Chapter 25: Magic Against Magic
Chapter 25: Chapter 25: Magic Against Magic
Zhu Hao’s face was covered in tears and snot as he confessed rapidly, "The day before yesterday, Ji Kai and I went to the Spirit Awakening together. On the way back, we both awakened Tier 3 Superpowers. Since we’ve been neighbors for years, we got excited and told each other about our Superpowers... but I didn’t mention my side effects, and neither did he!
"When we came to school yesterday, he... he got playful and asked me about the color of a girl’s... panties in our class. I told him how would I know! He said I could control animals to take a look! So I..."
"Stop!" Fang Chen interrupted sternly. "I don’t have time to listen to this filthy nonsense! Where is Ji Kai right now?!"
"I don’t know! I really don’t know!" Zhu Hao shook his head frantically. "He only told me that he wanted to pull female classmates into a dream to have some fun, but to do that, he needed a part of his body—like a hair or a fingernail—to be placed close to the girl.
"He asked me to control small animals to carry his hair and hide it in those girls’ pockets or hair... I refused at first!"
He stole a glance at the surrounding crowd, whose glares looked like they wanted to tear him apart alive. His voice grew weaker and weaker. "Later... later he said he’d take me into the dreamscape to play around too... I-I thought that if I went in, I could supervise him so he wouldn’t do anything too extreme, so... so I agreed to help him hide the hair..."
"And then?" Fang Chen’s voice was icy.
"Later, he disappeared to who knows where, and I wasn’t pulled into the dream either. I was just about to go looking for him when I... I found that a classmate who had been pulled into the dreamscape... she blew herself up."
Fang Chen immediately caught the key point, "Blew herself up? Could it be the explosion in Class Seven?"
Zhu Hao trembled all over, his eyes darting around guiltily. "It... it was Tian Menglian!"
Fang Chen’s heart skipped a beat as he remembered what Zou Shuyao and Liu Rui had mentioned—the girl from Class Seven who had ripped off the masked man’s face covering.
Zhu Hao continued, "I was controlling a fly to follow her at the time, and then... then I suddenly sensed a terrifying ball of flame erupt from her body! And then... then my Perception was completely cut off!"
"AHH..." A female voice, full of grief, indignation, and sobbing, suddenly rang out from nearby! "You bastard! You scum!"
"It was you! You guys killed my sister!!"
The crowd looked toward the source of the voice and saw a girl stepping forward nearby. Her face was covered in tears as she pointed at Zhu Hao, her voice trembling with extreme fury. "It’s you! You animal! Scum! My sister... the Superpower my sister awakened was Tier 2. She could multiply all ordinary True Qi and convert it into Flame Magic, but the side effect was... the moment she used this power, she would instantly blow herself up!"
She was almost choking on her sobs. "You must have violated her in the dream! My sister had a fierce temper; she’d rather die with her honor intact than live in disgrace! She wanted to take you down with her in the dreamscape!
"I didn’t expect that she... she would just blow herself up... right in the classroom!!"
"WHAT?!" These words exploded like a thunderclap among the surrounding small groups, sparking an uproar of shock and disbelief!
Fang Chen immediately quelled the commotion and shouted loudly, "Hold your ground! Maintain your positions! Don’t give the Ghost Shadows an opening! Now is not the time to assign blame. We have to survive if we want to seek justice!"
Just as his voice fell, a girl’s scream pierced the air. "Squad Leader, watch out below!!"
Fang Chen abruptly lowered his head, only to see a Ghost Claw silently emerging from the shadows beneath his feet, thrusting straight for his ankle!
A cold light flashed in Fang Chen’s eyes. Instead of retreating, he infused True Qi into his legs! "Bold! I was just about to go looking for you, and here you are delivering yourself to my door!"
He stomped heavily on the ground, the Power of the Twelve-Step Leg Springing Technique erupting as he violently thrust his steel sword downward! "Get the hell out here!"
Fang Chen tried his best to keep himself in a state of anger. This stemmed from some fragmented legends he had heard in his past life: anger was the most easily mobilized Yang Qi, and it might have miraculous effects against spectral entities.
However, it seemed this legend was useless. His anger brought no special enhancements. As the steel sword swung past, it was like slashing into an empty shadow, Piercing right through without causing the slightest substantial harm to the Ghost Shadow.
"My attacks are ineffective. It switches between ethereal and physical states... It seems I can only take a gamble and trade an injury for its life the instant it materializes to attack!"
Fang Chen ceased his attacks. He waited for the Ghost Shadow to slowly rise from the ground, then forcefully channeled his True Qi, pushing the Gale Step Technique to its absolute limit. His eyes locked onto the Ghost Shadow, waiting for it to launch its strike!
After the Ghost Shadow rose, it lunged rapidly, its sharp claws aiming straight for his throat! It was too fast. Fang Chen only had time to barely tilt his body sideways. "SQUELCH!" His left shoulder was viciously torn open by the Ghost Claw, leaving a bloody gash so deep the bone was visible!
A piercing agony drilled into his heart! Now was the moment! Fang Chen’s eyes turned ruthless. Ignoring his injury, he swung the steel sword in his right hand upward in a vicious counter-slash! "A hit!" This time, the edge of the blade finally transmitted the sensation of striking a physical entity!
But... the feeling was incredibly bizarre. It wasn’t like hacking into flesh and blood; rather, it felt more like the blade had chopped into a flowing stream of water. The part of the Ghost Shadow that was hit rippled and twisted for a moment before rapidly returning to its original state!
"What?!" Fang Chen’s heart sank. An opportunity traded with an injury, and this was still the result? But how could he give up this hard-earned opportunity? He immediately roared to the side, "Huo Ming! Didn’t you awaken an Elemental Superpower? Attack it with Magic!"
Huo Ming’s expression changed. He subconsciously took a half-step back and stammered, "Fang Chen! I’m not using public affairs to avenge a private grudge! My... my side effects are huge! Every time I use my Superpower, I randomly contract a disease. What if it’s cancer this time? Wouldn’t I be totally screwed?!"
"Damn it!" Fang Chen couldn’t help but curse. This guy couldn’t be counted on at a crucial moment.
Right at this moment, a clear yet resolute female voice rang out. "Squad Leader Fang! Let me help you!"
Fang Chen looked toward the voice; it was the girl named Ye Yuxuan. He had some impression of her. Once after school, she had been harassed by a few delinquents from outside, and he had casually stepped in to bail her out. She was actually an Elemental Element Superpower User too?
Ye Yuxuan revealed the blue Spirit Seal on her wrist—Tier 3! Her eyes were determined. "My side effects aren’t as terrifying as Tian Menglian’s, don’t worry!"
"Alright!" Fang Chen’s spirits lifted. As soon as the words left his mouth, Ye Yuxuan had already raised her hands in the air, and invisible air currents seemed to gather around her!
Next, several semi-transparent Wind Blades materialized out of thin air, emitting whistling sounds as they locked onto that Ghost Shadow. They wrapped around it, compressed it, and then violently slashed inward!
"BOOM—!"
The Wind Energy erupted. The instant the Ghost Shadow touched the Wind Blades, it was like snow thrown into a raging fire. It let out a soundless shriek, its form twisting and fluctuating violently, until finally, with a loud "BANG," it completely dissipated into the air!
It was effective! "As expected... Magic must be used to deal with magical constructs?" Just as this thought flashed through Fang Chen’s mind, he heard a "THUD" behind him.
He hurriedly turned around, only to see Ye Yuxuan’s face pale as paper, her forehead covered in cold sweat. Her body swayed before she collapsed limply to the ground, already unconscious.
"Did she overdraw her Spiritual Power?" Fang Chen understood in an instant. She hadn’t undergone systematic Spiritual Power training yet. Forcefully channeling Elemental Magic had directly depleted her heart spirit, triggering a self-protective coma on a mental level.
Resolving the single Ghost Shadow before him came at the cost of Ye Yuxuan losing her combat capability, and there were still dozens of Ghost Shadows on the field. He still had to find Ji Kai; someone must know or have seen him.
Right at this moment—"BOOM!!!" A loud explosion and a bloodcurdling scream rang out from the center of the field!
Fang Chen looked toward the sound, and his heart violently sank!
He saw that among the four instructors besieging the tentacle monster, one had already been viciously smashed into the ground by a massive tentacle, his fate unknown! Another instructor had been pierced right through the chest by a tentacle and hoisted high into the air. Blood spilled down like a waterfall; it looked like he was beyond saving!
"Oh no, the tentacle monster is about to be unleashed. There’s no time to slowly ask for information on Ji Kai anymore. I can only go to the Time Stop Domain and try my luck." Fang Chen looked at the Time Stop interface that had just finished its cooldown. Now was the time! "Time Stop!"