Qiao Chen's path was a lot farther away, but it was very easy to traverse. They didn't encounter and beasts that blocked their way, so they didn't need to fight. All the beast territories and nests were easily avoided without much deviation from their route.
Qiao Chen had been observing his surrounding throughout the entire journey to the designated area. He noticed that some of the Kendosian cadets left evidence of their travels behind. He realized that the Kendosians were taking the same route as them, but were farther up ahead. Qiao Chen decided have Dick and Justin speed up. They needed to catch up so they could find the best opportunity to overtake them.
Just as Qiao Chen felt like he was catching up to the Kendosians, a large net fell from above and caught them.
Qiao Chen would give up after being trapped like that, so he immediately signaled towards Dick and Justin. They three worked together to quickly break through the net.
However, they had barely broken through the net when an iron frame stood up from the grass and trapped them in a box. Qiao Chen knew that the Kendosians should have set these traps. However, these things wouldn't be able to stop them for long. He didn't know why the other party would waste so much time setting up these traps for such little time.
Qiao Chen was thinking about the opposing team's reason for the traps when he suddenly felt like something was wrong. He quickly turned around and saw a large group of beasts running towards them.
Qiao Chen looked back at the iron frames that blocked their way. He realized that their purpose was to stop them and then attract beasts to their locations. They were using the beasts to stall their progress.
It was too late. Even if they were able to get rid of the iron frames, the beasts were too close by. Qiao Chen had no choice but face the beasts head on. They'll be able to continue forward once the beasts were taken care of. It took longer than he anticipated, but Qiao Chen's group was able to resolve the beasts without getting injured. The group quickly continued on their path.
Qiao Chen felt that their path was too strange. They continued on the same route as the Kendosian, but hadn't encountered any other traps from them. They weren't even ambushed or anything like that either. This feeling grew more and more intense even after they reached the designated area.
Qiao Chen looked at the distance and saw a small fort like building not too far away. That was the location for their final battle. The team that was able to occupy and defend the fort for about three hours would win.
Qiao Chen couldn't continue forward. His senses were screaming at him. Unease and a strange feeling welled up in his heart. He looked up at the sky and felt like they were walking right into a huge trap.
"Why aren't we continuing?" Justin asked in confusion.
"The other nation's cadets have been ahead of us for so long already. Why haven't they claimed the designated area and raised the flag in the fort yet?" Qiao Chen said as he expressed his doubts.
Justin thought for a moment before asking, "Are they planning on ambushing us?"
Qiao Chen shook his head and said, "I don't think it's that simple. They have already ambushed us once. They can't use the same tricks twice in a row on the same people."
"Ambushed once? Was that when he encountered those beasts?" Dick asked. He had the feeling that someone was watching them while they battled against the beasts.
"Yes." Qiao Chen nodded and said. Qiao Chen knew that the opposing team didn't leave as they fought against the beasts. The enemy had stayed and watched until they were nearly done with the beasts, then the Kendosians left.
"But we're all here already. We have to go in and take a look because they hadn't raised the flag yet- even if it is a trap." Justin said.
"No. We can't go in." Qiao Chen replied as he looked at the fort. His intuition was telling him that something was very wrong with it.
"Don't go in? Why?" Justin asked in surprise.
"Let's go. We need to go back." Qiao Chen turned around and said. Then he walked to the route that Danny and his group should have taken.
"Go? Go back? Why are we doing that?" Justin and Dick were confused about Qiao Chen's decision and approach, but still followed him back.
Qiao Chen's intuition was telling him that he shouldn't take one step in the fort. There was just something too strange about the empty fort. However, he didn't only want to return because the fort was strange.
The other party had ambushed them on the way to the fort. It was highly likely that the other group had been ambushed too. The Kendosian were ahead of them and should have reached the fort first, but didn't raise the flag. This meant that the Kendosians had probably forgone the fort completely and regrouped to attack Chad and his group.
The rules said that whoever occupied the fort for three hours would win. There wasn't a rule that said they couldn't double back and attack the opposing team. If they were able to destroy the opponent's attack ability before they reached the fort, then you'd be able to win without even having to defend the fort.
Qiao Chen's gut was telling him that it was too strange that the Kendosians would hide for such a long time just to ambush them, but leave almost immediately without doing anything else. They didn't even take the fort either. They had to known that they'd lose even if they had claimed the fort or something similar to that. Qiao Chen didn't even need to mention the fort that practically screamed at his instincts that something was dangerously off about it. He just knew that it'd be extremely difficult to enter it.
Au Luo stood in the airship's command room. He watched at Qiao Chen and his group returned to the jungle instead of entering the fort. His face was expressionless, but a quick flash of emotion appeared and then disappeared in his eyes.
Qiao Chen's group was already heading back, but Chad's group was already trapped in a dilemma as the opposing group attacked them.
Chad, Danny, and Benji had traversed a good amount of the route already. They passed through a lot of beasts' territories and avoided several of the beasts, so their progress had been fairly smooth.
However, the Kendosian cadets ambushed them while they attempted to deal with a surprise group of beasts. They attacked the beasts as they defended against the three Kendosian cadets, but the group suddenly increased. Now they had to defend against six Kendosians and weren't fairing well.
Chad's group wasn't a match for the beast attack as well as the six cadets. They were very soon defeated. The Kendosians tied them to the tree upside down and harassed them relentlessly.
Citizens from both nations watched on the interplanetary network as the Kendosian cadets tossed the Willisanto cadets around and tied them to the trees. Everyone watched as the Willisantoan cadets helplessly struggled as they endure the ridicule and humiliation.
The Kendosia nation was quite proud that their cadets gained the upper hand against the opponents. The Willisanto nation, however, were angry. They swore at the screens and smacked their tables in indignation.
There were some Willisantoans who thought that the Kendosians didn't have any sportsmanship. Others thought that their supposed high and might Lion Corps dropped the ball. They wondered how the prestigious Lion Corps could select such useless candidates for the competitions. The last group thought that if Chad's group was the representation of their greatest and most promising cadets, then their future military would have poor results. They began to wonder if the Kendosian Empire would overcome their military and even surpass them in the future.
"I thought that the cadets who were supposed to take that route were supposed to be the stronger ones. We rushed over here to help you guys out because we thought that the strong ones would give you trouble. I never would have expected that they'd be a bunch of weaklings." The Kendosian group B leader said proudly.
"Alright. Finish them off once you've had enough fun. Then we'll go deal with the remaining three. Let's score an all-kill for the game." The group A leader said with a sinister smile.
The rest of the team members were scrambling for the chance to kill Dann and the rest off. It was a great opportunity for them to publically show off.
Chad gritted his teeth and glared at the Kendosian cadets. Their hands and feet were bound. They weren't able to activate their mechanical shields to use any of their abilities, and there were even beasts snapping at their feet from below. Even if they broke free from the bindings, they'd have to drop to the floor where the beasts were waiting. They'd probably die before they had a chance to resist.
Furthermore, there weren't any rules that prevented their injuries or death. No one would come and save them as long as the competition was still going on. There would be no help even if their lives were in danger. The two nations had already agreed and signed off on this.
Chad watched as the Kendosians stood on the tree branches and discussed the best way to kill them. They were debating on whether they wanted to use their abilities and kill them by hand or just toss them to the beasts. Chad heard this and decided that he wouldn't go down without a fight. He rotated as hard as he could and tried to swing towards Danny. He succeeded and slammed into Danny. Danny flew to the tree, and Chad used his body strength to break off the bindings on Danny's feet.
Benji saw what Chad wanted to do, so he swung his body to block the Kendosians' line of sights.
Danny desperately broke free from the ropes and bound him. The three of them cooperated very well. Their moments were very quick, so Danny was free by the time the opponents had realized what was happening. Danny was ready to defend against the opponents' attacks.
"Danny, save Benji first." Chad yelled out. Danny was closer to Benji. If he freed Benji, then they'd have a bigger chance at escaping with two people instead of one.
However, Danny had only defended against the Kendosians for a bit before he fled. He didn't make the choice to save Benji.
Chad and Benji watched wide-eyed and in disbelief as Danny escaped without them. When they needed him the most, Danny had abandoned them- just like that.
Chad and Benji weren't the only ones shocked by Danny's behavior. Everyone watching on the interplanetary web were all shocked. How could the Yu Capital's School of Military Combat cadet abandon his teammates like that? It was such a critical life or death moment, but he chose to escape on his own. They wondered how such a person could participate in the competition and be a Willisantoan representative. How would such a person be worthy of becoming a soldier? Who would even want to team up with such a person like that?
While the Willisantoans criticized Danny, they were disappointed by Chad and Benji's performances too. Then, they began to question the integrity of Yu Capital's School of Military Combat. Why hadn't the school taught these cadets better? Was this what they taught at the school?
The Kendosian cadets sent two people to hunt Danny down before he escaped too far. The rest were ready to kill off Chad and Benji. They weren't going to play around anymore in case they tried to escape again.
The Kendosians group A and B stood in separate groups on two different trees. They prepared their energy blasts at the same time, but the trees they stood on suddenly exploded. The Kendosians didn't have any time to react. They slammed against the ground and the explosion's aftershocks reverberated to their bones. The Kendosians were stunned on the ground.
The beasts on the floor saw a bunch of bodies fall to the floor and immediately attacked the ones closest to them. Those cadets were injured by the blow, but now had to suffer from the beasts' attacks now too. These were even the beasts they had lured here to attack the Willisantoan cadets. Unfortunately, they didn't even have the time to see who had blown the trees up. It was chaos. Contrarily, Chad and Benji were safer as they hung upside down in the trees.
The two who chased after Danny had already reached him. They were in the middle of beating him to death when they heard the commotion behind them. The sound wasn't something they were expecting to hear, so they stopped and immediately ran back in case their fellow Kendosians needed help.
Qiao Chen stood on a tree with Dick and Justin as they attacked the Kendosian cadets as they fought against the beasts. Dick broke away to rescue the bound Chad and Benji.
Qiao Chen had dealt with the Kendosians harshly. He didn't kill them outright, but they probably wouldn't be able to use any combat abilities in the future.
Qiao Chen's group appeared and reversed the situation quickly. The Kendosians and Willisantoans felt a rollercoaster of emotions. They felt waves of emotions rise and fall as they all experienced shock, anger, and glory. Of course, these emotions were all felt at different times and were dependant on which nation the viewer was from.
Qiao Chen's group's actions were brazen. They stopped the Willisantoans who had been scolding their teammates on the screen. The Willisantoans took a breath and were comforted by the realization that they still had hope for the future. However, they were confused on why there'd be such a massive gap between the first and the second group. This was a competition. The Lion Corps should have sent teams that were around the same level as Qiao Chen's group.
Qiao Chen's group untied Chad's group. The trio successfully and quickly dealt with the problems Chad's group had been facing. The Kendosian cadets as well as the beasts on the floor were flat on the floor without any energy to spare. Qiao Chen landed on the floor and walked over to Kendosia's group A leader. He was one of the ones who was a cadet, but wasn't actually one in reality.
Quai Cgeb withdrew a dagger from his boot. Then he pressed the blade against group A's leader as a warning. Then he aimed the dagger at the leader's heart. He looked up the man's identity with his system, and found that the guy was son of Kendosia's highest ranking marshal. This was the marshall with the greatest military strength in all of the Kendosian Empire. If Qiao Chen were to do something, then the Kendosian soldiers would definitely retaliate.
Qiao Chen felted objects approaching quickly through the airspace. He looked up at the sky and saw Kendosian airships zipping towards them. Were they preparing to intervene before the competition ended?
Chad watched nervously as dozens of soldiers descended from the airship to capture them. They were all very confused because this was a competition. Both of the nations had already signed an agreement that they wouldn't intervene. That was the plan on paper, but why were these Kendosian soldiers trying to capture them?