140: Chapter 139 The Big Sister

This time, the words on the prompt board were exceptionally eye-catching, with a simple arrow pointing towards the "Slime King":

[Attention! "Slime King's" Health (?) has reached the execution threshold!]

[Detected that "Lionheart Sovereign" Kwon Eunbi's protective will has reached its peak!]

[Hidden condition met! Combination ultimate skill unlocked!]

[Ultimate: "Lion Charge Duck Punch" skill ready!]

[Please coordinate with "Pisces Sausage Saintess" Choi Yena to unleash the ultimate blow!]

Kwon Eunbi's inflatable hammer, mid-swing, froze in mid-air. The expression under her lion mask instantly stiffened.

Execution threshold? Combination ultimate? Lion Charge Duck Punch?!

Of course! What was bound to come had finally arrived! After going in such a huge circle and hitting jelly for so long, was she still unable to escape this move in the end?!

Just as Kwon Eunbi's inner world was collapsing and a tsunami of shame swept over her once again, a "rustling" sound and satisfied chewing noises came from beside her.

She stiffly turned her head (a lion mask movement), only to see that Choi Yena had somehow already taken off the cumbersome sausage-clamping gloves. She was holding a freshly grilled sausage slathered in sauce, hiding behind the sausage machine, taking small, savory bites! The duck-bill mask had been pushed to the top of her head, revealing the lower half of her small face stained with sauce. She was eating with such focus and devotion, as if the "Ultraman fighting a Little Monster" scene before her was the perfect show to watch with a meal.

Seemingly sensing Kwon Eunbi's "scorching" (desperate) gaze, Choi Yena looked up, blinking her big eyes. Still chewing the sausage, she said indistinctly:

"Mmph... Unnie? What's wrong? What does the prompt board say?" She swallowed the sausage with some effort, glanced at the board, and then her eyes lit up!

It wasn't worry about the situation, but curiosity and excitement for the "new segment"!

"Oh! 'Lion Charge Duck Punch'! Is it finally coming!" Choi Yena instantly forgot the sauce on her lips, stuffed the rest of the sausage into its paper bag, put her duck mask back on (though it was a bit crooked), and leaned in toward Kwon Eunbi. Her tone was filled with a seriousness akin to discussing an academic problem:

"But Unnie, to release the skill... there should be specific movements, right!" She even gestured a few times. "Just like in cartoons, you have to strike a cool pose, shout cool lines, and then 'shoo—bam!' That's how it should be! We... don't seem to have practiced the movements for this 'combination attack' before?"

Kwon Eunbi: "..."

She felt as if her brain had been viciously poked by Choi Yena's words, using that bamboo skewer from the sausage she just finished.

Yah! Yena! Can you stop talking about this?!

Kwon Eunbi roared in her heart. She was already about to die on the spot just thinking about the name "Lion Charge Duck Punch," yet Yena was actually seriously considering the release movements and lines?! What on earth were this kid's nerves made of?! Sausages?! Or had she been assimilated by the duck mask?!

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something to stop Choi Yena's dangerous train of thought, but shame and a sense of powerlessness choked her.

And as if to respond to (or further devastate) Kwon Eunbi, the staff member holding the prompt board seemed to have anticipated the "movement and lines" issue. He quickly flipped the board over, revealing the back. On it, in even flashier artistic font (kindergarten performance level), was a long string of suffocating text:

["Lion Charge Duck Punch" Standard Release Procedure (PD Jiang's Special Compilation Edition)]

[Step 1: Stance Preparation. Lion Position (Kwon Eunbi) and pisces Position (Choi Yena) stand back-to-back, eyes (mask direction) looking straight ahead at the enemy.]

[Step 2: Energy Incantation (Critical!). Please recite the following incantation (lines) in unison with clear, powerful, and emotional voices:]

["The stars in the sky roar, the majesty of leo." (Recited by Lion Position)]

["pisces swims through the sea of stars, rippling waves of trust and happiness!" (Recited by pisces Position)]

[Step 3: Combination Declaration. Both turn simultaneously to face the enemy, strike the predetermined combination pose (TBD), and shout in unison:]

["The combination of leo and pisces: Lion Charge Duck Punch!!"]

[Step 4: Release! Perform the attack movement! (Specific movements can be improvised, but must embody the 'Charge Duck' momentum.)]

[Note: The completeness of the incantation directly affects skill power and program effects! Please be fully committed!]

Kwon Eunbi read this so-called "Standard Release Procedure" word for word, especially that "incantation" whose shame level pierced the heavens and the final combination declaration...

She felt as if it wasn't her brain being poked by a bamboo skewer, but her entire soul being thrown into the "Slime King's" slime pool to be repeatedly soaked, then fished out to bake under the amusement park's scorching sun, and finally surrounded and pointed at by a group of little kids.

The stars in the sky roar? The majesty of leo?

pisces swims through the sea of stars? Rippling waves of trust and happiness?

And "The combination of leo and pisces: Lion Charge Duck Punch"?!

The first part was so literary (chuunibyou), and then a "Duck Punch" suddenly popped out at the end?!

And most importantly—

Kwon Eunbi suddenly looked up (lion mask), using all her strength to hurl a soul-searching question at the staff member holding the board (and the invisible Jiang Zhiyu), her voice slightly out of tune due to the extreme sense of absurdity and grievance:

"The combination of leo and pisces—!"

She pointed at herself and Choi Yena (one lion head, one duck head).

"Does it have even a hundred won's worth of a connection to a duck?!!"

Exactly! In the setting, she was a leo, and Yena was a pisces! The combination skill was called "Lion Charge Duck Punch"?? Where did the "Duck" come from?! Just because Choi Yena's nickname was "Duck" (similar pronunciation)?! This was too forced! For the sake of a pun, were they even throwing away basic zodiac logic?! Jiang Zhiyu, has your creativity become so barren that you have to rely on punny dad jokes to carry the show?!!

One hundred won is roughly equivalent to about fifty cents in RMB. In Kwon Eunbi's eyes, this pun wasn't even worth fifty cents! It was an insult to intelligence! An insult to the zodiac! An insult to the masks they were forced to wear!

Choi Yena was stunned for a moment, then she also realized, touching the duck mask on her head and muttering softly, "Oh right... I'm a pisces, not a duck... although the mask is a duck..." She also felt something was off, but she seemed to think "Duck Punch" sounded... quite energetic?

The staff member holding the board was clearly choked up by Kwon Eunbi's sudden, core-targeting (nonsense-targeting) roast, his face showing a hint of embarrassment (and suppressed laughter). But he was clearly professionally trained (meaning he could keep a straight face in front of PD Jiang's nonsense) and quickly regained his composure, simply shrugging and making a "PD is boss, what he says goes" gesture.

The "Slime King" also seemed to sense the strange atmosphere and pause here. Its massive body began to stir again, making "gurgle gurgle" sounds as it tried to approach the sausage stall once more.

The children's cheers rang out again: "Lion Hero! Use your ultimate move quickly!" "Defeat the monster!"

Kwon Eunbi looked at the absurd situation before her: the jelly monster that needed to be dealt with urgently, the "pig teammate" (?) expecting a combination skill, the "incantation" and skill name that were embarrassing to the point of explosion, and the countless innocent yet burning gazes around her...

She gripped the inflatable hammer tight, then let go.

Gripped it again, then let go.

Finally, she took a long, deep breath. A strange calm, a mixture of despair, resignation, and a hint of "forget it, let's go completely crazy," appeared on her face under the mask.

She turned to Choi Yena and said in an unusually steady (numb) tone:

"Yena."

"Come here."

"We... back-to-back."

Choi Yena's eyes lit up: "Unnie! Is it starting?!"

Kwon Eunbi didn't answer, simply walking silently to a spot between the "Slime King" and the sausage stall, standing with her back to the enemy.

Choi Yena immediately followed suit, trotting behind her and standing back-to-back, even adjusting her crooked duck mask.

The two (the lion-duck combo) stood back-to-back, facing their respective "audiences" (Kwon Eunbi facing the Slime King and the children, Choi Yena facing the sausage stall and more tourists with their phones out). Their appearance was bizarre, and the atmosphere... was indescribable.

The prompt board was held high, aimed at them, the "incantation" on it clearly visible.

Kwon Eunbi closed her eyes (though separated by wool), took another deep breath, and then, using all the courage and acting skills of her life (along with a "give up on treatment" mindset), spoke in an extremely stiff tone that tried hard to sound powerful:

"T-The stars in the sky roar... the majesty of leo."

Her voice wasn't loud, carrying a tremor and a clear sense of shameful hesitation.

Choi Yena immediately followed. Her voice was crisp and loud, even carrying a hint of eager excitement, though it was a bit muffled because of the duck mask:

"pisces swims through the sea of stars, rippling waves of trust and happiness!"

After reciting, she even added a cute wave gesture of her own (though she was back-to-back and Kwon Eunbi couldn't see it).

Kwon Eunbi: "..."

Alright, here comes the most shameful part.

Gritting her teeth, she and Choi Yena simultaneously and extremely slowly turned around to face the "Slime King," who also seemed dazed by this strange ritual.

Then, under the focus of countless gazes, amidst the cheerful background music of the amusement park, and within the lingering aroma of sausages—

Kwon Eunbi and Choi Yena shouted in unison the name that made Kwon Eunbi's soul tremble:

"The combination of leo and pisces—"

Kwon Eunbi (ready to die): "...Lion Charge Duck Punch!!"

Choi Yena (full of energy): "...Lion Charge Duck Punch!!"

The shouting ended.

The scene was dead silent.

Only the "Slime King" let out a puzzled "Gurgle?" sound.

And then?

Where were the movements?

Where were the special effects?

Could it be... it's just over like this?!

"Lion Charge Duck Punch!!!"

The combination declaration, filled with shame (Kwon Eunbi's version) and energy (Choi Yena's version), echoed over the noisy amusement park for a moment, and then... dissipated into the air.

Nothing happened.

No golden light, no energy shockwaves, no cool combination movements.

Only the "Slime King" confusedly swayed its massive jelly body, making "Gurgle?" sounds, seemingly not understanding what these two humans (?) were shouting about. The marker-drawn eyes on its body even tilted, as if expressing the doubt of "That's it?"

Kwon Eunbi froze in place, maintaining a slightly panting posture after finishing the slogan, her cheeks under the lion mask burning incredibly hot. Shame, like a tsunami rising again after the tide had receded, submerged her with even greater momentum.

So embarrassing—

She wished a crack would open in the ground immediately, allowing her and this disgraceful lion mask to crawl inside and never come out. She had shouted such shameful lines, and yet there was no effect at all! This was more mortifying than being defeated outright! Jiang Zhiyu! Was the "ultimate move" you arranged just a dud?!