Sora had just read the notifications expining the rules when he felt the gazes of several people on him, realizing he was the st oo join.

  Sing his surroundings, he noticed pyers anized in small groups of three to ten, clearly prepared for bat. He reized a few faces—pyers whose familiars had beeed by su on the fourth floor—but saw no one he knew personally.

  Kara, Rachel, Kim, Emily, and his uildmates were o be seen.

  As he tinued sing the crowd, his eyes finally nded on a familiar face—Klunor, the dark elf general.

  "Why is this guy everywhere I go?" Sora thought, a bit annoyed. He didn’t dislike Klunor, but it was starting to feel like they were somehow fated to cross paths repeatedly.

  Klunor was deep in versation with a few other pyers, their wary eyes sing the surrounding groups. Notig Sora’s arrival, Klunor stepped forward, him a greeting.

  “Hello, Ralph. I ’t decide if bumping into you again is luck or trouble at this point,” Klunor said with a stiff smile, gng around at the crowd. “Have you noticed the atmosphere here?” He nodded subtly toward the elite groups of high-level pyers.

  “See how the top pyers have formed their own circles?” Klunor pointed out.

  Sora looked around and noticed that high-level pyers had indeed grouped up with others of their race, often including one or two lower-level pyers from their own fa.

  “They’re pnning to let the lower-level pyers be eliminated first?,” Sora said, quickly grasping the situation.

  Klunor nodded. “Exactly. They’re setting us up to fall early, avoiding unnecessary battles themselves. Lower-level pyers might still rank high based on their performances on earlier floors. By taking us out here, they remove the petition and make this trial easier for themselves.”

  Sora sneered. 'What a bunch of cowards', he thought.

  Klunor caught his expression and added, “This so-called ‘team-based’ trial isn’t fooling anyone. Every pyer here is out for themselves.”

  He paused, meeting Sora’s gaze. “That’s why we’ve grouped up.” He gestured to the three pyers nearby, all between levels 135 and 140. “Would you sider joining us?”

  Snced over at Klunroup. Teaming up might improve his odds, but he preferred relying on himself rather than risking w with strangers—or pyers from an opposing fa.

  “Thanks, but I’ll stick to pying solo,” he replied, shaking his head. “Good luck.”

  Klunor looked disappointed but nodded in uanding. “Alright… I uand. Just be careful out there. If things get rough, remember that our offer still stands.”

  After watg Klunor return to his group, Sora summoned his now-infamous phoenix, ign the flinches from some of the other pyers’ familiars, and steadied himself for the trial.

  Just then, a new notification appeared in front of everyone.

  [The trial has started]The barrier surrounding them vanished, and Sora finally took in his surroundings.

  They were standing along the shore of a beach. Quickly, Sora leapt up to get a better view of the area, with su following close behind.

  Taking in the vast se, he thought, ‘We’re on an isnd…’

  Sora sed the isnd, trying to it every detail to memory. The pce was enormous, with traces of an a civilization.

  To his left stood a dense, dark forest filled with giant trees, each t a few hundred meters high—far taller than anythih had seen before the update. To his right, the ruins of an old city stretched across the ndscape—broken stohways, crumbling archways, and staircases that led nowhere. A colossal statue y half-buried in the earth, one hand reag up toward the sky.

  Ahead, in the distance, Sora spotted a massive, cube-shaped structure draped in vines and rown with pnts.

  Just as he was about to desd, his attention was drawn to a high-level pyer stepping forward, on in hand, positioning himself in front of a level 130 dwarf. The higher-level pyer raised his sword, ready to strike—but before the bde could fall, the level 158 pyer colpsed to the ground, clutg his chest in agony from an invisible, powerful force.

  ‘Team killing is forbidden in this trial as well… Thank god,’ Sora thought, taking a deep breath in relief as he dropped back to the ground and opehe event pahe rules and a map of the isnd appeared on his s. He could see his position on the map, but his teammates weren’t marked on it.

  On the map, Sora saw areas marked as [Fox Den], [Chi Coop] and [S]. Notig that he was in the [S] area, he uood that pyers from the Fox and Chi groups had spawned on opposite sides of the isnd, f a triah his own Viper group.

  With his back to the sea, he sidered which dire to take. The Fox pyers were positioned West, while the Chi group was on his North.

  Not pnning on "feeding chis," he leapt onto su's bad headed West, following the same path as many others who were moving deeper into the isnd. Sora knew hiding wasn’t an option—he’d o hunt down enemies or risk elimination by the system for being unproductive.

  ‘Most pyers are either rushing toward the ter or targeting groups their team has an advantage against. Meanwhile, weaker pyers, knowing they’re likely to be hunted, are stig close ter teammates for prote or hiding somewhere to avoid dete for as long as possible.’

  Maintaining a steady pace, Sora moved with the flow of other Viper pyers around him. He noticed the stro among them pulling ahead, eager to score early eliminations, likely hoping to cate Fox pyers off guard.

  As he he [Fox Den], the sounds of battle reached his ears. Pig up his pace, he arrived to find a group of about a dozen pyers surrounding three others who seemed to belong to the Rabbit species of the Beast race. A strange yellow glow surrouhe three pyers' bodies.

  The three pyers from the Fox group, all above level 140, were arguiedly.

  “I told you it was stupid to dig a burrow between us and the damn Vipers!” a female pyer shouted at her teammate in the back.

  “It is because it is stupid that we did! It would have been impossible to expect! We were perfectly hidden! My skill covered us pletely! It’s this damn map—one of them mentioned seeing us on the map! They must’ve spotted us when they got close,” her teammate argued back.

  Opening the map, Sora noticed that, indeed, six yellow dots had appeared near him, including the trio and their familiars...

  'So foxes appear as yellow on the map... good to know...' Sora thought. 'I'm now level 133, and my talent increased by 7 sihe fourth trial. I don't o team up with pyers from ions or races. Today, I'll be the hunter, not the prey.'

  fident in his own abilities after beating the st three trials, he ighe battle in front of him and accelerated forward, looking for other pyers on the radar.

  o the radar, he could also see a list of names appearing, showing battle history in the isnd.

  [Clémence (Chi) had defeated Klunor (Viper)]...[Eloj (Viper) has defeated Bofin (Chi)]

  Eliminated Pyers TotalFox: 0Chi: 0Viper: 0'Wow, Klunor mao get killed in the first five minutes... And this Eloj pyer eliminated someone from a strroup.' Notig the surprising notifications, Sora was almost tempted to read through them all.

  Trying to ighe battle history, he accelerated, but every pyer he entered was already locked in battle. Not wanting to involve himself in ongoing fights, he tinued searg for Fox pyers. Refusing to give up, he headed toward the shore, fog on the isnd's extremities.

  He soon found a party of Fox pyers posed of four individuals who had also noticed his appearan the map.

  Three of them were Dyers and the fourth seemed to be of the Spirit Race.

  [Irene - Level 143][Thorek - Level 137][Bofin - Level 142][Duraz - Level 141]One of the Dwarves looked visibly shocked. The human who had eheir range didn’t seem the least bit worried, even after seeing their levels and numbers. It was clear he inteo fight.

  “We get that the buff gives you a boost,” one of them said, narrowing his eyes at Sora. “But do you really think it is enough to make up for the gap between us? You’re only level 133. Even with that phoenix of yours at 155, you’re still outmatched.” His gaze flicked around as he checked his panel. “Or are you just stalling, waiting for reinforts to show up?”

  Feeling his buff taking effect every time he entered a Fox, Sora khat the buff [Venomous] was indeed incredibly powerful, and leased to see that it applied to su as well.

  Uanding the risk of interference from others mid-fight, Sora activated [Earth Dome] to prevent such a situation.

  This dome, however, looked vastly different from the version he’d used before. The Earth element particles were now densely packed, arranged in a way that made the barrier signifitly sturdier.

  During his training iime Spaear the city of Nara, Sora had focused on perfeg a dozen skills, pushing them to their limits, ah Dome] was one he had focused on.

  ‘These pyers rank iop 841 among the elites who joihe trial… I ’t let my guard down,’ Sora thought, eling his full strength.

  Summoning his hammer, he activated [Lava in My Veins], not pnning on holding back.

  The air around him ged as intense heat and pressure began to radiate from his body, making it clear to his oppos that he wasn’t here to make friends. His skin turned bck, smoke leaked from his body, and his hair stood on end as he stared at them like a beast eyeing its prey.

  mimou

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