Even though Huai Nannan had practiced with this ability many times in school, mastering its various transformations, truly employing it in actual combat was her first time. The sea of Void Energy churned within her. It swelled, threatening to breach the dam of her physical form, and forcefully assault the Gold Rank barrier. At this critical juncture in the battlefield, she inexplicably found herself ascending the steps from Mercury Rank to Gold Rank.
But
‘Now is not the time!’
Huai Nannan actively suppressed this impulse to break through. She retreated from the precipice.
While Gold Rank didn’t demand the same spirit-flesh harmony as the Turbid World Rank, a breakthrough would cause severe fluctuations in the sea of Void Energy, temporarily rendering her unable to wield it. In the Present World, impromptu breakthroughs were practically unheard of. Huai Nannan understood this implicitly.
Her thoughts raced in an instant. Leveraging the expanded range of her ability due to [Area Amplification] Void Zone, she began to gather as much liquid as possible, converging it into a sphere of water before her chest.
In mere moments, the water sphere’s diameter steadily grew. It only ceased its expansion when it reached approximately three meters across.
The pale red water sphere rotated before her towering chest. It was filled with impurities, mud, and sand, all swept up by the currents.
‘Compress!’
The white light in her eyes intensified. Massive Void Energy surged forth, pouring into the core of her ability.
She forcefully pressed her hands inward. Ripples continuously spread across the water sphere’s surface, and indentations began to appear throughout its form.
The water sphere’s diameter slowly diminished: three meters, then two…
It continued to shrink, eventually becoming even smaller than its initial size, settling at a diameter of less than half a meter.
This seemingly simple process consumed nearly half a minute of Huai Nannan’s time.
She panted heavily, large beads of sweat clinging to her forehead. They then traced paths down her straight nose, eventually dampening her light-colored short sleeve.
‘It’s done!’ Huai Nannan exhaled softly.
The water sphere before her chest had become perfectly round and smooth, almost like a solid object. Its pale red hue had now deepened to a light crimson.
The impurities within had coalesced into clumps, while the sand remained perfectly still, as if suspended in gel.
‘Get out of the way, Wei Xing!’ She pushed her hands forward, and the light crimson water sphere gracefully launched itself.
The man in the distance heard her call. He immediately activated the Void Art [Wind’s Aid], an ability he had conserved until now to preserve his Void Energy.
Gentle breezes encircled his entire body, swiftly reducing air resistance.
His speed surged instantly. Head tucked, he charged forward like a tank.
Dragon Abominations in his path were shoved aside, sent flying.
‘Zzzzz!’
The sound, akin to a spraying showerhead, instantly filled the air. A super-fine, light crimson water jet swept in from behind Wei Xing’s right.
The sand and coalesced impurities transformed into razor-sharp blades, forming a half-circle sweep within the water jet. Whole chunks of torsos soared into the sky like leaves caught in a gust, only to fall back down swiftly.
Thump, thump, thump!
Dragon Abominations, severed at the waist, collapsed to the ground. Blood and organs gushed from their perfectly clean cross-sections.
But it wasn’t over yet.
The next second, several more light crimson water jets erupted from the red water sphere in mid-air, frantically slicing through everything in their vicinity.
Trees were severed and toppled. The outer walls of buildings were gouged with deep indentations.
‘Oh no, I lost control!’
Because they were at a Touchpoint, the Void Energy in the environment was excessively abundant. Huai Nannan had, in a single moment, lost control of her ultimate technique.
What was meant to be a controlled release of high-pressure cutting water jets, one by one, now unleashed an incessant barrage, like a gun firing non-stop.
She glanced left and right.
The streets and houses on both sides had been utterly shredded by these water jets. It was as if a hundred energetic huskies had simultaneously gone wild, leaving a scene too horrific to behold.
‘Oh, no, no!’
Huai Nannan’s small face crumpled, and her lips began to tremble.
While the academy didn’t restrict combat styles, the extent of environmental damage inflicted post-battle was a crucial factor in calculating earned academic credits.
The formula was simple: Earned Credits = Theoretical Credits – Environmental Restoration Costs.
Each student was allocated a certain allowance for environmental restoration costs, which increased proportionally with their strength.
Only when restoration costs exceeded this allowance would a portion of their academic credits be deducted to cover the debt.
Typically, these restoration allowances were quite generous, ensuring students wouldn’t need to expend credits for every Touchpoint battle.
This time, however, she seemed to have gone a bit too far. Even her exceptionally high environmental restoration allowance likely wouldn’t save her now!
‘My credits, damn it!’ Huai Nannan wailed. But what was done was done; there was no changing it now.
She could only console herself that her technique had achieved significant merit. Even after deducting the environmental restoration costs, her earned credits would still be substantial.
In the distance, the Soldier-rank Dragon Abomination horde that had been besieging Wei Xing had borne the full brunt of her attack. Their casualties were catastrophic.
The ground was littered with Dragon Abominations severed at the waist. Others, maimed by having their limbs sliced off, lay howling in agony.
‘Let’s go!’
Huai Nannan called out to Wei Xing and the wide-eyed Ying Zhiyu.
She intended to head to the other zones, planning to rendezvous with the teams there first. Then, depending on the battle’s progression, she would decide whether to seek out the General-rank Dragon Abomination that likely resided in the last zone.
But just as Wei Xing approached, a strange, bulky figure leaped down from the rooftop of a dilapidated residential building at the end of the street.
Splat!
The Dragon Abomination corpses on the ground were crushed into a bloody pulp by the figure’s landing. Filth and blood splattered everywhere.
The three quickly turned their gaze towards the sound.
The dark figure was undoubtedly a Dragon Abomination, yet its overall appearance differed significantly from ordinary Soldier-rank Dragon Abominations.
Its scales were thicker, a stout alligator tail extended from its rear, and its eyes glowed crimson like lanterns.
It was a General-rank Dragon Abomination!!
Huai Nannan and Wei Xing instantly confirmed its identity. Their expressions grew heavy, and their abilities hovered on the brink of activation.
Though Ying Zhiyu didn’t understand the Dragon Abomination’s power hierarchy, she could tell this monster was extraordinary, likely an elite or boss-level enemy from a game.
Silently, she produced a seed that stored other heavy objects.
‘We’re no match for it,’ Huai Nannan whispered, taking half a step back. ‘Wei Xing and I will hold it off; Ying Zhiyu, you run first.’
General-rank Dragon Abominations possessed rudimentary intelligence, yet they hadn’t lost their bestial roars.
It had initially relied on the Soldier-rank Dragon Abominations to continuously deplete their stamina. Had it not seen her about to use her trump card and escape, it likely wouldn’t have intervened.
Unlike the human race, Soldier-rank Dragon Abominations in the Dragon’s Den were nothing more than cannon fodder.
Yet, in a stroke of good fortune amidst the disaster, she had not yet exited her triple Void Art enhanced state and entered a period of weakness.
Huai Nannan extended her right hand. Water swirled on the ground, crept up her calf, flowed to her hand, and finally coalesced into a water sphere in her palm.
Without a word, Wei Xing stepped forward. His muscles rapidly took on a bronze hue.
His actions declared his choice: he would stand with Huai Nannan to intercept the General-rank Dragon Abomination.
‘But… I can’t leave!’
Turning around, Ying Zhiyu spoke softly, gazing at the Dragon Abominations emerging from a stairwell at the far end of the street behind them.
‘ROAR!’ The distant General-rank Dragon Abomination raised a claw, letting out a bizarre roar.
The next second, Soldier-rank Dragon Abominations, roaring, surged from all directions, charging wildly towards the three of them.
‘Be extremely careful, don’t get drawn into prolonged combat. If you can run, run immediately. Every escape counts,’ Huai Nannan murmured.
She never concealed her cowardice; she feared death, and thus refused to let others die alongside her.
‘We go together,’ Wei Xing replied curtly, his eyes resolute.
‘It seems we’ve stumbled into quite the predicament,’ Ying Zhiyu grumbled softly, ‘What a shame, I haven’t finished this month’s new anime releases!’
In that moment, she suddenly understood what she needed to write in her will.
‘Please, my dear mother, record all the new anime each month and burn them for me!’
Dragon Abominations swarmed from every direction, like a tide.
They leaped from stairwells, burst from alleyways, trampling the corpses of their own kind and overturning everything in their path.
‘Charge!’
Just then, a fierce cry suddenly echoed from the distance.
Thump, thump, thump!
An unusually heavy thudding of footsteps drowned out the Dragon Abominations’ charge.
Yet, if one listened closely, beneath the heavy footsteps, a cacophony of other sounds could be discerned.
‘Reinforcements?’ Huai Nannan’s brows instantly lifted in delight.
Wei Xing remained impassive, merely deactivating the Void Phantom [Wind’s Aid] he had prepared for his charge.
‘That voice sounds so familiar?’
Ying Zhiyu found the voice unusually familiar, as if she had heard it frequently of late.
‘Is that Sister Yongyong?’ She suddenly realized.
The three simultaneously gazed towards the source of the sound.
At the end of the road, in the direction of Zone D1, a green tide was surging forward.
Within this green sea, a towering brown giant with dual blades strode with immense strides. Its long legs covered several meters with each step.
On its swaying shoulders, a man and a woman stood, one on each side: Yun Ning and Wen Erya.
But… where was the third person?
Their gazes shifted upwards once more, and their pupils constricted simultaneously.
Perched atop the giant’s head was a throne woven from branches, wood, and green leaves.
A striking short-haired young girl, possessing exceptional beauty, sat cross-legged on the throne, propping her head with one hand.
The scene was undeniably strange.
To Huai Nannan, Wei Xing, and Ying Zhiyu, the blonde-haired young girl, seated regally atop the giant’s head, appeared as an supreme empress—the Captain. Yun Ning and Wen Erya, perched on the giant’s shoulders, seemed like her personal guards.
But… the girl on top was clearly a new student!
Huai Nannan knew both Yun Ning and Wen Erya.
Hence, she felt a profound sense of shock. ‘Since when did new students become so powerful?’
‘And where did this giant and all those bizarre plants come from? Was it the new student’s ability?’
Despite her mind brimming with questions, Huai Nannan was exceptionally certain of one thing at this moment!
Reinforcements had arrived, meaning a path to survival now existed. With reinforcements here, this General-rank Dragon Abomination was surely doomed!
‘ROAR! ROAR!’ The distant General-rank Dragon Abomination let out an impatient bellow, commanding its soldiers to quicken their charge.
Then, for reasons unknown, a red light flashed in its eyes, and it actively joined the charging ranks.
From her elevated position, the young girl on the Sophora tree throne commanded a panoramic view of the entire battlefield.
She gave a cold smile, then raised her right hand and brought it down decisively.
‘Charge!’
If the General-rank Dragon Abomination’s previous roar had been a general’s command to its soldiers to charge, then this recent ‘Charge!’ was the Plant Empress’s decree to her subjects!
Unbreakable, irresistible!