The next day, the preliminary round began as scheduled.
At Domus Flau, on the mountain west of the city, an enormous floating labyrinth hung in the air above the summit.
This was the stage for the preliminary round.
"This is a massive labyrinth capable of holding more than a hundred teams. Only the first eight teams to make it out will earn the right to advance to the knockout stage. All other teams will be eliminated!"
Standing beside the staircase leading up to the enormous labyrinth, King Toma looked at the one hundred and nineteen teams before him, full of pride and enthusiasm.
This was the strength of the Kingdom of Fiore!
Right now, nearly seven hundred mages stood before him, and almost all of them were elites from their respective guilds.
Across the entire continent of Ishgar, there was no other country like Fiore, no other nation with so many Mage Guilds.
Looking at King Toma, and then at the unbelievably huge floating labyrinth, every participating mage stared with their mouths open.
Where the hell had this thing come from?
It definitely had not been there yesterday!
But after the initial shock passed, everyone quickly grew tense.
One hundred and nineteen teams, with only eight advancing in the end.
That elimination rate was far too brutal.
There was no way anyone could afford to take it lightly.
Even Fairy Tail's Teams A, B, C, and D became tense.
If they failed to even make it into the knockout stage, it would be humiliating. The pressure on everyone was not small at all.
"Each team will receive one fragment of the labyrinth map. The best way to escape the labyrinth is to obtain the map fragments held by other teams and piece together the complete map."
Pumpkin-headed King Toma continued explaining the rules.
The moment this rule came out, another wave of surprised cries ran through the contestants.
If the previous rule had made this a simple race, then this new rule gave everyone a reason to fight.
With this addition, the intensity of the preliminary round would rise sharply, and the possibility of peaceful coexistence had become much smaller.
"This rule feels strangely familiar."
As Marco listened, he couldn't help thinking of the Chūnin Exams.
It really was somewhat similar.
That one involved stealing scrolls, while this one involved stealing map fragments.
"Each team will enter the labyrinth from a different location. Starting points will now be assigned according to registration order."
King Toma continued speaking.
As his voice fell, more than a hundred staircases descended from the floating labyrinth. These were the entrances.
The distance between each one was not particularly far, but it was enough for each team to decide its own strategy.
Very soon, the teams lined up in order.
They could not choose their starting points themselves, so all they could do was quickly observe the teams around them.
After all, those nearby teams were all potential opponents they might run into very soon.
This method of assigning starting points had truly caught everyone off guard.
It was too random and it depended far too much on luck.
Fairy Tail's four teams had registered together, so they were placed right next to one another.
The four teams exchanged looks.
This situation had both advantages and disadvantages.
The advantage was that they could quickly group up and compare the map fragments in their hands.
The disadvantage was that the number of map fragments they could seize nearby had suddenly decreased by a lot.
It might actually slow down their progress toward completing the full map.
If the teams had been scattered, each team would have many map fragments around them to seize.
They might have been able to gather the full map very quickly.
For powerful teams, being placed close to other teams from the same guild was not necessarily a good thing.
After all, they did not need help to defeat other teams. Having more allies nearby would only lower their efficiency.
And once Fairy Tail's four teams stood there together, all the nearby teams at other starting points went numb.
In this kind of situation, how were they supposed to break out?
The teams assigned near Fairy Tail's four groups were truly unlucky. Their fate was basically already sealed.
However, because Fairy Tail had been busy with too many other matters before the Grand Magic Games, their four teams had registered rather late.
They were basically placed near the end of the one hundred and nineteen teams.
Because of that, Fairy Tail did not actually affect too many teams.
The teams placed in the circle around them were mostly also teams that had registered late, and most of them were not particularly strong to begin with.
The problem was that precisely because those teams were not strong, they probably would not even think about fighting Fairy Tail.
They would definitely avoid them, which would greatly increase the difficulty for Fairy Tail to collect the map fragments.
"All right! I declare the preliminary round officially open! Begin!"
King Toma did not waste time or give everyone more room to think.
He immediately announced the start of the preliminary round.
Bang!
With an explosive signal, the preliminary round officially began.
The moment the signal sounded, all one hundred and nineteen teams charged up the stone staircases in front of them and rushed toward the enormous floating labyrinth.
"Marco-kun, everyone! Please protect the safety of the contestants!"
After all the teams entered the floating labyrinth, King Toma turned again to Marco and the assembled Guild Masters, making his request.
Quite a few "safety officers" had already been stationed throughout the floating labyrinth, but their strength was not enough to suppress powerful mages.
If someone truly got carried away, then strong mages would have to step in and restrain them.
That was the job of Marco and the Guild Masters.
Of course, before the official safety officers requested help, the Guild Masters were not allowed to interfere casually.
This was also to avoid suspicion of favoritism.
Once a safety officer asked for help, however, that basically meant the situation had gone out of control.
At that point, the Guild Masters could act immediately.
Any team that refused to obey would be disqualified on the spot and might even be banned from participating for the next few years.
That punishment was quite severe.
Because of that, everyone would be extra careful and absolutely not lose control. At the very least, no one could aim to take another person's life.
Also, no matter what the safety officers said, as long as they intervened, the contestants had to stop as quickly as possible.
Nobody wanted to risk violating the rules.
The Fairy Tail members exchanged glances and immediately reached a mutual understanding.
Getting disqualified because of this rule would be far too unfair.
Of Fairy Tail's four participating teams, Teams A and B were the most highly favored.
Barring any accidents, they should definitely advance.
Team A consisted of Lucy, Hisui, Juvia, Levy, Wendy, and Cana.
Team B consisted of Freed, Bickslow, Evergreen, Gajeel, Elfman, and Lisanna.
Looking at those lineups, even if the two teams acted separately, they could crush most other teams and easily gather the map.
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