Chapter 2797 - 1325: Hei Fan’s Trap

The second unit!!!

Same headcount of roughly half a legion, same batshit crazy way of fighting—this temporary mixed unit that was still "tangled up" with the enemy in front of some mid-sized position a few minutes ago has now, like a wraith slipping through the blind spot of most Spectators’ attention, suddenly slanted across the battlefield and in an instant, with combat power several times higher than it showed before, straight-up shattered that Red-side interception unit!

And behind them, that elite Blue-side unit which had already been locked in a long, brutal fight didn’t even get the chance to enter combat state, because by the time they reached the engagement zone, that Red unit which had been fully braced and ready to receive them was already "routing" after suffering over seventy percent casualties.

After nearly half a minute of silence, everyone finally managed—with both commentators simultaneously at a loss for words—to piece together what had just happened on their own. Once the Spectators finally had a basic grasp of what they’d just witnessed, the place exploded!

Unprecedented uproar swept across the entire Warfire League venue, and even rolled out over Danu’s playground, teaching buildings, dorm area, and all the way to the nearby streets!

It was cheering loud enough to blow apart piled-up clouds, howls like something straight out of a hellish painting, applause roaring in from every direction, and shouts of praise crashing like thunder!

Everyone had been waiting for this. In this match with zero dull moments—an incredible clash that was basically white-hot from start to finish—they’d finally gotten the first ultra-high-end play that made their now levelled-up ability to process craziness slam into cardiac arrest territory, scalp tingling and all. And it was a textbook counterattack surge kicked off by the side that had been behind on the surface!

And in the eyes of people who really knew their stuff—guys like Richard and Andre—if that earlier Blue-side move, the Unbreakable combo of hidden troops → sudden eruption, had already amazed them, then when a second unit came crashing in, one that was no weaker than the first in either scale or intensity and had shown practically no signs of baring its fangs beforehand, most of that amazement had already morphed into sheer dread.

Of course, that dread wasn’t because they thought they were worse than Motan at command, but at his level of control that was gradually transcending the match itself, and at his ability to endure pressure and bite down hard without breaking even under extreme disadvantage.

The first reason for that is solid and absolutely holds up, since it’s tied to Motan’s personal quirks under his current personality. To put it bluntly, this guy’s got such insane capacity to tolerate things (or he’d have gone insane ages ago) that his personality’s adaptability is off the charts, which means there’s almost no situation you can specifically target him with.

It’s not that there’s no "unexpected situations" in his eyes, it’s that he long ago hammered himself into someone who can stay composed in the face of any unexpected situation, calmly analyse, and even hum a tune while brewing a cup of coffee for himself—adaptability dialled up to freakish.

As for the second reason that made those big shots tense up—that so-called "ability to withstand pressure" and "ability to endure"—anyone who’s stuck it out this far is definitely already laughing (if you’re not, hurry up and laugh). Because adaptability is one thing, but Motan under Absolute Neutrality, Hei Fan in The Realm of Innocence... when it comes to mental resilience, "hard to describe" doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Yeah, "hard to describe" in the worst way, and this defect that’s rooted in his nature is probably not something he’ll really manage to fix in the future.

But even so, after having faced who knows how many storms, personally sent off who knows how many enemies and comrades, even if Motan’s mental toughness hasn’t improved much, it’s really hard for him to get genuinely nervous over a match like this anymore.

No one’s going to die, no one’s going to get hurt.

The honour that means the world to people like Barty and Richard just happens to be exactly what Motan, in his current personality, needs the least and looks down on the most.

Under these conditions...

"How could I possibly be nervous~"

Motan gave a gentle smile to the girl beside him, who was watching him with worried eyes and cradling a big stack of instruction cards in her arms. He finally spoke his first line that wasn’t an order in quite some time, then, after she showed a relieved smile, lowered his gaze again and said softly, "Go take it."

Yu Chen, who was just about to head out, stopped curiously and tilted her head. "Take what?"

"Go take the victory I’ve laid out for you."

Motan blinked, then suddenly raised his right hand to cover his cheek. "Aaahhh... what an embarrassing line!"

Yu Chen couldn’t help bursting into a little laugh, her pretty face flushing as she shook her head, then said very earnestly, "It’s not embarrassing at all! If anything, it’s kind of cute!"

"Cu... cute..."

Motan’s lips twitched, then he exaggeratedly put on a fierce look and feigned anger. "Go, go, go. If you keep wasting time like this, we might actually lose completely because our tempo falls apart!"

The girl let out a short little yelp, then hugged the precarious stack of instruction cards to her chest and dashed off, her footsteps thudding away.

A few seconds later—

"What the hell is ’cute’ supposed to mean."

Motan curled his lip, muttering with a touch of plaintive resentment in his tone, "Couldn’t it at least be something like cool, intellectual, deep, or whatever..."

He let out a breath, half sulky, and a trace of bitterness rose in his eyes.

[No, in the most ideal scenario, what I should really want is for her to think I’m a thoroughbred bastard, a hopeless piece of trash.]

Completely unaware of the uproar he’d already triggered, the Black Vatican Priest rubbed his temples and, all on his own, started getting all tangled up over his private nonsense.