sjar Ch. 180 - Nothing Special -- Just Your Average Talent
Ch. 180 - Nothing Special -- Just Your Average Talent
His opponent Lin Yuan's face went dark instantly. This was, admittedly, a bit much.The announcer had lost all motivation to even introduce the fighters and simply told both sides to begin.
Lin Yuan summoned his contract spirit, eyes sharp with caution. He didn't spare a single glance at his opponent's loudspeaker.
ROAR!
A jet-black contract spirit materialized -- its form somewhere between leopard and tiger, twin eyes fierce and savage, fangs bared in a low growl.
Its most striking feature was its tail, which glowed an unmistakable cyan and whipped back and forth so violently it produced miniature sonic booms.
A B-rank Blue-Tail Beast.
Chen Shu summoned his Golden Slime. The moment it hit the ground, he activated Gigantification.
Even though the crowd had already seen the Slime's true size yesterday, seeing it again today still hit different.
Twenty meters. A body that massive dwarfed the vast majority of Black Iron-rank contract spirits.
"Goo-gii! Goo-gii!"
The Slime wobbled gently, its enormous eyes wide and staring -- the picture of adorable stupidity.
Meanwhile, in a private booth, Xia Yan -- who'd been sulking alone in the dark -- shot to his feet.
"Motherfucker! I KNEW it was you!"
His mind snapped straight back to last night's darkest hour.
He'd been ambushed. He'd summoned his Inferno Raging Tiger instantly, but it had been locked down in a heartbeat -- couldn't even use a single skill. He hadn't heard any other sounds. The only thing that reached his ears was "Goo-gii," "Goo-gii."
"But how is that even POSSIBLE?! This makes no sense!"
Xia Yan's brow furrowed as he immediately identified the creature as an F-rank Slime.
F-rank versus S-rank. His Inferno Raging Tiger had been obliterated in seconds.
Sure, his vision had been blocked and the other side had used a sneak attack.
But no matter how you looked at it -- this defied all fucking logic!
Down in the arena, the battle had already erupted.
Chen Shu stood on his elevated platform, gazing down at the battlefield below. From up there he could take in the entire fight at a glance -- that was exactly why the platforms were built in midair.
ROAR!
The Blue-Tail Beast charged forward on powerful limbs, closing the distance at terrifying speed.
Lin Yuan watched every detail, dead set on not getting caught off guard. His contract spirit outranked the opponent's by four full bloodline tiers. That gap was unbridgeable. Even if the other side chugged every potion in existence, there was no competing with him.
Chen Shu watched the arena floor below with equal focus. His strength was more than enough to steamroll this fight, but he maintained total concentration regardless.
If he lost, where would the Nanjiang Bandit show his face?
"His speed is garbage!"
Lin Yuan locked onto the weakness immediately.
He'd stayed up all night reviewing footage from yesterday's fight. The Slime's speed had been insane, sure, but that came from skills -- there was absolutely no way it was the Slime's natural speed.
On top of that, when the Slime activated Charge, there was a brief windup. Its body trembled slightly, and its face took on a constipated expression.
Right now, the Slime's body was perfectly still. Clearly, no skills were active.
This was an opening.
The Blue-Tail Beast let out a roar as cyan light blazed across its tail.
Its talent skill, Tail Strike, activated.
In a flash, the massive tail became a blur of impossible speed, leaving streaks of afterimages in its wake.
Chen Shu ordered the Slime to use Sleep Kill -- forcibly plunging itself into sleep, immune to being woken by pain.
BOOM!
The tail cracked like a cyan whip, the impact generating a cascade of sonic booms.
A visible welt carved itself into the Slime's body, denting inward by a sizable chunk.
The Blue-Tail Beast's attacks were clearly no joke.
A normal F-rank contract spirit would've been killed instantly by that single hit.
Lin Yuan's brow furrowed. He couldn't help himself. "What the fuck?! How is it THIS tough?"
The Blue-Tail Beast roared again. The skill effect on its tail rendered it immune to the Slime's Rebound Force.
Its massive tail continued to swing, the cyan glow still blazing bright.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Blue-Tail Beast hammered away relentlessly, trying to shatter the Slime's defense entirely.
Chen Shu's eyes darted back and forth, calculating. He hadn't used a single other skill yet.
Then, in an instant, his eyes snapped wide -- as if he'd caught something.
He grinned. "You're done!"
Another Tail Strike came whipping in, loaded with devastating force.
But the Slime's body gave a tiny hop -- just barely enough to clear the tail's arc.
The tail swung clean through empty air.
Before it could pull back, the Slime accelerated downward.
"Shit--!"
Lin Yuan cried out, instantly realizing what was about to happen.
BOOM!
Sure enough, the Slime landed with surgical precision -- the tail pinned squarely beneath its enormous butt.
"You're finished!"
Chen Shu laughed and ordered the Slime to activate Charge.
Looking at that constipated expression and those wobbling cheeks, Lin Yuan's heart genuinely went cold.
The Slime was obviously going to roll down the length of the tail and crush the Blue-Tail Beast underneath it.
Unless the Blue-Tail Beast severed its own tail, there was no escape.
But Lin Yuan was a seasoned veteran. He had his own way of handling this.
With perfect composure, he simply... recalled his Blue-Tail Beast back to Beast Space.
The situation was clear: either severe injury or surrender.
Chen Shu might have gone overboard, but one thing he'd said was absolutely true -- medical bills really ARE expensive...
"How did you predict that?"
Lin Yuan's eyes held genuine puzzlement. The Blue-Tail Beast's tail speed had been borderline extreme.
With an unenhanced body, there was no way the kid should've been able to track the tail's trajectory.
And more importantly, he'd timed the Slime's hop to land on the tail with pinpoint accuracy.
"Talent." Chen Shu waved his hand dismissively. "Just your average, nothing-special talent, that's all."
His prediction ability had always been freakish. It was just that his bandit aura was so overpowering it completely eclipsed his actual combat talent.
"He won! The Nanjiang Bandit actually won!"
Spectators throughout the arena leapt to their feet. If yesterday's victory could be chalked up to a sneak attack, today's was pure, undeniable skill.
Chen Shu basked in the crowd's cheers and bent down to press play on his next recording.
"Congratulations to Nanjiang Second High's Chen Shu for winning the match!"
The announcer hastily declared the result.
A staff member rushed over and confiscated Chen Shu's loudspeaker, apologizing profusely: "Next match is starting -- sorry! Sorry!"
Your showboating took longer than the actual fight. Can the arena even function with you around?
"Should've played it earlier." Chen Shu shook his head with genuine regret and headed back to the private booth.
"Not bad."
Shen Wushuang nodded. What he really wanted to see was Chen Shu showcasing his actual combat talent.
"Keep this up and you might crack the Spirit Fighting Rankings' top ten this month."
"What do you MEAN, top ten?"
Chen Shu's mouth twitched. He was about to fire back when options appeared before his eyes.
Ding!
[Option 1: Reach top 30 on the Spirit Fighting Rankings. Reward: Medium Beast Taming Power.]
[Option 2: Reach top 10 on the Spirit Fighting Rankings. Reward: Wind's Breath +1.]
[Option 3: Reach top 5 on the Spirit Fighting Rankings. Reward: Slime defense +20%.]
[Option 4: Reach first place on the Spirit Fighting Rankings. Reward: Large Beast Taming Power + Gigantification +1.]