Chapter 192 : Chapter 192

Chapter 192: Spell Suppression and Battle Strategy

“If you were looking for an excuse to leave because of what just happened, you really didn't have to tell me you wanted a match.”

After Tan Han brought me into a randomly opened arena, she spoke to me.

“You think I was just making a random excuse?”

I smiled and looked at Tan Han, “Was I that obvious?”

“I've seen many people like you, who aren't very good at handling big scenes. Most of them end up in awkward situations, but you're the first person I've met who is powerful yet still not good at handling such scenes.”

Tan Han responded with a smile, “Of course, I'm not trying to say…”

“Your judgment of people is a bit frightening.”

I sighed.

Had it been too long since I've interacted with others?

Or had I still not adapted to the sudden change even now?

What kind of existences were around me before, and what kind of people are around me now?

If things were still the same as before, I would definitely not be used to it.

It was like now, any of my actions could be seen through by others, from which they could deduce my shallow inner thoughts.

“Reading people is also a skill. Perhaps you can get used to it in advance. After all, the level you'll be interacting with in the future will no longer be as superficial as your past.”

“Thanks for the reminder.”

My gaze wandered a bit.

Although I could take in what Tan Han said, I couldn't guarantee that I could change.

I could only use the environment here to divert my attention.

This was a battle space that Tan Han had randomly opened.

The random terrain was a desert, and the weather was overcast.

In the distance, there was a dark celestial phenomenon that looked like a sandstorm was about to brew.

In reality, I had never seen such a sight, but here it was just a backdrop for a battle space.

“Hehe, don't mind what I said. I was just making a suggestion. Some people are destined not to abide by the existing rules.”

Tan Han turned and took two steps.

Her shoes sank slightly into the yellow sand, and the footprints she left behind were eventually covered by the sand, turning into shallow pits.

“The atmosphere now feels pretty good. Although a winner was decided in our last match, I don't think it can be considered the final result. How about another round?”

“Alright then, who's to blame but me for finding such a reason?”

I wiped my palms slightly and looked at Tan Han, who had already drawn her magic wand.

The corner of my mouth still couldn't help but twitch.

“By the way, where did you get this magic wand?”

“Don't you know? If you had looked, you would know there's a shop in the Dream State. Currently, many items in the shop are on a limited free trial for us contestants. I can give you some time to choose a wand you like, and then we can start our match.”

“Well, thank you very much for that.”

With this reminder, I also quickly found the shop Tan Han mentioned.

As soon as I opened it, it was filled with all sorts of limited-time free trials, a privilege provided to the contestants of this academy exchange competition.

Without further ado, I flipped to the magic wand section and picked the sturdiest one.

This short wand had some weight to it when I held it.

A few swings and I quickly got the hang of it.

“Alright, I've chosen. How do we start the battle? Do we count down together?”

I asked curiously.

“That's not necessary. This is the Dream State battleground, so of course there's a countdown. You just need to confirm it. The countdown is three seconds.”

“That's really convenient.”

I clicked on the battle preparation that popped up in front of me, and a loud countdown sound echoed in my ears.

“Three... two... one, match start!”

With the announcement of the match's start, both Tan Han and I reacted swiftly.

Body Strengthening, Perception Enhancement, Energy Shield, Shield Protection.

Both Tan Han and I chose to apply enhancements to ourselves at the first moment, because the very beginning was the best opportunity to cast this type of spell.

Otherwise, in the subsequent battle, the opponent would not give such an opportunity, and one would be at a disadvantage right from the start.

Of course, one could also take this opportunity to launch a preemptive sneak attack.

That was what Tan Han did with her wand last time, but she didn't choose to do so this time.

Instead, the one who chose to make such a sneak attack was me.

Illusory Clone, a spell very suitable for a sneak attack at the very beginning, or rather, a spell for interference.

But Tan Han clearly didn't fall for this.

She let the Illusory Clone's attack hit her.

Although Tan Han still subconsciously dodged at the moment of attack, her mental fortitude was still very strong.

One must know that the modded Illusory Clone was much more flexible; it could even cast “spells”.

Although the cast spells had no power, they looked really intimidating.

“Aren't you afraid it's the real one?”

I provoked with a smile.

“I watched your Illusory Clone being modded bit by bit. How could I possibly mistake it?”

Tan Han didn't hesitate and took the current opportunity to use a transformation spell, but it wasn't the Ancient Glacial Ice spell.

She couldn't use it yet, as her magic power source wasn't that large.

She used a Beast Transformation, a comprehensive spell that enhances all of her own abilities.

“But you still dodged at the end.”

While I was trash-talking, I waved my hand and five evocation spells forced Tan Han back.

Tan Han's transformation spell was a tiger-person transformation.

I found that tiger-person transformations seemed to be popular among transformation spells; many prototype spellbooks had this one, but Tan Han's was not a simple tiger-person transformation spell.

The lightning flashing around her body directly withstood the fastest Lightning Strike Spell.

A spell that was enough to trap that blood clan member in a death loop, when faced with this transformation spell, she took it without even a shield, which showed its extremely strong defense and high lightning elemental damage reduction.

However, after a Wind Blade dealt damage to Tan Han's tiger claw, Tan Han also got a general idea of its power and her own tolerance.

For the next few spells, she relied on her powerful physical qualities and reaction speed to dodge them, and the price of dodging was having the distance between us pulled apart.

For transformation spells that relied on powerful physical qualities, distance was the most out-of-reach defense.

Unless the opponent's transformation spell was to transform into some kind of caster race that could perform ranged attacks.

“Your evocation spells are quite powerful.”

Tan Han canceled her transformation spell.

Perhaps out of caution, she didn't start with a powerful spell as she did the first time, because that would be useless, and after a few times, she would be spent, making it a battle with no suspense.

So after understanding this aspect, Tan Han also began to value the importance of basic consumption spellbooks.

Perhaps it couldn't decide the outcome in one fell swoop, but it was a guarantee for strategic plays during a battle.

Therefore, she desperately needed other ideas to break the situation.

“You already know the reason, don't you? Tan Han, where are your powerful spells? Don't be timid in the second battle.”

As I spoke, I intermittently harassed Tan Han during the gaps.

At this moment, Tan Han was under immense pressure.

Not only did she have to dodge the incessant evocation spells, but this time, dodging the evocation spells didn't mean she was safe.

Take the Wind Blade and Fireball for example, the arcing trajectory and turning sneak attacks of the spell effects were enough to give her a headache, so these kinds of spells couldn't just be dodged; she had to either block them head-on with a shield or cancel out the spell effects.

And amidst all this, there was the interference of the Illusory Clone, and there was more than one Illusory Clone.

She needed to be careful to distinguish them.

Sometimes, even the spell effects could be the false effects of an Illusory Clone.

The main goal was to accelerate her consumption.

Just from this initial contact, Tan Han understood what was called spell firepower suppression, and to break the situation now required a more powerful spell.

Casting a powerful spell took time, which meant she had to tank several spell effects head-on.

But the problem was that the power of the opponent's spell effects also far exceeded that of ordinary basic consumption spells.

Her protective spells of the same level had become one-time use spells, completely insufficient for her to break the situation without getting injured.

And at this moment, facing such a battle again, I also felt a difference from the stomping I did in the challenge rooms.

Although I was still casting spells, this time it wasn't about reaping, but more like a strategic game, just that I had the upper hand for now.

“Hehe… you still like summoning and transformation spells.”

In the next moment, Tan Han's strategy for dealing with my suppression suddenly changed.

She directly used a larger number of summoning spells as cannon fodder to buy her time.

And at this moment, Tan Han's aura also changed.

Under the protection of her spell, she still took a Fireball Spell from me, but in exchange, she cast a high-consumption spellbook.

After the transformation spell was cast, her terrifying aura instantly climbed to an extremely high level.

“Have a taste of this!”

Tan Han, wreathed in those terrifying flames, flashed in front of me in an instant, and what greeted me was her massive fist.

“Eh?”

I was also stunned by this “teleportation” technique of Tan Han's at this moment, almost forgetting the move she used to so quickly get in front of that guy when she was teaching that blood clan member a lesson!

You didn't use it when I was suppressing you with spells earlier, but you pull this move on me when I'm relaxed, huh?

Doesn't this kind of teleportation spell have any kind of preparation preamble?

But at this moment, I had no time to think about such things.

The only Energy Shield and Shield Protection I had on me, one for energy defense, one for physical defense, they definitely wouldn't last long under this blow.

Just this one hit, and signs of crumbling appeared.

The next moment, it completely shattered.

Even the fastest stacking of Energy Shields at this moment felt like a drop in the bucket.

“Blind.”

So I directly chose to escape with a flashbang.

The Energy Shield couldn't block this deliberate, charged-up strike, but it was enough to buy me time.

“You can't escape!”

Tan Han, who had enhanced her five senses, naturally wouldn't lose her target just because she was blinded.

This move of hers was for the purpose of getting close now, and then delivering a fatal blow!

“Protection of the Fire Elemental Spirit!”

A high-pitched angry shout rang out in front of Tan Han, instantly arousing her vigilance, followed by a wave of heat that swept over.

After Tan Han dispersed the blinding effect, what was in front of her was no longer the Protection of the Fire Elemental Spirit that was suppressed by her transformation spell.

This was the effect of a high-consumption spellbook, which also had fire elemental damage reduction, giving her a chance to not be defeated even if she was approached.

“Casting a high-consumption spellbook so quickly? Wait a minute…”

The moment Tan Han asked this soul-searching question, she herself came to an answer.

The source of that terrifying heatwave also hit her body.

It was a Fireball Spell, but for this transformation with fire elemental damage reduction, the damage was not significant.

“Of course not.”

My voice came from the side, and then the sensation of the tip of the magic wand pressed against her body, but the next moment it directly pierced into Tan Han's side ribs.

I only discovered this after using this magic wand.

This wand's only characteristic wasn't just its sturdiness.

A sturdy wand didn't have too many benefits, so the real purpose of this wand was the solidified sharpness on it and the armor-piercing transcendent characteristic at its tip.

It was precisely because it needed to carry this solidified characteristic that this wand needed to be so sturdy.

“Modded Fireball.”

A powerful modded Fireball Spell was about to implode inside Tan Han's body.

“Hehe… I was tricked by the Illusory Clone again.”

After understanding, Tan Han calmly accepted the fact of her defeat.

Battles were like this.

Unless it was a war of attrition, victory and defeat were always decided in an instant.

Even though her hidden trump card, teleportation, had caused the opponent great trouble, the opponent's Illusory Clone, which she had gotten used to, became the final blow.

It felt a bit ironic.

And the next moment, the terrifying explosion from within her body brought her unbearable intense pain and injuries.

Even the powerful physical qualities brought by the transformation spell couldn't withstand it.

Moreover, this strike seemed to have exploded right at the core of this transformation spell, and it triggered a spell backlash.

Even the spell effect dissipated at this moment.

The dissipation of the transformation spell took away most of the injuries caused by the implosion, but even what was left was enough to make her fragile body unable to sustain itself.

That magic wand was just stuck in Tan Han's side ribs until death was confirmed.

After Tan Han confirmed her revival, the magic wand fell to the ground.

At this moment, Tan Han also remembered the rumor online that Little Han was a transformation spell killer looking at it now, it was not an exaggeration at all...

She was defeated again while in a transformation spell state, but this time there were no spectators, only the endless yellow sand and the two combatants.

And the outcome of this match would not be known by a third person.

“What a wonderful battle. Let's go again.”

After Tan Han revived, she subconsciously touched her side ribs.

It seemed the phantom pain hadn't disappeared upon revival.

Perhaps this was because her brain hadn't adapted yet.

Even the spell backlash, Tan Han felt like it hadn't completely dissipated yet, but this didn't stop her from calling for another round.

“Sure, the unexpected wins and losses always make everyone feel that they were just one step away,” I said with a smile.

The accelerated heartbeat caused by the shock of Tan Han's teleportation just now wasn't fake, and it also made me understand that in a real life-and-death moment, there was no such thing as a last-minute comeback against all odds, only instinctive victory.

And turning many things into instinct required more practical combat to constantly repeat.

If I hadn't previously envisioned the coordinated use of Blind and Illusory Clone, could I have set up a trap in such a short time?

I couldn't have.

It was like a spellbook.

Without a thorough understanding of it, how could new inspiration burst forth in a critical moment?

It seemed that at this moment I discovered no, I experienced a new way of thinking about modding spells.

Before, I had been thinking about bursting with inspiration during battle, and now, I was personally trying to burst with inspiration!

If I used the “Flexible Learning and Application Spell” during battle, wouldn't this process be even more effective?

And this was the main reason why I agreed to another round with Tan Han.

Using Tan Han as a training partner was a process no one would dare to imagine, and besides, Tan Han was enjoying it, wasn't she?