Seeing his first plan fail, Finn's face darkened. He gave the order, and suddenly, dozens of drowned dead rose from the sea, charging toward the Radiant Knight Commander.
Lex watched them, her face calm. She'd been ambushed so many times by the moles that she could see this trick coming a mile away. The drowned king was charging right at her knight—he was planning to fight to the death.
She didn't hesitate. She ordered her ranged units to fire, while the knight pulled back, avoiding the charge.
Finn: ???What the hell? Why was this guy running? He was a fourth-order knight! Was he really that cowardly?
But Lex didn't care about war etiquette anymore. Not after fighting the moles for months. The Radiant Knight Commander was fast, faster than any of the drowned dead could keep up with. He darted around, kiting them, while the archers and mages picked them off one by one.
Finn ground his teeth. In his mind, most of the participants in this tournament were only second-order. He was a mid third-order, he should have been the second strongest, right under Lex. He'd expected the strongest fighter in the tournament to fight honorably, not… not run away like this!
As the number of drowned dead dwindled, Finn gritted his teeth. The drowned king charged after the knight, trying to catch up.
As soon as the drowned king moved away from the coast, the knight turned to fight him, staying careful, keeping an eye on the remaining drowned dead.
Soon, under the knight's relentless attacks, the drowned king was badly wounded. Most of the other drowned dead had been killed by Lex's soldiers.
The knight swung his sword, cutting a deep gash across the drowned king's chest. He stepped forward, raising his sword to finish him off.
But the drowned king just smiled. He slammed his trident into the ground.
Instantly, all the broken tridents scattered across the beach exploded. Lightning burst out, covering the entire field. A huge bolt of lightning struck the knight, and before Lex could even react, the Radiant Knight Commander collapsed to the ground.
The fight was over. Finn had killed the knight, at a huge cost. Lex sighed, staring at the body. "Father was right. There really are so many talented people out there."
Finn breathed a sigh of relief. It was over. Now he just needed to pull the drowned king back, and they'd won.
With their strongest commander dead, the already fractured Conquest Legion fell apart. The soldiers scattered, running for their lives.
The Tide Pact's remaining soldiers roared, charging forward to chase them down.
After that brutal battle, there were less than ten participants left standing on the beach, all of them badly wounded. All of them, that is, except the moles who'd been hiding underground this whole time.
Gromm, the lizard king, had been watching the whole thing from the shadows. He knew it was time to move.
He tore open a scroll, and suddenly, the sky turned dark. Finn frowned, then his eyes went wide with fear.
Purple lightning rained down, mixed with ice storms, sweeping across the beach, killing the remaining soldiers in seconds. The survivors screamed, unable to fight back, unable to even see who was attacking them.
Lex watched it all, her face calm. She'd known it. She'd known the moles would come to pick up the pieces. She'd thought that with Finn's Abyss Watchers, they'd have some kind of defense. But no. These moles were something else. Even the Abyss Watchers couldn't see them.
Finn stared at the apocalyptic scene, furious. "Fine! You want to play dirty? You want to take everyone down with you?!"
He ordered his men to pull the drowned king back, to retreat. But just as they were about to leave, a giant boulder flew through the air, slamming straight into the drowned king.
The drowned king stared up, eyes wide, before he collapsed. The last of their strong fighters was dead.
Finn couldn't believe it. He'd scanned the entire area with his Abyss Watchers. He hadn't missed anything. Where had that attack come from?
He didn't have time to think. More attacks were coming, killing the last of his soldiers. He had to run. He gathered the remaining survivors, boarded his last broken ship, and sailed away.
The battle was over. The Conquest Legion, already fractured, fell apart completely. Lex announced her withdrawal from the tournament.
The last two leaders of the Conquest Legion were celebrating their escape, when they were ambushed on the way back. They died in an explosion before they even saw their attacker.
The Tide Pact had it even worse. They'd come with dozens of ships, they left with one broken, damaged one.
And when they finally got back to their camp, exhausted, the ship exploded. Just like that. Finn stared at the fire, dumbfounded. He had no followers left. He'd won the battle against Lex, but he'd been eliminated too.
Even when the examiners came to get him, he couldn't figure out when the moles had planted bombs in his own camp.
It was over. The remaining survivors were nothing to worry about. Laia's followers finally crawled out of their holes, no longer hiding like moles. They walked out onto the beach, and announced that they were taking over the rest of the tournament.
Finn walked into the waiting area, and looked up to see Lex sitting there, looking dejected. He stared, shocked. "What are you doing here?"
Lex looked up, raised an eyebrow. "That's what I was going to ask you. You won the battle, right? Why are you here?"
Finn frowned. "Did you sneak into my camp? Did you take out my last followers? I just got back to shore, and my ship exploded."
Lex shook her head. "I don't even have a ship. How would I get to your camp?"
Then she paused, and smiled bitterly. "Oh. I see. He thought of everything, didn't he?"
Before Finn could ask what she meant, five more dejected participants walked in. The remaining leaders of the two alliances.
Finn sighed. "I guess we lost to them, huh. Is… is everyone here now?"
Lex shook her head. "When we entered, there were 192 of us."
Finn stared at the six of them, then his eyes went wide. "Wait. That means… there's only two people left in the tournament?"
Laia Hayes sat in her viewing box, watching the two alliances retreat, and clapped her hands. "Wow! They're both leaving? That means I win! That's perfect! I can't believe it worked out so well!"
She took a bite of her cream puff, grinning. She was going to get the prize money, open her sandwich shop, and everything was going to be fine.
She had no idea. Her followers had just wiped out the entire rest of the tournament.
Valerius stared at the map, watching the three clan leaders walking across the beach, taking over the entire continent, and he shook his head, smiling.
"Those kids," he muttered. "They really did it. They won the whole thing, just so they could store their extra grain."