There was a time when Yu IlHan expected the people of Earth to fight each other to the death until only one thousand people remained in their raging passion to protect Earth.

“It’s the Susanoo party.”

“I shouldn’t fight them and drain their strength.”

“Their members are frightening right? They were all MVPs in the defense battle against the Abandoned World.”

“Let’s get out of their way.”

However, immediately Ilhan’s party had entered the huge arena, some of the exactly one thousand people exited on their own accord.

“Huh?”

As this happened so suddenly, Yu IlHan had to judge what just happened with his eyes open.

“Did someone forfeit?”

[Indeed.] (Erta)

Yes. The people who thought ‘Oh, I should step down here!’ had left the venue, and it was the exact same number of people as the party Yu IlHan brought!

Like that, one thousand people was maintained on the stage, and at this point, Yu IlHan could also grasp how the participants were picked.

There were two methods to select the participants, the one on one battles and the group battles.

Those who wanted to participate in a one vs one battle would pick one of the individual participants within the one thousand, and challenge them. If the challenger won, then the loser would step down and the winner takes the place. It was also completely fine for people to step down voluntarily. The main point was that a maximum of 1000 people needed to be maintained on the stage.

However, group battles were much more complex in comparison. For Kang MiRae who came back at 120% power in just 10 days, to participate with her clan members, she had to pick out the single participants from 1000 people and match the numbers with her own number of clan members, and win two rounds of challenges.

Unlike the single battles that one had to bring out their full power on, there were a lot of other elements in group battles, so fighting twice was inevitable to prove their competence. Their participation would be set in stone if they won two battles. It was just a difference of fighting several times in succession and with random opponents.

Also, once they won the battle like that, the losers had to all exit the arena so there would be a blank in the participants. When some weak people joined that blank, then the people with ability would once again challenge them and take their place.

As it was impossible to come up to the stage once they went down, the arena was not as full as he had expected.

“Mr. Yu IlHan sure is amazing.”

Seeing Yu IlHan skipping all the annoying process and making the people accept his party’s participation, Kang HaJin exclaimed.

The always-cool fullplate armor, and the sudden appearance of the bladed wings made him look quite strange, but he still had an overwhelming level of charisma.

Even the seven subordinates behind him would not lose out to anyone here…

“But in fact, wouldn’t it have ended easily if he just brought the strongest thousand of the wolves?”

Although it was no boast, the day humanity went against Kiroa, humanity would have lost without Yu IlHan. It was possible for them to battle only because Yu IlHan had entered the gate and took care of the strong ones on the other side. And the surviving wolves all became his underlings….

Kang MiRae answered his question.

“Of course it would have ended easily.”

“Then why?”

“Shouldn’t he be thinking that the current forces are enough?”

Kang HaJin’s jaws were left agape after hearing her answer.

Now, all of humanity knew about the circumstances surrounding the Battle of Competition; they knew about the number of participating worlds, and how the winner would be decided. Even if he could somehow lead them against worlds that had undergone their 2nd Great Cataclysm, how could he be confident in winning against the teams in the senior category?”

While Kang HaJin was thinking such reasonable things, his sister and her friend that became slightly strange after spending time in an Abandoned World, had gone a step further with their opinions.

“In fact, it should be much more efficient for Mr. Yu IlHan and Mir to go by themselves while we protect Earth.”

“We cannot inconvenience him forever. We need to show him that we can do things even without him.”

“Although you girls were full of confidence even before you went there, I think you can poke someone to death with that rocketing confidence now.”

Kang MiRae only replied with a smile, and looked at the Lightning God members that numbered 10 including herself.

Although the gap had increased as she had went to the Abandoned World, they were still elites that were handpicked by her. If they were polished through this Battle of Competition, they would be able to do well even after the 2nd Great Cataclysm.

“Please prepare. This is the start.”

Kang MiRae generated and grabbed golden lightning on one hand as she entered the stage. She was easily utilizing the options of the Legend ranked bracelet that had been with her for nearly 3 years.

“We will challenge a group fight. There are ten of us. Oh, we don’t want to fight the strong ones so please get out of our way on your own accord.”

It really played out the way that she had requested. The stronger teams realized how strong she was, and hid themselves. Meanwhile, the passionate ones that could not differentiate between left and right were fished by her taunt and were kicked out without even being able to use the Boom Bubble.

“Master’s magic is too strong.”

“No, miss YuNa’s blessing was too strong…….”

Even the members that fought together were dumbfounded. Feeling their panic, Kang MiRae spoke with a faint smile.

“You would have to follow us ardently in the future.”

“Yes!”

“Understood!”

After that, many people joined the stage in New York. Many people excluding Yu IlHan’s group and the Lightning God dropped out, and some unknown experts had emerged as well.

If there was anything for sure, it was that all of the members here had strength that did not lose to any other representatives of other worlds prior to the 2nd Great Cataclysm.

[I declare the end of the participants selection. In exactly 2 hours, the transfer to Lu Füera will begin, so please wait in the stage.] (Spiera)

“So it ended.”

After the scheduled time was over, Yu IlHan immediately sat on the stage, and looked around him.

Although they couldn’t show overwhelming force like Yu IlHan’s group or the Lightning God, many of the clans belonging to the Front Line Alliance were remaining on stage.

Of course, the majority of the clans that brought all their members in greed couldn’t avoid defeat, but in cases like the Demon Dragon clan which were mainly comprised of close-combat personnel, they easily gained victory by bringing only their elites with advanced weapons.

On the other hand, the Magia clan and the Metal Knights clan seemed to ride it out alone from quite a while back, and this time, they had picked out their elites and joined together to show a perfectly balanced party. Whether it was Carina Malatesta or Michael Smithson, they had grown completely differently from the Kantou battle.

“Hey, don’t you think Smithson and Malatesta have something going on between them?”

So, he was curious. What was it that occurred between the two clan masters!

[You sound like you talked a lot behind other people’s back in your highschool.] (Erta)

“I think you’re mistaken. Because, the only time I opened my mouth was during register/roll-call, music period and lunch.”

[I’m sorry! I’ll talk a lot with you from now on!] (Erta)

“Nah, it’s alright. It’s my fault for not having any friends. Yes, I have no qualifications to talk behind other people’s back.”

[Aawawaa, what do I do. I stepped on a huge landmine!] (Erta)

“If that much is a landmine, my heart is a DMZ. Don’t worry about it so much.”

[It makes me even more worried instead!] (Erta)

Erta blamed herself for her carelessness! Meanwhile, Liera, who becoming interested in other people’s love affairs after being blessed by the God of Love, judged quickly after looking at the man and woman standing next to each other.

[Ahaa… the woman seems to have taken an interest to the man, but her feelings are not being reciprocated. I can see he’s thinking about another woman.] (Liera)

[From what I see, the woman is much better in both looks and ability, but how? Normally, the man would be the one clinging to the woman.] (Spiera)

Asked Spiera who returned after acting as one of the judges in the selection, when Liera replied back.

[True love does not have any relationship with such material things, idiot.] (Liera)

[Really? Liera really does know a lot about love. I knew you were difference since you were blessed by t#$%^.] (Spiera)

The 2nd super-mini war of angels was triggered. Yu IlHan, who had succeeded in putting away his high school trauma, proceeded to take out a clean wok from his inventory.

“I’m hungry so let’s eat.”

[To think you’d think of eating in this situation… amazing……] (Erta)

Yu IlHan took out a small scale furnace, and started a fire with Blaze and placed the wok on top of the set up.

When he started stir-frying dragon meat with dragon-fat rendered oil, everyone’s gazes fixed on him whether it was from inside or outside the stage.

[I’m really frustrated that it smells good!] (Erta)

“Looks tasty.”

He took out the rice from the vacuum packed plastic bag in his inventory, and added various vegetables and sauce.

He added a little salt, and once he added the special dragon sauce, made by mixing Breath purified of poison by Na YuNa, and oyster sauce. It was the perfect dragon stir-fried rice.

[To think I’d see someone cooking on top of the selection stage in my life……] (Spiera)

[I’m hungry now that I fought too. IlHan, gimme some too.] (Liera)

Even Spiera was shocked as she was fighting with LIera. Meanwhile, the other participants who were staving their hunger off with preserved foods, were only making gulping sounds.

“Food cooked by Susanoo…..”

“Don’t even dream about it. We might end up getting cooked ourselves.”

“Dammit, order some pizza! They should know the location if we say it’s the selection stage!”

Yu IlHan put away the helmet as he had no need for hiding and gathered the group and ate the freshly cooked stir-fried rice. Kang HaJin, Na YuNa, and Kang MiRae also came after mercilessly throwing away their clan members.

“Delish!”

“Whoa? It really is tasty! Just what can’t you do!?”

“Conversation, so please eat quietly.”

“……”

Kang HaJin obediently ate the food after hearing Yu IlHan’s honest words. Of course, Yumir was an exception.

“Dad, I want more! I think I might level up after one more.”

“Yes, yes. Mir should grow up a lot by eating a lot of food.”

“……He levels up by eating?”

Eating with many people like this was a joy he couldn’t experience in his dropout period! Thinking about how participating in the annoying Battle of Competition was all to preserve this joy, he automatically brimmed with power.

After that, Yu IlHan had to cook two more batches in order to fill everyone’s stomachs.

A painful-for-some and joyful-for-some period of wait had finally ended, and it was finally time to head to a higher world. Some, resolved themselves while heading there, and some wished to become as famous as Susanoo through this.

Even when they had different thoughts, their objective as they entered the gate in the center of the stage was all the same: to bring back advanced Traps of Destruction to Earth by getting good results in the Competition!

[Oh, Lu Füera. I haven’t been here for a while.] (Liera)

[It’s the first time for me. I never took care of this side.] (Erta)

“Wao…..!”

The place they had arrived at after entering the gate, was a huge place that even Yu IlHan, who had been to three other worlds, Dareu, Kiroa and Ferata, was dumbfounded.

“So hot…..!”

“No, it’s burning! Dammit, isn’t there any water-class mages here?”

As everything, including grass, trees, flowers, insects, and even the sun was more than 10 times larger than those of Earth, as a result, the environment was very very hot.

Of course, Yu IlHan, who received the Hero of Fire title, wasn’t that affected by such heat….. but how could any life-forms grow here?

[They should be lifeforms that live in this world as they are in front of you, right?] (Liera)

“Can I take a little?”

[And you think you can?] (Liera)

Yu IlHan’s eyes shined. It was a ‘I-know-it-even-without-you-telling-me’ attack.

Liera was defeated in 3 seconds.

[…..Of course, you can. It’s IlHan’s request. I’ll take responsibility so take only a little, okay?] (Liera)

[Never!] (Erta)

[Seems like I should step up now.] (Spiera)

Liera and Erta looked quite relaxed, but Spiera, who was acting as a judge on Earth, was different.

After checking that the thousand participants had safely crossed over to Lu Füera, she ordered the angels who were awaiting them in this place and spoke to Yu IlHan.

[I will become one of the judges from now until the tournament ends. Yu IlHan, Earth’s first battle will start soon so don’t relax. ……Although, I don’t even need to say that.] (Spiera)

“Yup, don’t worry.”

Spiera did not say anything about how he secretly tried to pull out some of the grass here, and nodded. She flew away with a smile, and the participants were lead by the angels to one of the arenas for the battle in this wide world.

[The protective membrane will be generated the moment you cross this line. You will be summoned back to Earth the moment the membrane breaks, and even attacks from allies will damage it so please be careful. Also, you need to maintain that membrane until the end of the tournament once it’s generated. Please do not break the protective membranes outside of battle.]

“Does the shield’s energy recover?”

[It recovers over time. If you have received near critical damage, it’s the basics to step back and regroup yourself.]

The angels stepped back after the basic introduction, leaving behind words to enter within 10 minutes as the battle would start then.

“Once we cross this line……”

“Traps of Destruction. The world I went to experienced a wave of 3rd class monsters due to the lack of advanced Traps of Destruction……! I shall definitely protect Earth!”

When the people stood on the borderline that faintly flowed without any devices, they all sighed in nervousness. It was natural for their steps to be heavy as they were shouldering the fate of Earth. They could only be careful even in their light movements.

However, loners always shouted ‘yes’ when others said ‘no’!

Yu IlHan didn’t even imagine that everyone else was being nervous and he crossed over. Yumir and the other subordinates followed his line.

“Wao!”

Na YuNa spat out her unique exclamation due to the lack of his hesitation. Then, she looked at Kang MIRae.

“Let’s goo too, MiRae!”

“……Sure.”

Kang MiRae nodded and crossed the line. When she did, a higher class magic covered his body.

With the resolve that she would acquire this kind of magic as hers one day, she raised her head.

The battle started.

Earth won within 7 minutes.

The 3 battles after that ended in the same fashion.

Earth was now in the finals.

(PR: wow that was fast)

Author’s notes

There’s no drama from the participants selection until the finals. Even Yumir will be able to take care of everyone alone if the opponent are from the junior tournament….!

(Untranslatable ref)

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Boom bubble: Patamon’s finisher attack

Translator’s notes

Xianxia/Xuanhuan be like “You trash! I shall trash you” multiplied by infinity in tournament arcs.

EER be like “4 of the matches ended in 7 minutes”

And yes, the tournament arc is very short.