Chapter 832: Battle of A-Rank Players!

The moment they laid eyes on the man, Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu both instinctively retreated, but a pale blue light screen had already appeared around the banquet hall, instantly sealing the space into a closed environment. The players responsible for banquet security immediately surrounded the man and the guests who were kneeling on the ground laughing hysterically.

The guests laughing uncontrollably weren't only non-players—a few players were among them as well, though they weren't the ones who had originally been standing in the center. People like Ahsis Vilner and his group had already retreated to the edges of the banquet hall before the incident even occurred.

But they hadn't left.

Xu Huo took one look at the situation and knew both the attacker and the target had come prepared. Tonight's banquet was a trap meant to lure someone in!

He shot Yan Jiayu a glance, and she nodded back with a grave expression.

With this many high-rank players gathered, they definitely weren't fishing for small fry. If things went south, ducking into a dungeon was the safest option.

The laughter hadn't stopped, but the other guests had quieted down after the initial commotion, all eyes fixed on the blonde man in the center.

"Jin Feixue." Ahsis Vilner called out the man's identity. The next second, the man who seemed to be in mourning opened his eyes. The moment his gaze fell upon the kneeling figures before him, invisible blades shredded them instantly—from neck to face, as if they'd been thrown into rolling blades. Flesh and blood flew in every direction, and when they collapsed, it was impossible to tell those had been human heads!

Several sharp screams died out almost as quickly as they began, but the District 011 players present made no move.

The man standing before them was Jin Feixue, the captain of the Phantom Sound Knights. Though the Phantom Sound Knights were notorious for their violent reputation, their members still seemed somewhat human. This captain was a different story entirely—he specialized in killing people through all manner of cruel methods.

His presence here meant the other Phantom Sound Knights had arrived too. If they weren't here, they'd definitely gone somewhere else.

This banquet had originally been set up to fish for the "Madame Butterfly" who had sabotaged the deal on the ship, but the Phantom Sound Knights had arrived first.

Ahsis received several notifications—the Phantom Sound Knights had indeed already started operating elsewhere.

"Captain Jin, District 011 has no grudge against your Phantom Sound Knights. This is Game Government territory. If you want to cause trouble, you've picked the wrong place." Ahsis's tone was firm, and the high-rank players present were already coiled and ready to strike.

Jin Feixue was an A-rank player, and there were A-rank players from District 011 on site as well. But he clearly didn't feel disadvantaged. He plucked the white flower from his chest and dropped it into the pool of blood. "A member of the Phantom Sound Knights died in District 011."

Ahsis's face darkened. Before he could say anything, Cag Hellert beside him spoke up. "It's not like we killed your man. When you snatched that Platinum Eye weapon, didn't you think someone would come knocking..."

Before he could finish, a forearm-length piano wire shot straight toward his brow, piercing through the defensive items two nearby players had activated mid-flight!

Cag Hellert dodged at the last moment, but that exposed the blonde woman standing behind him. She wasn't a player, and no one nearby was eager to throw away their life for an ordinary person. The blonde woman had no idea what was about to happen.

Just then, Yan Jiayu lunged forward and planted herself in front of the blonde woman. A sticker was affixed to the back of her hand, and gripping the Demon-Subduing Pestle with both hands, she caught the piano wire dead-on. But the impact sent her crashing backward into the blonde woman, both of them flying toward the window!

A crack split open on the Demon-Subduing Pestle. Even with Yan Jiayu digging her feet into the floor to bleed off momentum, it was clear she couldn't fully stop the piano wire before slamming into the blue light screen. And she had no spare strength to toss the blonde woman aside.

With no one helping, her options were either to crush the blonde woman against the barrier or enter a dungeon and abandon her to death... She didn't have much time to decide—maybe the span of a single blink—but Yan Jiayu didn't leave. Instead, she summoned Da Mao!

The stone lion knocked the blonde woman aside and braced itself behind Yan Jiayu, working together to slow their terrifying speed. At the same time, Xu Huo flashed in front of her, gripping the "Eye of the Dead" and swinging it with all his might at the piano wire!

But the sword didn't sever the wire. Under the combined effects of "Progress Bar Disappearance" and "Standardized Weightlessness," it only managed to deflect the wire's trajectory. With residual force still coursing through it, the piano wire flew diagonally and embedded itself into the ceiling, punching straight through the blue light screen and leaving a web of cracks in its wake!

The electric current surging through the item also arced down the wire to the floor, blasting a massive hole in the ground!

Skidding to a stop just before the blue light screen, Yan Jiayu tilted her head to move her skull out of harm's way before letting out a huge breath. "That was close!"

Xu Huo stood in front of her, staring coldly at Jin Feixue ahead.

The captain of the Phantom Sound Knights—back in Zone 014, if they hadn't been tied up by Laurence Li, the casualties could have been even worse. He wasn't here to demand an explanation for his fallen comrade, nor to uncover the truth. He was simply pinning the blame on District 011 and venting his rage through massacre.

Music filled the air. It wasn't coming from the band's performance, but the moment it started, everyone present felt like they'd been clubbed over the head, their brains ringing with a dull buzz.

Xu Huo slapped on his earphones immediately, but he could still feel the item's power affecting him. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted several piano wires flying out from Jin Feixue's body, just like before. He teleported to the blue light screen and dropped low, dodging the impact that might erupt at any moment!

The District 011 players certainly weren't going to sit idle. A glowing triangular item zipped through the hall, striking the flying piano wires and bending them off course!

Though the wires had been deflected, they still blasted several large holes in the blue light screen. A player tried to slip through the escape route, only to be caught dead-center by a wire that whipped back around—several players collapsed in front of the windows!

And now it wasn't just Ahsis—the other players present joined the fray. A female player drew her pencil through the air, sketching across Jin Feixue's legs. From his knees down to his feet, he instantly turned into a white outline on a blank background, like a color-stripped animation, his lower body rendered immobile.

"Space Distortion!" Another player twisted both hands in opposite directions. Visible to the naked eye, an hourglass-shaped pocket of space formed around Jin Feixue, the junction point in the middle becoming the crux of two opposing forces, rapidly contracting toward him!

Looking at it alone, it was hard to gauge the true power of this characteristic. Jin Feixue, without moving an inch, slipped a crystal ring over himself. The ring hovering around his waist collided with the distorted space and began to shatter from the outside in, crumbling to dust in an instant!

But that also delayed the distorted space from making direct contact with Jin Feixue. The moment the ring broke, he produced a red-and-blue pointer and gave it a light flick. The distorted space that had been collapsing toward him reversed course, expanding outward in every direction!