Finding the Next Target
Jiang Bai's words plunged the entire arena into an eerie silence.
Nullpudding, whose hand was being "held" by him, felt as if the blood in his body was about to freeze.
What kind of monstrous magic is this?!
However, Jiang Bai didn't give him much time to think.
"The explanation is finished. Now, let the game continue."
Jiang Bai's playful smile remained unchanged. He grabbed Nullpudding's hand and pulled it sharply, using the force to transform his other hand into an iron fist, which he then punched directly into the opponent's abdomen!
"Bang--!"
A muffled thud.
Although Jiang Bai had deliberately controlled his strength, the terrifying force still caused Nullpudding's feet to leave the ground, as if he had been hit head-on by a battering ram, and his body instantly arched into a shrimp shape.
The excruciating pain prevented him from even screaming.
Just as he was about to be sent flying backward, Jiang Bai gripped his left hand, but it remained as still as an iron clamp, preventing him from flying far away and leaving him hanging awkwardly in mid-air.
A faint spatial fluctuation began to gather around Nullpudding.
This is the power of the game's rules; after detecting a player being successfully attacked, the game prepares to teleport him to another area.
Jiang Bai noticed the fluctuation, but without even frowning, he simply wiped away the spatial fluctuation that was trying to show off its skills in front of him.
Therefore, Nullpudding was not teleported away as expected.
He endured the excruciating pain in his abdomen, and a hint of fear finally appeared in his eyes as he looked at Jiang Bai.
"Why... why wasn't I teleported away?"
"You're really brainless," Jiang Bai said, looking at him like he was an idiot.
"Didn't I just tell you? Whether any Space Magic can be successfully cast depends entirely on my mood."
Nullpudding was utterly terrified.
He finally realized that he was not facing a contestant at all, but a demon who could manipulate the rules of the competition at will!
"I... we don't have any deep-seated hatred between us, wouldn't it be better if we just had a normal competition?!" He began to plead for mercy.
How naive!
Jiang Bai's smile turned somewhat cold at that moment.
"You don't actually think I don't know that you 'Raven Tail' infiltrated the competition to try and sabotage 'Fairy Tail', do you?"
Nullpudding was struck dumb upon hearing this!
"What?! You... how did you know?!"
A figure flashed through his mind instantly.
"It's Gajeel! It must have been that traitor who betrayed us!"
"Now, just enjoy yourself."
Jiang Bai was too lazy to waste any more words with him.
He raised his hand and slapped her repeatedly, one slap after another, the crisp sounds echoing through the alley.
"Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!"
Jiang Bai continued slapping Nullpudding repeatedly in front of the entire audience until the latter's eyes rolled back and he completely passed out.
When Jiang Bai stopped, Nullpudding's face was so swollen that even his own mother wouldn't recognize him.
It wasn't that Jiang Bai n't want to kill them completely, but as a member of Fairy Tail, he also needed to be mindful of public opinion.
Killing is inevitable, but not here.
After all, this is a competition, not a murder mystery game.
So Jiang Bai casually tossed the unconscious Nullpudding onto the ground.
Logically speaking, Jiang Bai should have already racked up a huge score on the leaderboard after attacking his opponent so many times in such a short period of time.
However, on the leaderboard, Jiang Bai's score only changed from "0" to "1".
The person who designed this competition probably never dreamed that someone would be able to forcibly interfere with the competition rules, making even spatial teleportation magic impossible to use.
The scoring rules for this project stipulate that points can only be scored on the next attack after the opponent has been successfully attacked and teleported away.
Jiang Bai blocked the teleportation, causing the system to determine that all his subsequent attacks were invalid.
Therefore, he only got the score from the very first punch, which is one point.
Of course, he himself didn't care at all.
While Jiang Bai was leisurely "playing around" with Nullpudding, the other guild players on the field had already begun to score points.
Ivan, Blue Pegasus, used his magnificent snow magic to successfully locate Yego, the Quatro Cerberus, among a group of clones, and struck him with a snowflake, thus scoring a point.
On Fairy Tail Team B's side, Wendy also shone brightly.
She closed her eyes and carefully sensed the flow of air throughout the town; no discordant disturbance could escape her perception.
In this way, she precisely avoided all the clones and successfully attacked three other players, easily gaining three points and temporarily taking the lead in the standings.
Just then, at the top of the town's tallest clock tower.
Rufus, the Sabertooth, stood atop it, overlooking the entire city like an elegant poet.
He slowly opened his arms and spoke softly in a chanting tone.
"My memory has etched the essence of all of you into it."
"Then, let's dance under the starry night!"
"Memory-Make: Starry Night!"
As he finished speaking, golden magic circles appeared in the air above the town.
Immediately afterwards, countless beams of tracking lightning, like a meteor shower, burst forth from the magic circle, accurately striking all the contestants in the arena except for himself!
This is a wide-area, indiscriminate, targeted attack spell!
Off the field, most of the contestants didn't even have time to react before being hit directly by the beams of light that fell from the sky. Their bodies stiffened, and then they turned into specks of light and were teleported to other places.
Wendy, on the other hand, suddenly opened her eyes a split second before the attack was about to hit her, and with her keen sense of air movement, she anticipated the attack.
"Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!"
She spread her arms, creating two violent whirlwinds that precisely dispersed the lightning beam that was heading her way.
As for Jiang Bai's side...
He had just tossed the unconscious Nullpudding to the ground like trash, and before he could even stretch, he sensed a surge of magical energy coming from the sky.
A beam of lightning shot straight toward him.
The attack seemed to have hit an invisible wall, vanishing silently into nothingness.
It was "Infinity" that automatically deployed its defenses.
Jiang Bai didn't even bother to lift his head; he felt that this level of attack was like a few annoying mosquitoes buzzing in his ear.
However, this attack gave him his next target.
Jiang Bai looked up, his gaze piercing through the layers of buildings, and precisely locked onto the top of the tallest clock tower.
"Found it."