As soon as 10 o'clock arrived, all teams moved out. Those who made an alliance went somewhere together; others who decided to run alone tried to go away. Obviously, some followed other teams they thought to be good targets. And since Krune's group had only three members, they had immediately become some of those team's targets that were being pursued. The rules only said you can't attack anyone during the first two hours. They said nothing about not following potential targets.
Of course, Krune and his team noticed them straight away, but that was also good. It meant that those contestants weren't confident in a good five vs. five battles, which means that they are the real prey in the story. His group had purposely lowered their speed so that the contestants behind them could follow. At the same time, it wasn't so slow not to make their enemies think that they were being lured instead.
In the end, it was an alliance of two teams of five people each. And judging by their appearance, they were obviously from the Ragne Planet. They kept following Krune's group until the two hours were over. Krune and the others also had a plan in mind. It didn't involve their pursues, though, but the other groups. They made sure to open as much distance as possible from any other group that might intervene during their hunt. Of course, a few would still be able to follow since the first group coming for them wasn't all that fast. They probably intended to do the oriole play.
Thanks to Krune's powerful soul, no team was able to hide from Krune's Divine Sense. By playing the right movements, Krune and his group were able to lure the closest team behind them anywhere they wanted.
As soon as the two hours were up, their enemies immediately attacked. They surrounded their group and used a small battle formation to guarantee they couldn't escape. It was then that someone came forward and said:
"Just give us your black token, and you can leave to try your luck again. It's up to you whether we make a move or not."
Ao and Arlan heard that and couldn't help but smile. Krune, on the other hand, just sighed.
"They couldn't even notice we guided them here. I wonder from where that confidence comes from."
The enemy group heard that and immediately looked around with their Divine Sense, but nothing was found.
Ao shook his head while Arlan simply burst in laugh.
"Wrong! Wrong! We indeed lured you into a trap, but it doesn't mean that we have reinforcements. Simply put, the three of us are more than enough to beat all of you."
One of the enemies just snorted after hearing that.
"He! Sure, you did! So why don't you show us how exactly you want to deal with us?"
Right after, he said that all the enemies around Krune's group attacked together. Since their targets were in the mood to provoke them, there was no need to hold back. As long as they got Krune's black token or forced their leader to use the blue token, the victory was theirs. Of course, if they didn't do any of the two options, they didn't mind forcing their hand.
But just as they moved, their faces changed as if they had seen a ghost. Right in front of them, Krune, Ao, and Arlan suddenly disappeared! No! It's not that they disappeared; they could still feel Krune's group presence with their Divine Senses. It's just that they were too fast for any of them to follow their movements.
"Support formation, don't let them get close!"
Noticing that they had hit a steel wall, both team leaders immediately changed their formation so that they could give support to anyone of their teams. Since there were only three of them, they could still tire them out until they had no more Spiritual Energy to battle. At that time, they will be able to launch a counter-attack or, at the very least, force them to flee.
Ao and Arlan appeared close to one of their enemies each and immediately launched an attack. But thanks to the support formation, their companions were able to counter-attack at the same time. Several skills rained down on Ao and Arlan. But surprisingly, they didn't retreat or even defend at all, and simply charged forward.
"Are they planning to suicide?"
That was the thought of everyone. Once they saw that, they could only call such action suicide. But of course, they forgot a significant detail: Krune was still there! Just as the attacks were about to hit Ao and Arlan, several Hexagonal Shields appeared around both of them. They attached together, creating small barriers that deflected the attacks away, which was only possible due to the trust Ao and Arlan put on him. They simply didn't think Krune could miss those attacks even for an instant.
"Crescent Searing Sword!"
"Vacuum Blade!"
"Swish!"
Right after that, two enemy cultivators fell; there was simply no time to help them anymore. They couldn't understand. How did those small shields have enough power to defend against all their attacks? Once more, the secret was behind the elements of each shield! Krune made sure to use the elements of the right shields against their enemies' attacks.
However, that was of little concern at the moment, because everyone noticed over a hundred Blazing Wind Blades raining down from above. At everyone's cultivation level and superior combat prowess, Krune's Blazing Wind Blades weren't that dangerous anymore. Of course, that was in the case you had to deal with only a few Blazing Wind Blades. But each one of the remaining eight enemies had more than ten of those blades to deal with! They obviously could take care of them at regular times, but that wasn't the case at the moment.
Ao and Arlan took the chance that their attention was focused on the blazing wind blades, and used the breach in the enemies' defenses. In a flash, they got rid of another four cultivators. This battle started just a few seconds ago, but then ten vs. three situations have already become a four vs. three! Noticing that the outcome wasn't good, the two leaders of the two teams immediately used their movement techniques to try to flee. It was too bad Krune was already expecting that. As soon as they moved away from their positions, they fell inside two gigantic Water Prisons Krune had prepared beforehand.
In typical situations, they would have definitely noticed those water prisons and avoided them in time. But Ao, Arlan, and Krune's coordination were perfect! The moment the two leaders tried to flee, Ao and Arlan had sent attacks over. They had to divert their attention to those two attacks right when they entered inside the water prison range. The end result was both of them being trapped inside, not to mention that Krune's Water Prisons weren't something that cultivators at their level could easily deal with.
Ao and Arlan immediately used that chance to finish off the last two guys and stopped right in front of the water prisons. The two leaders knew that there was no way out, so they tried to negotiate first.
"We will give you our token as long as you let us leave this place. We won't try to bother you three anymore after this. Please understand that we can't simply give up like this; otherwise, our positions in our sect will be deeply affected if we are eliminated straight away."
Krune, Arlan, and Ao looked at each other. Although Krune was the one holding the tokens at the moment because he had the highest speed and defense. It was not like there was a leader in their group to start with. In Krune's eyes, everyone had the right to make decisions. While keeping his attention on both leaders, Krune then asked:
"What do you think? Personally, I don't mind either. The two of you probably noticed that. Although they did try to ambush us with higher numbers, there has never been a killing intent coming from them. I believe they were really prepared to just force us to use our blue token or give up our black token."
Ao simply put his sword away. That gesture was obviously showing his answer.
Arlan just sighed and put his sword away as well. Ao had already told him about Krune's personality and his aversion for killing. Arlan really couldn't understand how Krune became this strong with such a kind heart.
"Very well. Send over your black tokens, and I will release you."
The two prisoners looked at each other and nodded; they took out their black tokens and immediately threw them over to Krune. They were not in position demand Krune to do anything. If they tried, Krune could simply attack them until they were forced to use their blue tokens, and then their blacks would be lost anyway. They could only trust Krune would keep his words.
Krune exanimated the two black tokens and nodded. Right after that, the two water prisons skill were canceled, much for the two leaders' relief. Krune then pointed at their team members and said:
"We did inflict severe injuries to your team members, but they are not crippled or dead either. As long as you have enough healing pills, they could recover in a few days. You still have a chance to pass this first phase too. Just remember that if you get close to us and we find out that you have black tokens again, we won't show any courtesy."
That was one more reason as to why Krune wasn't forcing them to quit. The more teams out there, the bigger their chances of finding more groups with black tokens.
After that, Krune, Arlan, and Ao left straight away. While they were moving forward, Arlan and Ao seemed to be waiting for Krune to say something.
"We did our best to lure the other teams, but they just kept close enough to check the situation. I believe they were waiting for an opportunity to strike as soon as a victor emerged. So we had prepared a few traps according to our plan. Unfortunately, not a single one of them tried to join the fray from start to finish."
With Krune's Divine Sense, there was no way that he wouldn't notice the other three teams lurking in the shadows. But Krune really didn't expect that they wouldn't act until the very end.
Ao pondered a bit and said:
"Could it be that we showed too much strength and scared them away?"
Arlan nodded.
"I also think so. After all, we did get rid of those ten cultivators with a certain ease."
But Krune then started to laugh.
"Actually, the reason was much simpler! You should be able to guess it already."
Ao and Arlan's eyes suddenly lit up and started to laugh too.
"They had noticed each other, and none of them wanted to be the first to attack. None of them moved until the very end, afraid of being ambushed by the other two lurking around."
Krune nodded.
"Correct! Their fear destroyed our plans, and, finally, we only got two black tokens. Of course, the two hours of peace had just finished. Getting two black tokens just a few minutes after is already very good."
Ao and Arlan also nodded. Then, the three of them looked at each other and showed an evil smile. They totally looked like villains from some evil sect at that moment.
"But that doesn't mean that we are leaving them out of the hook. Let's keep moving this way. But be ready to move at full speed once I tell you."
Krune was playing his support role to the fullest! His recognition and tracking powers were obviously beyond those of anyone around them.