Chapter 209: Total Annihilation
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 209: Total Annihilation
"Little Dried Fish..."
I could see the Sea Clan student trembling with rage.
"I believe it's necessary to stand up for the Royal Sea Clan Academy's honor. Even a student from the Witch Academy shouldn't be allowed to insult people like this!"
"Wait, Yvette!"
"I don't think there's any point in trying to stop her!"
Even when facing her newly formed allies, the Sea Clan student called Yvette ignored the attempt to restrain her. However, her tone remained remarkably controlled; it seemed she didn't want the alliance to shatter just yet.
"O tides, grant me your blessing!"
With Yvette’s cry, violent water elements converged around her. The elemental surge manifested a massive tidal effect, as if she intended to transform the entire area into a water domain.
Even the nearby Elves had to take a few steps back.
At that moment, Yvette transformed into her true mermaid form. Her fair legs were replaced by a long, powerful fish tail. The swaying tail churned the abundant water elements, adorned with exquisite scales that shimmered like opals under the sunlight.
So, mermaids are water-element casters specializing in hydrokinesis...
"I’m actually a bit impressed. I’ve always had a few stereotypes about the Sea Clan—I thought you were just the kind of small fry that hopped around with a pitchfork. Who knew you were a proper water-element caster?"
I didn't hide my admiration. A mermaid's true form really was beautiful. It was an eye-opening experience; seeing it once was truly better than hearing about it a hundred times.
Of course, I couldn't resist a final jab.
"Heh... now that you've seen it, prepare to experience the fury of the tides! Aren't you called the Explosive Witch at the Witch Academy? Didn't you boast about burning mountains and boiling the seas? Well, try boiling this! Let’s see how your pathetic fire spells burn amidst the crashing waves!"
I took to the air on my flying broom for the time being. This Sea Clan girl’s control over the tides was terrifying. Although the range didn't look massive, the Tide Blessing provided her with an incredible advantage within this miniature domain.
Trying to wear her down with fire spells would be a waste of mana. But she seemed to have jumped to conclusions—do I really look like some spell-slinging barbarian who only knows fire magic?
Then again, I do have quite a lot of fire spells.
Still, facing the Sea Clan right now might be a bit tricky, especially since the other girl following Yvette was also channeling a blessing into her.
I tentatively tossed two Fireball Spells at her. The scorching heat let out a piercing hiss upon contact with the water, followed by a billowing cloud of steam. However, these tides weren't strong enough to extinguish my fireballs.
"Is that all you've got?!"
Yvette raised her hand and made a crushing motion. The blessed tides instantly pressurized, detonating the fireballs. The terrifying implosion created a momentary vacuum within the water, splashing churning waves and high-temperature steam back toward her.
"Seriously, there's a limit to trying to look cool. Don't you have any basic common sense? You actually dared to crush a Fireball Spell? Who do you think you are?"
"You! Damn you!"
"Oh, are you tilted? You're totally tilted."
I immediately seized the opportunity to mock her. Never underestimate the power of trash talk in a battle.
"These tides of yours are all show and no substance. Is it just a flashy spell effect?" I tilted my broom to gain a higher vantage point and sent two more fireballs down to keep the party going. I wanted her to know that simple water couldn't necessarily stop a Fireball Spell—or rather, a magic-modified one.
"Hurry, give me more power! She's too strong!" Yvette whispered to her little lackey.
"Miss Yvette, we'll help too—"
"Beat it."
When the Elves saw things going south, they shouted their intent to help. I simply replied with a single word on Yvette's behalf, punctuated by a lightning-fast, magic-modified Wind Blade.
The massive blade of wind swept across the field, covering a huge area. As the leader of the Elves, that girl could only manage to protect her immediate vicinity in that split second.
She hadn't expected that just as she offered support—before she could even draw an arrow—the opponent would strike so decisively.
Screams erupted behind her. The range of that Wind Blade was far more terrifying than she had anticipated.
"You're asking for death. Don't you know the rules?" I made a fist with my left hand, extended my thumb, and slid it across my throat in a classic, mocking gesture.
A pity, though—no Elves died. The most severely injured one only had a moderate wound. Even though it was just the aftershock of the Wind Blade, it failed to kill even the ones watching from the back. It seems the power of my Wind Blade still needs some work.
But for now, I still had to deal with the Sea Clan.
Whether my attack just now made the Elves back off or enraged them didn't matter. My only real opponents were the Sea Clan; the Elves would just be a nuisance if they interfered.
The previous fireballs had indeed caused them trouble, but that was their first time encountering such a thing. Now, they were adapting.
"It's time to end this."
"It certainly is! I acknowledge your strength, but today, you die!" After "draining" the last of her lackey's power into her own blessing, Yvette's aura climbed to its absolute limit.
"Lightning Strike."
What met her wasn't more blood-pressure-raising mockery, but a simple, concise declaration of a spell.
The power of the magic-modified Lightning Strike was even more horrifying than before.
A thick bolt of lightning blasted forth, the arcing electricity carrying a terrifying momentum that pierced the air with a thunderous boom.
In this moment, Yvette’s Tide Blessing became her greatest mistake.
Usually, a duel between spells is a collision at the elemental level. In truth, the lightning element and the water element only have simple elemental reactions; the concept of "conductivity" doesn't really exist in pure elemental theory.
While the elemental level doesn't follow physical laws, the spell effects do. Spell effects are the phenomena formed when elements interfere with the physical plane. They are physical phenomena.
This is why studying Elemental Theory is so important.
Yvette took the full force of the Lightning Strike. Although her Tide Blessing weakened and blocked a large portion of the damage, the very water she relied on caused secondary damage.
What did this prove? It proved her tides weren't pure water. Anyone with basic common sense knows that pure water doesn't conduct electricity. Perhaps her little brain wasn't capable of manifesting absolutely pure water.
As the strike concluded, everything went in a direction no one expected.
"You... you!"
"Ooh~ still alive? I need to re-evaluate how thick Sea Clan hides are." I casually sent a spell to finish off her slumped lackey, then turned back to her.
Now, she really was about to become a "Little Dried Fish" at my mercy!
"Wait! Yang Yuehan, stop!"
"Yao Beijuan, you should understand my stance by now. If you have something to say, say it fast."
I paused. This Sea Clan girl was already in the bag, but since I’d been interrupted, I needed a moment to handle this.
I placed a Binding Spell and a Silence Spell on Yvette.
"Yang Yuehan, I never thought we'd meet again like this..."
"Yao Beijuan, is she the one you mentioned... are you two really in that kind of relationship?"
"Yes, she's my—"
"I say, aren't you two being a bit too melodramatic?" I said, holding my broom and cutting them off.
Does that big-chested, brainless girl have any idea how much impact those words would have? Did she forget we're all being live-streamed right now?
What if the Arena's free-commentary view is focused here!
Even now, I wasn't ready to face that head-on. The best way was to keep them quiet. Some things are best left to simmer slowly until the heat dies down; only then do they become an accepted fact.
"What are you blathering about over there? Discussing others like that—who do you think you are?"
I walked toward them step by step. The invisible pressure I radiated made the Elves behind them instinctively take a half-step back.
"Chat time is over. Time to send you on your way!"
Just as the Elves tensed up, those words came from behind them. The strangely familiar voice sent a shiver down their spines.
An identical figure had appeared right behind them.
"What! Since when?!"
"Watch out! Yao Beijuan, her target is you!" the Elf leader barked, instinctively shoving Yao Beijuan aside while using an Elf spell to shield herself.
But in the next instant, a terrifying spear wreathed in flames pierced through her shield and stabbed into her abdomen. She had braced herself for the pain.
"Huh? Wait, I'm fine?"
"Ah!" Just as the Elf leader thought she was safe, something happened right next to her.
"Your guard is a bit low. Also, thanks for pushing her right to me."
"Yao Beijuan! You!" The Elf leader cried out in shock as she saw Yao Beijuan impaled by the spell.
"You're insane! She's your ex-girlfriend!"
"Thank you so much for being thoughtful enough to add the 'ex' before 'girlfriend.'" I smiled as I pushed her away, even shaking my hand in feigned disgust. "From your tone, I’d think I just killed your girlfriend. No way... are you two really in that kind of relationship?"
"You! You..." The Elf leader was so livid she could barely speak. "As expected, you really are a lunatic!"
"A lunatic? Whatever gave you that idea?"
"Teacher Ariel was right. You're a freak, a psycho! You've finally shown your true colors!"
"Don't go saying things without evidence. If you're going to play that game, I'll have to use my teacher's name to say that you Elves are noble on the surface, but behind the scenes... heh."
"Teacher Ariel told us you have Innate Spirit Vision illness. We didn't believe it then, but we do now."
"Fine, fine. We're playing like that, are we?" I was almost laughing from anger. Spreading my business everywhere—don't I get any privacy?
"The Teacher Ariel you mentioned... is that the Elf who accompanied Yao Beijuan to find me back then? No wonder. I didn't see a shred of Elven nobility or dignity in her. So she's just a hypocrite who likes to call me a lunatic behind my back! That ugly face of hers is truly... nauseating!"
"What are you saying! Do you have any idea you're talking about a Transcendent Elf! You really are crazy! There are better ways to commit suicide than this!"
She truly thought I had lost it. This was crazier than killing an ex-girlfriend—openly criticizing a Transcendent Elf! That wasn't something a freshman should ever say!
"I know. If she weren't a Transcendent Elf, would she even be qualified to be a teacher? But what does that have to do with me? You're the one who said it; I'm just reasonably paraphrasing. That's all." My lips curled into a smirk, devoid of any fear.
"Besides, why is a teacher from the Elf Academy picking a fight with a freshman from the Witch Academy? Doesn't she know I'm a 'psycho'? If a psycho curses at her, she can just curse back, or you can do it for her. After all, you're the one who brought Teacher Ariel into this. It has nothing to do with me."
"Boring."
After leaving her speechless, I returned to the Sea Clan girl, Yvette.
"Do you know what I'm going to do next?" I asked with a smile, lifting her Silence Spell.
"Kill me if you want! But mark my words! You, and everyone else in your Witch Academy, will face the combined wrath of the Sea Clan!"
"Thank you~"
Hearing her words, I laughed again. The Sea Clan was still useful; their terrifying tides were far too valuable. I had quite a few plans in mind, but I was worried the Sea Clan might not have the stamina. We'll see. Maybe I'll test their strength with a forest fire later?
"But you guessed wrong." I leaned down and stripped her storage equipment off. "I told you, my goal from the start was resources. Everything else is just a side quest. And you, my cute little dried fish, it's time to go."
"Oh, before you leave, allow me to take one of your scales. Please, accept my compliment—it's as beautiful as a polished opal. Even now, under the sun, it's still radiant."
I reached for the most beautiful scale on her chest—the Heart Scale. I knew that a mermaid's Heart Scale held many special meanings, which is exactly why I wanted it. As for what those meanings were, I couldn't care less.
"Wait! No! No! Anything but that... not that!"
Once I had it in hand, I stepped back and tossed a Fireball Spell straight at her. Without the Tide Blessing or magical protection, everyone is just flesh and blood. Even dragons are the same; their scales are just a bit tougher.
After she died and respawned, the scale in my hand didn't disappear. It was quite large and truly stunning, carrying a faint, barely perceptible scent of blood.
So this is a Heart Scale?
She has three lives; I wonder if I'll get the chance to collect three identical scales.
"So, are you all just going to stand there and watch? Aren't you going to evacuate? Too late now, though~"
I looked at the group of Elves. The smart ones had already bolted, but many were still there, not daring to flee without orders from their leader.
"I'll give you two choices. Hand over your resources and tell me what this fruit does. I remember you mentioned its name earlier. I didn't pay much attention then, but I assume you know something."
"And the other choice?" She clearly wasn't willing to just hand everything over.
"The other one? Battle Royale mode, of course. You have so many people behind you—not just from Afuhemi Academy, right? With so many people, someone is bound to get caught. Turning you all into points to boost my ranking... wouldn't that be wonderful?"
"You! You've already killed so many from the Beast Academy and the Sea Clan!"
"Exactly~ But... the Sea Clan would probably cry if they heard that~ Careful, your alliance might crumble. Ah~ I forgot. As long as I'm still a threat, your friendship should remain rock-solid, right?"
"Now, make your choice!" I declared.
"One more thing: if I see even one person running, I'll assume you've chosen Battle Royale."
"Fine. This is everything we've gathered. Those fruits in your hand are called Life Fruits. They grow from a branch of the Afuhemi World Tree. They can greatly increase affinity with nature and life, strengthen the physique, nourish mental power, and boost the strength of the Power of Nature. You're not an Elf; even if you have them, you won't be able to maximize their effects."
"So that's how it is. No matter, I can just eat them as an after-dinner snack." I took the final storage bag they threw over.
My words sent their blood pressure soaring again. No matter how much I wasted these treasures, they were no longer theirs.
"That's it. We lost this time, and we accept it. But there won't be a next time!"
"There certainly won't be a next time!" I echoed her words. In the next instant, I activated the Flame Spirit's blessing and the Flame Fairy Transformation. My fire affinity received a double boost.
The power of my Fireball Spells was about to become truly monstrous!
"You're breaking your word! You liar! Retreat! Everyone retreat! Scatter and run!"
"Breaking my word? How so? I said those who ran early counted as fleeing. Besides, who am I? I'm a Witch, as you say, and a psycho, as your teacher says! Run~ if you're too slow... the only end is death!"
"The Sea Clan allied with you Elves, yet they were sent back to the respawn point. If none of you die, how will you explain yourselves when you get back?"
"So, if you all die once, your relationship will actually improve. I've given you an excuse for your failure. You should thank me for my mercy!"
As I launched my assault, none of them expected me to pull a move like this.
Since we were already enemies, they couldn't possibly expect me to be forgiving. That would be cruel to myself and irresponsible toward my score.
Of course, they didn't just sit there. Some tried to counter-attack, but under the influence of my psychological manipulation and their leader's demoralized state, most chose to flee. The leader's command to "scatter and run" had already sealed their fate.
Never underestimate the power of language.
That said, I had underestimated the agility and speed of the Elves. This forest was their home turf, and I didn't actually manage to harvest that many points.
But it didn't matter.
Did I activate the Flame Spirit's blessing and the Flame Fairy Transformation just for a few measly points?
I wanted to give them a grand parting gift!
They say "Set fire to the mountain, sit in jail forever," but this is a dream. If people without a flight license can ride brooms, what does a little fire matter?
I'm going to start a forest fire that sweeps across half the map!
And the final target... is that World Tree, which stands tall and clear even from here.