At this moment, the competition was more than the magic spring and Belle's destiny. It was a matter of the rise or fall of the Lotus Holy Land and three Ancient Families!
By rights, the chiefs of the Ancient Families and the Holy Lord of the Holy Land were sophisticated figures that had lived above past generations, so impulsiveness shouldn't be their choice.
But human beings from all walks of life were all driven by greed. Who could be disinterested when faced with life-changing temptation? Especially if they had seen the great temptation before their very eyes, within their grasp to follow?
Under such tempting circumstances, an insignificant competition became a huge gamble implying a risk no one could avoid.
"I would like to announce that the second round of the competition, hunting, will commence now!
Each of our well-trained participants will be teleported to the demonic monster's territory. They will hunt in that arena for six hours. To compensate for your bravery and skill, you will be given credit to every monster you hunt. One credit for the supreme diabolic beast, who will probably take you by its cunning nature; 10 credits for a level one demonic monster, who will not hesitate to attack you in sight; and 20 credits for a level two demonic monster, the more intimidating and cleverer ones.
Anyone with the most credits will have the opportunity to change your opponent from the three given options in the next level of the competition!"
In a split-second, everyone internalized that the hunting was of great significance!
Having three options meant changing a stronger opponent with a weaker one in order to maintain strength and ensure confidence in battle until the final rivalry!
'This hunting competition is really favorable to me. I can take advantage of the duration of this competition to improve my talent, ' Darren smirked as he talked to himself.
To his secret delight, he knew he could barely spot a demonic monster under normal circumstances. Assimilating diabolic beasts would be quite hard to improve Darren's current level of talent, except for the hunting of the fearless demonic monsters. Moreover, he could have three options to hide his real strength until the final rivalry so as to increase the odds of winning considerably if he could surpass the others in the hunting competition!
'I must win over this hunting competition! Or else, I fear that I must exert eighty or ninety percent of my real strength to incessantly fight with one of the promising warriors of those three Ancient Families!' Darren pondered as he looked above.
"You have to remember one important thing. It's forbidden to kill each other or exchange blows among yourselves in the demonic monster's territory as this is not the battle for that, or else I will invite the witness of the bet--the Holy Lord Landon to kill any violator in person! Do you agree?" Colin asked three chiefs of the Ancient Families.
All three chiefs of the Ancient Families agreed after Colin finished the declaration of the rules everyone should abide by.
Then, the Holy Lord Landon le
y and respectfully.
"Yes, Darren. Sven may have a strength of mediocrity, but he is erudite in terms of diabolic beasts and demonic monsters. He knows much more than anyone," another disciple said with a smile.
"It's a good thing, then! Sven will be very helpful to our survival." Darren realized Sven was an unexpected but an important gain for him.
"Thanks a lot for your compliment, Darren," Sven replied, his face lit up with pride and happiness.
"Well, store away the cardiac core of that diabolic beast and keep on moving," Darren called the shots and led them to move ahead slowly and instinctively on the surface of the peat.
Even the disciples with the most unpromising strength had reached the seventh stage of the Mysterious Realm so they were confident that it would be quite easy for them to fly over the bog. However, in order for them to fly in the air, they needed to release their breath, which would attract attention from the creatures they were avoiding to encounter. To survive, they decided to hide their breath as they floated slowly on the surface of the bog after figuring out how to aerially balance in the most unnoticeable way possible.
In such a dangerous realm, caution was the parent of safety.
As they carefully traversed, some air bubbles popped out of the black bog. They realized that they were not alone, as a tremendous breath made them feel that something was looming over them.
A huge bloody mouth gradually emerged from the bog and bit the unlucky disciples with a lightning speed.
"What bad luck! It's the king of the mud crocodile. It must be a demonic monster!" Sven cried in surprise and warned the others to draw back.
Only Darren maintained his figure above the bog and was not willing to display anything that translated into retreat.
"Run for your life, Darren! A demonic monster's strength is equivalent to a human warrior at the top level of the Mysterious Realm!"
The disciples were shocked at the sight of the monster and Darren's unwavering courage. Everyone feared for Darren's safety.