Chapter Thirty-Five: Wang Ningning - Fusion

The teacher looked at the two of them, stretched out his hand, and said, "Let the match begin." Cheng Yuan did not immediately command the little tiger to attack, instead allowing Wang Ningning some time to prepare. After all, if the undefeated Wang Ningning couldn't win here, how could she hope to defeat those repeat students?

Suddenly, Wang Ningning walked behind the massive mud turtle and shouted loudly, "Fusion!" Instantly, the entire audience was shocked. The first thought that came to everyone’s mind was: what? The mud turtle and the explosive tyrant turtle can fuse?

In the next moment, Wang Ningning grabbed the mud turtle’s shell and placed it atop the explosive tyrant turtle’s shell, then let go. The whole arena fell silent. It took Cheng Yuan quite some time to react, finally uttering, "Huh?"

Staring at the turtle-on-turtle formation, it was the first time Cheng Yuan felt his childhood friend was a bit abstract. Fusion existed in this monster world, but Wang Ningning's method—well, perhaps she had brains, but her imagination was even greater.

Wang Ningning stood with her hands on her hips, watching the stunned Cheng Yuan with a touch of pride on her face. "Mud Turtle, Explosive Tyrant Turtle, use Shield Formation." "Shield Formation?" This left Cheng Yuan somewhat at a loss. The next second, both turtles withdrew into their shells. First, the mud turtle formed a water shield, then a layer of earthen wall outside the water shield, and finally fire erupted on the outermost layer, forming a wall of flames. The pale yellow earthen wall formed a two-meter-tall, bottomless, egg-shaped structure—still a double-turtle yellow egg.

The shape left the audience in utter silence. At that moment, they admitted Wang Ningning utterly outclassed them in imagination.

Cheng Yuan stared at the self-igniting egg shield before him, drawing in a sharp breath. It was truly a shield within a shield. But it was not over yet. The level ten Explosive Tyrant Turtle had just learned a special offensive skill: Scorching Fire Stream.

Watching the slowly rising, wave-like flames, Cheng Yuan sighed, "Pretty strong." Wang Ningning’s turtle tactic, though unconventional, had to be acknowledged. Most hatchling monsters faced with this would likely surrender outright. Though her offensive power was low, so was the opponent’s damage against her—an annoying strategy, to be sure.

Being defeated by her would be even more humiliating. Cheng Yuan sighed, pointed at the forming Scorching Fire Stream, and said, "Try a Water Gun." The Wild Marsh Lizard raised its head, then shot a finger-thick stream of water that struck the Scorching Fire Stream, instantly extinguishing the flames.

Wang Ningning was startled, shook her head, "No matter, offense doesn’t matter—defense is my advantage."

Cheng Yuan pointed at the flaming earthen egg, "Hit it again." The Wild Marsh Lizard advanced a few steps, stopping when it felt the heat was too intense, then fired another water gun. The water sizzled, evaporating with a hiss as if poured onto a hot iron pan.

Half a minute later, the Wild Marsh Lizard stopped, looked at Cheng Yuan, its belly empty—no more water to spray. Cheng Yuan immediately understood its meaning: half a minute had accomplished nothing; the flames still burned. "Can’t rely on elemental countering—must go head-to-head." He addressed the little tiger, which was licking its fur, "Use all available skills and give it a claw."

The little tiger lifted its head, golden light flaring from its paw, the ribbon-like golden glow giving Wang Ningning a sense of danger. She quickly shook her head, "Impossible. It hasn’t reached the adult stage yet." Wang Ningning was confident that as long as she remained in the hatchling stage, with few competitors, no one could break her defenses.

The teachers below watched the golden glow spreading across the little tiger’s entire paw with some confusion. "Why does it look like Piercing Claw?" Then they shook their heads—impossible, it was still a hatchling and couldn’t have mastered such a powerful skill. The next moment, circles of azure wind gathered at the tip of its claw like tangled threads.

With Wind-Companion’s acceleration and dash activated, "That’s quick." The little tiger raised its paw and brought it down. The softly burning flames were first extinguished, then, with the wind, flared up and lashed back at the tiger’s face. But its paw had already struck, smashing through the earthen wall as easily as breaking a biscuit, and barreling into the range of the water shield.

The sharp, forceful claw met water and instantly lost speed; soft overcoming hard was vividly demonstrated. The fire on the tiger’s body interacted with the Wind-Companion passive, making the tiger appear like a fire-type monster, clad in a layer of flame armor.

After thrusting its paw inside, it failed to touch the turtle. Enduring the discomfort of the flames, it rummaged in the water for a moment, then withdrew its paw and stepped back several paces. On its tiger forearm was a clear V-shaped bite mark, with the tip of the V still bleeding.

When the little tiger returned to Cheng Yuan’s side, it rolled on the ground to extinguish the flames on its body, then gazed at the leaking, still-burning earthen egg with a hint of apprehension.

Wang Ningning commanded the mud turtle to repair the earthen wall, which was constantly doused by the leaking water and flames. She looked at Cheng Yuan, filled with shock—she had deployed her highest-level strategy against him, yet he shattered the first layer, broke the second, and attacked the third in a single blow. Had luck not favored her, if the little tiger had caught the turtle shell, it would surely have left a mark.

Whether it was the teachers below or the other students, they were all amazed at both sides’ strength. Though both monsters were hatchlings, their battle styles were clear—Cheng Yuan’s side, with the little tiger’s overwhelming offense smashing through everything; Wang Ningning’s, with her twin-turtle strategy, stacking shields madly, already armored herself, and, within the same rank, nearly impregnable.

The repair work was quickly finished, for the area was less than a paw’s size, and for a mud turtle capable of instantly generating earthen walls, it was not difficult. Yet the flames erupting from the earthen wall made it clear: if that attack had landed, it would have inflicted ongoing damage.

Letting the little tiger forcefully tear it down wasn’t impossible, just exhausting. The eggshell’s surface was fragile, but only when compared to certain things; for a hatchling monster, the earthen egg was tough and self-healing. If brute force was used to destroy it, it would consume energy, making it harder to challenge the repeat students, and worse, if bitten several times, Wang Ningning could overturn the match.

How to break the earthen egg with minimal effort? Cheng Yuan felt brute force was possible but not worthwhile. Watching the proud, hands-on-hips Wang Ningning, he thought it best to defeat her in her most confident domain to crush her spirit. For some reason, Cheng Yuan felt that if he succeeded, Wang Ningning would call him "big brother." He began to think seriously.

Soon, Cheng Yuan had an idea: use a flying monster to grab the egg and drop it from a great height—the simplest method. Unfortunately, neither of his monsters could fly. The outer wall was aflame; inside was water.

Cheng Yuan’s imagination began to expand. Facing an egg like this, there were many ways—even a regenerating shell could be handled. His gaze shifted to the little tiger, who was licking its wound. The tiger sensed his gaze, looked up, and felt its trainer was up to something unusual.