61 – The So-Called Strategy of “Letting the Tiger Devour the Wolf”

The moment the team numbers were revealed, I immediately felt no fewer than ten gazes fall upon me. Tracing their sources, I saw that most of the people who had looked quickly averted their eyes—except for Irene, who was still staring coldly at the number above my head, her sneer unwavering.

Clearly, it wasn’t just Irene’s team that had their eyes on us. The instant the numbers appeared, no fewer than five teams had already locked onto our team number. Their intentions were obvious.

Setting aside whether their team compositions were balanced or not, every group present had four members or more. None of us knew each other’s strategies or fighting styles, so proactively hunting someone down was a high-risk gamble.

Naturally, everyone preferred to pick on the weak. In a crowd of four- or five-person teams, Dylin’s team—with only two people—was practically a walking bundle of free experience. A feast for this pack of starving wolves.

A newly Awakened Divine Princess and a Divine Child who didn’t look too bright—who would pass up such an easy target?

Even if they hadn’t yet decided to pursue me, they’d at least want to confirm my number. Who knew—they might get lucky.

My appearance alone already burned their eyes. Though none of them admitted it aloud, everyone feigned restraint—everyone except Irene, who expressed her hostility toward me with blatant, undisguised animosity. Her scorching glare practically screamed, “Once we’re inside the secret realm, I’m taking you out first.”

I responded to Irene’s provocation with a polite smile and glanced at her team’s number.

Number 57.

Heh. You petty little bitch, who are you trying to fool?

Petty Irene interpreted my smile as nothing more than insincere posturing and submission.

But it was far too late to surrender now. Once we entered the secret realm, she’d make sure I understood exactly who I had messed with.

As our identity tokens linked with our assigned numbers, space itself began to distort. The spatial vortex—completely alien to our primary plane—surged in turbulent waves, growing ever more intense until it became a full-blown tsunami of dimensional fury.

Anything that touched upon time and space undoubtedly belonged to the domain of absolute powers—long since departed from this world. Just like this secret realm outside the Coleman Forest—the name of its creator had long been lost to the erosion of time.

Everyone understood what this meant: the Crown Tournament had officially begun.

Astrid remained composed as ever, though a hint of seriousness flickered in her eyes. Felicia wore a calm, confident smile and instinctively glanced toward Astrid.

John hurriedly checked whether he’d brought all his gear.

At the center of the crowd, I lifted my emerald eyes with poise, letting the wind lift my wheat-colored hair.

“Time’s up. Coleman Academy’s rising stars—may fortune smile upon you, and may your banners fly high.” The gray-robed old man swept his murky, indifferent gaze across all the students. “Lastly, allow me to remind you of Coleman Academy’s motto.”

“Only those who take first place will be remembered by history.”

White light erased our vision. Before anyone could react, the light engulfed us all—faces frozen in stunned disbelief—as we were swept away.

Next, we all felt ourselves becoming part of that white light. Swallowed by it, we were forcibly expelled from the primary plane and delivered into a completely unfamiliar space.

The distortion of time and space causes the brain to misfire, inducing dizziness, disorientation, and a muddled consciousness.

That too was part of the trial—a test of our ability to endure and recover from abnormal mental states. Weaklings with no mental fortitude had no place at the Academy.

I wasn’t affected much. Everything went white before my eyes, and I couldn’t see a thing. But when I opened them again, I found myself standing in the middle of an unfamiliar jungle.

Clearly, this wasn’t anywhere within Kaleburn. It was a fully self-contained secret realm.

I’d once skimmed through a book called Theory of Secret Realms, which explained that although secret realms appeared all over Kaleburn, they didn’t actually exist within it. Their entrances were located in Kaleburn, but they were independent pocket worlds.

Unlike Kaleburn, which was created by the gods and therefore stable, these realms required immense power to maintain their existence. Once the creator stopped supplying energy, these little worlds would inevitably collapse—and secret realms were no exception.

For this realm to be used year after year by Coleman Academy as the official battleground for the Crown Tournament, it must possess some unique quality that convinced the school of its safety and sustainability.

But all of that was far beyond my concern right now. I was just a freshly Awakened Divine Princess—still a fledgling.

I glanced to my side. The doll had been transported here with me. I activated my Elf sensitivity—my enhanced perception—and didn’t detect any nearby lifeforms.

So far, the location I’d been randomly sent to seemed safe enough. At least, there weren’t any other teams nearby. It seemed the so-called “random teleportation” was done in groups—team members would not be separated.

I’d already pieced together most of the basic mechanics.

Just then, the token strapped to my thigh began to vibrate. I took it off to inspect it. The black crystal token blinked a few times, and several red dots appeared on its screen—alongside two blue ones.

The red dots surrounded the blue ones from all sides, rapidly closing in on their location.

I understood immediately.

The blue dots represented me and “Dylin,” who was standing beside me. The red dots? The teams that had marked us for elimination.

Teams Number 13, Number 22, and Number 57.

So eager to get rid of me, huh?

I gently brushed a strand of silk-like hair away from my delicate collarbone.

This wasn’t like a battle royale where, knowing you’re outclassed, you could choose to play it safe and hide—drag things out for a better ranking. In that kind of game, even if your skills weren’t the best, you might still end up ranking higher than someone more talented just by playing cautiously. But the Crown Tournament was different.

Everyone loved picking on the weak. Teams with sub-par compositions or unimpressive academic records were the ones most likely to get targeted early. The first to be eliminated would always be the weakest.

Being hunted by so many was definitely troublesome, and I wasn’t entirely confident I could take them all out in one go.

But that didn’t matter.

Whether I was hostile to them wasn’t important—what mattered was that they were hostile to each other.

That was the key.

Before the tournament started, I had thoroughly memorized every rule. The “open hunt” system might seem unfair to weaker teams, but it had its limitations.

For example, the hunted could also see the positions of their hunters.

Most importantly, hunters targeting the same victim couldn’t see each other’s positions.

And in my past life, there had been a tactic called:

“Letting the Tiger Devour the Wolf.”

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