Krune and Ao's group weren't the only ones affected by the change on door and slot numbers. As far as Krune could see with his Divine Sense, there wasn't a single team with more than seven or eight members, and that was already very rare to see. The majority had around 3 to 5 members, just like Krune.
Both Ao and Krune's group had already decided that the best way was to fight for single slots. There was no point in trying to monopolize door slots anymore.
As expected, thanks to Krune's Divine Sense, his side found a door first. After arriving there, they found out that another two small teams were waiting. The other side looked at then, and once more, they were taken aback by the wisp in the middle of that group. Krune and the others then went to a corner and started to wait as well. He then looked at the door slots and commented.
"There are 10 slots in this one, but we are a total of 11 contestants here already. Of course, there will probably have much more by the time that the door opens."
Shinja nodded.
"What do we do then? You and I should have no problem in securing a slot, but Tasier and especially Lofa might have some issues."
Before Krune could even answer, Tasier cut him.
"No need to worry about me. If I can't enter a slot or defeat someone inside, then I have no right to keep advancing. Pay attention to your slots only, I don't need your help."
Lofa came from a wealthy family, so she had her pride too.
"Tasier is right! I don't mind losing, but I do care about dragging you guys back."
Shinja and Krune looked at each and nodded.
"Very well, then I wish you good luck."
Back at Ao's side, they finally found a door after spending over an hour looking for one. Surprisingly, they were a lot luckier than Krune's group. Their door only had another 5 contestants even though it had been a lot longer since this floor was opened.
The door itself had 11 slots available, which means that even counting Ao's group, there are still two free ones. The other group was obviously a team as well, for them to have arrived here with 5 members shows that they aren't weak. Still, neither side did anything to the other.
In the end, Ao's group got to the same conclusion as Krune.
"Alright, it is up to our own abilities now. Try to enter a slot as soon as possible when the door activates, the outside will definitely become a battle zone since everyone will want to enter."
Joty, Yusa, and Arlan nodded.
But who could have thought that the door activated just after they finished talking? Be it Ao or the other group on the side, they were both taken aback. This door opened a lot faster than any previous one. Still, they were delighted! They are the only ones here, and there are enough slots for all of them. So they immediately entered a slot each, and the 10 minutes countdown started.
Ao then looked at Joty's slot.
"This guy isn't only strong for someone without the Energy Meridians, his luck is also remarkable."
Still, that was good news for his team, so he only hoped for it to continue. Luck is also part of strength after all.
During the 10 minutes that Ao and the others had to wait, another team appeared. They had a total of five members. After noticing the door already activated and the two free slots, they communicated through Divine Sense. They then decided who would take the free slots in just a second.
After that, the other three looked at everyone inside the slots and randomly selected three of them. Unless you knew the opponent beforehand, it would be useless to overthink about which one you should challenge. The illusion realm made it look like everyone was at the peak of the Foundation Establishment, after all.
This time, Arlan, Yusa, and someone from the other team were selected. Joty looked at that and let out a sigh of relief. He was lucky once more.
Arlan and Yusa, obviously, had no problem in holding back their opponents. Especially Yusa, who bested at support. She had a lot of defensive skills.
The 10 minutes soon finished and everyone was teleported to the 92nd floor.
Earlier, on Krune's side, the situation was totally different. Not only the door didn't have enough slots, the number of contestants waiting for it to open increased a lot too. By the time that the next level door activated, there were already 48 contestants from several different teams. In fact, it shouldn't have had so many contestants there, Krune's team was just unlucky for so many to have found the same door. There is no need to guess what happened, everyone charged inside the slots they were close to.
Several area attacks were sent at the slots to stop those closest to it from entering before them. In Krune's case, it was useless. He used his Tribulation Lightning Movement from the very start, so in everyone's eyes, he simply disappeared. When he reappeared again, Krune was already the first one to be inside a slot defending it.
Shinja and Tasier both had Lightning Element Specialization, so they were also fast. Shinja was okay since she has a Pure Yin Body, which she used from the very start too. Thanks to that, she also was able to enter a slot to defend it. Unfortunately, Tasier's case was different. He couldn't simply take the attacks head-on, so he had to fight for his chance to enter it. In the end, he wasn't the first one inside, but the second, which means that he was the attacker while his opponent was the defender.
Surprisingly, Lofa got inside her slot first. Lofa is quite good at defense, so she paid some price to bear the attacks to arrive there. But she wasn't dispirited, that's because she had enough time to take one of Krune's healing pill before the challenger was finally decided outside. She might have the lowest attack, but she is still very confident in her defense ability. Not to mention, a certain wisp was paying attention to her! How could she fail in front of him?
Krune's opponent entered just a few seconds after him. He then snorted and made the same thing as always, pretend that he was barely able to hold. Shinja and Lofa did the same, it's just that Lofa had a harder time doing so. As for Tasier? He could only go all out! He was the attacker. Unless he becomes the defender, the 10 minutes countdown will not start for him.
But his opponent wasn't easy either. Usually, Tasier would resort to long-range bombardment, but this time he had to use his best skills. Tasier strongest battle mode is speed focused close combat while also using long-ranged skills. It is just that those long-ranged skills were also used while he was near. His opponent was taken aback by the sudden change in Tasier's style and had a hard time holding him off. Still, the time was passing. Tasier noticed that it wasn't good enough and started to draw out his Thunder Hawk bloodline power.
Immediately, the power of his lightning increased, his speed got faster, and his attacks more potent. Finally, his opponent couldn't hold anymore. It's not like his opponent didn't know how to attack, but that he had decided to only focus on defense from the start so that he could conserve energy. In the end, Tasier's opponent had to leave the slot before he got killed.
No one paid any attention to the guy who was defeated. As soon as he left the slot, another battle between those who were left outside started again to see who would take the chance to challenge Tasier. Everyone wanted to try since Tasier had just come out of a hard battle, so they thought that the Hawk was probably feeling weak at the moment.
The surprising thing was that no one was beside Tasier's slot when the battle finished. The majority was waiting close to Krune's slot instead. They all thought that since Krune is a wisp, he will be the first one to lose. That involuntary help gave Tasier a few precious moments to take out some healing pills and focus on recovering. There was also the fact that since everyone was fighting for the right to challenge Tasier, his next opponent wouldn't be at full power either.
Sure enough, Tasier's next opponent had quite a few injuries himself. When Tasier looked at him, he was surprised. It turns out that his opponent was also a flying demon beast, it was a Horned Ice Vulture from the Tialue Planet. This planet wasn't inside of the top 1000 but was still much stronger if compared with Makui.
Tasier immediately recovered his attention. Whether it was a Demon Beast or a Cultivator, what matters here is the opponent's strength. The Vulture didn't waste time either, it immediately took flight and charged forward. It had to beat Tasier first before 10 minutes were over and still defend the slot after that. The faster Tasier is defeated, the better it is for it.
Tasier snorted and took flight as well. Before, he had to go all out and use his best close and long-range combat skills at the same time while keeping close to the opponent. But this time, he had no need to get close to the Vulture. For him who learned from Krune how to make the best use of his Lightning Element, keeping the distance from the Horned Ice Vulture wasn't anything hard.
The Vulture noticed that it wouldn't be able to approach Tasier and started to use its bloodline power as Tasier did in the last battle. Immediately, an ice fog started to cover the entire place where the battle was happening. Still, Tasier's control over his elements was much better than the Horned Ice Vulture. Although his speed was somewhat affected, he was still able to dodge the offensives.
While Tasier was in the middle of the battle, Krune, Shinja, and Lofa were teleported. Their 10 minutes countdown was over, and they were considered victorious in their defense. Tasier had taken around 4 minutes to defeat his first opponent, which means that he still has the same time to keep defending his slot. Krune and the others then decided to wait.
Fortunately, the Horned Ice Vulture didn't give up and kept chasing after Tasier until the very end. The contestants outside were angry because it was evident that the Vulture couldn't catch up with the Thunder Hawk. They wanted it to give up so that someone specialized in speed could enter and defeat Tasier. Of course, if it was any of them inside, none would have given up either, so their anger was meaningless.
Krune and Ao's group entered the 92nd level. There are eight more to go.