With a new, viable plan to hatch his mythical egg, Lin Ke's mind was clear and his resolve was like forged steel. He returned to the main arena just as the next round of the semi-finals was about to begin.
His victory had advanced him to the final four. His opponent in this round was a nimble girl named Maya, whose battle pet was a Gale Sparrow.
The Gale Sparrow was a C-rank potential pet, known for its incredible speed and mastery of wind-based attacks. It was the natural enemy of slow, ground-based pets like the Rock Vole.
As the matchup was announced, the crowd began to buzz with speculation.
"An aerial opponent! This is the worst possible matchup for Lin Ke." "His Rock Vole's defense is strong, but what's the point if it can't even touch its opponent?" "Maya's strategy is simple: stay in the air and bombard him from a distance. Lin Ke's tactical genius might have met its match."
In the waiting area, Maya approached him, a friendly but competitive smile on her face. "Champion Lin Ke, I've been watching your battles. Your control is amazing. But my 'Zephyr' is not an opponent you can defeat by standing still."
"I look forward to the challenge," Lin Ke replied, his expression unreadable.
They stepped onto the arena floor. The Gale Sparrow, a sleek bird with sharp, aerodynamic wings, immediately took flight, circling high above the Rock Vole's head. It let out a sharp cry, a clear declaration of its aerial dominance.
"Battle... begin!"
"Zephyr, use Air Cutter!" Maya commanded instantly.
The Gale Sparrow swooped, its wings glowing with a faint green light. It unleashed a series of sharp, crescent-shaped blades of wind that shot down towards the Rock Vole.
"Evade," Lin Ke said calmly.
The Rock Vole moved with the surprising agility he had drilled into it. It scrambled across the field, the wind blades slicing into the ground where it had been moments before.
"You can't dodge forever!" Maya called out. "Keep up the pressure, Zephyr! Don't give him a single moment to breathe!"
For the next few minutes, the battle was a frustrating one for Lin Ke's side. The Gale Sparrow held its altitude advantage perfectly, launching a relentless barrage of attacks from the air. The Rock Vole was forced to constantly be on the move, dodging and weaving, unable to launch any effective counter-attack. Any Rock Throws it attempted were easily evaded by the swift-moving bird.
Lin Ke seemed to be completely on the defensive, his powerful pet rendered helpless by an opponent it couldn't reach. The crowd began to murmur, sensing that the dark horse's incredible run was about to come to an end.
But Lin Ke wasn't panicking. His eyes were narrowed in concentration, tracking the sparrow's every movement. The Gene Editor was running a continuous analysis, its data streams flowing through his mind.
[Target: Gale Sparrow] [Analysis: Subject is utilizing a standard figure-eight attack pattern to maintain speed and altitude.] [Pattern Recognition: A slight dip of 0.5 meters in altitude is detected 0.7 seconds before each 'Air Cutter' attack to generate force.] [Vulnerability Window: 0.2 seconds during the dip.]
There it was. The pattern. The single, tiny moment of vulnerability that he could exploit.
He now had to bait his opponent into creating that window at the right place, at the right time.
"Rock Vole, stop," Lin Ke commanded, a sudden change in tactics.
The Rock Vole skidded to a halt in the center of the arena, seemingly exhausted. It stood still, an open target.
Maya saw the opening. "He's out of stamina! This is our chance! Zephyr, use Dive Bomb!"
This was the Gale Sparrow's most powerful move. It folded its wings and plummeted from the sky like a feathered missile, aiming to finish the match in one decisive blow.
The crowd gasped. It was a direct, all-or-nothing attack.
The sparrow descended at an incredible speed. 50 meters... 30 meters... 10 meters...
Lin Ke's eyes were as cold and calm as a frozen lake. He had been waiting for this exact moment.
"Now," he whispered.
The command was almost telepathic. The Rock Vole, which had been standing still, suddenly dug its claws into the ground. It didn't look up. It didn't aim in the traditional sense. It simply executed the maneuver Lin Ke had drilled into it a hundred times in training.
"Predictive Throw. Trajectory 7."
It hurled a single, sharp stone into the empty air above it, at an angle that seemed completely random to the onlookers.
But it wasn't random.
The stone flew upwards, meeting the exact point in space where the diving Gale Sparrow would be in 0.7 seconds. The sparrow, locked into its dive and preparing to strike, had no way to evade.
THWACK!
The stone struck the sparrow directly on the joint of its outstretched wing.
A pained cry echoed through the arena. The Gale Sparrow's dive was instantly broken. Its flight became erratic, and it spiraled uncontrollably, crashing onto the arena floor in a heap of ruffled feathers. It tried to stand, but its wing was clearly injured. It could no longer fly.
The battle was over.
The examiner, after a moment of stunned silence, made the call. "Gale Sparrow is unable to battle! The winner, advancing to the championship match... is Lin Ke!"
The crowd was silent for a full ten seconds before the applause began, thunderous and filled with utter disbelief. He hadn't just won. He had shot a bird out of the sky without even looking at it.