Chapter 199

The dark red crystal pillars around the platform emitted irregular light, providing eerie and sufficient lighting for this duel arena.

"Jacqueline, watch out for the left side!"

Elliott reminded loudly, while his fingertips drew an arc in the air.

A sharp wind blade formed immediately, precisely cutting toward a clone trying to sneak attack his companion.

This was already the third wave of clones they had encountered since entering the core area.

The first two waves appeared individually and were relatively easy to deal with.

But this time, they were facing a mixed squad composed of three or four clones, and the combat difficulty rose sharply.

"These clones seem to cooperate consciously!"

Lina, who maintained the mental link, while controlling the light orbs floating around her for precise strikes, was surprised to find that the clones could always cover or dodge for each other at the last moment.

"Stay calm!" Elliott's voice was calm and powerful.

His pair of unusually large ears twitched slightly, capturing every subtle sound and energy fluctuation on the battlefield:

"Follow the original plan, each responsible for the corresponding area, don't be disturbed by the chaotic situation!"

The battle situation on the field was deadlocked.

Although the Crystal Spire apprentices had powerful individual strength and quite tacit cooperation, the clones opposite seemed to have inherited some kind of abyssal creature characteristics.

Not only possessing super regenerative ability, but also strange and changeable combat styles, making it difficult for people to predict.

Just as the battle was deadlocked, Caesar suddenly found an opportunity.

A clone wearing a black robe revealed a flaw in the melee, which was clearly one of the Black Mist School apprentices who had just entered the core area.

Not Luo En, Holt, or Trish, but one of the other two sequence members.

"Watch this!" A flash of excitement crossed Caesar's eyes.

His right arm swelled by more than a factor of two in an instant, and a layer of dense red scales appeared on the surface, like the legendary dragon skin.

He rushed toward that clone like a cannonball out of the chamber, even knocking away a huge rock that tried to block him along the way.

That rock exploded into countless fragments under his fist, like a miniature explosion.

—Claw of the Flame Dragon!

With a low roar, Caesar's right fist, wrapped in terrifying momentum, slammed heavily into the clone's chest.

That clone clearly didn't expect to be subjected to such a violent surprise attack and only had time to raise an energy shield in a hurry.

But in front of Caesar's fist, which was comparable to a small siege hammer, the shield shattered instantly like thin paper.

"Puff!"

A muffled sound, the clone's chest collapsed instantly, and the body flew out several meters like a broken-string puppet, eventually hitting a crystal pillar heavily and making no sound.

A few seconds later, the clone's body began to disintegrate, turning into countless light spots and dissipating in the air.

These light spots did not drift away, but gathered toward Caesar as if under some kind of gravity.

"Ah—!" Caesar let out a strange cry between pain and pleasure, and a layer of light golden halo appeared on the surface of his body.

He could clearly feel a strange and powerful force pouring into his bloodline, fusing with it, and eventually becoming a part of his own power.

That feeling was like drinking thousand-year-old aged wine, with a satisfying feeling that was intoxicating.

"Hahaha! Unbelievable!"

When the halo dissipated, Caesar moved his arms, and a fanatical light flickered in his eyes:

"My strength has increased by at least thirty percent! Magic power has also grown quite a bit!"

He raised his right hand high, and a fireball a circle larger than before instantly condensed in his palm, heat waves rolling, even causing the surrounding air to begin to twist.

The edges of the fireball formed irregular twisted patterns, wriggling like living things.

"I said long ago that those guys from the Black Mist School are simply vulnerable!"

Caesar announced loudly and triumphantly:

"A group of weaklings who survive on potions and inferior magic are simply not worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as us! Look at this clone, it couldn't even block one of my punches. This is the strength of their strongest? Ridiculous!"

He straightened his chest and looked around, seemingly expecting praise and recognition from his companions.

"Caesar, focus on the battle!" Elliott frowned and reminded, but it was too late.

Just as Caesar was immersed in the joy brought by the enhancement, the surrounding air suddenly became unusually humid, and a rich plant scent rushed toward him.

The ground began to tremble, as if something was moving rapidly underground, and fine cracks spread on the stone surface at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"What—"

Caesar just wanted to turn around when dozens of thick vines had already broken through the ground, coiling around his limbs and torso like living things.

These vines grew at an astonishing speed, turning him into a tightly wrapped green cocoon in the blink of an eye.

The surface of the vines was covered with dense inverted thorns, each radiating a strange purple luster, clearly carrying some kind of toxin.

At the same time, on the other side of the platform, a huge Earth Elemental Colossus suddenly appeared, rushing toward Caesar, who was unable to move.

The colossus made the ground tremble with every step, and those fists made of rock looked like they could easily crush a wall.

It was embedded with countless crystallized bone fragments, making the entire body shimmer with an ominous blue light, looking even more eerie and powerful than ordinary Earth Elemental Colossi.

"This aura should be the clones of Trish and Holt from the Black Mist School!"

Jacqueline exclaimed, but they were all restrained by their respective opponents and could not provide immediate support.

"Hahaha!" Noren laughed until he leaned back:

"Just now you were bragging about how weak the apprentices of the Black Mist School are, and now you're being cleaned up by their clones! Caesar, where do you put your face?"

"Shut up! Help me!"

Caesar struggled desperately in the vines, curses endless.

His muscles bulged, scales shimmered with red light, trying his best to resist those vines that were coiling tighter and tighter.

But those plants were as tough as steel bars, and even his enhanced strength was difficult to break free for a while.

"Damn it, these vines are much tougher than before!"

The Earth Elemental Colossus had already rushed to his eyes, its fist raised high, looking like it was about to smash down.

The eye sockets of the colossus flickered with cold blue light, and a special energy fluctuation began to appear on the surface of the fist, clearly preparing to release some kind of elemental impact at the moment of hitting.

A huge shadow enveloped Caesar, like the sickle of death, about to harvest his life.

At the critical moment, a blue line as thin as a hair suddenly shot out from a distance, precisely coiling around Caesar's leg.

Then it pulled violently, dragging him and the wrapped vines away from the original spot.

The colossus's fist landed heavily on the ground, making the entire platform tremble.

A concave pit with a diameter of several meters appeared in place, and the surrounding rocks cracked one after another, showing the terrifying power of this strike.

A layer of translucent energy residue even appeared in the center of the pit, like a pool of still water, showing the terrifying destructive power contained in this strike.

"What a drag of a fool."

Noren retracted the silk thread and sighed:

"Don't count on me to save you next time. Clearly seeing them organizing a counterattack, yet still showing off there, you deserve to be beaten up."

Elliott and Lina exchanged a look, both showing helpless expressions.

"You should have let him learn a lesson, Noren."

Lina said calmly, her slender fingers still maintaining the gesture of mental link:

"Anyway, he wouldn't die from being hit, just might have to lie down for a few days. Such a lesson would make him remember that on the battlefield, any complacency can be a fatal weakness."

Elliott also nodded:

"That way he might learn the importance of staying cautious on the battlefield. After all, the more conceited a person is, the easier it is to become the primary target. Now he hasn't even learned this lesson, and might be even more unscrupulous next time."

Caesar's face was livid at this time, both because of his embarrassment just now and because of the undisguised ridicule of his teammates.

But he didn't dare to talk back to Elliott and Lina—although he was famous for his superior strength among the freshmen of the Crystal Spire, Elliott and Lina's talent and strength were recognized as genius-level.

And they both had powerful family backgrounds as backing. In this world where strength is respected, he could only grit his teeth and suppress his anger.

"Just wait and see, I'm going to vent all my firepower on those two damn clones!"

Caesar said through gritted teeth, tearing open the remnants of the vines still wrapped around his body, his gaze locked on the Holt clone walking slowly not far away.

His finger joints made a clicking sound, and the scales on the surface of his skin became even brighter red under the stimulation of anger:

"Let you see what real power is!"

However, the moment he was about to launch an attack, the atmosphere of the entire battlefield suddenly changed.

A strange chill permeated the air, not a drop in temperature, but a sense of fear that seeped into the bone marrow.

Several sensitive Crystal Spire apprentices couldn't help but shiver involuntarily, as if some ominous existence was approaching.

More clones appeared from all directions, and soon gathered into a tightly knit formation.

Including the clones of Trish, Holt, and several other Crystal Spire apprentices—only two figures were missing.

"What are these clones doing?"

Jacqueline observed the movement opposite vigilantly, the electric light between her fingers flickering:

"They seem to be..."

"They are teaming up!"

Elliott's pupils contracted sharply, and that pair of large ears twitched violently, capturing some subtle energy fluctuation in the air:

"What's worse, clone Lina is establishing a mental link! Just like us!"

Sure enough, in the center of the clone squad, Lina's clone formed a seal with both hands, and countless tiny light spots appeared around her, outlining a complex energy network in the air, connecting all the clones together.

Those light spots flickered like stars, forming a miniature star map, with energy threads connecting every two light spots, looking like a precise neural network as a whole.

"Damn it!" Elliott cursed:

"Everyone pay attention! The clones not only copied our appearance and basic abilities, but even our tactics and cooperation patterns were imitated clearly!"

What was even more worrying was that these clones seemed to have undergone some kind of enhancement.

Their aura was more powerful than the original version, and they carried a kind of hidden oppression in every move.

Coupled with the fact that the clone squad had two more elites from the Black Mist School—Trish and Holt, among which Trish's natural spell control ability and Holt's Earth Elemental Colossus were both forces to be reckoned with.

The clones launched an orderly attack.

Trish's clone controlled countless vines to break out from underground, forming a giant net to advance;

Holt's clone controlled the Earth Elemental Colossus to charge in front, providing cover for other clones;

Clone Lina was located in the center, maintaining the mental link while directing dozens of light orbs for long-range strikes.

Their cooperation was seamless, like an elite squad that had been trained for many years.

The Crystal Spire squad immediately adopted a defensive posture, but the cooperation of the clones was too tacit, and they seemed to be able to predict their every move.

Jacqueline's lightning net was avoided in advance, Noren's silk thread traps missed, and even Elliott's wind blades only managed to scratch a few clones.

In less than ten minutes, Elliott's squad was beaten back steadily, having to retreat to the edge of the platform.

Their defensive line was precarious, while the clones fought more bravely as they fought, every attack more fierce than the last.

"This won't do!" Elliott's brow furrowed, his brain quickly thinking of countermeasures.

If they continued to defend passively like this, they would be defeated one by one sooner or later. They must break this situation and turn the tide of the battle.

Suddenly, he thought of a means that might turn the tide.

"Everyone, act according to the 'Star Fall' plan!"

Elliott gave the order, while taking out a small hexagonal crystal device from his storage bag.

This was a precious alchemical item he borrowed from the family treasury—"Starry Sky Whisperer," which had a processed and weakened starry sky whisper sealed inside.

The raw materials for making this kind of device are extremely rare, requiring the extraction of special metals from meteorites falling from the starry sky, and then modulation through complex alchemical procedures.

Finally, it also needs to be sealed by a wizard with extremely powerful and stable mental power, capturing the whisper syllables.

The entire process not only requires a lot of resources but also carries extremely high risks.

It is said that a genius alchemist once, when sealing the whispers, was backlashed by the power of the starry sky due to mental power fluctuations, turning into a hollow shell on the spot, only repeating those mysterious syllables, and was eventually executed by the school.

Precisely because of this, in the entire Crystal Spire, there are no more than twenty such devices, each of which is worth a fortune and is a true strategic resource.

Under normal circumstances, this kind of device is mainly used to counter certain specific abyssal creatures because starry sky whispers have a natural suppression effect on abyssal power.

But through his research on the device, he found that it also has an effect on any creature or entity with abyssal characteristics.

If not forced, Elliott would not want to easily use this precious item.

After all, after one use, the device will lose most of its energy and needs to go through a long charging process to recover.

And according to his judgment, these clones clearly carry certain characteristics of abyssal creatures and should also be affected.

Elliott quickly informed everyone of the plan:

"If everything is as I expected, these clones will fall into mental confusion for a short time under the link, which is the best time for us to counterattack!"

Lina nodded to show understanding, her fingers moving slightly, strengthening the intensity of the mental link between squad members.

Her eyes closed and opened, a trace of light purple light flashing in her pupils, which was the sign of her fully exerting her talent ability.

Elliott took a deep breath, holding the crystal device with both hands, and injected a trace of mental power.

The hexagonal crystal began to vibrate slightly, and the runes on the surface gradually lit up, forming a complex energy circuit.

"Starry Sky Whisperer, activate!"

The red crystal core in the center of the device instantly lit up with dazzling light, and at the same time emitted a strange low hum.

This sound did not seem to come from the physical world, but was a fluctuation acting directly on the depths of the soul.

Every tone seemed to contain information that could not be understood, making people feel awe after hearing it.

Elliott could feel a strange and ancient power released from the device, pointing directly at clone Lina opposite.

Although this kind of whisper was weakened, it still carried a kind of creepy pressure.

It was like an ancient whisper from the depths of the distant starry sky, and every syllable seemed to contain the possibility of twisting reality.

The effect was almost immediate.

Clone Lina suddenly showed a painful expression, covering her head with both hands, her body trembling violently.

What was even more surprising was that the surrounding clones also showed similar symptoms simultaneously.

Clearly, they were implicated through the mental link.

Their movements became sluggish and uncoordinated, and their attacks lost their previous precision.

"Sure enough..." Elliott revealed a confirmed expression of expectation:

"Clone Lina's inspiration is similar to our Lina, especially good at perceiving various information, but this also makes it more sensitive to starry sky whispers."

He turned to his teammates:

"Now! While they are mentally confused, solve the corresponding clones one by one; we must obtain bloodline enhancement first to avoid long nights and many dreams."

Just as Elliott intended to lead the squad to launch a counterattack, his pair of sensitive large ears suddenly twitched violently.

The frequency was so high that even the edges of the ears became blurred.

A deep-seated fear pierced through his entire body, like an invisible ice cone, straight into his heart.

That feeling was not ordinary fright, but a fear from the deepest part of life's instinct, like a mouse facing a giant python in despair.

"Something is wrong! I must break the mental link!"

Elliott's voice was filled with unprecedented urgency, while instinctively cutting off his mental connection with Lina.

His "Wind Listener" talent was activated in a passive state, which meant that the threat he was about to face even exceeded his estimated range.

That was a warning from the depths of the soul, telling him that a fatal danger was approaching.

Before the other team members could react, a figure wearing an ordinary gray robe walked out slowly from the shadow at the far end of the platform.

That was a handsome young man, looking ordinary on the surface, even somewhat thin; if placed in a crowd, it would be difficult for anyone to look at him more.

(End of chapter)