Chapter 454: The Final List Is Out
The straight-line distance from their current location to Nathaniell actually wasn't very long.
But the official safe route designated by the Sepharic Kingdom was extremely winding, even including stretches where ships had to double back. Because of this detour, the remaining journey inevitably stretched to two full days.
Fortunately—perhaps because Valentin's Sea God had recently passed through—the waters near the safe route now had many patrolling ships from either the government or the Church. Though they were stopped for questioning several times, they encountered no trouble and continued on their way smoothly.
Thinking back over this journey, ever since leaving Temple Port, the outer Mist Sea had seen the appearance of the King of Lavides, Saroyan; the General of the Wind, Gallagher; the Northern Pirate Emperor, Valentin; and numerous other major pirates affiliated with large pirate crews. So many powerful figures converging in such a small region was highly unusual from an occult perspective.
A calm, uneventful journey like this was actually what should have been expected.
It just made Zhou Ning feel like he had been carrying a curse.
With nothing to do on the way and no chance to take action, Zhou Ning could only watch the final three rounds of the tournament—after which the qualifiers for the Sepharic Kingdom's Falic Glory Arena would be decided. (As stated back in Chapter 324.)
Coincidentally, the Falic Glory Arena was located in the western outskirts of Nathaniell. When the time came, professional players from all Apocalypse regions would gather there. Setting his next destination as Nathaniell was not only to carry out the follow-up task of killing Karl Robbins—this was also a major reason.
In the winners' bracket of the solo competition, Sunken Star Beneath the Water continued his ferocious momentum. As one of the final four, he faced Water Gaohan, the star of the prestigious Elegy team and one of the top meteorology specialists in the country—a celebrity with a fanbase rivaling his own.
During the broadcast, the screen was flooded with comments every second. Every impressive play drew waves of cheers.
With victory guaranteeing a qualifying spot, Sunken Star Beneath the Water exploded with strength once again. The decisive moment came when, driven by some sudden inspiration, he used Psychic Counter to interrupt the opponent just as he was about to break the seal on a Tier 6 spell scroll—canceling a meteorology combo of Earth Spikes + Frostbite + Earthquake = Small-Scale Landslide. Thanks to that stroke of luck, he won, advancing to the winners' finals to face the top seed of the regional qualifiers: Big Wave of Heat, the Bird-Bird Fruit user.
Although both had already secured their qualifying spots, Big Wave of Heat still opened with his usual grimy playstyle, chasing Sunken Star Beneath the Water around in a "catch me and I'll ruin your day" back-and-forth. Sunken Star Beneath the Water grew more frustrated by the minute, lost his composure, and suffered an agonizing defeat.
Big Wave of Heat took the winners' bracket championship—but the price was steep: he became synonymous with cheap tactics, and his remaining female fans immediately abandoned him.
In the losers' bracket, Jinse, who had just been knocked down by Sunken Star Beneath the Water, performed brilliantly—not only in skill, but in level grinding. After her loss, she practically never logged off. Riding the 30% XP buff, she pushed her level to 48.5, more than two full levels ahead of second place, with fully superior skill levels across the board.
She then tore through Super Blue Cat and Water Gaohan, who had also dropped to the losers' bracket. In the losers' finals, she defeated Sunken Star Beneath the Water in a revenge match, reversing the outcome and advancing to the grand finals.
Facing Big Wave of Heat there, she immediately launched into an aggressive opening. She controlled the tempo from start to finish, advancing when appropriate and retreating when needed. Whenever Big Wave of Heat tried to take flight, she simply backed out of his range.
With him constantly behind on HP, there was no room for dirty tactics. After a grueling 37-minute fight, Jinse claimed a decisive victory, becoming champion of the solo qualifier.
In the team competition, although Jinse's team Deep Blue defeated the elite Star Moon squad to reach the winners' semifinals, they were crushed in the finals by the "Super Sweet Candy" club. Their dual-meteorologist lineup threw out endless weather-based strategies, splitting the battlefield in half. Super Blue Cat used his Turtle-Turtle Fruit to delay opponents in a one-versus-three, while the right side became a four-on-two, resulting in a perfect teamfight.
Super Sweet Candy claimed the winners' bracket championship, avenging their humiliating losses in the solo competition.
Star Moon, as a top-tier organization, showed strong resilience. After falling to the losers' bracket, they didn't falter, defeating Darkland's only foreign club, the Pumas, as well as Elegy, which had both Big Wave of Heat and Water Gaohan. They then once again faced Deep Blue—the team that had sent them to the losers' bracket earlier.
Although both the top two of the winners' bracket and the top two of the losers' bracket had already qualified, the two heavyweight teams had huge fanbases behind them. There was no chance either would slack off.
And unlike last time, Star Moon crushed Deep Blue this round. "The Troublemaker" Sunken Star Beneath the Water looked like he had taken stimulants. After Star Moon's meteorologist Star-Moon Radiance created a quicksand zone to slow the enemy's movement, he and their Mammoth Fruit user Moon-Stardust unleashed a flawless teamfight. Using the massive mammoth body to block terrain, Sunken Star Beneath the Water unloaded everything he had from behind, achieving a 0-for-3 wipe that eliminated Deep Blue and sent Star Moon to the finals.
In the finals, facing Super Sweet Candy's four-superstar F4 lineup, Star Moon once again executed a flawless teamfight. Although Super Sweet Candy tried the same weather-splitting tactic, Star Moon's three Wandering Gunslingers shredded Super Blue Cat—the Turtle-Turtle Fruit simply couldn't withstand their firepower. Once he fell, Super Sweet Candy was swept away in one decisive push.
Thus, the Darkland region's final qualifiers were determined.
Team Top Five: Star Moon, Super Sweet Candy, Deep Blue, Elegy, Pumas
Solo Top Five: Jinse, Big Wave of Heat, Sunken Star Beneath the Water, Super Blue Cat, Water Gaohan
These players would represent the Kingdom of Bryston and travel to Sepharic's Glory Arena in five days for the main tournament.
Seeing the list, Zhou Ning couldn't help but laugh. If Big Head Fish hadn't lost to Water Gaohan in the fifth–sixth placement match, the solo top five would have been completely monopolized by Wandering Gunslingers (Demon Hunters).
And in the team top five, the core players were all Wandering Gunslingers as well. The regional champions, Star Moon, even had three of them.
Zhou Ning was eager to see how they would perform next. Although they were still weak for now, they couldn't die permanently—they revived, and under the current 30% XP buff were leveling quickly. As player levels caught up, their roles were no longer mere fodder; they were becoming fighters and allies.
As for his plans in Nathaniell, Zhou Ning already had some ideas.
Besides continuing to pursue hidden quests, high-level missions, advanced specialties, templates, and descent cards, he planned to officially transform Starfall into a faction—using the main tournament of the first professional league to recruit strong players.
Given his current influence, he believed this wouldn't be difficult.
January 4th, Tuesday, 9:19 a.m.
A heavy storm swept across the treacherous sea again. Since this one was a natural occurrence, Zhou Ning didn't bother to alter it. More importantly, with his extreme visual range, he could already see faint shadows of land ahead.
This was the southernmost territory of the Sepharic Kingdom, covered by vast tropical rainforest. Native werewolves and Sepharic pioneers had battled here for decades—and their struggle continued even now.
Since leaving Teldron Island, the journey had been smooth, allowing them to arrive a full day earlier than planned.
Reaching this point meant it would take less than twelve more hours. The Wings of Freedom, originally scheduled to reach the "City of Law" at noon on January 5th, would instead arrive tonight.