Chapter 556: Bloodshed in the Maze

Blood dripped.

Yenir calmly shook the blood off his hand.

Though almost imperceptible, the crisp plink of blood droplets rang shockingly harsh in the silent maze.

“Six people…”

“There’s another team—four of them—hiding behind the wall to the right ahead…”

After murmuring a few words to himself, Yenir’s hand flashed with white light as he swiftly stripped every piece of equipment off the corpse.

According to the contest rules—or rather, the unspoken rules.

Once he’d eliminated his opponent, all those items became his spoils.

Even if the meager gear on Third-Stage contestants wasn’t impressive, every scrap of loot counted.

After a brief delay, Yenir casually moved on to the next team.

On the ground, from a brutally shattered corpse, deep red blood seeped slowly; in the pooling scarlet, his silhouette was reflected.

As he approached the next team, Yenir pondered the order in which to strike them down.

If it weren’t for the need to keep his power discreet, at his pace he could wipe them all out in no more than twenty minutes.

Even against a Gang Alliance of twenty-seven clustered opponents, he could effortlessly dispatch them the moment they made contact!

“Tone down your power a bit…”

“Strength and speed can exceed the norm, but if you directly counter an attack, it’ll be too obvious.”

“Pick them off in groups—act like assassination is your specialty?”

“Of course, you still need to use a weapon.”

“Swish.”

Turning a corner, the sound of a dagger slicing through the air erupted as it flipped into view.

But this time, it immediately alerted an entire squad.

After rounding the corner, four nearby contestants paused in confusion—then, the moment they saw Yenir standing alone, delighted expressions briefly crossed their faces.

Alone? At this hour, how could they still find someone isolated?

However…

In an instant, just as they recognized Yenir’s deceptive guise, a surge of unease washed over them.

Was that the notoriously brutal Ye Ze Ming!?

Before they could think further, the four exploded in radiant light, displaying the composure that true Awakeners possess.

“Attack! Take him out first, then decide what to do!”

Unlike their usual restraint with other contestants, facing Yenir—who had already dispatched so many—their only thought was to kill him outright!

Yet, ideals are always just dreams.

“Boom!!”

Accompanied by a piercing sonic blast, one lead contestant suddenly felt a searing pain in his chest.

Reflexively, he lowered his head and saw a hand that had, without warning, pierced straight through his heart.

“Bang!!!”

It was like something out of a nightmare—a demon in the flesh.

In her final, terrified moments, she could only watch in disbelief.

Beyond anyone’s reaction time, moments after impaling her, Yenir vanished—transforming into a fleeting, lethal shadow.

………………

“My God!! So fast! Too fast! What did we just witness?!”

In the commentary room, one astonished scream followed another.

From the moment Yenir struck the first red dot, the Middle-Aged Awakened commentator shrieked repeatedly, as if in a fit of childlike terror.

About three minutes earlier, the red dot representing “Ye Ze Ming” had been devouring everything like a black hole—each time it neared another dot, dozens disappeared.

“Three waves! Four consecutive waves taking out eighteen people!”

“Amaterasu above! Doesn’t he need a break?! Just how strong is he?!”

“Can someone please explain what’s happening in there?!”

He couldn’t help but sit up abruptly.

When the commentator saw Yenir’s red dot engulf a new one, a shiver of unspeakable dread took root in his heart.

Even though it was his duty to survey every move in the arena,

from the moment Yenir began his assault, his attention was fixed solely on him!

Under Yenir’s performance, the other contestants were hardly worth watching!

Everyone chose the safest option—staying put and waiting for other squads to collide—except for Yenir, who now rampaged like a monster!

Even without the visuals, he could easily imagine the fate of every contestant who clashed with Yenir in the maze!

Cold sweat broke out.

So far, just over sixty contestants had been eliminated—and nearly half of them fell by Yenir’s hand!

Fortunately, after dispatching the fourth group, the red dot representing Yenir seemed to tire and finally halted.

At that moment, three commentators in the room exhaled deeply, as if the grip around their hearts had finally loosened.

“Ladies and gentlemen! As you can see, Lord Ye Ze Ming is likely already exhausted!”

“The red dot he represents has finally stopped!”

“Forgive my astonishment! This is simply unbelievable! Lord Ye Ze Ming is by far the most formidable contestant I’ve ever seen in this selection!”

“But note, Lord Ye Ze Ming is in grave danger right now—there are about six squads surrounding him, each with over ten combatants!”

“I suspect that Lord Ye Ze Ming might have realized the enormous threat closing in on him, forcing him to pause temporarily.”

He lavished praise without reserve; survivors in the Japanese Battle Zone naturally revere the strong.

Before he knew it, even the commentator realized he had strayed from an impartial account.

Inside the commentary room, the three watched Yenir suddenly come to a halt with tense expressions. Strangely, one couldn’t hold back and, with a grim face, said:

“Can someone take him out?!”

“Now, with six squads surrounding him, even if Lord Ye Ze Ming is incredibly powerful, he’s in a desperate situation!”

“I admit, he’s unbelievably strong! But if this massacre continues, public outrage is inevitable!”

“This is just a selection contest! I wonder if Lord Ye Ze Ming will regret expending so much energy when he faces a ten-man squad?!”

“They’re here! They’re closing in! One squad seems to have spotted her!!”

Excitement suddenly surged.

However, the other two commentators looked on in shock as one, his tone laced with hostility, suddenly became animated.

As if more thrilled than anyone else, he leapt to his feet, his eyes locked intently on the electronic map.

Unlike the others, who marveled at Yenir’s prowess, he could only wish for Yenir’s immediate demise!

It wasn’t personal—he had bet on a squad that Yenir had long ago eliminated! In fact, he had even placed a last-minute wager on Yenir’s downfall!

He acknowledged that Yenir was outrageously strong, but that only fueled an inexplicable surge of envy within him!

He cared not if his actions seemed out of line.

In his excitement, he completely ignored his colleagues and bellowed with unbridled enthusiasm:

“They’ve made contact! Even though we can’t see the footage, it’s clear this squad reacted incredibly fast—they were the first to strike Lord Ye Ze Ming! We can see the red dot representing the captain of the Jade Serpent Squad hurtling towards…!!”

“Wait!”

Mid-commentary, the third commentator—who had been riding a wave of excitement—suddenly froze in astonishment.

In his view, the ten red dots that had initially spotted Yenir and closed in unitedly suddenly dimmed by three, as if malfunctioning.

Meanwhile, with an even more terrifying kill rate, Yenir’s red dot appeared like a phantom behind everyone in an instant.

It was nothing more than a few pixel-sized red dots.

Yet at that moment, he felt as though he was witnessing an utterly horrifying scene.

Thirteen seconds later, the battle was over.

The red dot representing “Ye Ze Ming” seemed to halt, its indifferent gaze watching as the surrounding dots vanished one by one like dead light bulbs.

It was as if a single strike had wiped out everyone.

………………

Half an hour later.

Pale-faced, whether in awe of Yenir’s performance, seething with hostility, or part of the official middle management, they all stared at the electronic map with agape mouths and grim expressions.

To them, the red dot representing Yenir was like a monster, rampaging relentlessly from start to finish.

Out of three hundred contestants, the number had now plummeted to under one hundred.

Over forty-two Awakeners had been personally eliminated by Yenir!

And that number kept climbing.

“Sir! Should we call off the competition? Too many are dying—this is excessive!!!”

“What on earth is Lord Ye Ze Ming’s power?! Is his Spirit Energy infinite?!”

“If more fall, we won’t have any explanation for the major powers!”

He swallowed hard.

A host in a white uniform could only be filled with sheer horror.

Although over a hundred had been eliminated on paper, Lord Ye Ze Ming had only killed just over forty—not even half the expected count.

But remember, this was an unlimited selection where deaths were permitted! Usually, when contestants were eliminated, they were either gravely injured or conceded on their own!

After all, they were all Third-Stage—who didn’t risk their lives?!

Yet any contestant who crossed paths with Lord Ye Ze Ming wasn’t even given a moment to surrender!

This meant that the fatalities caused by Yenir alone accounted for over seventy percent of the total.

This was no contest—it was a massacre!

Unable to fathom the terror of Yenir’s power, they dared not let the competition continue!

“Yes, sir! If he continues, our Battle Zone will suffer massive losses! I suggest we immediately report this to the higher-ups and call off the selection!”

Staring fixedly at the electronic map and listening to his subordinates’ terrified voices, the senior organizer of the Divine Warrior Project in the Nagasaki Battle Zone took a deep breath.

“Wait a little longer! Abruptly calling off the competition will only cause external doubts about our selection process!”

“Give it a bit more time! If it truly becomes untenable, I’ll report to the higher-ups!”

…………..

Seven minutes later.

As if witnessing a ghost, after watching Yenir seemingly devour a seventeen-person squad over roughly three minutes—while the Middle-Aged Man had tried not to upset the overall order—he could no longer hold back and immediately called the higher-ups.

He couldn’t fathom why the sudden appearance of Lord Ye Ze Ming was so overwhelmingly powerful.

But he knew that if the competition continued any longer, the opponent would soon obliterate the entire selection!

A genius—and above all, a ruthless demon with an insatiable bloodlust!