Fairy Tail: You call this Celestial Spirit Magic?!

Chapter 174 Natsu, something's fishy!

Chapter 175 Natsu, Something's Wrong! (Please Subscribe!)

Once ashore, Gray saw Moen. He peered around curiously, then burst into ecstasy.

"Hahaha! I won! I won!"

Gray raised both hands, clenched his fists, and cheered, as if it were the MVP award ceremony. It was unclear what he was so excited about.

"Snapped!"

"You bastard! What did you win?!"

Moen went over and slapped him on the head, bringing the kid back to normal. Sure enough, a big liar is more effective.

"Mount Mount! I'm the second one here, right?! Natsu and the others aren't here yet, and even Erza and Mirajane aren't here?"

Gray asked, his excitement undiminished by the slap.

"."

Moen was speechless. Goodness, no wonder this kid was so excited. He thought he was the second to arrive.

"Erza and Mirajane have already moved on to the next level; you're the fourth."

Moen spoke, decisively shattering Gray's illusions.

"what?"

Gray was completely stunned, his face filled with disbelief, his mouth agape.

"They're both gone, so why are you still here, Moen?!"

Gray asked, quite shocked.

He thought he was the second to arrive because he saw Moen standing there motionless, and there was no one else around.

Logically speaking, Moen should have been the first to arrive, and since he's still here, there's no way anyone was ahead of him, so Gray's thinking isn't really a problem.

Moen explained that he had other tasks, and Gray was completely deflated after hearing it. He had been so happy for nothing. He thought he had surpassed Mirajane and Erza, but it turned out he was just overthinking it.

Gray composed himself and prepared to continue his journey. The result didn't disappoint him too much, since he hadn't initially thought he could surpass Erza and Mirajane. It was just a false alarm, but not a huge blow.

However, before Gray could leave, another person arrived, and he couldn't help but stop and look at them curiously.

Joey and Elfman climbed ashore, both soaking wet. Joey was all muscle and relied on brute force to swim; he was quite good at it, and it was one of his daily training methods.

Although Elfman always dressed in a refined manner, he was actually quite strong. With the addition of the receiving magic, he gained the stamina and strength of a wild beast and swam over quickly, becoming the sixth person to reach the finish line, which probably surprised many people.

"Not bad, Elfman."

Moen patted Elfman on the shoulder with a satisfied expression. The boy had not disappointed him. Elfman was much more mature than before, and his magical talent was gradually being discovered. He was already quite capable in combat.

However, although Elfman has a lot of magic and a strong body, his talent for receiving magic is only average, not as good as his sister Mirajane. In terms of receiving and controlling magic, he is a little worse than his sister Lisanna.

Lisanna's talent for receiving magic is indeed quite good; she receives all kinds of animals very smoothly, even with ease. However, her own magical power is slightly lacking.

Elfman and Lisanna are like taking Mirajane's talent apart; their combined talent is perhaps only slightly inferior to the complete Mirajane.

"Hehe, I've been training according to Brother Moen's instructions."

Elfman chuckled happily after receiving Moen's praise.

As he grew older and his body matured, Elfman felt that he had indeed become much stronger.

Although she can't compare to Mira and the others, she's still quite talented compared to ordinary mages, just not quite at the level of a prodigy.

But this was enough to satisfy Elfman. He couldn't protect Mira, but he could still protect Lisanna.

"Have Erza and Mirajane already left?"

Joey greeted Moen, then asked curiously.

His words made Gray, who was watching curiously from the side, blush. Goodness, was he the only one who had that kind of misunderstanding?

Embarrassed, Gray covered his face and ran wildly into the dense forest, leaving Elfman and Joey waiting for him. The two looked at each other, wondering what had suddenly gotten into Gray.

Moen shook his head with a smile. He felt that Gray's way of thinking had been somewhat influenced by Natsu, but at least the kid was more normal than Natsu, except for suddenly taking off his clothes.

Well, Gray, with this problem, isn't exactly more normal than Natsu.

After Gray left, Moen continued to wait for the others. Including him, there were now six groups, with three spots left to advance. There weren't many spots left for everyone.

Neither Joey nor Elfman were in a hurry to leave, because neither of them were in a solo team; they both had teammates.

Therefore, Joey and Elfman have not yet secured their spots in the next round.

In a duo competition, the score isn't calculated based on one person's score, but rather on the average of both people's scores. This is why Joey and Elfman didn't arrive with their teammates; they were determined to give it their all to secure a good ranking.

Joey and Cana were paired up, a team formed on Moen's recommendation, because he knew Joey was quite strong and would have an advantage in many possible events. As a pure physical combat fighter, he could at least guarantee a minimum standard.

Cana is known for her versatility; her cards can achieve many effects and can be used in various situations. Therefore, Joey is not at a disadvantage in this combination; on the contrary, he can get help in some areas that he finds difficult.

Joey is a year younger than Laxus, and is 17 years old this year. Laxus passed the S-class assessment at the age of 17 last year, which is already the youngest record. Joey doesn't think he can break it, but he can at least try. He is quite confident in himself.

Moen's assessment of this was that "muscles have been trained to the brain," and the difference between Joey and Laxus was probably as great as "the power of nine dragons."

The three chatted idly as their companions gradually arrived.

The seventh and eighth place teams are both veteran groups, and all the members are present, so there's no need to average them out further.

After determining their rankings, they moved on to the next stage. The ninth-place finisher was also a veteran, but his teammates were still behind him, so he could only wait anxiously.

For a duo, ninth place is a very awkward position.

If they want to advance, they can only hope that their partners in other pairs perform worse, and they even have to be careful of the individual groups behind them, because after the scores are averaged out, those groups might just get promoted directly.

Soon, the tenth and eleventh place finishers came up. One had pink hair and the other had black hair. They were Natsu and Gajeel. The two chased each other, with Natsu slightly behind. A Happy with exhausted magic was perched on his head.

"Aaaaaah!!!"

Seeing the finish line in the distance, the two shouted together. Natsu was slightly behind, but he was trying his best to catch up. He had to keep an eye on the listless Happy, otherwise he would have overtaken Gajeel long ago.

"Go for it, Natsu!"

Elfman shouted from the shore; he and Natsu were clearly more familiar with each other.

However, Elfman's encouragement backfired, and Natsu, in his final sprint, accidentally flung Happy away.

"Happy!"

This unexpected situation directly determined the final outcome. Natsu had no choice but to stop and go to save Happy. Although Happy, who was exhausted of magic, was not going to drown, it would be very difficult for him to swim back. Of course, Natsu would not leave Happy behind.

With no other option, Natsu decisively turned back to rescue Happy, who was floating on the sea.

Just as Moen had predicted, the "duo" of Happy and Natsu actually had a synergistic effect that was 1+1<2.

The main reason was that he didn't use his brain. Seeing that everyone else was flying, Natsu also let Happy carry him, and even mocked Gajeel who was swimming. As a result, Happy was exhausted and crashed halfway. For the rest of the journey, he could only lie on Natsu's head. If the two of them, one swimming and one flying, had reached the finish line together long ago, they might have reached the finish line together.

"I won! I won! I came in fifth place!"

Gajeel got ashore, practically a carbon copy of Gray from before. He shouted excitedly, and seeing that there were only Moen and the other three on the shore, he assumed he was in fifth place.

"Wrong, it's tenth place."

Moen spoke, and his words stunned Gajeel.

"How could this be?!"

Gajeel's eyes widened. Tenth place?! That means he's eliminated immediately?!

"It's okay, being tenth place doesn't necessarily mean there's no chance."

Moen continued to explain, and then he saw the ninth-ranked player next to him get excited because his companion had caught up. As long as they surpassed Natsu, they would advance without a doubt!

"Natsu! Swim faster! Swim faster!"

Upon learning this, Gajeel immediately turned around to cheer Natsu on.

Natsu, who had just pulled Happy from the sea, was completely dumbfounded. Gajeel was actually cheering him on?!

It's a trap!

(End of this chapter)