567 Chapter 567: Pride comes before a fall (1/2)
Standing in front of his Crystal Armor Scorpion, Hai Da Pang began laughing.
”Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
”Ugh…” the guy who was still conscious could barely sit up, and he watched the Crystal Armor Scorpion and its summoner, fear visible on his pale face. He shuddered as he tried to crawl backward, to no avail.
”Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
Hai Da Pang continued laughing loudly, throwing his head back and keeping his nose in the air. What the fuck was he, a villain or something? Now I really wished someone would teach him a lesson, to shut him up at the very least.
The fatty was getting really, really annoying.
”Anyone else?” Hai Da Pang sneered arrogantly. He flicked a hand out and beckoned the audience over. ”Get up here!”
In the spectator seats, the other students exchanged worried glances, wondering if they stood a chance against such a terrifying foe. For now, none of them dared to recklessly descend to the stage and try their luck. Above them, atop a holographic screen, it featured Hai Da Pang's face and name, and tallied the total score.
So he had defeated five people by himself, and the total defeated by all the summoning students was still five. This was only the beginning.
There were a few murmurs, but obviously there were a few people pissed off by Hai Da Pang's attitude. I wished I could join in and fight against Hai Da Pang myself, but I wasn't allowed to. I glanced at Lilith, knowing that she would step in if the situation got out of hand. She was calmly sitting beside her grandfather and watching the whole scene unfold without any anger or panic.
Hmm…that was indeed curious. She probably knew something that I didn't. At the very least she seemed confident that Hai Da Pang would be eventually defeated. Given that his Crystal Armor Scorpion was blinded, its eyes bleeding, she was probably right.
…hey, wasn't this whole thing incredibly similar to a story I had read somewhere before? Why did it feel like déjà vu? I swear, I read the whole thing somewhere before, or at least watched the anime adaptation of it.
Right. It was Versatile Mage. If this was the case, I could predict what was going to happen. Too bad Bu Fan wasn't here, otherwise…oh, well.
Down below, a group of students had mustered their courage and stepped up to the challenge, determined to bash Hai Da Pang's pride.
”If we can coordinate as a team and work together, then we'll definitely be able to defeat him!” one of them declared passionately to his teammates, who nodded enthusiastically. ”Let's go!”
”Yeah!”
I watched as the next five students worked together, scattering to ensure that the Crystal Armor Scorpion was forced to split its strength. They then cast their spells from five different directions, bombarding the poor thing relentless and eliciting a shrill screech.
The Crystal Armor Scorpion thrashed about as fireballs, lightning, icicles and earth spikes slammed into it. Its huge stinger swung about, only to crash into a barrier that one of the five mages conjured, thus making it difficult for the monster to hurt them. Coordinating efficiently, the five mages continued to assault the Crystal Armor Scorpion with their spells.
”Kreee!”
Screeching, the Crystal Armor Scorpion strode out of the inferno, immolated. With a single vicious swipe, its pincer smashed through a barrier and sent one of the mages flying. The barrier mage coughed from the feedback, but managed to conjure a second barrier…only for the Crystal Armor Scorpion to shatter it with its stinger. The poor girl was sent crashing onto the ground with a fatal wound.
If it wasn't for the boundary field, she would have died from that. Scary.
The professor in the white lab coat quickly got her out of there and sent her to the infirmary, where Yi Ya was rushing forward to cast a healing spell on her.
”Damn, this looks bad,” she remarked gravely. The guy with the cigarette nodded.
”I know, right? Looks like you're going to be busy today, Yi Ya.”
”Urusai!” she snapped. ”Do your duty properly and maybe I won't have to work as hard!”
”Yeah, yeah. I'll do my best.”
With two down, it wasn't long before the other three were eventually taken down. The holographic screen above that Hai Da Pang had taken down ten mages, and our total was ten.
”Huff��huff…”
The fatty was panting almost hysterically. His Crystal Armor Scorpion was swaying, its armor cracked from the flames and other magical projectiles, and he continued to feed it his mana to keep it standing on its feet.
”Damn it! There's no end to these guys!” Hai Da Pang complained. And this guy was thinking he could sweep through a hundred students? Was he kidding?
”Next group!” the professor in the white coat snapped, and the group already waiting below got up onto the stage.
”Yes, sir!”
This time there was six people in this group, but Hai Da Pang didn't falter. He sent his Crystal Armor Scorpion after the group, and despite weathering an onslaught of spells, he managed to take out another five, increasing the total to fifteen. His Crystal Armor Scorpion had seemed to gone berserk, its stinger lashing out and stabbing the students, or seizing one of them with its pincers and crushing them. It was brutal and grotesque, but thanks to the boundary field, none of them died.
I bet if this story ever got a comic or anime adaptation, those grisly scenes would be censored because…you know. But whatever. Anyway, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor victims who were literally pulverized by the damned pincers or gored to near-death by the stinger. The professor who served as the umpire had to use his telekinesis spells to fling them out of the battle cage and toward the infirmary, atop floating stretchers. Yi Ya didn't seem happy, but…
The last girl of the group managed to inflict a tremendous spell on the wavering Crystal Armor Scorpion. Throwing a hand out, she cast a quick spell.
”Inferno Strike!” she shouted, and incinerated the Crystal Armor Scorpion. The great beast swayed unsteadily as it was bathed in flames before it finally toppled over, sizzling.