Lord of Prayer - Chapter 341 - 227: After the Blizzard (2)

“What a powerful aura…”

On the mountain peak, Zhou Chen was stunned. Even from such a great distance, he could clearly feel the terrifying aura emanating from the Magnetic Field Lunatic—cold, domineering, cruel, and full of aggression. It was like some enormous, savage beast whose presence was impossible to ignore the moment it appeared.

“Around this time last year, he was already on the verge of advancing to Tier Three. He intentionally held himself back at Tier Two for a year just to temper his Golden Soul. Before the competition started, he even went and hunted two Tier Three Abyssal Cultists to warm up. His personal combat strength is likely the strongest in this year’s Sword Forging Competition,” Renie reminded him.

Killing two Tier Threes… while at Tier Two… Zhou Chen’s eyelid twitched. ’No wonder this guy has such an overwhelming aura. He’s definitely a battle-hardened veteran, an extremely difficult opponent to deal with.’

“I’m heading out. We’ll meet again. The next time we see each other, we’ll probably be enemies. I won’t go easy on you, you know,” Renie said with a wave, turning to leave. It seemed she had no intention of wasting time with the Magnetic Field Lunatic.

“We’ll meet again.” Zhou Chen had no desire to clash head-on with such a formidable foe either. A flicker of fire appeared at his feet, and he used Instant Teleport to leave.

“Hmph. A couple of cowards.”

Yao Hu snorted coldly, changed direction, and began searching for other targets.

All this boiling battlelust needed a proper outlet!

·

“OHHHHHHH! The Joyful Sawman has just pulled off a beautiful counter-kill, nearly wiping out the entire Slaying Alliance! Starting from when his squad was ambushed, he is now directly responsible for the elimination of a whopping 103 contestants. Combined with his previous eliminations, he’s set to become the undisputed Kill King of this Sword Forging Competition!”

In the live stream chat, Colonel Guan shouted excitedly while the bullet comments were already flying across the screen.

“Colonel Guan: ’A third of the contestants are hunting him down. How is he supposed to escape? With a Mecha that’s about to be scrapped? Or his own two feet? He can’t possibly turn around and kill all his pursuers, right?’”

“As expected of the Colonel. One jinx and a whole group goes down. He really jinxed the Slaying Alliance to death.”

“Bro, does the Colonel have some kind of Causality Type Extraordinary Ability?”

“The Colonel is definitely a Tier Five Causality Type Ascender!”

Colonel Guan coughed awkwardly and continued, “The stream has just received a message from the organizers. When the number of contestants on the field drops below two hundred, the competition will enter an accelerated shrinking phase.

When the number of contestants drops below one hundred, the shrinking speed will increase again until only ten contestants remain to face the final trial of this year’s Sword Forging Competition!”

·

The blizzard accelerated.

This was a fact that every contestant could feel.

Not long after Zhou Chen set off that earth-shattering explosion, the blizzard, which had previously come to a standstill, began to rage wildly. In just half an hour, it had swallowed all traces of the explosion, burying them deep beneath the snow and wind.

The viable area shrank drastically, and many contestants encountered each other while running from the storm. This time, most didn’t try to avoid a confrontation, instead erupting into fierce battles head-on.

In just two hours, the number of contestants dropped to only 113.

The contestants were running out of time. They no longer had a moment to craft or repair Artifacts; they were either running from the storm or fighting.

The fighting grew more and more frequent. The roar of guns and cannons could be heard everywhere.

104, 103, 102, 101, 100, 99…

The instant the number of contestants dropped below one hundred, the snow and wind whipped through the sky, and the cold gale howled even more mournfully. A kind of encroaching, extreme cold began to spread, one that even the constitution of an Ascender found difficult to bear.

The bone-chilling cold was like a slow-acting poison. First, it gradually lowered one’s body temperature, causing muscles to ache and stiffen and limbs to grow frigid. Then, it would imperceptibly freeze the blood in one’s veins. Eventually, even their Essence would freeze solid. If left unchecked, it would become life-threatening in less than an hour, forcing an automatic withdrawal from the competition.

What drove many contestants to despair was that they had no effective means to resist this cold.

Zhou Chen was wreathed in Cyan Flame, using it to drive away the cold. He suddenly stopped. Ahead of him in the snow lay a contestant who was nearly frozen into a popsicle. A layer of frost covered their face, and they were shivering uncontrollably, their consciousness already fading. But because their life wasn’t yet in critical danger, their life-saving Artifact hadn’t been triggered, leaving them to suffer here.

“Dude, you’re in a miserable state. I’ll send you on your way.”

Zhou Chen, being so kind-hearted, couldn’t bear to see people suffer. He wanted to give the person a quick and painless end with a single strike, sending them out of the match. To his surprise, even the sheath of Thunder Strike was frozen shut. He had to use his Cyan Flame to melt the thick ice on it before finally sending the contestant out of the arena.

Sheathing Thunder Strike, he looked up at the snowflakes and sighed. ’This environment is just too harsh. A normal person probably wouldn’t even survive half an hour here. So this is a Restricted Area? Without life-saving measures, a simple snowfall could kill off a whole bunch of people.’

’I wonder what the even more dangerous Restricted Areas are like.’

Ever since the continuous “cold corrosion” debuff appeared, the number of contestants had once again plummeted. Currently, only 20 remained. As the blizzard continued to close in, it wouldn’t be long before these last 20 people met in the final circle.

Zhou Chen trudged through the waist-deep snow. The competition circle had shrunk to only five kilometers in diameter. If it continued at this speed, the remaining people would be fighting face-to-face in less than ten minutes.

Four kilometers, three kilometers, two kilometers, one kilometer, nine hundred meters…

people, 16 people, 15 people…

The distance grew smaller and smaller, but because the snow and wind obscured his vision and his own position was relatively remote, Zhou Chen hadn’t encountered a single enemy along the way. He could only hear the distant roars of battle and fury.

’This is good. This is all good. I’ll just lay low at the edge of the circle and let them kill each other…’ Zhou Chen took a deep breath, letting his body gradually heat up. His heart beat powerfully, and blood rushed through his veins as if it were boiling. He adjusted his condition to its peak, preparing for battle.

However, he soon discovered that he might not even need to make a move. The number of contestants had already dropped to 11.

Just then, a powerful Essence Fluctuation erupted in the distance, and a furious roar rolled over: “Yao Hu!”

“Insolent!”

Following the indifferent voice, a vast magnetic energy burst forth, followed by a tremendous bang.

And just like that, the number of contestants went from 11 to 10.

’Is that guy really that fierce? Killing someone on the spot just like that… Or maybe that person was just too weak…’ Zhou Chen muttered, mentally raising the threat level of the Magnetic Field Lunatic once again.

BOOM!

From the sky, a deep, rolling boom like a Thunderbolt echoed—vast, continuous, and soul-shaking.

Suddenly, the blizzard stopped.

Half a minute later, the visibility cleared, and the final ten contestants could see their own positions and those of the others.

THUD!

With a loud bang, the blood-crazed Magnetic Field Lunatic shot out like an arrow, taking the initiative to charge the contestant closest to him.

The contestant’s face was filled with glee at having successfully survived to reach the top ten. But in the next second, he saw a glowing red fist the size of a sandbag smash toward him. The expression on his face froze, and then a single punch from Yao Hu sent him out of the competition.

It wasn’t over. Yao Hu stomped his foot, accelerating again and rushing before a horrified contestant. He threw a punch that tore through the air, eliminating them.

Pure, overwhelming Power!

Just as Yao Hu was about to strike again, he was frozen by an unknown power, unable to move an inch.

Zhou Chen and the others were the same, frozen in place like statues.

“What’s happening?” Renie, who was several dozen meters away, exclaimed in astonishment. “Why can’t I move?”

“I can’t move either.” Zhou Chen tried to struggle, but his body wouldn’t budge.

“Zhou Chen!” A delighted voice called out. The speaker was in Zhou Chen’s blind spot, but he could tell from the voice that it was Chengzi.

“Chengzi? You’re not dead?”

“Luckily, I survived. Just been laying low until now,” Chengzi chuckled.

Just then, a brilliant white light descended, engulfing everyone like a tidal wave.

White light… Zhou Chen was reminded of the vision he had seen during his resonance.

An unknown amount of time passed before the searing white light that had filled their vision gradually dissipated.

A modern city appeared before them.