44: Chapter 44 A Tiger Among Sheep

In contrast, Lin Ye was the universally acknowledged bottom-tier good-for-nothing of the entire grade, with an F-grade Divine Kingdom foundation. The gap between the two was like heaven and earth!

"It's completely over! Running into a tough bone right at the start!"

"No need to fight, just surrender directly. Going up there will only result in an instant kill, and you'll vainly damage your divine soul!"

"I told you his blind arrogance would crash him sooner or later. Now look, it's a desperate situation right in the first round!"

Jeers and sighs of pity intertwined across the sky; no one favored Lin Ye, and everyone concluded this was a match with a foregone conclusion of crushing defeat.

Not far away, Ye Feng saw this matchup, and his tense face finally curved into a cold sneer, his eyes filled with mockery.

"Truly Providence."

"Without me lifting a finger, you'll be ruthlessly crushed in the first round."

"Well, it's good to let you witness firsthand what the true combat power of a genius looks like."

Ye Feng watched the show indifferently, waiting for Lin Ye to lose in the first round and become the biggest joke of the audience.

Amidst the crowd, Xiao Qingwu looked at the matchup on the light screen, her delicate brows furrowing tightly as the worry in her eyes grew heavier. She knew Zhou Kai's combat power very well—fierce and steady, with almost no flaws. Given the strength Lin Ye displayed on the surface, there was simply no possibility of him putting up a fight.

Subconsciously, she raised her eyes to look at Lin Ye, wanting to open her mouth to persuade him to voluntarily surrender to preserve his own divine soul foundation.

Yet what met her eyes was Lin Ye, still standing tall and straight at the edge of the crowd, with a calm and waveless expression, devoid of the slightest panic, and even carrying a hint of composure deep in his eyes.

As if this match, which had an extreme disparity in strength, was simply not worth mentioning to him.

"First match, Zhou Kai and Lin Ye, enter the arena immediately!"

The voice of the referee on the high platform suddenly rang out, echoing through the entire venue.

Zhou Kai's figure flashed as he took the lead to dart into the central combat arena, landing steadily. Dressed in a refined martial arts uniform, with the aura of his thralls surging around him and the coercion of an A-grade Divine Kingdom quietly spreading out, his eyes carried intense contempt as he looked at Lin Ye, who was slowly walking onto the stage.

"Lin Ye."

Zhou Kai stood with his arms crossed, his tone carrying undisguised disdain and arrogance, "I know you are first in theory, and I know you managed to win against Lu Ren by sheer luck."

"But no matter how good your theory is or how abundant your luck is, in front of absolute Divine Kingdom foundation, it is all empty talk."

"I'll give you a chance: voluntarily surrender now to avoid the suffering of divine soul concussion and save a bit of face."

"Don't force me to make a move, leaving you with a miserable defeat that thoroughly damages your foundation."

Beneath the kind advice lay complete, condescending scorn.

The crowd below nodded successively, all feeling that Zhou Kai had benevolence and righteousness to the utmost; if it were anyone else, they wouldn't have given the bottom-ranked Lin Ye any chance to surrender.

Facing Zhou Kai's arrogant persuasion to surrender, Lin Ye slowly came to a halt on the other side of the arena and said indifferently, "No need for nonsense, make your move."

These simple five words were cold and resolute, without the slightest timidity.

"Stubborn and unrepentant." Zhou Kai's expression turned cold, completely losing his patience, "Since you insist on courting death, I'll grant your wish!"

The next second, Zhou Kai's eyes suddenly narrowed, and he drove his divine soul to the limit!

"Hum—!"

Thick white divine light soared into the sky from behind him, his A-grade Divine Kingdom fully deployed, and the pressure swept across the entire arena.

Two hundred berserk dwarves clad in heavy armor and holding war hammers stepped out from the Divine Kingdom projection. The moment they landed, they made the arena tremble slightly, their fierce eyes locked tightly onto Lin Ye, emitting a compelling murderous aura.

Two hundred A-grade thrall berserk dwarves, coordinated with Zhou Kai's skilled combat tactics, possessed extremely powerful lethality!

"Start the battle!"

With the referee's command, the battle officially began!

"Kill!"

Zhou Kai waved his big hand with a fierce expression, and the two hundred berserk dwarves instantly charged out, crushing forward toward the passage.

Gasps instantly broke out from the audience, everyone concluding that the battle would end in a second and Lin Ye would inevitably be instantly crushed!

Yet just at the instant when the two hundred berserk dwarves were about to reach Lin Ye's Divine Kingdom, a faint light flashed in Lin Ye's eyes, his mind stirred slightly, and he quietly activated his Divine Kingdom.

He did not summon any high-tier thralls, merely releasing a hundred of the most basic Marrow-Eating Demon Hound thralls.

However, the next second, all laughter and jeers in the venue instantly came to an abrupt halt!

"Hum!"

One hundred Marrow-Eating Demon Hounds landed, and pitch-black murderous aura instantly exploded!

Their bodies were not top-tier; black scales covered them, reflecting a cold light, and crimson vertical pupils locked tightly onto the rushing opponents, fangs grinding with a creaking sound, their fierce and malevolent aura shooting straight into the clouds.

The Scavenger Hounds that were originally just F-grade dogs and vulnerable in everyone's eyes had completely changed their appearance.

"Have they evolved?!"

"So what if they evolved?! A dog is still a dog! Can they possibly turn the world upside down?!"

"Don't say that, looking at these dogs, they seem to have at least C+-grade might! The top theorist is truly terrifying to this extent! F-grade Scavenger Hounds can actually evolve into such a state!"

"Just putting on an act! It must be all show and no substance!"

Zhou Kai's sneer grew thicker, his eyes filled with contempt: "An F-grade useless dog, so what if it evolved?! It's still trash! You dare to hard-clash with my berserk dwarves? Simply courting death!"

Under Zhou Kai's control, two A-grade berserk dwarves instantly pounced forward, their war hammers smashing straight toward the heads of the Marrow-Eating Demon Hounds, determined to pound the Marrow-Eating Demon Hounds into meat paste!

The next second——

"Crack!"

A piercing sound of bone fracturing exploded!

The berserk dwarf charging at the very front didn't even touch the demon hound's fur before being sent flying by a single claw strike from a Marrow-Eating Demon Hound, collapsing onto the ground motionlessly!

Dead silence fell across the entire venue!

Everyone's pupils shrank drastically, their faces full of disbelief!

A-grade berserk dwarves... were instantly killed?!

At this moment, even Lin Ye himself found it a bit hard to believe. He knew that his thralls survived amidst the murderous aura, and both their physical strength and the sharpness of their claws and fangs were slightly stronger than ordinary thralls, but Lin Ye never expected them to be this much stronger—this was an instant kill!

At this moment, Lin Ye had completely gained a clear understanding in his heart.

"Impossible!" Zhou Kai trembled all over, his complexion turning instantly pale, "Your thralls are clearly F-grade Scavenger Hounds. Even if they evolved, how could they become so strong in this short period?!"

"This is a trick! A trick!"

"All berserk dwarves, tear them to pieces for me!!!"

Zhou Kai roared angrily.

The eyes of the densely packed berserk dwarves instantly turned red. Their combat power and fighting spirit underwent a significant boost as they frantically pounced toward the Marrow-Eating Demon Hounds, their murderous intent filling the skies!

"Just a bunch of berserk dwarves! This bit of strength is actually rated A-grade? Simply ridiculous!"

Lin Ye spoke indifferently, his voice not loud, yet it clearly spread across the entire audience.

His fingertips twitched slightly as his divine sense issued an order.

"Tear them to pieces!!!"

One hundred Marrow-Eating Demon Hounds charged forward in unison!

Pitch-black figures turned into afterimages, murderous aura wrapped around their bodies, fangs flashing with a cold light as they rushed straight into the cluster of berserk dwarves!

Flesh and blood flew everywhere!

Screams echoed one after another!

The armor on the berserk dwarves was as if made of paper; the war hammers in the opponents' hands smashed down onto the Marrow-Eating Demon Hounds, yet the Marrow-Eating Demon Hounds didn't even stumble.

The Marrow-Eating Demon Hounds bit and tore with their fangs while their murderous aura corroded; berserk dwarves collapsed to the ground in batches, completely powerless to fight back!

This was simply a tiger entering a flock of sheep, a dimensional reduction strike,

and at this moment, Lin Ye also gained a clearer understanding of his own thralls' strength.