Chapter 402: Point Plunder
His eyes narrowed slightly, and after repeating Jia Na's name in a low voice, Maguire-Storm, still with a complex expression, finally averted his gaze from the strange tree, no longer wasting time.
"Damn it, the hurricane has reached here!"
As Maguire-Storm completely gave up his sustained assault on Jia Na, the howling hurricane, under Maguire-Storm's control, quickly shifted its target, sweeping towards the surrounding participants who had transformed into stones.
The reason the participants transformed into stones was to use the stones' inherent weight to resist the hurricane's powerful winds.
However, the stones they transformed into were, after all, independent of the mountain itself and could not merge with the mountain rocks like natural rock.
Precisely because of this, under the hurricane's powerful winds and pressure changes, those participants who had transformed into stones were inevitably swept hundreds of feet into the air by the hurricane, and at the moment the stones were about to hit the ground, some participants had no choice but to change their form, transforming into relatively light objects like feathers to float in the air, thereby avoiding the risk of being smashed to death.
Another group of participants chose to fight hard, transforming directly into bird-like magical beasts, like Louis Tor-Turan, attempting to break through the hurricane's encirclement to reverse their current disadvantage.
"Hoo—"
Watching the few participants still trying to break through the blockade within the hurricane circle, Maguire-Storm merely sneered, directly concentrating most of the Stormwind Valley's wind power on the outer perimeter of the encirclement, constructing a thick wind wall that made it impossible for the trapped participants to find a breakthrough.
"Is it time to compete on the speed of magic consumption?"
Seeing the hurricane's primary target shift from herself to others, Jia Na was finally able to divert her attention to check on the status of the other participants.
At this moment, the participants within the Stormwind Valley were divided into four types: The first type, led by Louis Tor-Turan, were constantly breaking through the hurricane's blockade, attempting to escape the encirclement.
Hard work paid off; after Maguire-Storm's wind power around the Stormwind Valley was transferred to another encirclement, Louis Tor-Turan and the others finally broke through the hurricane's obstruction and, expending a large amount of magic, rushed out of the valley.
The second type, led by Hai La - Herheim and Matthew-Grayrock, were the "cautious development" faction; they mostly hid in places the hurricane could not reach, defending passively and not actively participating in the conflict.
However, many still failed to hide properly and were easily discovered by Maguire-Storm, thus falling into the hurricane's siege and into a precarious situation.
The third type was Jia Na, who single-handedly confronted the hurricane.
Against all odds, Jia Na successfully withstood the hurricane, and even Maguire-Storm's targeted encirclement, by transforming into a Metasequoia tree.
To others, this was enough to classify Jia Na into the "not to be trifled with" camp.
The last type was like Maguire-Storm, who, relying on his mastery of the Law Fragment, fought against many, attracting all the aggro, and becoming the dominant presence.
And as time passed, the competition of transformation often ceased to be about individual combat ability; it was more about adapting to the current environment and conserving magic.
"Ah—"
After a long tug-of-war, one of the participants within the hurricane's encirclement finally had their transformation forcibly dispelled due to their magic being completely exhausted.
And upon dispelling their transformation, the powerful air pressure within the hurricane's encirclement caused this participant, amidst a scream, to involuntarily activate the Magic-Banning Ring on their finger, exiting the Secret Realm.
"That's all it is."
After that participant exited the Bonsai Secret Realm, Maguire-Storm naturally obtained the Magic-Banning Ring, which represented ten points.
"Maguire, I won't let you off!"
After the first precedent of being forced to exit the Bonsai Secret Realm, a second participant soon followed, also forced to activate their Magic-Banning Ring due to magic exhaustion.
And before activating the Magic-Banning Ring, that participant stubbornly uttered a threat before leaving resentfully.
"Trash is just trash."
After successfully obtaining the second Magic-Banning Ring, Maguire-Storm merely sneered at the opponent's threat, then floated in the air, fixating on the other participants within the hurricane's encirclement with the gaze of a hunter.
And these participants, perhaps having understood Maguire-Storm's plan, no longer bothered trying to break through the encirclement, changing their strategy instead, transforming directly into lightweight items like feathers or leaves that consume little magic, allowing themselves to be squeezed by the hurricane.
"Should have done this earlier."
Watching the participants within the hurricane's encirclement who had already changed their strategies, Jia Na, while silently recovering her magic in her tree form, also expressed approval for their change in strategy.
"It's just too late, unfortunately."
Although transforming into feathers, leaves, etc., could indeed conserve magic to the maximum extent, Maguire-Storm, having already tasted success, would not let this opportunity pass; he would undoubtedly concentrate his greatest strength, relying on the hurricane's inherent high pressure, to accelerate the consumption of the trapped participants' magic, thereby snatching their Magic-Banning Rings.
Sure enough, not long after, more participants trapped within the hurricane's encirclement reluctantly activated their Magic-Banning Rings, successively exiting the Bonsai Secret Realm.
Roughly estimated, Maguire-Storm had obtained approximately eight Magic-Banning Rings with this move, which meant eighty points, already making him the undisputed number one among all participants.
"Rumble—"
Just as the situation within Stormwind Valley was gradually becoming tense, suddenly, a familiar rumbling sound once again echoed from the sky.
"Is it time to enter the next phase again—"
Magic surged, the storm abruptly ceased, and feeling the surrounding magic particles once again fall into a chaotic state, Jia Na quickly transformed from her tree form back into her human form.
"Rumble—"
As the rumbling grew louder, the participants who had safely passed the second stage also returned to the meditation array. Even Louis Tor-Turan, who had already flown out of the valley, quickly retreated from the valley's outskirts and re-entered the meditation array.
"Only a few people returned?"
Looking at the other participants who returned in a scattered manner, besides Louis Tor-Turan, a hint of doubt flashed in Jia Na's eyes.
If she remembered correctly, there should have been fourteen participants who initially followed Louis Tor-Turan to break through the encirclement, but only eight ultimately returned.
Not only that, the state of the returning individuals was not as unified as when they "jointly" left; instead, they were far apart, and even their eyes held a hint of wariness.
"It seems there was a conflict—"
