After completing one hit, Zhao Mu slipped away. The night was long, and he had plenty of time to play with the enemy slowly; he wasn't in a rush at all.
Golden Elephant City sent two teams to look for Zhao Mu, but by the time they arrived, where was Zhao Mu's shadow?
Instead, the ten of them huddled together, fearing Zhao Mu's arrows, forcing the Shield and Sword Wielders to raise their shields and protect themselves with Spiritual Power.
In the darkness, they were practically ten shimmering blue targets.
But Zhao Mu still didn't move; instead, he squinted his eyes and stared at them.
Seeing the indentations left by the stones pried up on the ground, the ten men were furious, but since they couldn't find Zhao Mu, they could only retreat cautiously.
After returning to the camp, the wooden walls they had painstakingly built were also destroyed, further terrifying everyone.
"Young Master Jin, what should we do?"
Everyone looked helplessly at Golden Elephant City, and some people were already starting to complain in their hearts.
If Golden Elephant City hadn't insisted on hunting Zhao Mu and leaked the news, how could someone come and cause trouble for their Large Corps?
Unless absolutely necessary, no one would dare provoke such a large group willingly; nobody was looking for trouble.
Golden Elephant City's head was aching terribly at this moment. He wasn't an immortal; what better solution could he possibly have?
In the dark night, sacrificing a portion of the people to ensure the safety of the rest was actually the safest option.
If they acted rashly, the entire Large Corps would fall apart.
After all, few Trial Participants with real strength were willing to be Golden Elephant City's subordinates.
In fact, most of the personnel in this Large Corps had mediocre Aptitude.
He gritted his teeth and said, "No matter what, we cannot act rashly before 3 o'clock!"
"In that case, this time we will all draw lots to decide the patrol sequence. No matter who draws a lot, they cannot back out!"
Everyone gritted their teeth; there was no better solution.
Golden Elephant City made the lots. After everyone drew, those who were chosen turned pale, while those who weren't felt a great sense of relief.
But there was no alternative; they still had to act according to the agreement.
So the others continued to sit down, resting with their eyes closed, back to back, but no one dared to sleep too soundly.
The people responsible for patrolling cautiously moved along the periphery.
Zhao Mu wasn't anxious at all; he simply waited silently.
The patrolling Trial Participants were extremely nervous, terrified that arrows might fly toward them from some dark direction.
Therefore, their bodies were tense, covering their skin with Spiritual Power to prevent Zhao Mu from instantly killing them with a single arrow.
The consequence of this was that they would tire more easily.
Moreover, Spirit Power Users in the Fighting Fang stage don't have much Spiritual Energy in their bodies and simply cannot withstand such consumption.
Before long, someone was too exhausted to hold on, their spirit flagging, and they had to stop using Spiritual Power for protection.
This was exactly the moment Zhao Mu was waiting for.
In any case, he was relaxed, and his energy was abundant.
"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!"
Two arrows shot out. His arrows were too fast and too accurate, and by the time the mentally exhausted patrol members noticed the arrows coming, it was too late to block them.
"Thud!" "Thud!"
Two more Trial Participants fell to the ground, cleanly and swiftly.
After succeeding, Zhao Mu did not hesitate at all, turning around and leaving immediately.
Back at the camp, there was another bout of wailing and howling. The people who had just settled down to rest quickly opened their eyes, made a commotion, but no one dared to come out and pursue him.
Golden Elephant City gritted his teeth, intending in his heart to use human lives to exhaust Zhao Mu's arrows.
In the end, they had no choice but to return to their positions.
The patrolling Trial Participants' eyes were bloodshot. Due to excessive fear, their nerves were so tense that they would shout in fright at the slightest sound of wind or grass rustling.
After this happened repeatedly, those who had intended to rest couldn't get any proper rest at all.
Zhao Mu was a patient hunter. He waited until the enemy quieted down before appearing leisurely, hitting only two people each time, and then decisively leaving.
The interval between each attack was different, sometimes more than ten minutes, sometimes only a few minutes.
Under this tactic, the 12 arrows in his quiver were finally used up, and 12 people from Golden Elephant City's Large Corps were eliminated.
Golden Elephant City helplessly told everyone, "He couldn't possibly carry too many arrows on him; they should all be used up by now."
As he spoke, he sighed, looking at the Trial Participants lying unconscious on the ground, clearly unable to fight anymore.
"No one else can call forfeit for them. Let them stay here and wait for the time limit to end."
After he finished speaking, even without Golden Elephant City having to point it out, someone walked over, collected the number tags from their bodies, and handed them to Golden Elephant City.
"I'll hold onto these number tags for now, and they will be distributed according to everyone's contributions after the trial ends. Don't worry, I won't mistreat any of my good brothers!"
Golden Elephant City said to the crowd, holding up the number tags.
At this point, everyone didn't really trust Golden Elephant City anymore, but no one dared to voice an objection.
Golden Elephant City curled his lips.
Zhao Mu's actions seemed to bring panic, but Golden Elephant City was quite happy to see it.
Originally, he hadn't planned on bringing so many people through the trial together.
Now that some were cleared out, it saved him the trouble of doing it himself... After using up his arrows, Zhao Mu wasn't foolish enough to charge into close combat.
He turned and left. Calculating the time, it wasn't long until the second contraction of the battle zone.
Golden Elephant City's Large Corps had lost over a dozen people to him and hadn't gotten proper rest, greatly reducing their combat strength.
This way, the threat to Zhao Mu was also significantly reduced. He needed to go find more arrows.
"After 3 AM, everyone will gather in the final battle zone. It's going to be lively then!"
Zhao Mu narrowed his eyes.
Everyone seemed to be waiting for 3 AM, accumulating their physical strength. Moreover, besides Zhao Mu, no lunatic dared to move around casually in such pitch-black surroundings.
Zhao Mu returned to the area where he first stayed. He was most familiar with that place, and no one would ambush him there.
He climbed up a tree, closed his eyes, and began using [Spiritual Energy Rotation] to restore his depleted Spiritual Power.
Dou Level 2, the total amount of Spiritual Power in his body was still too little to withstand several uses.
However, his speed of Meditation was very fast now. He only needed to enter a state of Meditation, and he could recover his depleted Spiritual Power in about ten minutes.
After replenishing his Spiritual Power, he slowly moved uphill along that area.
Soon, he crossed the boundary line and arrived at the Upper Region.
As soon as he arrived here, he saw several puddles of blood on the ground. It seemed some time had passed, and the blood had already dried up.
One could imagine what kind of fierce, bloody battle had taken place in this hilltop area previously.
Those Trial Participants who thought they were clever rushed toward the commanding height, only to be hunted down by others with the same goal.
Zhao Mu slowly blinked his eyes, not rushing to act.
From here further up the mountain, the slope was about 300 meters long. There weren't many trees at the summit, and he remembered the top being an area close to a platform, where cover might exist, but not much.
That was the commanding height of the mountain top, a location that military strategists must contend for.
From a commanding position, they would have the absolute advantage whether in close combat or archery.
Of course, many people were eyeing that area covetously, and reaching the summit wouldn't be easy.
Advance Chapters avilable on patreon (Obito_uchiha)