Chapter 240: Ultimate Provocation and Mockery
With the explosion of a fireball in the sky over the exchange arena, the sound and light echoed, as if to add a final celebration to the impending conclusion of the event.
But this signal caused the people from other academies at the moment to feel a chill run down their spines, like startled birds.
The most unique spellcasters in the exchange competition were certainly from the Witch Academy.
They had no idea what this sound represented; was it a gathering? An all-out attack? Or did it signal the commencement of some unknown plan waiting for harvest?
All they knew was that the direction of the sound pointed towards the giant War Fortress of the Dwarfs.
It must be a means of delivering signals.
However, after waiting for a long time, everything seemed to be the same as usual, with no changes at all. The only difference was that the power of the former phantoms had shown a cliff-like rise during this time, and this anomaly put immense pressure on the Beast Academy and the Elves.
Don’t think that the Dwarfs’ War Fortress would help the Elves eliminate the former phantoms. When the former phantoms charged in, the War Fortress immediately entered a mode of retracting its head, not moving at all; unable to shake off the former phantoms, they simply took a detour towards the Elves.
With this free labor force, Minian and the others wouldn’t even have to go up and retaliate.
“Wait… why is this commotion so loud? Didn’t the former phantoms stop attacking us?”
The people in the War Fortress finally sensed something strange. After welcoming the first wave of former phantoms rushing out from the Ancient Battlefield at night, the noise did gradually calm down. But now, it had become intense again.
This was definitely suspicious.
“This is bad… out there, it seems we’re being surrounded by those Elves, not the former phantoms.” At this moment, Aiko reported to everyone after observing the outside situation through the observation port of the cockpit.
“Ah? Are they losing their minds? Why? We from the Witch Academy haven’t actively launched an attack, yet they are coming at us first?”
“Maybe they can’t bear the pressure anymore…”
“The signal has already been sent, Tan Han should be arriving soon. Why now of all times?”
“But we still have Sister Xiao Han…”
“Yet Sister Xiao Han has probably gone to sleep. Waking her up might not be good, and it’s not as if we are without combat power.”
“But… the enemy seems to outnumber us, doesn’t it?”
Everyone stood by the window looking outside, where it wasn’t just Elves anymore; there were also creatures from the Beast Academy. Were they preparing to stubbornly resist at this final moment?
“Anyway, let’s go see what’s happening first. They wouldn’t just launch a direct assault like this.”
Regardless of anything, Minian opened the hatch. But just as she was about to go out, an arrow flew past her scalp, the intense natural energy creating a wind pressure that startled Minian, making her retract back.
“Wait… what’s up with those Elves? As soon as I showed my face, an arrow flew past my scalp!”
“Shields, Minian, don’t get scared by this kind of thing; it would be embarrassing if others see it.”
“Of course I wouldn’t need your reminder. I just didn’t expect them to directly deny me the chance.”
Just as Minian and the others were preparing to put on their shields and go out, I stepped out of the resting cabin.
The recent commotion had been quite significant, and I had been woken up once already. Now, being pulled from a light sleep by such a loud noise was quite troubling.
“Let me handle this; I’ll see what’s outside.”
“Sister Xiao Han? You’re awake!”
“Ah~ Hmm, the noise is quite substantial; let me handle this.” I yawned, “Just consider it a way to stretch my muscles.”
I pushed open the hatch, casually putting on a shield. Being woken up twice in one night had caused me considerable distress, and I needed this opportunity to vent my emotions.
As I stepped out, many attacks flew towards me, and the energy shield I released had already reached its limit.
“Enough, all of you stop!” My angry shout immediately halted many, especially the Elves, who instinctively felt a tinge of fear at my appearance.
“Who do you think you are? Just because you said to stop doesn’t mean we will!” At this moment, a brash youth from the Beast Academy, not quite familiar with me, charged towards me relying on his powerful physique.
“You’ll never withstand this hit.” As this guy charged at me, I simply waved my hand, unleashing a blade of wind imbued with restrained yet powerful wind elements.
Even though he quickly tried to defend with his armor, he still couldn’t withstand the force. At the moment his armor shattered, he was thrown back with severe injuries.
I was somewhat dissatisfied with this outcome. I had already enhanced the power of this wind blade again, yet it still couldn’t achieve a quick k*ll?
If I had utilized the “Point Accumulation” technique, it should have easily pierced through his body.
“Yang Yuelan? What are you doing here?”
Of course, the ones most tense from my sudden appearance were the Elves. They had firsthand experience of my strength, and of my Fire Rain spell…
On the side of the Beast Academy, many weren’t very familiar with me; their understanding came mostly from gathered intelligence, rumors, and observed phenomena. Yet, some still clearly recognized my might.
For instance, from when I had gone to snatch that so-called Life Fruit.
“Why wouldn’t I be here? What kind of question is that? It’s late at night; aren’t you all supposed to be sleeping?”
As soon as I asked this, many were left speechless. At this point, given the situation, who could still sleep?
The Elves felt what was happening was surreal. They had been probing earlier, thinking that Tan Han and Yang Yuelan should not be here; they probably went to lead the former phantoms to corrode the map.
But now, they realized they had stirred up a big mess. Originally, they thought of joining forces with the Beast Academy to drive away these Dwarfs and the Witch Academy.
After all, they indeed brought the Elves considerable trouble.
Moreover, the great fire in the Beast Academy’s forest caused them significant issues, thus they quickly aligned their battle lines.
“Sleep? You can still sleep soundly? You Witch Academy controls the former phantoms to corrode everywhere, pushing everyone here, leaving us no way to survive!”
“Yang Yuelan, I admit you’re strong, but facing so many of us, you can’t stay arrogant for long!”
“Arrogant, huh…”
I turned my gaze towards the distance. The area was ablaze with fire; since it was night, they needed light to provide illumination; otherwise, how could they fight a group battle in such dark surroundings?
But the most conspicuous thing at that moment was the ceremonial light pillar in the sea. At this night, it was the only ceremony, indeed striking; according to my understanding of the ceremonial light pillar, their ceremony had reached the stage of completion and crowning.
“I don’t know what gave you confidence and courage. Although I don’t want to lecture you, I still feel compelled to tell you, you are now someone who has grasped extraordinary power. Stop using your past thought patterns to consider problems. Just like now, in this moment, your numbers only serve to add more corpses to the upcoming d*ath.”
As soon as I finished speaking, they felt my overwhelming and self-righteous arrogance!
It’s true; they acknowledged that even if they outnumbered, they might not be able to beat a powerful combatant, yet everyone was a newcomer, each just having recently grasped extraordinary power, and in their respective academies, they were all top performers.
How could they say that the advantage of numbers was insignificant?
“Not convinced, huh? Then you can all give it a try.”
As I spoke, even extending my hand, the Elves immediately began to assume defensive postures.
Among this group, I even saw some familiar Elves, but I had no intention of greeting them.
“Why are you all still afraid?”
I directed my gaze towards the Elves, and the people from the Beast Academy were also somewhat flustered by the Elves’ preemptive fear, though some looked down on that behavior.
“Do you think I would start with the Fire Rain Field? That spell was used when the World Tree was set ablaze back then; you should all have seen that sweeping fire cloud in the sky.”
With my description, many recalled the massive phenomenon that enveloped the Aphhemia World Tree; everyone had seen it. The level of that spell caused them to feel some dread.
“I’m glad you all haven’t initiated action while I narrate my story.”
At this moment, many looked at the guy I had heavily injured with a single strike before; it could be said that this instance of killing the chicken to warn the monkey effect, coupled with the Elves’ spontaneous retreat, had played a substantial role. After all, the Beast Academy did not want to be the Elves’ scapegoat.
“The Fire Rain Field Spellbook is an Excessive Consumption Spellbook, consuming over a thousand magic power, and my magic power just happens to exceed a thousand. This means using this spellbook requires a considerable cost, but once cast, all of you present will surely experience an unforgettable encounter.”
“Isn’t it a bit unfair for the Witch Academy to utilize such methods? In fact, I also think it’s too unfair, and I can already foresee many newcomers from my cohort feeling envy and resentment towards me.”
When I said this, many were stunned, including several from the Witch Academy.
This was downright inciting hatred!
I directly pointed out everything that couldn’t be openly said, bringing hidden truths to light!
“What I’m saying isn’t to prove anything; after all, it’s this late, and I assume most people have already fallen asleep. There shouldn’t be many watching this so-called live broadcast. I just want to do one thing: let you recognize your own ignorance.”
“Yang Yuelan! You might be too self-righteous! Who do you think you are!”
“I am the preparatory witch, Yang Yuelan,” I clarified frankly.
“If this level of arrogance is already too much, then how will you describe my next actions?”
During my speech, items resembling light orbs fell from beneath my feet — those were spellbooks.
“This first one is the Fire Rain Field Spellbook, this one is the Blessing of the Elemental Sprite, and this is the Summoning Spell of the Shadow Legion I haven’t used yet…”
I tossed spellbooks onto the ground one after another, right before their eyes.
“What… what does this mean?”
At this moment, they were unsure about my intentions. Taking the spellbooks out and throwing them on the ground was like digging their own graves! Breaking their own limbs!
“All my attack-type spellbooks that exceed basic consumption levels are here; this means that at this moment, my offensive means are reduced to basic consumption spellbooks with single digit costs and other non-offensive spellbooks.”
At this point, my lips slightly curled up, which to them seemed like a mockery.
“Spellbooks will self-destruct after a period once they leave their carriers. The Yang Yuelan you are facing now is the closest to the average level of newcomers…”
“You! You are simply insane! What do you think you’re doing!”
“Sister Xiao Han, don’t be foolish at this moment; what are you trying to do?”
“Sister Xiao Han, quickly pick up the spellbooks!”
“This is a dream; it’s not real, so it’s okay.” I stopped them from persuading me, smiling as I looked at everyone.
“Are you still not making a move? Don’t you understand what my situation means? What I mean is… I have confidence in taking you all down before these spellbooks self-destruct.”
I calmly stated this as if it were a fact.
Because I knew I needed such a battle to push myself; I had not encountered any valuable fight in the exchange competition until now.
Of course, the Holy Angel Achir was somewhat special, and at the time, the main focus was still on the exchange competition, relying on their strength to attack the Wizard Academy. If I hadn’t seized that opportunity, the exchange competition wouldn’t have developed into this situation.
I could say I felt a bit regretful, but I didn’t regret not engaging in a direct battle with him.
After all, one should have self-awareness; I wouldn’t be foolish.
For them, I abandoned so many spellbooks, but did the discarding of those spellbooks significantly impact my strength?
In fact, it did not. The Fire Rain Field was something I wouldn’t easily use; I had used it twice throughout the exchange competition. Once was a hurried attempt; the other time was similar. Yet, the effects were unsatisfactory, having failed to k*ll many, mainly focused on intimidation and destruction.
Other spells were similar; I just happened to use them to add icing on the cake.
Moreover, I hadn’t thrown away my protection spells; all I discarded were offensive spellbooks.
However, the intimidation and taunting effects were definitely at their peak, which aligned well with my expectations.
I needed such battles to inspire new ideas for my spells; the main reason was that I wanted to try whether spells could utilize techniques other than “Floating,” “Resonance,” and “Point Accumulation,” such as the “Field” concept I had been contemplating.
Take the basic Fireball Spellbook, for example; could I achieve effects similar to the Fire Rain Field with it?
A Fireball Field…
Just thinking about it filled me with motivation!
And with my previous statement, it completely ignited everyone’s anger!
Such an arrogant guy, they would certainly make him suffer!
But in the next moment, they realized the one who would suffer might very well be them.
“This spellbook is the Fireball Spellbook. Perhaps you’ll wonder why such an odd spellbook exists; how could the Fireball Spell potentially have such effects? All I can say is that your understanding of spells is still too limited.”
At that moment, five conjured spells appeared around me like floating cannons. Perhaps those Elves and Beast Academy members, who weren’t very familiar with spellbooks, weren’t clear on what this meant or represented, but the senior students from the Witch Academy watching the livestream would be very curious.
After so many years using Fireball Spells, why hadn’t they experienced something like this, following the casting of a spell?
Did they play with a fake spellbook?
“The use of spellbooks requires techniques. When I first obtained a spellbook, it was only a Cleaning Spell. It was then I came to understand the existence of spellbooks.”
“At that time, I wondered if spellbooks were such inconvenient items; now I realize it was my own inability to understand.”
At this moment, I strolled leisurely between their attacks, whether at range or close combat; the most direct firepower suppression could break most of their offensive moves, and the more crowded they got, the more it became their disadvantage.
Even with their overwhelming numbers, their attacks could not fuse to harm me; ultimately, they still had to execute each attack individually against me.
Without the blessing of the World Tree, the Elves’ firepower could no longer exert absolute suppression on me, and I had now begun to actively adapt my spells while integrating knowledge and action into suggestions.
And I was attempting the feasibility of fielding the Fireball Spell technique.
Although I already had a clear direction, my understanding of spellbooks seemed insufficient to support me in completing this hypothesis… It was an intuition born from continuous failures.
And it directly hinted that the missing piece of the puzzle was likely the so-called Rune Literature.
That so-called real editing technique, and the runic rituals inherent to the spells themselves.
The runes brought infinite possibilities to spellbooks; I had tried it before, like that wind blade that contained fire elements…
But unfortunately, I hadn’t found the time to put it into action, then came the newcomer matches, followed by the academy exchange competition…
If all this hadn’t been so complicated, I would probably still be immersed in deciphering the mysteries of spellbooks at this moment.
“Impossible! This can’t be! Clearly, this guy is like this now; how can he still crush us!”
“Because you haven’t acknowledged your ignorance, merely reckless brutes who squander extraordinary power, failing to understand what your strength truly is.”
To such a guy, already frightened by me, I offered my most sincere explanation.
Often, many people overlook what extraordinary power truly is. This is even more true for the Witch Academy.
The magic source and spellbooks seem to be like pre-packaged meals fed directly into everyone’s mouths; now I understand why—probably for further filtering.
Those obsessed with pure strength are given channels to immerse themselves in the beauty of power, while the wise discover the secrets within those misleading appearances and walk down another path.
The Witch Academy requires ten years of stay; even after graduating, one can remain in the academy. Whenever someone uncovers the mystery within, they will awaken; once one awakens, it’s never too late.
This is my current understanding of the Witch Academy. As for whether it is an overinterpretation or if I am still in the dark, that doesn’t really matter. What matters is what I should do.
The battle was still in full swing, and at this moment, a figure rushed over, aiming directly for the Dwarfs’ War Fortress.
