Chapter 580: The True Purpose of the First Level
With the magic weapon in hand, I have the fish pond!
"We...are not fighting alone!"
Holding the [Never Air Force Fishing Rod], the harpy was filled with lofty sentiments, as if he could breathe in the heaven and earth, mine the sun and the moon, and turn the world upside down. For the first time, he felt that he was so handsome!
Three old men dared to compete with us young and strong cats in fishing? It's ridiculous!
This [Never Air Force Fishing Rod], also known as the telescopic fishing rod, can be long or short and has excellent flexibility. Habib bought it from Kira a long time ago.
Since getting it, Habby has been successful every time he goes fishing. He has caught countless fish hanging on the hook. His achievements are so great that it has become his magic weapon for conquering the fishing grounds!
In Harpy's opinion, the three old men were already old and dim-sighted, so how could they recognize the sharp weapon in his hand? Little did they know that Auguste and Precito had already seen that the fishing rod in Harpy's hand had special magic, but they were not sure about the specific effect.
With someone's cold sweat dripping down, a thrilling competition officially began! !
"The fishing competition begins!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
With a few soft sounds, the fishing line formed a perfect parabola in the air.
The fishhook with the bait on it flew out of the air, and the curved iron hook sank into the river with a thud, stirring up circles of subtle ripples, which then gradually returned to calm, hiding all the murderous intent beneath the water.
The next moment, the fisherman and the fishing cat closed their eyes and took a deep breath at the same time, concentrating their mental strength on the fishing rod in their hands. All their senses carefully felt its subtle changes, and their bodies seemed to merge with nature. They were completely selfless, as quiet as a virgin, waiting for the right time to move.
Da...da...da...
The air seemed to be frozen at this moment. Only Mavis was squatting among the three people and three cats, looking at her own petite shadow reflected on the river. Her bright big eyes blinked, proving that time was still passing.
…
On the other side, the twelve teams climbed over the hills, crossed the five-kilometer border, and arrived at their respective hunting grounds.
"Once you're here, you can move freely!"
Kira looked around and said to Natsu, whose eyes were about to spit fire, "What are you going to do next?"
“Go forward!!”
"So what kind of monster are you going to hunt?"
"The biggest one!!"
Kira: “…”
I knew it! You can't have much hope for someone like Natsu who barely uses his brain.
Sighing helplessly, the two continued to move forward, and Kira began his own teaching at the same time: "Natsu, do you know the purpose of this level?"
"What's your intention?"
Fortunately, although Natsu can't use his brain, he can listen to things.
"Recall the rules. Candidates can only attack once, and this time must be used on the monsters they bring back. We are not familiar with this place, whether it is the types of monsters or the terrain. Moreover, there is a three-hour time limit. This means that in addition to luck and strength, this level mainly tests your reconnaissance, analysis, judgment, and calculation abilities."
"The most difficult part of the whole process is that we need to scout all the monsters we can encounter within the range as quickly as possible and analyze which one of them can be used as food."
"We also need to consider the time it takes to fight the monster and the time it takes to go back and forth! There are two things to note here. You can't be as heavy-handed as usual during the battle, because we need to bring the monster back alive. When we return, we will be carrying the monster with us, so our movement speed will decrease... If we miscalculate the time of the entire process, we might be in trouble this time!"
"Yeah...I know!"
Although he didn't quite understand what Kira said, Natsu kept assuring him. He knew that Kira would not cheat him on this matter, so he frankly left all the things that required thinking to Kira, just like he usually listened to Erza and Lucy.
You have no idea!!
As soon as Kira saw Natsu's expression, he knew what he was thinking.
But there was no way, although this was Natsu's test, as a supporter, it was his responsibility to help with hunting and analyzing the content of the questions - mainly because Mavis and Makarov said that the person who finally got the S-level spot, his supporter would also receive a mysterious gift.
With guests from the Western Continent here, no matter how poor Makarov is, he can't just use a bunch of coupons to fool people, right?
With this idea in mind, Kira decided to do his best to assist Natsu in becoming an S-class wizard!
"Also, you have to be careful of the people on the other teams!"
"What?! From other teams?"
Kira nodded and began to imagine the darkest place: "That's right! If they are guarding the way we go back and set the mission target on the monster you have already obtained, it will be two against one! Two of them against me, and you can't attack because you have already used up the number of attacks against the monster!"
“Eh hey hey??!! Is this even possible??!”
Natsu was completely shocked, staring at Kira with his inverted triangle eyes: Shouldn't everyone kill a monster and then compare which one has more meat? How can we fight for it?
For the first time, he felt that Kira's heart was so dark that he even doubted and schemed against his own companions .
"The ones you need to be most careful of are the Lucy and Brandish duo, and the Wendy and Dimaria duo that are closest to us. Their magic is very strong, so they should be able to find the target monster quickly..."
Just as Kira was tirelessly teaching Natsu and taking him deep into the sea of trees ahead, people in another direction began similar teaching.
"You said someone might intercept us on our way back? Is that true?"
Facing the big-breasted and brainless Alba Green, Erza's expression was serious and earnest: "It's possible! The president said that those who don't bring back the monster will be considered a failure! The supporters participating in this competition are all very strong. In a two-on-one situation, it is not impossible to snatch it successfully!"
"But then, only one of the robber and the robbed can advance. What if the battle lasts too long and ends in a timeout? Wouldn't it be a loss? In comparison, it would be safer to capture a monster yourself, right?"
"That's assuming that every team can find a monster. What if they don't encounter any monsters in the direction they're heading? Do they have to just steal from others?"
"Uh...if you say that..."
"Also, as long as the two sides have a huge disparity in combat power, the battle won't take up much time. For example... if Kira comes to snatch the monster from us, the two of us won't be able to hold out for long."
Thinking of Kira's character, Alba Green broke out in a cold sweat: "No... No... There are several teams between us. It's so far away, he shouldn't have come all the way here, right?"
Calculation question: Killer and Natsu are at the twelve o'clock direction, Erza and Alba Green are at the five o'clock direction, and the two teams are 5 kilometers away from their base. How far are they apart?
Solution: According to the cosine theorem of a triangle: c^2=a^2＋b^2－2ab cosθ, where a=5, b=5, θ=150°, we get c≈9.66 km
Erza and Alba Green, who had never received formal math education, naturally could not solve this problem, but they could probably imagine that the distance was not short.
The competition time was only three hours. During this time, they was delayed at the stronghold for fifteen minutes and ran five kilometers in their own direction. After deducting the time for returning and fighting, the remaining time should not be enough for them to run so far.
Thinking of this, the two finally felt relieved.
Erza looked at Alba Green who was still in shock and reminded him, "There is another hidden rule in the first level, which is that there is no limit on the attacks of the 'supporters'! In other words, we can attack the candidates at will!"
"!!"
Hearing this, Alba Green was completely panicked: "Wait... wait... let me think about who is in the teams around us... Team number four is Gray and Urrutia; Team number six is Ferid and Gerald..."
"It's not just the teams nearby who are in danger. If they are determined to take action, they may come across several kilometers to rob us, so we must not take it lightly!"
"We must identify the target in the shortest possible time, resolve the battle as quickly as possible and rush back to the base!"
