The idea was that if Waldo faced a few more such battles, his strength would be significantly depleted. Then, they could take advantage of his weakened state. However, this notion was immediately proven wrong.

[Battle Over!]

[Three teams, fifteen challengers, all dead!]

A tremendous, unparalleled storm erupted, sweeping across the chessboard world with unstoppable force. Shock! Astonishment! Unparalleled astonishment! All the challengers, everyone who was following this event, were left speechless, with only one word in their minds: shock! Complete and utter shock!

Three teams, fifteen challengers. Among them, the three most powerful captains had their combat strength doubled. Such a formidable force, even if unable to defeat the Dawn team, should have been able to delay them for some time.

Not necessarily an hour or half an hour, but at least ten minutes, right? On average, it was three against one. Even if they were just running away, it should have taken the Dawn team some time to kill everyone!

So, what was the actual outcome? In less than a minute! No, maybe even less than a minute. Possibly only half a minute! In just half a minute, three teams, fifteen challengers, were completely annihilated. Not a single survivor!!!

...

It was unbelievable!

"No, no, no! How is this possible? I don’t believe it, I can’t believe it! The Dawn team can’t be that strong, Waldo can’t be that formidable!"

"Waldo has a combat strength of six hundred, but is six hundred really that terrifying? Even with his battle axe and strength buffs, he might break a thousand, but... this is just too absurd!"

"Why, with Waldo’s near invincible presence, how can we win afterward? This is a big problem!"

"It’s over, let’s surrender! We can’t deal with Waldo and the Dawn team! Surrender early and save our lives!"

"Someone told me earlier that the chance of being selected is very small, and it’s unlikely to be that unlucky. They told me not to be afraid. And what happened? They just went up and are now a corpse."

"Terrifying, so terrifying! Brothers, let’s surrender! Anyway, we are just cannon fodder! Some unrealistic things really have nothing to do with us. Going up there is just like serving ourselves on a platter! The ruler’s treasure will never end up in our hands anyway. Rather than joining this madness with our lives, it’s better to surrender now and save ourselves!"

One after another, more challengers chose to surrender. It was too terrifying! The strength displayed by Waldo and the Dawn team was so powerful that it led to despair. They didn’t know what exactly happened in the arena, but they were well aware that those teams and challengers were annihilated in less than a minute.

Such speed... Too fast! Many challengers were terrified, their courage and fighting spirit crumbling in an instant. Under these circumstances, who would dare to take on Waldo?

"I surrender!"

"I surrender too!" Initially, only about a dozen teams surrendered. Then, hundreds of teams chose to surrender. Now, even more were surrendering. Over a thousand, nearly two thousand teams, with no hesitation, surrendered directly. And this number was still rapidly increasing...

"Waste of space, all of them! A bunch of cowardly fools afraid of death! We’ve come this far, just hold on for a few more waves. Under our continuous assaults, Waldo’s strength will inevitably be greatly reduced! If we persist, our chances of winning will increase!" An infuriated challenger watched as team after team surrendered and left.

His face twisted in fury. Yet, he was helpless. He couldn’t interfere with others’ choices and could only resort to verbal insults. However, his words were immediately met with mockery and sarcasm from other challengers.

"Haha, who do you think you are? Just because you’re in the top twenty on the power rankings? Once you encounter Waldo, you’re dead just the same! No self-awareness, trying to snatch food from Waldo’s mouth, seeking death!"

"So full of yourself, thinking we’d fight for you? Dream on!"

"Get lost!"

"Go as far away as you can!!!"

...

The insulted person’s face darkened, fuming with anger, but he couldn’t say anything.

"Let’s surrender, we won’t get a turn anyway."

"Yeah, we were just misled by some people with ulterior motives, paving the way for others. Now, they want us to take the bullet for them? No way!"

"Let’s withdraw, brothers. As for the ruler’s treasure, I have no expectations. I hope those who haven’t surrendered yet will have good luck and not get chosen for the arena."

"Let’s go!"

Then, another wave of teams surrendered. The total number quickly exceeded two thousand. Meanwhile, many more teams were in a state of indecision and struggle, unsure of how to choose, caught in a dilemma.

Some teams had major internal disagreements. In some cases, the captain wanted to surrender, but the members refused. In others, the members wanted to surrender, but the captain wouldn’t agree. The situations varied and were complex. Many teams were wavering and hesitant.

"What should we do? Should we surrender?"

"I think we should. Don’t you know our team’s strength? To put it bluntly, we are just cannon fodder, mere pawns in the hands of others, completely insignificant! The final prize will definitely not be ours, we might not even get a taste of it, so why bother?"

"No, we can’t just surrender now, not after coming this far. I can’t accept that!"

"Let’s fight it out, turn a bicycle into a motorcycle!"

Teams were arguing, unsure of how to decide. The captains were also troubled.

With no other option, the captain said resignedly, "Let’s wait and see. If the situation continues to be unfavorable and Waldo remains unbeatable, then we’ll surrender." Hearing this, the team members reluctantly nodded in agreement. They decided to take a step back and wait for the outcome of the next match before making a final decision.

...

"Great, the number of teams surrendering has significantly increased! If we strike even harder in the next round, those teams still wavering will likely lose all hope and quickly surrender."

Waldo closely monitored the chat channel, keeping an eye on the dynamics of various teams. After he instantly annihilated three teams of fifteen challengers, over two thousand teams chose to surrender in a very short time, far more than before. But...

"It’s still not enough, far from enough!"

"There are nearly twenty thousand teams in the entire chessboard world. The surrender of two thousand teams is just a small portion. The vast majority are still in a state of indecision and hesitation."