Wow! The item-dropping rate is really high!

Since the situation had escalated to an outright stance under the sunlight, let it all be brisk and straightforward.

For the maggots within the city, Bai E had little patience left to spar with them.

Watching what seemed like a suddenly authoritative silhouette, Aglaya was completely taken aback.

Before her eyes, the synthetic general, who had always maintained a calm facade devoid of any emotions or tendencies, suddenly became profound and obscure, elusive.

'Can he really do it?' she wondered.

The strength of the beastman leader who had escaped was unknown, and they were unable to pinpoint his location accurately.

Though General Bai E's Spiritual Energy cultivation was indeed formidable, how much of his strength he could exert in a battle where Spiritual Energy was forbidden... was hard to say.

Moreover, Zoro of the Elf Race truly and reliably eliminated two of the city's top combatants, his strength witnessed by all.

It was still that center stage, under everyone's watchful eyes, where Bai E stepped onto with light and steady footsteps, and unsurprisingly, facing him was Zoro, representing the Elf Race for the third time.

Indeed, every member of the Elf Race followed the path of elite strategic development, but it was impossible to bring the entire wealth of their tribe on a single mission.

Among the twenty or so tribespeople present, each had their specialization, covering almost every field that humans were adept in.

Seeing Bai E's familiar face approaching, Zoro, who had seen him once on the battlefield against the beastmen, smiled and clenched his fist, "Xunying said you're very strong and told me to be careful."

He couldn't forget the look of admiration for a powerful opponent in Xunying's eyes when he had said those words, an emotion he had never even shown to himself.

Put simply, he was jealous.

Therefore, he decided to strike even harder.

"…" Bai E smiled indifferently, hands open and empty, "What do you want to compete in?"

A bare-knuckle fight, a battle with nimble weapons.

This Elf walking the path of a warrior seemingly had no particular weakness.

"Let's go with hand-to-hand combat, you're not going to back down, are you?" Zoro smiled somewhat provocatively.

Hand-to-hand combat could inflict enough hidden injuries; wounds caused by weapons were too conspicuous and made it easier to determine the winner, therefore not ideal for inflicting serious harm.

"Fine by me," Bai E nonchalantly waved his hand, agreeing to the challenge.

Neither party exercised their right to veto one and choose one, reaching a consensus through negotiation, which was the custom from the previous two matches.

But...

When the brain trust heard this decision, they exploded in uproar, for the pre-arranged right to veto one and choose one was intended to seize the advantage in the mode of combat.

The lack of experience could be cited for the first two matches, but the precious lessons paved by the failures of their predecessors were invaluable.

This Elf named Zoro apparently had a lesser command over agile weapons compared to his prowess in hand combat; their "King of Shadows" just lacked a little bit of luck, or else there wouldn't have been a need for General Bai E to step in.

Now, seeking comfort seemed futile as they should choose a style their opponent was weak in... or at the very least avoid their opponent's strongest suit, "hand-to-hand combat," right?

"Why did he just agree to it like that!"

"That Elf named Zoro is a master fighter; not even the captain of our city lord's personal guards could match him. How could General Bai E possibly be his match?"

"But does anyone know what General Bai E is most skilled at?"

"Mecha!" someone immediately answered.

"…"

"Maybe light weaponry, his skills with the longsword were quite impressive during the Castle Exorcism battle."

"Hurry and have them change to light weaponry!"

"The contestants have already decided on the mode of combat... it can't be changed now."

"Ah!"

And so, another entry was added to General Bai E's personal records - "arrogantly overconfident."

As the "begin" signal sounded, Zoro's face revealed a cold, mocking smile, "There is no room for regret now."

"…" Bai E didn't respond and simply stood still with his eyes closed, his presence emanating around him.

Unperturbed and composed.

"What does he mean by that?" The spectators on both sides scratched their heads in confusion.

Only the injured Xunying and her team members, sitting together, looked at their compatriot Zoro with worried eyes and silently prayed, "Please be careful..."

Beware not to be killed... After all, despite being elves, they aren't as resilient as orcs.

"Playing tricks!" Zoro sneered, and his not-particularly-bulky body shot out like an arrow, straight to the point.

"Buzz!"

A dodging punch failed to hit its target, not because the opponent dodged it in time, but when he got close to the human named Zhou, his movements in every direction seemed suddenly hindered by innumerable pulling forces.

Some pulled his foot upwards, some pulled his fist downwards; the forces pulling from all directions momentarily complicated his control over his body.

As a master fighter skilled in combat, he naturally would not face such immense abnormal conditions and forcibly clash with the opponent.

When he stopped moving, he was surprised to find that the strange forces disappeared instantly, as if they had never been there.

Exploding from his feet, he prepared to thrust forward again.

Regrettably, the moment his body began to move, that bizarre force resurfaced from every direction, trying to hinder his action.

'What kind of weird stuff is this!' Zoro coldly snorted internally, his strength surged, and he forcibly broke free from those restraining forces.

These were merely forces with a pulling resistance, not yet decisive enough to significantly influence the situation. If this Bai E hoped to achieve victory solely through these strange methods, then he was in for severe disappointment.

"Whoo~"

The invisible air currents twined and flowed with the movement of Bai E's hand, and Zoro, who had gotten dangerously close, discovered that the forces tangling around him suddenly increased during the flick of the opponent's palm.

At the same time, in a final backward jerk, a definite impact struck his chest mid-air, and his opponent also seemed to fly lightly backward from a sort of "recoil" force, escaping once more from that dangerous proximity.

'Splitting Palm?' Zoro wondered in his mind.

In a situation where the use of Spiritual Energy was not allowed, achieving such a feat with sheer physical strength and skill was no easy task.

Observing that this human named Bai E indeed had some skills, no wonder Yue Ying had mentioned this human's name several times.

But mere fleeing is the absolute act of a coward!

"Boom!"

His figure flashed; thunder suddenly roared.

The instantaneous burst surpassed the speed of sound, the sonic boom acting like thunderclap, also serving to intimidate the opponent.

"Buzz!"

However, as he approached, that strange force once again surged from all around, greatly increased in strength, causing Zoro to feel panicky for the first time.

Would the opponent's bizarre technique grow stronger over time?

And at this untouchable distance, his own method of continually identifying the opponent's weaknesses in battle to guide or secretly strike had nowhere to be used.

Continuing this fight... he might truly lose!

With a sense of alarm in his heart, Zoro became even more determined, his energies bursting forth, ignoring the pulling forces around him.

And this time... Bai E did not dodge.

After several collisions, the power within his domain had accumulated to an overwhelming extent.

When Zoro charged in again, Bai E controlled his energy with a twist of his palm, landing multiple strikes at once that almost instantly broke down Zoro's body balance, though this was just for an instant.

An outstanding martial artist always maintains control over their body.

But the stronger the attempt to control, the deeper one falls.

Fully trapped within the "Abyss" controlled by Bai E, Zoro, like a drunken man, swayed, controlled by Bai E's maneuvers, and ultimately lost complete control over himself.

With a turn of his hand, Zoro's body was spun around by Bai E and brought in front of him, and then, with what appeared to be a gentle push of the palm, his body was flung away instantly, the full power of the "Abyss" accumulating in one explosion, all focused into that single push.

"Boom!"

Like a sack of broken cloth, his body smashed far onto the metallic ground of the combat arena, making "bang bang" sounds with two bounces...