A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

Lucy was trembling, her snow-white shoulders shaking as she hid in the grass, hugging her chubby self. "I was drawn into Juvia's team! That means I'm going to face Gildarts! How could I possibly beat Gildarts?!"

"If we encounter one, we'll undoubtedly be eliminated! We can only try to hide!"

"How to hide...how to hide...is there any Protoss that can help me hide and not be known by anyone?"

"That's right! Baruka!!"

Thinking of her Virgo celestial spirit who was very good at digging holes, Lucy's eyes lit up and a look of surprise appeared on her face. "Anyway, the exam room is only limited to front, back, left, right and above, not underground!"

“Yes, yes…I’m so smart! Come out! Ba…”

"Princess, did you call me?"

"I'm ￥％……&!! Barugo??"

Hearing the voice behind her, Lucy was so frightened that she blurted out whatever came to mind, and the ladylike demeanor she had been cultivated under her mother's tutelage vanished.

Looking back, a young girl with short pink hair, dressed in a maid outfit, with a cold face but wearing a full set of punishment gear, emerged from the ground. It was indeed the Virgo celestial spirit, Balgo.

"Please punish me severely, Princess!"

Although Lucy had seen this scene countless times and knew it all too well, she was still a little confused: "I haven't even opened the door yet! How did you suddenly run out?"

"As a servant, it is my duty to always be attentive to the princess's inner voice!"

Huh?! Constantly listening to someone's thoughts... isn't that just being a peeping tom?!

Lucy looked helpless: "Forget it, let's not talk about that for now! Valor, I need your help right now!"

"Princess, please give your orders!"

Barugo has a very positive attitude. She is the Celestial Spirit who is most able to act according to her master's wishes. Otherwise, she would not often be called 'Maid Star' by Natsu and others.

"Um... help me dig a hole! I need to hide until the assessment is over!" Lucy said the most cowardly thing in the bravest tone.

In terms of cunning, she believed she had few rivals in this examination hall.

After listening, Baruga remained silent for two seconds, until she was sure Lucy had no further instructions, before asking with a dissatisfied look, "Eh!? Is that all? There should be more, right?! Like punishing me with the cruelest torture or something..."

"...No!! I would never do that to you!!!"

“Eh…” Baruka looked visibly disappointed, as always.

Greetings are greetings, jokes are jokes, but the things that need to be done still need to be done.

“Then I’ll start digging from here! How deep and big should the hole be?” Baluge asked, taking off her training equipment and looking at the soil beneath her feet.

Lucy habitually extended a delicate finger and tapped her chin, saying thoughtfully, "Um... how deep and wide? Well... just enough to give me some freedom of movement, and I don't want anyone else to notice!"

"I understand! Please follow me!"

Perhaps knowing that Lucy didn't have a clear understanding of this, Baloo didn't ask any more questions. She raised her hands together, pushed off with her legs, and jumped deep into the ground like a swimmer.

clack clack...

With mud flying everywhere, Baloo, seemingly a professional whack-a-mole player, darted underground at incredible speed and disappeared into the dense forest with Lucy in no time.

……

To the east, Jubia encountered Urutia shortly after setting off.

"She's the woman who teamed up with Lord Gray?! Damn it... Juvia is so envious...!!!"

A feeling of facing a 'love rival' rose from the bottom of Juvia's heart.

Looking at the blue-haired woman standing not far away, exuding a gloomy aura, Ultear was filled with doubt. Even with her brows furrowed, her delicate face, adorned with light makeup, remained exquisite and beautiful.

"Gray's little girlfriend? Why does she seem hostile towards me? Our two teams probably can't beat her in this level, right?"

"Never mind, I can't take the initiative to attack her anyway. I'll find Gray or Wendy first. That mage named Timalia is not easy to deal with."

Urudia stopped paying attention to Juvia, glanced at the direction, and turned to head towards the place where she had agreed to meet Gray.

Meanwhile, Juvia, hiding behind the tree, completely forgot her main mission and that her enemy was Lucy. She openly followed Ultear, saying, "She must be going to meet up with Lord Gray! As long as I follow her, Juvia can find Lord Gray!!"

……

In the northeast corner of the examination hall, two candidates for Dragon Slayer Mage gathered together.

Natsu and Gajeel entered the arena close to each other. Both of them have a keen sense of smell, and they smelled each other's scent not long after the trial began. Since they were rivals in this round, they tacitly headed straight for each other.

"This time we can finally have a proper fight!"

"Do you want revenge for the defeat I caused back then?"

Back then? That was over a year ago, wasn't it? I'm not going to live in the past forever!

Gajeel scoffed, his right hand transforming into a claw that instantly turned into cold, black steel: "Before those two troublemakers arrive, let's settle this once and for all! Fire Dragon!"

"Okay!"

Natsu also displayed remarkable skill in battle, colliding his left palm and right fist in mid-air, creating a burst of boiling flames. The flames spiraled upwards along his arms, instantly covering his entire body. The sudden change in temperature stirred up a whooshing airflow, blowing his white dragon scale scarf high like a flag announcing the start of war.

When it comes to fighting, Natsu has never refused anyone!

"Iron Dragon Staff!!"

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!!"

……

"It looks like Nazsan and Gajeelsan are fighting over there..."

Not far away, Wendy, who also has a keen sense of smell, glanced into the distance, a fleeting look of confusion in her eyes, before riding the wind and heading in another direction.

"Forget it, their fight is none of my business. I'll just keep looking for Graysan!"

Although Wendy is young, she understands things very well. Right now, what matters most to her is the assessment, not going off to gossip!

"I wonder where Timalia-san is..."

Wendy blushed a little when Timalia was mentioned. This wild older sister always touched her inappropriately, especially when time was frozen, leaving her no chance to fight back.

What made Wendy most embarrassed and annoyed was that Timalia would take advantage of her and then act innocent. Every time she finished doing something bad, she would say something like "small and cute" to Wendy with a mocking look. On the surface, it seemed like comfort, but Wendy felt that it was blatant sarcasm!

Unfortunately, these things were too embarrassing to talk about, and Wendy didn't dare tell Erza and the other adults about them. She could only silently endure their teasing.

"This is so embarrassing!"

For a moment, Wendy couldn't tell who she wanted to win more.

"I wonder if Urudiasang's 'Arc of Time' can withstand Timaliasang's 'Seal of Time'?"

Chapter 588 Philid: Stop making excuses! You've fallen for their honey trap!

In the southwest corner of the examination hall, a graceful female demon roams among the trees.

This fairy was very large, dressed in flowing green, with a delicate face, a curvaceous figure, and two almost transparent wings on her back that carried her freely in the wind. Her two long, slender, fair legs were the envy of countless men.

Suddenly, the fairy gently waved her fan, and with a flow of magic, countless pale yellow dust particles poured out, shimmering in the sunlight, and then…

BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!!

The dust exploded with a deafening roar.

In the mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke, a large number of trees were snapped in half, with branches, leaves, and wood chips scattered all over the ground, looking as if they had endured the worst storm and were in a sorry state.

But it wasn't just fairies who turned this place into ruins; demons did too.

A knight, clad in jet-black armor and depicted as a half-demon, wielding a rapier, used the sword as a pen, effortlessly writing dozens of purplish-black magical characters with a flick of his wrist. He would also gather energy with a wave of his hand, unleashing a torrent of dark magic from his palm, rivaling the explosive dust of the fairies.

Besides fairies and demons, there is also a queen and a handsome man.

The queen, clad in armor and wielding two swords, resembled both a female knight galloping across the battlefield and a red enchantress dancing gracefully; every move she made was captivating.

His cold gaze swept across the battlefield, his swift and decisive movements showed no mercy to his targets, and the falling sword blades collided with the enemy's magic, producing a crisp metallic melody.

As for that handsome guy, there's not much to say. Apart from being slightly more handsome and stronger, he's otherwise unremarkable.

Abagerin, Philid, Erza, and Gerald are engaged in a battle here: a two-on-two advancement battle with the candidates from both sides as the main force and the supporters as the secondary force. It is a battle between supporters and candidates that is developing almost exactly as Mavis predicted, and it is the battle that Prehito and Makarov wanted to see.

Both sides are currently operating in a supporter-versus-substitute mode. However, compared to Erza's ruthless attack on Fred, Jellal appears hesitant and indecisive when attacking Abba Grin, lacking any decisiveness in delivering a powerful blow.

"Celestial Magic: Triple Star!"

"Fairy Bomb!!"

"Heavenly Wheel - Pentagram Sword!"

"Dark Light Bullet!!"

bang bang bang...

With a burst of magical clashes, the four figures intertwined, exchanging blows. Fred and Abram were fighting with all their might, Erza was serious throughout, and Jellal was just going through the motions.

"Geralt!! Get serious already!!"

Seeing his teammate so blatantly sabotaging him, Fred was furious. "Don't you have that Meteor Shower move? Use it and chase after him to fight!!"

"Don't you know Mystogan magic? You could cast a couple on Erza!"

Erza's sword strikes were powerful and heavy, and Freed's magic power was almost depleted. He was furious at Jellal for not doing his job.

I trusted you so much, and this is how you repay my trust? You've been spamming little stars all this time, not even using a single powerful attack? And even those little stars are the weakest and slowest attack, completely negating any damage to Abbagrim! You lecherous scoundrel, you've probably fallen for her honey trap!!

"Don't worry, as long as we defeat their candidate, we'll win..." Gerald's eyes darted around, his leisurely voice carried on the sound of magic and swords cutting through the air.

I'm not at all relieved!

Freed couldn't help but sneer: "You're completely ignoring my previous statement, aren't you? You're clearly just doing this because you don't want to fight Erza, aren't you? You don't even check on your teammates' situation, and you speak with such a weak voice. Do you think I'll believe your excuses? Bah! You lecherous scoundrel!"

Indeed, only Laxus is the man I can entrust my life to!

Compared to Philid, Abba Green seemed much happier.

She encountered Erza shortly after entering the examination hall, and the two then acted together, soon running into the lone Freed.

They thought they could easily defeat their opponent in a two-on-one fight, but they didn't expect that this guy, Philid, who usually pretends to be Laxus's good wife and mother, was secretly increasing his magical training behind their backs and that he managed to hold out until Jellal arrived to help.

At that moment, Abram was filled with despair. Because she knew that the strength of the four people present was as follows: Jellal > Erza > Freed > herself.

Freed was able to hold out against Erza until Jellal came to his aid, and even use the lulls in the battle to set up spell traps to turn the tide of the war, but he himself could not last long against Jellal.

Unexpectedly, things took a turn for the better, and Gerald showed mercy!