Chapter 790: Competition (2/2)
The divine guard immediately cheered, prompting the others to dive into the mud. From its depth, they found a piece of divine essence. The swamp was specially enchanted such that only those who were submerged in its mud could detect the energy pulses from the divine essence.
But when the piece of divine essence was removed from the swamp, the energy pulses were no longer contained to the swamp but allowed to spread far and wide.
Han Shuo and the party observing from the center of Soaring Cloud Mountain Range saw a bright red dot appear on the sand table among the company from the Sixth Corps. Wallace pointed at it and explained, “This red dot means that a divine essence has been removed from where it was hidden. Every divine essence has been specially treated so that those within a certain distance from it can detect it.”
The main reason the divine essences were treated so was to encourage the Companies to fight. Otherwise, without any fighting between the Companies, they wouldn’t be able to tell which of them had the greatest combat strength.
Chief Rugersey of the Sixth Corps put on a smile. He said, “It seems that my Sixth Corps is lucky!”
“The competition has just started. There’s no telling if their luck will roll,” remarked Camilla, Chief of the Fourth Corps after taking a glance at Rugersey. “Besides, luck isn’t the most important factor in winning the competition.”
After those of the Sixth Corps found the first divine essence, the other Companies soon found more divine essences in rocks, tree trunks, rivers, and all kinds of random and unexpected locations. They were very well hidden and only those who scan their surroundings with full attention could catch a clue.
The Sixth Corps may start out lucky but they did not enjoy a lucky streak. Camilla’s Fourth Corps did not take long to emerge as the leading team by finding seven pieces of divine essences. The divine essences would blossom with dazzling lights and emanate strong energy pulses like beacons once they were unearthed. In order to encourage the Companies to fight, Wallace even prohibited the divine guards from concealing the divine essences they found. The divine essences must always be exposed.
Compared to the Fourth and Sixth Corps, the Fifth Corps led by Bollands wasn’t as lucky. It appeared that there were not as many divine essences distributed in the region they choose to sweep. At this point, the Fifth Corps had obtained just two pieces of divine essences. Meanwhile, the company from the Second Corps led by Kiffan obtained five pieces of divine essences.
The remainder of the day had passed. The Seven Companies found some more divine essences. Camilla’s Fourth Corps was having a long lucky streak by obtaining five additional pieces of divine essences. The Second Corps obtained two more pieces while the Fifth Corps only found one more piece. Bolland’s Company had the lowest count of divine essences.
Camilla was very happy that her Fourth Corps was leading by a good margin. She said to Rugersey smilingly, “See that? This is what having good luck actually looks like. It just keeps on coming!”
Rugersey forced a smile and replied, “You yourself have said that luck isn’t the most important factor.”
Gradually, even more time had passed. The Seven Corps no longer discovered any more divine essences as though they had found all the divine essences that were hidden.
“That’s more or less it. Around ninety percent of the divine essences have been found,” said Andre. He said to the crowd who were watching the sand table attentively, “Now comes the most exciting part of the competition!”
The Seven Companies had obtained at least some divine essences. With most of the divine essences having been unearthed, the Companies with lesser divine essences must now plunder from their opponents in order to win the competition. Thus, the Companies will start fighting each other. In those battles, Wallace and the party will be able to see which Company was the mightiest.
Knowing it has almost come to the most interesting part of the competition, the patriarchs and Divine Guard Chiefs watched the sand table even more intently. They wondered which two Companies will be the first to engage.
Normally speaking, at moments like this, it would be the Second Corps, who had the strongest team combat strength that makes the first strike. Sure enough, the Company of the Second Corps led by Kiffan was heading towards the region with the strongest energy pulses - towards the Company of the Fourth Corps!
The Second Corps was renowned for their mighty strength, so much so that those from the Sixth and Seventh Corps completely ignored Kiffan’s Company who walked past them. It was clear that those from the Sixth and Seventh Corps wanted to avoid fighting them. Kiffan’s strategy was similar to Bollands’. He planned on plundering the team with the most divine essences and add to theirs so that his team would lead with a substantial margin before going to attack Han Shuo’s Fifth Corps.
When Camilla saw that those from the Second Corps was charging towards her Fourth Corps, her face turned somewhat anxious. Those divine guards of the Second Corps trained by Ralph were famous for their terrifying strength. Her Fourth Corps had never been able to defeat the Second Corps in previous competitions. Camilla knew that her divine guards would most likely lose to those of the Second Corps again.
However, it turned out that the first two teams to engage were not the Second and Fourth Corps but the Seventh and Fifth Corps whose Chiefs were Batúk and Han Shuo. The Seventh Corps assumed that those from the Fifth Corps was the weakest. After watching those of the Second Corps walk past them, they went to attack those from the Fifth Corps.
The two Companies came into contact and started engaging. Batúk of the House of Buller secretly took a glance at Han Shuo and in his mind, he praised his subordinate for being wise. He thought, Although the Fifth Corps did not found many divine essences, they are the easiest to plunder from. Having more divine essences is always better. My Captain sure is smart.