Chapter 346: Total Knockout
Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Hitesh_
Einherjar Wannabe's ostentatious comment had outraged the followers of Zambrotta. It was a good thing that majority of his followers were not present at the arena. Otherwise, riots might have already broken out.
However, Zambrotta himself didn't seem to be offended, as he took out the thunder drum and set it in front of him.
Einherjar Wannabe put his hand behind his back, as if he were going to enjoy a drum performance.
"What...What the heck is going on?" The audiences were disheveled by the development, confusion written all over their faces.
With the first beat of the drum came a shockwave of GN force. When the GN force was delivered in the form of the sound wave, not only was it more potent, but it was also extremely difficult to defend against. The shockwave that covered such a wide range was so powerful that it teased out the audience's imagination, and painted a picture in their mind of a brave and young Zambrotta eliminating hundreds of Zergs.
"Mountain Quake!"
Zambrotta threw his head back and let out a thunderous roar. Each syllable of the sound carried an energy that ripped Zambrotta's shirt open, as his soul energy surged. All level six fighters started with five hundred sol. However, by this time, Zambrotta's soul energy had reached over six hundred sols and was holding steady.
As the drumbeat started to gain speed, waves after waves of shock rippled throughout the arena. The audience could sense that these shock waves were compounding, gathering strength as they traveled towards Einherjar Wannabe. Zambrotta's cultivation had reached such a high level that he could easily control the direction which the energy waves moved.
Despite being assailed by increasingly powerful waves of energy, Einherjar Wannabe stood still with his eyes closed, as if he were savoring the delightful sound of heaven.
The belligerent drum was beckoning his forgotten memories, peeling off its calloused layer one after another, until power started to seep out and build up inside of Mr. Wannabe's body. A vision came to Mr. Wannabe: he stood at the bow on one of the thousands of battlecruisers that surrounded him. Mr. Wannabe remembered that he was invincible, and his armada was unsinkable.
Seeing his attack having no effect, Zambrotta's face twisted into a knot. The Mountain Quake was the first phase in the three phases of the Tactics of the Thunder Drum. However, Zambrotta remembered that even Li Jingtian had to put up some defense when he unleashed the phase one attack during their fight many years ago. Why was his seventeen years old opponent seeming to be completely unaffected by the attack?
"Earth—Quake!"
Zambrotta roared again as he initiated the second phase. Being caught off guard by his opponent's power, he activated every GN node he was able to mobilize in his body.
"There is no way that this guy is only a seventeen years old kid! " Zambrotta told himself.
The drum beats immediately gained such frequency and vigor that the harmful energy waves started to seep out from the protective shield over the arena towards the audiences. Even as the DREAM workers fumbled to increase the intensity of the protective shield, there were already a few dozen IPA players sitting in the front row who had been injured by the rogue energy. DREAM had never hosted a match between such powerful players before, and they had thought that a protective layer that could shield 700 sol would be adequate. However, they had overlooked the fact that soul energy's damage output varied significantly based on the delivery method, as well as synergy with one's GN force. Simply put, a mere number was not enough to measure it.
As a commercial group, DREAM had plenty of experts in accounting, but none in METAL combat. Otherwise, they would not have made such a mistake.
The tempo of the beat slowed down; however, the intensity increased substantially. Every pound carried more energy than the one before it, and all of them charged directly at Mr. Wannabe's sea of consciousness.
It was a well-known fact that the sound wave attacks could not only harm one's body, but also the sea of consciousness, causing hallucinations. The only way to fend off such attack was to shut off one's auditory system.
Despite being under such a powerful and potentially deadly assault, Mr. Wannabe didn't take any countermeasure. Instead, the drumbeat seemed to soothe his soul as he listened attentively. The energy wave had practically no effect on him whatsoever.
Wang Tong didn't focus on what he saw—that was just white noise. Instead, he listened carefully to the tempo of the drum beats as Mr. Wannabe did. The flow of the forceful beats pulled and tugged at Wang Tong's imagination, teasing out inspirations in his mind.
Although Wang Tong was already on his way towards the state of Super Einherjar, he was not there yet, not by a long chalk. Looking back at the human history, only a handful of individuals had achieved such state.
As the drum beats become heavier, Zambrotta had gathered enough GN force at the tip of the drumsticks to unleash his coup de grace—the "Sky Quake!"
The master of Thunder Drum clenched the drumsticks, whitening the knuckles. Even as Zambrotta raised them high above his head, crackling GN force zapped out of the tip of the drumsticks before it landed on the drum, with the weight of mountains. On the display board, Zambrotta's soul energy reading had soared up to above seven hundred, but that was only the soul energy carried by one ripple among the turbulent sea of energy.
Using his GN force, Zambrotta channeled the waves together, compounding their effects until the previously invisible waves start to take form in front of naked eyes. The "waves" undulated in the air, distorting and warping the space-time as they closed in towards Einherjar Wannabe. It was impossible for Einherjar Wannabe to dodge Zambrotta's coup de grace, since it came from all directions.
The follower's enthusiasm seemed to have spurred Zambrotta's determination and confidence. Even he himself was pleasantly surprised by the amount of power came out of his coup de grace. This would be a perfect ending to mark the beginning of a new era, in which the War Drum Hall would finally rise to power!
As the deadly waves of energy loomed around Mr. Wannabe, distorting his view, he saw shadows lurking in the waves and battle cries that turned into heart-wrenching howls. Mr. Wannabe remembered: he had been there with those shadows, and he had left something important behind. A wave of overwhelming grief and regret came over Mr. Wannabe. Whatever he had lost, he had lost it for good.
Suddenly, at the corner of Mr. Wannabe's eyes, he registered an incoming attack that pierced through the shadows, and the lurking shadows disappeared immediately, breaking the only connection between him and his past. Losing his memory the second time, Mr. Wannabe threw his head back, opened his mouth, and howled a heart-wrenching cry.
"WHY?"
The words formed an overbearing force that meant death. Zambrotta's face turned pale and staggered back to get out of harm's way. The energy waves that he had been weaving the last ten minutes were washed away by Mr. Wannabe's cry.
The followers of the War Drum Hall froze in the face of such a catastrophic turn of event. Some of the senior followers had seen with their own eyes that even an Einherjar had trouble defending against Zambrotta's coup de grace. What happened then was beyond their comprehension.
Einherjar Wannabe straightened his head, and he saw his opponent's legendary weapon—Thunder Drum. Suddenly, the drum appeared in Einherjar Wannabe's hand as if by magic.
By then, Mr. Wannabe had already forgotten about Zambrotta; he was not a worthy opponent. However, while staring at the drum in his hand, he could sense a wisp of the old memories that he saw in the shadows still linger inside of him.
Suddenly, Einherjar Wannabe hit the drum.
With a forceful drumbeat, a tsunami of energy gushed out from the impact. The energy spill into Zambrotta's sea of consciousness and ripped it apart.
Zambrotta's mind went blank as he collapsed to the ground.
Einherjar Wannabe then hit the drum again, this time with both hands. His movement was slow. However, the audience was surprised to see that Einherjar Wannabe's two hands became four, and then eight.
When the first pair of hands landed on the drum, nothing had come out except for a tiny din, but with each extra pair of hands hitting the drum and merging its outline with the one before it, the moderate din quickly became an ear-deafening blare.
Blood spilled out of Zambrotta's mouth, nose, eyes, and eyes, as his face contorted into a painful knot. All the while, he held onto the pair of drumsticks as if that was the only thing between him and death. One more attack, and Zambrotta's mind might shatter.
Everyone watched as Einherjar Wannabe slowly raised his hand, on which his opponent's life rested. Einherjar Wannabe was no longer a seventeen years old boy, but a deadly hell-bound monster.
While struggling to retain his remaining sanity, Zambrotta suddenly came to a moment of epiphany: to release the most power from the Thunder Drum, he would have to relent the drumstick as his opponent did. But, it was too late. When Einherjar Wannabe's hand fell on the drum once again, his sea of consciousness would be shattered beyond recovery.
As Mr. Wannabe was about to hit the drum again, a dark presence loomed ahead of him and then charged at his sea of consciousness. Mr. Wannabe faltered and then slowly moved his hand away from the drum. The dark presence also dissipated as he did so.
Without giving anyone a heads up, Einherjar Wannabe signed off, leaving the audiences in shock and bewilderment.
"What had just happened? Why did he stop?"
Zambrotta face was planted to the ground. He had met many tough opponents, but no one was as deadly as Einherjar Wannabe. He conceded that if the fight had taken place in real life, he had already been dead many times over.
Zambrotta staggered back to his feet and then walked to the Thunder Drum. He folded his hands as he prayed to the long-dead founder of the Tactics of the Thunder Drum before he signed off.
Although no one knew for certain what had happened, they all registered that Einherjar Wannabe had held back his power at the very last moment, and thereby spared Zambrotta's life.
After five minutes of silence, the official results finally came out—Winner: Einherjar Wannabe!
An explosion of cheers, shouts, and curses erupted from the audiences. No one signed off, as there were simply too many unanswered questions.
A seventeen years old boy defeated a Martian grandmaster? Even an Einherjar might not be able to boast such an achievement.
Who would dare accept his challenge next?