16: Chapter 16 Advancement: Entering the Finals

Lin Qingxue's reaction was extremely fast.

Almost the instant the presiding teacher dropped his hand, she completed her summoning.

Above the arena, fifty Elf Archers appeared out of thin air.

They were slender and handsome, wearing emerald green leather armor and carrying longbows as tall as a person. They were spread out in a fan formation, with the distance between each person precise to the meter, forming a perfect crossfire network.

In front of them, an Elf Hero dressed in golden robes floated in mid-air, holding a shimmering longbow.

[Elf Hero (Tier 1, 2-Star)]

[Skills: Multishot, Precision Aim, Wind Step]

Lin Qingxue's voice was crisp and decisive: "All archers, aim at the target, Sadako! Multishot!"

Fifty Elf Archers drew their bows and notched arrows simultaneously.

The sound of bowstrings vibrating was like a well-orchestrated movement.

Fifty arrows pierced through the air, dense as rain, all shooting toward Sadako's position.

Sadako's figure vanished instantly.

[Image Shuttle]!

All fifty arrows missed, pinning into the arena floor with their fletching buzzing and trembling.

But there was no disappointment on Lin Qingxue's face; instead, a flicker of a smile passed over it.

"I guessed as much. Second round of fire, aim at the Slit-Mouthed Woman!"

The second round of arrows whistled through the air.

The Slit-Mouthed Woman didn't have Sadako's teleportation ability; she could only take it head-on.

She raised the scissors in her hand to block the incoming arrows.

Clang, clang, clang!!!

Three arrows were deflected by the scissors, but the fourth hit her shoulder, and the fifth hit her arm.

The Slit-Mouthed Woman's body swayed slightly, but she didn't fall.

[Yin Energy Affinity]! Grayish-white Yin Qi surged from Su Bai's World Mark, enveloping her wounds and beginning to heal them slowly.

But Lin Qingxue didn't give her time to heal.

"Third round of fire! Aim at the Slit-Mouthed Woman, continue!"

The third round of arrows whistled through the air.

Several more arrows hit the Slit-Mouthed Woman's arms and legs, and her movements clearly became sluggish.

A wave of exclamations rose from the stands.

"Lin Qingxue is focusing fire to burst down the hero unit! Her strategy is correct. Take out Su Bai's hero first, and the remaining Yin Soldiers will be easy to deal with!"

"The Slit-Mouthed Woman can't hold on much longer! Her healing speed can't keep up with the rate she's being injured!"

"Why hasn't Su Bai made a move yet? If he doesn't take action soon, the Slit-Mouthed Woman will be shot full of holes like a hedgehog!"

Su Bai stood in place, his expression calm.

He watched the arrows continuously accumulating on the Slit-Mouthed Woman, watched the grayish-white Yin Qi churning around her, and watched her aura fluctuate repeatedly between injury and healing.

He was waiting.

Waiting for an opportunity.

The Slit-Mouthed Woman's wounds grew more numerous, and her healing speed slowed down further. Her body began to tremble, and her hand holding the scissors became unsteady.

But her eyes grew brighter and brighter.

Inside those hollow eyes, something was burning.

Lin Qingxue keenly captured this change, and alarm bells rang in her heart.

"All archers, aim at the Slit-Mouthed Woman, fire with everything you've got! Don't give her a chance to breathe!"

Fifty Elf Archers drew their bows simultaneously. This time, they used Multishot—each archer firing three arrows at once.

A hundred and fifty arrows blotted out the sky like a dark cloud of death, enveloping the Slit-Mouthed Woman.

The Slit-Mouthed Woman looked up.

She looked at that rain of arrows, at that sky-covering web of death.

She smiled.

Beneath the mask, the corners of her mouth split all the way to her ears.

She stepped forward.

Not dodging, not retreating, but moving forward.

Her speed was astonishing, at least three times faster than before.

[Tier 2 Advancement]!

On the brink of death, within the cycle of countless injuries and healings, the Slit-Mouthed Woman broke through.

She advanced to Tier 2.

[Slit-Mouthed Woman (Hero Unit)]

[Tier: Tier 2]

[Rank: 3-Star]

[Skills: Life-Taking Question (Active), Fear Aura (Passive), Grudge Devour (Passive), Ghost Shadow Step (Active)]

New skill [Ghost Shadow Step]: Allows teleportation within shadows, increases movement speed by 300%, and grants immunity to physical attacks during its duration.

The Slit-Mouthed Woman's figure wove through the rain of arrows, each step landing perfectly in the gaps between them, as if she could foresee the trajectory of every single arrow.

All one hundred and fifty arrows missed.

Lin Qingxue's pupils shrank suddenly.

"Impossible!"

The Slit-Mouthed Woman appeared in front of the Elf Archer formation.

She took off her mask, revealing that mouth split to her ears.

[Life-Taking Question].

After the Slit-Mouthed Woman advanced to Tier 2, her skill upgraded from "Eerie Gaze" to "Life-Taking Question." The effect was more powerful, the range wider, and the lethality higher.

The twenty Elf Archers in the front row froze simultaneously, bleeding from their facial orifices as they collapsed and died.

The archers in the back row were scared out of their wits, unable to even hold their bows steady.

Lin Qingxue's face was pale, but she didn't admit defeat.

"Elf Hero! Multishot! Aim at the Slit-Mouthed Woman!"

The Elf Hero drew his bow and notched an arrow, the light on the bowstring several times more dazzling than before.

Three golden arrows shot out, their speed so fast they were almost invisible to the naked eye.

The Slit-Mouthed Woman didn't dodge.

She stood in place, letting those three golden arrows fly toward her.

She raised her scissors and slashed down.

Clang!!!

All three arrows were split in half simultaneously and scattered on the ground.

[Tier 2 Hero vs. Tier 1 Hero]

The gap was like a chasm.

The Slit-Mouthed Woman's figure vanished from where she stood and appeared behind the Elf Hero.

"Am I pretty?"

The Elf Hero's body froze.

His lips trembled as he tried to speak, but no sound came out.

The next second, he fell from the air, slamming heavily onto the ground, never moving again.

Lin Qingxue closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened them.

"I surrender."

Her voice was calm, but her eyes were already red.

The presiding teacher raised the flag.

"First match of the semifinals, Su Bai, wins!"

In the stands, over three thousand students stood up as one, their applause thunderous.

It wasn't cheering or screaming, but a silent, heartfelt applause.

They had witnessed a true battle.

A textbook-level battle, from tactical maneuvering to hero advancement.

Su Bai stood in the center of the arena and looked at the Slit-Mouthed Woman.

She stood among the corpses of the Elf Archers, slowly putting on her mask and turning to walk back to Su Bai's side.

In those hollow eyes, a rare glint of light flashed.

"Master."

"Mm."

Su Bai nodded and turned to walk back to the stands.

Behind him, Lin Qingxue crouched at the edge of the arena, her hands covering her face, her shoulders shaking slightly.

Her Elf Hero had been killed, and of the fifty Elf Archers, fewer than thirty remained.

In this battle, she had lost, and she had lost completely.

But before her Elf Hero fell, he had fired that final shot.

That shot had pushed the Slit-Mouthed Woman to her limit, allowing her to complete her advancement in a desperate situation.

In a sense, Lin Qingxue was the strongest opponent Su Bai had encountered today.

...

6:00 PM, the finals.

[Finals: Su Bai (Class 8, Grade 12) vs. Zhou Ming (Class 11, Grade 12)]

Zhou Ming, Elemental World, rated A+ in yesterday's evaluation, tied for second with Lin Qingxue.

His world was an Elemental World, having already evolved four types of Elemental Spirits: Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth, with twenty of each, totaling eighty Elemental Spirits. There was also a 3-star hero, an Elementalist, who could control all four elements simultaneously for attacks.

He was the only contestant today who possessed a 3-star hero.

He was also the only one who could potentially contend with Su Bai.

Zhou Ming stood in the center of the arena, of average build and ordinary appearance, but his eyes shone with a steadiness beyond his years.

He looked at Su Bai and smiled slightly: "Your Slit-Mouthed Woman just advanced to Tier 2, the Ghost Bride is Tier 2, and Sadako is Tier 1, 4-Star. My Elementalist is Tier 1, 3-Star. From a tier perspective, I'm at a disadvantage."

"But I have eighty Elemental Spirits, and the four elements can coordinate with each other to form Elemental Resonance. Fire plus wind increases power, water plus earth forms a mudslide, and fire plus water creates a steam explosion. In terms of tactical variety, I'm stronger than you."

Su Bai looked at him, his face calm: "Let's try."

Zhou Ming smiled: "Alright."

The presiding teacher raised his hand.

"Begin!"