"Tapp!!!!"

Someone slapped Sam's back, and he snapped back to reality. He quickly turned around and realized it was Alexa.

"Why do you appear so serious? Do not worry, I am well aware of the situation. She would not be sad. This should give her more motivation to work hard.

I have known her since I was a child, and this was her best characteristic. Fiona possesses the ability to handle such a situation with ease.

So you do not have to worry about her and can concentrate on your match. If I am not mistaken, this is your time to shine.

Go and show everyone why you are known as The Dark Horse. The Dark Horse should defeat everyone. If you are unable to do so, I will refer to you as the Dark Dog. Hahaha…"

Alexa teasingly said this to Sam. Sam can only smile helplessly. He understands that Alexa is telling him the truth. Fiona has that ability, but he thought it would be a good idea to visit her.

"You should visit her and assess her condition. You do not need to be concerned about me because I will win the match and defeat you in the semi-finals."

Sam said this to Alexa before walking out of the waiting room. He is confident in his ability to defeat Max, and it appears that Alexa feels the same way.

Looking at his back, she smiles happily and decides to leave the waiting room. She is also confident that Sam will qualify for the semi-final.

Even thinking about this makes her happy. She really wanted to fight him.

'Well, let us go see the wounded bear. Hahahaha….. I am going to enjoy this.'

The thought of how she will tease Fiona causes her to smile foolishly.

***********

Sam finally entered the battlefield and began walking towards the better ring. When he entered the battlefield, the stadium went silent.

But the silence lasts only 5 seconds, and then many people start cheering for him. As expected, he is well-known as Alexa and the others.

"Now, let us welcome Dark Horse Sam. He demonstrated to everyone that you cannot underestimate him as early as the second stage of the entrance examination."

The commentator begins to introduce Sam, which causes those people to cheer even louder.

Sam did not think about it because he had already entered the battle ring. Both Sam and Max are present in the battle ring, observing each other.

Both of them wished to exploit each other's weaknesses. Max, thanks to his family, has already devised a strategy to counter-attack Sam. Also, given that it is afternoon, he believes Sam will not have much opportunity to use the shadow movement technique.

Max gives a smirk. He also appears to be confident in his ability to beat Sam. He has already planned to use the illusion when he receives the referee's signal.

The referee asked both participants if they were ready. Finally, after receiving signals from both of them, the referee signals the start of the fight.

Something extraordinary occurred the moment he did it. Max suddenly began to glow, and one by one, more Max appeared on the battle ring.

As one might expect, Max has already used his illusion to create his own illusion.

Only one of the 20 Max is genuine, while the rest are fake. However, without powerful observation and visual techniques, you would be unable to discover the true Max.

'Unfortunately, my current observation technique is insufficient to uncover the real Max. If I wanted to find the real Max, I needed to get close to each of those physical illusions.'

Sam is aware that Max uses a physical illusion. This has no effect on you mentally, but as you can see, it created Max's physical illusion.

If people are not informed about this, they will believe Max created clones. But, unfortunately, that is not the case, and only one of them is the true Max. Only the real Max is capable of attacking Sam.

This time, Sam did not recklessly attack those physical illusions. He is waiting for Max and his illusions to make a move.

Max and the entire physical illusion then moved toward Sam. It is as if 20 people are attacking him at once. Fortunately, he understands that this is not true.

He did not panic and instead remained calm. Sam must find the real Max among the illusions.

The good news is that when those physical illusions approach him, he can tell whether they are real or not.

Max, on the other hand, never underestimated Sam. Even though Sam did not discover the true Max, he is not afraid.

As a result, Max was reluctant to take any risks. He had already activated another technique, which produced white smoke. The surrounding area began to be filled with white smoke.

Do not think that is your typical white smoke. This is the hallucination white smoke. As soon as you inhale that white smoke, you will begin to hallucinate. It will have a direct effect on your mind.

Only people with strong mental fortitude and defense mechanisms could protect themselves.

Sam became more serious as the area around him filled with white smoke. He is already beginning to channel more spiritual energy through his movement and sword techniques.

Sam is always prepared to go all out. He is just waiting for the real Max to approach him.

Sam is unsure whether he will be affected by the white smoke or not, but he is very serious about it. If necessary, he is prepared to hold his breath.

10 second later,

All of Max's illusions approached Sam and began attacking him. As expected, none of the illusions caused any damage. All of them and their weapons simply pass through his body.

It is as if there is nothing in front of him. However, Sam did not become impatient. He simply waits for the real Max to approach him.

At this point, he also employs the mental defense technique to boost his mental strength as much as possible. Max can affect him mentally with other techniques in addition to the white smoke.