'Kuramasuke's strength is off the charts.'
This was the first thought in the minds of all the spectators who witnessed the battle between Kuramasuke and Lu Dachuan.
Tian Feng let out a long breath that he had been holding in, hesitated for a moment, and then, after stabilizing his emotions a little, said, "Over in the island nation, they always keep silent about the Rebirth-type talent. It's only known that this talent is extremely rare, but the rating given by the Golden Roulette is, God-tier talent!"
Hua Tianchen narrowed his eyes slightly, "From my observation, Kuramasuke has other powerful talents as well. Otherwise, Dachuan couldn't have lost so easily."
Tian Feng nodded in agreement.
"Though the Shanhe squad didn't make it to the top three in the qualifiers, Dachuan's individual strength was outstanding. His potential rating back then was also S-tier. While not as high as Zhuzhi's SS-tier, he was more stable. This Kuramasuke, being able to defeat Dachuan so easily, is probably already at SSS-tier."
"SSS-tier… In our Huaxia, we might not even produce one in a few years. If nothing unexpected happens, he should be the strongest contestant in this championship."
Shanhe was wiped out, Red Team only had two left, and now Kuramasuke was going after Jiang Kai… The chances of Huaxia's squad winning were getting lower and lower.
———
The Hunting Squad rested briefly, and a member confirmed Jiang Kai's location once again.
"Jiang Kai is still moving toward the center of the competition zone, but not very fast."
Another member snorted coldly, "I heard Jiang Kai's Fire God Squad won the second-tier championship of their city-level main city. Let's see how many rounds he can last against Kuramasuke."
"Besides that Jiang Kai, I bet no one else could even last three moves."
While the teammates were discussing, Kuramasuke, the main character being talked about, didn't care what they were saying. He just sat alone on a rock, gently stroking the long blade in his hand.
To him, discussing strength with these teammates was a waste of time.
Teammates, even the island nation's military, didn't truly understand his power. Talking with them was no different from playing music to a cow.
A moment later, Kuramasuke stood up, "Let's go."
The others immediately packed their things and continued toward their target.
After walking about two or three li (1–1.5 kilometers), they saw another team appear about 300 to 400 meters to the right of the Hunting Squad.
"It's the Taiji Squad from H Nation," someone whispered in Kuramasuke's ear.
Kuramasuke glanced over and snorted coldly.
A teammate sneered and said, "This time, H Nation went through a lot just to get the qualification to participate. I heard at the Alliance meeting, their representative swore to kill Jiang Kai to redeem H Nation's name."
"With that level of strength, how do they even have the nerve?"
"Forget it, they're coming over."
Although the Hunting Squad members looked down on the Taiji Squad, when they came to join forces, they didn't reject them.
"I'm the leader of the Taiji Squad, Park Seong-gi, also here to kill Jiang Kai. According to the Alliance agreement, during the mission to kill Jiang Kai, we are not to harm each other."
Kuramasuke ignored Park Seong-gi and continued marching.
Park Seong-gi narrowed his eyes slightly. This Kuramasuke is way too arrogant. If not for the agreement, he probably would've tried to kill Kuramasuke right now.
There was a certain agreement among the allied nations. On the matter of killing Jiang Kai, they shared a temporary common stance.
As they got closer to Jiang Kai's location, the Hunting Squad encountered more allied teams.
One team after another joined the Hunting Squad, until they finally formed a massive force of 70 people.
These top-level experts from 18 different countries had gathered here for one goal only, to kill Jiang Kai.
Jiang Kai didn't know that he had somehow, unexpectedly, contributed to the sincere cooperation among the allied nations.
Seeing more and more people gathering, everyone became very confident about killing Jiang Kai.
"Can't believe Hochman's team actually lost. With this many people, how can they fail to kill one Jiang Kai?"
"Originally, Jiang Kai wouldn't have escaped, but Huaxia led the second wave of attack and rescued him in time. Just thinking about it pisses me off."
"That Lu Dachuan has already been one-shotted by our leader. Let's see who else can save them this time!"
About ten minutes later, the allied army had closed in on Jiang Kai's position.
Kuramasuke said to one of his members, "Suzumiya, check Jiang Kai's location."
"Captain, I've been monitoring it. Jiang Kai hasn't moved for over ten minutes. He's probably resting, right up ahead, about 200 meters away."
Two hundred meters? That was already within spitting distance.
The allied force immediately picked up their pace.
Soon, according to the Locking Card, their current location overlapped with Jiang Kai's.
This place was a rocky ridge, scattered with rocks of all sizes. It was relatively open with no visual obstructions.
"Did anyone spot Jiang Kai?"
"We've searched the area—nothing!"
"But the Locking Card says he's right here…"
Just then, a few observant members focused their gaze on the few big trees among the rocks.
These trees were quite odd. Their trunks were thick, branches showed signs of being broken in multiple spots, and the bark was heavily worn, revealing very hard tree flesh.
The key thing was, they were growing directly from the bald rocks.
"It's strange. Even if these trees are made of tougher material than normal, they shouldn't be growing through rock, right?"
It's normal for tree roots to push aside rocks and grow through gaps, but for trees to grow through solid rock was hard to believe.
"This tree looks very intact," A woman noticed the thickest tree. It had only light scratches on the bark and some broken twigs, much more intact than the others.
She looked up and curiously examined the tree, "Huh? Strange, there's even a sloth here? Aren't there supposed to be no other creatures in the competition zone?"
As she was speaking, she suddenly let out a piercing scream.
Kuramasuke and the others rushed over immediately.
After careful inspection, they were shocked to discover. On the branch of the tree, a person was clinging to it with all four limbs, unmoving, staring at them in terror.
Because the guy hadn't moved a muscle and was clinging tightly to the tree trunk like a sloth, he had almost blended in with the tree. If you didn't look carefully, you'd never have spotted him.
"There's someone hiding here? Wait, that looks like… Jiang Kai?", someone exclaimed.
"That's Jiang Kai! Prepare for battle!"
Jiang Kai was panicking.
After being imprisoned a second time, he had been "traveling" with the king-level Stone Crystal Giant. Fortunately, thanks to his efforts to protect the tree, it hadn't broken, and he hadn't been discovered.
But the Stone Crystal Giants knew how to take breaks too.
The way they rested scared Jiang Kai half to death.
With a few booming crashes, their bodies turned into scattered rocks all over the place. If Jiang Kai hadn't personally witnessed them disassemble, he'd never have known there were Stone Crystal Giants in this rocky ridge.
The tree the Stone Crystal Giant had been holding was embedded into the rock at its base, standing right here. Making it look like it grew out of the rock.
Not long after the Giants rested, he saw a large group of people enter the ridge.
With so many people coming, Jiang Kai didn't dare move and could only pretend they couldn't see him.
Unfortunately, he was still discovered.
Not only discovered, but also recognized.
Suzumiya from the Hunting Squad squinted his eyes, observed Jiang Kai for a while, and said in an uncertain tone, "This guy's been imprisoned? No, wait, he's been in the same position this whole time."
Jiang Kai rolled his eyes at him.
'I haven't moved! Ever since the championship started, I've been stuck on this damn tree, for almost three hours!'
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