Volume Three: The Academy Runs Wild - Three-Way Showdown

"Tsk, I thought they were some big shots, but they're just two little mice?"

The woman— the Sick Spider— lost interest after just one glance at us.

"Oh, you are the one who can grow together with her, but she is not."

"Raosen, shut up!"

"That's not right."

These two guys aren't nervous at all...

While keeping a watchful eye on them, I quickly considered my options. We were now caught in a pincer movement, even though these two completely disregarded us. It would be foolish to start a fight rashly, but I didn't believe that feigning weakness or innocence would save us. Their killing was utterly indiscriminate; anything they deemed "an obstacle" was doomed to die.

In this way, battle would be unavoidable.

Since we're going to fight, we must win. The key is to know your enemy and yourself; first, we need to understand their abilities. This woman's ability must be manipulating these threads, capable of launching extremely powerful cutting attacks—a single thin thread could easily slice a reinforced concrete building in half. Because I wasn't constantly watching the other person, Raosen's ability wasn't clear, but the ability to slaughter survivors on the ground from hundreds of meters away was still quite troublesome.

In my opinion, superpowers can be divided into three categories: the simple and straightforward type, the complex and unpredictable type, and the bug-like type. The first type of superpower is easy to understand, has strong versatility, and no obvious advantages or disadvantages; it's a pure contest of combat power. The second type of superpower is more mysterious; if you don't understand its true nature, you can easily be suppressed to death, but once you find a way to break through it, you can turn the tables in one fell swoop; this is a contest of intelligence. The third type is a superpower that is both invincible and unsolvable; it's a cheat code, a bug-like special ability, and a trap. If you encounter it, you can only pray for good fortune.

In my opinion, both of their special abilities belong to the first type.

I moved my leg slightly, gently touching Haoyue's heel.

She moved her arm and touched my back.

The exchange was completed in the blink of an eye.

Then comes the action.

"Blood Pool!!!"

"Golden Moon·Yuehong!!!"

The golden runes exploded into golden rainbows, instantly growing into a ring of enormous light that spread towards the two of them! At the same time, a large amount of my blood gushed out, forming a pool on the ground that covered the entire rooftop—

Boom!!!

The moon rainbow shattered the moment it struck the two, and at the same time, the bright moon, empowered by the orange runes, suddenly accelerated and fled at an extremely fast speed.

"Running away!?"

Raosen, who had been confronting Haoyue, shouted sharply, and a sound like a whip cracking through the air came from behind as he chased after her.

"Raosen! Don't run around!!!"

The golden light dissipated, revealing a silvery-white sphere. The sphere then spread out into countless threads, which the Sick Spider had created to defend itself against attacks. She clicked her tongue in annoyance and released silver threads in the direction the two had left!

"Beast Taming - Flock of Birds!"

The blood pool churned, and a large flock of Blood Eagle emerged, flapping their membranous wings like a hurricane as they swooped down on the Sick Spider! With a flick of her finger, several flashes of silver light appeared, and in an instant, all the Blood Eagle were shattered into pieces—

"Burst!!!"

"What--"

The countless pieces of flesh that had surrounded the Sick Spider exploded violently, engulfing her in brilliant Blood Flame and halting her pursuit.

As expected...

When the Blood Flame dissipated, what was revealed was still the same silvery-white cocoon, exactly the same as before.

In other words, although her offensive power is extremely strong, her defensive methods are very limited, at most she can manipulate threads to form shields or cocoons. This could potentially be an opportunity to exploit.

Meanwhile, Haoyue and Raosen had already disappeared. The initial step of the plan—separating them—was now complete. If they were brought together, they could fight alongside Haoyue, but each of them would have to be wary of two different abilities simultaneously. Therefore, it was best to separate them and defeat them one by one.

I must believe that Haoyue will return victorious, and Haoyue will believe in me as well.

Therefore, just focus on dealing with the enemy at hand.

"... very good."

The silver cocoon writhed and opened, and the voice emanating from within trembled with rage.

"Very good, really very good..."

The Sick Spider's beautiful face was contorted with rage, and the silver threads around her body seemed to sense their master's anger, vibrating violently.

"Are you, mere ants, prepared to be shredded to pieces?"

"Young lady, are you playing hide-and-seek with me?"

"You seem to be praising someone, but unfortunately I can't understand it!"

Haoyue accelerated further, orange light emanating from beneath her feet, leaving an orange trail in the sky. Behind her, Raosen's speed was no less impressive; his twisted body was followed by a long tornado, the propulsion of which made him just as fast as Haoyue!

How did he manage to maintain his balance? Haoyue couldn't help but wonder.

But now is not the time to think about that—we must take care of this guy as soon as possible and then go help Xiao Ye!

"The spider disease and I brought the special place, ah, accompanied by the precious you come to see."

"Not just companions, but lovers!"

"Does Mom understand what I'm saying...?"

"Moon Elf!!"

The silver rune materialized into several silver-white specks of light that flew towards Raosen, only to disappear just before reaching him.

"..."

As Haoyue moved at high speed, she also kept an eye on things out of the corner of her eye. The moment the Moon Elf disappeared, she seemed to see the light around Raosen change for a moment before returning to normal.

The light has changed...

Earlier on the rooftop, Xiao Ye had her back to Raosen and didn't see it, but Hao Yue saw it very clearly— Raosen's head-reaping move involved a strange fluctuation that traveled from his hand to the wall when he touched the edge of the roof. The fluctuation didn't damage the building; instead, it moved along the wall to the ground, growing larger and more distinct as it moved—it was a "vortex" or "spiral," difficult to describe. If you had to describe it, it was a strange phenomenon where "the surfaces of objects it passed through twisted like gauze, forming small, flat tornado-like things, and those things could move."

"Is it to distort the object? Or rotate it? Or bend it? Or create a vortex?"

It can be basically determined that the nature of its superpower is this type, but the specific methods of application and manifestation still need to be further determined.

Raosen's ability has a limited range; the Moon Elf disappeared just before hitting him, indicating that he can only interfere with objects within a meter radius of him, otherwise Haoyue would have died long ago. Although the direct range of his ability is small, his "vortex" can move or conduct through objects, and its damage range should not be underestimated.

In short, the only way to deal with him is to first --

"Oh, you've gotten so close to me, I've forgotten? Let's keep our distance first."

"--!!!"

A terrifying face suddenly appeared in front of her.

Vertical eyes, vertical eyebrows, a crooked mouth, and curly hair.

Seeing this at night could give someone a heart attack.

How they appeared, how they were caught up—there's absolutely no clue.

"Intermittent twists and turns..."

A massive vortex suddenly appeared before Haoyue, as if the void itself had transformed into a swirling body of water, engulfing her before she could react.

Rumble rumble rumble rumble!!!!

Transparent explosions continued to occur in the sky, the turbulent air and fragments of black feathers intertwined and separated, the girl's phantom image constantly disappeared and reappeared, the scene was extremely chaotic.

Another loud bang, and the light brown-haired girl was defeated. Countless black-feathered arrows fell towards her, but in the next instant, her physical form was replaced by a projection, and she was pierced through by the black feathers.

In the alleyway a few hundred meters away, Givinia appeared on the dirty ground, covered in sweat and with scrapes from her carelessness, but fortunately she was not seriously injured.

"This is terrible... it's impossible to break through."

She looked at the sky outside the alley, where the Black Wings still shrouded the area. Black Crystal covered in feathered armor were bombarding the countless projections that Givinia had used to distract her.

"Is she a bottomless pit? She just keeps bombarding anyone she sees that seems like a target, without ever getting tired. My Air Bomb can't break through her defenses... Is there anything you can do, Miss Xiao?"

Xiao, however, kept her eyes glued to the thick book in her hands, her expression complex, as if she were struggling with something.

"Miss Xiao? What's wrong?"

"... Um, I mean, Givinia —can I just call you Givinia?"

"Certainly."

"Okay... Givinia, what would you do if someone you always thought was a friend turned out to be your most formidable enemy?"

"..."

"If you knew her tragedy, her hardships, and didn't want to hurt her, but were forced to—"

Don't overthink it.

"Huh?"

"Don't overthink it; that is, don't care about what the enemy is thinking, and don't try to understand the enemy."

"But, I—"

"Tragedy begins with understanding," Givinia stroked her hair. "The more you know about your enemy, the harder it is to make a decision. Killing someone you don't know is easy, but killing someone you know inside and out is incredibly difficult. So, don't overthink it; just know that she's the enemy now."

"... Yes, that's right."

Xiao continued reading her book.

His expression gradually calmed down.

Givinia knew she had made some kind of decision.

"... Givinia, can you help me stall for time?"

"Of course, no problem, but it won't take too long."

"One minute?"

I will try my best.

"Alright then..."

Xiao flipped through the book with a rustling sound, stopped at a certain page, squinted her eyes, and began to chant.

"Skin as smooth as ice, complexion as white as snow, eyes as clear as jade..."

--Chanting?

Givinia was surprised; she had never heard of any superpower that required chanting to unleash a skill—it was like the magic in the fairy tales she read as a child. But she quickly understood why—it was probably some kind of psychological suggestion, a prelude for Xiao to summon the strongest character from the book.

Judging from her expression, she seems quite confident in this move...

Givinia had to admit that she currently lacked the destructive power to directly break through the Black Crystal defense.

We have to take a gamble on Xiao.

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I'm going to Hong Kong early tomorrow morning, I don't know if I'll be able to update on time.