sovbooks Chapter 382 Speedrun through the Maze, My Chapter, Cover!
Chapter 382 Speedrun through the Maze, My Chapter, Cover!
Chapter 382 Speedrun through the Maze, My Turn, Face Down!
Inside the aerial maze, Chase's team stood on a square, empty platform, surveying their surroundings.
The winding staircase resembles the branches of a giant tree, with simple doors like fruits growing on those branches. Pushing them open leads to a kaleidoscope space where everything is completely upside down, making it easy to get lost.
"Exploring the route step by step in the normal way seems unlikely to gain an advantage—" Mira frowned in the future.
Mira still needs to adapt to the little devil abilities she just received, so she will be the one to participate in this qualifier.
Similarly, Gajeel and Juvia are also counterparts of the future world.
Gajeel, on Chess's side, had awakened his dragon power before Tenrou Island due to the abuse he suffered at the hands of his master, the Dragon Slayer Swordsman. He was currently vomiting uncontrollably in the hotel's toilet.
That's right, anything that moves, even buildings on the ground, can be considered a "vehicle" for Dragon Slayer mages.
、
In the future, Gajeel even mocked Gajeel for being just like the Fire Dragon, little did he know that he would experience the same feeling in the tank project in a couple of days.
"I'm sorry, I should have brought the compass with me beforehand," Juvia said apologetically.
"Hehe, I just saw another team drawing up a map of their lost route." A sinister smile appeared on Future Gajeel's nail-studded face.
That's exactly what Team A is doing right now: plundering other people's maps to piece together the structure of the entire aerial maze faster and find the exit!
"Captain, what do you think?" Future Laxus looked at the motionless Chase.
Even now, he still feels lingering fear when he thinks about yesterday's one-on-one match, and he highly recognizes Chase's strength as captain.
At the same time, he also wanted to see if this Fairy Tail guy from another world had a better and more comprehensive plan.
"How else can we see it? We just have to use our eyes!"
Chess stretched his limbs, stepped forward to the edge of the white platform, and said, "Didn't Pumpkin Head just say that there are no restrictions on any magic? In other words, flying magic can also be used."
Stealing maps from other teams is indeed one way to speedrun the Sky Maze, but it's still too slow and troublesome.
"That's right! Using flight magic is much faster than being carried by the road!" Mira suddenly realized.
Apart from Juvia, most of the others on their side have some level of flying skills.
"But even if flying magic is allowed, it would be very difficult to find your way in this upside-down, enclosed spherical maze, wouldn't it?" Future Juvia asked.
Since the organizers decided to use this method as the preliminary round of the Grand Magic Games, they must have considered corresponding countermeasures.
"That makes it even simpler."
Chase took a deep breath, clenched his magic-infused fist, and said matter-of-factly, "If there's no road, then we'll forge one ourselves!"
boom!!
As Laxus and the others watched in stunned silence, the dark golden beam of light erupted, crushing all the stairwells and rooms in its path to dust.
It runs through the entire spherical maze!
The hollow passageway, with stones constantly collapsing and falling, suddenly came into view.
Chess smiled and pointed to the center of the spherical maze: "See, the direction is clear now, isn't it?"
"Well, that's really simple and brutal—." Future Laxus's lips twitched.
Compared to the person in front of him, he suddenly felt that he was still too conventional.
"Oh my, to hear such sentiments from Laxus, who once started a civil war." Mira covered her mouth and chuckled.
"Noisy, so noisy!" Future Laxus arrogantly turned his face away. The next second, a dark golden halo enveloped them, along with the stunned Future Gajeel and Future Juvia.
With a wave of his hand, Chess sent the five of them flying straight into the center of the maze, disappearing into a burst of white light.
"Then, who are those guys?"
"Damn it! They've ruined my path!"
"Wait, Captain! Thanks to them, the exit from the maze has appeared!"
Gazing at the hollow passage leading directly to the end, the nearby guild mages were instantly filled with ecstasy.
However, before they could take any action, the entire aerial labyrinth lit up with a giant magic circle, reorganizing its internal structure.
This is a hidden rule in the qualifiers: this mechanism is triggered whenever a team reaches the center area.
This will both increase the difficulty of the competition and eliminate some weak teams that rely on luck!
Meanwhile, Chess and his companions had arrived in a fictional scene with blue skies and white clouds.
Walking on the surface of the clouds, they had a vast, lush land above them, with the mountain ranges, rivers, and lakes clearly visible.
This place is like an independent little world, not only upside down, but even the direction of gravity is constantly changing in stages!
To be fair, the Fiore royal family is indeed wealthy and powerful; such a gesture is truly remarkable.
However, this obviously couldn't stop Chase's team from moving forward.
The dark golden light curtain representing flight magic shone once more, and Chase defied gravity, carrying Mira and the others away from the sky, across the land, and straight towards the exit of the maze located on the vast sea!
In front of a wooden door with colorful lights that read "GOAL".
Pumpkin-headed Madon, also known as King Thomas E. Fiore of the Kingdom of Fiore, stood at the door, watching with amusement as the five members of Chase descended from the sky, his eyes wide with disbelief.
Less than two minutes into the qualifiers, a team has already cleared the stage, and it's Fairy Tail no less!
How the hell did these guys do that?
That was an aerial maze that I painstakingly designed over three nights!
"Feeding Pumpkin Head, is this the end?"
Chase's words brought him back to reality.
"Ahem, that's right."
Pumpkin Head suppressed his shock and confusion, coughing twice to cover his embarrassment. "Chess, Laxus, Mirajane, Juvia, Gajeel..."
"Congratulations on passing the qualifiers and becoming the first team to arrive here!"
After speaking, he carefully examined the five people opposite him with his eyes hidden in the pumpkin headgear, but he did not see the expected cheers and joy.
Little did he know that in the future, Laxus and his companions were just as confused and bewildered as he was: they hadn't even felt anything yet, and it was already over?
Faster than Jeter!
The sense of participation is practically zero!
Chase, however, was thinking about other things.
"Shouldn't we have to go through this door to be considered officially admitted?" he asked.
"That's the rule, but for you standing here, it's no different from passing through, Pumpkin," said Pumpkin Head.
Once he calmed down, his standard catchphrase reappeared.
"No, no, no, the difference is huge, after all, our other team hasn't arrived yet." Chase smiled slyly.
"Pumpkin?" Pumpkin Head tilted his head in confusion.
"Hey, could it be..." Future Laxus seemed to have guessed something.
"Ara ara." Mira burst out laughing.
"There is ample time before leaving the examination room as a successful candidate."
Chase flicked a deck of cards through his fingers and chuckled, "We have to leave a little surprise for the other teams!"
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Team A will most likely adopt a similar progression strategy to the original story, and even if they don't finish last, they will at least be at the bottom of the rankings.
His goal is for Fairy Tail's A and B teams to make a crushing entrance, washing away their humiliation and igniting the entire arena!
"That sounds really good!" Future Laxus clenched his fist, which was pulsating with electric energy.
Since we've already come all this way, it would be a real shame to go back without doing anything.
"Hehe, things are getting interesting~" Future Gajeel was eager to try.
Faced with the choice between sabotaging other teams and clearing the game on the spot, he unhesitatingly chose the former.
As for Mira in the future—
Hmm, the cunning girl is already plotting what kind of trap to set.
"Alright, now it's our turn. Get ready to cover your cards!"
"Ooh ooh ooh ooh!"
"Ahhh, Juvia is going to leave a huge heart for Lord Gray~"
"Idiot! Wouldn't that expose us?!"
"How about we build them a Thunder Palace?"
"Oh dear, the other contestants didn't deserve to die~"