Chapter 233: Late

The rain had already stopped.

Looking at the Steel-Armored Foot Monster that had suddenly appeared behind her, what could Qiao Sang still not understand? The rain just now hadn't been cast by that bird-type pet beast at all.

It had been it.

The Steel-Armored Foot Monster's appearance did make her panic for a moment, but that was all it was!

"Little Xunbao, Shadow Control!" Qiao Sang shouted as she came to Li Songhai's side.

In a battle without rules, the spot beside the opposing beast master was naturally the safest, especially when that beast master was still fast asleep.

Qiao Sang absolutely refused to admit this was cowardice — she was merely being cautious!

"Xun!"

Little Xunbao Ghost extended two short toes, and in the sunlight its shadow wriggled once, stretching straight toward where the Steel-Armored Foot Monster was.

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Without its beast master's command, the Steel-Armored Foot Monster instinctively jumped backward repeatedly to dodge.

Little Xunbao Ghost was small in size. Although the morning sun had just passed the horizon and formed a steep angle with objects, stretching the shadow considerably, the Steel-Armored Foot Monster was simply too large and moved too quickly — the shadow's extension speed couldn't keep up with the distance it was opening up.

"Like Ya Bao, hold it in place!" Qiao Sang decided without hesitation.

Like Ya Bao, in midair, rapidly turned its eyes blue.

An invisible force made the Steel-Armored Foot Monster's movements stall. In that brief gap of hesitation, the pitch-black shadow on the ground rapidly extended and connected with its shadow.

Before the Steel-Armored Foot Monster could even begin to struggle, Little Xunbao Ghost's short toes moved, and under Shadow Control's effect the Steel-Armored Foot Monster started spinning on the spot nonstop.

"Steel-Armor!

!"

The Steel-Armored Foot Monster's shriek pulled Yu Chuyan back to her senses from the chain of sudden events.

"Chichi!"

Yu Chuyan endured the pain, flapped her wings, and swiftly flew upward. Then, as she dove down, her speed suddenly increased, a cyan glow enveloping her entire body.

The target she charged toward was Little Xunbao Ghost.

"Dodge!"

Qiao Sang calmly made her judgment.

Brave Bird Assault — a mid-tier Flying-type skill. Among mid-tier skills it counted as relatively hard to learn and powerful, with speed and attack power that couldn't be underestimated.

But this move also had a flaw: after hitting the target, it would cause the user to take a portion of the damage dealt to the target as well.

However, if the pet beast using Brave Bird Assault possessed both the Sturdy Head and Magic Guard traits, it wouldn't take damage from itself.

With Little Xunbao Ghost's defense, it couldn't possibly withstand this move. Like Ya Bao still had Lulina on its back, so using Flame Charge like at the start was out of the question.

After Yu Chuyan used Brave Bird Assault, her speed was terrifyingly fast, and Like Ya Bao's other attacks didn't have a hundred percent certainty of being aimed and hitting.

If it missed, Little Xunbao Ghost would get hurt; if it hit, Little Xunbao Ghost would still take damage from the aftershock — not worth it.

"Xun~"

Little Xunbao Ghost teleported and appeared three meters away.

Yu Chuyan lunged at empty air.

But because of the teleportation, Shadow Control couldn't continue.

The connected shadow broke apart.

"Steel-Armor......"

The Steel-Armored Foot Monster swayed left and right, stars spinning in its eyes, but it didn't fall.

Seeing that the Steel-Armored Foot Monster was about to recover from its dazed state, Qiao Sang shouted:

"Like Ya Bao, Fire Fang!"

Hearing her beast master's command, Like Ya Bao teleported directly behind the Steel-Armored Foot Monster.

"Ya!"

Like Ya Bao raised its head, and an instant later the air was filled with a violent, blazing aura.

"Chichi!"

Yu Chuyan flapped her wings again, wanting to fly over and stop it, but just as she tried to move, her body couldn't budge.

Not far away, Little Xunbao Ghost was staring at her with eyes glowing blue.

On Like Ya Bao's side, crimson flames gathered. The energy that should have condensed rapidly lingered for a moment, then surged up dramatically.

The blazing firelight rapidly formed in front of Like Ya Bao a large... head of a Flame Hearing Dog and Fire Fang composed entirely of flames.

The Flame Hearing Dog formed of flames bit down viciously along with Like Ya Bao's motion.

"Steel-Armor!

!"

The Steel-Armored Foot Monster let out a heart-wrenching shriek, and with a "bang" collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness.

Lulina sat on Like Ya Bao's back watching the scene that had just unfolded, feeling her heart skip a beat, then pound faster, and faster...

"Ya?"

Like Ya Bao, meanwhile, tilted its head as it recalled what had just happened.

Why had its Fire Fang changed form?

Qiao Sang looked at the Fire Fang, different from usual, with a calm expression, looking very much like a master.

But in truth, she was currently laughing wildly inside.

The Steel-Armored Foot Monster was a Water-type and Rock-type pet beast — it countered Like Ya Bao's Fire-type perfectly.

Like Ya Bao's currently most powerful skill was Meteor Shower, but they were on a road right now. If a passerby suddenly appeared around a bend, she wouldn't even know where to go to reason things out.

Fire Fang was Like Ya Bao's second most powerful attack skill. Having a Fire Fang whose proficiency was still at Mastery face off against a Steel-Armored Foot Monster one level higher with a type disadvantage — Qiao Sang honestly didn't feel entirely confident.

So when Tooth Treasure used Fire Fang just now, she had used her golden finger to directly push the mastery from Perfect to Ultimate.

Tooth Treasure's Fire Fang mastery had already reached the peak of Perfect on its own; at most, by the end of today, she could have trained it to the Ultimate level.

Two days ago, Qiao Sang might have thought it over, but now she didn't hesitate at all before dumping 80 points into it.

Was she short on points?

She wasn't!

Besides, weren't points meant to be used?!

Sure enough, even a high-level beast with a type advantage was no match for Fire Fang at the Ultimate mastery level.

Still, being able to take down the Steel-Armed Foot Monster so cleanly was largely thanks to Little Treasure Ghost using Shadow Control to spin it around in circles for half the day.

The Steel-Armed Foot Monster had fallen, but the Rain Swift Swallow hadn't.

But the Steel-Armed Foot Monster's collapse clearly hit the Rain Swift Swallow hard—so hard that it didn't even notice when it could move again on its own.

"Xunxun~"

Little Treasure Ghost teleported to the Rain Swift Swallow's side and poked it with one short toe.

The Rain Swift Swallow got a fright and instinctively turned its head.

Under the Great Accomplishment-level Hypnosis, the Rain Swift Swallow went down without the slightest resistance.

"Lulu!"

Water Lulu Yana looked at the human and two beasts lying on the ground and cried out excitedly.

Qiao Sang reminded her: "Hurry back into the bag."

"Lulu..."

Water Lulu's body stiffened, and she looked at Tooth Treasure with a slightly reluctant expression.

"Tooth."

But Tooth Treasure didn't look back at all. Instead, upon hearing her beast master's words, she teleported to the backpack behind Qiao Sang and called out, signaling Water Lulu Yana to hurry inside.

Water Lulu Yana: "..."

Qiao Sang looked at Li Songhai, who lay fast asleep on the ground, then seemed to think of something and stiffly reached into her pocket to pull out her phone.

8:02.

Looking at the time on her phone screen, Qiao Sang's mouth twitched. Late on only the third day of school—she was going to get killed for this...

But then again...

Qiao Sang shifted her gaze back to Li Songhai on the ground. Dealing with this trouble first was more important.