"Pfft~ Little Black Dragon of the Abyssal Face? That guy's naming sense is a little chuuni."
Listening to Silver Wolf laugh through his earpiece, Ye Yan's lips twitched. Dr. Dig was still explaining the match to the audience.
"Since no other contestants are willing to face the Robot Squad, [Little Black Dragon of the Abyssal Face] will have to fight alone. Let's see what he has to say..."
"Huh? He's put his hand into his pocket. What is he doing? Hmm... [Little Black Dragon of the Abyssal Face] has pulled out a bottle of sweet drink! Is this his answer? As expected, the strong never cease to surprise!"
"This sport is just that thrilling, that captivating! But I must reiterate that fighting matches are professional and dangerous..."
"Come on, let's see whether his fists or the robots' metal shells are harder!"
"Now, I declare the semifinals of the 1,758th Fight Club Ring Champion Challenge officially underway!"
At Dr. Dig's command, the thrilling match began!
Stelle tightened her grip on her bat. The commentator's rousing delivery made her want to go up and help Ye Yan.
"Relax, let's find somewhere to watch the show. This is Teacher Ye Yan's solo."
After seeing Ye Yan, March 7th finally felt the weight lift from her heart.
"Wait... why are you leaving?" March 7th called out to Dan Heng, who had turned to leave.
"For us, there is nothing worth watching in this match."
Dan Heng liked telling the truth. The match's winner had been decided the moment Ye Yan signed up. Expecting these mechanical constructs to beat an Emanator? Imagining what Pom-Pom would look like as a human was more exciting than that.
Back in the octagonal cage, Ye Yan looked at the Automaton Soldiers, which had finished charging up, and the corners of his mouth rose slightly.
As Ye Yan swept two fingers down, a ghostly blue digital gateway opened in the void. In that instant, the two Automaton Soldiers were swallowed up. The clamor cut off abruptly, and the entire venue fell silent.
"Heh."
Before the audience could react, Silver Wolf's holographic projection appeared in a corner. Ye Yan couldn't even be bothered to act, so he still had to rely on her!
Silver Wolf had reaped quite a haul from Escape the Church. Not only had she sprayed Punklorde-style graffiti onto the presiding seat's face, but she had also obtained the Church's coordinates!
Those two automatons had already been teleported to the Church. It was only out of the kindness of Silver Wolf's heart that she hadn't sent over the Antimatter Legion she had encountered in the [script].
Make no mistake, her sympathy wasn't for the Church of Eternity, but for the Antimatter Legion. It was easy to imagine what would happen if a Voidranger were sent before Chair Blake.
Hmm... for some reason, Silver Wolf's battle against Chair Blake had felt very familiar.
Silver Wolf knew he had gone easy on her, even more so than in her showdown with Screwllum! There hadn't been any of the tension of fighting a boss above her level!
The Church's final dungeon hadn't been enjoyable. Silver Wolf hadn't felt even the slightest pressure.
Before she left, Chair Blake had even given her a bar of soap. He was surprisingly nice...
No, no, that was clearly mockery! Utter, blatant mockery! Giving a player a consolation item after they failed the challenge-that was rubbing salt in the wound!
Still, the soap Blake had given her was pretty good.
Although the Church's members had a bad reputation, you could always trust their products. The quality of everyday items like towels and soap was beyond reproach.
She had heard Blake had given Sampo a bar of soap too. When she asked him about it later, Sampo laughed and brushed it off.
Hmm, it looked like he had suffered terribly too. That parting mockery had humiliated him so much that he refused to bring it up again.
Silver Wolf felt his pain. Even leaving the dungeon early hadn't changed her capacity for empathy!
On second thought, she had suffered far too many setbacks at [Eternity]'s hands!
First there was Ye Yan, whom she could never beat, and then there was Blake, the fanatical believer.
Ironically, the one who hadn't bullied Silver Wolf was the Aeon of [Eternity], whom she kept cursing.
No... in the end, it was still THEIR doing! That accursed Aeon of [Eternity].
Seeing Ye Yan instantly defeat the Automaton Soldiers without moving from his spot in the octagonal cage, the audience erupted into cheers. Dr. Dig raised his microphone. "A beautiful strike! Though I didn't see what happened at all!"
"The winner is-[Little Black Dragon of the Abyssal Face]!"
"Yay!" March 7th cheered.
"Yay!"
"Why are you repeating me again?"
March 7th gave Stelle, who was playing innocent, a flat-eyed look.
Once the match ended, Ye Yan walked out of the Fight Club, with Dan Heng and the other two following close behind.
"Waaah... we finally found you, Teacher Ye Yan! It feels like so much happened in just one morning!"
March 7th poured out her woes, while Dan Heng explained the recent series of events to Ye Yan, including their invisibility failing.
Stelle ran back and forth with the mimetic compass, as though some unseen force were guiding her.
As for whom she was searching for, it was none other than Silver Wolf.
"You've got to be kidding. This weapon even has an auto-tracking function?"
Silver Wolf was clearly invisible, and only Ye Yan could see her. She hadn't expected the baseball bat to be able to detect her.
Left with no choice, Silver Wolf could only hide behind Ye Yan. Once the compass stopped reacting, Stelle settled down too.
"The ability stopped working..."
It was probably Aha's doing. After all, THEY were now taking a page out of Fuli's book and voyeuristically watching him.
THEY had wanted to poke through the protective film to watch Dan Heng and the others get knocked out and taken to the Underworld. But they were both sneaky bastards, so Ye Yan would naturally take precautions. His little skill would automatically renew itself if it was dispelled.
Ordinary Pathstriders had no way of breaking through HIS protection. Neither did Emanators.
"Most importantly, that kid from the Silvermane Guards said we were villains serving [Eternity] Yite!"
"Huh???" Ye Yan looked up. That sentence had successfully caught HIS interest.
"Pfft~"
Before Ye Yan could say anything, Silver Wolf laughed.
"That's hilarious. Saying that, are they really not afraid that man will bring troops to Jarilo-VI?"
"Ah~ they should be grateful this planet has gone dark on the star chart routes. Otherwise, they'd be in big trouble."
Under normal circumstances, Silver Wolf would already have fled after hearing that. She knew the Church's capabilities well. Through their specially developed star chart routes, the Church could detect information related to the Aeon of [Eternity].
Saying one or two bad things about HIM was fine, but if you kept going...
Then Chair Blake would be saying, "Open up! The Church is here to spread some warmth!"
Fortunately, they could only detect things spoken aloud, so Silver Wolf always snuck in a few curses in her head.
"The Supreme Guardian summoned her last night and said our identities were fabricated. Our true identities were evil spawn of the Aeon of [Eternity], and our goal was to undermine the Architects' control over Belobog." Dan Heng had an excellent memory.
"It looks like she knows about the Stellaron... she really is hiding something from us."
Dan Heng had a feeling that they would most likely end up fighting Cocolia later. When that happened, he would see how powerful the improved Cloud-Piercer was.
He hadn't expected Sampo to know a route between the Overworld and Underworld. No one connected to Ye Yan could be underestimated.
"I understand less and less. We came to help her, but she treats us like this!"
"And that scoundrel Sampo actually wanted to knock us out and take us to the Underworld! Thank goodness for Teacher Ye Yan!"
March 7th vividly described how they had beaten Sampo black and blue.
As soon as she finished, she saw Ye Yan cover his mouth, unable to hold back his laughter.
"Huh? Teacher Ye Yan, what are you laughing at?"
"I remembered something very amusing."
That saying had proved true after all: the amusement-seeker became the amusement.
He hadn't expected Sampo to get beaten up by March 7th and the others. He felt sorry for him for one second.