The Ferocious Battle Sting!

"Hai Dafu got played. This is going to be a problem," said Zheng Bingxiao from the Summoning Element group.

The very tall, long-faced young man just smiled. "Isn't that better? One person eliminated right off the bat — now there are only five of us competing for the Beast-Refining Blood."

"Brother, we still have six people. Did a magic teacher teach you math?" Zheng Bingxiao said.

"Does he even need to be counted? He's the one who didn't dare summon his beast." The long-faced young man shot a sidelong glance at Mo Fan, who had become something of an oddity among them.

A few days earlier, their instructor Jiang Yunming had required everyone to summon their beasts for a formal assessment. Mo Fan's Gloom Wolf Beast was still deep in its recovery sleep and naturally hadn't been brought out.

On top of that, Mo Fan wasn't in the same dormitory as these six, which made him something of an outsider.

"Don't say that. We're all from the same department, after all. Besides, Instructor Jiang Yunming made it clear — if our combined head count doesn't reach a hundred, all the resources earmarked for us go to better-performing departments. That would be a massive loss for all of us." Zheng Bingxiao spoke with an air of goodwill.

"Head count" — that was what the Summoning Element students called it among themselves.

Right now, they were effectively one department pitted against the entire school. Instructor Jiang Yunming's expectations were sky-high: not that they had to defeat every student from every other department, but they did have to take down at least a hundred challengers.

Divided evenly among the seven of them, that meant each Summoning Element student needed to eliminate roughly fifteen challengers from other departments.

With Hai Dafu running into trouble right out of the gate, Zheng Bingxiao felt that hitting that hundred-count target was going to be extremely difficult.

"No big deal. Whatever you lot fall short of, I'll make up the difference myself!" The long-faced young man grinned wide, his thick northeastern drawl rolling out with full flavor.

"Wang Liting, you really love to brag."

Hai Dafu stood at the center of the arena, surprise flickering across his face.

Surprised as he was, he didn't panic. Instead, he turned his gaze on the fair-featured young man who was rubbing his nose, and let out a scornful laugh. "Looks like you spent all your energy dreaming up little tricks. Don't you know that insect-type Demon-Beasts have always had notoriously weak eyesight?"

The words had barely left Hai Dafu's mouth before the White Armor Battle Sting let out a furious screech.

Its forelegs wrenched free from the stone shield. It didn't need its scorched eyes to locate its target — the White Armor Battle Sting swept a thunderous blow directly toward where the fair-featured young man stood.

The color drained from the young man's face. He never imagined the creature could pinpoint his exact position even after being blinded.

**Pfft—**

A geyser of blood erupted from his mouth as the White Armor Battle Sting's blow connected squarely with his chest, sending his entire body flying sideways through the air. He skidded more than ten meters across the arena floor, his body caked in mud, his face as white as a sheet.

Moments later, the Light Element teacher Gu Han stepped onto the field and swiftly carried the unconscious young man off to receive treatment. Blood still welled steadily from his lips.

"He's all yours, Teacher Ruan Ya." Gu Han set the young man down and addressed the woman seated nearby — composed as ever, her white pencil skirt immaculate.

"You should have stepped in sooner. These injuries aren't minor…" Teacher Ruan Ya shook her head with a helpless sigh.

"If they're not going to die, don't waste my Magical Energy."

Watching the fair-featured young man being dragged off, Hai Dafu's grin grew even wider than before.

"Try this — Lightning Seal!" A young man with short blue hair surged forward, fury written across his face.

He planted himself not far away, one hand raised high overhead. Lightning Seals writhed above him like crackling electric serpents.

At his command, all the lightning brands lashed out like whips toward the White Armor Battle Sting in a relentless blaze of violet light.

"Idiot. Don't think Lightning Element makes you something special!" Hai Dafu jeered.

The Lightning Seals struck the White Armor Battle Sting's body. Normally, those electric arcs would race across the surface of a target's skin before drilling deep into muscle and bone, inflicting devastating damage while paralyzing nearly any living creature.

This time, however, every lash struck the White Armor Battle Sting's ivory horn-plate armor. The armor was left streaked with scorch marks, but the force simply couldn't penetrate through to the flesh beneath.

The White Armor Battle Sting moved freely, unbothered. It heaved its massive rear legs into motion and barreled straight toward the blue-haired young man — Lightning Seals still dancing uselessly across its armor as it charged.

"Get lost!"

Its triangular hammer-like head slammed into the blue-haired young man and sent him spinning through the air. Teacher Gu Han materialized beside him seemingly from nowhere, silently dragging him off to the Healing Element teacher.

"Just the two of you left." Hai Dafu swept a cold gaze over the remaining pair.

The two set their jaws and refused to back down — but their skills were clearly ill-suited against an armor-clad creature like the Battle Sting. The Wind Element student could keep dodging with his nimble footwork, the White Armor Battle Sting being relatively slow, but Hai Dafu saw no need to rush his Summoned Beast into attacking. He simply waited in silence until his opponent's Magical Energy ran dry.

In the end, the Wind Element student gave up on his own.

Having dispatched four challengers with ease, Hai Dafu's overwhelming show of force gave the queue of waiting challengers serious pause.

Still, Pearl Academy had no shortage of students willing to fight, and soon five more stepped forward. Having learned from their predecessors, this group's elemental combination was noticeably more strategic — a Water Element student on defense, Wind Element providing constant harassment, Fire Element keeping up sustained burning attacks…

The fight lasted considerably longer, but in the end they still couldn't overcome the ferocious White Armor Battle Sting.

By the third round of challengers, the Battle Sting's combat power had visibly declined — the overwhelming dominance it commanded from the start was gone. Gritting his teeth, Hai Dafu still managed to take down that group of six.

By the fourth round, the White Armor Battle Sting could no longer endure the relentless rotation of attacks. A Fire Element girl finished it off and sent it back to its dimensional space.

Hai Dafu was deeply unsatisfied. Back at his old school, taking on forty or fifty opponents single-handedly had been no problem — yet here at Pearl Academy, he'd only managed to eliminate fifteen.

With a performance like that, he had no shot at competing for the Beast-Refining Blood.

"You're up," said Wang Liting, glancing at the shorter, leaner boy beside him.

The shorter boy frantically waved his hands. "I — I'm really weak. I honestly don't know if I can even hold out for one round."

"Doesn't matter. Even if you don't take out a single one, I can cover the numbers. I just want to know what we're dealing with."

"How about Mo Fan goes first?" the scrawny young man said, turning to Mo Fan.

"My Summoned Beast is gravely injured. You'll have to cover my count." Mo Fan didn't hide it — he said it plainly.

"Figured you'd be useless," Wang Liting said.

Mo Fan didn't get angry. He quietly filed the slight away, already turning over in his mind exactly how he'd pay it back someday.

*Think you're so great? All you do is run your mouth. Keep it up and I'll fry you with a single bolt of lightning.*

*Totally spoiled — that's what you are.*