Haera and the others felt terrible when they heard that. Almost all of Fabio's siblings lost their competitors. The only ones remaining were Kalanda, Haera's Granddaughter, and Plinio, Julio's son. In any other circumstance, they would be happy for that as their Kamos Kingdom rarely got anyone this far into the Sacred Land Recruitment, let alone two. It's just unfortunate that Fabio's proteges simply destroyed it.
In the end, Kalanda and Plinio had to look for teams from other similar countries to join this last test. The problem was that neither of their teams seemed to have anything special, not that they had anything going either. Haera and Julio couldn't predict at all if they would get into the top 60 at the very least. Rean's group, on the other hand, obviously showed huge promise.
"Hmph! Don't count victory before the end. Unlike our groups, yours have the Klacks and Holang Country in them. Who knows what could happen there?" That was all Julio could come up with.
Fabio shrugged his shoulders as he said in response, "It's fine. They can even give up straight away and simply focus on the six other teams. They would still have a huge amount of points if they won against those. Besides, who says they'll lose to Klacks and Holang?"
Rean's group finally came out of the spatial gate once the 15 minutes were up. Sure enough, the free-fall never ended before they were dragged out of that place.
The members of Vilad Country were also brought outside and taken to a corner by the Sacred Land people. There, they deactivated the protective devices, allowing those members to move again. Any injuries they had were then healed before they were given the order to recover. They had a lot of time until the next match started.
Each group of ten teams only fought once before the queue moved to the next group. They would only fight again once all the ten teams' groups fought once. That was also the case for Rean's group.
Rean checked the scoring board and could see they were quite far behind first place. "Well, I guess it makes sense. We did win, but we took a long time to return to our own flag in that environment. The other matches for the winners definitely ended faster."
"We just need to keep winning. That's all," Roan said in response.
With that, the capture the flag matches continued. Winners and losers appeared one after another. Black horses did come out once in a while, but most of the top countries still got their wins.
The queue rotated, and Liana from Tenke Country fought again. Without any surprises, her team won again, and very fast at that. Only three teams had 6 points right now, and her Tenke group was at the top due to the speed they were finishing their matches.
Even Venali's group making up the Huring Country team couldn't surpass the Tenke Country. They obviously won their match but couldn't finish it as fast as Liana's group did. The worst thing was that they weren't in the same group of ten teams as Liana, so they couldn't try to stop her.
Eventually, Rean's group match arrived once more. "Number 91 and Number 99. Number 92 and Number..."
99 corresponded to Wasxia Country, which had won its first battle against Tacon Country in the first round. They did seem a little tired, though. From the looks of it, their victory didn't come that easily.
The new environment they fell into was a jungle type. Other than the flag's location in their mind map, it wasn't possible to see the other team at the start.
*Roar!*
Not only that, but the jungle also had many Stage Six and even some Stage Seven Demon Beasts. The two groups would have a lot more to worry about other than their opponents.
Seeing that, Roan then took out his white scythe and simply waved his hand. "Go away already. I'll protect the flag."
Rean nodded after hearing that. "Sure. Everyone, just follow me closely."
Immediately, Rean's group left, leaving Roan alone with the flag. Following that, Death World once again took form, covering everything over a hundred meters in radius around the flag.
Surprisingly, Rean didn't wait either. He immediately activated his Light and Divine Sense bending skill, completely disappearing from anyone's eyes together with Regio, Milina, and Samanta. They only had to be careful with the marks they left behind while moving through the forest. He also warned everyone, 'Don't use your Divine Senses. Otherwise, our opponents will know that we're getting close.' One must remember that Divine Sense can be felt if the levels aren't too far apart.
It didn't take long for Rean's group to find those demon beasts. However, they also didn't seem to have any special trait that allowed them to see his group. He also learned very well under Roan's tutelage to not move against the wind blowing in the beasts' direction. The demon beasts obviously didn't have sentience, so Rean ignored them completely.
While making their way to the opponents' flag, Rean noticed some movement ahead. 'Stop!'
Samanta, Regio, and Milina immediately stood still before two guys passed a few hundred meters away from them. They seemed very cautious in their movement, also making sure to not catch the demon beasts' attention. Rean and his group only had to wait until they were gone, though. In the end, they were simply too hard to spot. 'Let's go!'
Rean didn't mind having to fight those two there. However, there were too many demon beasts, so he didn't want to risk it either. Roan was more than enough to protect the flag, so it didn't matter if they let those guys pass through.
Eventually, Rean's group was able to see the opponent's flag in the distance. However... 'Smart! They destroyed the entire forest surrounding their flag and kept three people defending it. Even with my Light bending skill, it'll still be possible to see our steps getting close.'
Samanta didn't seem to care as she said, 'We have the numbers advantage, so who cares? Let's take them down. With Milina and you taking the lead, I don't see us losing this fight.'
Rean shrugged his shoulders before nodding in agreement.. 'Well, that's true.'