I don't know if it's an illusion, but in the bright afternoon sun, the Elf Archer standing in the fountain seemed to be enveloped in a seven-colored glow, visible to the many spectators. The glow converged to form an arrow shape, shimmering with a mesmerizing display of flowing and colorful light, like a crystal that was shining and translucent.

As the archer released the bowstring, the light arrow flew out and rapidly expanded, rupturing in less than a second, instantly causing a terrifying energy fluctuation.

At the same time, a figure suddenly appeared in the sky above the arena. With a backhand slap, the figure pressed on the faint guardian barrier in midair, unleashing magic power without reservation and instantly enhancing the barrier's strength several times over.

"What the heck, who's this troublemaker?!"

Ciella, who had been hidden in the shadows, monitoring the safety around Coco, directly strengthened the barrier when she sensed the changes in the arena. She looked down and was dumbfounded by what she saw.

Perhaps there were no better words to describe the current situation in the arena than "rubble and ruin." The stone ground was charred, covered in deep cracks. The soil in the wilderness seemed to have been thoroughly plowed, and every single monster was blasted to the brink of death before being teleported back to the surface below the pit.

As for the defense towers... except for the high ground of Jialoulan, none were spared.

Fortunately, she had already put in some effort; otherwise, with the original strength of the guardian barrier, the onlookers would likely have suffered.

The princess in the spectator stands wasn't doing well either. Although she had already guessed the general situation when she heard the chanting, she couldn't help but be amazed when she actually saw it.

"I say, Coco, how bad is your relationship with the Orcs... this power is unbelievable! And you're even attacking your own people!"

Tiran formed a makeshift shelter with his hand on his forehead, gazing out into the smoke-filled ruins and seeing several students lying on the ground near the tower.

"Well, it's not that bad. That kid learned archery from a master in the Moonlight Temple. It's said that the original power of his shots could penetrate ten golden dragons stacked together. However, he hasn't mastered it yet, so using it a bit here and there should be fine. Besides, his targets are only the defense towers and the crystal... It shouldn't... kill anyone... right?"

Tiran, rarely shocked by Coco, let alone the weird metaphor of piercing ten golden dragons like in JOJO's Bizarre Adventure, was more concerned about the uncertainty in the use of the word "should"! Even he wasn't sure in the end?!

Meanwhile, Yusha, who was also stunned by the astonishing power of this arrow in the hot air balloon, quickly announced the result of the match after receiving instructions from Ciella. "Due to the destruction of Lough Moon's crystal, Jialoulan wins! Medical team, please enter the arena to provide assistance!"

Well, apart from the unfortunate contestants, the one who released this arrow didn't seem to be doing well either. After confirming the outcome of the battle, the person fell into the fountain with a satisfied face, with every pore in their body oozing blood... No, it was more like gushing blood. In just a dozen-odd seconds, the once-large fountain turned into a bloody spring.

Now it's clear why they kept an extra mage nearby. The only intact Elf mage squatted next to the archer, generously casting healing spells one after another, while the fountain's potent healing enchantment barely managed to keep a certain great hero from dying on the spot.

"Hey, hey? Are you alright? Stay conscious, the medical team is coming soon!"

"Ah... satisfied... I leave the rest of the battle to you all..." The great hero's face, now reddened with blood, struggled to flash a difficult smile.

"Don't act like you're leaving your last words!" The healing mage cried and smiled wryly.

...

"If that child's archery reaches its full state, even their arrows will explode! So it's better to use it now before they perfect it. Right now, it's just a matter of heavy bleeding and they'll be fine in three months..."

Tiran's face was full of black lines as he listened. How heartless of them, another great hero died just like that!

But three months? Does that mean...

"However, in the next match against Milt, we can only use a substitute and can't use the magitech bow." Coco let out a long sigh, then smiled brightly. "But since it's the Lady's student, it's nice to have a real face-to-face battle with true strength."

Tiran didn't know what to say, so he just rubbed Coco's head and casually touched Elf's pointed ear, causing Elf to blush and bury her head in Coco's embrace.

Oh right, he seemed to have forgotten about a certain trembling dragon...

"Calling Aya, calling Aya, are you still alive?"

"I'm alive... blech! I ate a mouthful of dirt. It was awful, what was that? A beam of light just knocked me down..."

Tiran could already sense the taste of dirt in Aya's voice. Then he saw a white figure sitting up from the dragon pit that was still in ruins, sneezing and shaking off the layer of dust, creating a pile of ash.

Aya's expression seemed somewhat dazed, as if she were just a bystander.

After four matches in one day, the team competition was coming to an end. The next day, the final day of the Martial Arts Festival, only the match between Gālúlán and Milt and the final match remained.

The audience's excitement was high after the team competition with its new rules and arena. After all, for ordinary spectators, compared to the battles on the original arena that were too fast to follow, the current setup with a super-sized map and various tactical strategies was more entertaining.

Coupled with the bizarre events that occurred, the Martial Arts Festival's popularity soared.

But for the teachers and academy patrol teams searching in the city area of the academy, these lively scenes had nothing to do with them.

"It's even giving me a headache."

On the square at the end of the bridge connecting Lakeheart Island and the city area, Lusius greeted Knox as he walked over, then looked at the long stream of people returning from watching the matches and sighed heavily.

After a whole day of searching, they had yet to find a single engraved magic array. Lusius felt overwhelmed. They had searched half of the city area and not finding even one was too unscientific.

If what Karina said was true, that there was an enchantment magic array large enough to envelop the entire city, there should be at least one or two subsidiary arrays in the city. But they had nothing to show for it, making Lusius doubt the credibility of the information.

However, thinking back to Karina even swearing on the honor of a knight and Lusius himself feeling the constant sense of unease in the academy city, he had no intention of giving up the search.

"You all have worked hard. Take a good rest and continue tomorrow."

After briefing the search team that had returned one by one, Lusius turned to look at the castle standing tall on Lakeheart Island and murmured, "I hope nothing happens."

...

As the travelers and city residents who had left the city to watch the matches returned to the academy city, the quiet city area came alive again. With the arrival of night, streetlights and windows of houses lit up one by one.

"Boss, we're back!"

Bang.

"Xiao Lin? What's wrong with you? Where's the boss-"

Bang.

A few workers who had gone out to set up stalls pushed open the tavern doors and peeked inside, only to be knocked unconscious one after another by a sudden blow.

"Not bad, Xiao John."

"Judicator-sama, I'm older than you in terms of age..."

Johannes, holding his staff, sighed and looked at the unconscious workers on the ground. It was unbecoming of a Theurg to knock people out with a staff.

"If Bishop-sama finds out I'm using my staff like this..."

Wait a minute, didn't that person do the same?

Thinking of this, Johannes felt a little relieved. But knocking out innocent people for no reason... Ah, he felt like he was following the pace of this Judicator Miss all the way to the bitter end.

"Hey, Xiao John, come take a look. Did I draw this magic formation well?"

Vera, who had been busy behind the counter, stood up straight, propped her arms on the counter, and greeted him.

Dragging the unconscious individuals near the door into the tavern, Johannes curiously walked over and took a look, furrowing his brows in confusion.

His profession was Theurg, a type of priest who specialized in magic. Magic formations were a compulsory subject, and he had considerable talent in this area. At a young age, he had already reached the master level, which was why he could summon the blazing Angel through the Divine Punishment Scriptures.

But even with his solid foundation, Johannes couldn't figure out the purpose of this magic formation.

Although the uses of magic formations were varied, they consisted of the same basic elements, such as incantations, which were made up of fundamental symbols no matter how complex they were.

If it was a master who was proficient in the study of magic formations, they could understand the purpose of a completely unfamiliar magic formation by interpreting the combination of basic symbols.

But Johannes found himself completely clueless about the symbols in front of him.

The basic symbols of this magic formation didn't belong to any system he knew.

"Is this really a magic formation?" After a moment of silence, he finally managed to ask.

"Hehe, of course it is, absolutely genuine," Vera proudly said, hands on her hips. "What do you think? I drew it well, right?"

"If you only look at the visual effect, it does look good..."

The lines were smooth and complete, without the roughness of an amateur drawing. If it was truly an effective magic formation, it would work perfectly.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door of the tavern.

Johannes turned alertly, grabbed his staff, and silently recited an offensive incantation, but Vera walked over and opened the door without hesitation.

"Hey! Don't just go and open it... Huh?"

Standing outside the door was someone wearing the same holy robe, but this white robe had black patterns, representing the darkness that inevitably exists beneath the light according to doctrine.

This type of robe only belonged to one organization, the Religious Judicature.

"Hello, Vera Judicator. I'm Angelo, the intern Judicator assigned to assist you."

A slightly inexperienced face was revealed under the hood of the robe.