Chapter 1100: Fu Xinglan Says Nothing, But...
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1100: Fu Xinglan Says Nothing, But...
As the battle reports from the Emerald Forest reached the United Club Combat Command and the temporary operations room of the Witch Warship, the results remained staggering.
Inside the United Club Combat Command, everyone looked at the silver-haired girl sitting there in total silence. Invisibly, Teaching Assistant Xiao Han’s deterrent power had ascended to a whole new level.
And that was just a clone!
They weren't even sure if the one standing before them now was also a clone.
But these results allowed them to see the gap in their power more clearly than ever.
She had single-handedly wiped out all the invading Abyssal Demons. Then, after the four academies had simultaneously broken into the Emerald Forest, she had also personally captured the vanguard main forces of the three top academies.
Even more eerie were the methods and the process of the capture; even the cross-world information transmission had relied on this girl’s Knowledge Seeds.
Human joys and sorrows are rarely shared.
While the Witch Academy side was experiencing pure shock, the other three top academies were still anxiously awaiting news. They had no idea what had happened to the students who entered the Emerald Forest. Once they crossed the world barrier, real-time communication had been completely severed.
Time ticked by.
The main force from Afuhemi Academy had arrived, but they were met by the Blood River warship of the Witch United Club, fully loaded with three Combat Sequences.
Furthermore, it was the 6th Combat Sequence that was there to greet them.
This level of pressure weighed heavily on them. One had to remember that a single 4th Combat Sequence arriving and a 6th Combat Sequence providing support had already sent the Elves—who were fighting on their home turf—into a steady retreat.
Though much of that was due to the Dark Elves and the interference of the Abyssal Demons midway through, the Witches' combat power was something they had all witnessed.
Now, facing four Combat Sequences at once, even with the Wizards having already established teleportation magic to bring in reinforcements, the Afuhemi Academy side felt a twinge of dread.
As for the Holy Angels?
The Holy Angels were phoning it in the entire time. Aside from throwing heavy punches at the Abyssal Demons, their support was minimal.
This was mainly due to the Spark Migration Plan at the Transcendent Holy Angel level. Although ordinary students weren't privy to such plans, it was inevitable that the departure of some Transcendent Holy Angels would leave gaps in the Holy Angel race's power system and the energy reserves of the Angel Halos.
Their own academy was shrinking its transcendent forces; why would they be out here looking for trouble? Showing up to clock in and participate was already doing plenty.
When the Blood River Witch Warship appeared in the Dark Elf territory, the atmosphere of the confrontation became so oppressive the air felt as if it had solidified.
The brand-new Tree of Life and Floating carrying Afuhemi Academy slowly rose to the same height as the Witch Warship.
The representative of the Elves, Selena, stepped forward onto the tree’s prow. As the lead representative for Afuhemi Academy, she naturally couldn't afford to lose face.
At that moment, a group of people stepped onto the upper deck of the Witch Warship—the leaders and teaching assistants of the three Combat Sequences.
Leading them was Fu Xinglan, the teaching assistant from the Jack-of-all-trades Club. Though she had only been a teaching assistant for about a year, how many years did any teaching assistant actually spend at the academy? Fu Xinglan had already become a pillar of strength for the Jack-of-all-trades Club.
Representing the Witch Secret Realm Club was another teaching assistant, Tracy.
As teaching assistants from the same cohort as the legendary Yang Yuehan, these two naturally drew many eyes. While they might not be as dazzling as her, their own abilities were still formidable. Moreover... they were connected to her.
Occasionally, people felt that the connection behind these two was even more eye-catching than their own abilities.
Their presence further overshadowed the girl behind them, who looked like a quiet literary scholar.
This girl was named Shu Yu, a teaching assistant from the Spell Research Society who rarely appeared in public. However, she and Yi Rui were friends; after all, the academic circles within the Witch Academy were small, so it was only natural they knew each other.
She had obtained the prototype blueprints for the Witch Warship from her mentor and had been responsible for the subsequent modifications. She was also the engineer for the weapon platforms mounted on the warship.
Naturally, she had to accompany the warship on its maiden voyage. Seeing the massive entity she had designed and modified take flight provided a sense of accomplishment that was hard to come by.
Selena naturally saw the group standing at the bow. As a member of the protection team nearing graduation, she recognized quite a few of them. She knew all three teaching assistants present, and she was actually older than them.
The warship and the Floating Tree slowly drew closer.
Their faces became clearer until they reached a critical distance and stopped.
"Everyone, it is a stroke of fate that we meet again. Even I didn't expect that after our last parting, our next meeting would be in a setting like this," Selena spoke first, her tone carrying a hint of nostalgia, though she remained clear-headed about the situation. "While the Dark Elf territory does not belong to Afuhemi Academy, this uninvited visit is somewhat rude, wouldn't you say?"
Facing Selena’s greeting, the group at the bow of the Witch Warship responded with nothing but disdain.
Selena could see the Witches' arrogance, but her expression remained unchanged.
"Since both our main forces have gathered, if a conflict breaks out, heavy casualties will be unavoidable," Selena continued to probe. To them, a conflict wasn't a big deal in itself. Both sides were top-tier transcendent academies with the means of resurrection. When they fought, they were really fighting a war of resources.
Death compensation, resurrection fees, combat losses—all these costs accrued even as they stood here chatting. Thus, Selena wanted to avoid a direct clash.
But!
That didn't mean they were afraid of one!
"Why not give Afuhemi Academy some face? The Elven territories are our home field. This Void Rift belongs to us. I won't compete with you for any other Void Rifts that open later. How does that sound?"
Selena continued her testing. It wasn't that she wanted to be so blunt, but from the moment she started talking, the other side hadn't even bothered to give her a single word in response. Their attitude was clear; any more nonsense would only lead to a total breakdown in negotiations.
The threat in her words was obvious. "Home field" didn't just refer to the environment. It referred to the combat power they could mobilize!
Setting aside the main students of Afuhemi Academy, the Dark Elves of this territory, the nearby Shadow Elves, and various other elven branches could all become their allies!
When the fighting started, it would be a total slaughter by numbers. What reinforcements did the Witch Academy have? Those members of the free warband squads? Or would they deploy all their core Combat Sequences?
That was even more impossible. If the United Club did that, the Hundred Academy Alliance would take it as a direct provocation against the Witch Academy's main campus.
The longer this conflict was delayed, the more it favored the Elves. Top-tier transcendent academies weren't like the small-scale academies the Witches had crushed before. Their foundations were beyond the estimation of ordinary people.
"What exactly does your Witch Academy mean by this?"
Selena frowned. No matter how good her upbringing, being repeatedly ignored was starting to infuriate her. She believed she had shown enough sincerity. They didn't intend to monopolize this small world; she had even prepared further bargaining chips and defined her bottom line for concessions.
But the other side wasn't giving her a chance. How could they proceed?
Could it be... these lunatics from the Witch Academy wanted to use this as a fuse to declare war on the three top academies?
That seemed impossible. Mutual benefit through cooperation was what people chasing profit should do. Why go through the trouble of a life-and-death struggle?
At that moment, Fu Xinglan, standing at the bow, took a step forward. She represented not just the Jack-of-all-trades Club, but the will of the United Club.
Fu Xinglan said nothing. She simply pulled out a freshly developed photograph.
She looked at one side of the photo, the corners of her mouth curling up slightly as if she were stifling a laugh, or perhaps anticipating something.
With a flick of magic, she threw the photo out.
The spinning photo drifted through the air like a butterfly. The flickering, blurred images and composition gave Selena a sense of unease.
Finally, Selena, standing at the prow of the tree, caught the photo firmly.
The composition of the photo was simple: a selfie from the perspective of a silver-haired girl looking up. The girl’s expression was indifferent, devoid of emotion as if she were just going through the motions of a task. Her figure occupied only the bottom-right corner of the photo.
Most of the frame was left to what was behind her.
It was a scorched earth, littered with skeletons. Carbonized tree trunks stood lonely in the ground, with high-temperature smoldering fires revealing an orange-red glow through the cracks in the wood.
And on this land, captives were lined up one by one, all tied up.
There were Elves, Holy Angels, Wizards, and even Abyssal Demons who had been reduced to skeletons, whom Selena couldn't even recognize.
The moment she saw the photo, Selena felt a chill surge from her tailbone to her skull.
It was that little witch!
The Witch Academy had actually sent her!
She nearly stumbled on the prow of the tree. A primal fear welled up in her heart. And seeing those captured people, Selena’s heart went completely cold...
She looked up blankly at the Void Rift in the sky. She was so close to it, yet now it felt so far away...
No, not just far. Terrifying!
If that person suddenly lunged out from there, their second Tree of Life and Floating would likely crash right here.
"Sister Selena!"
At this point, several elven students behind her instinctively stepped forward to support her. But after "accidentally" seeing the photo in Selena’s hand, their movements froze as well.
Selena suddenly snapped back to reality and looked at the row of Witches standing at the bow of the warship.
Though they weren't laughing, their silence was deafening!
They were mocking her! They were laughing! They were watching her make a fool of herself!
They knew this was a conflict with a predetermined ending, but they had refused to tell them.
When exactly... did they start thinking that Teaching Assistant Yang Yuehan wouldn't interfere in academy wars?
They didn't know. But if they stayed any longer, they would become nothing but clowns for the other side to mock!
And it wasn't just mockery. If they didn't fix their attitude, they might even leave their lives here.
In the end, the two girls who had come up supported Selena and carefully led her down from the prow. Even then, she stumbled. The heavier the responsibility one bore, the greater the internal pressure when facing an immovable existence.
Seeing the other side retreat without a word, the Witches understood their goal had been achieved.
Not long after, Afuhemi Academy’s Tree of Life and Floating slowly withdrew. Under the confused gazes of the onlookers, it turned around and flew directly toward Afuhemi Academy’s territory.
They left behind a crowd full of bewilderment.
The abandoned Elves realized too late that they might not be able to go back. The heavily damaged Dark Elves were still waiting for Afuhemi Academy to back them up and wash away the humiliation of being crushed by the Witches. The Wizard apprentices, whose main force had just arrived through the teleportation channel, looked on in a daze as the main elven force simply ran away.
The Holy Angels... basically all the Holy Angels present had already entered the Emerald Forest.
The most furious, naturally, were the Wizard apprentices. Who wouldn't be angry after being stood up like that? They were counting on the Afuhemi Forest Elves to tank the Witches' main assault. Now that the Elves were gone, who was going to hold the line?
Besides, the Elves' behavior was far too abnormal. Were they really not going to wait for the exploration pioneers who had already reached the Emerald Forest?
But before long, after information arrived through their communication channels, the Wizards also fell silent.
Afuhemi Academy had sent over a single image: a photo of someone holding a photo.
When they saw the chilling figure in that second-hand photo, the Wizards' furious expressions instantly cleared up.
So... the Witch Academy had played their trump card.
They could have said something sooner. It saved them a wasted trip.
Thus, the Wizards went back exactly the way they had come through their teleportation arrays. This wasn't a cowardly retreat; it was a strategic transfer—the wisdom of a Wizard.
They needed to go back and properly discuss their strategy, test the Witch Academy’s stance on the matter, and then plan for this small world.
That’s right—they hadn't given up on this world. After all... it was an entire world!
They just didn't want to expose themselves to danger. Once the decision-makers and core figures were back in their own academy, fear and cowardice would fade, and their high IQs would reclaim the high ground.
Only then would it be time for these "clever people" to begin their games. Even if the Witch Academy had that little witch who rivaled the Transcendent level, they still believed they could get a piece of the pie.
It was all just a matter of exchanging interests.