Fairy Tail: This Healing Mage's hits hurt so much!

When Sunlight passed by Future Lucy, it quietly left a mark.

I'll come see her again when I have time.

The group returned to the hotel, took off their hoods, and collapsed onto the beds.

In the next room, Erza's roar was so clear it sounded like it was right next to her ear.

Then came the sound of a window being smashed open, and Ye Yi flew out with his three apprentices, tracing an arc in the air.

Waiting and waiting.

Kana had already finished two barrels of Baihua wine; the barrels were lying on their side on the ground, with a few drops still hanging from the rim.

Her cheeks were flushed, and she let out a loud burp, filling half the room with the smell of alcohol.

"The Hundred Flowers Wine from the Flower Capital is quite delicious, *burp*."

"Keep drinking, or you won't be able to walk properly later."

Mirajane snatched the barrel and tossed it into the corner.

The wooden barrel rolled twice on the ground before hitting the wall and coming to a stop.

Kana hugged Mirajane tightly, hanging on her body and burying her face in Mirajane's chest.

"Hehe, Mira will just hug me later."

Sunshine reached out, pressed a finger against Kana's forehead, and pulled her away from Mirajane.

"Go away, don't hug my Mila."

"You stingy person."

"Ha, drunkard."

The two were bickering enthusiastically, exchanging words at a faster and faster pace.

Wendy sat on the edge of the bed, nervously clutching the hem of her clothes, her fingers crumpling the fabric.

She had already squeezed the hem of her skirt into several creases.

Laxus leaned against the wall, arms crossed, and glanced at her.

"What's there to be nervous about?"

His tone was harsh, and it didn't sound like he was trying to comfort anyone.

It's more like lecturing someone.

Wendy became even more nervous, her shoulders hunched, and the hem of her clothes was crumpled into a ball.

Laxus scratched his head in confusion, running his fingers through his hair, completely unaware of what the problem was.

The three of them, Riyao, were speechless at the same time, and then sighed in unison.

Mirajane walked over, squatted down, patted Wendy's head, and gently rubbed her hair with her palm.

"Don't be nervous, we're very strong. We'll easily crush all the guilds, and even Sabertooth will be just a stepping stone."

"But I'm afraid of holding others back."

Wendy's voice was soft, her head was down, and her eyes were fixed on her toes.

"It's okay, you're the one holding us back, I'll pull us forward, it's even, isn't it?"

Sunlight teased her with a grin, and Wendy winked.

Wendy pursed her lips, the corners of her mouth turned up slightly, and nodded.

Boom!

The midnight bells rang, echoing round and round over the city.

A giant pumpkin head projection appeared above the city, its pumpkin face grinning with an exaggerated smile.

"Pumpkin! Sorry everyone, the Grand Magic Games preliminary rounds are officially starting."

Countless parts rose into the air from all directions, assembling into a giant spherical maze, with dirt and gravel falling from the edges.

Countless staircases extend from the various entrances of the maze, connecting the balconies of all the participants' rooms, gleaming faintly in the night.

"The rules for this preliminary round are as follows. The venue is called 'Giant Dome Flau'. Participants need to navigate the maze and find the finish line to pass the level."

"By the way, there are only eight spots available, Pumpkin."

Riyao and the others stretched their muscles and bones, and their necks cracked twice.

"Kana, would you like a fortune telling?"

"No problem, I've been practicing my divination and drinking skills diligently for the past three months."

"..."

The group was somewhat speechless.

You practiced hard for three months and all you got was tarot card readings?!

What the heck is this "alcohol tolerance" thing?!

Kana took out a tarot card from her bosom, flipped the back of the card over her fingertip, and handed it to Riyao.

Riyao randomly picked out a few cards without even looking at them.

Kana took the cards, looked down at them, and tapped her fingers back and forth between the cards.

She pondered for a moment, then suddenly raised her head and pointed in a certain direction.

"In this direction!"

【Life Mimicry - Protoss】

As the sun shone with its five fingers spread out, a gravitational field spread out, dragging the group of people along as they sped off in that direction.

The five people seemed to be supported by an invisible giant hand, suspended half a meter above the ground, and then suddenly rushed out.

Inside the giant spherical maze, the paths are intricate and complex, with stone slabs floating in the air, some horizontal, some vertical, and some diagonal.

It's upside down and can't be distinguished left from right.

Looking up, you can see other teams running upside down overhead, their feet touching the ceiling.

Each door, different in color, leads to a completely different scene inside.

One second it's a desert, the next it's an ice field, and then you push open the door and the whole room is filled with water.

Every now and then, someone would misstep and fall straight down from the maze, their screams echoing from the sky and fading into the distance.

On the way, Kana and Mirajane worked together to perform divination.

Mirajane draws a card, Kana interprets it, and the direction she points to becomes increasingly accurate.

Riyao charged recklessly, its gravitational field enveloping the five people in it, knocking away all the contestants blocking its path.

One after another, they fell down from the maze, like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

"Don't stand in the middle of the road like a speed bump, you have no sense of public decency."

Wendy covered her face, her eyes peeking out from between her fingers, her ears bright red.

She's still young and easily embarrassed.

Laxus closed his eyes, pretending not to see anything, but his ears were already bright red.

Kana and Mirajane, on the other hand, seemed completely unconcerned, and kept urging Sunrise to speed up.

"Faster! Chuangfei and the others!"

When he ran into an acquaintance on the street, Riyao casually greeted him.

"Hey, isn't this Uncle Jura? He's here to participate in the competition too."

"Sunshine, I'm not that old yet, am I?"

Jura sighed helplessly.

"Oh well, it's been seven years, hasn't it? That means I'm seven years younger now..."

They only chatted for a couple of minutes before Riyao and the others flew away.

When they met one night, Riyao casually kicked his butt, leaving a mark on it with the sole of his shoe.

We had already given them a heads-up.

"man~"

The sounds of the night grew fainter and fainter from below, trailing off with long, drawn-out notes.

It's a pity we didn't encounter Big Crow Tail on the way, otherwise we would have grabbed him, given him a good beating, dragged him to the finish line, and then given him another beating during the actual race.

With Kana's advanced tarot card divination and the gravitational field of the Sun, the five people stumbled through the maze at an ever-increasing speed.

A large door appeared at the edge of the field of vision.

Riyao and his team rushed through the gate, followed the road, and successfully reached the finish line.

"It's so easy, there's no challenge at all."

The mascot, Pumpkin Head, played by King Thomas E. Fiore, hopped and skipped up to greet him, the pumpkin head mask jiggling with his movements.

"As expected of Fairy Tail, congratulations on winning first place in the preliminaries! Pumpkin."

"Wait a moment."

Riyao held up one finger, his expression serious.

"If we choose not to clear the level yet, and instead stay here and eliminate all the other teams, wouldn't we be the champions of this Grand Magic Games?"

Laxus opened his eyes, Cana stopped yelling, and Mirajane tilted his head.

The three people's eyes lit up at the same time, and their gazes turned to the pumpkin head.

That's a great idea!

Pumpkin Thomas froze, his smile on the pumpkin head mask stiff as he looked at the group.

"Uh...that...that..."

He couldn't utter a complete sentence, and the pumpkin headgear swayed from side to side.

"Although the rules don't explicitly prohibit it, doing so would make the game less exciting."

"Right, the rules don't prohibit it."

Riyao rubbed his hands together, palm to palm, making a rustling sound.

"Wouldn't it be better if we just finished this quickly?"

Pumpkin Thomas wasn't entirely convinced that they could actually eliminate all the contestants.

But looking into Riyao's eyes, I felt that this guy might actually do it.

He jogged over to Riyao and tugged at Riyao's sleeve.

Riyao squatted down and put his ear close to the pumpkin head.

Pumpkin Tom leaned close to Sunshine's ear and whispered something in a low voice, the airflow making Sunshine's ear ticklish.

"Hey, Mr. Riyao, give me some face. After all, this is an annual celebration."

"Hey, you are...?"

"Shh~ Let it go. Fairy Tail needs this tournament to rebuild its reputation, right? If you end the tournament quietly like this, no one will appreciate your heroic performance."

These words struck a chord with Riyao.

"hiss......"

Riyao touched his chin and ran his fingers along it twice.

"That's not wrong, okay?"

He stood up, brushed off imaginary dust from his knees, and waved to the group.

"Let's go. When the official competition starts, we'll crush all the other guilds in front of the entire kingdom and reclaim our title as the kingdom's number one guild."

Laxus snorted, a slight upturn at the corners of his mouth.

Kana put the tarot cards into her bosom, and Mirajane took Sun's arm.

Wendy loosened the hem of her clothes that she had been clutching and jogged a few steps to catch up.

Five people crossed the finish line.

The first place in the preliminary round was thus determined.

Fairy Tail Elite Team!

What B team? That sounds awful.