15: Chapter 15 The Dark Horse That Shocked the Entire Audience

"Group of Death, first match! Jiang Xun, against Wang Hu!"

As the referee's cold voice fell, two Divine Kingdoms were pulled into the same virtual battlefield on the massive holographic projection.

On one side was Jiang Xun's Human Race town, small in scale but orderly.

On the other side was Wang Hu's rock tribe, filled with a primal aura.

"Roar—!"

The moment the battle began, a heaven-shaking roar erupted from Wang Hu's Divine Kingdom.

Over a hundred trolls, standing over three meters tall and composed entirely of hard rock, charged toward Jiang Xun's Divine Kingdom with heavy footsteps.

The earth trembled.

"It's the Rock Trolls! Wang Hu's trump card unit! Their defense is astonishing; ordinary Bronze Rank attacks can't penetrate their defense at all!"

"How can he fight this? Jiang Xun's Human Race soldiers will probably be smashed into meat paste with a single punch!"

In the spectator stands, everyone waited gleefully for the scene of Jiang Xun being crushed.

In the VIP box, Director Li Fu swirled the red wine in his glass with leisure.

However, Jiang Xun didn't even move.

His Human Race believers didn't even leave the city to engage.

Just as the Rock Troll army was about to reach the city wall, a sudden change occurred.

Dozens of agile figures suddenly sprang out from the shadows on both sides of the town.

They wore light leather armor and held short blades flashing with cold light, their speed astonishingly fast.

They completely ignored the frontal charge of the troll army and, like a pack of the most agile cheetahs, moved along the edge of the battlefield, inserting themselves directly into the rear of Wang Hu's Divine Kingdom from an unbelievable angle.

"What is he doing? Flanking? It's useless! The core of the Rock Trolls is the 'Earth Altar' in the center of the Divine Kingdom; if the altar isn't destroyed, the trolls are immortal!" the commentator shouted loudly.

A disdainful sneer appeared on Wang Hu's face.

But the next second, his smile froze.

The target of Jiang Xun's believer squad was not the Earth Altar at all.

It was those few inconspicuous supply mines behind the altar, which were exhaling and inhaling energy.

That was the source providing energy for the Earth Altar!

"Oh no!"

Wang Hu's expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly tried to mobilize the trolls to return for defense.

But it was too late.

The speed of the Rock Trolls was their greatest fatal flaw.

In front of Jiang Xun's elite squad, which had been strengthened by the Orc Civilization Law and equipped with undead-forged weapons, those mines were as fragile as paper.

Boom!

With the last mine detonated, the channel supplying energy to the Earth Altar was instantly severed.

On the battlefield, the previously unstoppable Rock Troll army saw the luster of their rocks rapidly dim, and their movements became sluggish.

"Now is the time."

From Jiang Xun's Divine Kingdom, another main force that had been holding its position poured out in full strength.

With the momentum of thunder, they broke through the core of Wang Hu's undefended Divine Kingdom.

"First match, Jiang Xun, wins!"

From start to finish, less than five minutes.

The entire venue was dead silent.

Tens of thousands of people opened their mouths wide, but could not make a sound, as if the air in the entire stadium had been sucked dry.

On the holographic projection, the light representing Jiang Xun's Divine Kingdom expanded violently, swallowing the earthy yellow light cluster representing Wang Hu in one gulp.

Visibly, a solid and heavy rock barrier rose from the ground around the periphery of Jiang Xun's town.

"Th-this... what is going on?" The wine glass in Director Li Fu's hand dropped to the ground.

"Second match! Jiang Xun, against Liu Qi!"

Before the crowd could react from their shock, the second match followed seamlessly.

There was no more craftiness or smugness on the face of "Ghost Shadow" Liu Qi; instead, it was replaced by a look of gravity.

The battle began.

Liu Qi's Divine Kingdom was instantly shrouded in a thick fog.

Countless fake phantoms appeared on the battlefield, impossible to distinguish from the real, making it impossible for anyone to find the location of his Divine Kingdom's core.

"It's Liu Qi's 'Mist Illusion'! Now Jiang Xun's speed advantage is useless! He will be trapped and die inside!"

Someone whispered, but there was no confidence left in their voice.

Jiang Xun remained calm.

He looked at the thick fog, a barely perceptible arc hooking at the corner of his mouth.

"Insignificant tricks."

His consciousness issued a command.

The rock barrier that had just been built suddenly began to vibrate violently.

"War Stomp!"

Rumble!

An invisible shockwave, centered on Jiang Xun's Divine Kingdom, spread across the entire battlefield.

This was originally the talent of the Rock Trolls, but it had been perfectly replicated by Jiang Xun.

The earth trembled violently.

Liu Qi's pride and joy, the Mist Illusion, was like the surface of water into which a stone had been thrown; it instantly rippled violently, and countless phantoms shattered on the spot.

An altar hidden in a corner of the battlefield, extremely concealed, was exposed.

"Found you."

Jiang Xun's army of believers had long been ready.

The moment the illusion shattered, they launched their charge.

Five minutes later.

"Second match, Jiang Xun, wins!"

The purple light cluster representing the Illusion Civilization was again swallowed by Jiang Xun's Divine Kingdom.

[SSS-rank Talent 'Civilization Plunder' triggered.]

[Plunder of D-Rank Illusion Civilization successful.]

[Detected 0.1% similarity between this civilization's Law and the 'Ancient God' civilization's mental-type Law, automatically archived for analysis.]

Jiang Xun's eyes flickered.

As expected.

"Third match! Jiang Xun, against Sun Jiao!"

By this time, no one in the entire venue was speaking anymore.

Everyone was looking at the bespectacled young man with the eyes of someone looking at a monster.

If winning the first match was due to exquisite tactics, and winning the second was due to ability suppression, then what about this third match?

Sun Jiao's face was pale, and her forehead was covered in cold sweat.

Her Twin Flower Demon civilization was adept at healing and toxins; it was best at attrition warfare and was the bane of all aggressive civilizations.

But now, she couldn't muster even the slightest desire to resist.

The battle began.

Sun Jiao immediately mobilized all her power; countless poisonous vines and flower demons spreading healing spores protected her Divine Kingdom layer by layer, forming an airtight fortress.

She wanted to stall.

Stall until the match time ended.

However, Jiang Xun had no intention of giving her this chance.

"Illusion, Mist."

In Jiang Xun's Divine Kingdom, a thick fog identical to Liu Qi's just a moment ago rose up, instantly shrouding Sun Jiao's position and obscuring her vision.

Sun Jiao was startled and frantically urged her flower demons to purify the fog.

But just as she was focusing all her efforts on dealing with the illusion, a tremor in the ground made her soul flee in terror.

Dozens of trolls made of rock charged out from the thick fog, using their brutal strength to smash crazily against the barrier made of vines.

"How is it possible?! How can he use the power of three civilizations at the same time?!"

Sun Jiao collapsed.

Her defense crumbled under the brute force of the Rock Trolls, the deception of the illusion, and the assassinations by Jiang Xun's own elite believers.

Five minutes.

Still five minutes.

"Third match, Jiang Xun, wins!"

Three wins in the group stage, undefeated!

That E-Rank Talent who was mocked by everyone, that piece of trash who was thought wouldn't survive the first round, had taken first place in the Group of Death with an unprecedented, crushing posture!

The entire audience went from silence to numbness.

Finally, it was unknown who it was, but the first person stood up to applaud.

Then the second, the third...

Eventually, thunderous applause resounded throughout the entire stadium.

In that applause, there was awe, fear, and even more, the longing of those low-level gods to possess such power themselves.

Jiang Xun walked off the field, the eyes of the entire venue following him.

He didn't look at the crazy audience but instead cast his gaze toward the VIP box.

He smiled at the Dean, Director Li Fu, whose face was already as dark as the bottom of a pot, and slowly made a polite "please" gesture.

As if saying, I am here, is your face ready?

On the other side of the crowd, Li Ang clenched his fists tightly, his fingernails digging into his flesh, fresh blood dripping through his fingers.

In his eyes, there was no more of the previous disdain and resentment, only a pure, crazy desire to destroy everything.

Jiang Xun withdrew his gaze and muttered in his heart.

"The group stage is just a warm-up; the real show is still to come."