"Why aren't you switching out, Ray? What's your deal?"
Aria stood with crossed arms, furrowing her brows in confusion at the brown-haired young man's decision, who was smiling cheerfully on the battle stage.
Aria thought about it. No matter how she looked at it, Geed was a magical beast completely disadvantaged against Vega's abilities. There was almost no way to win, unless Ray had some plan, which she believed her friend must have.
The people in the bleachers, especially those experienced at watching competitions, had similar opinions.
"The wolf earlier attacked physically, while that purple-haired kid's ice serpent has frost breath magic that attacks at long range in a wide area. Plus it can reduce enemy speed. If speed gets reduced, it's game over. Looking at it this way, Fluffy is at a huge disadvantage.
No matter how good it is at dodging, if it gets slowed by repeated frost breath…"
"Exactly. I'm cheering for Fluffy too, but it doesn't look like it'll survive this round. Sigh."
The cheering voices in the afternoon bleachers showed no signs of quieting down. Some people invited friends and neighbors to analyze the battle strategy, others waited in suspense to see what would happen in the arena.
Meanwhile, the experienced exam supervisors who knew how to handle situations sat quietly watching in the VIP corner, giving scores.
Including Grand Professor Witzany, who began taking out a paper box to munch popcorn casually, looking toward the arena where the wicked purple-haired kid was grinning maliciously.
"Heh, I'll stomp you under my feet and crush you to pieces like the others. The golden egg prize for this exam arena will be mine alone! Go get them, Vega! Breathe frost at those weaklings!"
Finishing his words, Jason's purple ice-scaled serpent that reflected light slithered up in a circle, raising its neck menacingly, before breathing freezing frost that flashed forward in a cone shape to attack.
The rabbit-squirrel could only stand still—not because it couldn't see the attack, but because no matter how it looked, there was no way to dodge the thick frost mist crawling forward.
Vega's frost breath was so wide-ranging there was no escape route.
"Geed, dig underground to dodge!" Finishing his words, Geed used a little mana to break through the ground with her Dig skill to avoid the wave of blue cold air moving toward her.
"Haha! Pathetic! Thought you'd solve this with what move? All you're doing is running and waiting to die! Hahaha! You loser types can't keep dodging forever, you orphan brat! Give up and accept defeat! Go after it, Vega! Breathe frost into its stupid hole!"
The purple serpent moved, slithering fluidly across the concrete arena floor with high speed, its beautiful scaled tail swaying left and right. The path it traveled left small ice crystals scattered along the way.
When it reached the adorable little rabbit's hiding hole, it raised its neck to use its frost breath magic to spray into the opponent's last refuge.
"Now, Geed! Maximum level Kick!"
Finishing his words, Geed propelled herself and jumped with maximum ability, shooting out of the hole like a rocket jet, flying past Vega's face up into the air as high as possible.
Geed's fur and fluffy tail swayed gracefully, reflecting the sunlight filtering through cloud gaps in sparkling rays.
All the spectators in the bleachers looked up in rows—Ray, Aria, Jason, the audience, the teachers—they all watched that rabbit floating majestically high in the sky.
Vega, having finished casting its skill, also looked up and breathed ice mist into the air, hoping to attack the rabbit that seemed to be able to fly up there.
"Heh, thought you'd do what? Float there like a sitting duck? Hah! You're done for!"
Jason sneered, completely unaware.
The brown-haired young man stayed perfectly still, smiling brightly before saying:
"You're the one who's done for, Jason."
The wind blew Ray's hair flowing. Jason felt like he was in a trance for a moment, getting chills for some unknown reason.
Green trees and grass scattered in the wind, as if something was about to happen.
The spectators talked excitedly.
"Is he intentionally limiting the ice serpent's attack range? For what?" some wondered.
"Wait! I know! Don't tell me that kid is planning to use sunlight!" some caught on.
"No! It's not just that! Sure, the frost breath will be weakened by heat from sunlight, or blown by wind from above, but the real point is making the opponent attack vertically. That way the frost will slowly fall with gravity, making the frost breath even weaker!" some figured out.
"What?! Everything has been going according to that young man's plan from the very beginning!?"
Everyone was amazed, unable to sit still in their chairs.
On the teachers' side:
"He's quite good at problem-solving, isn't he? Reminds me of you, Grand Professor," an elder remarked.
The Grand Professor replied to the gray-bearded elderly professor politely with a slow nod, before sipping tea and continuing to watch the battle.
Ray chuckled in his throat, looking at Jason with determination.
"Jason, do you know I've been thinking of ways to fight that skill of yours all along? I've been picturing this scene the whole time. Now it's finally time!" Finishing his words, Ray called out the special technique he and Geed had devised.
They had trained intensively day and night to counter all of Vega's ice power.
"Let's gooooo! Death move! Kick Spiral Tornado!!!!!!!!!"
*Whoooooosh* *Whirrrrrrrrr*
Geed curled into a circle mid-air, then used all her mana to kick and spin at high speed, creating friction with the air to generate heat.
Spinning fast like a tornado, falling from height in a vertical line, she broke through Vega's frost breath wave, splitting the blue mist into two halves mid-air, like a red flaming drill bit shooting down, tearing through the fog.
Before ending her spin when her body made contact with the opponent, Geed used all that spinning force:
*BOOOOOOOOM*
She drove her feet into Vega's head, breaking its neck until HP reached 0.
The stage floor cracked into a crater under the ice serpent's body.
Everyone's eyes widened at how Ray could give commands to defeat a much more advantageous beast like Vega.
Due to the arena's protective effects, magical beasts whose life force reached zero couldn't actually die.
Vega lay unconscious in front of little Geed.
**Geed leveled up to 8!**
"No way! Damn youuuuu! You!" Jason was furious.
He didn't hesitate anymore, recalling Vega and immediately summoning his strongest magical beast.
"Come out, Saslin!"
*Whoooosh*
**Name: Saslin**
**Beast Species: Gorgon**
**Level 15**
**HP: 400 MP: 200**
**Element: Dark, Nature**
**Rarity: A-Rank**
**Info: Gorgons are cold-blooded creatures living in dark, humid environments. They love their siblings and are known to be intelligent and quick-witted. Ferocious, they eliminate everything that disturbs them. They often use poison to kill large enemies and stone curses on swift enemies.**
**Skills: Stone Curse, Bite, Poison Fog, Shed Skin, Constrict**
It was a massive serpent as thick as a human torso, slithering horribly with sharp fangs. Its two heads were vicious and ready to bite, its bright green body slithering at high speed, immediately lunging at the rabbit.
"Stone Curse!"
Finishing the words, Geed, who was staring into both its eyes looking for an opening to dodge the attack, became stiff and immobile.
The rabbit-squirrel's body froze into stone before slowly tilting and crashing to the ground like a doll.
Defeated in battle, but then—
"Bite it! Kill it! Bite it! Kill it! Hahaha!" Jason laughed maniacally with satisfaction.
"No! Not Geed!"
The two-headed serpent viciously mauled and bit until it was unbearable to watch, not letting Ray recall Geed after her defeat.
Finally, it bit and shook Geed's body, hurling her down to crash head-first into the ground.
Ray looked at the final state of the magical beast he loved most with sad eyes.
"Thank you for working so hard for me. Come back, Geed."
Ray spoke before using his bag to recall the injured Geed back to recover inside the bag.
Jason laughed mockingly as the brutal two-headed giant serpent slithered back around him.
"Hahaha! How's that? No matter what, a weakling is still a weakling! What can it do? Just a pathetic cowardly Fluffy! Good at dodging but can't dodge magic, can you! Hahaha!"
Everyone in the bleachers got goosebumps, not expecting to see a magical-level creature in the exam.
That terrifying giant serpent slithered around the arena. They thought Ray's exam was over.
But then, the brown-haired man's face changed to something else entirely.
From his constant cheerful smile, he became furious to the extreme. "Even though Geed already lost to you, why did you have to go and hurt her more, Jason!"
"Hahaha! So what?! I won, so I'll stomp and crush you however I want—it's my business!"
Finishing his words, Ray, boiling with rage to the extreme, shouted back:
"Then I'll stomp you to pieces too, Jason! Come out, my magical beast!"
Ray opened his bag, then flashing light sent out his next magical beast.
*Whooooosh*
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