Fortunately, all of them — Leilin and the others — were Rank 2 Wizards, holding positions of considerable influence. Even if the spectators were displeased, none dared show it on their faces, instead directing their full attention to the matches unfolding in the arena.
Just then, Leilin's eyes lit up.
Following his gaze, on a platform in the southeastern corner, someone of interest had finally appeared.
"Arena 34, Fifth Qualifier! Competitors 273 and 35, please enter!"
A peak Rank 1
Almost as soon as the words left his lips, a flash of fire erupted, and a breathtakingly gorgeous woman stood at the center of the arena.
The female Wizard possessed a sizzlingly curvaceous figure, made even more striking by the tight-fitting corset she wore — the two full mounds on her chest nearly bursting through the fabric. Yet her face looked almost girlish, as though she had not yet come of age.
That combination of an angel's face and a devil's figure clearly stoked the interest of the spectators in the stands.
"Oh! I remember now! She's the Fire Scorpion from the Western Region — I can't believe she's here too!" a Wizard blurted out, though his voice was filtered through layers of wards before reaching Leilin's ears.
"Fire Scorpion?" Leilin raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised by the nickname.
"Ha ha! Has Wizard Leilin been to the Western Region as well?" On the same VIP platform, a Rank 2 Wizard who had overheard Leilin's remark asked with a smile.
His head was wrapped in a white cloth, and his irises were blue — a typical style of the Dark Polar Western Region.
This Wizard was the faction leader of a major school from the Western Region.
Although the Central Region was the cream of the entire Dark Polar Domain and home to the greatest number of high-ranking Wizards, it could not monopolize all the tribunal seats. A portion had to be distributed among the Wizards of the other four regions.
"The Fire Scorpion is actually quite famous where we come from. Rumor has it she's extremely ruthless — she even killed several of her own husbands, which is how she got the nickname Fire Scorpion!"
Without waiting for Leilin to answer, the Rank 2 Wizard went on explaining of his own accord: "Truth be told, if she weren't so skilled in fire-element Wizardry, we'd much rather call her the Black Widow!"
"No — I've only heard the name in passing." Leilin shook his head.
What had caught his attention wasn't the Fire Scorpion, but the Wizard facing her as her opponent.
As the referee on the arena wore an increasingly impatient expression, another Wizard who had arrived fashionably late parted the crowds on both sides and stepped onto the platform.
He was a young man, dressed in green Wizard robes, with a sly, bewitching smile in his eyes.
"Hmm? That young man?"
Before Leilin could say anything, the Second-Rank Wizard beside him spoke up, sounding somewhat surprised.
"What is it, sir? Do you know him as well?" Leilin asked with a smile.
"Yes! That Wizard in green robes is also a famous powerhouse from our Western Region — Green Robe Gero. I can't believe they've run into each other in the very first round!"
The Second-Rank Wizard, who also hailed from the Western Region, let out a soft sigh, seemingly lamenting that these two genius Wizards had been forced to face each other so early.
"Green Robe Gero?" Leilin chuckled inwardly.
Second-Rank Wizards were extremely sensitive to auras. As long as they had once met someone and retained even a faint impression of their presence, it was nearly impossible to conceal it upon a second encounter.
It was precisely for this reason that the Wizard felt confident in his judgment.
But Leilin, through the insider Osney, had already glimpsed the truth behind this facade.
Yes — this Green Robe Gero was actually Lombarton in disguise.
Using the remnant soul bound to the notebook in Osney's possession, Leilin had clearly witnessed the entire process — how they had ambushed and killed the real Green Robe Gero, skinned him alive, and stored the skin. Then, through specialized dark arts, they had transferred it onto Lombarton's own body.
What made it even more brilliant was that Osney himself had no idea he had inadvertently leaked all of this intelligence. He remained utterly devoted to serving the Dark Elves, which meant he would show absolutely no response to any mind-probing magical techniques — allowing this sleeper agent to remain undetected indefinitely.
"Skin Mask Template fully analyzed! Recording into the Chip's First-Rank Wizard Model database!"
At that moment, the Chip's notification chimed to life.
The Skin Mask spell was the very technique Lombarton had used to pull off this deception. Though its rank was not particularly high, it was exceedingly bizarre — capable of fooling even a Second-Rank Wizard.
Moreover, this spell did not originate from the Dark Poles Domain at all, but rather from a secret tradition of the Dark Elves, so no Wizard would ever think to suspect that direction.
Unfortunately for them, Leilin had already learned of all this in advance, rendering their meticulous preparations completely futile.
To make matters worse, Leilin had secretly captured a substantial portion of the spell's template and used the Chip to refine and perfect it.
If Lombarton ever found out about this, he would probably cough up a mouthful of blood on the spot.
Leilin harbored a dark sense of amusement deep in his heart. But he forced himself to restrain it.
Sometimes, the fruits of victory tasted all the sweeter the longer you waited to take a bite.
"So which side do you think has the greater chance of winning?" The thoughts flickered through his mind in an instant, but on the surface Leilin continued chatting casually with the second-tier Wizard.
"Hmm?" The second-tier Wizard pondered for a moment before offering his assessment: "Although Gall's corrosive spells are quite famous and he has a mid-grade Magical Item in his possession, Fire Scorpion is ten years older than his opponent and has a decade more of accumulated experience. Moreover, fire-element energy particles have a very pronounced suppressive effect on corrosive energy particles…"
"But I have a different view. Perhaps that little fellow called Gall really can pull off a miracle!"
Leilin said with a faint smile.
"Oh? Could you tell me your reasoning?" A look of interest appeared in the old Wizard's eyes.
"That, I'm afraid, you'll have to excuse me from sharing…" Leilin replied with a gentle smile, politely declining.
"You are a piece of work…" The old Wizard chuckled as well, though he paid rather more attention to Arena 34 from that point on.
Meanwhile, Lombarton — disguised as the green-robed Gall — was starting to get goosebumps.
"Damn it, a second-tier Wizard's gaze swept across here just now — and too frequently at that! What exactly caught their attention?"
He racked his brain at top speed: "I had already gathered a wealth of information on Gall's habits, secretly learned his signature spells, and the Skin Disguise technique was flawless — so what exactly went wrong?"
"No… it's also possible that nothing went wrong, and it's simply that my fight with Fire Scorpion drew their interest! After all, this is still the early rounds — the odds of two formal Wizards ending up against each other are extremely slim…"
Lombarton agonized over the problem. If he knew that all of this was happening simply because of Leilin's petty amusement, he would probably faint dead away on the spot.
And his distracted, careless attitude clearly infuriated Fire Scorpion across from him.
"Gall! You dare look down on me?! I'll make you pay!"
Fire Scorpion's face flushed red with rage, her chest heaving up and down in great trembling arcs that drew excited whistles from the surrounding Wizards.
"Fire Scorpion!" Fire Scorpion barked a low command, rapidly chanting broken syllables.
Threads of bright red energy particles converged and coalesced into a swarm of tiny scorpions that crawled out from the ground, closing in on Lombarton from every direction.
"Corrosive Rain!" Lombarton muttered in a low voice.
Drops of green rain fell from midair, and whenever a raindrop touched the ground, it emitted a faint sizzling sound of corrosion while sending up billowing plumes of white vapor.
After the vapor dissipated, a deep hole would be left behind on the surface.
The fire scorpions fared even worse — the dense rain seemed to target them preferentially, and before long they had all been dissolved into puddles of pus.
"There it is! Green Robe Gere's Corrosive Rain! An all-directional attack with an offensive power of forty degrees, completely without blind spots!"
A turbaned Western Region Wizard shouted excitedly from outside the arena.
However, whether it was the corrosive raindrops or the crimson scorpions, the moment they reached the edge of the arena platform, they were immediately shattered by a layer of semi-transparent defensive ripples, reduced to pure energy particles and entirely absorbed by the magic circle beneath.
This was the defensive and absorption magic array that the arena had specifically installed beneath each platform, capable of confining all damage within the bounds of the arena.
"Rebirth Through Fire!" At that moment, Fire Scorpion's face broke into a smile of triumph.
As her incantation echoed, a blue fireball suddenly materialized before her and exploded outward.
Tiny motes of blue flame scattered like starlight, falling into the puddles of pus on the ground.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Clumps of blue flame bloomed across the arena floor like flower buds, and the crimson scorpions, tongues of fire flickering from their mouths, burrowed back out once more.
"Corrosive Rain!" Lombarton bellowed again, and the corrosive droplets fell anew.
"Useless!" Fire Scorpion shot sparks from her hand, reviving the crimson scorpions that had just been destroyed.
"My Spiritual Power was already higher than yours to begin with, and this Rebirth Through Fire spell absorbs fifty percent of the dissipating energy from my previous spells. In a battle of attrition like this, you don't stand a chance against me!"
Fire Scorpion launched her attacks while never forgetting to needle her opponent with words.
"Damn it!" As the crimson scorpions multiplied, Lombarton's room to maneuver was compressed into a corner of the arena — and he was on the verge of being knocked off.
"If it weren't for those Second-Rank Wizards watching, I wouldn't dare use my true power! With just one hand, I could drain you into a mummified husk!!!"
Lombarton gritted his teeth in fury. "I have no choice — I'll have to use that!"
He plunged his hand into the ground, and threads of black energy seeped from his arm, quickly sinking into the earth's surface.
"Black Spring Eruption!" A ring of black corrosive pus first appeared beneath Lombarton's feet, spreading outward in all directions like ripples across water.
The crimson scorpions were directly engulfed by the black pus one after another.
Although the Fire Scorpions desperately activated their Rebirth Through Flames ability, the revived Fire Scorpions were swallowed by the black spring all over again.
Upon witnessing this scene, the Fire Scorpion Queen's face turned deathly pale.
Finally, at the very instant the black pus was about to engulf her body, she thrust her right hand high into the air: "I surrender!"
"Hmph!" Seeing this, no matter how unwilling Lombarton was, he had no choice but to abandon his intent to press the attack.