Chapter 278: Chapter278-The Ten Great Warzones, the Illusion of Death

[Knockout Stage Rules]

Competition Venue: [Realm of the Holy Spirit]

Competition Zones: The battlefield is divided into ten great Warzones. Participants will be randomly assigned to a Warzone.

Competition Duration: 5 hours

Competition Structure: Three stages

Stage One:

Mission Objective: Slay magical beasts and obtain qualification for the second stage.

Mission Details: The organizers will release tens of thousands of Divine-grade magical beasts into the Realm of the Holy Spirit. These magical beasts are inherently ferocious and will indiscriminately slaughter every living creature they encounter. All participants must personally hunt and kill magical beasts, accumulating kills as battle merits.

Within each Warzone, the five hundred participants ranked lowest in number of kills who fail to enter the second stage within five hours shall be eliminated!

Mission Explanation: Any participant who successfully slays ten thousand magical beasts will automatically obtain a ticket to the second stage and may apply to enter the second-stage map ahead of time.

During each stage, all participants have the right to withdraw. Upon withdrawing, they will immediately be removed from the battlefield. However, at the same time, they will permanently lose their qualification to continue participating in the competition.

Note: The detailed rules for the second stage will be announced separately within the corresponding map.

...

After finishing reading the knockout stage rules, Daniel pondered for a moment before summarizing them into three key points.

"First, the Divine-grade magical beasts consist of different grades mixed together. In other words, there is a very real possibility of encountering Divine-grade high-grade magical beasts."

He took a deep breath.

He could instantly kill low-grade magical beasts. Mid-grade magical beasts would be somewhat troublesome. However, if he ran into high-grade ones, things would become truly difficult.

Divine-grade high-grade creatures were not easy opponents to deal with.

"Second, the five hundred participants with the lowest kill counts will be eliminated."

That particular rule had been designed extremely cleverly. Since no one could possibly know the battle results of the other contestants, every participant might believe that they were currently among the bottom five hundred. As a result, they would push themselves even harder to hunt down magical beasts.

Each Warzone contained roughly nine hundred contestants, yet the bottom five hundred would be eliminated.

Nearly half of them would be forced out!

"There are ninety thousand magical beasts in every Warzone. With so many powerhouses competing for them, conflict will be unavoidable!"

And once conflict broke out, deaths and casualties would naturally follow.

Daniel shook his head.

Aside from the nine-star powerhouses, none of the participants would willingly yield to anyone else. Fighting over prey was inevitable.

"And that leads to the third point."

Daniel recalled a saying that had circulated among humanity throughout his previous lives.

The greatest threat would always come from one’s own kind!

"The other participants are a hundred times more dangerous than the magical beasts."

Only after everyone had finished reading the rules did Oracle-grade Budelica continue speaking.

"The knockout stage—officially begins now!"

"All participants, enter the Realm of the Holy Spirit!"

With that, he waved his sleeve, and a scroll fell into the center of the magic formation.

When the scroll unfurled, there was initially nothing inside it.

In the next instant, countless scenes flashed across its surface.

"The Divine-grade secret treasure, Realm of the Holy Spirit, appears differently in everyone’s eyes," James explained quietly. "Whatever occupies your heart is what you will see before you."

"Mosi, what do you see?"

James suddenly turned and asked him.

"Punishment."

A complicated expression crossed Mosi’s face as he uttered only a single word.

"Punishment? Do you mean the heavenly tribulation that Oracle-grade powerhouses must endure, or divine punishment for one’s sins?"

James shook his head before turning toward Daniel.

"Boss Faustus, what do you see?"

Daniel saw scenes from his previous lives.

He saw himself dying time and time again at the hands of the Dark Gods of those non-human races that had invaded Earth.

He saw countless human powerhouses sacrificing their lives for righteousness.

He saw the humans of Earth being forced into a hopeless corner by the non-human races, with nowhere left to retreat.

James’s voice pulled him back to reality.

Daniel immediately became vigilant.

This Realm of the Holy Spirit truly was anything but simple!

"As expected, Divine-grade secret treasures are unfathomable."

Daniel heightened his guard, gaining an entirely new understanding of Divine-grade secret treasures.

He turned his head and answered James, "I saw my homeland. What about you?"

"I saw all the different ways I could die."

James smiled, but his eyes were as sharp as blades.

"The second stage is probably related to illusions. We must be extremely careful."

Daniel and Mosi both nodded in agreement.

"Go in, all of you."

Chanelle, the T7 Oracle-grade powerhouse of the Canaan starfield, spoke calmly.

"If you believe your life is in danger, you may withdraw at any time."

The moment she said that, many of the contestants from the Canaan starfield secretly breathed sighs of relief.

Even low-grade Divine-grade magical beasts posed a fatal threat to eight-star powerhouses, much less the mid-grade and high-grade magical beasts that would also be roaming the battlefield!

Nearly every Oracle-grade expert from every starfield gave similar warnings to their own contestants.

After all, nine-star powerhouses were exceedingly rare. Although the other contestants were inferior to nine-star contenders, they were still the future hopes of their respective starfields. Among them, a few might very well advance to the Oracle-grade in the future.

The death of any single contestant would be a loss too heavy for their starfield to bear!

Daniel took a deep breath before transforming into a streak of light and flying toward the Realm of the Holy Spirit.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Rays of light poured down like rain as contestants from the various starfields rushed into the realm one after another.

The knockout stage had officially begun!

The Realm of the Holy Spirit was divided into ten great Warzones, with each region containing approximately nine hundred participants.

Outside the magic formation, the sky was currently projecting everything taking place within the Realm of the Holy Spirit.

The accompanying powerhouses and Oracle-grade experts from every starfield could watch each and every battle through the images displayed across the heavenly screen.

Warzone One.

Swish—!

Daniel’s figure descended into the Realm of the Holy Spirit, hovering steadily in midair.

[Ding! You have been assigned to Warzone One.]

"Warzone One?"

His expression remained calm.

"What difference is there between the ten Warzones?"

Swish! Swish—!

Hundreds of participants appeared one after another, each vigilantly guarding against the others. The atmosphere instantly became tense and hostile.

In particular, no one dared approach the area surrounding Daniel.

Faustus, who possessed a nine-star combat rating, was absolutely not someone they could afford to provoke.

"Faustus, the nine-star powerhouse from the Canaan starfield."

"We’re pretty lucky. Warzone One only has one nine-star contender, and that’s Faustus."

"Indeed. As long as we don’t get in his way, we should be able to avoid trouble."

"Exactly, exactly. We’re merely being rational. This is definitely not fear."

Daniel released his mind power without the slightest restraint, spreading it out like an invisible net that enveloped the surrounding area.

Even if the other powerhouses were displeased by this, none of them dared express it.

"This space is rather large."

Although his mind power could not cover the entirety of the Warzone, it was enough for him to sense the vastness of the map. At the same time, he discovered that he seemed to be the only nine-star powerhouse in this Warzone.

Oh, right. There was also a powerhouse from the Samuel starfield named Yelisy, but he had only been marked as eight-star on the roster.

He was not worth worrying about.

At that moment, a grand and majestic voice reverberated throughout the entire Realm of the Holy Spirit.

"Commence the release of magical beasts!"

The instant the voice faded, countless Divine-grade magical beasts poured down from above like a torrential rainstorm.

"Run!"

"Holy shit! So this is how they’re releasing them?!"

"This is insane! Who could possibly withstand so many magical beasts all at once?"

The quick-reacting participants’ expressions changed drastically as they unleashed their secret arts and desperately fled.

"Ninety thousand magical beasts are coming down on us at the same time! Are you kidding me?!"

One participant flew toward the ground with a bitter expression, intending to use the complicated terrain below to maneuver around them.

"Staying alive comes first!"

"Retreat for now! Find advantageous terrain!"

In the blink of an eye, ninety percent of the participants rushed toward the ground.

Daniel noticed that among all the contestants present, only Yelisy had a blazing fighting spirit in his eyes.

"Magical beasts."

Daniel’s gaze sharpened.

He summoned ninety-nine clones, scattering them throughout the Realm of the Holy Spirit in an attempt to achieve total firepower coverage without leaving any blind spots.

Boom—!

An overwhelmingly powerful aura erupted from his body.

Within the void, the elemental forces of ice and fire instantly gathered together, transforming into a vast ocean where freezing cold and scorching flames intertwined.

And at this very moment, the magical beasts were still falling from the sky!