flstandardbreds Chapter 74
Chapter 74
Chapter 74: The Essence of Learn and Apply
5 minutes ago…
Buzz buzz buzz!
The explosive ringing in his ears gradually faded from loud to soft.
"Hey! Wake up!!"
"Stop sleeping, you little punk! If you keep sleeping you'll actually die!!"
"I have no intention of being your tragic other half!!"
An aged voice rang out inside his mind.
‘Where am I? Who am I? What am I doing?’
Guo Shuai groggily opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was Hoshino Hikari's small face, desperately radiating green healing light.
"Oh… I remember now."
Guo Shuai shook his head. "I was fighting that monster Kamiya Konan."
He struggled to climb upright, feeling like his entire body had been taken apart and badly reassembled.
"What happened? How did I end up…?"
Hoshino Hikari said through tears:
"The moment you started fighting, you got blasted away by that monster's Almighty Push. You were knocked out."
"Right now Rina-sis is fighting him!"
Guo Shuai shakily looked toward the battlefield.
In the ruins ahead, a half-dragon-transformed Yekaterina was drenched in blood.
Her scales had shed across a wide area, and she was struggling desperately to hold her own against Kamiya Konan in the air.
"None of you are my match!!"
Kamiya Konan hovered in midair, his face full of mockery.
"Surrender! I can consider eating you all a little later!"
"Especially you, dragon cow—your flesh must taste absolutely exquisite!"
"Shut up!!"
Yekaterina let out a furious roar, and a phantom dragon tail swept out!
It sent Kamiya Konan flying directly into a load-bearing wall, smashing straight through it.
But for Kamiya Konan, who possessed a Starving Wraith's constitution, that was nothing more than a tickle.
He walked out of the ruins without a scratch, dusted off his clothes, and the killing intent in his eyes only grew sharper.
"Stop daydreaming!! Get up now!!"
Yekaterina turned and shouted at Guo Shuai: "I can't hold on much longer!!"
Guo Shuai propped himself on his knees, forced himself to stand through gritted teeth, and tightened his grip on the Pig-Slaughtering Knife in his hand.
"Alright… I'm coming…"
And just then, that aged voice rang out again inside his mind.
"Wait! Kid! Don't rush off to your death!"
"Hear me out first!!"
"Albert?!"
Guo Shuai startled. "When did you wake up?"
"Obviously I'm the one who woke you up, you idiot!"
Albert's voice was intensely urgent.
"No time! Listen to me!"
"Remember the new ability I gave you?"
"I do…" Guo Shuai thought for a moment. "I think it's called… the Pirated Eye or something, right?"
"Pirated Eye my foot!! It's called 【Learn and Apply】!!"
Albert was so furious he nearly leapt right out of Guo Shuai's skull.
"If you want to beat that Starving Wraith, you need to find a way to break through his repulsion Psychokinesis!"
"And Learn and Apply… is the key!"
"Recall the details of when you got blasted away!"
Guo Shuai forcibly steadied his mind.
Though his head was still a little hazy, he began desperately recalling the sensations of that instant.
Back then…
Through the Eye of Calamity's autonomous takeover, he had genuinely dodged every attack and closed in on Kamiya Konan.
But the moment he was about to swing the knife…
An invisible repulsion force had blasted him away.
Like an unseen wall of air, or rather…
A burst of kinetic energy.
He hadn't even had a chance to react.
At the same time, he recalled…
What had the Boss done?
The Boss had directly and forcibly torn apart the opponent's Psychokinesis field.
Clearly, he couldn't do that.
"But…"
Guo Shuai's eyes gradually sharpened. "I've understood something."
"The Boss used a different kind of force to cancel and break through Kamiya Konan's Psychokinesis."
"So… I can also try a different method."
He gazed at the rain-filled night sky, and at the dull rumbling thunder that kept coming.
"Got it…"
……
At this moment.
Kamiya Konan had already closed in on Yekaterina.
He seemed to relish the thrill of hunting down the weak. Looking at the scale-stripped, battered dragon girl, he smiled cruelly.
"Let's end this little game of house here—I'm getting a bit bored."
Hum!
Kamiya Konan gripped his right hand in midair, Psychokinesis erupting in an instant, seizing Yekaterina's body!
"Ugh!!"
Yekaterina's face went deathly pale—she felt as if her internal organs were about to be squeezed out.
But seeing Guo Shuai still standing motionless in place with his eyes closed, not moving an inch, her expression began to twist into something ferocious.
"Guo Shuai!! Move!!"
Hoshino Hikari panicked too, crying out: "Guo… Shuai…"
Inside his mind, Albert was also roaring.
"Move already! You little punk! That dragon girl is nearly done for!"
"Without her absorbing the damage, you're all going to die!!"
But Guo Shuai paid none of it any mind.
He was listening.
He was waiting.
Waiting for an opening.
"Looks like your companion has been scared senseless. What a shame, hahahaha!"
Kamiya Konan laughed maniacally and applied even greater force.
Pfft!
Yekaterina spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, and the dragon scales across her body completely shattered.
And right at this moment…
BOOM!!
A bolt of lightning split the night sky, illuminating this rainy night—and illuminating Guo Shuai's resolute face.
Guo Shuai opened his eyes and broke into a smile.
"Here it comes!!"
"What's here?"
Albert was puzzled.
"Hope!"
Guo Shuai let out a thunderous roar, abruptly raised the Pig-Slaughtering Knife high in his hand, blade tip pointed straight at the heavens!
Just like a…
Lightning rod!
"You little…"
Albert instantly understood, then burst out laughing in shock.
"You've actually grasped the essence of Learn and Apply?!"
"Not just mimicking skills… but using Elemental Resonance to create magic?!"
"Worthy of someone this divine one has acknowledged! You have the potential to become a god of magic, hahahaha!"
"Save the compliments, old man!!"
Guo Shuai replied inside his mind.
"If you have the energy, give me a hand! Your A-Grade ability Elemental Resonance—I'm still not used to it yet!!"
Crackle crackle crackle!!
Before the words even faded.
That bolt of lightning, which had originally been aimed at the ground—drawn by 【Elemental Resonance】!
Impossibly curved mid-path, and struck the raised tip of Guo Shuai's blade!
BOOM!!
"AAAAHHHHH!!"
The current instantly tore through Guo Shuai's body!
He let out a scream, smoke rising from every inch of him!
"Ahhhh! Am I getting electrocuted too!?"
The stray current spread to Hoshino Hikari beside him—with a crack she rolled her eyes and passed out cold.
"What a reckless lunatic…"
Albert murmured.
"First time and you're already going this all out…"
"Very well—let this divine one lend you a hand!"
Hum!
In this moment, the Eye of Calamity did not forcibly seize control of his body as it normally would.
Instead, it chose…
Synchronization!
Guo Shuai felt that savage, violent thunderous power no longer act as a weapon injuring him—but grow tame.
That feeling…
Was like his left-behind childhood days…
His grandmother guiding his hands to ride a bicycle, leading him to grasp the balance, to command the force.
"Hey! Punk!"
Albert suddenly cut in with a complaint.
"Don't go imagining me as some kindly old grandmother! I wouldn't even object to grandfather, but this—!!"
The veins on Guo Shuai's forehead bulged as he twitched and cursed.
"You old man…"
"You really have no sense of the mood at all!!"
The next second.
With every last ounce of strength in his body, he hurled the Pig-Slaughtering Knife in his hand—now transformed into a Thunder Blade—into the air!
Then he launched a flying kick, slamming it viciously into the knife's handle!
"GO!!"
BOOM!!
Guo Shuai didn't choose to copy Kamiya Konan's Almighty Push—he chose innovation!
This was the true meaning of Learn and Apply: as long as the imagination was sufficient, magic could do anything!
Bang!!
The Pig-Slaughtering Knife, wrapped in the force of ten thousand thunderbolts, shot straight at Kamiya Konan!
In that instant, time seemed to freeze.
Kamiya Konan had never imagined that this man he'd written off as worthless would play it this big!
Within that bolt of thunder-light, he sensed something he hadn't felt in a long time…
The scent of death!
‘I'll die!!’
‘If I take that head-on… I'll die!!’
He instinctively looked at Yekaterina, whom he still had in his grip.
‘Use her as a shield?’
‘No’
She couldn't possibly block the penetrating power of lightning—it would only split his Psychokinesis and make him die even faster!
There was only one move!
Kamiya Konan made his decision in an instant.
He released Yekaterina, thrust both hands violently forward!
"Almighty Push!!"
Hum!!
The terrifying repulsion field erupted!
The Thunder Blade, the moment it made contact with the repulsion field, slowed dramatically—as if mired in thick mud!
But it…
Did not stop!
Because the nature of lightning was penetration and extreme speed!
"Impossible!!"
Kamiya Konan screamed in horror.
"How could I possibly lose to trash like you!!"
"I am a Divine Chosen! I am the sovereign before whom ten thousand will kneel in the future!! I cannot lose to you!!"
But declarations like that didn't add even a single point of combat power.
The Thunder Blade steadily, determinedly pierced through the layers of Psychokinesis, inching closer and closer toward his chest!
"Heh… Sovereign?"
From a distance, Guo Shuai gasped for breath, his face scorched black as he mocked:
"Who do you think you are—the Boss?"
"No… you're nothing but a maggot crawling in the dirt."
"No matter how you flip yourself over… you'll never become a true dragon."
"Because the Boss and you are different in essence…"
"He has never once wavered! Never once felt lost!"
"And he certainly would never bow his head just because the opponent is strong!"
"Since I've known him, he's always stayed true to himself."
"He—is consistent!"
"That is the way of kings!!"
Pfft!!
Kamiya Konan's defenses shattered under this verbal barrage—rage and humiliation surging through him, he spat out a mouthful of black blood.
And in that single instant of releasing pressure—
Crackle!!
The Thunder Blade finally pierced through the last line of defense of the Almighty Push and buried itself into Kamiya Konan's chest!
Crackle crackle crackle!!
The violent thunderous power detonated inside his body in an instant!
"Ugh……"
Kamiya Konan looked down at the knife in his chest—and suddenly laughed.
"Hahahaha… pathetic…"
"How could I possibly lose?"
"A mere fatal wound… for the human version of me, might have already been a full death."
"But… what I am now is a ghost! A Starving Wraith!"
"All I need is to eat something and I'll recover… there's no way I'm dying…"
"Ha… hahaha…"
"Ha?"
Laughing and laughing, Kamiya Konan froze.
Because he suddenly felt his body… losing control!
That ultra-speed regeneration ability he was so proud of—along with the link to the Half-Head Ghost—had actually stopped working?!
"How is this possible?!"
He stared in horror at the Pig-Slaughtering Knife embedded in his chest.
On the blade, a black aura radiated outward—suppressing the link and growth of his flesh!
At the same time, the residual lightning was rampaging through his body, destroying it!
"This… what kind of knife is this?!"
He couldn't help but cry out.
Guo Shuai grinned.
"That's the one lent to us by our most beloved Chinese teacher~"
"That's his pointer stick! Specially made for disciplining disobedient ghosts!"
"AAAAAHHHHH!!"
Kamiya Konan let out a shrill scream.
Despite being a ghost body, he felt agonizing pain from the depths of his soul!
The knife was like a ruler, lashing his soul relentlessly!
But suddenly.
His screams changed in pitch.
"Ahhhh~"
Kamiya Konan's face broke into an expression of pleasure, his body trembling.
"Yes~ this is the feeling~"
"Harder~"
Guo Shuai seeing what was happening…
He looked at the scene with disgust ‘Sure enough… all geniuses are perverts.’
Just then.
"SUKA BLYAT!!"
A furiously roared outburst in Russian rang out.
Yekaterina moved!
At this moment her rage had peaked.
She smeared her own blood across her dragon claws, then charged forward!
Slash!
A flash of cold light!
Kamiya Konan, pinned in place by the Thunder Blade, hadn't even had time to revel in his M-attribute grand awakening!
His head flew clean off!
Then Yekaterina followed with another claw, going straight for that airborne head!
"Die!!"
However.
That head flying through the air suddenly opened its mouth.
"Eyes blinded by blood!"
Pfft!
A jet of blood sprayed out, blinding Yekaterina's vision.
Immediately after.
Clang!
The dragon claw struck the head—but returned the sensation of hitting something hard.
Yekaterina looked closely and found that Kamiya Konan's head was now covered in a layer of stone armor!
That was… Ishida Hideo's Earth Armor!
"Surprised?!"
Kamiya Konan's head laughed madly in the air.
"This is my actual escape route!!"
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
The blood spraying from the severed neck transformed into countless spider silk threads, sticking to the ruins of the school building!
Swinging his head like a failed Spider-Man, he surged rapidly in the direction of the mountain behind the school!
"Trying to run?!"
Yekaterina wanted to pursue, but the severe internal injuries made her legs buckle.
She then crashed heavily to the ground, dropped out of her dragon-transformation state, and gasped for breath.
Guo Shuai was completely drained of strength too, leaning against the wall and coughing without stop.
He stared at the shattered school building not far away, eyes filled with worry:
"I wonder… how the Boss is doing over there…"
……
School building, direction of the mountain behind.
Kamiya Konan's head swung through the air, his heart brimming with venom.
"Damn it! Damn it!!"
"Those 3 ants… were actually hiding trump cards like this!"
"I will absolutely go back for revenge!!"
"Find a way to find Teacher first!"
"As long as I explain clearly and present my answers and analysis, Teacher will definitely understand why I lost!"
"But… where did Teacher go? There are clearly signs of a battle here…"
He stared toward the direction of the mountain behind in puzzlement.
Just then.
Slash!
A flash of cold light suddenly flickered through the rain curtain!
Kamiya Konan, relying on his Eagle Eye's dynamic vision, narrowly dodged the strike.
A figure slowly emerged from the rain, dual blades in hand, radiating lethal intent.
It was Corporal Morishita!
"Tch! Almost forgot about you!"
Kamiya Konan recognized the newcomer—not only was he not flustered, he actually licked his lips.
"But this works out fine!"
"I happen to need a new body!"
"Corporal Morishita… I'll be taking your ability now!"
With an ability that let him move through rain, he wouldn't even need to find Teacher anymore!
He could go straight back and swallow those 3 ants whole!
His confidence came from the fact that Corporal Morishita had already taken heavy damage in the last battle—his internal organs were injured.
His current speed was more than twice slower than his peak!
Corporal Morishita emerged from the rain, knife in hand, walking toward Kamiya Konan's floating head.
This time…
He swore he would leave this monster that ate his little brother here forever!
Not in his capacity as a soldier.
But as…
A big brother!
"I'm sorry, Commander Muraguchi."
"Forgive me—I can no longer complete your mission."
"I've had enough of this kind of mutual slaughter…"
"Blood bonds and friendship suit me better…"
Corporal Morishita finished saying those words silently in his heart, then held his breath.
Slash!
He instantly dove into the rain and shot toward Kamiya Konan at killing speed!
"You think this will work?!"
Kamiya Konan smiled with contempt, using his locked-on eyes to track his trajectory.
The moment Corporal Morishita surfaced!
"Blazing Blood Blade!!"
BOOM!!
Countless blood blades wreathed in flames erupted, the massive AoE damage instantly sweeping across the area where Corporal Morishita was!
Corporal Morishita had no choice but to leap out of the rain, using his Water Clone and katana to barely fend it off.
But even so—being a mechanic-type fighter, his stats were far below a tank like Yekaterina—he was sliced head-to-toe in an instant.
"My chance!!"
Kamiya Konan laughed.
In truth, he had also reached his limit—the remaining mental energy could only support 2 more moves.
"Psychokinesis Impact!!"
Bang!
The dual blades in Corporal Morishita's hands were blasted away directly!
"Traction!!"
Kamiya Konan controlled the blood, forcibly dragging Corporal Morishita's body toward him!
"Head-Swap Ritual… let's do it one more time!!"
His head flew at Corporal Morishita's neck, leering straight into his eyes.
"Your body… is mine!!"
……
And right at this moment.
Hum!!
A dazzling, blinding golden light suddenly illuminated heaven and earth.
"Hm?"
"Is it dawn?"
Both men froze, simultaneously looking up toward the sky.
Then they widened their eyes.
……