A Demon's Journey

The King's illusionary figure appeared ahead of all the groups participating in the Heavenly Dragon Battleground's Tournament.

The man's body had been conjured using some blue-colored element. It was similar to Azaroth's Holographic Figure that was conjured by the Mystical Spiritual Connection Rings.

Only Noah could compare the King's illusionary figure with Azaroth's Holographic body.

'Master's spiritual figure is densely concentrated with Spiritual Energy. This doesn't seem to be the case with the King. This illusionary figure might collapse even if I used a slight hint of my sword intent.' Noah analyzed deeply.

The King soon opened his mouth and spoke, "So, you are the participants this time around?" He glanced at them and quickly analyzed them.

Upon seeing the King of the Glerian Kingdom, all the participants except for Noah suddenly held a desire to prostrate themselves before him.

There was a powerful and dominating presence around the King.

It made them want to submit to this man. However, these warriors resisted this desire fiercely. Each one was an ambitious youth who wanted to achieve great heights in the future.

To surrender to the King willingly now would be a betrayal of their personal ambitions.

The King noticed their minute internal struggle and ignored it. He had witnessed it far too many times.

Soon, his vision passed over Noah.

He was slightly started when he noticed that his prestige couldn't affect Noah. In fact, not a single one of Noah's subordinates was affected by the King's prestige.

It was the mysteriously sharp aura guarding Noah and his subordinates. In fact, the King felt that this aura was quite threatening.

Because of his vast experience, the King recognized that aura.

'This boy can utilize an Intent! Moreover, it has reached the point where it's instinctively protecting him and his subordinates.'

The King was startled because it was extremely rare to see such an individual participating in this tournament.

Firstly, the people who possessed an intent at such a level would be quite old. To awaken an intent, the individual must possess great talent, experience, and a stroke of luck.

He was unaware of the fact that Noah possessed an Enlightened Sword Heart. He had already been enlightened regarding the way of the sword.

Now, all that was left for him was to accumulate more sword techniques and ways of fighting.

'This is a precious seed. I need to send some people to analyze his background. He might become one of the pillars for the Glerian kingdom. His talent must be extremely amazing if he has truly awakened his intent at such a young age.'

The King resisted the urge to grin as he thought of Noah's future potential.

"As you all might be aware, I am Tryfon Rellas, the King of the Glerian Kingdom!" He declared this sentence with a lot of pride in his voice.

"You all have gathered today to participate in the Heavenly Dragon Battleground's Tournament. You must be aware that the winner of this tournament shall be awarded special positions in the army. However, I have decided to grant the winner with special powers. He can raise his force independently without any upper limit. The Kingdom will provide a basic salary, food, shelter, weapons, and the armor for your army."

"Naturally, the winner will need to obey me, but you will gain the privilege to refuse my order and ask me to rethink for a whole month. If my decision remains unaffected, then you will need to follow it without any exceptions." The King declared with a commanding voice.

All these warriors participating in this tournament understood what a great honor this was. To actually possess the power to even delay the King's order by a month was very special.

Also, they could possess an independent army without any upper limit, and they could maintain it essentially for free.

The basic needs of the soldiers would be taken care of by the kingdom.

Naturally, all the top rankers would be provided with sufficient cultivation resources so their cultivation could advance even further.

All the disciples were hyped up and excited.

"It appears that you are very excited about this tournament. Very good." The King spoke as his illusionary figure smiled.

"Step onto the array, and you will be thrown into a random part of this forest. Remember that your opponents aren't just the other groups or participants. Even the forces of nature are your enemies," These words from the King confused a few participants.

It was understandable that they were perplexed. This was the first time they had heard anything like this about the Heavenly Dragon Battleground's Tournament.

The disciples from the great influences or sects had been guided about what they should expect regarding the Heavenly Dragon Battleground's Tournament.

As a result, they were unsurprised to learn that even nature's forces might be one of their most formidable foes.

However, no one was scared. Each one had participated in this tournament to show that he could achieve a good rank. No commanding warrior wanted to show any signs of hesitation or puzzlement to his subordinates.

They remained stoic.

"I wish you all the best of luck. May the best one amongst you win." The King spoke at the end before his spiritual figure dispersed.

All the participants and their respective groups stared at the spot with a respectful gaze.

Soon, one of the two warriors who registered these groups spoke, "…Alright. We will name the group, and they will step onto this array."

"Crimson Beast Team," The other warrior seemed to be in a hurry and spoke the name of the team.

The Crimson Beast Team was one of the few groups that had no connection to a prince or any sect.

Many members of this team had young members who seemed just out of the academy. They also appeared very naïve.

They stepped onto the array quickly. It took nearly one whole minute for the array to activate and send these warriors to a random part of the forest.

Unfortunately, the luck of these warriors wasn't too good.

After being teleported, they soon heard a growl from above.

They realized just what was wrong. They had been teleported to a spot in the jungle where a pair of deadly manhunting Leopard was lurking.

These deadly leopards were at the 4 Star Rank.

This group only had a single 4 Star Rank Warrior. In terms of numbers, they were superior to the Leopards, but their lack of competence rendered them inferior to the Leopards.

And there was an even greater issue. These warriors found that an unknown pressure was exerted on their bodies which prevented them from moving!

The second group wasn't so unlucky. They had also teleported to a beast's territory, but this appeared to be a rather weak beast compared to those pair of leopards. It was a Wild Boar.

Soon, nearly 12 more groups were teleported to different parts of the forest. Some were lucky, and some were unlucky.

Just as the King had said, the teleportation was truly random.

"The Heretical Paladins! Step forward!"

This was a call for Noah and his group. They stepped on the array as they were instructed.

A hexagon shone around them with a reddish light, and their bodies suddenly disappeared.

They found themselves in a pool of green water as they opened their eyes. Most of Noah's subordinates were terrified when they discovered where they had been transported.

… It turned out to be a marsh teeming with alligators. Furthermore, these were the deadly Iron-Steel Alligators!

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