Ch. 247 - I Can Take It — I Can Definitely Take It

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Boom! Boom!

Facing the combined assault of three S-rank contract spirits, the Fire Bird took more injuries.

But it kept kiting, kept seizing every opening to hammer the Water Prison with its skills.

Five agonizing minutes passed.

The entire arena gradually fell silent — an almost painful tension settling over the crowd.

On the competition platform, the Fire Bird's body was now covered in blood. Wounds of every kind littered its form — some from lightning, some from ice, some from dark-element attacks...

No matter the type, every injury looked horrific. Even its right wing had drooped down, limp.

But still, the Fire Bird held on.

Boom!

At last, the impossibly resilient Water Prison shattered.

The Slime broke free, and its enormous form once again brought that terrifying, crushing pressure!

Chen Shu let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. He hadn't expected the Fire Bird to last this long.

Freed from its cage, the Slime immediately unleashed Charge into Violent Sitting Kill.

Its body leaped skyward — target locked on the Shadow Blood-Eye Bird!

Xie Fengyu's trio showed no panic. Even though the Slime had broken out ahead of schedule, it still hadn't derailed their plan.

The Ice-Horn Deer shook its head, the light from its antlers blazing. An icy frost burst forth in an instant, aiming to lock the Slime down.

But by now, the Slime's Tyrant Body had already expired.

"Goo-gii!"

Chen Shu frowned, activating Deterrent Roar the very next instant.

The Slime's speed dropped sharply — but all three enemy contract spirits were pinned in place as well.

"Just barely?"

Chen Shu's frown deepened. The three spirits recovered after only a brief stun. The sitting kill missed the Shadow Blood-Eye Bird.

The Purple Thunder Beast roared, another thunderball arriving in a flash.

The paralysis took effect again. Using a layered chain of control skills, they managed to stall the Violent Sitting Kill's active window to its very end.

Boom!

The colossal Slime landed helplessly, making the entire platform tremble slightly.

Chen Shu kept his gaze steady, constantly hunting for openings. With the Slime's monstrous defense, he could survive until the next cooldown cycle.

But moments later, he realized something was wrong.

"No way..."

The three enemy spirits kept firing control skills — slow, paralysis, stun, one negative status after another in constant succession.

The three of them had formed a complete control loop!

While slow and similar effects were soft controls, they directly impacted Charge's effectiveness, preventing the Slime from reaching its targets.

A sluggish Slime... how the hell was it supposed to catch S-rank contract spirits?!

"Holy crap — it's infinite control! That's fucking unbeatable!"

"For real, that's insane. Nanjiang City isn't gonna just lose like this, are they?"

Waves of shocked exclamations rippled through the crowd. Nobody had imagined Nancang First High would have a tactic like this!

In a team fight, this strategy wouldn't have mattered much.

But Nanjiang City had only Chen Shu carrying the entire weight.

All they had to do was keep the Slime under infinite control, and victory was effortless!

"So the Water Prison was meant to counter my Tyrant Body."

Chen Shu understood now. Without Tyrant Body's protection, the impact of the control skills was glaringly obvious.

As the genius team of Nancang Province's number one high school, they naturally had real strength backing them up.

"Am I about to lose?"

Chen Shu sighed. In one-on-one combat, the Slime would be the undisputed king — but a team battle had, in fact, dragged him down.

Even if he lost, however, Chen Shu would still be acknowledged as Nancang Province's number one high school senior.

Scree!

In that split second, a crisp cry echoed through the Spirit Fighting Arena!

The Fire Bird's eyes blazed with stubborn refusal. Its wings kept beating, and it rose into the sky once more.

"Do you have to go this hard?! It can still fight?!"

"For a ranking spot — it's not worth this!"

The crowd's hearts seized. The Fire Bird moments ago had already lost all combat capability. Fighting now was purely sustained by willpower alone.

Xu Xiaoyu's unyielding spirit had influenced her contract spirit, making it soar once more!

"Xiaoyu — give it up!"

Chen Shu frowned and shook his head.

The Fire Bird was already a spent force. If it kept fighting, there was even a chance it could die.

It was only a Fire Bird — not a phoenix reborn from the flames!

"Find your opening!"

Xu Xiaoyu clenched her fists and still refused to recall the Fire Bird.

Nancang First High's tactic was formidable, but in truth, if even one person broke the control cycle, it would unravel completely.

The Fire Bird's eyes shimmered with the light of its skill. Body drenched in blood, it dove straight at the slowest target — the Ice-Horn Deer!

"Captain — what do we do?"

Teammate Su Weiyun asked, caught in a dilemma.

If she ignored the Fire Bird, her contract spirit would take damage. But if she used a skill, she'd break the control loop.

Xie Fengyu spoke: "Take out the Fire Bird first!"

In that instant, the Fire Bird and the Ice-Horn Deer clashed!

The outcome went without saying — the Fire Bird was wounded again, utterly without any power to resist.

But at least it had temporarily tied up one S-rank contract spirit.

"Goo-gii~~"

The Slime promptly activated Charge, hurtling toward the two remaining S-rank spirits.

At last — the Golden Slime could unleash its full might!

"Control it!"

The Shadow Blood-Eye Bird and Purple Thunder Beast immediately fired off their remaining control skills, buying another brief stretch of time.

But Charge's skill level was simply too high — even now, it hadn't fully expired.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Finally, every negative status was gone from the Slime's body. Its speed climbed to maximum!

Seeing the distance close, it launched Violent Sitting Kill — target locked directly on the Shadow Blood-Eye Bird in the sky!

The enemy was a flying type, which meant its defense had to be abysmally low.

Scree!

The Blood-Eye Bird let out a shriek, panic flashing in its eyes as it immediately beat its wings to gain altitude.

"Whoosh!"

The Slime's giant mouth opened wide — Wind's Breath and Wind Force erupted simultaneously, reversing its flight trajectory in an instant.

"Too fast!"

Jiang Mo clenched his fists, his expression gravely serious as the Slime closed the distance in a heartbeat.

Down below, the Purple Thunder Beast had no skills left. All it could do was stare uselessly.

"I can take it! I can definitely take it!"

Jiang Mo kept muttering, as if he were trying to hypnotize himself...

"AHHHH!!!"

A scream rang out. The Shadow Blood-Eye Bird was pinned directly under that massive rear, its eyeballs practically bulging out.

Only contract spirits who'd truly experienced it firsthand knew exactly how brutal the Slime's ass was!

"Goo-gii! Goo-gii!"

Chen Shu didn't hold back. He had to eliminate the opponent as fast as possible!

The Slime kept emitting sounds of pure pleasure, violently shaking its body as if it wanted to grind the Shadow Blood-Eye Bird straight into powder.

"Enough! Enough!"

Jiang Mo felt the connection with his spirit and immediately shouted.

He could take it... his ass!

With those words, he recalled the Shadow Blood-Eye Bird straight away.

He wasn't about to let his contract spirit suffer lasting damage just for one match.

An innate S-rank contract spirit was far too precious — even after becoming a high-rank Beast Tamer, it would still hold a core position on any team.

"I'll take it from here!"

Chen Shu's expression shifted as he spoke.

With the Shadow Blood-Eye Bird gone, they could no longer keep the Slime permanently controlled.

Xu Xiaoyu nodded and recalled her barely-breathing Fire Bird.

Now, only three contract spirits remained on the field.

The S-rank Purple Thunder Beast and Ice-Horn Deer stood together, staring at the gargantuan monster before them.

They were actually... starting to feel fear.

The shriek of the Shadow Blood-Eye Bird was still fresh in their minds — a sound that, in all honesty, made anyone who heard it grieve and anyone who listened shed tears.[1]

[1] 闻者伤心，听者落泪 (wén zhě shāngxīn — tīng zhě luòlèi): A classical Chinese literary expression meaning "those who hear of it grieve, those who listen shed tears" — normally reserved for tragic poetry and funeral elegies. Here it's applied to the sound of a contract spirit being crushed under a Slime's rear end. The bathos — tragic vocabulary describing a butt-squashing — is the entire joke.