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Then it suddenly occurred to him that there seemed to be something like this in the cave where he killed the giant blind spider!

The green crystals on the stone wall are very likely the life crystals, but it won't be easy to take them out.

Fortunately, the cave is well hidden and difficult to find without a map, which is a good thing.

Returning our attention to the arena, this final match of the preliminary rounds of the tournament was quite different from the previous three matches. Not only had the format of the match changed, but even the dueling platform had been altered.

Lindsay's first notice was of four mechanical devices he had never seen before, placed at the four corners of the platform. They were square bases with long poles standing upright.

Apart from the dueling arena, there are no other suitable venues for humans to fight monsters within the training camp. Therefore, in light of today's competition, the purpose of this device should be to isolate and protect the spectators.

Claire had arrived at the camp before Lindsay, and she walked over from the nearby stands carrying a shrunken purse.

"I've already bet all my money on you, Lindsay."

"Oh? How much did you bet? The format should be different from the last round, right? You can't bet on the monster to win!"

Claire gestured with her right thumb and forefinger: "Of course, I borrowed some more, a full 150 taels of silver."

The main goal this time is to win against those who bet on you to lose. In fact, more than half of the people here believe that in a battle between humans and monsters, the monster has a better chance of winning. So, Lindsay, most of the people who bet on your match lost more than they won.

"You don't even know what kind of monster we're going to fight, yet you trust me so much?"

Claire's eyes were filled with excitement and hope: "How could I not believe you? Of course I believe you! After all, most of the money we bet was won the day before yesterday, and the results of the first three matches, as well as your amazing performance yesterday, have given me a lot of confidence in you!"

"Broken Arrow" called out to Lindsay, who was standing there deep in thought: "Captain, I've placed my bet on you too. And now, let's draw the order of the matches!"

"Coming right away."

Although he wasn't quite sure what kind of monster he was about to encounter, he had, like his teammates, placed 20 silver coins on himself yesterday, which was a safe bet.

The odds were 1:1 yesterday, and they may be even higher today, given what Claire just said: more people will bet on themselves to lose.

Linssey started queuing up, and by the fourth round, the number of participants in each team had decreased significantly compared to the previous days.

After the first three rounds, only sixteen contestants remained. Excluding Lindsay and two bronze-level adventurers, the other thirteen were all silver-level winners.

Linsset drew number five, which was relatively early in the sequence, but the order didn't have much impact on him.

After arranging the order of appearance, Old Tote gathered the sixteen contestants on one side of the stage.

"Alright, I'll now read out the rules for the fourth and final preliminary round of this competition. The reason I'm announcing them only before the competition is to ensure fairness and prevent you from making predictions and preparations in advance."

The monsters you face are selected by the Adventurers' Guild from three types of monsters of similar strength, and then randomly assigned to each other. Therefore, there may be an element of luck involved. The victory conditions are defeating or incapacitating the monster, or killing it.

This is good news for Lindsay; if it's a new monster, he'll be able to acquire its abilities.

"The weapons and armor used are also provided by the guild. The wooden weapons have been replaced with iron ones, and the armor is no longer linen clothes, but the leather armor and hats and short chainmail iron helmets commonly used in adventurer equipment. You can choose freely."

The four magical prism machines on the dueling platform will form a barrier after the match begins. Neither the participants nor the monsters inside the platform can leave this barrier on their own, so be careful. If you wish to concede, please immediately inform the referee; they will ensure your safety.

After Instructor Thoth finished reading the rules for the fourth match, a young male adventurer of bronze level tremblingly raised his hand, wanting to say something.

Lindsay recognized the contestant as one of the trainees from the instructor training course he had taken with Tovan and his group.

"Won't something go wrong during the competition? What if we lose and can't escape?"

Old Tot pointed to the referee's table behind him, where the female knight Karina, the dwarf Ink, and the half-elf "Wind Spirit" were still seated.

"Their reputation and skill level are undeniable, and I will be watching the entire match from the audience, so you can rest assured."

Furthermore, if you truly feel you can't do it, you can admit defeat now, after all, this competition is unprecedented.

"No, instructor! Even though I drew number one and went first, I'll still give it my all!"

"Since you have this perseverance, that's the best! Does anyone else have any questions? If not, let's begin the match now. Number one, go prepare for battle."

After the sixteen contestants dispersed, Lindsay returned to the long wooden bench below the stage to wait.

What are the three types of monsters? Let's see what the contestants will encounter in the first four rounds.

A few minutes later, the bronze-level adventurer, who was contestant number one, stepped onto the dueling stage.

At the same time, the magic prism machine also started. Lindsay saw four beams of orange light shooting straight up from the tips of the four prisms, and then converging at the top center of the dueling platform at the same height, forming a geometrically perfect cube and four-sided pyramid space.

The referee was the dwarf Ink. After confirming that the contestant was ready, he gestured to the female knight in the referee's seat below the stage.

Then, the half of the dueling platform opposite contestant number one began to shake and shift backward, which made all the spectators in the camp erupt in cheers.

Lindsay then noticed that there were far more people in the stands than in the previous days, indicating that the battle between humans and monsters was the highlight of this tournament.

From the darkness below, a platform gradually and steadily rose, and Lindsay saw a large iron cage placed on the platform.

Inside the cage was a sleeping ogre.

Seeing that the monster was an ogre made Lindsay feel quite bored.

The good news is that if I were to face this kind of monster, I should be able to kill it reliably with my current skill level. The bad news is that I have already acquired the monster's abilities.

He could only hope that among the monsters prepared by the other two guilds, there were some that he had not yet killed.

The dwarf Ink, acting as the referee, walked to the large iron cage. As he opened the cage, the ogre suddenly awoke.

After the giant understood its surroundings, Lindsay saw that it immediately began to drool and was muttering something.

The game started.