Chapter 164

Luo En adjusted his breathing gently, rapidly deducing several possible countermeasures in his heart.

He immediately transmitted his voice to Dai'er using spiritual power:

"Keep your distance, don't take the initiative to attack. The true strength of this manticore far exceeds what is visible on the surface; we will only conduct long-range harassment for the time being, waiting for the right opportunity."

Dai'er nodded gently, her eyes revealing absolute trust in her master's judgment.

On the high platform, Hayek's voice sounded again: "Final, begin."

Following the order, the magical chains suddenly disappeared, and the manticore shook its massive body, seemingly still adapting to its suddenly restored freedom.

Its movements were sluggish, and its eyes were still chaotic, but Luo En captured a detail that was out of the ordinary:

The energy flow inside that massive body was gradually accelerating, like a volcano about to awaken.

The contestants in the arena did not act immediately, all cautiously observing this terrifying monster.

A tension that was almost tangible permeated the air, as if an invisible string had been pulled to its limit.

After a moment of silence, a contestant standing at the very front launched the first attack.

He was a short but muscular middle-level apprentice, wearing an arrogant smile on his face, clearly very confident in his own combat power.

"I'll go first!"

He controlled that six-armed otherworldly creature to launch a fierce charge toward the manticore, while he himself rapidly constructed a spell model, releasing a series of fireballs.

This seemed to be a signal, and other contestants also began to act one after another.

A tall contestant controlled a composite body composed of carapaces and tentacles, firing acid from a distance;

Another controlled an insect creature with several pairs of wings, constantly harassing the manticore's line of sight.

Various spells and energy attacks poured toward the manticore like raindrops, and the battlefield suddenly became chaotic, with energy fluctuations overflowing.

The manticore's attention was attracted by an apprentice with a lizardman, and its scorpion tail was raised high, like a sickle of death.

That apprentice panicked, but his lizardman slave reacted quickly, stepping forward to block the first strike with its scales.

Taking this opportunity, a chaotic array of colorful attacks struck its massive body, but this monster just rolled over without feeling much pain.

Huo Erte's earth elemental colossus advanced steadily, every step making the ground vibrate slightly.

Luo En knew that Huo Erte had originally entered the candidate wizard sequence as a member of the law enforcement team, and his combat experience could be described as extremely rich.

Perhaps when he chose the earth elemental colossus, it was because he valued its comprehensiveness; except for its relatively slow speed, it basically had no weaknesses.

This earth elemental colossus was tall and thick, even standing several heads taller than the manticore that was half-lying on the ground.

At this moment, the advantage of his choice of colossus was immediately apparent: the body composed of earth elements was completely immune to toxins, making it an ideal choice for countering the manticore.

That massive stone fist smashed directly toward the manticore's head, making a dull impact sound, but only causing the giant monster to shake its head.

"The earth elemental colossus is indeed a wise choice for this gladiator tournament."

Luo En analyzed in his heart, while simultaneously focusing his attention on the manticore's reactions.

The other party's choice was undoubtedly well-considered, but whether this tactic of head-on confrontation could be continuously effective remained to be seen.

Trish and Liyue adopted a guerrilla strategy; the leopard woman's speed and agility were her greatest advantages.

Luo En noticed that the brown-haired girl's gaze had paused briefly on Dai'er, as if considering whether she should provide help.

But soon, she shook her head and turned toward another direction.

In this kind of competition, even friends must first consider their own interests.

Liyue was more agile compared to when she fought the half-orc in Cynthia's hands, her figure flickering in the arena like a phantom, frequently causing tearing damage to the manticore.

Her claw strikes landed precisely on the manticore's joints, each attack drawing a small amount of blood, before she quickly retreated to avoid the lazy counterattack.

The audience in the stands began to discuss heatedly, with most eyes focused on those contestants who took the initiative to attack.

In contrast, Luo En and Dai'er's conservative strategy appeared particularly eye-catching—or rather, drew some disappointed looks.

"Look at that potionist, as expected, he only dares to hide in the back."

"Haha, expecting a pharmacist to have any performance in battle? It's a miracle he could even participate in the final."

"His slave is a sea siren, right? What kind of performance can she have on this land battlefield?"

Setting aside the idle gossip in the stands, Luo En was just calmly observing the changes in the situation in the arena at this time.

In his view, those contestants who were eager to show themselves were the truly ignorant ones.

Through the results of his Extraordinary Identification, he already clearly knew the danger of this manticore.

Rushing forward rashly would only make them the first batch of victims.

In front of the manticore, those contestants who took the initiative to rush up seemed to have found confidence.

Although the monster was massive, its movements were sluggish, and it seemed not to have fully awakened, showing almost no effective defense against the numerous attacks.

Its counterattacks looked fierce, but the speed was slow, easily avoided by most battle slaves.

The first six-armed otherworldly creature to rush up climbed onto the manticore's back under its master's control, all six arms strangling vital parts simultaneously, attempting to subdue this beast with a strangulation technique.

Its master shouted triumphantly from the side: "Did you see that? This monster is not to be feared at all!"

The scene once presented a spectacle where the contestants held the upper hand.

Huo Erte's earth elemental colossus approached the manticore without any scruples, its massive stone fist smashing into the monster's body time and again, making dull impact sounds.

The manticore's stinger counterattack was not slow, but it was easily blocked by the colossus's rock body every time, and the toxins were completely ineffective against the inanimate elemental body.

Trish and Liyue were observing the situation from the side, seemingly evaluating whether to delve deeper into the battle.

Their eyes swept toward Luo En from time to time, clearly thinking about what kind of scheme this companion who had always remained on the sidelines was planning.

"Trish!" Luo En suddenly reminded from afar: "The manticore has not fully awakened yet, don't get too close!"

Trish was slightly startled upon hearing this, and then cast a complex look.

She seemed to be considering whether she should believe Luo En's warning; after all, in this gladiator tournament, everyone was looking out for themselves, and no one would truly care for others.

After a moment of thought, she finally chose to act cautiously, signaling Liyue to maintain a certain distance and use the darts tied to her thighs for harassment attacks, rather than rushing forward like the slaves of other contestants.

Luo En understood her thoughts—in this gladiator tournament, everyone was a competitor.

She could not fully trust others, even if their private relationship was very good.

This way of thinking was the norm in the wizarding world, and Luo En had long been accustomed to it.

It was in this atmosphere of vigilance and suspicion that the manticore, which had been almost passively taking hits, suddenly let out a low roar.

Then, with lightning speed, it bit into the nearest battle slave, which was a scorpion man controlled by a low-ranked contestant.

With a crisp "crack," the scorpion man's upper body was bitten off directly, blood spraying and staining the surrounding sand dark red.

The scorpion man's severed limbs rolled in the air, and its internal organs spilled all over the ground, emitting a fishy, foul odor.

The manticore lowered its head and swallowed the remaining half of the corpse whole, its movements swift to the extreme, completely unlike its previous lazy state.

During the swallowing process, its eyes flickered with a strange light, as if it were absorbing some kind of energy.

The scorpion man's master let out a scream, his face instantly turning deathly pale, clearly suffering from spiritual backlash because his slave was killed.

He staggered back a few steps, then collapsed to the ground, losing his combat ability, and was quickly transferred out of the arena by elemental servants.

Immediately afterward, the manticore's thick tail stinger hooked.

That six-armed monster that had been arrogant on the manticore's back was also hooked and lifted without any ability to resist, and then, while struggling, was sent before that giant mouth...

Amidst a sound of indescribable chewing, its master—that short, muscular apprentice—was also carried down by elemental servants.

These two sudden victims made the atmosphere in the arena instantly tense.

The contestants stopped their attacks and began to re-evaluate the situation.

Some people showed expressions of fear on their faces, clearly beginning to regret their previous reckless behavior.

Luo En seized the opportunity and rapidly adjusted his strategy:

"Dai'er, we can show a bit of our strength now."

He ordered through spiritual transmission without the slightest panic:

"But for now, keep harassing from the periphery, and don't attract too much of its attention; the goal is to make it consume more energy."

A flash of solemnity crossed the little sea siren's eyes, and she immediately launched her action.

Behind her suddenly emerged transparent wing-like structures condensed from water elements, with flowing patterns faintly visible on their surface.

This was a special technique developed by Luo En and Dai'er after weeks of research—Water-Shaped Wings.

Using water elements to provide the basic structure, while wind elements were responsible for providing power and directional control, forming a special ability that allowed for effective gliding in non-arid areas.

Dai'er leaped lightly, and those water wings immediately unfolded, carrying her gliding over the battlefield.

Unlike floating, this gliding relied on wind currents, saving more energy without losing too much flexibility.

A gasp of amazement erupted from the stands; clearly, no one had expected a sea siren to have such astonishing mobility on a land battlefield.

For Dai'er, who was demonstrating gliding ability, the only thing threatening about the manticore at the moment was that retractable, thick, long tail stinger...

(End of chapter)