Breaking the Chaos
Lin Yan, shielded by Chen Ruipeng, felt the savage shockwaves rattle his bones. He fought the primal urge to shake, digging his nails into his palms, forcing a dangerous calm. "Don't lose focus… The Pattern is blocked, but I still have my eyes. My Master said: every action leaves a trace."
He stopped trying to comprehend the Colossus as a whole. Instead, he forced his entire focus onto a single task: observing the minute circulation of Mana within its body! He watched for subtle shifts in energy brightness on its black frame during its attacks! He searched for specific Power Nodes on that featureless Iron Mask!
His pupils constricted. Everything slowed down. The chaotic world fell away, replaced by the sight of dark energy flowing through the Golem's form like faulty wiring, and a few faint points of light that flickered violently just before impact!
"It's not a creature," Lin Yan realized, his mind racing. "It's a construct. And I can read its power grid."
The Iron Colossus raised its heavy Club, preparing a final, crushing blow against the defenseless Chen Ruipeng. Li Shulai, exhausted and frantic, saw his sword arm was too slow to intervene.
Then, Lin Yan's voice cut through the chaos—no longer faint, but sharp, cold, and utterly authoritative, sounding like a high-voltage current:
"Stop fighting alone. Listen to me, and we will win this trial."
Li Shulai, caught in the throes of fear and failure, flinched. Win? This pathetic fortune-teller? But the sheer, unnatural certainty in Lin Yan's tone—the certainty of someone who already knew the outcome—yanked him out of his panic. He saw the cold, ruthless focus behind Lin Yan's glasses.
Li Shulai didn't waste time on a question. He swallowed his pride, trusting the strange, sudden faith he felt in that voice. He instantly pivoted his entire stance, preparing for a command that made no sense.
"Swordsman!" Lin Yan's voice suddenly sliced through the roar of battle. It was thin but strangely commanding. "Three inches below the left rib cage! The flow of energy stalls and dims there for a split second! Put everything you have into that exact spot!"
Li Shulai was being pummeled, his defense failing. He acted purely on the terror of instinct. He wrenched his wrist, pouring his remaining Mana into the tip of his blade, driving it like an icy needle right where the voice commanded!
"DINK—Sshhh!"
The sound was sharp, brittle—not the clang of steel. The sword tip actually penetrated the defense, if only by a fraction! Though it was immediately flung back, the Colossus's next furious motion visibly hitched, a micro-second of lag that was previously impossible.
"He saw it!" Li Shulai's eyes widened with adrenaline and disbelief!
"Axewielder!" Lin Yan's speed increased. "Next strike, it will feint with the Club's heavy end, then whip the handle towards your right knee! Preemptively sweep the great axe diagonally toward its attacking wrist! Now!"
Chen Ruipeng abandoned all doubt. He trusted the voice. His heavy axe carved a diagonal arc, perfectly intercepting the Club's lightning-fast, hidden wrist-maneuver! He was thrown back, but he had successfully broken the Golem's combo!
"Alchemist!" Lin Yan commanded. "Five steps ahead of you, to the right! An obscure Mana Node is gathering on the ground—that's where it transfers momentum! Hit that spot with your strongest corrosive agent, disrupt the anchor!"
He Lingxuan's gaze hardened. Without a second of hesitation, a dark green pellet flew out. It didn't target the Golem, but smashed accurately onto the mist-ground where Lin Yan pointed!
"HSSSSSS—!"
The acid exploded, reacting violently with the Energy Node! The ground boiled. The Blank-Faced Colossus, mid-step for a pursuit, stumbled—a clear, exploitable flaw had opened in its pattern!
The trio surged with renewed spirit! The shift was instantaneous and total. Li Shulai, now fully recovered from his initial shock and shame, moved like a blur. He didn't wait for Lin Yan's next instruction; he read the open flaw created by the corrosive agent and executed a flawless Dragon's Scale Sweep—a broad, horizontal slash aimed not at the Golem's body, but at the structural integrity of its unstable footing.
"Axewielder, now! Disrupt the recovery!" Lin Yan's voice cracked slightly from the strain of his vision, but his command was absolute.
Chen Ruipeng, roaring, launched himself toward his embedded axe. The Golem, fighting the structural instability caused by the acid, was slow to react. Chen Ruipeng ripped his heavy weapon from the ground and brought it down in a powerful, desperate vertical chop. It wasn't aimed at a flaw, but the sheer force of the impact on the Golem's already compromised leg joint forced the Colossus back another step!
This was the difference: Before, they reacted to the monster. Now, they were reacting to Lin Yan's script.
He Lingxuan, seeing the Colossus momentarily stunned, didn't use another poison. Instead, she hurled three simple Mana-infused flash pellets. She knew they couldn't damage the Golem, but they burst with blinding Ambient Mana right into the Golem's blank face, exploiting the momentary darkness to disrupt its movement calculation systems.
"Swordsman, keep the pressure on the upper spine! Alchemist, watch the ambient Mana flow for counter-attacks!"
Lin Yan's commands flowed like a constant, high-speed tactical river. He was no longer just calling out flaws; he was orchestrating a symphony of destruction, managing their resources, and predicting the Golem's AI counter-measures. He wasn't using magic; he was using pure intelligence applied to the battlefield.
Li Shulai found his movements were smoother than ever before. He wasn't just swinging a sword; he was fulfilling a crucial role in a perfectly coordinated mechanism. The shame he felt moments ago was replaced by the exhilarating high of perfect execution. He realized with startling clarity: Lin Yan hadn't just saved them; he had made them better.
The Colossus, unable to regain its perfect tempo, was forced into a purely defensive stance. Its attacks became sluggish and predictable as Lin Yan constantly directed the trio to exploit the nodes where the Golem was trying to transfer power or stabilize its form. The air was thick with the residue of Mana and corrosive acid, but the three specialized fighters, guided by the quiet boy in glasses, held the line.
The trio surged with renewed spirit! They still couldn't defeat the powerful construct, but under Lin Yan's non-stop, hyper-accurate 'predictive calls' and 'weakness spotting,' they were pulled from individual chaos. They were fighting as a unit for the first time—an efficient, deadly machine. They had stabilized the line, countering the relentless assault.
Every second was agonizing, but every move was perfect.
The duration of the incense stick, which had felt like minutes, finally ran out.
The gray mist vanished. The overwhelming pressure dissolved. The four stood back in the great hall, their breathing ragged, their Mana spent. The ordeal had been brutally real.
The silence was broken first by Chen Ruipeng. The hulking Axewielder slowly flexed his throbbing, recovered hand, his eyes wide as he looked not at the spot where the Golem vanished, but at Lin Yan.
"You… you saw the flow," Chen Ruipeng rumbled, the sheer awe in his deep voice cutting through the ringing silence. He shook his massive head slowly. "My axe is strength and impact. Your eyes… your eyes are precision and perfect timing. You didn't just guide us; you multiplied our power by ten."
Li Shulai, still high on adrenaline, sheathed his sword with a decisive snick, his previous arrogant sneer completely gone. "Forget the tea leaves, Lin Yan. You're not a fortune-teller. You're a field commander. A damn good one."
He Lingxuan, ever the pragmatist, was already checking her remaining vials. Her cool demeanor hadn't cracked, but the intensity in her gaze when she looked at Lin Yan was startling. "The cost of failure was high. But the rewards for success will be higher. With that level of tactical foresight, the four thousand Contribution Points are no longer a graduation requirement. They are merely a first milestone." Her lips curved into a faint, calculating smile, a spark of fierce ambition lighting her eyes. "Let's see how far your vision can take us, Lin Yan."
Li Shulai, He Lingxuan, and Chen Ruipeng all turned their heads in a single, synchronized motion. Their gazes, intense and complex, bore down on the young man who was leaning heavily against a pillar, his face pale, sweat beading on his forehead, clutching his glasses.
Lin Yan felt the weight of their stare. He slowly straightened, took a deep breath to push back the encroaching vertigo, and met their eyes. He asked softly:
"Now, do you still believe…"
"…that teaming up with anyone is equally acceptable?"