allendalepharm Chapter 437 The battle begins, the Fairy Tail team stands still!
Chapter 437 The battle begins, the Fairy Tail team stands still!
Chapter 437 The battle begins, the Fairy Tail team stands still!
"Did they analyze the personalities, behavioral patterns, and magical characteristics of all the players?"
"Is 'hundreds of millions of simulations' an exaggeration? It must be!"
"So, the old man already discussed the action plan with the first generation?"
Listening to the two Mavis's tearful complaints, the companions were all incredulous—the original Mavis looked so silly and cute, almost like Asuka, yet she was able to come up with a plan of action and even go through hundreds of millions of simulations.
"Although I did discuss it with the first generation, I don't remember having any plans," Makarov said, somewhat bewildered.
First impressions are so important that he couldn't recall Mavis's famous title in the magical world for a moment.
"Wait, if I remember correctly, the first guild master led the guild to victory in the Second Trade War thanks to his exceptional intellect, right?"
Lucy, who learned about the guild's history during the S-rank assessment, was the first to react, exclaiming, "They were even called the 'Fairy Strategist' back then!"
"The first president? The fairy strategist?"
"Commanding and winning large-scale wars?"
Upon hearing this, his companions were taken aback and all showed expressions of surprise.
They had heard more or less about the trade war that swept across the entire continent, but they never expected that the first guild leader was also involved, playing the role of "strategist," which sounded quite important!
From another perspective, these people really have absolutely no understanding of their own guild's history.
"Lucy did remind me," Makarov nodded belatedly.
"That's right. In addition to his outstanding magical talent, the first generation was also unmatched in intelligence. He could accurately predict all possible outcomes in the complex battlefield environment."
"In other words, without the emergence of special rules, other guilds would inevitably suffer a terrible defeat under her scheme!"
》」
Old Ma's emotional intelligence is still high. After a few super flattering words, his partners were instantly deeply impressed.
Even the two Mavis stopped crying, proudly puffing out their not-so-substantial chests, their elven ears twitching slightly.
"It's a bit of a shame that, given the current situation, it's destined that it won't be able to be used."
Chess suddenly exclaimed, "Moreover, it could negatively impact their subsequent actions, leading to...—."
Makarov was terrified and frantically hissed at him.
However, it was too late.
Having finally regained their composure, the two Mebius felt a lump in their throats, tears welling up in their eyes.
"I, I didn't cry!" They pursed their lips tightly, trying their best to appear super strong.
Everyone panicked and hurriedly tried to comfort them.
"Someone, quickly appease the First Hokage, Laxus is the one!"
"Me? Me?"
"Chesco, no, that deadbeat guy definitely did it on purpose!"
Mira nudged Chase in the waist with her elbow and whispered, "Chase, you're so mean."
"I learned it from you." Chase revealed a smug smile.
What Mavis didn't know was that this unexpected development actually preserved her title of "fairy strategist"—if she had followed the action plan exactly, things would have completely deviated from the original story and gone completely out of control!
"Oh my, I'm honored~" Mira smiled too.
Lucy quipped: "A cunning man and a scheming woman, no wonder you two ended up together!"
While the rest of the guild was busy trying to comfort Mavis,
In the arena, the players have entered the teleportation array and appeared in a random area within the city of Krocas, with a safe distance between teams.
"While the participating teams are working out their plans, we'd like to announce the five NPCs for this survival game."
The host, Chabadi, then spoke with great excitement, "Please be prepared, because even I was quite surprised when I saw the list."
After a few seconds of pause, the largest screen in the arena changed, splitting into five images.
The background of the scene is mostly familiar areas of Crocus, including the eastern event square, the surrounding streets, the central garden, and so on.
In each area stood a figure, dressed in strange costumes of various styles; some had fierce faces, while others wore smiles.
The only thing they had in common was that, even through the screen, you could clearly feel the chilling aura emanating from their eyes—a quality that only someone who had experienced countless killings could possess!
The audience shrank back almost instinctively out of fear, and their cheers and shouts abruptly stopped.
Fairy Tail stands.
"I didn't expect that there would be this type of mage in the Kingdom of Fiore." Makarov's expression was somewhat solemn.
"Neither of them looks easy to mess with—." The timid Wendy instinctively hugged her chest.
"They exude an extremely strong aura of death, and are responsible for at least hundreds of lives."
The two Mebis women frowned deeply. Having experienced the war firsthand, they were even more accurate in judging people than Makarov.
"Hundreds of lives?"
"Is that kind of person an NPC in this match?!"
Lucy turned pale with fright and clung tightly to Natsu, who was equally terrified.
Chase glanced at his stupid sister and idiot brother-in-law, then turned his gaze back to the somewhat familiar faces on the big screen.
King Thomas is really bold to send out even these people, just to make the final battle more interesting. "You may not recognize these five people, but you've definitely heard of them."
Chabadi, in the commentary booth, took a deep breath, grabbed the microphone, and shouted, "That's right, they are the special operations force of the Kingdom of Fiore, the Hungry Wolf Knights, known as the Executioners!"
As he expected, gasps of surprise rang out from the crowd, clearly indicating that they had heard of the knights' infamous reputation.
"However, please don't be nervous, the competitors won't go all out in the competition."
"Now, let's have our guest, Mr. Model, explain the more detailed rules regarding the NPC 'Executioner'!"
The pumpkin head sitting on the far left chimed in, "Okay, pumpkin, thank you, Chabadi."
He first straightened his slightly crooked pumpkin headgear, then raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
hum!
Centered around the five NPCs, large magic circles resembling spell formations lit up one after another.
"The area covered by the rule array, which spans several hundred meters, is the effective range of the neutral score. Defeating the 'Executioner' within this area will earn you the corresponding score, and it also provides protection, so residents living nearby don't need to worry about being affected."
"It is worth noting that if attacked from outside the area, the 'Executioner' will leave the fixed area to pursue the attacker. Even if it is interfered with by other players, the 'hatred value' will not be transferred. Therefore, the opportunistic method of remote attrition is not feasible."
"Should we prioritize defeating our opponents, or secure neutral points to establish an advantage? This game focuses more on the strategic gameplay between teams, Pumpkin."
At this point, Pumpkin Head mysteriously raised a finger, "Furthermore, there's a hidden rule that will only be revealed after someone defeats the 'Executioner'!"
"It seems to be a competition where they are very strict in judging the situation, managing the score, and allocating personnel," Yajima said with a smile.
Thump!
As the bells resounded throughout the city of Crocus, the final day of the Grand Magic Games began, and the "Survival Game" with no time limit officially commenced!
The moment the bell rang, the guild teams, who had already discussed their scoring strategy, immediately sprang into action.
Even without knowing the exact locations of other teams, most people had a clear goal: to head to the nearest NPC and try to score points before anyone else.
Because the entire team acts as a single entity, they become too large a target and are easily targeted by other guilds.
Therefore, they usually operate in groups of two or three, with only powerful mages like Jura, Kagura, and Minerva choosing to act alone.
"Oh dear! Just as we suspected, the guilds have indeed chosen the safer tactic of taking them down one by one!"
Chabadi's gaze swept over the scattered mages, finally settling on a wide-open plaza. "What's going on here?"
"Fairy Tail, with the highest score of the entire competition, had all five members standing still, completely motionless!"
With his commentary, the audience's attention was completely focused on Erza and the others, and they began to whisper among themselves.
Fairy Tail stands.
"What's going on with them?"
"If we don't take action soon, the neutral points will be snatched up by others!"
"Are we going to have to follow the original plan?"
Upon hearing Lucy's instinctive guess, the two Maviss looked guilty and began to sob softly again.
Lucy was horrified, and then Happy, ever the cheeky one, chimed in, "Bringing this up on purpose, what a nasty woman, Lucy."
"It wasn't on purpose! And Dead Cat, why didn't you jump in when Chess was talking about it?!"
While Lucy frantically tried to calm the two Maviss down, she turned around and started grumbling about the dead cat with a mouthful of jagged teeth.
"Chase, what do you think?" Mira asked Chase.
She didn't think that Erza and Laxus, with their abilities, would lose their composure because things didn't go as predicted by the original.
There must have been some special planning involved!
"I have no idea what they're thinking."
Looking at Erza on the big screen, who was closing her eyes to gather magic power, Chess roughly guessed the reason and said with a smile, "But if it were me, I would definitely target the biggest loophole in this game and end the match in one fell swoop!"
"Ah, if I put Chase in my shoes, things suddenly become clearer~"
Mira blinked her beautiful eyes, then suddenly realized, "But could they have imagined, or even would they have done that?"
The two's ambiguous conversation left Levy, Eclair, and the others around them completely bewildered.
Without giving the audience much time to discuss it, the camera quickly moved away from Fairy Tail on the big screen.
One after another, guild players have already encountered each other in battle.
South of Crocus Street, on the outskirts of the area where the executioner Cosmos was located.
Yuka and Toby's team from Snake Scale encountered Vokurai, who was acting alone with four little dogs.
Even before joining the guild, the two of them had helped Leon with the Moon Drops Project with Sherry, so they worked together very well.
After just a few rounds, Vokurei, who used the Tear Magic, was defeated and became the first contestant to be eliminated, with Snake Princess Scale's score increasing by 1.
"Toby, are there any other players around here?" Yuka asked, her hands behind her back.
Before stepping into the neutral zone and fighting the pink-haired woman standing there in a white top hat, he had to make sure he wasn't ambushed by other guilds.
"No, there's only this guy." Toby twitched his sensitive nose.
"Then let's finish this quickly, take the neutral points, and then go support Leon and the others!"
Yuka confidently stepped into the neutral zone, her body surging with magical energy and shimmering with the light of wave magic.
"No problem! But is it really okay for the two of us to bully such a cute girl?"
That being said, Toby did not hesitate to reveal his sharp claws.
After preparing their respective spells, the two rushed straight towards Cosmos.
Then the next second...
"Splendid Bomb - Neighborhood Flower Lianhua!"
In the terrifying plant explosion, the two confident men were sent flying backward with billowing black smoke coming from their mouths, instantly losing their ability to fight!
"Rushing in so recklessly is not graceful at all."
Cosmos stood atop the man-eating plant with its mouth full of fangs and sighed with regret, "It's a pity it's just a regular event, not a proper execution."
The game rules were triggered, and the "3" representing her score above her head changed to "5".
Yuka and Toby, who were seriously injured, were immediately carried off the field by medical personnel who arrived at the scene to receive treatment.
"Wow! They killed two fighters with a single blow! Is this the strength of the Hungry Wolf Knights?!" Chabadi exclaimed in surprise.
"Hehe, without S-rank strength, a rash attack will only lead to a big loss, Pumpkin." Pumpkin Head let out a satisfied chuckle.
This is actually one of the reasons why he decided to make the Hungry Wolf Knights serve as NPCs: to show the outside world a portion of the power possessed by the Fiore Kingdom's royal family!
"There's another fight going on over there," Yajima said calmly.
Following his gaze, one could see the outer street of the corridor leading to the building where the executioner, Nie Pa, was located.
The mermaids Miliana and Lizley faced off against Loca and Semis, who had four dogs.
The encounter between beauty and the beast elicited gasps from the audience, but unfortunately, the battle wasn't as exciting as expected.
Having already faced off in previous battles, Miliana easily defeated Semis, and then, with the help of Lizli's gravity magic, quickly beat the remaining Loca to a pulp.
The guild leader and members of Four Dogs were struck dumb: after losing two more "powerful generals" after Vokule, they were basically out of the running for the championship.
"Oh? My opponents are Catwoman and Fat Girl?"
Looking at the two people who stepped into the area, the executioner Niepa tilted his head back and gulped down a mouthful of strong acid, his face showing distress. "My magic isn't very friendly to you."
"Hey Lizley, he called me a catwoman, so full of energy!" Miriam was overjoyed.
"Hey fatso, do you want to take another look?"
Lizley was quite unhappy with the nickname "fat girl" and used gravity magic to transform herself into a sexy and slender beauty.
Just as they were about to attack Nie Pa, a sudden chill swept in and a black wind raged.
The ice-shaping magic and the sky-annihilating magic caught them off guard, causing them both to fall to the ground. "Since you're so troubled, how about we become your opponents?"
Leon and Sheria, who easily scored two points, appeared from the side street and slowly walked into the neutral zone!