The hard soles of the boots crushed the gravel on the ground, making a slight crunching sound. Although very faint, it sounded clear in the quiet surroundings.

Shuma frowned and shook her head helplessly. She didn't expect to be suddenly pulled by Tiran to participate in this competition. Otherwise, she would have changed her outfit beforehand. Now, these knee-high leather boots satisfied both the aesthetic and combat requirements, but they would still bring some trouble during stealth.

Standing still, holding her breath, Shuma listened carefully for a few seconds. After confirming the safety of the surroundings, she quickly scanned the scattered treasures on half of the street and immediately disappeared.

So far, the ruins remained relatively quiet, with most participants still diligently collecting treasures... It couldn't be ruled out that some individuals who were ready to rely on robbery for wealth were secretly lurking in certain places.

Shuma had seen many individuals like this, but in the thick darkness, those guys couldn't discover this skilled knight who excelled in stealth.

"Another one."

Sharply noticing a figure hidden behind a pile of collapsed stone pillars, gently wiping their weapon, Shuma crouched on the ground like a snake hunting for prey. She took out a piece of paper from her storage ring, quickly noted down the location of this person's ambush, and then turned to leave in another direction.

The paper in her hand was already nearly half full. Although the handwriting was a bit rough, the content was a precise underground ruins map.

This was Shuma's main task, searching for ill-intentioned looters and tracking the map. Collecting treasures had become an incidental job. According to the game rules, they could easily deduce the general progress of the entire competition. If they wanted to achieve ultimate victory, relying solely on collecting treasures wouldn't work. They had to seize the treasures from others to quickly increase their score.

If they didn't aim for the first place but merely wanted to collect treasures, the safest choice would be to go to the border and then teleport out before the combat stage began. Of course, for Aya and her group, it was obviously impossible to choose this method. So, from the beginning, Tiran planned to go for the robbery - and he wanted to rob the fattest treasures.

The fact that these individuals marked by Shuma were willing to ambush instead of collecting treasures indicated they had some confidence in their own abilities. Most likely, they would be among the wealthiest... Even if there were some fools who underestimated their own abilities, it didn't matter. After all, marking so many people was like casting a wide net to catch more fish.

Searching through the three layers of ruins was a huge task, but Shuma had no complaints about Tiran's arrangement. After all, they often did this kind of work in the intelligence department. The only dissatisfaction was... Byinrich.

To stand on the same front as a wanted criminal, it made the female knight, who always took capturing them as her duty, quite dissatisfied. This time, His Highness was really being reckless.

But even if there were more complaints, she still had to focus on her current task.

Gently patting her cheek to freshen up, Shuma planned to follow the original route to the next level. She was currently in the topmost part of the three-layered ruins. If the boundaries began to shrink, this area would be the most dangerous.

At this moment, footsteps and the clashing of metal suddenly came from around the corner ahead. It sounded like a heavily armored warrior, and this person seemed completely unaware of the need to conceal themselves. Just from the sound of the footsteps, one could tell their careless attitude.

Almost immediately, Shuma hid in the shadow of the wall on the side of the street, her gaze fixated on the intersection, silently contemplating what that person's intentions were. It had already been quite some time, and it was estimated that there were some looters who couldn't hold back anymore. At this time, still swaggering around... Were they stupid or intentionally luring the looters?

And then, what should she do? Should she try to attack once or continue sneaking?

Lost in thought, Shuma took a step back and accidentally kicked a small stone, causing it to roll and jump about half a meter away. Although it didn't make much noise, Shuma sensed that something was wrong.

Drawing her sword and leaping out of her hiding place, Shuma was met with a series of sword winds that shattered the concealed cavity after she dodged them.

The sword emitted black flames that blended seamlessly with the surroundings, completely obscuring the blade in Shuma's hand. She swiftly swung the sword, shooting out two cross-shaped energy blades, and then charged towards her opponent. Rather than passively escaping when discovered, it was better to take the initiative and fight decisively!

Facing the Chi blade unleashed by the knight, the tall figure in front of her showed no intention of retreating. He raised his heavy sword like a door panel to block the attack, shattering the two energy blades in a head-on collision.

It was not surprising that the Chi blades were shattered since they were just casually released. What was surprising was that, seizing this opportunity, Shuma had already rushed to his side, continuously stabbing with her sword. In an instant, she unleashed over ten thrusts. If it were an ordinary opponent, they would have been pierced through long ago, but this guy...he blocked every single one!

Even though he relied to some extent on the broad sword in his hand, this guy's strength couldn't be underestimated.

"Attack!"

Suddenly, he let out a loud roar, and the powerful sound waves and airflow sent Shuma flying back several meters. At the same time, she felt as if something heavy was pressing on her chest, making it difficult to breathe.

A berserker's roar?

After forcing Shuma back with one strike, he didn't continue to attack. Instead, he inserted his heavy sword into the ground and casually moved his wrist, smiling easily, "Miss Knight, we are now teammates. It’s not good to harm each other, right? It wouldn't be good if we attract unwanted attention."

Recognizing him as Beinrich, Shuma's expression immediately turned sour. It was just her luck to encounter this wanted criminal!

..................

While the female knight was annoyed by the fact that she had encountered a teammate who she absolutely didn't want to see, on the other side, the princess had already started stirring up trouble.

"Hehehe, this is the fifty-eighth one."

After emptying the contents of the storage ring in her hand, Tiran tossed the ring back onto the unfortunate guy lying in a pile of rubble. With a flash of white light, the ring's teleportation function activated and sent him out of the ruins.

"Huff, looks like there’s quite a commotion over there."

A massive energy column suddenly struck the boundary in the sky, causing the invisible barrier, which emitted a faint glow, to explode.

It seems that the fight has started, so she doesn't need to hold back anymore.

The normal approach for participants would be to collect treasures first and then start fighting when most people have accumulated a certain level of wealth. Even for plunderers, it's the same logic. Starting off by robbing wouldn't yield significant gains, especially if the easy targets were taken care of first. It becomes harder to rob as the competition progresses.

However, our esteemed Silver War Maiden doesn't have any normal thinking. Why should she search for treasures on the ground obediently? It's easier to challenge a dragon. (Aya: Ah-choo!)

The reason she hasn't attracted attacks is because the fights end too quickly. A legendary-level powerhouse approaching the Holy Rank launching a surprise attack, coupled with the fact that no one expected her to not follow the norm... nine out of ten people in the ruins would be defeated in an instant.

Due to her quantity compensating for quality, Tiran has already accumulated an astonishing amount of treasures in her hands. However, that is not her true objective.

The main goal is only one- Hermes.

Although I don't know why Chirp is captured by Hermes and put into this competition as a reward, according to Chip, that guy wouldn't be able to do his "mechanical transfiguration" without Chirp, who can serve as an alchemical core. So it's highly likely that he is also in the competition.

If we kill everyone, we will eventually find him, right?

Tiran smiled sinisterly.

Soon after, a legend spread in the underground labyrinth area: It was said that among those roaming labyrinth monsters, there was a powerful labyrinth overlord, unmatched in strength. As long as one encounters it and fails to escape...

However, the princess seemed completely unaware of this. Well, the great demon king is also diligently working today.

............

At this moment, at the bottom of the beam of light, the scene was briefly awkward.

In the darkness, the female adventurer sat against the wall, her torn shorts clumsily patched up. Although it wasn't very attractive, at least her lacy underwear couldn't be seen anymore...

"You... If you were a girl, you should have said it earlier. You made me chase you for so long."

The female adventurer pouted and forcefully rubbed Aya's head, messing up her soft white hair into a bird nest.

Aya felt wronged too. Sister, you should give me a chance to speak. Just a moment ago, I stopped for a second and you killed me!

Ding-

Suddenly, a notification sound resounded throughout the space, the same sound that announced the start of the competition:

"The current number of remaining participants is six hundred and fourteen. The boundaries will start to shrink. Good luck to everyone."

As the voice fell, the layer of visibly translucent white light wall in the sky began to slowly descend.