Flashy Adventurer System : Show Off to Get Stronger!

[Congratulations! You've earned 15,724 points!]

'Hoh…not bad for phase one…' Shye mused as he looked at Payne, who was probably suffering at the moment.

Being on the receiving end of disappointed sighs was no joke, after all.

'Shye Crowley! This shame...I'll return it to you tenfold, no... a hundredfold!!' Payne inwardly raged.

His little heart couldn't take the humiliation and disappointment.

Thus, as a subconscious self-preservation mechanism, Payne blamed everything on Shye.

Well...what should Shye do then? Hold back and let him win?

...With a rather distressed and furious heart, the crossbowman suddenly started sprinting again, activating various skills in preparation for releasing yet another trump card.

Receiving a tremendous buff in agility, Payne's speed almost doubled, reigniting hope in the hearts of those rooting for Shye's defeat.

"Oh? Does Payne still have another ace?"

"He's too fast! It would be impossible for Shye Crowley to deal with this kind of speed!"

"Go, Payne!"

Upon hearing the crowd's encouraging words, the pain in Payne's heart subsided considerably, enabling him to refocus once more.

However, due to his eagerness to recover bits and pieces of his damaged reputation, a small seed of impatience thrived inside him, threatening to burgeon into a surge of rage once more.

"I admit, the power of your spells is top-notch. However, there is no way for you to deal with this so be obedient and die for me, Shye Crowley! Ultimate Rapid Fire!"

Activating his other rare-tier trump card called [Ultimate Rapid Fire], mana arrows continuously fired from Payne's crossbow at an astonishing rate of five mana arrows per second, and although these mana arrows weren't as strong as the lightning-infused ones, they were relentless.

Furthermore, Payne maneuvered around Shye as he dashed, causing the mana arrows to constantly assault his adversary from deceptive angles.

Astonishingly though, even such a tricky attack didn't faze Shye, in fact, a shadow of a smile appeared on the corners of his mouth.

'Nice, time for phase two of my system point farming plan then.'

Blinking away, Shye dodged the initial wave of arrows, simultaneously allowing him to position himself close to the edge of the stage.

Like this, it would be impossible for arrows to come from behind no matter how fast Payne was.

Shye smiled as he changed the way he was holding his elemental staffs.

Gripping his arcane weapon like a sword, Shye assumed a defensive position, waiting for the next wave of mana arrows to arrive within striking distance.

'Time to show off!'

'Enhanced Reaction Time!'

In the subsequent moments, the unfolding events slowly caused the crowd's eyes to almost pop out of their sockets and their mouths to open wide in utter shock and disbelief as Shye…displayed incredible deftness in handling the elemental staffs for defensive purposes, masterfully deflecting each mana arrow and sending them back where they came from—a few even grazing Payne.

"S-Shye Crowley displays incredible defensive prowess!! He's not allowing a single arrow to pass through his tough guard!! Payne's attacks once again proved ineffective!!" Corey's voice reverberated across the arena, bringing people back to their senses, even if only slightly.

[Congratulations! You've earned 8,350 points!]

[Congratulations! You've earned 10,300 points!]

[Congratulations! You've earned 10,000 points!]

…

'Nice!' Shye continued showing off for a while before eventually stopping upon realizing that he wasn't gaining points anymore.

Well, if one simply kept on doing something for a long time, people would eventually get bored, hence, it was impossible to continue farming points with a single trick.

…Since more than half of the crowd were rooting for Payne's victory, Shye's impressive display wasn't enough to earn points from the haters.

Nevertheless, his deflection of the barrage of arrows bordered on the miraculous, further diminishing the negative bias that most people harbored against him.

Their prejudice largely originated from Shye's questionable amount of guild contribution points and the suspiciously effortless manner in which he claimed the top spot from Arthur, leaving them with lingering doubts.

Naturally, these facts made it more challenging for the crowd to support Shye compared to the "tried and tested" second-year rookies like Payne, whose progress appeared transparent to ordinary folks and regular adventurers, making it easier for their hearts to resonate with the ninth-ranked rookie's experiences.

Meanwhile, someone…was on the verge of losing his sanity.

"SHYE CROWLEY!! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS HUMILIATION YOU INFLICTED UPON ME FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE!! IF YOU THINK YOU'VE ALREADY WON, THEN I SHALL WAKE YOU UP. I, PAYNE KELLER, IS NOT SOMEONE YOU CAN SIMPLY MESS WITH AS YOU PLEASE!! HOOOOOOOOGHHHH!!"

After exclaiming an enraged battle cry, wings resembling those of the evil insect Shye encountered in the same advanced adventurer zone as the titanium demon ape emerged on Payne's back, drastically increasing his mobility.

"LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN DEAL WITH ME NOW, SHYE CROWLEY!!"

With multiple strong flaps of his insect wings, Payne flew unpredictably, suddenly disappearing and reappearing all over the stage at speeds too fast for ordinary eyes to see.

"W-WHAT IS THIS INCREDIBLE SPEED?! PAYNE KELLER BARES HIS FANGS!!! HOW WILL SHYE CROWLEY DEAL WITH THIS?!"

Corey's words prompted the crowd to look at Shye. Surely, Payne's skill would cause him to at least frown…right?

Certainly, Shye wore a frown, though not out of feeling threatened by Payne, but rather contemplating how to conclude the match with maximum efficiency.

'Sigh…in the end I would have to reveal one warrior skill…Well, it's probably better to use the lesser-known one. Hopefully, no one would recognize the skill.'

Finally deciding on a flashy yet efficient way to end the match, Shye sternly gazed at Payne, who was flying all over the place while shooting mana arrows and laughing crazily.

The frustration overwhelmed the poor guy to the extent that he temporarily lost his sanity.

'Aqua Barrier!'… 'Fallen's Wings!'

Employing the aqua barrier to neutralize the potency of Payne's mana arrows, Shye conjured his own set of transparent-black, decaying mana wings, enveloping his body in a temporary shroud of dark aura.

Subsequently, once the aura subsided, people's eyes widened upon witnessing Shye's transformation.

"OH?! SHYE CROWLEY CALLS UPON THE POWER OF HIS OWN WINGS!! WHAT IS HE PLANNING TO DO?!"

Hearing Corey's voice, Payne couldn't help but narrow his eyes into slits.

Indeed…what was Shye planning to do?

What Payne didn't expect was that it wouldn't take a long time for him to find out what Shye was up to as in the next moment, Shye reappeared in front of him with an eerie smile, grabbed his neck, and slammed him onto the ground.

"Puhaahk!"

Shye's unexpected maneuvers caught everyone off guard, including Payne, who spat out a generous amount of blood.

Slightly disoriented, Shye's voice brought the ninth-ranked rookie back to his senses.

"Heh, did you really think you're faster than me? Delusional…"

Whispering a few mocking words in retaliation to his opponent's crap talk since the beginning of the match, Shye aimed his ruby-tier elemental staff towards Payne, who was pinned on the ground.

'Fireball.'