Chapter 345: The imposing Grai
Translator: Radiant Translations Editor: Radiant Translations
"Hold formation. Qin, keep your eyes on it. Make sure to not let it slip away."
The dragon fish beast was powerful, and possessed the ability to burrow into the ground. It also possessed acute senses, and would flee if it wasn't able to obtain victory in its fight. Towards the various great squadrons in this competition zone, the dragon fish beasts had caused them loads of pain and suffering.
Qin went forwards in excitement as he held onto the dragon fish beast that was about to drill into the ground. Following the activation of his special ability, a peculiar mental connection was formed between him and the beast. Radiating with a faint purplish brilliance, it appeared just like a noose that connected him and the dragon fish beast together. Lighting both of them up in the process, the radiance seemed to possess the strength to pierce through the surrounding fog.
The dragon fish beast roared in fury as it rushed up from the group. In an exceedingly angry and furious state, it rushed straight towards Qin, whose position had been revealed.
"Shield formation!"
The 4 heavy soldiers roared furiously as they collaborated their shields once again. As this happened, soldiers from the 3 squadrons that possessed the ability to launch ranged attacks proceeded to disperse quickly, forming a textbook formation used to deal with powerful enemies. "Attack!"
The intersecting web of fire struck the infuriated dragonfish beast, causing it to finally give up on pursuing the heavily protected Qin to send a bite out towards the nearest soldier. The soldier rapidly switched from an offensive stance to a defensive one. This was the correct decision, as BANG, the spikes of the dragon fish beast stabbed right into his thigh. As a giant gaping wound appeared, blood spurted like a fountain, clearly indicative of a punctured artery.
"Dammit!"
Grasping onto this opportunity, the 3 captains brought along their heavy soldiers as they surrounded the dragon fish beast. The bait had been cast, and the price was paid. What they had to do next was to obtain their harvest.m
On after 10 minutes where seemingly everyone had small or large wounds on their bodies, did the dragon fish beast finally collapse onto the ground in unwillingness.
Success!
However, just as everyone had started celebrating, a voice brimming with amusement suddenly rang out from within the dense fog.
"He he. Ladies and gentlemen, this dragon fish beast is our prey. I'm heartbroken about you guys stealing our prey like that.
A squadron that appeared to be on an outing proceeded to emerge from within the fog. What's peculiar was that there was a lantern in the shape of a lotus floating above their heads. Under its glow, seemingly ever shadow in its presence would be scattered apart.
"Divine Dragon Academy!"
The 3 captain's breathing came to a halt as they stared right at the group of people that appeared so cleanly dressed that seemed out of place, before turning to look at their injury-laden squadrons...No. Even if they did not engage in that great fight with the dragon fish beast, they would not be able to remain that relaxed and carefree within this wilderness.
"I'll make it clear. This dragon fish was injured earlier by us, and we've chased it all the way to her. If not, it'll not be within reach of your puny strength." said Zhao Tianlong in a chilly voice.
"Why say so many useless words to them, Tianlong? Hurry up and take our thing and leave. I don't one to say in this godforsaken place for even 1 more second."
The girl from the Divine Dragon Academy spoke out in an impatient tone. Explaining so much to a bunch of weaklings was purely a waste of time in her eyes. To her, time was equivalent to life in this place.
Zhao Tianlong ignored the woman, walking straight towards the dragon fish beast.
Seeing this, the eyes of the 3 B ranked squadrons grew wide open as they clenched their fists. Fuck this shit! Isn't this just daylight robbery! What's more, even if you had you had beaten the dragon fish beast half to death, we had made our contributions too! At the very least, we've captured it up! Nevertheless, every member of these squadrons was feeling extremely hesitant to speak out, as the people they were facing were precisely from the Divine Dragon Academy.
However, as they were assuming that the matter of the strong devouring the weak had come to an end, an icy cold voice suddenly rang out from another direction. "Zhao Tianlong, if you're not as capable as others, don't go all the way out just to find excuses. It's clear that you're robbing people, so just speak the truth. Is this the so-called, every viewer has a share!"
In Heaven's Fate City Competition Zone, the S rank squadrons had higher requirements for them to be able to pass through the elimination round, which was to obtain the overall lead among all the squadrons allocated to this competition zone. Although they had no issue in terms of combat strength, the ghostly appearances of mutated beasts in this wilderness had disgusted them, causing an extreme headache for these aristocratic family members.
In an instant, Zhao Tianlong's movements came to a halt as an exceedingly sharp and incisive aura locked onto him.
Within the ranks of the Divine Dragon Academy squadron, the eyes of Zhao Yilong suddenly narrowed. He, whose face always had a cold and callous expression as though there was nothing in the world that mattered to him, looked towards the depths of the fog before speaking. "I was thinking about who was that. So it's Vladimir, I see. Are you planning on deciding who's stronger in this place?"
"Haha. If that's what brother Yilong wants, I'm alright with it."
All of a sudden, a group of people walked out from the fog, their tall, burly and arrogant figures bringing about an intense aura akin to that of the northern winds.
Zhao Yilong waved about the heavy spear present in his hands. The pressure coming from the collision between the auras of him and Vladimir felt just like the presence of an impending storm.
As this happened, the members of the two great academies had also started to raise their auras as they locked on to their respective targets. The close relationship between the Zhao and Gui Families meant that they were in an opposing stance to the Vasilyevich Family. Being a member of one of the ten great families, Zhao Yilong did not fear any opponent.
By the side, the 3 B ranked squadrons were in a situation similar to that of little boats within a storm, being barely able to maintain themselves between the collision of auras coming from the 2 powerful squadrons before them. At this moment, the 3 captains smiled bitterly as they looked at one another. If they had known that this would happen, they would absolutely not make any moves against that damnable dragon fish beast. So what if they had failed to capture it. There were 3 of them, but only 1 dragon fish beast. Heading straight towards their designated location obediently was the best choice for them. Now, they have to pay the price for being greedy. They weren't even A rank squadrons, and yet they had actually dared to be greedy!
Nevertheless, a fight between the Grozny Academy and Divine Dragon Academy would definitely be earth-shattering, and was something they would love to be spectators for.
However, just at this instant, a glint suddenly flashed simultaneously across the eyes of Zhao Yilong and Vladimir, before their raging auras started to retract back tacitly.
All of a sudden, a third voice rang out from within the fog. "Are you guys men or not? All talk and no bite!"
Divian!
Akin to spectres, the Seer Academy squadron burst out from within the fog. Naturally, they could have headed straight towards the designated location for this first elimination round. However, being an S rank squadron, they had maintain their reputation and face. Since the organization committee had given the alternative mission of being in the lead for the number of dragon fish beasts obtained, they had naturally made this as their primary goal in this elimination round. However, they had never imagined that the those mutated beasts were more troublesome that they had expected, causing them to waste a significant amount of time. As of now, it was already too late to reach the designated location in time. Therefore, the only choice they had was to complete this alternative mission.
Vladimir, Zhao Yi Long and Divian, the elite experts. At this moment, their respective squadrons had also made preparations to take action at any given moment. However, no one was also willing to be the first to take action and let the third person reap the fisherman's benefits. The most critical reason for all of these hesitation was due to it being the first elimination round of the CHF, thus no one was will the reveal too much of their cards. Even if Divian had not appeared in this place, Vladimir and Zhao Yilong would not go all out, with testing the waters being the furthest they would go.
"It's really disgraceful for us to snatch a prey from 3 B ranked squadrons. Do you 2 want to compete to see who will be the first to grab hold of a dragon fish beast?" said Vladimir with a smile. Those 3 B ranked squadrons hailed from the northern region. Since they weren't able to obtain the dragon fish beast anymore, he naturally had to give better treatment to his "own people".
"I've no issue with that. I've already gotten the hang of the movements of those little fellows." said Divian with a smile.
A frown appeared on Zhao Yilong upon hearing the words coming from Divian and Vladimir. From the looks of it, these 2 fellows just wanted to create a hoo-hah. In this situation, he clearly was in the disadvantage. If it was just one of them, it'll still be alright for him.
"Since you 2 have said it, our Divine Dragon squadron will naturally accompany you guys. However, you 2 remember that you will really lose face if I take the lead." replied Zhao Yilong in a rather straightforward manner. There was no need to blow this little matter up just for a slight loss. However, a few words of contempt was definitely needed. The Seer Family was in cahoots with the Stuart Family. With them hailing from 3 different influences, the 3 squadrons were natural enemies with one another.
In quick fashion, the 3 powerful S ranked squadrons had disappeared within the fog, leaving the 3 B ranked squadrons looking towards the newly formed fog with blank expressions hanging on their faces. Turning their heads to look at the dragon fish beast lying on the ground, all of them suddenly felt a sensation as though they had been reborn into this world as humans once again.
Is this possible???
They've managed to get promoted!
At this moment, plays similar to this were happening in the various competition zones. The goal of this elimination round wasn't just for the sake of eliminating squadrons. At the same time, it was a test of depth for the various powerhouse squadrons.
Night had arrived when the Tianjing squadron had finally reached Grozny City. Other than Grai, everyone was covered with injuries and brimming with fatigue and exhaustion. In reality, Grai was the one that worked the most during their trek. After losing their core unit composed of Wang Zhong and Scarlet, Grai had shouldered every burden of the squadron had faced, playing both parental roles for them too. What's more, he also had to be their emotional counsellor. It had to be mentioned that Grai's firmness in his stance had indeed caused everyone to believe that nothing bad would happen to Wang Zhong and Scarlet. Not only that, under his leadership, they had managed to arrive at Grozny City 1 day in advance. Naturally, due to the absence of Wang Zhong and Scarlet, everyone had dug deep into their latent potential, not speaking a single word, with the only goal burning in their hearts being for them to reach Grozny City.
Upon reaching Grozny City, the members of the Tianjing squadron were on the brink of collapse from fatigue and exhaustion. Due to them rushing here with all their might, the pressure and strain on their minds and bodies caused Lily, Hymin and the others to hit their absolute limit. At this moment, the token of their squadron was in Grai's hands. Feeling that there were too many matters that involved him coupled with the possibility of him needing to do some lone wolf actions, Wang Zhong had handed the token to Grai on the premise that it was the safest person to leave it with. Never did he imagine that it would actually give the Tianjing squadron an opportunity to pass through this elimination round.
Despite that, they were unable to send out rescue units to search for the 2 missing people of their squadron as the storm has yet to subside. At this moment, even rescue soldiers weren't able to search for the 2 in the presence of the storm. What's more, Wang Zhong and Scarlet weren't the only ones that were missing, with more ten people now missing within the wilderness of the northern region.
Thus, the only thing everyone could do was to wait to storm to subside and new information to be posted. With the geography and terrain of the wilderness, searching for a person was like searching for a needle in a haystack. What's more, that was on the premise of there being no storms raging around. Even sending out Heroic Soul soldiers now to search for them would be tantamount to sending them to their deaths.
After Grai had registered their squadron, Tianjing Academy can be considered to be one of the slowest squadrons to arrive at Grozny City, with the majority of the strong squadrons having already arrived long ago. There were only a few C ranked squadrons left that were still struggling to arrive at here. As for D ranked squadrons, their rate of elimination was extremely high. In fact, among all of the participating squadrons, there weren't many squadrons that were evaluated to be of D rank, with C ranks making up the majority. For Tianjing, they would be alright as long as Wang Zhong and Scarlet were able to make it to Grozny City before the end of the first elimination round. After all, situations of missing members weren't rare in such tests.
After finishing their registration and walking out of the large hall, they suddenly heard someone should out their names from the side. Turning around to look, everyone discovered that it actually was Dicaprio calling out to them. The time the Giant God Peak Academy took to arrive was rather short. What's more, they had arrived in full force. Being a mere C ranked squadron, their speed of completion had raised quite a few eyebrows and attention towards them.
"What's the matter? I've just heard from the announcements that Wang Zhong and Scarlet are both missing?" asked Dicaprio in a rather concerned tone. The completion of the mission by any squadron and their damage reports would be announced to everyone at the first minute they arrive at Grozny City. "It can't be that you guys had bumped into the absolute ice hail storm, right? Nevertheless, there's no need to worry. I've helped Wang Zhong read his fortunes, and from what I can tell that he's not the kind of fellow that will have a short life."
A smile appeared on Grai's face as he replied. "You know how to read fortunes, senior Dicaprio?"
"Reading one's fortunes was an exceedingly ancient ability, and wasn't something fraudulent or fake." Grai clearly replied in an extremely professional manner.
Pushing his glasses up his nose, a chilling glint flashed across Dicaprio's glasses before the look of care on his face instantly turned into one of pride. "With regards to this, I can tell you with certainty that I'm quite the expert at it! I'm the 268th successor of the ancient arts, with the moniker of the Divine Eyewave!"
People who were unfamiliar with the skill of reading fortunes would feel that Dicaprio is overly showing off, as he did not forget to praise himself in every single sentence that he had spoken. If not for them knowing him, they would have wholly assumed that he was some captain from an A ranked squadron.
"Before you guys had arrived, I've assumed that you all were not able to complete this mission. You all really are a squadron that I've placed importance in, to actually be able to rush all the way here even after bumping into the absolute ice hail storm." as he spoke, Dicaprio handing over a set of information. "This is the information that I've collected on the few squadrons that have passed through this elimination round. I've originally planned to hand it to Wang Zhong. However, since that guy's missing, I'll hand it to you then."
"Thank you." said Grai without declining the information. Although he was capable in many aspects, he was considerably poor on the aspect of forming relationships with people.
The details present in the information weren't much, focusing mainly on those squadrons that have already passed through this round, with a couple of matters that had occurred recently. After all, having arrived in Grozny City quite a few days earlier than Tianjing, Dicaprio and his squadron had already gotten ample rest and recuperation.
Although Grai was confident towards Wang Zhong, with the latter not being here, Grai had to handle everything that was tasked of the squadron. Truthfully speaking, he had already seen the so-called Mo's List for this CHF, which was indeed something exceedingly interesting to him. Regardless of how far the Tianjing squadron could walk in this CHF, this was already an incredibly fantastic experience for all of them.
However, for Grai, the most critical aspect of this wasn't the goal, but the emotions and feelings while doing so.
After saying their goodbyes to Dicaprio, the Tianjing squadron headed back to the living quarters assigned to them by the organization committee, before quickly sprawling all about the place as they fell into a deep sleep. Barran shook the heavens and rattled the earth with his snores. For the last 2 days, he had truly been pushed to the brink of exhaustion. Being a man, and what more a heavy soldier, there were lots of responsibilities hanging from his shoulders. Although he was a mere person, he cannot let down the trust his senior had placed in him! Standing firm all the way till the end, he had also believed that Wang Zhong and Scarlet would definitely reach Grozny City.
Grai had proceeded to take a nice and refreshing bath before starting to read through the information acquired from Dicaprio carefully.
Within the entire Grozny City Competition Zone, there were actually close to 70 plus squadrons, inclusive of Tianjing that had passed through this elimination round. What's more, the elimination round has yet to end. This number had greatly exceeded Grai's expectations. Clearly, the elimination rate wasn't considered high, with the situation of squadrons defeating other squadrons no occurring as planned by the organization committee.
According to the rate of success, the S and A ranked squadrons would absolutely be in the first batch of people to succeed, and not one of them had chosen to complete the mission with the alternative method of using strength to snatch the tokens of other squadrons. To other squadrons, this test might be a struggle. However, for these people, they would not let such a precious opportunity to temper themselves go to waste. What's more, with the level of pride and arrogance in their hearts, they would never stoop so low and choose to complete via the alternative method.
The second group would be the large batch of A- and B ranked squadrons. Within this batch, there was a considerable portion that had chosen the follow the rules and trek all the way to the designated location, with the time taken being about 25 days or so. They had more or less faced some problems, with the possibility of fights breaking out being the most likely outcome for this group. They possessed a tad bit of strength, but not absolute strength. However, although their passing rate was high, there were very few life or death fights that had broken out in this group. With all of them keeping a vigilant heart, wanting to bring down another squadron while not suffering any damage in return was too difficult for them. With the heart of the coward beating in them, wanting them to test the waters of other people won't be that easy.
The final group was made of C and D ranked squadrons, and was more chaotic than the other 2 groups. Indeed, the squadrons had suffered more damage than those in the other 2 groups. However, due to them knowing that their strength wasn't up to par, the signs of them grouping up were very severe. Therefore, all of the squadrons that suffered losses were present in this group. What's more, there were 3 special C ranked squadrons that appeared rather eye-catching within this group, being, Tianjing, Adolf and Giant God Peak.