Chapter 223: Who Won?

Half an hour later.

Like Ya Bao stood on the field covered in grime, wounds scattered all over its body.

Even so, those flame-like red eyes still burned with a fierce fighting spirit.

"Sonic Punch!"

At the command, the Gravity Monkey clenched both fists and shot forward in an instant.

"Now!" Qiao Sang observed the situation on the field and calmly issued her order.

The Gravity Monkey's fists rained down like a storm, slamming viciously into Like Ya Bao's body.

After the accumulated damage from the previous matches, Like Ya Bao's movements had noticeably slowed, and it failed to carry out its beast master's command right away.

Instead, it took several hits head-on, enduring the pain, before finally gathering Fire Fang and biting down hard on the Gravity Monkey, which had been gleefully attacking it.

The Fire Fang, having reached mastery level, was terrifyingly powerful—even though Like Ya Bao's internal energy was now down to barely a tenth, it still knocked the Gravity Monkey out of the fight entirely.

"Yaba!"

Like Ya Bao raised its head and barked excitedly, celebrating its victory.

Seeing the result of the battle, Qiao Sang belatedly felt her heart pounding wildly.

Looking as steady as an old dog, but in truth panicking like crazy.

Honestly, compared to a smooth, easy fight, a match without full certainty gets the adrenaline pumping way more.

"Like Ya Bao, I think that's enough, let's not fight anymore, okay?" Qiao Sang said, her heart aching at the sight of Like Ya Bao's battered body.

"Yaba yaba!"

Like Ya Bao shook its head.

It felt it could still fight!

Qiao Sang: "……"

You can barely stand—sure about that?

The spectator stands.

At Class 1 of Gao Er.

"It's already fought 12 matches in a row, how is it still standing?"

"Right, its strength clearly isn't as scary as before, but why does it feel like the Yanling Hound gets more and more fired up the more it fights?"

"I knew fire-type pets were brave, but I didn't know they could be this brave. If I'd known, I would've contracted a fire-type pet too."

"Pets are still different from one another—not every fire-type pet is like this Yanling Hound."

"Sigh, I wonder how much longer it'll keep fighting."

At that moment, Zhou Ren spoke up: "Soon, haven't you noticed the matches are lasting longer and longer each time? The last one went on for a full ten minutes. From the looks of it, the Yanling Hound should be able to hold out for at most one more match before it's done."

"Look! Someone else is going up—it's Chen Zhenming from Class 9!"

"Didn't expect this guy to be the one swooping in to pick up the scraps at the end."

"I remember his pet beat Wang Yao back in Gao Yi, but his Beastmaster Codex never got a second page, so he couldn't contract a second pet. Otherwise, he'd probably have a spot on our grade's school team."

"Looks like this really is the last match."

Just as everyone was staring intently at the field, a student suddenly asked in confusion: "Zhou Ren, why do I remember you never went up to fight?"

The people around fell silent and turned to look at Zhou Ren.

Zhou Ren: "!

!"

A bolt from the blue couldn't have hit harder!

Zhou Ren clutched his head, his face blank with disbelief, beginning to question his entire life.

After all his scheming, he never calculated that he'd forget to go up and fight!

What was the point of everything he'd done! Wasn't it all for the teleportation secret manual! And in the end, he didn't even get a share?!

……

On the field.

"Chen Zhenming, Class 9 of Gao Er."

The boy finished speaking and formed a hand seal, and instantly a duck-shaped pet with powerful limbs and an entirely blue body was summoned.

Qiao Sang's heart sank.

A Power-Headed Duck, a dual-attribute pet of water and fighting types…

In Like Ya Bao's current state, forget a Power-Headed Duck—even a beginner water-type pet could probably deal it severe damage.

Qiao Sang's gaze hardened with resolve.

But even so, Like Ya Bao didn't necessarily have to lose!

At this moment, Qiao Sang didn't realize that her mindset had changed greatly from before.

Like back at the Baixin Competition, if she'd run into a situation like this, she would have long since mentally written off the outcome of the match.

The whistle blew.

Like Ya Bao and the Power-Headed Duck launched their attacks simultaneously.

A vortex of flames and a water gun collided mid-air.

"Boom!

!"

With the tremendous roar of the explosion, a large amount of white steam filled the field.

"Water Jet!" Chen Zhenming commanded.

"Flame Charge!" Qiao Sang followed immediately.

The Force-Headed Duck wrapped in water flow collided head-on with the Flame-Ear Dog engulfed in raging flames, and together they plunged into the white steam that had yet to dissipate.

"Bang!

!"

The collision in a flash of lightning made the white steam churn violently.

Even though the white steam made it impossible for those present to see clearly what was happening inside, they could still imagine how fierce the clash of those two moves was.

"Who won? Who won?"

"It has to be Chen Zhenming, right? The flames on the Flame-Ear Dog look noticeably smaller than before."

"The Flame-Ear Dog is covered in wounds, its stamina and energy are probably almost spent. Compared to that, the Force-Headed Duck is still in its first match — anyone with half a brain knows who won."

"Should've won ages ago. If I hadn't gone up to battle once in the middle, waiting around for that teleportation secret tome at the end, I would've lost face staying here any longer."

"Speaking of which, this junior sister is seriously badass. With her around, this year's National Campus Beast-Taming League will definitely beat those guys from Li Tan."

As the crowd chatted, the white steam dispersed.

"Force-Head!"

The Force-Headed Duck was seen supporting itself on the ground with a single webbed foot, raising its head and letting out a loud cry.

Across from it, the Flame-Ear Dog lay there with its eyes tightly shut.

"Aaaaaah! We finally won!"

"Not easy at all — nearly 200 matches just to take down the Flame-Ear Dog. Good thing I'm not in the same year as this junior sister, otherwise I'd feel like there'd be no hope for me in this lifetime."

"Yeah, being in the same year as her, that kind of psychological pressure… wait! Holy shit! How did the Flame-Ear Dog get back up?!"

"Aaaah! Blaze characteristic! It still has the Blaze characteristic!"

Everyone present stared in shock at the Flame-Ear Dog struggling to rise on the field, its entire body wreathed in red-orange flames.

Th-this is way too cool!

"Fang!"

Ya Bao's eyes were bloodshot, and the fur all over its body seemed to have transformed into raging flames.

"Meteor Rain!" Qiao Sang swung her hand and shouted loudly.

It was time to leave a perfect ending for this strength-demonstration segment!

"Ya Ya!"

Ya Bao raised its head high, and a crimson energy ball containing terrifying power shot into the sky with a "whoosh."

"This is…" Chen Zhenming's expression shifted between shock and uncertainty.

The shock of the command Qiao Sang had just given was so overwhelming that for a moment he forgot he was still in a battle, his gaze able only to stupidly follow the energy ball's position.

The energy cluster hovered above the Holy Water Hall for a second, then exploded.

Watching dozens of fireballs trailing crimson flame tails rain down from the sky, Chen Zhenming instantly lost the ability to think.

Meteor Rain! This is the real Meteor Rain!

!

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

The fire rain fell wildly, with scorching flame energy raining down without cease.

The ground exploded and cracked, searing flames shot about wildly, and tongues of fire licked along the ground.

"Force-Head!

"

Amidst a rain of fire, the Force-Headed Duck was so scared it darted about wildly.

But the Meteor Rain's attack was simply too dense. The Force-Headed Duck had just dodged one scorching fireball when another struck its head with pinpoint accuracy.

"Force-Head!

!"

When the fire rain ceased, what everyone saw was the Force-Headed Duck collapsed on the ground and the Flame-Ear Dog… still standing.

"Fang!

"

Ya Bao looked at the Force-Headed Duck with its eyes closed, raised its head, and let out a high-spirited cry.

The next second, exhaustion swept over it, its vision blurred, and it could no longer hold on and collapsed.