area51novel Chapter 218 Finals - Individual Battle (Part 1)
Chapter 218 Finals - Individual Battle (Part 1)
To be honest, this invincible shield is indeed very useful. Shrek Academy has already encountered many other academies using this soul tool in the competition. Considering that today's opponents are certainly not lacking in this equipment, Shrek Academy, which has always been reluctant to let its students rely too much on external aids, agreed to equip its students with the invincible shield as a precaution.
The timing of Dai Yueheng's use of the invincible shield, while not the life-or-death situation the academy had envisioned before the competition began, was still a suitable opportunity, so there was no need to worry about having to write a self-criticism afterward.
Alright, let's return our attention to the competition stage. Having just received a wave of electrotherapy, and still shivering all over, Xiao Hongchen looked at the still-burning electricity on Bei Bei's hands and, without a word, prepared to revert to human form. He couldn't afford to be electrocuted any longer; conductive metal was truly too much for him.
Just as Xiao Hongchen was mimicking the T1000, attempting to solidify from its liquid state, a cunning smile appeared on Beibei's face, whose entire body was crackling with electricity. A multi-layered "metal block" had appeared on Beibei's dragon claw, and all the electricity radiating from its body flowed into this seemingly unrelated "metal block." After giving the "metal block" one last glance, which was beginning to glow with a strange light, Beibei casually tossed it onto the pool of molten metal that Xiao Hongchen had transformed into under the influence of his soul skill.
Then, Xiao Hongchen, who was preparing to transform from liquid to human form, froze. It wasn't that his soul skill had failed, but that the remaining metallic liquid stopped talking to him.
The strange "metal block" that Beibei threw out was actually a super-powerful electromagnet. As long as it still stored enough electricity, it could hold a car that was accelerating forward. Right now, it was just attracting some liquid metal that was being pulled by the effects of the soul skill, which was incredibly easy.
They easily dealt with Xiao Hongchen, who was originally quite difficult to handle, but Meng Hongchen was also dealt with by Dai Yueheng and Ling Luochen working together. Now only Ma Rulong is left. He has never been well-behaved in the magic circle cage of the soul tool version, and now the cage's usage time is nearing its limit.
However, at this moment, Ma Rulong quieted down and raised his hand to indicate that he had given up, even though the magical cage was about to dissipate.
Watching Ma Rulong's actions, Long You glanced with slight regret at the Thunder Cannon on the ground, already in firing mode. If Ma Rulong hadn't conceded, Long You would definitely have used these pre-arranged soul tools to thoroughly deplete Ma Rulong's soul power, preparing for the upcoming match. Unfortunately, Ma Rulong was quick-witted; after dealing with the other members of the Sun Moon Team at Shrek Academy, he quite wisely conceded, conserving his strength.
"Coward, an absolute coward. If the same situation happened to Senior Ma Xiaotao, she would definitely fight the Sun and Moon team to the death."
As he dismantled the soul-guided device installed on the competition stage and returned to his own waiting area, Long You still muttered to himself, still somewhat greedy.
"Alright, alright. If we were in this situation, even if the senior Ma Xiaotao you mentioned wanted to give it her all, Teacher Wang Yan would stop her. All the events in the finals are scheduled for one day, so maintaining our team's strength is of utmost importance. We've already taken out four of the Sun Moon team's regular members, we should be content."
Compared to Long You's "indignation," He Caitou, who had worked alongside Long You but gained nothing, was much more composed, directly telling Long You not to be greedy and try to swallow an elephant. The team battle was won as planned; now it was time to consider the arrangements for the individual elimination rounds.
"Yueheng, tell us about your experience fighting Meng Hongchen. If possible, we need to find a way to avoid Meng Hongchen, or even better, avoid the individual elimination matches altogether. Losing four main players from the Sun Moon team is certainly a good thing, but Ma Rulong not being worn down at all is not very advantageous for us."
"No, giving up in the individual battle is definitely out of the question. Ma Rulong is strong, but avoiding him won't do any good. If we avoid him in the individual battle, what will we do in a 2-2-3 formation? Ma Rulong's command is even stronger when he has teammates to coordinate with."
Teacher Wang, Meng Hongchen is a bit tricky, but I believe all the Soul King level teammates present can take her down. However, Ma Rulong is different; only I can have a real impact on that guy.
I disagree with giving up the individual fight, and I strongly demand to face Ma Rulong directly.
Dai Yueheng answered Wang Yan's question in a rather loud voice and at a somewhat rapid pace, which drew a surprised glance from Long You.
[What's going on? Is he getting worked up? The individual elimination rounds are about to start, and this guy's emotions are really bad. Should we try to calm him down? Otherwise, we might just make things worse.]
Having prepared so many methods in advance, Long You cannot accept that Shrek Academy's performance is worse than in the original story, even though he exists in a timeline. Therefore, Long You will not overlook any detail that may affect the outcome of the competition.
Before Long You could figure things out, Zhang Lexuan spoke up: "The idea is good, but it's difficult to implement."
I don't doubt your ability to take Ma Rulong down with you or severely deplete his strength, but the order of appearance in the individual elimination rounds is pre-arranged, and even Xiao You can't guarantee that she will know the opponent's appearance schedule.
Therefore, making such preconceived notions is unnecessary. If you can encounter your opponent, then naturally you should go all out; if you can't, then there's no need to force it. Individual elimination matches aren't a type of competition we absolutely must win; we just need to ensure we can inflict sufficient damage on our opponent.
This also reflects a problem within the Shrek Academy team: Wang Yan, the team leader and tactics instructor, lacks sufficient authority.
Because of the problems with previous tactical planning, Wang Yan still has some say in tactical advice due to the silence of Fan Yu and Zhang Lexuan. However, when it comes to making a final decision, Wang Yan's words are not so effective.
In a situation like this, Wang Yan clearly knows that Dai Yueheng is a bit impatient because she didn't perform as expected in the team battle just now, and thus made demands that are not in line with the actual conditions. However, Wang Yan just can't be the one to speak up and refute her.
Fortunately, Zhang Lexuan has enough prestige and relatively sufficient experience in major competitions to directly suppress Dai Yueheng.
After a brief exchange, the break between team battles and individual matches was about to end. Zhang Lexuan decided to relinquish control of the conversation and continue managing the team's rhythm.
"Time is running out. If you don't have any concrete information to provide, Teacher Wang, please arrange the players according to your own ideas."
"Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen, the brother and sister duo, will be on the roster, but Xiao Hongchen was seriously injured just now, so he will most likely not play in the individual elimination rounds. Ma Rulong is not going to hide him anymore, but the Sun and Moon team will probably put him at the back of the list."
However, I can't be sure of the accuracy of the information. Some of the information I've gathered this time is too complete, which is unusual; we need to be wary of any traps. My personal suggestion is to follow Senior Sister's advice and arrange the individual battle order based primarily on our own performance.
During the short break, despite the competition stage acting as a barrier, Long You still managed to get Xiao Yan to collect and analyze the consciousness information emitted by the opposing Sun and Moon team members.
Compared to the original story, Shrek Academy in this timeline didn't cause any deaths (or injuries) among the Sun and Moon Team members, making their ruthlessness seem slightly lacking. However, in terms of disrupting the team's structure, Shrek Academy in this timeline clearly did a better job. The Sun and Moon Team's usable troops are significantly reduced, meaning Long You can't guarantee that the Sun and Moon Team will still arrange Ma Rulong as the final general as in the original story.
However, according to the intelligence gathered by Xiao Yan, the Sun and Moon Team had no intention of changing this aspect. This made Long You hesitate. Apart from the Hongchen siblings, the Sun and Moon Team's reserve force currently lacked the strength to influence a battle of this level. In addition, the information Xiao Yan had analyzed this time was too complete, and Long You was indeed unsure of the authenticity of the information he had provided.
"Then let's go on stage. Yuhao will replace Ram and be placed last. The other players will remain the same."
"Luo Chen, you're going first. We won't save the 2-2-3 strategy for the final 3-on-3 match. Do you understand what I mean?"
"Understood. As long as I don't have to face Ma Rulong, I'll at least take down all three of them before I go on stage."
The usually calm and icy girl suddenly spoke with a chilling tone.
When it came to the match, the Sun and Moon team did not send Ma Rulong, but instead sent a player from the reserve team who was temporarily pulled out to fill in.
"Although I don't quite understand why the Sun and Moon team is using this kind of tactics that seem like attrition, it's good news for Luo Chen. As long as he can control the rhythm, Luo Chen should have no problem defeating the first four members of the Sun and Moon team."
Looking at the situation on the competition stage, and then glancing at the lineup submitted by the Sun and Moon Team from the competition organizing committee, Shrek Academy felt a slight sense of relief. If all went according to plan, Ling Luochen should be able to directly summon Meng Hongchen, allowing Dai Yueheng to face Ma Rulong in a relatively complete state.
Having already adapted to the use of soul tools in combat, Ling Luochen demonstrated the control over the course of the match by a control-type soul master. After losing their absolute advantage in attack range, the members of the Sun Moon Team were basically controlled by Ling Luochen from beginning to end.
Another team member was eliminated. Watching Ling Luochen on the stage frantically recovering his soul power using his healing bottle soul tool, the atmosphere in the Sun Moon team's waiting area became somewhat tense. Although the initial four team members were intended for a war of attrition, the Sun Moon team's real target was Dai Yueheng, not Ling Luochen. Moreover, even if they were to wear down Ling Luochen, that objective hadn't been achieved yet.
"Xiao Meng, it's up to you. No matter what, Ling Luochen can't stay on the field any longer. Otherwise, if Dai Yueheng faces Ru Long at his peak, Ru Long's task will be too difficult. You know, the remaining guys from Shrek Academy are no pushovers either."
"Don't worry, Elder Hong. Although my attacks during team battles have made my martial soul abilities less unpredictable, even without relying on the poison ability of my martial soul, ensuring that we perish together is not difficult at all."
"Go on stage."
On the competition stage, Ling Luochen, standing in her own waiting area, watched Meng Hongchen slowly walk onto the stage, recalling the information Long You had given her before she went on stage.
"Meng Hongchen's abilities are actually more akin to those of a Soul Master than a Soul Guidance Master. I don't need to say much about how to fight her, Senior. You just need to remember that Meng Hongchen's poison is quite troublesome. Even if you're wearing Soul Guidance Power Armor, you can't let your guard down. Some of your weaker areas might be corroded by Meng Hongchen's poison. Senior, you need to be careful at all times and absolutely avoid getting it on your body."
[The poison is indeed troublesome, and since it shares the same ice attribute as me, there's no elemental advantage, making it a tough fight. However, regardless, I can't leave this guy to Dai Yueheng; he won't let me use him again anyway, so it's time to strike hard.]
To ensure fairness in the competition, Ling Luochen had to put on her soul-guided power armor again at the start of each match. Without the face armor to cover her face, Long You noticed that his senior sister was once again inadvertently revealing a rather obvious murderous intent.
After confirming that Meng Hongchen was ready, Tian Sha Douluo routinely announced the start of the competition.
As the Heavenly Fiend Douluo disappeared from the arena, Meng Hongchen immediately displayed a fighting style different from that of a normal Soul Master. Instead of immediately releasing his Soul Tool, he used the enhancement of his Martial Soul to leap lightly and incredibly fast towards the center of the arena. On the other side, Ling Luochen, after donning his Soul Tool powered armor and activating his internal breathing circulation state, began to advance relatively slowly, using ranged Soul Tool attacks to disrupt Meng Hongchen, just as he had done in previous matches.
However, as he moved forward, Ling Luochen secretly communicated with the auxiliary intelligence installed in the soul-guided power armor: "Cigar, activate the anti-gravity system to isolate all external gases from entering the cockpit. Activate the over-limit propulsion mode in two seconds. Aim at the soul power gathering point in front of the target and activate the external protection mode of the soul-guided shield."
"Received. Target locked. Over-limit propulsion mode to be activated. Drivers, please prepare for impact."