Pillar of Yita

Since the second round of the four matches on the first day has all come to an end, the second day begins with the eight matches of sixteen into eight.

Fang Hong received news early from Hawk-Beak Bean that their first-round opponent is a small team from a city to the east of Golande, Eis. However, having passed two rounds of qualifiers, it is evident that the opponent is quite formidable, and Soul Fingerprint bought the opponent's intelligence from an informed source, revealing that the team's three main members are all adept at material science.

"Being skilled in materials suggests the opponent has more advantages in protective and weapon-type Magic Guided Conductors." Soul Fingerprint analyzed with a furrowed brow, holding a document.

The surrounding people were silent as cicadas in winter. Fang Hong didn't return to the team on time last night and got scolded, thus he behaved obediently at the moment.

The rules of the main competition are that both parties each select two departments from the eight major branches of magic devices, crystals, plugins, and other alchemical arts as topics, then complete these four tasks together.

In addition, both parties can ban one department, so in the actual competition, there are six major branches. After four rounds, the highest-scoring match is excluded, and the winner is decided by the average score.

The overall expected score was to reach the semifinals, which also aligns with Soul Fingerprint's expectations — to guarantee fourth place and strive for third.

However, Fang Hong's intention is naturally to compete for the top, but in such a competition system, he alone is far from enough and must devise another plan. Of course, it is still too early to speak of these, as it would merely sound like fantasy.

He simply kept this thought buried in his heart.

The group then left the inn and proceeded to the arena. Upon reaching Elfendo Plaza, Fang Hong was astonished to find the hustle and bustle here far surpassed that of yesterday.

Looking around, curtains hung in the air like weaving, and colorful flags fluttered. Merchants were pulling up advertisements, with several Fanric traditional brands and a few Earth's cross-border groups such as Emerald Bird Workshop, Workshop 45, BBK Alliance, and Star Sea Group, among others.

The square was filled with a lively festival atmosphere.

And boxes were set up in the audience. Hawk-Beak Bean, seeing this scene, flaunted his insider knowledge, stating that today, besides Elfendo's big shots being present, it was said that other distinguished guests were also coming to watch the competition.

Mulan asked, "What distinguished guests could there be? I guess it's just people from the Artisan Association."

"Not necessarily, I heard Sir Roban was in the Southern Region not long ago, maybe it's him?"

"Daydreaming! Sir Roban is in Idus."

Fang Hong listened to their debate. But as a witness of yesterday's Earl's villa banquet, he knew very well what was actually going on.

Upon reaching the arena, as both Mulan and Hawk-Beak Bean had already fought two battles, today's lineup for Ragnarok was MTT, Fang Hong, Cui Yu, and Dill. Soul Fingerprint gave them a few reminders before allowing the team to enter the field.

However, a small incident occurred when the staff came to verify identities.

Since Fang Hong was an Invoker, the staff needed to verify his Stargate number. However, the staff held a Magic Guided Instrument and scanned it several times without any reaction. Others were a bit anxious, and Fang Hong, knowing his own affairs, almost felt his soul flying out of his body.

He was racking his brains to think of a way to deal with the situation when suddenly, out of the corner of everyone's eye, there was a Flash in the plaza.

Then there was a loud bang.

The explosion was very close, and the shockwave immediately knocked several people present to the ground. Fang Hong instantly felt a buzzing in his head, but fortunately, having experience, he quickly rolled to the side and lay flat on the ground, burying his head as low as possible.

After a rush of flying sand and rocks, dust fell down, and Fang Hong didn't know how long had passed before he spat out some dirt and lifted his head off the ground. He saw smoke and dust pervading around, with faint moans of the injured drifting through, but Fang Hong also heard some strange hissing noises mixed in.

He knew instinctively that this explosion was suspicious and unconsciously held his breath, looking in that direction. Within moments, a group of black-robed figures emerged from the smoke and dust.

When Fang Hong saw their peculiar movements, Fenris's memory resurfaced in his mind — they were Lizardmen. Three Lizardmen wrapped in black robes were walking over injured and dead bodies on the ground, checking the corpses as they went, and whenever they found someone still alive, they bent over to finish them off with a knife.

He was unclear why Lizardmen appeared here, but also realized the explosion likely had something to do with them. At this moment, Fang Hong suddenly saw Cui Yu, who was in the team, lying unconscious not far away, with one of the Lizardmen approaching that area, reaching out to grab him.

He instinctively felt something was wrong, immediately raised his right hand to guide a streak of golden light directly at the Lizardman.

The Clockwork Fairy struck the Lizardman's eye socket precisely, catching it off guard, and it clutched its eye and lowered its head. Under Fang Hong's control, the Clockwork Fairy flew up again, circled behind it, hovered in mid-air, its shell opening on both sides, with a flash of fire in between.

With a loud bang, the Lizardman fell straight down, a large hole opened at the back of his head.

The remaining two Lizardmen then realized there was still an enemy over here, picked up their Curved Blades, and charged straight at Fang Hong.

Fang Hong witnessed this and remained calm and collected, quickly rolling to the side while surreptitiously launching the left-hand Rocket Fist.

The Lizardman paused, its cold gaze flashing as it tilted its head to dodge this attack. Yet, it could dodge this once, but not again. Fang Hong clenched his fist, the Magic Guided Reactor drove the winch, pulling the cable, and Lady Nether's glove came flying back.