55: Chapter 55 First Loot

"Boss, that kid is right in this swamp. His points haven't moved at all; he's probably scared out of his wits."

A three-man squad from the Hunter Alliance was led by a young man named Zhao Yu. His God Kingdom civilization was the C-rank "Rock Giant Statue," which possessed decent defensive power.

At this moment, he was showing off the map on his wrist communicator to his two companions. The red dot marked the C-rank prodigy they were hunting, while the depths of this swamp held their other target: Jiang Xun.

"A guy who only got first place in Jiang City by luck dares to oppose Young Master Li Wei? He's really looking for death," another youth majoring in the "Wind Blade" civilization sneered, his words filled with contempt.

"Stop talking nonsense. Let's finish this quickly. First, crush that fleeing rat, then twist off Jiang Xun's head as a greeting gift for Young Master Li. I heard he's fair-skinned and looks like a girl; let's let him taste the rotten mud in this swamp."

The three shared a smile and stepped into the mist-shrouded area without hesitation.

Meanwhile, on the giant screen outside the arena, the director panned the camera to this area. After all, this was the first potential contact between the "Hunter Alliance" and Jiang Xun, drawing the attention of all the spectators.

"These three are mid-tier members of the Hunter Alliance—two top-tier C-ranks and one early-stage B-rank. They coordinate well and have already earned quite a few points by clearing out solo players," the commentator's passionate voice rang out.

"Now they've chased a contestant into the swamp where Jiang Xun is hiding. It seems Jiang Xun's 'good luck' is about to run out. He chose this death trap intending to use the terrain to hide, but once discovered, it will instead become his grave."

In the audience, many people let out gloating laughter.

Li Wei sat in an exclusive seat in the front row, watching the screen with a playful, cold smile. In his view, he didn't even need to act personally; his underlings were enough to deal with that arrogant kid from Jiang City.

Xu Qingran's heart was in her throat. Her hands gripped the corners of her clothes tightly, her palms drenched in sweat.

"Don't worry." Old Baitou, however, acted as if nothing were wrong, leaning back in his chair. A glint that no one could decipher flickered in his cloudy eyes. "The show has only just begun."

Just as the three-man squad stepped about a hundred meters into the swamp, a sudden change occurred.

Zhao Yu, the leader, felt his feet give way as the solid ground instantly turned into a massive quicksand vortex. A powerful suction force pulled at him. Before he could even fully summon his proud Rock Giant Statue, half of his body had sunk in.

"Damn it! It's a trap!" Zhao Yu's expression changed drastically as he roared.

The other two were also startled and were about to step forward to rescue him when a strange "crack, crack" sound suddenly echoed from the thick mist.

Immediately following that, Skeleton Soldiers stitched together from mud and animal bones crawled out of the mire. Eerie green flames burned in their eye sockets. They moved slowly but were numerous, throwing themselves forward without fear of death.

"Undead Civilization? You think these few skeletons can stop us?" The youth majoring in Wind Blade snorted coldly. With a wave of his hands, dozens of azure Wind Blades whistled out, instantly slicing the frontmost skeletons into pieces.

However, after the shattered bones fell into the mire, they began to wriggle and reassemble as if they didn't know the meaning of death.

What made their skin crawl even more was that the surrounding ground began to vibrate. Mounds of earth rose, and what emerged were not undead, but short, stout Orc Infantrymen wielding massive stone axes.

These Orcs let out earth-shaking roars and launched a charge toward them with heavy steps.

"Orcs? Why are there Orcs too? What kind of ghost civilization is this?"

The three completely lost their composure. The relentless waves of undead were already a headache, and now Orc Infantrymen with powerful frontal impact had appeared, instantly breaking their formation.

Zhao Yu finally managed to scramble out of the quicksand trap, but before he could steady himself, he saw an Orc Infantry's giant axe swinging down at his head.

He hurriedly channeled his divine power, manifesting a thick rock shield in front of him.

However, just as the axe blade was about to hit the shield, a dark red rune suddenly surfaced on the shield's face. Then, with a "bang," the entire shield exploded.

"It's a Dwarf Runes! Fuck, there are Dwarves too!" Zhao Yu let out a scream of despair.

He finally understood that he wasn't facing a single civilization, but a monster legion stitched together from various civilizations like the Undead, Orcs, and Dwarves!

The swamp terrain perfectly countered their mobility. The entanglement of the Skeleton Soldiers, the charge of the Orc Infantrymen, and the secretly inscribed Dwarven Blast Runes formed a seamless, interlocking death trap.

The three-man squad didn't even see a shadow of Jiang Xun before they were forced back by the siege of this "stitched monster" army, eventually being submerged by the tide of skeletons and eliminated in a flash of white light.

The entire process took less than five minutes.

Inside and outside the arena, there was a deathly silence.

The commentator, who had been talking grandly just moments ago, now had his mouth wide open, unable to utter a single word.

All the spectators who had mocked Jiang Xun for being a coward had their expressions frozen, replaced by unbelievable horror.

"This... this is Jiang Xun's civilization? He... he didn't even act personally?"

"Terrifying. He turned the entire swamp into his home field. Those three prodigies were like moths flying into a spiderweb, completely powerless to fight back."

The cold smile on Li Wei's face had long since vanished, replaced by a dark gloom.

For the first time, he truly looked at this opponent from Jiang City. The tactical proficiency and the bizarre nature of the civilization the other party displayed far exceeded his expectations.

A trace of sinister gloom also flashed in Deputy Chief Referee Sun Zhiyuan's eyes. He exchanged a glance with Old Baitou and saw the hint of mockery in the other's gaze.

Deep in the swamp, in a hidden cave covered by special moss, Jiang Xun was calmly watching a light screen composed of divine power, which clearly displayed the recent battle.

He lightly tapped the light screen, and a system notification sounded in his mind.

[Ding! Successfully activated talent "Civilization Plunder and Fusion"!]

[Successfully plundered B-rank "Storm" civilization core technology — Energy Shield Generation!]

[Merging with "Dwarven Rune Technology"... Fusion successful! Congratulations, you have created a new unit technology — Rune Energy Shield!]

The corner of Jiang Xun's mouth curled up slightly.

This was his true goal. Combat was just incidental; plundering and strengthening himself was the kingly way.

He glanced at his points. After devouring the three-man squad, they had skyrocketed from the bottom directly to forty-seventh place.

Although it wasn't very high yet, it was enough for everyone to see.

Thus, he opened the tournament's public channel and sent out his first message of the competition.

The content of the message was simple, only three words.

"Next."

This message appeared in the field of vision of all contestants and spectators. The entire arena instantly fell silent.