What followed after the other teams decided to scavenged the Zhen and Wolfe families battlefield could best be described as utter chaos.
The scavenger teams strategy of just bailing in random directions proved to be surprisingly effective in preventing both the Zhen team and the Wolfe team from being able to reclaim all of the Ifrit Fire Heart Crystals in a timely manner.
The Zhen Clan had initially attempted to go after the team that had managed to take away the biggest chunk, a medium sized family known as the Bolt clan, but things didn't go according to plan.
"Jacques, do the thing!"
"Doing the thing Jean, [Bluster Fan]!"
Just as the Zhen team were about to catch them, one of the members of the Bolt team produced an intermediate Ethereal aether tool out of nowhere and kicked up a blast of wind so strong it blew the Zhen team away while propelling themselves towards the submission area.
The Bolt team proceeded to literally fly through the finish line and land in a heap on the other side.
"And...clear! The Bolt team has crossed the finish line and their submission is now locked in. Any attempt to steal or tamper with their submission will result in disqualification," a referee for the event called out.
This announcement made the Zhen team understandably bitter.
"Godsdammit! When did the Bolt family get their heirs an Ethereal class tool?! Not even I got one of those!"
"I think that fan is technically their patriarch's. I guess he lent them the fan in case things went south."
"That's just unfair..."
"Stop moping! We still got a dozen or so chances to make up for it!"
With the biggest prize now out of their reach, the Zhen team proceeded to try and reclaim the smaller crystal prizes from the other scavenger teams.
This led to one of three conclusions.
Either the scavengers got caught, but it was too late.
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"And...clear! The Jackino Team has crossed the finish line and secured their loot! Please release the contestant and refrain from beating in their faces."
"Damnit!," Zhen Hai cursed as he released the collar of the young man he had just tackled to the ground. The young man bearing the Jackino name quickly scrambled away once he was freed, a coconut sized crystal ore tucked between his arms.
"Hope the others are having better luck..."
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The offending party turned out to be one of those groups that specialized in speed, evasion and nothing else.
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"IMREALLYSORRYABOUTTHISBUTITSEVERYMANFORTHEMSELVESEVENTHOUGHYOUAREKINDACUTEBYEEEEEEE," a chipper young woman yelled at Zhen Liu as she deftly avoided his swinging club for the fifth time in a row before zipping away in a literal blur. At this point, he felt he was being screwed with.
"Why aren't you doing that crazy reflect thing?," Zhen Liu muttered as he stared at the club in his hands.
{It's because my tool has some conditions in order to be used properly, obviously,} the gruff voice stated in a mildly mocking tone, {and before you ask, I'm not gonna tell you yet.}
'Why?'
{I find your suffering amusing. Also, we're in the wrong environment for me. You need to find the right place at the right time.}
'Can the voices in my head stop being ominous already?!'
{No.}
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Or they managed to secure the crystals, but it wasn't necessarily worth the effort...or it at least left a bad taste in the mouth.
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"Yes princess, please step on me more! I'm sorry I couldn't steal a bigger piece for you!"
"Uh...it's not a big deal...," Zhen Yue said with tense shoulders and a grimace on her face as she stared down at the man currently under her foot. She had flying kicked the man as a means to get them to stop moving, she didn't expect him to enjoy it.
The man's words caused Zhen Yue to feel a bit ill. He looked decent, but those words and that personality...ick.
She quickly threw a glance at the man's teammates, they gave her a look that screamed "Yeah... we're sorry about him..."
On the plus side, the three pieces of crystal ore she secured from him were about as big as chicken eggs.
"Hopefully we can keep up this pace..."
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Eventually, the Zhen team had to put a stop their efforts of reclaiming the Ifrit Fire Heart Crystal shards,for at this point in time the scavenger teams either managed to avoid them long enough to cross the finish line or the Wolfe team had claimed it before they even noticed.
On the plus, they managed to retrieve enough shards that their combined weight could beat out the value of the big piece that the Bolt family had absconded with earlier...at least they hoped they did.
"Damn that is a lot of Ifrit Fire Heart Crystals! Did they find a vein in the ruins or something?"
"Nah, didn't you hear them arguing? All of these piece came from one big piece! If a team had managed to bring the whole thing back, they would've surely won this competition hands down and then some!"
"No shit?"
"No shit."
The Zhen team could hear this chattering behind them, looks of annoyance forming on their faces as the commenters pointed out the obvious. They wanted to lash out, but they had an image to uphold, so they maintained looks of stoicism. Fortunately they didn't have to maintain the stoic look for long.
"Hello there Zhen Clan heirs."
"Huh? Oh, hey Gianna. Corradas."
The Corrada team had been on the sled pulled by Frosttusk, treating the wounded people that Zhen Liu had dragged out of the ruins. This unfortunately meant that the Corradas were completely out of the running when it came to the crystal scavenger scrambled that had occured earlier, due to technically have crossed the finish line and no longer being allowed to steal stuff from other competitors. They looked surprisingly okay about it however.
"Oh right, we still owe you-"
"Ah, don't worry about it," Gianna interrupted while waving her hand, "the matter of loot distribution has already been settled."
"Wait, what? How and why?"