Martial Online.

Chapter 483 Attack and Defend

?Ambrose and Moriarty walked aimlessly down the long hallway, and they came across a door at the end.

They reached the door, opened it, and entered the room for the new challenge.

However, shockingly enough, they weren't the first ones there.

"Finally…" A player rose up from the ground and turned to face them with a cold expression on his face.

His teammate sat on the ground, fiddling with his toes while enjoying the moment of rest. But then, he also opened his eyes and turned to stare at their new opponents.

At that moment, the holographic figure of the game master appeared in the middle of the room.

His arms were folded behind his back, and he stood with a tall posture.

"Welcome, players." The game master spoke and pointed towards the right. "Ambrose and Moriarty."

Then he pointed to the left at their opponents.

"Foxbreath and Penguinstrike."

Foxbreath and Penguinstrike cracked their knuckles, and they looked vastly different from their time in the first round.

In the first round, they were unconfident and nervous, but now all of their nervousness were gone, and they seemed completely different as people.

"This challenge is Defend and Attack." The game master said majestically. "The other team attacks, and the other team has to defend."

As he finished saying that, a health bar appeared on top of both teams.

[Team: Phoenix Quill - 100%]

[Team: Icefire - 100%]

"If you take damage, your team's health will go down." The game master said: "Your health is linked to your teammate. When the percentage reaches zero, your team is dead."

'Hmm, sounds simple enough.' Ambrose thought. 'I wonder if there's something else to it. Any other rules, perhaps?'

As if the game master heard his thoughts, he added, "Whoever defends from the team cannot attack, and the attacker for the next round must be the other teammate.

"We'll choose who starts with a coin toss. There's a thirty second gap between each round, and you cannot attack before that, so prepare thoroughly."

After saying so, the game master vanished, and a metallic gate separated the room in two. In the same moment, a countdown appeared on the wall that was stuck for thirty seconds.

Then, a coin fell from the ceiling and landed on the ground with a clink. It turned to show a picture of a phoenix feather.

"Phoenix Quill starts the first round!" The game master's voice sounded from somewhere.

The countdown started to slowly tick down from thirty seconds.

"Who will attack first?" Moriarty whispered and eyed their opponents at the same time.

Foxbreath pulled out his longsword, which had a curvy blade and a hilt with small jewels embedded in it.

Penguinstrike slipped a pair of gauntlets into his arms. They were metallic, and the fingers were adorned with sharp nails.

"That gauntlet guy will probably defend." Moriarty whispered.

Ambrose looked at the countdown, which was in the final ten seconds. They had to make the decision quickly.

"I can attack."

Ambrose said, and he fused his two shortswords into the large, great sword that looked like it weighed a ton.

Moriarty nodded and stepped back to give Ambrose all the space he needed to make an attack.

Ambrose lifted the great sword on top of his shoulder and fused the blade with the golden Inner Power.

'I'll try using Slash of the Six Worlds…' He thought and watched as the time ticked down slowly, only three seconds from reaching zero.

Penguinstrike clapped his gauntlets together and summoned a blinding burst of energy. He then extended his arms forward, opened his palms wide, and created a holographic shield that enveloped him and Foxbreath.

"Your Magic Gauntlets sure are coming to great use now." Foxbreath grinned.

"Heh." Penguinstrike grinned.

He discovered the Magic Gauntlets in the mystifying land of Skydream. It was located in the Dark Waters, and despite its name, the island was far from dreamy.

In there, he discovered the Magic Gauntlets in a magic cave, where he had to fight the gauntlet-wearing Knight to prove his worth and claim them as his own.

Tick, tick…

The countdown reached zero, and another countdown started, slowly ticking down from five seconds.

There were only five seconds to attack!

At the same time, the metallic gate separating the two teams vanished.

"Slash of the Six Worlds!"

Ambrose screamed and smashed the great sword at the holographic screen with ground-breaking might.

Crack… The holographic screen slightly cracked, but it barely survived the onslaught.

"Hahaha…" Penguinstrike chuckled with slight nervousness, but inside, he was screaming in shock.

'How the hell did he make a crack in the Shield of the Dying Dreams? The knight told me it was the ultimate defensive ability of the Magic Gauntlets and shouldn't be able to be broken!'

'What a powerful shield.' Ambrose thought to himself, and he pulled back his great sword.

"I am sorry." He looked at Moriarty and apologized.

"It's fine. I don't think I could've broken through that shield either." Moriarty said, "Who will defend?"

The metallic gate reappeared and separated the two teams again; at the same moment, the countdown reset and started to go down from thirty seconds.

Ambrose looked at the health bar above their opponents, who were still in full health.

"I am a competitive person. I won't allow them to damage us either."

Ambrose said and he cracked his knuckles with an audible crack.

"Aight." Moriarty grinned and looked at their opponents. "The longsword guy will attack you now. It'll probably be a sword-

based attack, so maybe your muscle stuff won't be as effective."

Ambrose slammed his fist to his open palm, and started steaming like a kettle on a stove. In that moment, his skin turned red as if he were burning inside with a fiery inferno.

"Crimson God's Everlasting Bloodbath!"

Crack!

The ground was shattered by his weight alone, and then his muscles started swelling, and he grew into an enormous muscle monster with red skin, as if he were on fire, and let out steam that filled the air with intense heat.

"The Muscle Defense!"

'He used two skills at once…' Moriarty narrowed his eyes, pressure hitting him like a sledgehammer. 'It must be extremely exhausting.'

"Raaaah!" Ambrose let out a ground-shaking scream and put his arms in front of his body as a block. His biceps were the size of watermelons, bulging with power and veins popping out.

The countdown slowly ticked down and soon reached zero. The metallic gate then opened up.

Foxbreath stepped forward, and the longsword in his hand started burning with real, intense flames that seemed to dance and lick at the air around it.

"The Infernonic!" Foxbreath screamed and smashed the sword straight at Ambrose's waist, and the impact sent sparks flying in all directions.

The flames shot out from the blade and enveloped Ambrose like a blanket of deathly heat.

Even Moriarty had to step back because of the deafening heat, and he paled slightly, wondering just how much damage his teammate would suffer.

As the flames faded away like a matchstick being extinguished, a muscular monster emerged from the fire, and seemed completely unaffected except for the red skin that glowed with intense heat.

"Whoo…" Ambrose released a cloud of steam from his mouth, and he grinned hideously. "We are even…"

Moriarty widened his eyes in surprise and turned to check out their health bar.

[Team: Phoenix Quill - 100%]

They didn't lose a single ounce of health!