Across the dozens of screens on campus, before the eyes of a thousand students watching the live broadcast, the battlefield underwent a dramatic transformation.
The fissure reached Jett's feet and, in the blink of an eye, widened explosively.
A low, haunting "wooo—" sound emanated from within the chasm, like the wind howling through a desolate valley, or perhaps a death sonata playing its opening notes.
A chill ran down Jett's spine.
He wanted to escape, but there was nowhere to run.
The chasm had already expanded to a hundred-meter radius and was still growing. A deafening roar assaulted him from all directions.
Finally, the ground beneath him completely shattered. Before the thousands of watching students, a colossal pillar of water erupted from the earth!
It's groundwater!
The groundwater from beneath the virtual battleground!
Fly had actually used the environment to his advantage, drawing the subterranean river to the surface.
The massive water column instantly launched Jett into the sky. A moment later, he plummeted back down into the fissure, which was now a churning pool of subterranean water.
Panic-stricken, Jett struggled desperately, trying to escape his predicament and get back on solid ground.
His efforts, however, were futile. He couldn't break free from the water-filled abyss, and instead, he found himself sinking deeper and deeper.
It felt as if something within the dark chasm, from the very depths of the abyss, was pulling him down.
Finally, under the watchful eyes of thousands of students and teachers, Jett was dragged completely into the fissure, disappearing from sight.
Utterly dumbfounded.
That was the only expression that could be seen on the faces of the students watching the broadcast.
This was Jett they were watching! The prodigy who had trained in martial arts since childhood, the eleventh-ranked student in their year. And yet, he had been caught in a trap without even launching a single attack.
The battleground's cameras could no longer capture either of the combatants. No one knew what was happening beneath the surface, and no one could possibly imagine the state of Jett's mind. The arena was empty, save for the massive pillar of water that continued to gush from the fractured earth.
There was no sign of human life on the battlefield, only the rushing sound of water. In front of the screens, the students were just as silent, their eyes glued to the live feed in tense anticipation.
An unknown amount of time passed.
Three minutes, maybe five.
At last, there was movement in the arena.
The fissure finally "spat" Jett out, casting him back onto the surface.
He was trembling visibly. His clothes were torn to shreds, barely covering his body, and blood dripped continuously from his wounds.
His lips moved, as if he were whispering something.
Who am I?
Where am I?
What am I doing?
And...
What in the world was that thing?
Is Fly's Beast Totem really a cockroach?
How could it be so terrifying?
Could the cockroach just be a front? Is his real Beast Totem something far more horrifying... a Mythical Species?
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Yes!
That has to be it!
He had always been at the top of his class in middle school. Plus, his family had trained him in martial arts since he was a boy... He was confident he could handle any kind of direct assault, but what just happened...
Thud!
After suffering an unprecedented blow to his psyche, Jett completely lost his will to fight. He collapsed onto the ground, his face ashen, and remained in a daze for a long time.
Fly stood not far away.
He had reappeared at some point, looking completely unharmed, aside from his soaking wet clothes.
"Contestant Jett has lost the will to battle. Therefore, the winner of this duel is—Contestant Fly!" As the Arbiter Drone announced the result, the virtual space began to dissolve.
Within a few breaths, Fly and Jett were back in the real world.
A large crowd of students had already gathered at the cafeteria entrance. The moment the two reappeared, a storm of discussion erupted.
"Hey, hey, what happened? Jett actually suffered a crushing defeat?"
"Fly is really something else, hiding his true strength. Who could have predicted he had a move like that?"
"But Jett's Beast Totem is a Primal Species, a Spinosaurus! How did he get taken out in an instant?"
...
Although they all knew that Fly, ranked seventh, was slightly higher than Jett, who was ranked eleventh, his Beast Totem was still just a cockroach. In terms of quality, it was far inferior to Jett's Spinosaurus. In the world of Beast Warriors, it was common for a weaker fighter with a rarer, more powerful Beast Totem to defeat a stronger opponent.
After all, a cockroach, no matter how strong, was still just a cockroach. A dinosaur, no matter how weak, was still a dinosaur.
Because of this, almost no one had favored Fly before the fight began.
But now, to everyone's astonishment... Fly had won!
Some might have found it hard to believe, but the stark contrast in the two contestants' conditions forced them to accept the outcome. Reality, after all, does not lie.
At that moment, Fly stood amidst the crowd, an expression of nonchalant calm on his face.
Meanwhile, the arrogant Jett, who had just challenged him, was slumped on the ground, dazed and disoriented.
How did he do it?
What method did Fly possibly use?
It turned out that the moment Fly saw his opponent's Beast Totem was a Primal Species Spinosaurus, he had decided on his strategy: he would not fight with brute force, but with intelligence.
Cockroaches were naturally skilled at digging and burrowing. Empowered by the "Steelbone Blades" Skill, this ability became even more efficient. And during the process of digging, Fly had detected a massive reservoir of groundwater hidden beneath the battleground.
This water was trapped in the fissures of rock and soil, already under immense pressure. All Fly needed to do was loosen the layers of earth and rock between the water and the surface, and the immense pressure would do the rest, bursting through to the ground above.
And the place where Fly chose to loosen the earth was right beneath Jett's feet.
That was why Jett had witnessed the ground cracking open and heard those ghostly wails.
Fear is humanity's greatest enemy.
To defeat an opponent, the best method is to first make them feel fear. Then, even if you do nothing, they will defeat themselves.
Fly's plan was a psychological attack.
Even if Jett hadn't been terrified, his mind would have been thrown into chaos. And a chaotic mind gives an opponent an opening.
The subsequent eruption of the water column completely shattered Jett's composure, sending him into a full-blown panic.
Fly seized this opportunity, dragging Jett into the fissure for the final showdown. Or rather, it was a one-sided assault.
When a person is trapped in fear and panic, shrouded in total darkness, with no idea where their enemy is, can they possibly mount an effective counterattack?
Fly, however, could adapt to such darkness.
The barbs on a cockroach's legs are covered in fine, minuscule sensory hairs connected to its nervous system. These hairs can perceive ground vibrations, the texture of surfaces, and even the flow of air.
Fly's "Steelbone Blades" Skill was modeled after these barbs, so the metallic blades protruding from his arms were naturally covered in these same sensory hairs. This allowed him to clearly perceive his surroundings, even in complete darkness.
Therefore, the final step of Fly's strategy was to move the battlefield to a location that was disadvantageous to his opponent but advantageous to him.
Under the influence of all these factors, Jett's defeat was inevitable. And it was a crushing defeat.
At the entrance of the school cafeteria, the students were still buzzing with discussion, all trying to guess what had transpired within the dark fissure of the battleground.
Suddenly, a student exclaimed, "Could it be that the cockroach was just a cover? Maybe Fly's Beast Totem is also a rare Primal Species!"
This single comment made the crowd explode. Countless pairs of eyes turned to Fly, and some of the newer students couldn't help but feel a shiver run down their spines.
"That must be it! There's no other explanation!"
"To be able to take down Jett's Primal Species, Fly's Beast Totem must be a Primal Species too!"
"Just what kind of monsters are these top-ten prodigies?!"
...
For a moment, many began to look at Jett with sympathetic eyes.
Before this, they had thought Jett was just unlucky to be ranked eleventh. Now, it seemed there was indeed a vast gap between the top ten and everyone else.
But Fly paid no mind to these comments, nor did he feel any sense of pride.
Because he knew this was only the beginning.
He could, and would, become much stronger.
...
"To use the terrain to turn a disadvantage into an advantage... that was a brilliant fight."
On a teaching building near the cafeteria, a male and a female student, around the same age as Fly, had been watching everything unfold.
"Jett, with his Primal Species, is certainly not weak. You could even call him a 'genius.' It's just that he ran into a different kind of genius."
"The kind of genius who can comprehensively analyze the environment, psychology, and his own strengths in battle, and utilize them to their absolute fullest."
"Perhaps... we should re-evaluate his strength."
...