Chapter 21: Ding! The Buzzkill Of Annihilation
The first Wind Blade targeted the Porcupine Beast’s face. He instinctively lowered his head and curled up tightly.
His body rolled into a ball shape, and his forward charging form changed to spherical rolling.
“Good job!”
Jiang Yan got excited and swung his fist forcefully, as if wanting to release the pent-up frustration in his chest.
This Porcupine Beast was also one he had carefully selected at the Spirit Beast hall. Although not yet one year old, it had already mastered the Porcupine Charge skill.
Smack, smack—two Wind Blades smashed into the Porcupine Beast’s spikes, while another Wind Blade grazed its body, narrowly dodged by him.
Spikes broke off all over the ground, and the Porcupine Beast’s forward advance speed was much slower than at the start.
After Big Willow was ready, it fired Wind Blades in succession again.
When the third Wind Blade smashed into the Porcupine Beast’s spikes, it completely broke his charging form.
The Porcupine Beast was forced to uncurl its body, but the entire arena diameter was only about 15 meters. At this point, he had already advanced half the distance.
Dodging the next Wind Blade, the Porcupine Beast gathered Spiritual Power in its tail.
Its originally short tail stood up high, and the spikes covering the tail exploded outward one after another, making the tail appear even fluffier.
“That’s it! Hao Ke, use Tail Arrow Needles!”
“Hmph ha.”
After preparing for a moment, the Porcupine Beast shot several tail spikes from its tail, flying straight toward Big Willow.
Big Willow’s previously fired Wind Blades in the air blocked half of the spikes.
“Big Willow, Willow Whip.”
“Liu Gu”
The remaining seven or eight spikes were closing in on the willow tree. Big Willow swung Willow Whips, knocking them down one by one.
While Big Willow was dealing with the Tail Arrow Needles, the Porcupine Beast took the chance to close in, now only a few steps away from Big Willow.
“Hao Ke, charge in!”
Jiang Yan stood in the distance, shouting hoarsely with clenched fists.
“Be careful, Ge Bai.”
He Le Yao anxiously called out a reminder from the edge of the arena, her fingertips turning white as she gripped the edge. The crowd watching from the Teaching Building windows and corridors also erupted in murmurs.
On site, only Big Willow and Ge Bai remained exceptionally calm.
Big Willow immediately switched its Spiritual Power Circulation form, infusing Spiritual Power into the entire Willow Threads.
Upon close observation, four or five Willow Threads in various directions were shimmering with spiritual power-infused light.
These Willow Threads were hidden among the numerous fluttering ones, ready to strike at any moment.
The Porcupine Beast charged into the Willow Threads’ attack range.
Whoosh—two Willow Threads struck from left and right in succession, completely sealing off his path forward.
The Willow Whip’s attack range and Attack Power were stronger than Wind Blade, not weaker.
One Willow Whip struck straight at the Porcupine Beast’s face, while another flipped him completely onto the ground.
Without stopping, three more Willow Whips followed immediately, all whipping from the left side toward the Porcupine Beast, sending him flying out of the arena bounds.
Jiang Yan stared blankly at the scene before him, gazing at the willow tree with an incredulous expression.
Only when the Porcupine Beast’s pained “hmph ha, hmph ha” whining rang out did he remember his Pet Beast.
“Hao Ke!”
He hurriedly jumped down from the arena, rushed straight to the Porcupine Beast, picked it up, and poured the remaining half bottle of Nutrient Solution into its mouth.
The entire Battle process actually lasted only about 5 minutes, not as long as Jiang Yan’s dawdling before coming on stage.
But the whole Battle had the watching teachers and students boiling with excitement, with discussions rising and falling everywhere.
Ge Bai didn’t pay much attention to the surroundings; this victory was within her expectations.
She walked to the edge of the arena and looked down at the Porcupine Beast drinking Nutrient Solution in Jiang Yan’s arms.
The Public Junior High School was not a professional Battle venue after all, nor did it have frequent student Pet Beast Battles like high school. Healer resources were still a bit weak.
If the Pet Beast was seriously injured, it would be somewhat troublesome.
Now it seemed the Porcupine Beast could still drink the Nutrient Solution, so no big problem.
Ge Bai relaxed, her Spiritual Sense stirring as she tried to retrieve Big Willow into her Spiritual Consciousness Space.
“No, Ge Bai, I don’t want to go back yet.”
The Weeping Ancient Willow, having just won a Battle, was exceptionally excited. Not only were its Willow Threads dancing, but several more quietly wrapped around Ge Bai’s arm.
Seeing Big Willow’s clingy appearance, Ge Bai was helpless.
“Alright then, turn into mini form and hold on to me. We’re leaving.”
This time Big Willow didn’t refuse and happily transformed into a 10-centimeter-tall mini willow, jumping onto Ge Bai’s shoulder.
Ge Bai flipped over, jumped down from the arena, linked arms with the excited and thrilled He Le Yao who rushed up, and headed out.
He Le Yao was about to mock Jiang Yan a couple times but was forcibly dragged away by Ge Bai covering her mouth.
Losing to Ge Bai and the Weeping Ancient Willow was already a big blow to Jiang Yan; no need to kick him while he was down at this point.
They had just walked a couple steps.
When Ge Bai heard the mechanical voice of the System in her mind.
“System Task (Beginner): Host, together with your Contracted Spirit Plant, defeat (repel) 100 Spirit Plants or Spirit Beasts below First Order, and defeat (repel) 10 Spirit Plants or Spirit Beasts at First Order or above.”
“Task completion deadline: 15 days.”
“Task progress (query anytime): Below First Order (5/100), First Order and above (0/10).”
“Task failure punishment: Annihilation.”
“Tch!”
Ge Bai sighed, checked the time—it had indeed been exactly 24 hours since contracting with Big Willow.
But notifying the beginner task at this juncture, and with failure meaning Annihilation again, was really a buzzkill.
Ge Bai strongly suspected this System was doing it on purpose.
What was up with this task—defeat? Repel? And it already had five progress points.
Thinking carefully, from yesterday to today, Big Willow had only Battled the little monkey Jin Rui and the Porcupine Beast.
Calculating, yesterday it repelled the little monkey twice or three times? She couldn’t quite remember.
Today, this should count as repelling the Porcupine Beast twice.
In a standard Pet Beast Battle, Jiang Yan feeding the Porcupine Beast recovery Nutrient Solution the first time would already count as defeat.
How exactly it calculated still needed testing.
Time was running short; looked like she had to go check out the Martial Arts School on Shangwu Street today.
Pondering this task, Ge Bai zoned out a bit, and He Le Yao noticed.
“What’s up, Ge Bai? What are you thinking? You still haven’t told me what’s the deal with this Weeping Ancient Willow.”
He Le Yao had recovered from the joy of Ge Bai beating up Jiang Yan and was ready to interrogate her friend closely.
Ge Bai snapped back.
“Le Yao, go back and help me submit a fake leave slip. Toss my schoolbag to Wu Da Mi and them to bring back for me. I’m not going back to the classroom.”
Having decided to go to the Martial Arts School on Shangwu Street, Ge Bai didn’t hesitate at all and prepared to act immediately.
“Huh? Where are you going? How long are you taking off? The Final Exam is coming up soon.”
Ge Bai selectively answered.
“Just take leave straight through to the Final Exam. I won’t be coming before the test.”
“Huh???”
He Le Yao was startled by this leave-taking method. Although the Final Exam was only about a week away, was taking leave like this really okay?
Ge Bai looked at her solemnly and nodded.
“Ge Bai, you okay? Heard you fought Jiang Yan? A Pet Beast Battle no less!”
Wu Da Mi dragged Liu Hao and hurried over.
Liu Hao knew Big Willow’s situation and wasn’t anxious, but was pulled along by Wu Da Mi.
“Yeah, I’m fine, don’t worry.”
Ge Bai was eager to go to Shangwu Street and didn’t bother soothing Wu Da Mi.
He Le Yao, on the other hand, eagerly chatted with Wu Da Mi.
“You latecomer, coming so late you missed everything. Let me tell you, it was super exciting just now…”
Seeing the two chatting happily, Ge Bai gave Liu Hao a look.
Liu Hao understood and gave her an OK hand gesture.
Seeing that, Ge Bai parted from them confidently and walked along the path toward the school back gate.
What she didn’t know was that at this moment, the video of the Spirit Plant and Spirit Beast Battle had already been synced to various forums, causing a huge uproar.
