novelraw Chapter 124: The Roach That Hunts the Ant
Chapter 124: The Roach That Hunts the Ant
"This guy..."
Spencer's face darkened; he never expected Fly to be this difficult to deal with.
But, a tactic of this level wasn't enough to stump him.
Realizing this, Spencer sprinted at full speed in one direction, attempting to break through Fly's "encirclement."
But who would have thought, Fly seemed to sense his intentions, matching his movement speed and continuing to run erratic circles around him.
All while circling, he continued to scrutinize Spencer's body.
"Roar!"
Enraged, Spencer unleashed a barrage of roars at Fly.
Attempting to intimidate him and force him to back off!
If it were an ordinary Beast Warrior, their legs might have turned to jelly from the sheer intimidation of that roar.
But how could Fly possibly fear this gargantuan beast?
After observing him carefully, Fly began to close in on Spencer.
This sudden move caught Spencer slightly off guard.
So this kid Fly is finally coming in for a head-on clash. Spencer seized the moment and hurled the boulder in his hand.
BOOM!
The boulder smashed into the arena floor, triggering a deafening explosion.
Fly deftly dodged it, capitalizing on the opening created by Spencer's unwieldy turning mechanics after throwing the rock. He darted around to Spencer's back, leaping from the ground and lunging directly onto Spencer's body.
Fly reached out, his fingers grabbing a fistful of Spencer's hair in an iron grip. Then, he yanked downward with all his might. Combining his own physical strength with the force of gravity, he ripped at the hair so viciously that Spencer let out an agonizing howl.
But Fly didn't let go; instead, he raised his left arm. Activating his Skill, Steelbone Blades, he viciously plunged the blade straight toward the muscles on Spencer's shoulder.
However, Spencer's Beast Totem was The Mammoth Ant Tyrant after all. His skin had transformed into an exoskeleton as hard as an ant's, providing a layer of defense. Fly's first proactive strike actually failed to pierce all the way through.
Simultaneously, feeling the pain, Spencer began to violently thrash his body, desperately trying to shake Fly off.
His massive hands constantly swatted toward his back, aiming for Fly.
Sensing the incoming danger, Fly twisted his hand a few times, wrapping Spencer's hair firmly around his own fist. His body swung freely in the air, narrowly evading the massive hands swatting at him.
Next, Fly swung his left arm, viciously slashing the Steelbone Blade across his own chest.
Seeing this, commentator Winston Hayes looked utterly shocked. "Could it be that Fly has been scared out of his mind by Spencer?"
But a second later, the thick, viscous liquid seeping from Fly's wound coated the blade.
Even though this acidic blood is highly corrosive, there are always materials in this world capable of resisting its acidity.
Fly muttered inwardly, keeping a close eye on Spencer's every move.
Upon closer inspection, one could see a bright metallic sheen flickering across Fly's Steelbone Blade. To fully unleash the power of his acidic blood, he had specifically commissioned a Warrior Gear manufacturer to forge a batch of sharpened metal casings perfectly tailored to the size of his blades.
This way, not only would Fly's Steelbone Blades be immune to the acidic corrosion, but their lethality would also be further amplified.
However, doing so would ultimately degrade the durability of the metal sheaths.
Had he not been facing an opponent as formidable as Spencer, Fly wouldn't have resorted to this trick.
Squelch!
Empowered by the acidic blood, the exoskeleton on Spencer's skin melted on contact. The previously impenetrable armor was effortlessly sliced open, and blood erupted from Spencer's shoulder, spraying into the air like a flurry of dancing crimson butterflies.
Relying on his acid-coated blade, Fly managed to anchor himself securely.
He swung his body, executing a nimble flip, and landed squarely on Spencer's shoulder.
The acidic blood dripping from the wound on Fly's chest melted away large swathes of the steel-like exoskeleton on Spencer's skin, exposing the original human flesh underneath. Fly plunged his Steelbone Blade down once more, slicing directly through the flesh and blood.
Reeling from the pain, Spencer's temper flared into a violent rage.
Moving past merely thrashing his body, he began to buck wildly, his legs driving him upward as he constantly leaped off the ground.
He was trying to use the inertia of his jumps and falls to violently buck Fly off!
His hands frantically grabbed at the rubble, repeatedly smashing it toward Fly perched on his shoulder.
Even at the risk of injuring himself, Spencer didn't hesitate for a second.
However, Fly stuck to him like glue, utterly impossible to shake off.
Instead, it was the arena floor that was being pulverized into pieces by Spencer's chaotic rampage.
Unlawfully taken from NovelBin, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Piercing screams erupted from the surrounding spectator stands.
This reaction wasn't born out of fear, but rather...
Sheer exhilaration!
In their eyes, Fly was like a lithe matador, firmly riding atop a maddened bull.
As long as he didn't get thrown off, he actually had a chance to win!
In fact, Fly's tenacity had far exceeded all their expectations.
After a few attempts, Fly grew increasingly adept at his maneuvers.
He was no longer satisfied with just Spencer's shoulder. He repeatedly wrenched the acid-soaked blade out of Spencer's back, only to plunge it right back in. With every strike, the acidic blood flowing from the wounds corroded chunk after chunk of the exoskeleton on Spencer's back.
Through this relentless assault, Fly completely dismantled the defenses on Spencer's back.
"You bastard!"
Spencer was thoroughly enraged by this tactic, hysterical roars tearing from the depths of his throat.
Yet Fly remained glued to his back, entirely within his blind spot!
Restricted by his joints, Spencer's arms simply couldn't reach far enough behind him.
For a moment, all he could do was clench his fists and blindly hammer at his own back.
The bamboo basket filled with boulders on his back had long since crashed to the ground.
The blades on Fly's forearms were also covered in sensory hairs capable of detecting microscopic disturbances in the air currents. Empowered by this ability, Fly easily dodged every single one of Spencer's frantic punches.
Thanks to the acid-laced blades, Spencer's back had long been reduced to a mangled mess. And now, Fly had his blade aimed squarely at Spencer's spine.
Oh, shit...
Spencer's eyes bulged like a raging bull's. It was only at this moment that he finally realized how dire his situation was, a profound sense of dread welling up inside him.
"Fly, what the hell are you trying to do?!"
Sweating bullets in pure terror, Spencer screamed hysterically.
However, after gigantifying, Spencer's biceps and fists were simply too massive!
Even when blindly hammering his own back, there were regions he simply couldn't reach!
And Fly had pinpointed this exact flaw.
"You are incredibly formidable. You're right; you absolutely have the right to be arrogant. It's just a shame... you ran into me."
Fly stated evenly, his eyes locked on Spencer's spine.
Squeezing even more acidic blood from his wound onto his blade, he ruthlessly hacked down into Spencer's spine.
Instantly, a blood-curdling scream echoed throughout the entire stadium, making everyone's scalp tingle with dread.
The hands Spencer had been wildly swinging instantly lost all their strength, dropping limply to his sides.
Then, Spencer's colossal frame collapsed with a thunderous crash, kicking up a massive cloud of dust that rolled outward.
Fly executed a nimble flip, landing gracefully on the ground. Then, opening his mouth, he spat out a white egg sac.
Regardless of anything else, The Jade State League required all competitors to register any clones they planned to reveal before the match.
During the early stages of the group matches, a competitor was only allowed to use a cumulative total of three clones.
Encountering an opponent as troublesome as Spencer right in the opening match, Fly couldn't guarantee he wouldn't run into even tougher opponents later on.
The quota for these clones was strictly limited; use one, lose one. They had to be used with the utmost discretion.
Therefore, after some careful deliberation, Fly had found a loophole in the rules.
The rules only state that you can't 'use' more than three clones, but they never said you couldn't 'spawn' a new clone mid-match. Therefore, a clone 'spawned' during the battle shouldn't count against the quota, Fly mused to himself.
The performance of this Mammoth Ant Tyrant totem was undeniably impressive. If he could fuse it with his own Beast Totem, his strength would definitely skyrocket to a whole new level.
The egg sac Fly spat out rapidly split open, and a tiny, white Spectral Roach larva leaped out from within, lunging directly onto Spencer's body.
Six powerful legs granted the Spectral Roach exceptional gripping capabilities.
It scuttled swiftly across Spencer's body, reaching his head in the blink of an eye.
With his spine severed by Fly, Spencer only had mobility in his upper body. However, the Spectral Roach weighed practically nothing; to him, it felt like nothing more than a mosquito landing on his skin, completely imperceptible.
Furthermore, Spencer's eyes were blinded by the kicked-up dust, leaving him unable to see what was happening.
Compounded by the Spectral Roach's blistering speed, by the time the dust slowly settled, it had already crawled onto his face.
"Aaaaaargh!"
A harrowing shriek tore through the air as Spencer thrashed his head frantically, his eyes bulging like an infuriated bull.
However, his spine was severed after all. In his panicked state, he simply couldn't shake off the Spectral Roach.
His Adam's apple bobbed erratically as he swallowed hard in sheer panic, his vision spinning wildly while a deafening ringing filled his ears.
"No, it's impossible, don't—"
Finally, the Spectral Roach crawled onto the bridge of his nose, baring its vicious mandibles before sinking them brutally into his eye.
"AGHHHH—"
An even more agonizing scream erupted.
The referee finally stepped forward from the sidelines, took a deep breath, and began the countdown.
"Ten, nine, eight..."
Every number the referee counted down felt like a knife twisting into Spencer's heart.
Damn it, damn it! I can still fight, I can still stand up... Spencer screamed hysterically in his mind, desperately fantasizing that he could somehow rise to his feet again.
He saw the wound on Fly's chest still dripping blood; he was convinced Fly was also running on fumes.
If I just stand up, if I just push one more time, I might be able to turn this around!
Spencer kept consoling himself internally.
But this so-called miracle never materialized.
As the referee called the final number, the outcome of the match was officially set in stone.
The referee walked slowly over to Fly, grabbed his wrist, and hoisted his arm high into the air. "Group stage, round one, match one! The winner is Fly from Star City High!"
The moment the words left his mouth.
Thunderous applause erupted across the spectator stands.
"That was amazing!"
"Way to go, Fly!"
"I honestly thought Grand River High was going to take it. After all, Spencer's Mammoth Ant Tyrant completely outclassed Fly in raw power."
"Right? Tossing ton-heavy boulders like pebbles... that strength was just terrifying! I never expected Fly to exploit his weakness and take him down in one fell swoop."
"Absolutely spectacular! I never thought we'd see a battle this good in the group stages!"
"Hahaha, I only bought a group stage ticket because I couldn't scalp one for the knockouts. Just came here for the vibe, but damn, this was incredible! Worth every penny."
...
For a while, the stands were buzzing with heated discussions.
Everyone had expected a one-sided beatdown, yet Fly had pulled off an incredible "David vs. Goliath" upset.
"So, Fly actually pulled out the win," Vera chuckled.
Before the match began, both commentators heavily favored Spencer from Grand River High.
Especially when Spencer revealed his Mammoth Ant Tyrant totem, Vera had racked her brains but couldn't fathom a single scenario where Fly could win.
Yet astonishingly, Fly displayed an incredibly high combat IQ. Capitalizing on Spencer's unwieldy turning speed, he launched a decisive strike and secured the victory in one fell swoop.
"Indeed," Winston Hayes chimed in awkwardly, feeling a flush of embarrassment.
Before the match, he had been endlessly hyping up Spencer.
Who would have thought Spencer would be all bark and no bite.
By the later stages of the fight, he was practically being completely dominated by Fly.
But...
This slap to the face didn't make Winston Hayes feel bitter.
"I have to say, Fly is truly remarkable. Through calm analysis and decisive tactics, he found his path to victory in one decisive move."
"Especially when he realized his attacks couldn't breach Spencer's skin defenses. He didn't hesitate to injure himself, lacing his weapon with his own blood to melt right through Spencer's armor."
"To devise such a countermeasure in a blinding split second... even some established Beast Warriors might not have executed it better."
Before The Jade State League kicked off, Winston Hayes had meticulously reviewed the footage of the Freshman Invitationals hosted by various cities.
From what he recalled, Fly's blood hadn't possessed this armor-melting property back then.
It seemed Fly had grown significantly stronger in just half a month.
"Perhaps..."
"Fly might just be the biggest dark horse of this entire group stage."
Having witnessed Fly's combat prowess firsthand, Winston Hayes had completely turned into a fanboy, changing his tune to crown Fly as the biggest dark horse.
"Absolutely," Vera wholeheartedly agreed. "Who knows, this year's Jade State League might just turn out to be the most spectacular one in recent years."