The Strongest High School Student

The soldiers fighting in the trenches suddenly felt the pressure ease.

When they turned to look, they saw a sight that left them stunned.

Dozens of enormous Eighth Grade Sea Demon Lizards were falling one after another amid the surging horde of Mutant Beasts.

All the soldiers could make out was an unstoppable figure and flashes of saber light too fast to follow.

"Could reinforcements from the Fourth Defense Line have arrived?"

"Thank goodness! We're saved!"

"Don't let your guard down! Stray Sea Demon Lizards are still coming!"

The soldiers along this stretch of the defense line called out as they watched one powerful Eighth Grade Mutant Beast after another fall.

It was as if those ferocious beasts were nothing but weeds, cut down with ease.

"Watch out, sir! A Seventh Grade Fire Sea Demon Lizard!"

At the startled shout, a Fire Sea Demon Lizard two meters tall, its body covered in crimson markings, puffed out its cheeks amid the horde.

Whoosh!

A great mass of searing flame surged toward Jiang Li.

Jiang Li moved and appeared beyond the flames.

"It can breathe fire too? Is it a Mutant Beast with an Elemental System ability?"

This was Jiang Li's first encounter with an Elemental System Mutant Beast. When the flames cleared, a patch of ground had melted.

If that fire had struck a person, they would have been cremated instantly.

"No wonder Elemental System talents are usually so highly valued."

Jiang Li looked calmly at the Fire Sea Demon Lizard. "Too bad you picked the wrong opponent."

As soon as he spoke, he shot forward.

The Heaven-Stealing Divine Art surged through him, followed by the Fire Spirit Breathing Technique.

Fueled by his powerful vitality, Jiang Li's explosive speed was almost unmatched. Before the Fire Sea Demon Lizard could breathe a second blast of flame,

he drove the Black Horizontal Saber upward, straight through its skull.

A Seventh Grade Mutant Beast, killed with a single strike!

Behind him, every soldier stood frozen, staring at Jiang Li as though he were a god.

Jiang Li moved again, clearing out every Eighth Grade Sea Demon Lizard nearby.

Then he looked toward the ruins ahead. Once one of Donghai City's busiest commercial districts, the area had been reduced to rubble.

The sounds of fighting still came faintly from within. Jiang Li strode into the ruins.

When Jiang Li arrived, he found a military martial artist facing two Fire Sea Demon Lizards amid the sweltering rubble.

The two Fire Sea Demon Lizards were no match for Jiang Li, but for an ordinary Seventh Grade martial artist, they were an immense threat.

Their defenses were formidable; ordinary weapons could barely wound them.

They were also fast and could breathe fire. Even a Seventh Grade martial artist would struggle to survive being caught in the flames.

The Seventh Grade martial artist was drenched in sweat, his face pale and his strength nearly spent.

But he knew his boss was facing a Sixth Grade Beast King, under even greater pressure than he was.

"Boss, if you don't get back soon, I'm really going to die here!"

"Damn it!"

"You two beasts! Can you do anything besides spit fire?"

"Couldn't you two just drop dead on your own?"

He kept shouting, but his voice grew weaker and weaker.

Whoosh!

Another sheet of flame came down, forcing him to dodge. At that moment, the other Fire Sea Demon Lizard appeared behind him, raised its claws high, and struck.

The man's expression changed sharply. With his strength nearly gone, he had begun leaving openings like this—fatal ones.

This is bad!

He could only watch as the Fire Sea Demon Lizard's claws descended like Death's scythe. He could do nothing to stop them.

Slash!

A streak of lightning flashed past the claws, severing them in an instant.

At the same time, a figure appeared beneath the Fire Sea Demon Lizard and thrust upward with a saber.

In the blink of an eye, the blade pierced the creature's skull.

Jiang Li turned to the martial artist, who stood there dumbstruck, and frowned. "Why are you alone?"

Martial artists had no advantage against Mutant Beasts of the same grade, much less two at once.

This man had probably fought the two Fire Sea Demon Lizards knowing he might die.

"There's still one more!" Instead of answering, the man hurried to warn Jiang Li.

Before his words had faded, Jiang Li appeared atop the other Fire Sea Demon Lizard. Even a creature as fast as it was could not hope to match that speed.

He held his saber in one hand and slashed.

The blade flashed like a crescent moon, cleanly severing the Seventh Grade Fire Sea Demon Lizard's head.

Boom!

The corpse crashed to the ground. Jiang Li hopped down from it with ease.

"Not anymore,"

Jiang Li said calmly, leaving the man utterly stunned.

Jiang Li soon learned why the man had been fighting alone.

The front line had sent an urgent call for help half a month earlier, and most martial artists of Eighth Grade or above had been deployed there.

At present, the Fifth Frontline consisted mostly of Ninth-Rank Martial Artists and ordinary soldiers who had not even reached that rank.

There was only one Seventh Grade martial artist: Li Chaofan, the sole Rising General stationed at the Fifth Defense Line.

Li Chaofan was currently fighting a Sixth Grade Beast King.

"Has the situation on the battlefield grown that dire?" Jiang Li frowned slightly. He was beginning to understand why Mutant Beasts still roamed the wilderness.

For the past thousand years, humanity had traded lives for lives and territory for survival.

The thought weighed heavily on him.

"May I ask if you're from the Li Family?" Huo Kai asked cautiously.

"No. My name is Jiang Li!"

Jiang Li replied, "Where's that Rising General you mentioned? I'll go help him!"

Huo Kai was about to answer when his expression shifted. Then he let out a long breath.

"That Sixth Grade Beast King is dead. Uh... we can just head back to camp and wait, sir," Huo Kai said quickly.

"He killed a Sixth Grade Beast King?" Jiang Li was surprised. It seemed the Rising General called Li Chaofan was quite capable.

"All right."

With the Beast King dead, Jiang Li felt he could finally rest. He had been on the battlefield for a day and a night without much of a break.

On another battlefield, Li Chaofan stood before the body of the Thunderfire Sea Lizard King, a creature as large as a small hill. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

Yet he had not been the one to kill it.

Faced with the person who had helped him, however, Li Chaofan found himself at a loss for words.

He's here on the battlefield. The pressure up ahead must have eased.

As expected of a Sixth Grade Beast King. I almost died here.

Li Chaofan turned at once and headed for the Fifth Defense Line's command post.

Along the way, he saw many Mutant Beast corpses and fell silent.

This had been only a small horde, but most of the soldiers at the Fifth Defense Line were ordinary people. The casualties were probably severe.

Before long, he spotted Huo Kai outside the command post.

"How bad were the casualties?" Li Chaofan had braced himself for the answer.

"Twenty-eight dead and fifty-six seriously wounded," Huo Kai replied at once.

"Hm?" Li Chaofan froze. The number was far lower than he had expected.

With over a hundred Eighth Grade Sea Demon Lizards and three Seventh Grade Fire Sea Demon Lizards, he had expected to lose at least several hundred people, perhaps even a thousand.

Huo Kai told him what had happened, leaving Li Chaofan shaken.

"You're saying a high school senior killed fifty-six Eighth Grade Sea Demon Lizards and three Seventh Grade Fire Sea Demon Lizards by himself?" Li Chaofan narrowed his eyes. "Kai, if I find out you're joking, I'll skin you."

"Boss, I wouldn't dare! Everything I said is true!" Huo Kai protested. "That Jiang Li is definitely the strongest high school student I've ever seen."

"If that's true, he'd be the second-strongest high school student I've ever seen," Li Chaofan said slowly. "Where is he?"

"The cafeteria!"

"Come on. I want to meet the man who saved us."