Dark Horse

By September 6, the preliminary group stage was nearly halfway through—meaning the first round was almost over—and it was becoming clear who was strong and who was weak.

Sea Shepherds Club currently stood at 4 wins and 1 loss, ranked second in the group.

Forest People, meanwhile, stood at 3 wins and 2 losses, ranked third.

There was no need to mention the others, but GR really was the worst—zero wins, without even the slightest chance of advancing.

Yet the strongest team, unexpectedly, was Greedy Umbrella!

Their starting lineup was Wei Changqing, Avdeyevna Evelina Domidok Pruplinova, Nanazawa An, Maria, and Carula.

Their substitutes were Euclia and Flandemira.

They were a very interesting team, jokingly dubbed the International Joint Study Group by fans. Wei Changqing was from South City, Evelina was undoubtedly Ukrainian, Nanazawa An was from Japan, while Maria and Carula came from Britain and the German regions respectively.

Euclia was Danish, while Flandemira came from Spain.

No two people on the team shared the same nationality.

And when they fought, each was more vicious than the last.

Especially Nanazawa An, the short, adorable-looking Japanese girl—she was practically a second Lilith, perhaps even more absolute... If she couldn't turn into a dragon, she went down!

Five matches, five victories. Greedy Umbrella had only lost a few individual rounds, all of them against Sea Shepherds Club...

In the opening match, Sea Shepherds' coach Leticia seriously fielded their full-strength lineup, centered around Lin Zhaojun with Xiya and Lilian as dual summoners. Yet Wei Changqing held off both Lin Zhaojun and Lilian alone—neither of those two had held back!

After that, Nanazawa An transformed into a massive Sea Emperor Dragon. Judging by its size, it was not much smaller than the black-scaled Force Dragon Lilith transformed into. Once her transformation was complete, she