area51novel Chapter 206 The Electric Cage
Chapter 206 The Electric Cage
After a dozen or so breaths, Bei Bei's somewhat eerie and ethereal voice finally rang out in the conference room: "Xiao You, next time, don't deliver important information in such a convoluted way, and don't speak so fast. Otherwise, I'll let you experience what it means to repeat yourself like a perpetual motion machine."
"Uh~"
Long You, who had been blatantly threatened by his senior brother, gave an awkward smile. The current distance was far too dangerous. Long You knew that if he stayed at this distance, he would likely be easily suppressed by Bei Bei. After all, close combat was Long You's weak point compared to Bei Bei.
"Alright, everyone can leave now. Xiao You, stay behind for a moment. You didn't attend the tactical meeting this afternoon, so I'd like to speak with you privately. If you have any good suggestions, feel free to offer them."
After the excitement was over, and seeing that it was getting late, Wang Yan stepped in to smooth things over, sending everyone back to their rooms to rest while also giving Long You, who had been sleeping all afternoon, a little extra instruction.
In the conference room, Long You looked at the information about the Royal Academy of Fighting Spirits displayed on the soul guide screen, and his eyebrows twitched involuntarily. Long You remembered this academy, not the kind of impression that was deeply buried in the sea of memory and could only be triggered by the Pearl of Imagination, but a real and tangible impression.
There's no other reason than that this academy was just incredibly unlucky. The tactics they chose were completely countered by the tactics chosen by Shrek Academy.
Wang Yan's introduction didn't take too long. He only focused on the strange phenomenon that Douling Royal Academy didn't choose to advance as the first in their group. He hoped that Long You could investigate further before the battle tomorrow and try to figure out what kind of trump cards Douling Royal Academy was hiding.
"I will definitely probe the information that needs to be probed, but the time before the match starts is a bit tight, and I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to probe too much. So just in case, Yuhao should still reserve a spot in tomorrow's team battle."
No matter what methods the opponent intends to use, as long as Yuhao has his shared spiritual detection skill, he will always be able to detect some signs. As long as we can buy some reaction time, I believe that with the academy's strength and resources, we can still take the most effective preventative measures.”
"Yes, that's what I was thinking too. So the team roster I've arranged is Dai Yueheng, Gongyang Mo, Ling Luochen, Beibei, you, Xu Sanshi, and Yuhao."
This lineup may not be the strongest in terms of combat power, but it's certainly the most likely to create a stir, and it also allows San Shi to fully utilize his fourth soul skill. In my opinion, it's the best lineup for the initial battle of the third stage of the elimination rounds.
"The best lineup for the first battle? So, Teacher Wang wants to make some use of San Shi's fourth soul skill?"
"That's right, this is the tactic that I discussed with the others this afternoon. Although San Shi's Xuanming Soul Replacement skill has already appeared in the competition, we haven't used it in team battles. I personally think that using this move directly at the start of a team battle should still achieve a good surprise effect."
Use San Shi to swap the captain of the Douling Royal Academy to the center of our team to receive focused fire. Then, the moment San Shi can use his fourth soul skill—Xuanming Swap—immediately have him swap Mu Bai, Gong Yang, or you over there.
I've witnessed Ram using his soul tool to its fullest extent in battle. Personally, I believe that each of you three possesses the ability to create powerful damage in the center of the enemy's formation.
I believe that by then we will be able to eliminate the captain of the Douling Royal Academy and disrupt the formation of the other members, thus making full preparations for the upcoming assault.
"This is indeed a highly probable scenario, but I'm still a little unwilling! If only Senior Sister Ma Xiaotao were here. As for Senior Brother Gongyang, no matter how skilled a Soul Master is in burst combat, he's a super half-baked Soul Master who didn't even qualify as a complete novice. At most, he can only unleash about 50% of the strength of a Soul Master of the same level."
Senior Dai Yueheng is indeed strong, but he's not particularly adept at burst damage. Or rather, compared to Senior Ma Xiaotao, who possesses the Fire Phoenix Martial Soul, Senior Dai Yueheng is more like a tank for prolonged battles. As for me, my soul power level is ultimately too low; I'm only at level fifty-one so far.”
"That's right. That's why I haven't been able to decide on the final choice among the three of you yet. Now is not the time to let the Soul Guidance Powered Mech show itself. Otherwise, you would be the best choice. Anyway, all you need is a burst of power, and you don't need to worry about conserving soul power at all. With the maximum attack power that the Soul Guidance Powered Mech can unleash, it's enough to achieve the effect of disrupting the opponent's formation as I envision."
"Hmm? Don't we need to consider the consequences? Can I just unleash a burst of power and then surrender?"
"Of course, no problem at all. What? From what you're saying, if you don't need to consider the problems after a fight, you can unleash a sufficiently strong attack without using the soul-guided power mech?"
"That's true. As long as I'm well-prepared, I think I should be able to put on a pretty spectacular performance with the help of my soul skills."
"Then I'll wait and see. Tomorrow morning I'll instruct Sanshi to use you as the second exchange point."
"Ha, I'm sure I'll deliver a satisfying performance."
Nothing happened that night. After a good deep sleep to further restore his over-exhausted mental energy, Long You arrived at the hotel breakfast feeling refreshed. He had eaten too much dessert last night, which was quite cloying, and he only ate half a meal. When he woke up this morning, his stomach started clamoring for food as soon as it connected with his brain.
Upon entering the competition venue, Long You, as usual, had Xiao Yan analyze the students of the Douling Royal Academy. This unexpectedly confirmed that his memories hadn't been erased by the butterfly effect. Through the fragmented thoughts analyzed by Xiao Yan, Long You successfully captured a series of keywords such as "Thunder Cannon," "A Little Unlucky," "It's Okay," and "Killer Move."
At this point, Long You can start spoiling the plot without any pressure.
"Everyone, our intelligence officer Xiao Yan has provided the latest information about the enemy's Douling Royal Academy. Do you want to hear it?"
Having a better understanding of the upcoming battle, Long You let his true nature show a little, speaking in a rather cheeky tone.
"Don't be cheeky at a time like this." But before Long You could even curl the corners of his mouth to the angle he wanted, Fan Yu's voice was like a bucket of ice water, instantly erasing all thoughts of "Weasley's behavior" from Long You's mind.
"Yes, teacher. Xiao Yan just read a portion of the overflowing thoughts of the Douling Royal Academy students. I combined these overflowing thought keywords and found that the secret weapon that made the Douling Royal Academy willing to give up first place in the group should be a soul tool called the Thunder Cannon."
Of course, this Thunder Cannon is not the mature Thunder Cannon of the Sun Moon Empire, but a compromise product made due to insufficient technological maturity. Compared to the mature Thunder Cannon of the Sun Moon Empire, the Thunder Cannon brought out by the Douling Royal Academy is much larger and needs to be assembled before use, otherwise it will not comply with the rules for the use of soul tools in the competition.
To thwart the Douling Royal Academy's plans, all we need to do is swap the person holding the core component of the Thunder Cannon with them after the match begins. If all goes as expected, that person should be our initial target: the captain of the Douling Royal Academy—Gu Zhujian.
"You actually figured out the Royal Academy of Fighting Spirits' backup plan before the match even started. You're amazing, Xiao You."
"This is indeed very timely news, but anything can happen before things actually happen, so we can't let our guard down. We'll find out who the person who possesses the core component of the Thunder Cannon is after we go on stage, using Yuhao's soul skill."
Wang Yan was becoming increasingly cautious due to a series of minor blunders in his self-planned tactics. However, caution was always a good thing in such situations, so everyone nodded in agreement, indicating they would pay close attention to any changes in the situation.
Before the match began, everyone had a short time to adjust their state. As is customary, the Shrek Academy students about to go on stage would meditate for a short period in their seats to prepare. Today, this did seem to be the case on the surface, but only Long You and Huo Yuhao knew that the actual situation was different; the two of them were having a secret exchange.
{Brother Tianmeng, Brother Tianmeng, Brother Tianmeng, can you get a signal?}
{Damn brat, what do you want now!}
{Oh dear, Tianmeng-ge, don't be so impatient. I have some information here related to Hyotei!}
{Stop trying to tempt me. Just tell me what you want to do. After you're done, tell me what you know.}
{Tianmeng, could you please open the communication channel so Yuhao can hear me saying this?}
"Kid, who gave you the courage to let Brother Tianmeng act as your mouthpiece?"
In my personal opinion, the news I know about Hyotei is quite important to Sasori himself.
Long You had anticipated that Tianmeng wouldn't willingly act as a mouthpiece. Given this situation, Long You could have chosen to reason with him, but considering he held the option to spoil the plot, he opted for a more forceful approach.
As expected, after a brief silence for some unknown reason, Tianmeng silently dragged Huo Yuhao into this online exchange meeting mediated by mental energy.
"Is there something important you need to discuss with me at this time, senior?"
"Indeed, it's about some tactics in the match. As arranged by Teacher Wang, I'll be moved to the center of the Douling Royal Academy's lineup by Sanshi. I need you to use your mental interference soul skill at this time to disrupt the other students of the Douling Royal Academy and coordinate with my next move."
To maximize the effect of mental interference, after the match begins, besides providing attribute boosts to Ling Xue and using the shared spirit detection skill, you also need to equip and activate the mental power amplification spirit tool as quickly as possible. If your hand speed is fast enough, you can also light up a spirit-boosting cigar like your senior brother.
"Understood. Don't worry, senior brother, I can complete all these operations in time. At the very least, I'll give the rest of the Douling Royal Academy a moment to catch their breath."
Half a second? That's enough.
Mental Interference is not a mental attack; it's a wide-range soul skill. Just like its name suggests, its main function is to disrupt rather than attack. Fortunately, Long You, while mastering the Soul Master profession, is also a control-type Soul Master from Shrek Academy, possessing numerous crowd control skills. Having Mental Interference as a means to distract the opponent is sufficient.
The match began, and apart from Gu Zhujian and Dai Yueheng, two veteran team members who had participated in the previous competition, exchanging greetings because they recognized each other, nothing unexpected happened. The match proceeded as planned until Xu Sanshi abruptly switched Gu Zhujian, who looked completely bewildered and was still holding a soul tool component, into a well-prepared, all-around encirclement by Shrek Academy.
After a slightly longer breath, Long You was teleported to the Douling Royal Academy's position.
Huo Yuhao's mental interference soul skill arrived as expected. The students of the Douling Royal Academy, who had sensed something was wrong and were rushing forward and had already switched to combat mode, were all momentarily stunned.
In that instant, Long You's first spirit ring shone, and a swamp trap with its own suction force became the second barrier restricting the movement of the students of the Douling Royal Academy.
By the time the students of the Douling Royal Academy regained their senses from the dazed state created by the mental interference, their calves were already submerged in the swamp trap. Although this swamp trap, created by Long You's first soul skill, couldn't possibly trap the students of the Douling Royal Academy completely, it would still take them time to break free.
The moment his first soul skill took effect, Long You unleashed one of the two soul skills recorded in his fourth soul ring, "Lightning Flash." Without sparing any soul power, Long You, amplified by the soul skill's effect, truly seemed to transform into a bolt of lightning.
In a total of two seconds, the movement restrictions that Huo Yuhao and Long You had imposed on the students of the Douling Royal Academy were completely lifted, but Long You had also accomplished what he had bought time for.
Long You, who had drawn a pentagram around the formation of the Douling Royal Academy students, returned to his original position. Around the Douling Royal Academy formation, a layer of fine lightning spread from the five vertices of the pentagram, forming an electric cage.