The helicopters then picked up the participants.
Clovis didn’t know whether he was lucky or unlucky. After all, the two groups that were being picked up together with him were Imemine and Bloody Rose.
"Wahahaha! You’re good, Clovis. To think that you are able to surpass my group! It seems that I need to get more serious." Erwin grinned.
Clovis just looked away while covering his ears. Erwin simply talked too much, and his voice was so loud that it began ringing in his head. The worst part was his sky high self-esteem.
Surprisingly, Aileen was staring at him with mixed expressions. On the one hand, she sympathized with him for catching Erwin’s attention. She fully knew how annoying it was. On the other hand, she couldn’t believe that one wrong move would actually allow this group to surpass them.
And the most amazing thing was that three of them were Tier 2 humans. Even in her group, all her party members were Tier 3, while she was a Tier 4 human. If they could actually bring forth a strength that surpassed their tiers, this might stir up the competition a bit.
Kanaria glared at her as if trying to tell her not to get any funny ideas.
Clovis just rolled his eyes, wanting to reach the city as quickly as possible.
When they came back, the cheers erupted as Shion announced, "Here it is, everyone! These are the top 16 groups that are going to advance to the main tournament! Let’s welcome them with a big applause!"
The stadium shook from the cheers.
"Uoohh!" Mayor Revan was applauding so hard that his tears were leaking out of the corner of his eyes. He was just too happy. There were two groups from his city that managed to reach the main tournament, even though the other group was ranked 14th.
At the very least, they managed to do it, even though their city was one tier below this city or any other city.
This was a huge achievement.
With such outstanding people, it wouldn’t be easy to offend the people behind them. The Renvolt and Havenson families would reap a lot of benefits from it.
Obviously, Lovelia and her Rusth family would be gritting their teeth because they let their rival family find Clovis first.
Clovis just took a glance at Mayor Revan. Since he was satisfied with the performance, it was good enough.
"Hahaha! We shall meet again in the main tournament, Clovis! Don’t you lose to others before losing to me, my rival!" Erwin laughed out loud.
Clovis simply stepped away, not wanting to hear any words from him anymore. He started regretting shaking his hands during the test.
As expected, there were a lot of reporters waiting for them.
Even though he managed to escape from Erwin, he got caught by a reporter.
"Please wait, Mr. Clovis. We’d like to interview you. We’d like to know how you feel about getting 3rd rank in the preliminary match."
Clovis scratched the back of his head. When he was asked this question, he thought he really needed to answer it as payment. This was what it meant to take the ’sponsorship’ after all.
Clovis replied, "I’m just glad that I didn’t disappoint my city as well as the mayor who supported me."
"!!!" The reporter looked surprised for a second before asking, "The mayor? If I’m not wrong, you are actually participating as an independent group! You’re not affiliated with any companies or families."
"Well, let’s leave it at that. We’re indeed not affiliated with anyone, so I just want to take this opportunity to thank the person who has helped us." Clovis chuckled.
"What do you think about other competitors? As the dark horse of the competition, how confident are you to defeat them?"
"I don’t really like to discuss uncertain things since there are a lot of factors. So, I’ll answer you with something certain. We come here to win."
The reporter was amazed by that confidence and proceeded to ask the next question. "How about—"
Unfortunately for her, before she finished her question, Clovis caught Kanaria, who was about to leave the stadium, placing her in front of the camera. "If you have another question, you can ask her. She is the most reliable person in our group. She’ll definitely answer you to the best of her abilities."
"Yo, wha—!" Kanaria was dumbfounded, but Clovis had already slipped away, escaping from them.
Kanaria’s eyebrows twitched. If she also left, the group’s reputation would definitely take a hit. She could only give them a polite smile while saying, "I’ll take over for him."
The other groups were also caught by some reporters about the result. However, each of them was asked the same question.
What do they think about the dark horse, Libation Fiesta?
Their reactions varied.
As one would expect from Erwin, he actually answered them with, "I found him before he registered. This must be fate. I considered him my rival and would like to fight him in the main competition! Of course, I’ll definitely win. Hahahaha!"
Unlike him, Aileen was a bit cornered because she had encountered Clovis’s group and decided to pull back. So she had to change her wording a little bit in order to avoid her group being looked down upon.
"We will defeat everyone in the competition when the time comes. Besides, it would be unfair if we attacked them after they fought against another group." She escaped with that answer.
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Rafael maintained his pride by simply stating, "We’ll take the champion, no matter who our opponents are, including Libation Fiesta."
The people had mixed reactions, but all of them knew one thing. They didn’t have a lot of information about Libation Fiesta for two reasons.
It had only been a few months since they had been created, so there was not a lot to dig. The second reason was that it was a group that came from a lower tier city.
The most they could study was the preliminary match’s footage.
But they would soon notice the trap Clovis had set up inside that footage.