CHAPTER 790: Competition

Never before had such an all-encompassing surveillance device been used in the competition. Wallace must have acquired the Space Divine Device only recently.

Everything displayed on the sand table was real and happening live. They had just been shrunk a hundred times to fit on the sand table. As miniature as the figures appeared, it was just the right size for the crowd to watch everything that happened in the arena without missing too many details.

The seven companies marched into seven different parts of the arena. Upon entering the arena, each company would spread out in a long line and begin to comb the terrain. They were like seven straight lines moving vertically.

The patriarchs of the great family clans, the chiefs of the Divine Guard and a few notable figures from the City of Shadows watched the sand table intently. Chief Ralph of the Second Corps had his eyebrows furrowed slightly. Like Han Shuo to Barnard, he too had given a special order to Kiffan. He also did not know that Wallace would come up with such a device. If Kiffan tried to kill the divine guards of the Fifth Corps on purpose, Wallace and the others would surely notice.

As Ralph thought this, he too felt rather uneasy. He couldn't help but look at Han Shuo. It just so happened that Han Shuo, who shared the same feeling, met his gaze. Ralph immediately put on a cold face and groaned slightly, while Han Shuo smiled faintly and remained calm.

"We cast spells on the divine essences. Once they are removed from where they were hidden, they will constantly emit energy pulses to a wide area. Those nearby could easily detect the energy pulses..." Wallace explained to the crowd.

"They have just entered the arena and no one has detected any divine essences yet. Hehehe, this year's competition is much more interesting than in the past'. We might even be able to watch the competition as it progresses," Rugersey, Chief of the Sixth Corps, remarked with a smile. He was the first of many in the crowd to voice his opinion after Wallace's explanation.

Time passed quickly. It had been half a day since the Seven Companies entered the arena. In the dense jungle of the rugged terrain, the Seven Companies grew farther and farther apart. They carefully searched and scanned their surroundings for any divine essences.

The Company of the Fifth Corps, nominally led by Barnard, travelled unhurriedly in one direction. Bollands would later divide the company into nine squads. Sanguis and Gilbert would each lead their own squads. The nine squads travelled in a formation that kept them relatively close together. They would always be close enough to help each other in case of sudden trouble.

"Bollands, Lord Bryan wants us to plunder the Second Corps and ignore the First and Third. But the arena is very vast and we are getting further and further away from the other companies. What if we cannot locate the Second Corps?" Barnard asked Bollands for advice.

Although Barnard was officially the captain of this Fifth Corps company, in reality it was Bollands who had the real command of the company. Having served the Third Corps for many years, Bollands was well versed in all aspects of running a Divine Guard Corps. He also had a wealth of experience, excellent strength, and was always able to keep a cool head. Even without explicit orders from Han Shuo, Bollands knew exactly what to do.

"Don't worry, I know exactly where they are," Bollands replied. He had left a tracer on one of the Divine Guards of the Second Corps before the event.

"Those bastards are so fucking arrogant! Remember the way they looked at us? They are so fucking punchable! Let us show them who is truly the strongest in the City of Shadows!" remarked Gilbert fiercely. He seemed thirsty for battle.

"The Second Corps has always been first in team combat strength. I believe they will be the first to try to steal Divine Essences from another company. How about we conserve our energy, wait until the Second Corps has looted most of the Divine Essences, and then raid them?" suggested Sanguis.

Several other Divine Guards agreed with Sanguis's suggestion. They thought it was a reasonable strategy.

Bollands did not react immediately. He thought in silence for a while before shaking his head and calmly disagreeing, "This is not the safest strategy. If it turns out that the Second Corps doesn't have many Divine Essences, even after we take theirs, we might not have enough Divine Essences to take first place.

After a short pause, Bollands suggested, "To guarantee our victory, we should at least spend some time searching for Divine Essences before raiding Second Corps towards the end of the competition.

One of the main reasons why Bollands was the de facto leader of the company was that he could always think clearly and would never make an impulsive decision. His mind was always one step ahead of the others.

The company thought for a moment and realised that Bollands' suggestion would give them the greatest certainty of victory. So they decided to continue their search for Divine Essence in the arena.

The first piece of Divine Essence was not found by the Second Corps or the Fifth Corps, but by the Sixth Corps team, led by Rugersey. One of their divine guards accidentally fell into a swamp. When he was almost completely submerged in the mud, he suddenly felt a strange energy fluctuation beneath him.

The divine guard immediately cheered and urged the others to dive into the mud. From the depths, they found a piece of divine essence. The swamp was enchanted in such a way that only those submerged in the mud could detect the energy pulses from the divine essence.

However, when the piece of divine essence was removed from the swamp, the energy pulses were no longer confined to the swamp, but were able to spread far and wide.

Han Shuo and the group watching from the centre of the Soaring Cloud Mountain Range saw a bright red dot appear on the sand table among the Sixth Corps company. Wallace pointed to it and explained, "This red dot means that a divine essence has been removed from where it was hidden. Each Divine Essence has been specially treated so that those within a certain distance can detect it.

The main reason the divine essences were treated this way was to encourage the companies to fight. Otherwise, if the Companies didn't fight, they wouldn't be able to tell which of them had the greatest fighting power.

Chief Rugersey of the Sixth Corps smiled. He said, "It seems that my Sixth Corps is lucky!"

"The competition has only just begun. There's no telling how lucky they will be," said Camilla, Chief of the Fourth Corps, after taking a look at Rugersey. "Besides, luck isn't the most important factor in winning the competition."

After the Sixth Corps found the first divine essence, the other companies soon found more divine essences in rocks, tree trunks, rivers and all sorts of random and unexpected places. They were very well hidden, and only those who scanned their surroundings with full attention could get a clue.

The Sixth Corps might have started out lucky, but they were not on a winning streak. It did not take long for Camilla's Fourth Corps to take the lead, finding seven pieces of Divine Essence. The divine essences would blossom with dazzling lights and emit strong energy pulses like beacons once they were unearthed. To encourage the Companies to fight, Wallace even forbade the Divine Guardians to hide the Divine Essences they found. The Divine Essences must always be exposed.

Compared to the Fourth and Sixth Corps, the Fifth Corps under Bollands wasn't so lucky. It seemed that there were not as many divine essences distributed in the region they had chosen to search. At this point, the Fifth Corps had only received two pieces of Divine Essence. Meanwhile, the Second Corps party led by Kiffan had obtained five pieces of divine essence.

The rest of the day had passed. The Seven Companies found some more divine essences. Camilla's Fourth Corps had a long lucky streak, obtaining five more pieces of divine essence. The Second Corps got two more, while the Fifth Corps found just one more. Bolland's Company had the lowest number of Divine Essences.

Camilla was very pleased that her Fourth Corps was well ahead. She said to Rugersey with a smile, "See that? This is what luck really looks like. It just keeps on coming!"

Rugersey forced a smile and replied, "You said yourself that luck wasn't the most important factor.

Gradually, more time had passed. The Seven Corps were no longer discovering divine essences, as if they had found all the divine essences that were hidden.

"That's more or less it. About ninety percent of the divine essences have been found," Andre said. He said to the crowd watching the sand table intently, "Now comes the most exciting part of the competition!

The seven companies had obtained at least some of the divine essences. Now that most of the divine essences have been unearthed, the companies with less divine essences will have to loot their opponents in order to win the competition. As a result, the companies will begin to fight each other. These battles will allow Wallace and the party to see which company is the most powerful.

The Patriarchs and Divine Guard Chiefs, knowing that the most interesting part of the competition was almost upon them, watched the sand table even more intently. They wondered which two companies would attack first.

Normally, at a time like this, it would be the Second Corps, which had the strongest team combat power, that would make the first strike. Sure enough, the company of the Second Corps, led by Kiffan, was heading towards the area with the strongest energy pulses - the company of the Fourth Corps!

The Second Corps was renowned for its mighty strength, so much so that the Sixth and Seventh Corps completely ignored Kiffan's company as it passed them. It was clear that the Sixth and Seventh Corps wanted to avoid fighting them. Kiffan's strategy was similar to that of Bollands. He planned to loot the team with the most Divine Essences and add to theirs so that his team would have a substantial lead before attacking Han Shuo's Fifth Corps.

When Camilla saw the Second Corps charging towards her Fourth Corps, her face became slightly worried. Those divine guards of the Second Corps trained by Ralph were famous for their terrifying strength. Their Fourth Corps had never been able to defeat the Second Corps in previous competitions. Camilla knew that her Divine Guards would most likely lose again to the Second Corps.

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, <i >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.