Wain and Maria occasionally exchanged stares. Even though neither of them intended to attack, they still stared at each other. Wain did not intend to underestimate Maria; after all, she was the first challenger, not he, and that had to be taken into account.
Of course, Wain didn't think Maria was stronger than him, but he knew that their battle would be dangerous for both of them.
Maria appeared in the cave rather quickly, about ten minutes after Wain. However, they waited for the third challenger for over five hours.
Wain didn't know if the others had the same challenge as he did, but he figured that each group's challenge was different. He doubted it could endure five hours fighting against hundreds of First Chronicle monsters.
After several more hours, they finally heard footsteps deep in the third cave. When the last challenger arrived, Wain and Maria were shocked, for it was a shy girl, the former ninth challenger.
