……

The next day was another big event as the other bracket of the playoff rounds would be taking place.

The matchup for this bracket was also quite interesting, especially when the first faceoff was between the long-time rivals of virtual games – the rivalry between the Dragon Pavilion and the Hydra Guild.

This matchup had already gone down in the history of the virtual reality games, especially when they were almost been at odds with one another whenever they met.

There was no clear winner between the two forces as they had pretty close wins and losses against one another.

Everyone was very excited about this match as they knew that this was going to be a great battle, as it always had been.

Sure enough, the two teams had delivered what everyone was expecting. The battle was so close and intense that the players watching the match were unable to contain their excitement and burst out in a crazy uproar during the entire match.

Each round was so close that it was impossible to guess who would be winning the match even until the final moments.

The Dragon Pavilion and Hydra Guild were too familiar with one another, so their arrangements did not include many schemes and just relied on the skills of their members.

In this match, everyone had also seen the most famous members of each team, such as their most elite groups, the Dragon Talons and Hydra Heads.

Both elite groups were composed of the strongest and most skilled members of each side, who were either Godlike Players or Maverick Gods. There were also some Peak Titled Rankers and Peak Maverick Rankers, who could rival some of the gods standing at the apex of the Godly Ranking List.

Each matchup in this round could only be described as one word – Bloody!

In the end, the final result proved that the Dragon Pavilion had a slight advantage due to their good form. They had won the opening Single Match of the first round and barely lost the second one.

Then they proceeded to the Group Battle of the second round, which they had unfortunately lost due to the miracle play of Phyton, who had used a Life-Risking Strike to exchange his life to eliminate the core member of the Dragon Pavilion in that 3-vs-3 round.

The Team Competition, on the other hand, was very chaotic as both the heads of the two teams had made their appearance.

Yuan, the Pavilion Master of the Dragon Pavilion, and Serpent, the Guild Leader of the Hydra Guild, had exchanged tactics that not only targeted the weakness of each side but also heightened the strengths of their teams.

These two were also included on the current Strategists List due to their style of leading the troops.

Yuan’s style of commanding his team was quite straightforward, relying on the overwhelming strength of his members and their solid team composition. He was even leading the group personally at times when it was needed, also acting as a great general who would lead his army to victory.

Meanwhile, his archrival, Serpent, relied on tricks and schemes. His style of leading focused more on luring his enemies to commit a mistake and creating opportunities. He was the type of strategist with a cunning mind who was filled with tricks and underhanded methods up his sleeves.

The two sides had a very different style of leading their team, which showcased the distinct styles of their teams even more.

But at this time, the one who had emerged victorious was the side of the Dragon Pavilion, which had a better team composition for the matchup.

However, the Hydra Guild had not lost that badly, as they had proved to be a great menace even until the end. They had even found multiple opportunities where they almost turned the situation around.

If not for Yuan suppressing their frontline by himself at that time, then they would have most likely lost that battle.

But at the same time, it was also clear that the Hydra Guild had not shown everything they could in that battle, especially when Serpent seemed to be more focused on observing their opponents rather than winning the match.

It had been a while since their sides had clashed against one another, so he might have wanted to collect more information about their opponents rather than winning the match.

After all, the final score was quite close, with 6 to 4 points.

There were still many chances they could turn this around in the rematch two days later. Then there were also the other changes of the two sides clashing against one another in the future, such as the Guild Wars Tournament or other forms of war within the game.

From the eyes of the experts, this cunning guy was surely thinking about the bigger picture and how they would win in the long run.

Yuan was also aware of this, especially when he was very familiar with this long-time rival of his. But he did not care since he was the type to focus more on what was in front of him and win every battle he encountered.

Regardless of what adversity he was facing, he would charge through it with force and without looking back.

This was what most of the godly experts of the virtual games admired him for the most.

…

Meanwhile, the next up after this one was the competition between the defending champions against the unexpected participants of this tournament – God’s Paradise and the Hand of Midas.

There was no need to question the strength of God’s Paradise, especially with such a huge number of all-star players on their side. Among all the teams participating in the United Cup, only the Empyrean Talons and Earners Mercenary Group could match them in this area.

But even then, God’s Paradise had the slight advantage due to them being the defending champions.

The lead players of their team, as well as the rest of the core members, had distinct abilities that could cover all kinds of situations. They had a lot of strong points that allowed them to be a team with almost no weaknesses.

Meanwhile, their opponents were not that simple either. As the Chiefs of the Hand of Midas, they were among the peak when it came to production classes.

With this information alone, no one would dare to underestimate them, especially when their strength came from special tools, odd potions, and unique equipment. On top of that, all of these would be the best of the best since all these Chiefs were the best within their respective lifestyle professions.

They had also repeatedly proved to everyone that their classes were not just for crafting, as they had already beaten quite a lot of people during the entire tournament and the other incidents where they had showcased their battle capabilities.

The first Single Match of the first round did not surprise everyone that much since God’s Paradise had won it pretty easily.

But the next one shocked everyone as Black Hammer had almost trashed his opponent. Moreover, the representative that God’s Paradise had sent for this match was not a simple player either – it was the Berserker Swordsman ‘Jihan’, who was quite a famous Maverick God.

Jihan might not be as strong as the all-star players within the tournament, but he was still a powerful Maverick God, nevertheless. But despite all his achievements, he was still beaten very badly to the point that he became a regular player in the eyes of everyone compared to his opponent.

Black Hammer, this number one blacksmith within the game, had proved to everyone that he was not just good at crafting and forging top-notch equipment, but in combat as well.

The second round, the Group Battle, was quite a shocker as well. Tinker, the best engineer, Harmony, the best tailor, and Adept Hands, the best alchemist, had won the 3-vs-3 battle in a very convincing manner.

It was not as one-sided as how Black Hammer had won the previous match, but it was still a very strong victory.

These three had shown everyone how a person of their profession could fight against powerful opponents, even against strong Godlike Players of the game.

Tinker had shown everyone how powerful the advanced tools and mechanical equipment of an engineer could be when fighting. His mechanical box alone, which could transform into different kinds of weapons, was more than enough to tempt all men to change their classes.

With his flashy moves and futuristic equipment, people had even given him a special title – Battle Mechanic Tinker.

Meanwhile, Harmony had used special strings or threads during the battle. She kept on flicking her fingers, which then pulled and tugged the almost invisible strings that either wrapped themselves around her targets or sliced through their flesh.

The way she moved looked very cool, especially when she manipulated these strings along with the kite daggers attached to their tips.

Adept Hands, on the other hand, looked like a crazy witch who kept on throwing her potions everywhere. These special solutions exploded everyone, producing a variety of effects.

Some of them created a poison fog while the others were just plain explosives, which dealt some negative statuses to their opponents.

With these three oddities, the representatives of God’s Paradise were quite lost and unable to properly respond, leading to their loss.

As for the final round, the Team Competition, the Hand of Midas did not send their main roster, which surprised everyone once again.

This round did not arouse that much excitement from everyone as the God’s Paradise had won it somewhat one-sidedly, especially when Martial God Asura was among their ranks.

With this, God’s Paradise had won the match with a 6 to 4 score, just like the previous one.

Such a score surprised everyone very much, as they were expecting this to be a somewhat one-sided fight. This also made everyone look forward to the re-match between these two teams, especially when they could tell that both sides would surely give their all.

The people even thought that the mysterious guild leader of the Hand of Midas would be making their appearance.

…