Chapter 80 - One Day Remaining (1/2)

Krune and the others took their time to rest during the last day, in the next morning, all the contestants gathered in the teleportation room, Krune was one of the last to arrive, as soon as he entered the room, everyone looked at him, he thought something was weird, as far as he knows he didn't make anything that could have caught their attention.

Poor Krune didn't know that everyone considered him the strongest contestant of the Yule Continent, that's because of what Ao said after that Duel, he easily beat Turi Belane and told him that he isn't Krune's match, the contestants already know that they can't beat Ao, and if Ao can't beat Krune, they have even less of a chance, so it was obvious that everyone paid especial attention to Krune.

”Do you know what is happening here? Why are they looking at me?”

Ao shook his head and told Krune what happened that day with Turi, Krune heard that and could only give a helpless sigh.

”Even when I'm not doing anything the world conspires against my wishes.”

But since he is already famous thanks to the Mercenary Guild's plan, some extra attention won't change anything in the end

Sometime later, the Yule Continent Mercenary Guild Head, Bary Casfiu, came into the room, together with him there were a few elders of the guild as well, they are there to make sure that nothing will happen with the contestants, but there was one person in the middle of those elders that gave Krune a sense of danger, he couldn't see through any of those people's cultivation, but he was sure that that elder was definitely much stronger than the rest.

Shinja was also looking at that and she was surprised when she saw that elder as well, she knew who he was, the Makui Planet is a weak planet and has very few cultivators above the Divine Soul Realm, but that elder just so happen to be one of them, his name is Lian Casfiu, Bary's father and the protector of the Mercenary Guild in the Yule Continent, also a Soul Forging Realm cultivator, he wasn't tall and he didn't like to use bear either, he gave a sense of carefreeness that put people at ease, but no one would underestimate this man.

While passing, Lian gave a side glance at Krune, as the person with the highest cultivation in the Mercenary Guild Headquarters, he was obviously privy to some secrets, including Krunes 'Rainbow Core', the only reason he is coming together for this Mercenary Selection is to make sure that Krune will be safe.

Bary then went up on a platform and started talking with the contestants.

”The Mercenary Selection will start in a day's time, so we are teleporting over there now to get ready, although the selection will happen inside a Danger Zone so that no one needs to hold back, it will still be done close to the exit, so we don't really need a lot of time to arrive there, there is also no need to be afraid of anyone taking the chances to attack you, several elders of all Mercenary Guilds in the whole world will be there watching over it.”

Bary then put a serious expression and continued.

”But remember that even if you are close to the exit of the Danger Zone, you will still be considered inside it, which means that no one will show any mercy during the selection, you might really die there, if you aren't confident in your skills, you might leave right now.”

Bary waited a minute but no one moved, he then gave a satisfied nod and proceeded.

”Come over the long-distance teleport formation, the selection this time will happen in the Ice Continent, Ice Hell Danger Zone, we are teleporting over to the Snow City, which is the closest city to where the selection will take place.”

Everyone then went up to the teleport formation, Krune was surprised to find out that this formation was using Rank Five Spirit Stones to be charged up, it goes to show how far away the Ice Continent is from the Yule Continent, after a few more seconds, the Formation gathered enough Spiritual Energy, and with a flash of silver light, everyone disappeared.

---

The Snow City had a very simple name but it was really fit, because of its location close to the Ice Hell Danger Zone, it snowed all year long, the local cultivators used a gigantic formation that covered the entire city to keep the snow from accumulating.

Although the Danger Zone was called Ice Hell, it wasn't one of the most dangerous of the Ice Continent, the Mercenary Guild World Alliance just wanted a place to test their contestants, and it would be one vs one fights, so there was no need to care about the difficulty of the Danger Zone, the place had already been prepared and was just waiting for the Mercenaries of the other continents to arrive.

A teleport formation close to the center of the city started to shine and just a second later, several people appeared over it, they were the Yule Continent Mercenary Guild contestants and their elders, Bary took a look around and soon a person came to receive them.

”Hello, I'm your guide this time around, I'm here to show you the way to the arenas where the contestants will fight.”

Bary nodded and looked at the people behind him.

”If you have anything you need, say that now, otherwise, we will depart straight away.”

No one said anything, they all knew the days that they would be leaving, so everyone had long since prepared for it, whatever they needed is already inside their spatial rings, noticing that no one said anything, Bary asked for the guide to show them the way.

Everyone stopped by the city gate that connects them to the Danger Zone and signed the death agreement, this is something that everyone was used already, but even so, this time it felt a little heavier, it would be a lot more dangerous after all.

After traversing the gate, they immediately moved forward, as mentioned before, the arenas for the Mercenary Selection had already been prepared and were close to the city itself, so it only took them one hour to arrive there.

Bary noticed that his guild was the last one to arrive, all the contestants from the other four continents and their higher-ups were waiting, he told his group to get prepared for the next day battles and left with his father and a few elders to compliment the other continents Headquarter Guild Heads.

Krune looked around and thought that something was weird, he then sent a Divine Sense message to his group.

”Isn't there way too little people here?”

Shinja then explained.

”Those aren't all the participants, the important ones are not here, they probably are gathered together with their elders, those that you see are only the ones who don't have any deep relationship with their guilds higher-ups, of course, it doesn't mean that there are weak, just that they don't have the support of the elders”

It was then that Bary called Krune and some of the other people of his continent to come with him, but to Bary's surprise, Krune rejected, he told Bary that he didn't want to get involved in the higher-ups conversation, Bary found it strange since usually, no one would decline the chance to get acquainted with the strong cultivators of the other continents, but knowing how weird Krune's behavior usually is, he simply left it at that, he then called some other people to make up the appearances and left.

Krune's group didn't have much to do anyway, so Krune decided to make some food, Yusa and the others didn't think anything strange about it and went there to help, they had long since got used to eating Krune's food, not to mention that he is really good at it, but that was only them, the contestants of the other four continents looked at that and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

”Do they know that they might die tomorrow?”

”Who knows, maybe they think they will die and are having their last meal”

”They are from the Yule Continent, so it's normal that those countrysides like people to have weird ways of acting”