My Apocalypse Territory-Chapter 288 - 285 Preliminary Contest

As was customary, there always had to be some performances at the opening ceremony.

Music and dance filled the air, accompanied by the loud beating of drums and gongs.

Although it wasn’t a display of the Awakeners’ power, these sorts of performances could indirectly highlight the standard of living of Green Shadow’s survivors.

On the stage, aside from the performance team, Shay, who had once again managed to secure a spot as host, was passionately relating the history of Green Shadow Sanctuary’s development and the preliminary rules of the Martial Path Tournament.

“The preliminary round is divided into two stages: a hundred-person melee stage and a losers’ challenge stage.”

“There are 2,789 Awakeners participating in this Martial Path Tournament. Every participant, please pay attention to your allotted number, as in the first stage, every hundred people form one group for the melee. The battle goes on until the last person stands, determining the winner.”

“Those who stay on the ground for more than ten seconds, fall off the arena, or voluntarily concede will enter the loser’s group. In the Second Stage, every person in the loser’s group has a chance to buy challenge rights. Awakeners who have purchased these rights can challenge anyone from the winners of the first stage. The victor will take their place, and the final hundred left in the winners’ group will participate in the ultimate finale…”

Tang Yu sincerely said that the sale of challenge rights wasn’t about making money; it was to prevent the losers from swarming the challenges… The number of participants this time far exceeded his expectations, and the original one-on-one combat progression model had to be reluctantly canceled.

Time slowly neared the nine o’clock start of the preliminary round.

The expressions of the Awakeners present became increasingly excited.

The drizzling rain gradually ceased, and the clouds were scattered as rays of sunlight filtered through.

“Next, I’d like to introduce the two commentators for this competition. To my left, we have Captain Luo of the Patrol Team, and to my right, our special invited guest, Commander Zhou Zhenglei from the Ancestor Dragon Special Combat Team of Lindong.”

Compared to the well-known Captain Luo among the many Awakeners, Zhou Zhenglei, the former Commander of Lu Jianjun’s guard, was not very well-recognized even among the Awakeners of Lindong.

But as soon as the identity of the Commander of the Ancestor Dragon Special Combat Team was announced, those with a bit of insight were all taken aback.

To have a seat here, one had to be among the top in Lindong, undoubtedly ranking first or second. Such a person had actually become a special guest at the Martial Path Tournament… In the audience, quite a few had complex expressions on their faces, perhaps reminded of something.

Soon, with the sound of the drums, the first group of contestants, number 001-100, stepped onto the central main stage.

The fifty-by-fifty arena was large but still seemed crowded with so many contestants standing on it. Each contestant was only a few meters apart from one another, all very cautious and warily eyeing their opponents.

The competition started quickly and the scene was unexpectedly chaotic. Perhaps most Awakeners had never experienced such a mixed battleground; many were pummeled into spitting blood before they could react, or kicked off the platform.

Initially, before entering the arena, some of the weaker contestants had exchanged glances, planning to join forces to eliminate the stronger ones. But once the battle began, things didn’t go as planned at all.

Awakeners were everywhere, their energies intertwined, making it impossible to discern who was a powerful fighter and who was mediocre.

Before long, those at the Second and Third Layer were cleared from the field. Some lay on the platform, unable to move, and were dragged off by members of the Patrol Team responsible for rescue. Those with more severe injuries were quickly taken to Green Shadow’s First Hospital.

There, their injuries could be stabilized, but quick healing would cost them extra.

After all, you get what you pay for.

“Everyone, please look, contestant number 023 on the left has launched a series of side kicks, while the contestant number 077 behind him is blocking with both hands. His stance is stable. He seems at a disadvantage, but in reality, he’s steadily holding his ground. It’s still hard to predict the outcome.”

“I wonder what Commander Zhou and Captain Luo’s thoughts are,” Shay passed the microphone to the two commentators.

“Number 023 contestant has a slight advantage, but the outcome is uncertain,” Zhou Zhenglei said.

“That’s correct,” Luo Zhe summarized the content of the previous two speakers briefly.

Others in the audience had twitching corners of their mouths.

We were told that two special guests would provide commentary, but it seems that it had turned into a one-man show by the host.

Yet, his commentary was spot on.

At this point, the first preliminary group was nearing its end, with just two Fifth Tier powerhouses left on the stage. They were not ordinary Fifth Layer Awakeners: one was an old-time adventurer from Green Shadow, having used Body Tempering Liquid, and the other an ability user from the Transformation series.

The two fought to a deadlock, with many in the audience unable to keep up with their eyes alone, waiting for the camera to replay the exciting moments and for the commentators’ analysis.

Then the entire stadium was filled with exclamations of “oh,” “ah,” and “amazing” as the first group’s competition drew to an end.

Immediately following were the second group, the third group…

The pace of the preliminary rounds was very fast, victory and defeat determined quickly, and immediately members of the Patrol Team removed the downed contestants from the stage. Bloodstains on the platform weren’t cleaned, and the next group would proceed directly to the stage.

Was this selection method for the preliminaries fair? Definitely not.

The groupings, not intentionally arranging those with high energy levels separately, were purely random. Some groups had nearly ten Fifth Layer powerhouses taking the stage together, while the strongest in other groups was only at the Fourth Layer.

Some groups had contestants who connected with others before going on stage, different from the very first group that entered; they had more time to unify others and devise strategies.

Yet in some groups, even if the weaker ones banded together for warmth, they were still dominated by the Sixth Layer superpower, who swept through the arena with an unrivaled and overwhelming force.