"Where is that guy...?" The suffocating silence, as if condensing the air, entangled everyone's movements like a spider's web. Beads of sweat, like grains of sand, dripped from people's foreheads onto the ground.

The once arrogant noble advisers had never felt such fear before.

Everyone knew Turing had limited bullets, but nobody dared to be the first one to make a move.

Finally, one person couldn't bear it anymore and pulled out a hunting rifle from their waist. She couldn't stand the unarmed unease any longer.

"Bang."

But she could hardly believe it. So many people. Her tiny movement. In such a short time, Turing managed to shoot the bullet right into his own arm, like pricking a needle.

Turing's sharp gaze was as piercing as an eagle's eye, captivating everyone's souls.

The woman's arm couldn't grasp the rifle anymore. The dripping fresh blood left deep marks on her arm from the spinning bullet. In pain, she clutched her right hand and dropped to the ground along with her rifle.

"I'll make you regret this!" Witnessing such cruelty, the woman who had fallen to the ground propelled herself back up. Since she had already used magic once, she no longer cared about using more.

After all, she had already lost her qualifications in the competition. So why not seek revenge?

A wild burst of magic erupted from Gammadion's body as two massive purple palms grew from her back.

With bulging veins, the giant hands slammed into the ground, violently pushing Gammadion backwards.

"Miss Samael, time to go." Merka watched Samael, gun in hand, from a distance. He pulled the reins to prepare to ride away.

Gammadion recklessly leapt in the wrong direction and, caught off guard, was once again knocked down by the elusive Samael from behind.

Blossoming blood splashed in the air, drawing a tragic circle, and heavily fell onto the ground, creating a crater.

"Turing...!" Gammadion gritted her teeth and directly tore off the bullet-ridden area, commencing a spell to heal herself.

Just as Gammadion finished her simple healing process and prepared to chase after the spot where the bullet had been fired, a figure descended from the sky, raising a dense cloud of smoke, trapping Gammadion underneath.

This person was Manchester, Oedipus's chief confidant.

"Gammadion... right? Lady Altria sensed your magic."

The exaggerated and audacious wings gradually folded, and the majestic and colossal aura abruptly shrunk into Manchester's slender body.

Manchester leaned against Gammadion's ear and softly spoke.

"You have already lost your qualification."

"What? Are you accusing me of being a thief?" Gammadion's cheek rested closely against the ground, covered in dust, seething with anger.

"Turing appeared and disappeared, how could that have been done without magic?"

"The fact is, that's how it happened."

"You see, Jade is still unconscious."

"That's more convincing than anything..."

Merka, riding on a horse, distanced herself from the crowd. Samael behind her gave up the pursuit, extending several tentacles to wrap around Merka's waist and the horse's belly, hoisting themselves onto the horse.

"Using 'dropback' consumes a lot of magic, especially when staying hidden."

"Don't ask me to do that again next time. I used up almost half of my magic just now."

"It would be easier and simpler for me to appear and kill them all." Samael complained as he tidied his hair.

"Siege the city, but conquer their hearts."

"It was necessary to spend so much magic power. They won't dare to chase us anymore, and they will be afraid of us in the future."

"But I never expected the violation in the competition would result in this kind of exit." Merka turned back to look.

Merka was originally worried about someone persistently using magic to interfere with the competition, but now it seemed unnecessary.

"The moment she used magic, Oedipus sent someone over."

"Where is this Oedipus?"

"Can she really sense the magic fluctuations from the entire mountain?" Merka pondered.

"Mammon just messaged me, saying Oedipus has already returned home."

"Oedipus doesn't judge who uses magic based on the magic fluctuations. She's not that formidable."

"Her true strength...at most, it's on par with us."

"As for how she knows who secretly used magic...she has a more cunning method. I can't tell you that."

"Can you get in touch with Miss Mammon? How did you do it?" Merka asked in surprise.

Mammon is now being kept as an ace by Merka, arranged far away from the competition venue.

"I won't explain it to you. The fact that I can't tell you already proves that I can't go into detail. You're so verbose." Samael snorted disdainfully.

"Wait, I have another question."

"Why is everyone silently assuming that Turing's fluctuations will definitely wake Jade?"

The tense atmosphere made Merka break out in a cold sweat, but even so, he still had the presence of mind to ask questions.

"This is common knowledge among the nobles. Ask Mammon when you have the chance to stay alive."

"Hey, ride faster! There's another group of people chasing us!" Samael shouted.

"I know, this is already the fastest!"

Merka rode a fast horse, galloping freely in the winding forest.

The towering and majestic fir trees rushing past gradually faded from Merka's sight;

The menacing bare rocks appeared from the front, covering Merka's vision.

Merka, up the mountain.

In addition to Diana's supporters, there were also several hidden magic fluctuations lurking behind the trees, silently following Merka.

These shadowy figures seemed hesitant behind Merka at this moment.

It seemed like they were considering whether to take the risk of exposing themselves and follow Merka out of the woods.

"Great! There's a cave."

Merka saw the cave and immediately rode his horse into it.

After riding into a relatively deep area, they dismounted with Samael.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"If there's no way out inside, won't we be trapped in there?"

"Moreover, why are you afraid of them?"

"Even without using magic, I can still beat them with brute force," Samael grumbled as he jumped down from his horse.

Merka didn't explain much, simply shaking her head lightly.

"Miss Samael, do you know why they can use magic?"

"The group using magic this time is clearly different from Diana's staff earlier."

"I need to figure out who they are and why they can bypass the rules of the competition to use magic."

Merka sighed helplessly.

"Let's split up here, Miss Samael."

"I want to go with them."

"What...what!? Are you defecting?" Samael was confused.

Merka could see Samael's angry fist about to hit her face.

"Stop! Listen to me explain." Merka quickly used her elbow to block, afraid that Samael would break her arm and chin in one go.

"I'm planning to gather intelligence on the enemy!"

"Those trackers are wary of Turing's strength, so they will definitely watch the entrance for a while."

"But if they watch for too long and don't want to lose track of us, they will definitely send someone in to check."

"When they send someone in, we'll knock them out and place them deeper in the cave."

"I will transform into her using dropback and follow them."

"I will come back when I know what their plan is."

"As for Miss Samael, you can leave after we're gone."

"You can pretend to be Turing for me and do some simple hunting."

...There was silence for a while, and Samael finally spoke, "You want to pretend to be someone you don't know? And a woman?"

"That's too dangerous, it will exhaust your magic."

"No, it doesn't have to be a woman," Merka said.

"Based on my guess, if Miss Galleher is not foolish, there is a plan that is cheap and effective which has led to the current situation."

"I need to verify this hypothesis."

Merka's calm words echoed in the cave, and Samael inexplicably felt a bit scared.

"Can't we just have a simple competition? As long as we win, it'll be fine..." Samael said.

"It's not possible, Miss Samael."

"Miss Galleher didn't go through all this trouble just to undermine Turing's spirit with a competition."

"Something more deadly is about to happen."