The battle on Krune's side continued, and Jano's group was losing ground bit by bit. Janos knew that it wasn't good for his side and decided to go all out too. He then took a different type of arrow from his spatial ring that looked like made of silver. It was specially crafted to be able to hold his elements easier, be much sturdier, and higher piercing power.
He then concentrated both fire and wind elements inside it to the limit and decided on a target. Although Krune's shields were still flying around him, Jano is confident that this arrow would be able to pierce through it and still hit the mark. The reason for that is because he could see that although those shields could block his arrows, they couldn't do it without receiving some damage.
Krune had just eliminated another enemy when he noticed Jano's actions, and he could feel that something was different about that arrow. But Jano didn't give him time to think about it, he immediately aimed the arrow at Ao inside the battle formation and shot. Krune noticed the target and used one of his shields to stop it, but surprisingly, the arrows passed straight through it.
Ao and Arlan were working together to cover up for the flaws in the battle formation. If one of them is defeated, the formation will probably crumble. Krune could only use his Divine Sense to alert Ao.
"Arrow!"
Ao was taken aback with that sudden message and noticed the arrow coming at him with his Divine Sense. He wanted to dodge but knew that it was too late. The arrow was too fast! Ao only had the time to raise his sword to deflect it. Still, the deflected arrow pierced his right shoulder, just a few centimeters away from his heart.
Ao was sweating cold, just a split of a second later, and it would have taken his life. Jano saw that and sighed, this was a one time chance. From now on, the enemy would be warier against his attacks and be prepared to counter. He knew that his group chance of victory was very low now, so he sent a Divine Sense message to everyone.
"Retreat!"
Slowly, Jano's group started to retreat while the ranged attackers provided cover. The Vaspo Planet contestants are indeed in a different league than Makui Planet. They kept their calm while focused on defense. In the end, Krune gave to order not to pursue a cornered enemy. Each of their members was stronger than anyone outside Krune's friends except for Joty, who had similar strength to the common members of the enemy's team. It was thanks to Ao's battle formation and Shinja, Yusa, and Krune's support that they were able to hold the upper hand. Of course, if the other contestants of Makui Planet didn't join the battle, things would have been even more difficult.
From the forty contestants of the Vaspo Planet, seven had been crippled or killed by Makui Planet's team. But that wasn't without a cost, Krune's side also had two members crippled and one dead in the end. Krune wasn't delusional. He knew that such a thing was probably going to happen sooner or later, and he didn't regret his decision.
He then looked at everyone and said.
"This is already a very good outcome. The Vaspo Planet is ranked in the top thousand, but we still defeated them. Although three of us won't be able to do it anymore, this battle will be very beneficial for all of us in the long term."
Krune then went to check the two who won't be able to continue anymore. One of them was the Ferlo Clan member, Edil Ferlo. The other one was Rasma, the blazing leopard. Both of them had their dantian or core damaged and wouldn't be able to circulate spiritual energy anymore. Fortunately, this is an illusion realm. Their bodies outside are just fine, so they won't have any injuries once they fail the test.
Krune checked their conditions and shook his head. If he was the girl with a Life Major Core, he might have a way to heal them, but it obviously wasn't the case.
"You won't be able to continue like that."
Krune didn't apologize since it was a personal decision for everyone if they would come out of the slots to help or not.
Edil also shook his head.
"I know very well that if I had gone ahead alone, I would be eliminated sooner or later. There is no way I could fight for slots with the little strength I have. This battle just now showed the difference between a low and a high ranked planet."
Rasma is a demon beast, so he was even more straight.
"I was weaker, so I lost. That's all!"
Krune the looked at the place where the dead member of the Makui Planet disappeared. In the illusion realm, a body doesn't stay behind. Once someone is killed, their bodies become specs of light and disappear in just a few seconds. The unfortunate one was Kariu Rone, from the Divine Swords Sect.
Arlan, Mina, and Joty are also part of the Divine Swords Sect, but they just sighed. They know that the Divine Path Sect Entrance Exam has a high rate of deaths. So there was nothing they could do about that. Krune couldn't help but comment.
"I wonder how they resolve the grudges built during the test."
Everyone heard that and were taken aback. That's true, how many enmities are created during the exam? How exactly the sect deal with it in the end? But there was no point in thinking about it now.
"Alright, let's go to the next floor."
Krune then helped the Edil and Rasma into their slots, and they appeared on the next floor. There, they found a place to leave Edil and Rasma hidden until the time for failing comes through. After that, Krune took some time to help Ao to heal his injuries. Everything they possess has been replicated inside the illusion realm, healing pills included. It didn't take long for Ao to be on top condition again. Krune's team then immediately departed to find the next door. With Krune's Divine Sense, their group had quite an easy time during this process on every level.
After arriving at the next one, Krune's group started to wait again. The next floor hasn't opened yet, so there was no point in entering the slots for now. This wasn't the first time it happened, so Krune's group already got used to this issue. Only when every door slot from the previous floor was used or when the time was over would the next level open for them to pass.
They were challenged for the slots twice, but those teams had fewer members than the Vaspo Planet and were also weaker. So other than a few minor injuries, everyone was okay. After that, they entered the next floor as well when the door activated.
They continued like that, and after two weeks, they had finally arrived at the 84th floor. On the way here, Krune had noticed that almost no team had more than 20 contestants. But that was to be expected, the number of slots in each door has been continuously declining. Not to mention that more and more battles were taking place for those slots, which is eliminating even more of them.
His team was no different. Except for his group, the Makui Planet had already lost 7 contestants. So the initial 21 members of the Makui Planet had gone down to 14.
Surprisingly, Mari was still there too. She could be said to be one of the weakest in the group to start with, but she still struggled to reach this point. Mari looked at Krune, Ao, Yusa, and the others in Krune's group and felt somewhat ashamed. It was evident that it reached the point where she couldn't help much anymore. But still, none of them said anything.
Joty was the only one outside Krune's group with enough combat power to make some significant difference. Especially during the battle formation, he got quite proficient in it in the past two weeks and could help cover for the flaws in it too. The only problem was that with the lower number of cultivators and demon beasts, the formation had been weakened quite a lot.
Soon, Krune's group found a door, and it had a total of seventeen slots. The problem was because there was already another team there. The other team obviously noticed Krune's group approaching and immediately entered combat formation. This group had sixteen members, so they also wanted to use this door since it had enough slots for them.
Once again, they were taken aback when they saw the wisp in the middle of the group. But by now, no one would underestimate any race in the test. Unless you had been heaven defyingly lucky, only strong teams remained. So none of them showed the least bit of disdain to the wisp in front.
Krune's group was also ready to fight, they couldn't be so carefree to look for other doors anymore. With the fewer number of participants, the faster the previous floors were being cleaned. Thus, the next floor doors were activating faster and faster. If they leave to find a new one, there is a chance that everything will have been used already, and they will fail. It was then that the enemy's team leader came forward to talk.
"Our forces aren't much different from each other, if we really fight, both sides will suffer. What about we decide which team is staying in another way?"
Krune's group was taken aback. That was the first time someone proposed something like that during this exam. Still, although Krune had the confidence of winning when their numbers are similar, it would be better to avoid injuries if possible.
"What do you propose?"
The guy smiled and said.
"Leader's fight! The leader of each group will enter the slot and decide the victor there."
Suddenly, everyone from Makui Planet's team looked weirdly at this guy, which made him feel that something was not right. Krune also noticed his friends look and was alarmed.
"Alright, we accept."
Krune was afraid that the guy would notice something fishy after looking at his idiot team members who couldn't even hide their emotions. They couldn't be blamed, though. Just how many contestants in this Entrance Exam could possibly be Krune's match? Their expressions were something totally involuntary.
Krune then moved in the direction of one of the slots. The guy noticed that, and his jaw opened wide.
"Wait! Are you this group's leader?"
It was already strange that this team had a wisp within, but it was even the leader of the group. He couldn't help but think if they were making fun of him. Still, the bet was on, if they sent the wisp, then it was even better for his group.