......

    On the side of the Seven Seas Alliance, the first five to appear on the stage were Jorick, Helisung, Aliya, Naomi, and Florence, which had a somewhat standard team composition.

    Stella, the Wave Manipulator, was sent to the waiting space. She was the one chosen to be the sixth man on the team.

    Given the current strategy that they had, it was quite reasonable to send her on the field early to run a dual mages composition. After all, these two were quite a strong mage, especially when both of them were water mages, which were said to be unrivaled within the sea.

    But Florence, the Warrior Goddess, who was also the current captain of the team, seemed to be planning to run the standard composition for this battle.

    After all, their current lineup was still quite powerful to some extent. It was just they became less appealing when compared to the superstars of the Empyrean Talons.

    Aside from that, Florence was also a strong Godlike Player, especially when she was ranked pretty high in the Godly Ranking List. She was quite familiar with her fellow competitors on the big stage, so she was quite used to fighting a team with such odds.

    She glanced at her current teammates and started. "I don’t what kind of contract you have with the organization, but I guess we still have the same goal in the end."

    "I do hope that you will comply with my orders and don’t focus on your solo performance to save yourselves."

    "You guys should know better than anyone that you will only make yourselves into a laughingstock if you insist on fighting those guys by yourselves. The monsters on their side are not someone anyone can underestimate."

    She was very clear about this fact as she could be considered as one of those kinds of players. Her ranking was not just for show.

    But her alone was far from being enough to match the other side. At the very least, she could only rely on her current team, which had decent strength, so somewhat held their ground and did not lose too much face when the confrontation started.

    "If not for that inheritance item that the Seven Seas Group has, which is also related to my later class advancement, then I will not form a contract with them," she mumbled to herself as she felt somewhat disgusted working with the said corporation.

    The shady dealings that the Seven Seas Group were quite well known within the inner circle of the team, but she ignored most of it as she did not want to be associated with them later. All she had to do was to finish the commissioned task that they had given her before leaving later.

    This formation of the team to compete on the professional stage was nothing but a mere front to hide their true plans.

    The rest of the group were also clear about their respective situations, so they did not voice out that much of a complaint.

    They had been working with each other for quite a long time as well, so they were very familiar with one another. They understood their teammates quite well, especially their temperament, so they could be considered as a good team to a certain extent.

    The team had been made way longer than the Empyrean Talons, so they refused to believe that they would lose in terms of teamwork and synergy, especially when they were currently in their home ground.@@@@

    If they still lost miserably like the others from the previous rounds, then they could only blame themselves for being too weak.

    While they were discussing and polishing their battle plans, Aliya, the Tide Goddess, sensed some huge movements from the water currents.

    She then turned toward the direction where the disturbance was coming from and focused her gaze. Not long after, she quickly saw three silhouettes rapidly swimming toward them.

    She did not take that long to realize that the trio were their current opponents. The team was only composed of Gentle Goddess Arielle, Elemental Goddess Charlotte, and War God Simba.

    "They are coming!" she quickly warned the others while also casting a series of detection spells to cover their entire surroundings, looking for the traces of the other two opponents, who were currently missing.

    She refused to believe that those two, which could be considered the deadliest among their opposition, would be missing out in such a situation. This was also the perfect opportunity to launch an ambush, especially when their attention was attracted to the incoming trio.

    But to her surprise, she was unable to detect even the slightest disturbance from the water current of their surroundings, which could lead her to Shin and Diablo’s whereabouts.

    Aside from the small movements of the little fishes and other sea creatures, she was unable to find any sign that could point to those two.

    "Are they not launching an ambush? Am I thinking about it a little too much?" she thought to herself while heightening her detection skills even more.

    She refused to believe that those two would not make their move given such a perfect opportunity. She believed that they might be trying to let her guard down before launching a surprise attack.

    On the other hand, her teammates quite responded to her warning and went into formation.

    Florence got a bad feeling about this, which was why she quickly used another protective skill, summoning an even stronger barrier that enveloped the whole team.

    Swoosh!

    It was at that moment that a huge hole was formed from the mist, revealing Leonard’s figure, who pierced through it and headed toward their direction.

    Boom!

    Leonard hit the barrier with his war axe, making the latter tremble intensely and producing multiple cracks on its surface.

    Jorick quickly responded at this point and swiftly charged forward while swinging his huge glaive forward,

    Florence also coordinated with him, raising her shield to collide with Leonard’s other side. She was planning to pin him in place so that he would be forced to stay in place and be trapped in their formation.

    Seeing them charging at him, Leonard suddenly revealed a mocking smile under his lion’s helmet, sending shivers down to Florence’s smile.

    "Not good!" She already figured out that they had fallen into a trap, but it was already too late to salvage their situation.

    The moment when she and Jorick ’left’ their spots, they had opened a little gap between them and the remaining members of their team, which happened to be enough for Shin to take advantage of.

    Shing!

    The subtle sound of the sword being pulled out from its sheath reverberated in everyone’s ears, making the faces of the Seven Seas Alliance’s representatives ugly.

    Swoosh!

    ’Four Symbol Scripture: Heavenly Black Tortoise – Great Wall of the Northern Heaven’

    This skill was supposed to be used defensively, but Shin had made some tricky adjustments to change its nature.

    Instead of erecting a towering wall of ice before him to block the attacks of his opponent, he had sent a cold current forward that quickly solidified and formed a wall separating Florence and Jorick from the rest of their team.

    But what confused everyone even more was how Shin suddenly appeared near the enemies without their notice.

    Fortunately, he was not near enough to launch an ambush on their backline, or else one of them would be killed in an instant the moment right after he made his move.

    Responding to the situation, Florence chose to continue charging forward and pin Leonard in place alongside Jorick. She could only trust her teammates to deal with their situation while she teamed up with Jorick to deal with this monster before them.

    She believed that Aliya would be able to find a way to take down that ice wall given the number of spells in her arsenal.

    Jorick also understood the thoughts of his captain and pressed further forward.

    Leonard was not surprised by their decision, so he welcomed their attack with his war axes that he just summoned.

    Roar!

    His eyes also turned sharp as he quickly underwent a fusion process with his Elemental Beast Companion.

    ’Elemental Beast Companion (Lion King): Crimson Sovereign’

    Boom!

    The confrontation of both sides produced a strong shockwave that pushed the surrounding water outwards.

    This signaled the official start of the Team Competition.

    ......