Tackle Infinite Quick Strikes! (Please Keep Reading)

Tackle Infinite Quick Strikes! (Please Keep Reading)

"Hiss, hiss, hissss."

Caterpie quickly explained its doubts.

Compared to Mark, it might have been a little slow-witted, but it was the protagonist of the battlefield after all, so it had noticed things Mark had not.

The Caterpie participating in the siege were clearly acting strangely.

Not only was their morale low, but there was also a hint of panic in the way they looked at it.

There was another feeling as well.

These Caterpie seemed to be luring it toward the depths of the Caterpie Territory.

Mark lightly rubbed his chin. "No wonder that Caterpie Leader hasn't shown itself this time. It may have prepared something to lure you over and ambush you. So, what are you going to do about this trap aimed at you?"

"Hiss, hiss!"

Caterpie immediately responded.

The choice was easy. Naturally, it would walk straight into the trap. That way, it could receive more training and grow even more.

Mark smiled. "Then go. I'll support you from behind.

"Your strength is clearly greater than the Caterpie here. You could probably break through their layers of defenses head-on and defeat the Caterpie Leader without much trouble, but don't underestimate them.

"When you are at a disadvantage, do not shrink back because your opponent is powerful.

"And when you hold the advantage, do not overlook the details because your opponent is weak. Even if they cannot threaten you, they may still have something worth learning from."

"Hiss!"

Caterpie struck a pose of determined effort, then headed deeper into the Caterpie Territory.

With a few quick steps, Mark climbed into the treetops and followed.

Caterpie did not move quickly.

It was clear that Caterpie had followed his advice and intended to steadily advance into the trap prepared by the Caterpie Leader.

There was no impatience or unease—only a desire for training and growth.

Watching Caterpie's performance, Mark's expression grew increasingly gratified.

After its strength had skyrocketed from allocating points, Mark had actually worried that Caterpie's mindset might change—that it might become conceited and think itself invincible.

The facts proved that he had worried too much.

Not only had Caterpie not become conceited, it seemed even more diligent, hardworking, and serious than before.

"Is it because of the final failure after those forty-seven years, so it became unwilling to accept it?"

Mark murmured softly. Just then, he saw Caterpie suddenly turn back to look at him and gesture at him with its forelegs, as if responding to his doubts.

Just as Mark had guessed, Caterpie was working so hard precisely because of that failure after forty-seven years.

Watching Mark die of old age with its own eyes had dealt a far greater blow to Caterpie's heart than Mark had imagined.

Caterpie clearly understood that its master, Mark, was an Ordinary Person, and that it too was merely an ordinary Caterpie, far inferior to legendary immortals like Dugu Qiubai, Lu Dongbin, and Li Er, whom its master often spoke of.

That was why it had to work twice as hard. It did not want to see Mark die of old age again, filled with unwillingness and regret.

In that brief glance, Mark and Caterpie seemed to have shared a long exchange, each understanding the other's thoughts...

"Is this... Heart-to-Heart?"

Mark lightly rubbed his chin. When he looked at Caterpie again, it had already moved farther into the depths of the forest.

Clearly, this Heart-to-Heart state could not be maintained for long.

Then Mark's mouth twitched slightly, and he scratched his head helplessly.

"I've told it so many times already. Those dream memories were fake, yet it's still hung up on me dying of old age in that dream... Later, I need to explain it properly. At the very least, I need to make it understand the principles of the Trainer System, understand what is real and what is false. It can't keep being confused like this..."

Mark muttered to himself before suddenly letting out a long sigh.

"But then again, that scene of dying from exhaustion really was pretty unwilling..."

Mark clenched his fist tightly and did not loosen it for a long time.

Return to Simplicity—no matter what, he had to make it happen!!

As he followed Caterpie deeper through the dense forest, the sounds of battle ahead gradually diminished, and fewer and fewer Caterpie remained involved in the siege.

Just as Mark began to wonder whether they had already passed through the Caterpie Territory, and whether there might not be any traps or ambushes after all, a taut silver thread appeared among the treetops ahead.

Compared to the silk spun by ordinary Caterpie, this thread was thicker—about as thick as an adult human's little finger.

Following the taut thread, Mark quickly spotted a straight wooden spike.

The wooden spike was as thick as a chopstick and around seventy centimeters long. It was secured to the stretched thread, resembling a slingshot pulled to its limit.

As long as another thread behind it was cut, the drawn wooden spike would shoot out violently.

Mark fell into thought, then suddenly narrowed his eyes.

A few meters away from this Spike Catapult Trap, he spotted an identical device, also drawn and ready to fire.

Then Mark saw even more Spike Catapult Traps.

By the bright moonlight, Mark saw countless threads interwoven above the nearby trees, connecting hundreds or thousands of Spike Catapult Traps.

Following the direction in which the wooden spikes pointed, Mark saw something silvery white. It appeared to be a gigantic cocoon...

In a clearing deep within the dense forest, the Caterpie Leader and Caterpie faced each other.

More precisely, the Caterpie Leader was confronting a silvery-white cocoon.

The Caterpie Leader cried out as it watched the figure struggling and writhing within the cocoon's threads. "Sss, sss, ssssssss, ssssss..."

The Caterpie Leader made one final attempt to persuade it.

First, it told this Caterpie never to set foot in Caterpie territory again.

It then explained that even a powerful Pinsir would be helpless against these threads, urging Caterpie to stop struggling.

Caterpie's response was wave after wave of silver threads drifting down like snowflakes.

"Sss? Ssssssss, ssssss, ssssss, ssssss?"

Caterpie tilted its head and explained.

Actually, breaking these threads was not difficult. When it had first trained Adamant Penetrating Strike, it had tried to ram through a soft thread floating in the air. Once it grasped the trick, snapping these threads was truly easy.

However, there was one thing Caterpie found puzzling: how had it just been wrapped into a cocoon by a huge mass of threads? It had been entangled before it could even react.

The Caterpie Leader did not answer, only revealing an indescribable look in its eyes.

First came hesitation, then resolve.

Swish—

A thread wrapped around the Caterpie Leader and yanked it rapidly backward.

Caterpie watched the Caterpie Leader in confusion, then suddenly sensed something. It looked behind it and met Mark's eyes.

Heart-to-Heart activated once again.

In less than the blink of an eye, Caterpie and Mark had finished communicating. At the same time, it heard a dense barrage of air-piercing sounds.

If it stayed where it was, the Spike Catapult Trap would soon turn it into a creature called a hedgehog.

At this moment, it had two choices.

The first was to use Tackle (Quick Strike) repeatedly to escape the trap. Although it would inevitably be hit by some wooden spikes, it would probably suffer only minor injuries.

The second was to use a Tackle ultimate move—a composite Tackle technique—that would let it escape the trap unscathed.

Since Tackle (Power-Up Tackle) and Tackle (Quick Strike) were incompatible with one another, and Tackle (Adamant Penetrating Strike) had yet to find a way to merge with other techniques, Caterpie currently possessed two composite Tackle ultimate moves.

One was the previously failed combination of Tackle (Power-Up Tackle) + Tackle (Multi-Strike Combo).

Its effect was to continuously bombard one or multiple targets like cannonballs capable of turning. Mark had named it: Tackle Five-Shot Barrage.

The other was Tackle (Quick Strike) + Tackle (Multi-Strike Combo).

It was also the choice Caterpie made to deal with the Spike Catapult Trap!

After dozens of minutes of fighting and adapting, Caterpie had gained more complete control over its body. It was confident that it could succeed this time.

In the instant it took to blink, the warm current inside Caterpie had already been activated and transformed.

The warm current stretched into a ring, cycling continuously before becoming erratic and elusive.

Caterpie, still standing in place, seemed completely motionless. Yet its body gradually blurred.

As dense wooden spikes came whistling in, Caterpie's stationary figure shattered like a bubble. It became a leaping bolt of green lightning, leaving a string of blurred afterimages as it flashed repeatedly toward the direction the Caterpie Leader had gone!

Tackle (Quick Strike) + Tackle (Seven-Strike Combo) *7!

—Tackle Infinite Quick Strikes!

When the Caterpie Leader, being pulled away from the battlefield by the threads, realized something was wrong, it felt an impact strike it from behind. Its body tumbled forward through the air, only to suddenly be struck from the front. Then impacts came from below, from above, from the sides, from every direction—up, down, left, right, front, and back...

In less than a breath, the Caterpie Leader felt as though it had endured dozens of attacks. From beginning to end, it had not detected the figure attacking it; it could only feel its body being knocked away again and again, spinning irregularly through the air.

Bang!

The battered Caterpie Leader fell from the air. It had not lost consciousness, but it could no longer support itself and rise from the ground.

Beside it stood a panting figure. It seemed to be that Caterpie, but with its eyes injured, the Caterpie Leader could not see clearly.

Then, as it puzzled over this, the panting figure made a sound.

"Sssss, sssss, sssssssss..." (So you're not very good at fighting. It feels like even the old me could have beaten you. No wonder you've been hiding in the back these past few days...)

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