Translator: Simple MTL Editor: Simple MTL
“I’ve told you so much just to make you clear about your responsibilities as the Captain of the emergency team.” Elisa looked at Lugh and said, “As a Captain, you need to understand the responsibilities on your shoulders while holding power. Your decision not only concerns the life and death of your subordinates, but also the lives and deaths of tens of thousands of civilians.”
Lugh asked in a low voice, “Is the Captain giving me a warning?”
“Yes, if the competition fails, you don’t have to feel that it’s too much of a pity.”
“But I won’t fail.”
“That depends on your performance.”
At 6:30 the next morning, Lugh got up early.
After washing up, he had a simple breakfast in the cafeteria.
At 7:20 am, he arrived at the entrance of the 7th Team’s campsite, and Lucy arrived just in time.
Five minutes later, Elisa came out of her office.
“Let’s go!” Elisa summoned the Black-Gold Eagle and said, “Come up together.”
Lugh and Lucy jumped onto the Black-Gold Eagle and headed straight for Hepeng Valley.
The arena was just outside Hepeng Valley. There wasn’t enough space for a Platinum Beast Master to completely relax.
The 14th emergency team’s Captain and Vice-Captain only had two spots.
The Southwest Military had selected a total of eight Platinum-tier Beast Masters, including Lugh.
These Beast Masters were all personally groomed by the military.
Among the eight Platinum-tier Beast Masters, including Lugh, five were from the Emergency Response Team, two were from the Reclamation Unit, and one was from the City Guards.
On the surface, Lugh was the weakest, only at Low-tier Platinum.
As for the other seven Beast Masters, three were Mid-tier Platinum, and four were High-tier Platinum.
The eight Platinum-tier Beast Masters had similar abilities and strength, and they all had the support of the higher-ups behind them.
Considering the unity of the higher-ups and the thoughts of the eight Platinum-tier Beast Masters, when the Southwest Military encountered such a situation, they would usually use a simple and crude method like a martial arts competition.
In this dangerous world, the strong were always respected.
In the military, this understanding had been passed down for thousands of years.
A fair martial arts competition, even if they were defeated in the end, would be acceptable to the vast majority of the unsuccessful candidates.
The upper echelons they supported behind them had nothing to say either.
In a situation where their abilities and experience were similar, a strong Captain was naturally very important in the process of carrying out a mission.
Lugh was not qualified, so he could barely be called a candidate, except for the support of the Emergency Response Team and Paul.
There was also the reason why his strength was the weakest. He was not even seventeen years old, and he had just reached Low-tier Platinum, so he did not look like he could win.
He looked like he was just a guy who came to accompany the others.
The other higher-ups would not oppose Paul and Bania’s proposal for the sake of a player who was destined to accompany the others, and offend these two powerful figures.
When Lugh and the other two arrived, there were two Colonel-level military officers standing there. They seemed to be chatting about something.
Lugh didn’t recognize the others. They were all unfamiliar faces.
Lugh looked at those people, and those people looked at Lugh as well.
However, they only took a glance at Lugh before running off to look at Lucy.
The official start of the tournament was at nine o’clock. However, it was only half-past eight when Bania ended the conversation. He stood up and announced, “Since everyone is here, we’ll begin immediately. All participants, stand up and form a line.”
Eight Platinum-tier Beast Masters stood up and formed a straight line in front of Bania.
Yann stood at the very edge.
“I’ll be hosting this tournament. From left to right, your positions will be your numbers.”
A soldier carried an opaque box and placed it in front of everyone.
Bania pointed at the box and said, “There are five, six, seven, and eight pieces of paper inside. The numbers are one, two, three, and four. Come over to draw your opponents.”
“Yes!”
The four Platinum-tier Beast Masters went forward to draw the paper pieces one by one.
“Number One, what number did you draw?”
“Reporting to Colonel, it’s Number Seven.”
Lugh was Number Eight.
“Then I announce that the first match will be fought by Number One and Number Seven. The other Beast Masters will all retreat,” Bania announced, “The rules of the competition are: You can only use your pet beasts to fight until one of the Beast Masters concedes or completely loses the ability to fight. Those who are passive in the competition will be judged to be negative. Those who interfere in the competition will be punished by military law. Do you understand?”
“Understood!”
All of the Beast Masters present sat on their flying-type pet beasts and left the battlefield.
When Lugh and the others retreated two kilometers away, Bania announced the start of the competition.
The two Platinum-tier Beast Masters quickly summoned all of their pet beasts and started fighting.
Lugh carefully observed the two Platinum-tier Beast Masters’ pet beasts and realized that they weren’t that simple.
The pet beasts in his hands were extremely outstanding, and among them, there was no lack of Divine Beasts with rare talent.
Their battle experience was extremely rich.
Between a pet beast and a pet beast, and between a pet beast and a Beast Master, there was quite a tacit understanding between them. They worked together to launch a series of ingenious tactics.
It was rare to see a face-to-face confrontation between experts, and Lugh watched with great interest.
As he watched the battle, he was also thinking about how he should fight.
Elisa saw Lugh carefully observing the posture of learning and could not help but laugh. “Aren’t you nervous?”
“Why should I be nervous? I feel that I won’t lose even if I go on stage.”
“You’re really confident.”
“Of course I’m confident,” Lugh said with a smile. “Let Lucy go up. She’ll most likely win.”
Elisa looked at Lucy, who had been sitting quietly on the Black-Gold Eagle’s back, and asked in surprise, “Lucy, do you think you’ll win if you go up?”
“There shouldn’t be any problems.”
Lucy nodded seriously.
After becoming a Platinum Mid-tier Beast Master, Lugh had found a few powerful pet beasts for her.
A while ago, she had been busy completing the mission Lugh had given her.
Recently, she had returned to the Emergency Response Team. After she had some free time, she began to train and nurture the pet beasts in her hands seriously.
It was only now that she discovered, to her surprise, that the pet beasts Lugh had helped her capture weren’t just having high growth potential.
Every pet beast had excellent combat talent, and they were the best of their kind.
Lucy was a smart person. She suddenly understood why Lugh had killed so many Platinum-level pets when he was helping her catch them.
It was not that Lugh wanted to make her feel bad, but that he was seriously helping her choose her pet.
With Lugh’s terrifying insight, which allowed him to see through the four great combat talents of the Ice Moon Elf, he could really do it.
Elisa nodded in agreement with Lucy’s words.
Lucy was a cold person, always giving people the feeling that she was reliable and steady.
On the stage, Number One and Number Seven were both Platinum High-tier Beast Masters. They were evenly matched, and it took them more than half an hour to end the battle.
In the end, the Number Seven Beast Master was injured because of his three pets, and he announced his surrender.
After admitting defeat, Number Seven’s face showed some disappointment, but he didn’t have too complicated an expression.
A loss was a loss.
Soon, the Number Two Beast Master went on stage. After displaying the slip of paper, Bania asked the Number Five Beast Master to go on stage.
The Number Two Beast Master was a High-tier Platinum Beast Master, while the Number Five Beast Master was a Mid-tier Platinum Beast Master. There was a certain difference in strength between the two of them, so the battle ended relatively quickly.
Only seventeen minutes later, the Number Five Beast Master announced his surrender.
The battle situation was already very clear. Number Five knew very well that he wouldn’t be able to win. If he persisted, his pet would only be heavily injured. There would be no benefits, so he might as well just surrender.
After Number Two and Number Five ended, the two of them left the arena together, sitting on the back of their flying pets and chatting non-stop.
They were probably old acquaintances who knew each other.
The pace of the battle was very fast. Number Three, a Platinum-tier Beast Master, went up on stage. Bania took a look at the note he had drawn.
“Number Eight, go up on stage.”
“Lugh, it’s your turn. Your opponent is a Platinum High-tier Beast Master. You’re really unlucky.”
“Alright.”
Lugh flew to the center of the arena on the Stormhawk.
[Ding! Mission announcement: Defeat your opponent, Shelley!]
[Mission reward: Randomly increase pet’s talent by one level.]
Every time the system issued a mission, Lugh felt that today was a beautiful day.
His opponent was a middle-aged man. He had a short beard, thick eyebrows, big eyes, dark skin, and a thick murderous aura.
The middle-aged man smiled and said, “You are Lugh, right?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Shelley. I used to be in the 10th Team. Bill said that if I ran into you, he told me not to underestimate you.”
