Chapter 170: 170 Chapter 170: How Else Could He Become the Top Scholar? Jiang Taotao shouted repeatedly. Shield in her left hand, knight’s longsword in her right, she wielded them with vigor. She used various skills seamlessly, without any wasted movements, almost perfectly. Three Abyss Hellhounds simulated by the Divine Summer Tower kept attacking her, but she deflected or dodged them all. This greatly reduced the pressure on the team’s healer. Ning Yiyi had already silently snuck behind the Abyss Hellhounds. Skill: Deadly Strike! With a muffled thud, one Abyss Hellhound died instantly. Ning Yiyi didn’t stop, stabbing out again. Skill: Internal Explosion! The stabbed Abyss Hellhound exploded from within, then was blasted away. Ning Yiyi took out two hellhounds in two moves, quick and clean. "Slash!" With a shout, Jiang Taotao also killed the last Abyss Hellhound. She panted slightly, her chest heaving. By now they had gone halfway through the passage. The number of Abyss Hellhounds was increasing. From one initially, to three appearing simultaneously now. Further on, there might be four or five at once, or even more. But Jiang Taotao didn’t plan to ask Lin Moyu for help. She wanted to see her own limits. When running dungeons, facing multiple monsters at once was very common. Especially in high-level dungeons. If she couldn’t handle this much, she’d be unworthy of the knight career. Jiang Taotao told herself she was aiming for a top academy. She absolutely couldn’t give up easily. After psyching herself up, the team continued forward. Sure enough, four hellhounds appeared simultaneously. Jiang Taotao threw herself into battle again. Ning Yiyi turned invisible, waiting for opportunities to strike. Miao Yu carefully observed the battle, ready to cast healing skills at any time. Duan Gao had little to do. For a prophet, after applying buffs there wasn’t much else to do. Besides Lin Moyu, he was the most idle in the team. By now, large numbers of teams had been eliminated in the preliminaries. Many team names turned gray and disappeared from the light screen. The rankings on the light screen kept changing. Lin Moyu’s team wasn’t advancing particularly quickly, staying in the middle, fairly stable. Bai Yiyuan was also observing these preliminaries. "What is the kid Lin doing? Why is he moving so slowly?" "Others have already scored 40 points, but Lin’s team only has 23. What’s going on?" "Old Meng, can’t you reveal a little?" Meng Anwen firmly refused, "No." "Besides, these preliminaries aren’t about speed. As long as they pass in the end, it’s fine." "Don’t tell me you’re not confident in the kid Lin?" Bai Yiyuan laughed, "Nonsense. The kid Lin has champion potential. How could mere preliminaries stump him?" "Then what are you worried about?" As the master of the Divine Summer Tower, Meng Anwen knew everything happening inside clearly. He naturally knew Lin Moyu hadn’t lifted a finger, just watching the whole time. Otherwise, they would have passed the preliminaries long ago. Bai Yiyuan watched more and more teams being eliminated, "Isn’t your elimination rate set too high?" Meng Anwen said softly, "Not high. Those eliminated are basically teams with an average level below 23. Even if not eliminated here, such teams would be the first eliminated in the competition." "Another portion of eliminated teams had abysmal coordination. There’s no point keeping such teams." "The goal of the preliminaries is to select teams excellent in all aspects. And the difficulty I set isn’t high. Even lower level teams can pass with good coordination." Bai Yiyuan sighed seemingly helplessly, "Fine, you talk too much. You win." ... Finally five Abyss Hellhounds appeared simultaneously. Jiang Taotao shouted, "Control!" Miao Yu and Duan Gao acted together. Elders and prophets both had a skill called Wind Shackles. They each shackled one hellhound, directly controlling them. But their levels were too low, so Wind Shackles only lasted a short 30 seconds. However, 30 seconds was enough for Jiang Taotao and Ning Yiyi. Jiang Taotao quickly drew the attention of the remaining three hellhounds, creating opportunities for Ning Yiyi. The team coordinated seamlessly. They swiftly eliminated the five Abyss Hellhounds. With Miao Yu and Duan Gao joining in, dealing with five hellhounds was even easier than before. Jiang Taotao also roughly knew her limits now. Without relying on others, handling four Abyss Hellhounds simultaneously was her limit. Since Miao Yu and Duan Gao started participating in battle, the team’s progress speed clearly increased. Now Lin Moyu really became the odd one out, truly having nothing to do. Lin Moyu was quite curious about this feeling of being a bystander, calmly following behind the team. Lin Moyu’s team’s ranking began to rise. Gradually catching up. From the middle to the front. Finally entering the top thousand in their group. By now, over half of the 30,000+ teams in their group had been eliminated. Less than 10,000 remained. Six... seven... eight Abyss Hellhounds appeared simultaneously. Jiang Taotao and the others were after all too low level. Facing increasing pressure, the battle became more and more difficult. Miao Yu panted lightly, having to both control and heal. For her, the pressure was considerable. Duan Gao was in a similar situation. An hour had passed since the preliminaries began. Everyone’s buffs were starting to fade and needed replenishing. Duan Gao drank a spirit potion, replenishing buffs for everyone. After finishing, Duan Gao sat down heavily. Duan Gao said helplessly, "I’m out of spirit power." Miao Yu said softly, "I have 300 spirit power left." Without spirit power they couldn’t cast skills. Ning Yiyi also said quietly, "I’m about the same." Though assassin skills consumed little spirit power, Ning Yiyi had to maintain stealth for sneak attacks, rapidly consuming spirit power. Her spirit attribute wasn’t as strong as mage-type careers to begin with. Lasting this long was already impressive. Jiang Taotao also panted, "Should we rest a bit?" Ning Yiyi shook her head, "Or we could leave the rest to Moyu. We’ve fought enough, and tested what we needed to test." Duan Gao raised his hand, "I agree. I agree with both hands and feet." Miao Yu nodded, "It’s about enough." Hearing her teammates say this, Jiang Taotao looked at Lin Moyu, "Sorry to trouble you, Junior Lin." Lin Moyu waved his hand, "It’s my duty." As he spoke, three skeleton warriors appeared before him. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶 They ran forward with crackling sounds. Eight more Abyss Hellhounds appeared ahead. The skeleton warriors charged up. With a swing of their blades, one hellhound was killed on the spot. With their powerful attributes, Dealing with these weakened level 27 Abyss Hellhounds, It was just one hit one kill. They didn’t even need skills. Just instant kills. In barely a second, all eight Abyss Hellhounds were slain. Jiang Taotao and the other two looked at each other. They had discussed various tactics and fought so hard. But before Lin Moyu’s skeleton warriors, it was just a matter of one strike. This made them feel foolish about all their tactics. People really couldn’t be compared. Ning Yiyi comforted them, "Don’t be discouraged. Moyu’s skeletons have always been strong. They can even kill level 40 high-level demons." Ning Yiyi’s counterproductive comfort made the three even more depressed. Duan Gao cried, "Don’t mind me, let me go cry for a bit." With Lin Moyu, the team’s progress speed increased again. Their score began to rise rapidly. By now the top teams in their group had stopped gaining points. Their scores were uniformly at 200 points. This meant they had killed 200 Abyss Hellhounds. As for why the scores weren’t moving, many could guess. They had reached the final stage of the assessment - the boss battle. Now it was a matter of who could take first place. The boss wasn’t easy to deal with. It tested not only the team’s coordination, but also their overall combat ability. Various teams were using everything they had to tackle the boss. Lin Moyu’s group finally reached the boss. "It really is a Dog Demon." With one wing, wolf-dog appearance. Exactly the same as the Dog Demon Lin Moyu had killed before. As for its attributes, Lin Moyu couldn’t be bothered to look. No need. The Dog Demon stood at the end of the passage with nine Abyss Hellhounds, waiting for Lin Moyu’s group to arrive. Jiang Taotao tensed up again, "Is this an Abyss demon?" Ning Yiyi said, "This is called an Abyss Dog Demon, but it’s not a real one. Real Abyss Dog Demons are stronger than this." Miao Yu asked softly, "Can Junior Lin beat it?" Ning Yiyi smiled, "He’s killed quite a few Dog Demons." The others looked shocked. Jiang Taotao believed Ning Yiyi’s words, "I didn’t expect Junior Lin to be so powerful." By now the three skeleton warriors had charged to the boss. The nine Abyss Hellhounds attacked the skeleton warriors simultaneously. Sharp teeth bit down hard on the skeleton warriors’ bones. The skeleton warriors burst out skills. Their blades flashed red, instantly killing three hellhounds. Skill: Corpse Explosion! Boom! Boom! Boom! Three consecutive explosions. Where was the Dog Demon now? Only corpses remained. "Assessment passed!" A majestic voice sounded as the group was sent outside. Lin Moyu’s team, originally ranked outside the top few hundred, suddenly rocketed to the top like a missile. Their final score reached 300 points. Lin Moyu’s team took first place, their name becoming very eye-catching. The remaining teams that passed could only rank behind Lin Moyu’s team. "Unexpected. The latecomer took first place." "How did they do it? Defeating the boss so quickly." "This Lin Moyu team is interesting. The name seems familiar somehow." "Don’t you remember? This year’s national top scholar is called Lin Moyu." "No way, didn’t he just finish the big exam? How could he already be in the level 20+ group competition?" "Maybe he levels up fast. How else could he become the top scholar?"