"This…" Theo closed his eyes for a moment to think. "I feel like there is something flawed in your decision, but I don't know what…"
"There are only two monsters, Theo. If it's not the first one, then it will be the second one." Ellen felt it wasn't that hard for them. "I know that making the wrong choice will give us minus points, but don't you think it's good to test the water first?"
"But you should think about the wasted time along with the points reduction." Phyrill somehow agreed with Theo and tried to take another look at the hint.
"Theo said that this competition is meant to reduce other competitors, allowing only a few best teams to compete. We seem to have gained five more points than Australia Team, so we can afford to waste one or two chances, right?" Laust asked. "You can't win all the time… You can't…"
Laust's voice turned heavy as he spoke from experience.
Theo took another three minutes to think about their decision before letting out a long sigh. "I can't find anything in my head. It's not like we can use all sixty minutes since there's time for brainstorming. In other words, we only have five chances. So, which one do you want to fight?"
With Theo's confirmation, the group looked at each other and pointed at their own personal choices.
Alea, Phyrill and Laust chose the tiger, while Ellen and Sihan chose the snake.
"The result is there, but I still want to ask the reason why you chose that monster."
"The key is within the body, so the body must be big." Alea raised her hand, only to find Ellen nodding in agreement. "That's right. The key is inside the body. They need a snake to swallow it… Considering the snake can even swallow a human."
"…" Both of them looked at each other, acknowledging their reasons.
"For me, I simply knew that this tiger would be easier to fight, allowing us to recover our stamina during the waiting time." Phyrill shrugged while Laust pointed his hand to Phyrill as if telling his point was the same as Phyrill's.
"The snake is slower than the tiger, so it's easier." Sihan shrugged.
"Alright. Let's go with the tiger." Theo made a quick decision after listening to their reasons. At least, they had something in mind, not a simple "Because I want it."
Since they had come to an agreement, Sihan then chose the tiger as their opponent.
"Get ready. Sihan and Alea will be in the front. Laust and Phyrill will take the chance to strike it from the sides." Theo commanded the team while moving together with Ellen.
The giant gate opened automatically before an ominous feeling enveloped the room.
There wasn't a monster behind that gate, but they could feel that the monster was coming. Surprisingly, the one that appeared first was not the monster. It was a shadow extending on the ground.
Seeing an incredibly powerful Magic Power in that shadow, Sihan quickly moved forward with his shield in the front.
The shadow emerged from the floor and turned into a sharp blade that struck Sihan's shield, pushing him back.
"Tch." Sihan clicked his tongue and felt the power of that shadow. Even though he had surpassed Level 200, it was still hard to block a Level 300 monster's attack with his strength.
"Get ready!" Alea shouted as she saw the tiger coming from the corner and marching toward them with full speed.
To prevent the tiger from hitting Sihan, who had yet to recover, Alea came between them as she slammed her sword to the tiger's head.
The tiger floated in the air and tilted his head, stopping Alea's sword with its fang. At the same time, it used its weight along with his wings to drag Alea to Ellen and Theo.
Unfortunately for him, Alea only smiled as she became a bit too excited to finally show the result of her training.
She indeed got dragged by the tiger and almost flipped, but she managed to react to that movement and took advantage of it.
The moment she was upside-down, she launched her body to the air with the help of her other hand while extending her foot straight. Using that momentum, she kicked the tiger and blew it to the ceiling.
"You won't get past me, stupid tiger." Alea snorted. "Ah!"
The tiger let out a growl and spun its body to slip past Alea, heading straight to Sihan.
"Sihan!" Alea shouted and chased the tiger from behind.
Sihan readied his shield again and prepared to face the tiger, but the tiger made a small zig-zag movement, trying to confuse him.
Sihan charged forward to stop that tiger, but the latter used that chance to leap forward, slipping past Sihan.
However, due to that speed, the tiger had no way to avoid anything that came next.
"Jade Head."
"Sonic Speed."
Phyrill appeared from the left while covering his head with a translucent green barrier and rammed the tiger's stomach while Laust created a burst of Magic Power the moment he kicked the tiger's neck, blasting its neck.
On the other hand, Theo, who became the tiger's next target, simply stared at the tiger without even flinching as if he knew that the tiger wouldn't reach him.
When his and the tiger's eyes intertwined, the tiger's body shook for a split second without everyone noticing. However, in Theo's eyes, the tiger hesitated for a second and dropped his guard down.
Feeling that sudden drop, Sihan appeared right above the tiger and sliced its neck, killing the monster. "I'm here, Monster."
He and the monster dropped to the ground.
Sihan just showed them his training too. It turned out, Sihan actually let the tiger slip past him on purpose. He knew that both Laust and Phyrill would stop the tiger, so he used those two to his advantage to kill the tiger, showing that he actually lured the tiger in their formation, which was basically an executing ground.
However, one thing was missing. There was no notification of killing the tiger.