Wow! The item-dropping rate is really high!

"Didn't your intelligence report say that only Bai E, the general, was worth paying attention to? What's going on here?" The observer from the Imperial City asked the messenger squad beside him in a deep voice.

"We don't know either..." The captain of the messenger squad looked utterly perplexed. "During the campaign when they attacked the Bug Nest, we were present the whole time. Aside from Bai E, the City Lord, the other warriors were indeed nothing exceptional. Cities all over the world seemed to be on the same level."

Looking at the warriors in the arena, their strength, speed, reaction abilities, and resistance were all maxed out. The observer was incredulous. "You call warriors of this caliber 'average'?"

Warriors who could use pure physical power to suppress the soldiers of Sea City—there weren't many even in the Imperial City, let alone the fact that these warriors from Blackwater City wore strange, deep-blue battle armor.

Since it had been used only once, no one was able to understand more about the characteristics of this armor. However, its powerful combat capability, which could slice through mecha in one strike, left every city eagerly envious.

Most cities believed the cost of deploying that battle armor was too steep. Even Blackwater City, which owned such technology, dared not use it casually. Otherwise, they could simply wear the armor and crush their way forward—there'd be no need for hard-fought regional contests like this.

Only the people from the Imperial City, forewarned by the War God, never believed Blackwater City would be so straightforward.

The truth revealed that their warriors actually possessed overwhelming strength.

And for them, the armor might not even entail much of a cost.

"Crack, crack, crack~"

After enduring a prolonged, grueling struggle, even the naturally mutated and uniquely gifted warriors of Sea City finally collapsed, limp and motionless, at the hands of the Blackwater City warriors emanating ferocity from every pore.

Looking at the five warriors who stood tall in the arena, the captain of Jialai City, a former opponent of Blackwater City, felt a chill seep through his being, as if plunged into an ice cellar.

'Damn it! What insanity possessed me at that time to dare demand their surrender?'

'Those bastards from Grey Iron City! They must have long known Blackwater City's strength and deliberately withheld the information, causing us to lose a mecha! Curse their treachery!'

Five to zero.

Against Sea City's warriors, Blackwater City didn't even let them reach the team battle stage.

It was about asserting dominance in an overwhelming, crushing manner—to show the opponent who the true boss was.

The Imperial City's observation throughout the regional contest proved to be highly accurate. Among the five groups, each group's seeded cities easily won their rounds and fully secured qualification for the Supreme Council.

The only variable lay in the two similarly ferocious groups of berserkers.

Eternal Night City and Beast Fury Isle.

These two cities, with similar aggressive fighting styles and equally merciless strength, finally faced off in the last match of the group stage.

The ten warriors stepping onto the ring were equally silent and reserved. However, the warriors from Eternal Night City seemed leaner, each exuding an aura as deep and inscrutable as an abyss.

The warriors from Beast Fury Isle radiated an exuberant energy. The zealous attention from the other cities surrounding them made them even more ecstatic, cheering brazenly, baring their chests, and letting out aimless howls.

They even bore some resemblance to those hulking green-skinned dimwits.

Bai E stood not far away and shook his head, refocusing his gaze on Eternal Night City's warriors.

Their presence made him uneasy.

On his first day arriving at the Imperial City, Bai E had felt an eerie sensation triggered by the "Bug Race Slayer" within him.

Initially, he thought it was the people of the Imperial City experimenting with bugs and didn't give it much thought.

But over the course of several competition days, the perception stemming from the Bug Race Slayer brought him increasingly peculiar experiences.

It felt as if... every time he drew close to certain competing cities—or perhaps certain individuals—the sensation intensified significantly.

In fact, the Bug Race Slayer's ability to locate the Bug Race relied on this very kind of proximity-based perceptive intensity to guide Bai E in pinpointing targets.

And now, after multiple rounds of matches, Bai E finally locked onto his target—Eternal Night City!

An aura far stronger than that of mantis bugs emanated distinctly from Eternal Night City's participants!

Had they employed even more extreme genetic modification technology than Blackwater City?

Or was it something else?

But bugs were still bugs, and humans were unequivocally human.

Regardless of how humans were modified, it shouldn't logically trigger the Bug Race Slayer's targeted perception.

What exactly was going on?

Bai E wasn't sure about it either.

But he wanted to observe closely.

In the arena, the warriors from Eternal Night City and Beast Fury Isle had already begun their intense clash.

The personalities of the two cities' warriors were equally reticent, with their fighting styles differing only in subtle ways.

Eternal Night City's warriors were bloodthirsty and ruthless, their movements swift, precise, and lethally effective. Once they drew blood, they would pursue their enemy relentlessly.

Beast Fury Isle's warriors fought with grand, wide-open movements; the pain from their own injuries seemed only to fuel their combat prowess further. Injuries on themselves or their opponents spurred them to fight harder and grow even more frenzied.

Their confrontation became a true clash of titans, unfolding with staggering brutality.

For a moment, Bai E even mistook it for a battle between orcs and bugs.

And as expected by everyone, the outcome of this individual match was predictably grim—Eternal Night City 2:3 Beast Fury Isle.

The final team battle would become the decisive core of their rivalry.

"Who do you think will win?" A man hidden under a cloak suddenly appeared beside Bai E. The few strands of golden hair escaping from his hood gave away his identity—the War God.