Everyone was teleported to their locations in the chaotic city-sized stage. Nova gathered his team quickly around a quiet area, as he heard no noises from any direction. He didn't see monsters or other Adventurers and decided to have a quick team meeting.

"Marcus told me that the Australians will come after us, so that means we need to be more careful of our surroundings. We can't risk fighting monsters and the Australians at the same time, and also at least not be the first team eliminated. Since we are most likely to lose the Tournament."

Everyone nodded reluctantly, even though they knew they would lose; they wanted to be optimistic enough to have a chance at winning. Nova nodded last and looked at all of them seriously, making precise eye contact that left no doubt in the other four's minds.

They followed him as they traversed through the city. The city around them was unlike anything Nova had ever seen. It wasn't just big; it felt as if it were alive.

Buildings breathed in slow, heavy motions, their walls pulsing faintly with light, as if veins ran through the metal and stone. The ground under their boots shifted every few seconds, like the earth itself was uneasy.

They walked down a cracked street lined with tilted towers and broken lampposts that sparked in the distance.

Every sound, the soft hum of shifting metal, the distant roar of something large, echoed through the air, reminding them that they weren't alone.

Nova led the group cautiously, his eyes scanning every shadow. Windows flickered with strange symbols before fading away. One building rose higher right in front of them, reshaping itself, twisting and folding like origami made of steel.

"Stay close," Nova whispered. "This place seems to be It's watching us."

Elesch shivered but didn't argue. Zane and Michael moved to the edges, keeping watch, while Adam checked their rear.

The air smelled faintly of dust and heaviness, and a low rumble rolled through the ground, a reminder that the arena could collapse or reshape at any moment.

They crossed an intersection where half the road simply vanished into a bottomless pit. The rest of the path turned upward, becoming a staircase that led into what looked like a floating plaza.

When they reached the top, they could see the scale of it all; the city stretched endlessly in every direction, a maze of skyscrapers and ruins hanging in the air like pieces of a broken puzzle. Far away, flashes of battle flickered like lightning, maybe the other guilds, maybe monsters.

The group traversed more, finding everything in ruins, with buildings constantly collapsing. Then they encountered a dust storm out of nowhere, though it didn't do anything.

They walked more, and as they walked, they initially didn't hear anything. No sound, except for the wind howling at them, with the buildings crumbling, sounding, dusting spreading everywhere.

But as they continued to move further and further into the outline of the city, Nova heard a faint, but guttural snarl coming from just a few meters from where they were.

He instantly turned his back and alerted them silently. They found a nearby crumbling building, which was barely hanging on to life, and decided to seek shelter there, as they didn't want to fight anyone or anything.

As they took shelter, everyone else also heard the guttural snarl that Nova was talking about. They didn't utter a word, they remained quiet, and as still as humanly possible.

After what felt like an eternity, Nova felt as if the monster had left the area. Neither he nor the others heard any noises coming from outside the crumbling building, so they decided to step out and venture forward.

They left the crumbling building, which fell to the ground, losing its abiotic life shortly after. As they turned back to where they came from, trying to get away from the monster, Nova heard another guttural noise, but this one was much longer and closer than he had anticipated.

He turned around and saw the monster, an S-rank creature, looming over them, as if they were just mere ants in its presence.

The creature was a towering, semi-corporeal monster that stretched over 60 meters in length. Its hide was composed of interlocking obsidian-black scales that shimmered like liquid under the dim light of the city, with each scale edged with faint veins of molten crimson that pulsed with an inner monstrocity.

A crown of horn-like protrusions arcs hackward from its skull, each tipped with faintly glowing sigils that flared when it exerted just its breath. Its eyes were vast, molten gold orbs, devoid of any pupils, that seemed to peer through matter itself.

When it breathed, the air rippled unnaturally, distorting light and sound as though reality strained itself around its presence; its wills.

Its limbs were monstrous yet beautifully carved, ending in talons sharp enough to create a bang in a city. It had a pair of secondary arms, vestigial yet twitching with an abnormal amount of mana, emerging from beneath its ribs.

Along its spine ran a series of bioluminescent fins that flickered with spectral blue light, functioning both as stabilizers in flight and conduits for its energy discharges.

The creature's aura felt as if it was bending light, and the environment surrounding it with temperatures dropping, but the skin was burning. Its movement as it took a slight step toward them left behind a residue of shimmering ash, which crystallized itself nearly instantly.

"I think we might need to fight it," Nova said calmly, almost quietly, just in case the creature didn't like his voice. "We definitely need to kill that thing if we want to live."

"No shit," Elesch commented, her eyes wide open, smiling slightly.

The group took a step back, just enough not to startle the creature, but also create some openings, just in case they wanted to run away. Nova smiled nervously at the monster, who snarled at him, which only upset it more.

Then Nova's legs accidentally cracked, which sent the monster into some sort of a trance. And it leaped at the group, visibly very fucking angry.

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