Chapter 317: Teaming Up

"Boom, boom, boom..."

A continuous series of various explosions echoed one after another in the arena, kicking up dust that filled the sky.

"How is it? Is it effective?"

Dozens of witches stared nervously at the bombing zone. Witches who had activated wind magic stirred up gales to blow away the dust, wanting to see the effect of this first wave of offensive.

Even though they hadn't agreed beforehand, once the reward segment ended, everyone else tacitly stopped fighting among themselves and chose to join forces to attack this Phantom King first.

After all, from the previous reward segment, everyone already knew that this Phantom King was the complete consciousness projection of that Joker Chief Instructor, not at all the same thing as the previous dull and stupid Joker phantoms.

And everyone had already witnessed the terror of the previous Joker phantoms' magic. Now, facing this Phantom King with stronger attributes and self-awareness, no one among the contestants was arrogant enough to think they could duel it one-on-one.

So, join forces to fight the boss first. After overthrowing the boss, everyone would compete for the loot based on their own abilities.

Only...

"Careful..."

Witches who had activated pupil techniques didn't wait for the magic wind to blow away the dust before they had already seen the scene within the dust. They hurriedly issued warnings.

It was a pity that the speed of voice transmission was too slow. By the time the witches who received the warning wanted to defend or dodge, several figures had already appeared instantly beside the few witches closest to the dust.

Subsequently, with a punch and a kick, those few unlucky witches had already turned into meteors, falling to the ground or smashing into the mountain wall. Looking at their appearance, with more air going out than coming in, it was clear that even if they weren't dead, they were seriously injured and had already lost their combat ability.

In one round, the final strategy group lost 6 members.

"Do you look down on me too much? You want to gang up on me with such loose coordination?"

The six phantoms merged back into one, and the Phantom King still stood on the lonely street lamp on the mountain peak, saying this.

In the previous round of concentrated bombing, the mountain peak where the Phantom King had originally been had been leveled, but strangely, this street lamp and the small piece of road surface under the street lamp remained intact.

And this scene also caused the witches who saw it to shrink their pupils involuntarily.

This meant that under the concentrated firepower of everyone before, this Phantom King was not only not panicked, but even had energy to spare to take care of the street lamp under its feet. This was outrageous.

That was a concentrated bombing by dozens of witches just now. If it were any one of the people present in the Phantom King's position, they wouldn't dare say they could definitely retreat unscathed. Even if someone could really withstand it, it wouldn't be as relaxed and comfortable as this.

However, the Phantom King's words also made the witches tighten their hearts, looking at each other.

Although the previous round of bombing was indeed a gang-up, there was absolutely no coordination. You cast a fireball, I throw an ice arrow; anyway, just throw whatever you have, just explode it.

But in this way, the maximum power wasn't achieved. Some magic even collided and canceled out part of the power, like fireballs and ice arrows clashing.

But there was no other way. After all, everyone had just been competitive rivals fighting to the death. Now, you suddenly want them to coordinate perfectly; how could that be possible?

However, witches are a war race, which can be said to be a nation in arms. Even those research witches who don't go to the battlefield have received military training since childhood. If there were an excellent commander to lead everything, perfect coordination might not be possible, but forming a certain combat power in a short time wouldn't be difficult.

It's a pity that there are many witches who can fight, but command-type talents with high leadership are rare goods.

"If everyone trusts me, how about I take on this command?"

Just when everyone was worried, a witch stood out.

And the Phantom King, who was standing on the street lamp with arms crossed, acting cool, seemingly offline but actually slacking off, also looked at that witch.

Dorothy remembered that this seemed to be the prophecy-type witch, Star Speaker, who was ranked fifth before.

Prophecy-type witches are indeed natural command-type talents. After all, this is a notoriously talent- and intelligence-consuming faction. It requires high enough inspiration and strong enough intelligence to learn, and high intelligence is inherently a requirement for positions like military advisors.

Dorothy remembered that in the world of her past life, some people actually compared marching and fighting to playing chess, using the chessboard to analogize the battlefield. Ordinary chess players look one step ahead, while excellent chess players look several steps ahead. Once they drop a piece, they might have already thought about the second, third, or even fourth or fifth steps. Excellent military advisors are the same; they can often predict the enemy's next actions and make preparations in advance.

Mm, just as if they were smart enough to predict the future.

And prophecy-type witches are different. They are not only smart, but they can really predict the future.

Therefore, although many prophecy-type witches don't have strong frontal combat ability, their status is often very high, just because they are natural leadership talents.

A thousand troops are easy to get, but one general is hard to find. As natural generals, prophecy-type witches can also be said to be the elite faction among witches.

Among the dozens of witches still alive in the arena, this Star Speaker was the only prophecy-type witch, and in fact, among all the newcomers this time, she was the only prophecy-type one.

This is also normal. After all, there are few prophecy-type people, and supply falls short of demand. Moreover, such witches rarely come to work in the Inquisition. Their job positions are generally in government administrative departments or the military's general staff. Coming to the Inquisition to be a fighter or spy is truly a waste of talent.

Regarding this, everyone looked at Star Speaker and finally nodded silently, acknowledging her as the commander. After all, there was no other better choice.

"Then I will build the mind link."

Another witch stood out. She wore a colorful graffiti mask on her face; it was the ninth-ranked Phantom Girl.

With a commander, there naturally needs to be a communication system. The communication system most commonly used by witches is the mind link built by mental-type witches.

With one mind link, the linked witches can communicate with their hearts, which is much faster and more convenient than opening their mouths to speak.

Mental-type witches are not as rare as prophecy-type ones. There are many mental-type ones present, but this Phantom Girl is indeed the strongest among them.

It's just that regarding this, everyone is not as easy to talk to as they were with Star Speaker before. After all, mind links are convenient, but they require everyone to lower their defenses and let the mental-type witch's mental power penetrate deep into their hearts.

If everyone were really teammates, it would be fine, but now this is obviously a temporary team, and there isn't such high trust between them. Opening one's heart to a mental-type witch is simply handing over half of one's life to the other party.

If this Phantom Girl secretly leaves some backdoors in their consciousness space during the mind link, then after the boss battle, everyone will be doomed.

"I swear to the Three Kings that I will absolutely not take action against everyone during the teaming process."

The Phantom Girl also understood everyone's concerns, and she swore quite readily.

Swearing to the Three Kings is the heaviest oath in the Witch Realm. It's not something that can be played with casually. If you don't respect it, the consequences are very serious. Not only will you be punished by the power of the oath, but you will also be directly listed on the untrustworthy list afterward, socially dead from then on. No witch can bear such a risk.

Therefore, seeing the Phantom Girl swear so decisively, everyone nodded and agreed again.

"Then, bombardment witches, gather at my place."

"Assault witches, gather."

"Reconnaissance team, gather."

"Control team, gather."

"Medical team, gather."

Since the most difficult commander and mind link were taken on by someone, the rest was simple—nothing more than each performing their own duties. Regarding this division of labor and configuration that they had practiced since playing house as children, the witches were all very proficient.

Very quickly, a regular configuration completely different from the previous lazy and chaotic coordination was pulled together.

And regarding this, the Phantom King on the street lamp finally nodded.

This looks a bit more like it.

Although just now, if she hadn't been slacking off in a qualified boss posture, then during the time they spent teaming up, the other side might have already suffered heavy casualties.

However, the Inquisition is not an army after all. These young witches mostly haven't been tempered on the front-line battlefield. They were mostly used to fighting alone in the past, so it's inevitable that they would be rusty in team coordination.

So, this reaction, although not excellent, can still be considered passing.

However, slacking time is over. It's time for the offline boss to come back online.

Dorothy smiled in her heart, and then malice surged.

She wouldn't be as gentle as before. If this group of newcomers' teaming up was just for show, then their exam results today probably wouldn't look very good.

Before, she let the other side make the first move, so now it's time for her to return the favor.

Almost the moment the thought arose, the next moment the street lamp shattered, and the golden, glittering phantom on the street lamp had already disappeared from its original spot.

"Careful..."

At the same time, in the strategy group's mind link, a witch from the reconnaissance team issued a warning.

"Report target location."

Star Speaker's order was also issued instantly, but just as she thought this in her heart, that grinning Joker mask had already appeared before her.

Star Speaker wasn't very tall; she was a petite witch, only about 1.5 meters. Therefore, when the Phantom King suddenly appeared before her, bending over and looking down at her, their masks almost touched, the pressure was immense.

The pupils under Star Speaker's mask shrank suddenly. She thought of those unlucky ones who had been sent away with a punch and a kick before. Now, she seemed to be about to follow in their footsteps.

Damn it, why didn't my danger warning take effect?

Star Speaker thought with suspicion.

The Sixth-Ring Prophecy Magic Danger Warning is one of the most commonly used spells for prophecy-type witches. This magic is a resident type; once cast, it can take effect for a long time. During the spell's duration, once danger approaches, this spell will immediately take effect, reminding the caster.

And this spell can also be used in conjunction with some other trap spells, such as using the Danger Warning alarm as the trigger signal for a trap. When the enemy approaches, they fall directly into the trap.

Star Speaker had very cautiously set up several traps around herself. These traps were all triggered by the Danger Warning signal. But now, clearly, the danger had arrived, yet the Danger Warning didn't trigger, and the traps were all useless.

"Damn, is it anti-prophecy magic? Lord Joker, you still said you didn't understand the prophecy faction."

Thinking of the Phantom King's answer when she went to ask questions before, Star Speaker felt a chill of anger.

Although the improved ritual she finally received had made her very satisfied, at this moment, she still felt the anger of being deceived.

However...

The petite prophecy witch didn't choose to sit and wait for death. She seemed frightened, subconsciously taking half a step back, but then her knees bent slightly into a horse stance, and then she stepped forward with an elbow strike, delivering a fierce blow that was completely inconsistent with her petite figure.

Hmph, as a back-row profession that is often cut, prophecy-type witches are mostly proficient in good boxing techniques, just to teach a lesson to those insidious people who love to cut the back row.

Although Star Speaker's figure was a bit petite, her evolution template was actually a powerful monster called the Star-Gazing Bull, which could be considered a special variant of the Minotaur. She had the ability to perceive fate, and her physical fitness was also stronger than that of ordinary Minotaurs.

So, don't look at Star Speaker's petite figure; she was truly born with divine strength.

The prophecy witch's raised elbow was like a sharp bull horn, striking toward the Phantom King before her. This blow was delivered, and even a phantom of a wild bull appeared alongside it. Clearly, Star Speaker's boxing technique had already reached a high level.

I'll strike your lungs.

Knowing that she was probably doomed, Star Speaker launched a suicide attack.

She also knew very well that her boxing technique could catch other witches off guard, but for the phantom of this mysterious Chief Instructor, it was probably not enough.

However, she didn't expect to cause much damage herself; as long as she could hold the opponent back, even if it was just for a second or two, it could buy some time for her teammates.

Dorothy naturally saw Star Speaker's intention, and regarding this, the grin on the Joker mask on her face became even wider.

Catch the thief, catch the king first. Poor girl, your determination is good, but it's a pity that in the face of absolute strength disparity, all little tricks are ineffective.

There is only one reason why you are finished today, and that is showing off your ridiculous boxing technique in front of me, a Martial Saint.

Let me teach you what boxing is.

The Phantom King looked at the elbow that was aggressively trying to pierce her lungs. She didn't dodge or evade, but raised her hand and delivered an elbow strike as well.

Baji Quan Witch Modification: Elbow Strike.

.... Witch boxing match in progress.... ===== CHAPTER 318 =====