God of Illusions

It hadn’t even been an hour since the announcement, and Bai Xiaofei’s group had already eliminated over sixty people. These sixty people were probably the members of at least seven or eight different classes. In other words, at least ten classes would be eliminated from the tournament by the time the removal of the two realms was completed.

This assumption was based on the premise that none of the other portals were being guarded in the same way Bai Xiaofei’s group was guarding their portal. If this was also occurring at the other portals, the rate of elimination would probably increase by one third.

“Time is up. The two realms have been removed. When there are less than twenty participants remaining, we will enter the third stage and remove two more realms.” A new announcement arrived, and like a hammer, it slammed into the hearts of the remaining survivors. 

The classes that were already struggling to survive up till this point started to tremble with fear. Many of them had only survived this long through a combination of sheer luck and acting in a cowardly fashion, but there was a limit to how far this strategy could bring them. 

An example of this limitation was happening right now. The several Newcomer King classes were gathering in preparation to clear everyone from the tournament, and in this situation, luck and cowardly behavior would be of no help.

“Are you sure you want to give up on the Babel Merchant House’s bounty?” Zhao Ziyun asked, holding a spear in his hand, obviously dissatisfied with the current outcome. He could do a lot of things with the reward of 100 million.

“It doesn’t matter whether we give up or not,” Tai Shan said. “The real issue here is the lack of opportunity to deal with them. When I fought them earlier, I saw that Luo Han was with them. She has obviously decided to also stand by Bai Xiaofei’s side. When it comes to top combatants, their group will be no weaker than ours. If we continue trying to hunt them, both sides will suffer. Of course, if everyone here is willing to use their full strength, that might not be the case.”

Tai Shan’s every word was straight to the point. After all, he had personally experienced the strength of Bai Xiaofei’s group. The others gave up when they heard him. 

Everyone was selfish. Nobody was interested in dying together with Bai Xiaofei.

“I agree with Tai Shan,” Xiang Tao said, instantly attracting everyone’s attention. He then added, “Plus, it’s not necessarily a bad thing for us if the Savage Class can survive this round.”

“What are you trying to say?” Yan Suzi asked. She was one of the top here in terms of combat power, but in terms of strategizing, she was the worst. In a sense, she resembled a blockheaded man as opposed to a woman who thought meticulously.

“Although I don’t know how big of a bet Bai Xiaofei has placed on his Savage Class, I’m sure it’s above five billion. Otherwise, the Babel Merchant House wouldn’t be so generous in offering us a reward worth hundreds of millions. Since that’s the case, wouldn’t the Babel Merchant House pay more once the Savage Class advances past the first round?”

Everyone’s eyes shone. Then, they all sank into thought. Indeed, the Savage Class would be a huge headache for the Babel Merchant House after advancing through the first round. When that happened, everyone here would be the hope of the Babel Merchant House. In other words, their reward would be much higher. Having thought of this, the leaders of the group made up their mind on their next course of action.

Now that they had decided to reap a larger reward from the Babel Merchant House, in addition to not eliminating Bai Xiaofei, they would even protect him if someone else wanted to eliminate him. After all, Bai Xiaofei was now like a money tree to them. 

Unfortunately, they had all neglected one thing. This money tree wasn’t a tree they could shake so easily. Nevertheless, the five classes had all reached the same decision. They would instead act on their new plan – clear everyone else from the tournament! The cleanup would start from their current location, the Fire Realm.

And thus the five classes started sweeping through the Fire Realm, and the number of survivors dropped rapidly. Once they started their cleanup, the number of people in the other two realms increased greatly. This in turn made Bai Xiaofei’s group busy.

Since there were only three realms left, the portal connections also changed. Each realm’s portal connected with the other two remaining realms. 

After the five classes cleaned up the Fire Realm, they entered the Gold Realm. They had no plans to enter the Earth Realm for now.

They hadn’t been able to prevent people from escaping the Gold Realm into the Fire Realm while cleaning up, but they had still managed to cut off enough survivors to start the third stage. 

Two more realms were to be removed, and as expected, the Fire and Gold Realms were the realms to be removed. For many people, the unguarded portal at the Earth Realm was now the safest place to be.

“We’re in a dilemma. Which portal should we use to enter the Earth Realm?” Zhao Ziyun asked after the announcement, sending the five classes into thought. They all wore solemn expressions on their faces.

According to Tai Shan, Bai Xiaofei’s group was setting up an ambush near one of the Earth Realm portals. And while they were cleaning up the two realms, they hadn’t seen Bai Xiaofei’s group, so it was very likely that Bai Xiaofei’s group was still hiding near the portal.

If that was the case, the portal they chose would be very important. If they happened to select the portal Bai Xiaofei’s group was guarding, they might suffer elimination. The portal only allowed a maximum of two people to go through it at the same time. There would be at least three Newcomer Kings waiting on the other side. No one from the group was confident that they could survive the first round of bombardment after stepping through.

“I have an idea. Get two people to scout it out for us. If they don’t see Bai Xiaofei’s group, they can return and let us know. Even if they encounter Bai Xiaofei’s group, we will be able to get a safe passage by sacrificing only two people.

Everyone’s eyes shone, but then they encountered a new problem. Who should go? Who would be willing to go? 

During this crucial moment, Ka Nong volunteered. “Choose two people from my class. We have the most survivors remaining. We can’t afford to keep waiting any longer.”

Everyone smiled in response. Since someone had offered tribute, what was the point of rejecting? 

Fortunately, they had selected the correct portal, and it wasn’t the one Bai Xiaofei guarded. After they went through it, they proceeded to guard it.

And thus tragedy befell the remaining survivors who had yet to enter the Earth Realm. One could say that a wolf was waiting at one side and a tiger at the other. Regardless of their choice, elimination was their only fate.

As time passed the number of survivors continued to drop. By the time the removal of the two realms was completed, only twelve classes were left.

Once again, Luo Xi’s voice rang out. After she announced the number of the remaining classes in the round, the two groups on guard duty at the teleportation portals were relieved. They were no idiots. If there were twelve classes left, it meant that the other party had decided to maintain peace for now. If that was the case, what was left was simple. 

The survival games had turned into hide-and-seek between the two portal guards and the other four surviving classes. Whoever the two groups found would be eliminated.

This had a positive result, and before long, two of the four other classes were found. When the last of them finally died under Wang Hang’s Spiral Sword, the survival games came to an end. 

The round had taken twenty-one hours, and throughout it, no one had been able to get a proper rest, neither the participants nor the spectators. Therefore, when Luo Xi withdrew the illusionary formation and made a simple announcement, everyone decided on the same next course of action: sleep!