Chapter 127 - Tamers Friendly Competition - 5

เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 มี.ค. 2569 07:36

"First semifinal!" Yang announced, his voice carrying across the morning air. "Luna's team versus Jin's team!" The teams advanced to the center of the field. Luna walked with innate grace, her "noble companions" flanking her with matching elegance. Her shadow wolf was barely visible as a dark silhouette at her feet. Jin took center position, his tiger manifesting partially in rippling stripes across his skin as he studied his opponents. At his right, Kai let his defensive plates gleam under the sun. Cass completed their formation on the left, her eagle flickering like a living shadow above them. "Begin!" Mist began flowing immediately from the cloud bird, but Jin's confident smile showed he had anticipated this. "The same strategy as before?" Jin's voice dripped with disdain. "Hiding in the mist won't work this time." Luna didn't respond, but a small smile curved her lips as her companion's cloud bird continued producing mist in great quantities. The fog rolled across the ground like a living thing. "Cass! Now!" Cass's eagle was already outside her body, its majestic wings spread to their full span. Each feather gleamed as it began beating the air, creating currents that started dispersing the mist. The area around Jin's team cleared, revealing the battlefield. Morning light pierced the thinning fog like golden spears. "See?" Jin's smile widened. "Without your cover, your wolf isn't so…" He stopped mid-sentence. For a moment, it had seemed their strategy would work, but... Where the eagle dispersed the mist, new fog flowed to fill the void. It was like watching water flow in slow motion, filling every empty space with deliberate purpose. "Doesn't matter," Jin clenched his teeth. "Keep trying, Cass! Kai, prepare for any attack!" A cracking sound drew their attention. The turtle's roots and branches began emerging from the ground, creating barriers that serpentined between them. "Don't let them separate us!" Kai fully activated his plates on his fists, striking the wooden barriers. But for each branch he destroyed, two more took its place. A howl resonated through the growing mist. "Cass, watch out!" Jin shouted, but the wolf had already emerged from the shadows. Its fangs found Cass's flank with precision, drawing a cry of pain. Her eagle, responding to the primal instinct to protect its tamer, abandoned its task of dispersing the mist. It was their fatal mistake. The wolf appeared above the manifested eagle like a black lightning bolt, its fangs finding the exact point where the neck was most vulnerable. The eagle vanished in a flash of light, its form dissolving back into pure mana. Luna emerged simultaneously from Cass's shadow, a precise strike to her nape rendering her unconscious before she could even register the attack. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂 "One down," Luna counted softly, her voice carrying an edge of satisfaction. "Cass!" Jin tried to reach his fallen companion, but more wooden barriers blocked his path, the branches weaving together like prison bars. Luna and her wolf vanished back into the shadows. The mist swallowed them whole, leaving no trace of their passage. "Back to back!" Kai ordered, his plates blazing intensely as he positioned himself beside Jin. Their shoulders touched as they turned slowly, trying to watch every angle at once. A soft laugh echoed through the mist, seeming to come from all directions at once. The sound danced around them like autumn leaves in the wind. "Coward!" Jin shouted, his frustration evident in every line of his body. "Come out and fight face to face!" The laughter continued, mixing with the sound of wind through branches and occasional wolf howls. In the mist surrounding them, shadows began to move with deliberate purpose. "Coward?" Luna's voice resonated through the fog. "Like you, always bullying those you think weaker?" The wolf bit Jin's arm while Luna's voice distracted him. Jin tried to counterattack with a spirit punch, but hit only empty air. The beast had already melted back into the shadows. "You're a narcissistic child, a boring bully," Luna continued, her voice moving around them like a dance. "What makes you think you're better than others? Your wealthy family? Your beast?" "Shut up and fight face to face, you witch!" Jin launched more spirit punches into the mist, but the wolf was too quick, appearing and vanishing between shadows like a nightmare. Kai withstood the attacks better, his defensive plates absorbing the wolf's bites. But even he began showing wounds in his less protected areas, blood slowly staining his uniform. "Enough!" Jin growled, his frustration reaching its limit. "Spirit Tiger!" His beast manifested fully outside his body, roaring as it searched for the wolf in the mist. Luna's laugh gained a sharper edge. "Perfect." The wolf emerged from the shadows, this time holding nothing back. It no longer needed to worry about injuring the tamer too deeply, a manifested beast could be "eliminated" without permanent consequences. It would regenerate completely within a day at most. The massive wolf appeared from below and tore the tiger's throat with a brutal bite. Blood that would soon turn to mana sprayed in an arc through the mist. The tiger managed to connect a slash with its huge paw, making the wolf retreat briefly. But Luna's beast recovered quickly, returning to the shadows while the tiger's opened neck let all the mana of its form bleed away. With a flash of light, Jin's beast vanished, returning to his body. "No!" Jin tried to manifest it again, but it would be impossible for today… and the wolf was already upon him. "Two down," Luna counted again as Jin fell unconscious. The wolf continued its assault against Kai, though the damage it had received was beginning to take its toll. Its movements had slowed slightly, black blood dripping from where the tiger's claws had found their mark. Kai saw his opportunity. The wolf had become slower after the tiger's slash. Activating his enhanced speed, he launched himself toward the wolf that had just missed an attack against his armor... It was his final mistake. Luna emerged from his shadow, her strike finding exactly the same point Ren had exploited in their individual battle. Kai's eyes widened in surprise before he collapsed. "Three down," Luna finished counting, satisfaction evident in her tone. "Victory for Luna's team," Yang announced as the mist began to dissipate like morning fog burning away under the sun. The wolf walked back to its tamer's side, showing some signs of the encounter with the tiger in its gait, but retreated to Luna's shadow to rest. The "noble girls" accompanying her maintained their neutral expressions, as if the outcome had been inevitable from the start. Luna observed her fallen opponents as medical auxiliaries approached to tend to them. "Next time," she murmured, though only her wolf heard, "think twice before calling someone a coward witch." Read latest chapters at Freewebnovel The mist finished dispersing, revealing the battlefield in its entirety. Klein followed Luna with his gaze as she and her group returned to the stands, his eyes blazing with an intensity that made several people look away. The medical auxiliaries carried away Jin's team. Their injuries weren't severe, some healing energy would mend them, but taking them to the infirmary beds was more convenient to give them time to recover their dignity as well as their health. "Second semifinal!" Yang's voice resonated across the field once more. "Klein's team versus Ren's team!"

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