Chapter 130 - 22

lChapter 22: A One-Man Battle!Along with Tang San's cold voice, Ma Hongjun, who had been waiting for a long time, heard the command. A grin of excitement appeared on his face as he swallowed the Flying Mushroom Sausage prepared in advance by Oscar. Transparent wings emerged on his back, and his plump body nimbly flew into the air.He took a deep breath, his third spirit ring shining around him as scorching Phoenix Fire condensed in his mouth!"Third Spirit Ability! Phoenix Wings Ascending!"A thick pillar of gold-red fire, like a Phoenix Breath, carried searing heat as it poured down precisely toward the opening at the top of the giant blue cage below!At the moment the flames were about to pour into the cage, the deep black ten-thousand-year spirit ring on Tang San's body lit up once more!"Fourth Spirit Ability! Blue Silver Shadow Kill Binding: Restrain!"Several Blue Silver Emperor Vines, as solid as metal and shimmering with a ghostly blue luster, appeared inside the cage like living chains. They precisely coiled around the Elephant Armored Academy disciples who were trying to dodge the flames or break through the cage with brute force!The powerful binding force caused their movements to stall, leaving them to watch helplessly as the destructive flames descended from the sky!"Roar—!"At the moment of crisis, Huyan Li, trapped in the cage, let out an unwilling roar. Above his head, a khaki helmet emitting heavy energy fluctuations suddenly appeared without warning!With the appearance of this helmet, Huyan Li's aura surged violently, and his strength increased greatly!In the nick of time, he actually managed to forcibly break free from the restraint of the Blue Silver Shadow Kill Binding using the enhancement provided by the helmet!Then he slammed both fists upward, his violent spirit power attempting to blast away the vines at the top of the cage to create space for himself and his teammates to dodge!"A Spirit Bone! It's a head spirit bone!"On the VIP stand, the well-informed Ning Fengzhi and Salas blurted out almost simultaneously!A thunderous exclamation also erupted instantly from the audience!No one expected that a precious Spirit Bone would actually appear during the qualifiers!Relying on the boost from the head spirit bone, Huyan Li narrowly avoided the core burning of the Phoenix Wings Ascending, but he was still singed by the stray flames, appearing quite disheveled.However, just because he could break free didn't mean his teammates could!Aside from Huyan Li, the other six Elephant Armored Academy disciples were heavily injured, letting out painful groans under the powerful restraint of Tang San's fourth Spirit Ability and the direct impact of Ma Hongjun's third Spirit Ability!Although they didn't lose immediately thanks to the powerful defense of the Diamond Mammoth, they had clearly lost most of their combat capability. The scorch marks on their bodies and their tattered clothes made them look exceptionally wretched.Dai Mubai walked quickly to Tang San's side. Looking at Huyan Li, who was still struggling in the cage despite his injuries thanks to the Spirit Bone, and the other opponents who had temporarily lost their threat, he asked in a low voice:"Little San, should Zhuqing and I use the Hell White Tiger? Let's finish him off as quickly as possible!"Tang San's gaze calmly swept across the area scorched by fire and still trapped by the Blue Silver Cage. Seeing the gasping, isolated Huyan Li inside and the other six struggling on the ground, he shook his head slightly, his tone carrying the composure of someone in total control:"No need. They are already... certain to lose!"However, the seven members of the Elephant Armored Academy, especially Huyan Li, who had withstood part of the attack with his head spirit bone, had not completely lost their fighting capacity despite their significant injuries. The tenacious vitality and resilient will granted to them by the Diamond Mammoth Spirit kept them going.To be toyed with and bound by a Spirit Ancestor to the point of being forced to use a precious Spirit Bone was an unbearable humiliation for the disciples of the Elephant Armored Academy, who had always prided themselves on their strength and defense!"Roar—! Shrek brat! I'm going to tear you apart!"Huyan Li's eyes were bloodshot like an enraged giant mammoth. Forcibly suppressing the burning pain and the tremors in his spirit power, he led the other six equally furious teammates in a final burst of ferocity. Like seven out-of-control heavy chariots, they charged toward Tang San, who seemed isolated at the very front!The momentum was as if they were going to trample the entire arena to pieces!Facing the terrifying scene of seven mountains of flesh charging with heaven-toppling rage, Tang San didn't show the slightest hint of panic.'To remain so calm in the face of such a desperate counterattack... Has my future self's control over the pace of battle already reached this level?'Tang San, as an observer, felt a chill in his heart.He could clearly "feel" the inner peace of that version of himself in the simulation. It was a calmness based on absolute self-confidence and a precise judgment of the situation, rather than forced composure.Just as the seven members of the Elephant Armored Academy had charged less than five steps, still over ten meters away from Tang San, the second yellow spirit ring on Tang San's body suddenly flashed!In the next moment, a scene occurred that made the spines of the entire audience, including all the experts on the VIP stand, go cold!The seven charging members of the Elephant Armored Academy suddenly stiffened, their momentum coming to a screeching halt!Beneath their granite-hard skin, it felt as if something had been instantly activated and was growing wildly!"Puff, puff, puff, puff—!"Thick, deep blue Blue Silver Grass vines burst out violently from beneath the flesh of their chests, arms, and thighs without any warning!"Second Spirit Ability: Blue Silver Parasite."Tang San's calm voice sounded exceptionally clear and heart-chilling on the deathly silent arena.These Blue Silver Vines growing from within their bodies were completely different from the previous external restraints!Like eerie, living tentacles, the moment they burst from the bodies, they began to coil and bind the hosts—Huyan Li and the other six—tightly in layer upon layer with incredible speed and power!"Argh—!"Shrill screams instantly erupted from the mouths of the seven Elephant Armored Academy members!This time, the binding brought more than just a sense of restraint.The surfaces of those ghostly blue vines were covered in sharp, jagged barbs!The moment the vines tightened, these barbs ruthlessly pierced deep into the tough flesh they were so proud of!The piercing pain distorted their faces, but that wasn't even the most terrifying part.More frightening than the intense pain was a strong sense of numbness and dizziness that rapidly spread along their blood and nerves as the barbs injected their payload!Poison! These vines carried a powerful neurotoxin!However, what made them even more desperate than the toxin was the clear sensation that the spirit power in their bodies was being frantically and continuously drained and devoured by the barbs and the eerie vines wrapped tightly around them, like floodwaters through an open gate!They desperately circulated their spirit power to struggle, wanting to shatter these damned vines, but the speed at which their spirit power drained far exceeded the speed at which they could condense it!The more they struggled, the faster their spirit power was devoured. Instead, the vines coiled tighter, and the barbs sank deeper!The members of the Elephant Armored Academy had super-strong defense and terrifying strength, but their weaknesses were equally fatal—low agility, relatively singular attack methods, and a lack of effective long-range attacks or crowd-control abilities.Facing Tang San's bizarre and unpredictable control-and-attrition tactics that could dismantle an opponent from the inside, they had plenty of brute force and defense but were like giant beasts caught in a spiderweb. They had nowhere to apply their strength and could only watch helplessly as they were slowly consumed.In just over a dozen breaths, the violent aura of the seven Elephant Armored Academy members withered as quickly as a punctured balloon.Their struggling grew weaker, their roars turned into feeble moans, and their once mountain-like bodies were now bound into seven giant cocoons by the ghostly blue vines growing from within them. They slumped onto the arena, unable to move ever again.Their spirit power had been completely devoured by the parasitic Blue Silver Grass!At this point, the battle was decided.Watching this scene, the observing Tang San was also deeply shaken!"Is this still the same second Spirit Ability I saw in the simulation before?""And this second Spirit Ability has even added such a strong devouring effect!""This can no longer be called just a second Spirit Ability; it's already an independent Spirit Ability in its own right!"Tang San, as an observer, saw very clearly that from start to finish, this battle was almost a one-man show by his simulated self.From the initial tactical deception to the group control of the Blue Silver Prison, then to the fire coverage of the Phoenix Wings Ascending that forced out the opponent's trump card, and finally finishing with the unavoidable "Blue Silver Parasite"!Every step was calculated, countering the opponents perfectly.The referee took a deep breath, suppressing the shock in his heart. He stepped forward quickly to confirm that the seven members of the Elephant Armored Academy had indeed completely lost their combat capability, then announced loudly:"Qualifiers Second Round, Match One: Shrek Academy vs. Elephant Armored Academy. Shrek Academy wins!"