Katherine closed her eyes and drifted into unconsciousness. Zachary's hand remained in her chest, healing her until he was sure she would survive.

"How does she know we have to fight Aaron?" Wander asked.

"She doesn't, it's still a random draw."

"What if we have back luck?"

"..." Zachary didn't know what to say to that so he changed the subject, "At least, she got rid of that snake for the rest of us. I don't know where Aaron managed to find an Ensouled with electric abilities, those are rare."

"What is electric?" Wander asked.

"Combining Eternum of different elements can produce strange effects and stronger abilities. In this case, fire and sky attributes produce electric abilities."

"Oh, you mean skyfire? Why didn't you just say that?" Wander snorted, "Skyfire nothing special. Just a cheap trick."

Zachary rolled his eyes.

After a little while, he stopped healing Katherine and stood up. The captain was calling for the competitors of the next duel. The field had been cleared. The two tiger corpses had been taken away by the republic soldiers. There were no signs of the previous battle except for the bloodstained ground.

"Watch her for me?" He asked Heather as he passed her.

"Okay."

"Aaron might try something. Be careful."

She gave him a shove, "Worry about yourself, go."

He walked onto the dueling field, silent gazes following his every step. His steps were steady. His expression didn't give away anything. He had experienced a fair number of duels in his youth, before Yaoyao became too strong. He also participated in a few recreational duels during the first few months of university life.

Seojun of Riverside Village eyed him from across the field. The audience eyed them both. Every duel was important. Aside from life and death, what each summoner revealed was critical for potential opponents in the next round.

"Ooooh! We finally get to fight!" Wander said excitedly, "What's our plan?"

"Like we discussed, win without revealing our full strength," Zachary replied.

He could not bring out Wander in the first round and he also did not want to use Doro. Objectively, they were his strongest summons. If he could save them for the second round, he would have a big advantage.

"Our team is strong in many aspects, we can wait for the opponent to show their hand first," He said.

"Cool, cool!" Wander replied.

"Summoners ready?" The captain struck the bell, "Begin!"

Seojun moved first and four rays of light shot out of his brow. The first beast was a bristly worm the size of a dog. The long white hairs that covered it from head to toe swayed as it wriggled. It was disgusting to look at, causing many people to shudder involuntarily. The second ray of light turned into a poison frog. It was bright yellow with orange spots, as big as a pomelo fruit, all around a very deadly and competent creature. The third was a vine demon. It stood as tall as a person and three times as wide. Its vines were thick and heavy, capable of snaring large beasts. The last summon was a treant. It was somewhat unremarkable compared to the treants Zachary had seen before, just an average treant that could be found throughout the jungle. All four were adept rank Ensouled.

Zachary, along with every other experienced summoner, analyzed Seojun's lineup within just a few glances. The treant and vine demon were simple creatures. They were slow but strong, providing good defense and close-range control. Although the bristly worm was a little strange, since it was summoned together with the poison frog, everyone naturally assumed that these were long-range attackers. Strong defense and long-range offense, this was a standard tactic used by summoners all across the world.

Zachary decided to respond with the same tactic and brought out two summons, Elmont and Voodoo.

"Two? Two summons? Are you looking down on me?" Seojun asked, his voice carrying clearly across the dueling field.

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Zachary crossed his arms, "I am. I am looking down on you. What are you going to do about it?"

Seojun's face flashed with anger and indignation. He immediately commanded his summons to attack without much thought. Four against two, there was nothing too complicated about it.

"Fire everything, kill him!"

The poison frog croaked loudly and let loose a volley of poison spitballs.

Pu! Pu! Pu!

The attack arced in the air beautifully... landed harmlessly on the ground. It was too far away. The two sides were over eighty meters apart but the frog's attack range was not even seventy.

The bristly worm also attacked. It let out a strange gurgling sound as Its body shook all over and several long hairs shot out like arrows. These flew much farther and the aim was pretty good.

"Elmont, vine shield." Zachary commanded.

The treant groaned and extended an arm into the air. The vines covering its body grew rapidly, forming a circular living shield.

Thuk!

Thuk! Thuk!

About half of the bristly arrows landed on the ground while the other half hit Elmont's shield. One arrow managed to pierce through but only barely and it had lost all of its momentum by then. The rest were all blocked.

"Our turn. Voodoo, time to show off."

Voodoo opened its fearsome mouth and let loose with a continuous stream of poison spitballs. Unlike the poison frog, Voodoo's poison attack flew faster, farther, and was even more accurate. It was a deadly, unceasing rainstorm that fell only where it needed to.

Seojun cursed and took cover with his poison frog and bristle worm. His treant blocked the poison rain with its body while the vine demon created a similar shield to Elmont. If he had chosen a different tactic, if he could ride his summons as Katherine had done, he wouldn't have to get hit like this. However, with summons like the treant and the vine demon, he had no other choice.

Where drops of poison landed, thick bark and heavy vines started to rot with visible speed. Both Ensouled started to groan in pain as the poison rain continued. There was no end to it and the two summons could only bear the punishment with their bodies.

"Wow... What kind of worm is that?"

"Is that a new species?"

Voodoo's power and stamina astonished everyone. A summon that could suppress four opponents by itself was a rare talent. Those who had originally doubted Zachary's competence when he only brought out two summons were fully convinced. If he could win the duel like this, he would be even more impressive than Aaron.

"Damn it! Damn it!" Seojun muttered as he hid behind the vine demon.

Being humiliated like this was something no summoner could bear.

"Push forward!" He commanded.

His treant and vine demon lumbered toward Zachary through the poison rain. They accrued more and more damage as the distance closed, causing their groans to grow louder and louder.

"It's fine. Keep going!" He urged even though he could see that it was not fine.

The treant and vine demon were slow to begin with but their steps got even slower as their bodies rotted from the poison. The treant's heavy bark was falling off piece by piece while the vine demon struggled to regrow the vines that had fallen off.

"When will it end? How long can it keep going like this?" He muttered to no one in particular.

He couldn't poke his head out as long as the poison attack continued. His summons couldn't retaliate.

Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, Voodoo stopped to take a breather.

"Finally!" Seojun shouted and sent his bristly worm and poison frog out again, "Shoot! Shoot them!"

Thuk! Thuk! Thuk!

Pu! Pu! Pu!

This time, both attacks landed on Elmont's shield. Several barbed white arrows poked their way through the vines while the frog's poison had a similar corrosive effect to Voodoo's poison, albeit with much less potency.

"Elmont increase the thickness of the vine shield," Zachary instructed.

"Grrr... alright."

"Voodoo, are you slacking off on me?"

The worm hissed back at him, "Shut up! I'll kill you after I kill them!"

After a few more deep breaths, Voodoo resumed its attack. Purple poison once again fell down like heavy summer rain and Seojun had to once again dive for cover. This time around, his treant and vine demon were already heavily wounded. Their bodies were rotted and broken. They couldn't bear much more punishment.

Seojun cursed and summoned another creature. He also recalled the treant and the vine demon before they died. His fifth adept rank was a huge rhinoceros beetle with a shiny gray shell. It was so big that several people could comfortably take shelter beneath it. As for Voodoo's attacks, they hit the beetle's metallic shell and slid off without much effect. It seemed impervious to such poison abilities.

Zachary frowned at this development. Such a strange beetle with such a strong shell, this thing had to be Seojun's ace. If it wasn't, his ranking would have been much higher than fifteenth. As long as Zachary could deal with this beetle, the duel was over.

"Flash, let's go!" He called out.

A ray of white light emerged from his brow. Flash, the giant seagull, appeared in midair. It flapped its wings and looked around, squawking loudly.

Zachary pointed to the shiny beetle, "Over there, there's food beneath it."

"Food! Where!" Upon hearing there was food, the giant seagull took off.

Zachary shook his head. As a newly captured summon, he couldn't rely on it for complicated tasks. That was why Aaron's seagull performed so badly during the previous duel. However, food was instinctive. The seagull already knew how to hunt so he only needed to point in the right direction.

Flash flew across the field and crashed into the metallic beetle. The beetle was strong and resisted the impact easily. Flash poked the bug with its sharp beak but it was futile. It was like trying to hit a nail against a rock.

"The food is hiding beneath it!" Zachary shouted.

Enlightened, Flash used its substantial strength and smacked the beetle with its wings. After a few blows, the beetle was pushed onto its side. One more hit and it finally flipped over onto its back, its six legs wriggling helplessly.

"Food!" The giant bird squawked happily.

"Ahhh!"

Seojun's scream of terror was cut short as Flash's beak smashed his head into a pulp.

The bell rang.

The duel was over.