Chapter 973 - 628: Competition Round Five

Up until they were eliminated and sent out, standing at the instance gate, the two teams were still completely dumbfounded.

They honestly hadn't really seen clearly what had just happened.

The slime and the Barrier got shattered by that blue flame, and then the white mist surged in.

Everyone was eliminated in one go.

By now quite a few teams that had already finished the first two events had gathered here.

Seeing these two teams appear, everyone's attention shifted over.

"Look, another two teams just got knocked out."

"Looks like the third event is about to wrap up too."

"Yeah, we just don't know which team will end up being the unlucky last one."

Four teams had already been cut; once one more came out, the dust would settle.

Everyone still felt pretty shaken about this third event.

Otherworldly disasters—flesh and blood bodies just can't stand up to them.

Summoned beasts can hold the line a bit, but the human Summoners just can't take it.

"Which disaster knocked you guys out?"

At this moment, the two teams that had been eliminated first came over to ask.

"Uh, we made it past the avalanche, but then ran into this weird white mist…"

Once the four eliminated teams compared notes, they immediately spotted the pattern.

Turns out all of their eliminations were tied to that white mist.

One of the first two teams got hit by a barrage of lightning inside the white mist; the other was eliminated by inexplicable massive explosions.

Plus the two avalanche-zone teams—every single one of these situations had happened without exception inside the mist.

They weren't exactly talking quietly, so the other competitors nearby all heard it.

"What the hell is that white mist, the king of disasters or something?"

"It not only devours flesh, it comes with toxic fire, dense lightning strikes, and heavy blasts—this stuff is terrifying…"

"Good thing we didn't draw the third event."

Everyone was trading comments, but in the crowd Liu Jisheng and Fu Dusheng stayed silent.

Going by the description, that's just pure Li Pu, isn't it.

Sure enough, the four teams soon brought up another common factor.

That was the straw-yellow figure, and the unforgettable cry of "Caocao Caocao Caocao."

The color didn't match, but that distinctive cry instantly pointed all the blame at that cripple.

"No way—then why didn't his summoned beast get swallowed by the mist?"

"So… all four teams were eliminated by him personally?"

"Uh, so is this event supposed to be testing natural disasters, or man-made calamities?"

Everyone was dumbstruck, and at the same time inwardly on guard.

Rumor had it that in the fourth round, the summoned beasts under that cripple had already shown crazily strong combat power.

At this point, no one was going to look down on him anymore just because his aura was weak and he was competing solo.

If they ran into this guy in the fifth round, they'd definitely have to be on high alert.

Vrrrm!

While they were still chatting, the light gate of the instance flickered.

The fifth eliminated team appeared in front of everyone, all wearing frustrated looks.

"Bro, did you guys run into the white mist too?"

Before they could say anything, someone jumped in with a question.

"White mist? What white mist?"

The team leader looked genuinely puzzled.

"We dug a hole and were hiding just fine, then ran into that cripple."

"We didn't even get a word in, and he collapsed the whole pit!"

"The two of us got crushed to death on the spot!"

His teammate beside him sounded absolutely outraged.

Well, there goes the pretense—he wasn't even bothering to act anymore.

After hearing this, everyone just called it insane.

A single person actually managed to complete the entire event's quota of eliminations.

"This kind of vibe is really not great…"

Liu Jisheng felt that if this kept up, Li Pu was going to become everyone's favorite target.

No, correction—he already was everyone's favorite target. ℯℯ𝑙.

"No idea what the fifth round is going to be, just hope it doesn't put him at too much of a disadvantage."

Fu Dusheng let out a sigh.

...

In the end, all three events of the fourth round were completed, and half the teams were eliminated.

Only fifteen teams remained to fight for the last ten slots.

After another night of rest, everyone gathered at the base gate under the judges' summons.

Laid out before them was a dual-mode hovercraft that could travel both on land and in the air.

Everyone was familiar with the make and model.

Back in the third round, the summoned beasts had been deployed using these hovercrafts.

"Congratulations to all of you—today we'll be holding the final round."

"We'll eliminate five teams; the remaining ten teams will get the slots they're hoping for."

Judge Wang swept her gaze over everyone, then began to introduce the rules.

"The project for this last round is: free activity."

"Your activity area will be this great stretch of desert behind us, for a total of thirty days."

"During these thirty days, you can hunt, you can explore."

"We've set up a complete scoring system; every action you take might become part of your evaluation criteria."

"And of course, there'll be direct competition."

"Attacking another team will allow you to Plunder half of their points."

"Don't go thinking this point-stealing mechanic is unfair."

"After all, if you run into hostile otherworldly adventure groups beyond our borders, things can get much more brutal."

As she said this, she waved her hand, and fifteen judges stepped forward.

"Each team will be assigned a judge to accompany you."

"They'll both record your point gains and losses, and protect your safety."

"There's no early elimination in this round—defeated teams will return to the hovercraft and choose a new drop point."

"You are not allowed to take your opponents' lives—this is, after all, just a competition."

"And for us human adventure groups, mutual support and unity are the most important things."