will no longer be one-sided.

From the start of the match, Rock City demonstrated a completely different tactical approach compared to their opponents in the previous round.

The Val'zhu mage summoned a medium-sized earth elemental to guard the banner.

To get close to the flag, you must first get past the earth element.

Earth element is the most durable and has the strongest defensive capabilities among elemental creatures.

Of course, while earth elementalists are strong in defense and have amazing endurance, they have obvious weaknesses, namely slow movements and lack of agility, making them easy targets for opponents to outmaneuver.

However, in the flag-defending phase of the capture-the-flag battle, the Earth element only needs to stay in place and hold the line to maximize its defensive advantages, making it the best choice for defending the flag.

The two sides argued for a full five or six minutes, and the situation was deadlocked at one point.

Finally, relying on Herbert's extremely powerful "Shadow Cloak" ability, he achieved short-distance spatial jumps using his shadow.

His figure instantly blended into the shadows of the arena, and the next second he appeared behind the Earth Elemental, finally capturing the flag and securing the victory.

But Herbert also exposed a lot of things as a result.

First, after Herbert used Shadowmeld, his breathing became noticeably heavier, and the fluctuations in his magical energy fluctuated.

This indicates that this Shadow Cloak technique is extremely taxing on him and cannot be used frequently.

Another issue is that Herbert's output capabilities are clearly insufficient.

Earth elementals, being elemental beings without flesh and blood, have a natural resistance to physical attacks and some evocation spells.

Herbert excels at stealth and surprise attacks, but his weakness in damage output is magnified when facing earth elements, putting him at a clear disadvantage.

This is all intelligence.

In the second round of the two-player competition, the Principality of Rock sent out their ace player.

That is, Captain Raymond, and another Val'zhul fourth-circle mage.

Raymond is a half-human, half-grey mage who is skilled in nature magic and illusion magic and is a formidable fighter.

For the Principality of Rock, the most fortunate thing was that they drew the Shadow Forest as the venue for this round of the competition.

This is a dimly lit place where visibility is poor.

The area is filled with a dense, shadowy miasma that not only obscures vision but also subtly interferes with magical perception, making it ideal for illusion-based mages.

Meanwhile, the area is covered with dense dead trees and vines, providing an excellent platform for casting nature-based spells.

It was a battlefield tailor-made for Raymond.

The Holy Empire, on the other hand, had clearly anticipated that the Rock City-State would send out its ace player in this round and had made preparations in advance.

They fielded a powerful combination of two key members.

Herbert and Conrad, who had not yet appeared on stage.

Conrad comes from a family of imperial armorers, has a distinctive red braid, and is a versatile expert in weapon sculpting.

However, the information provided can only reveal so much about a person's true abilities; it all comes down to actual combat.