The two freshmen guys nodded without words and entered arena. They wanted to punish the cocky guy.
As they entered, Hai Dafu finally summoned his beast. In flares of silvery star dust from summoning element, an Mid-Servant level Armored Scorpion appeared on arena.
True to name, whole scorpion covered in green armor plates. Tail stinger looked scary but boasted only sharpness – no venom in this species.
Seeing the intimidating summoned beast, the two guys somehow lost their fighting spirit. But under the numerous gazes of the spectators, they managed to pull themselves together and prepared for battle.
"Iiii, begin!" the judge standing near the arena gave the signal. He possessed the light element at the High level, so he could fully insure the students in battles of this level.
When the pair of students began preparing their beginner-level third-tier magic, the Armored Scorpion, following its master's commands transmitted through spiritual connection, rushed into battle.
"Earth Waves!" One of the guys, who was quicker, used earth element magic to push back the scorpion and give his comrade time to finish the fire element spell.
The scorpion, noticing that the earth waves were starting to carry it backward, gratingly clashed its mandibles and began digging its legs deeper into the arena floor, additionally pulling itself forward with its tail, inexorably closing in, albeit slower than at the start.
"Explosion!" The second student finally completed the third-tier fire spell and launched the ready-to-detonate fireball at the head of the monster terrifying him.
There was an explosion, and smoke billowed from the scorpion's head. The guys were already rejoicing at the easy victory, but the smoke cleared, revealing the unharmed Armored Scorpion. Only on its head, where the spell had hit, were small scorch marks.
"Impossible..." the pair of students whispered in shock, and the one maintaining the earth waves lost concentration for a moment, causing the spell to dissipate.
"Skr iii!" The Armored Scorpion screeched disgustingly and began rapidly scuttling its legs, approaching the two guys closer. Nothing held it back anymore.
When its tail was already about to smash the aspiring mages, breaking several bones for each, a light barrier appeared before them, blocking the attack.
"Hai Dafu wins!" the judge announced, and on the information board hanging over the arena from four sides, the zero changed to a two. This meant the winning streak of the summoning faculty had begun.
In the next few battles, Hai Dafu also won, but in his pride, he failed to notice the accumulating damage on his summoned beast.
After the number on the information board changed to 15, the next group, now of three people, finally managed to defeat the Armored Scorpion, marking the first loss for the summoning faculty today. The first, but far from the last.
Next onto the arena stepped the second member of the summoning division - Zheng Bing Xiao. The student group that had defeated the Armored Scorpion regarded him with condescending looks. In their opinion, they were already victors over monsters and would now easily roll the new opponent into the arena floor.
But their eyes widened noticeably when the guy summoned a Stone Demon at the level of a mid Servant. This two-and-a-half-meter heap of stones in humanoid form truly inspired dread. And most importantly, it was clear right away that breaking through its defense would be extremely difficult.
After the judge's signal, one of the three team members, a guy with the lightning element, began preparing a third-tier spell, while his two comrades with water and fire elements prepared to distract the monster onto themselves.
The girl with the water element placed a Water Shield in front of the Stone Demon, and the guy with the fire element sent a fire Explosion at the monster's legs, trying to topple it. It was with this tactic that they had defeated the Armored Scorpion.
But something unexpected happened for them. The Stone Demon passed through the water shield as if not noticing it at all, and the fire Explosion merely singed the stone foot a bit.
All hope rested on the team member with the lightning element, and he did manage to inflict some damage, but far from enough to defeat the Stone Demon.
After a few more failed attempts, the mages tried to attack the summoner, but he cowardly hid behind his pet monster.
In the end, the Stone Demon caught them off guard, hurling a lightning-struck stone at the lightning element mage himself. Without their main attacker, the team soon suffered defeat.
In the end, Zheng Bing Xiao broke Hai Dafu's record, defeating 25 people. But by then, the occasional lightning element mages in the battle queue had thoroughly worn down the Stone Demon, and it finally lost.
The mages in the queue even grew a bit despondent, as they had only managed to defeat two out of seven summoners so far, and those two had already fulfilled nearly half the quota.
Next onto the arena from the summoners' side came Wang Li Ting. This time, the team that defeated the Stone Demon didn't underestimate their opponent and beforehand formed an attacking triangle.
Wang Li Ting merely smirked at this, and with a wave of his hand, from the silvery glow of the summoning element, a Bone Vulture appeared, emanating a suppressive aura.
The bird looked extremely intimidating. A bird skull covered with feathers only in the back, forming a peculiar crown of them. A bare spine, as if skinless and made of bones. And the most terrifying - the large orange eye protruding from the bony eye socket. It looked like an eye of horror from hell itself. At least for beginner-level mages opposing it.
"St- senior Servant!" one of the mages on the arena stammered in fear.
And no one even condemned him, for a senior Servant was practically invincible against beginner-level magic. Considering their group had no mid-level mages and they had spent significantly in the previous fight with the Stone Demon, their group was practically doomed to defeat.
And so it happened. After the judge's signal, the Bone Vulture, with mind-boggling speed for beginner-level mages, flew straight at them and swiftly flapped its bone spurs on its wings, forcing the judge to protect them with light shields.
The mage group didn't even manage to cast that very magic and was already eliminated. Such was the terror of monsters.
"Guys, you won't even have to step onto the arena. I'll single-handedly bring our division's defeated mage count to a hundred!" Wang Li Ting boasted loudly, addressing his classmates who hadn't yet entered the arena.
He truly had reason to be proud. If no mid-level mage stepped onto the arena, he really had every chance to fulfill what he'd stated. Unfortunately for him, my prediction given before the summoning division's battles finally came true.
"Step aside, I'll go onto the arena next." A confident voice pronounced as a stocky brunet with a full build pushed through the queue. The students wanted to protest, but the brazen guy released the pressure of a mid-level mage, making them part respectfully and fearfully.
Wang Li Ting, also sensing the arriving pressure, paled, and his confident smile vanished from his face. He understood he was about to get beaten, but refused to retreat. Pride wouldn't allow it.
After the judge's signal, the Bone Vulture, using the old tactic, quickly flew at Luo Song, but he, playfully dodging it several times on earth waves, finally constructed the star map of the ice element.
"Ice Lock!" Next to him, an ice chain condensed, which with the grace of a snake wrapped around the higher-flying Bone Vulture.
After waiting a bit for the vulture to thoroughly freeze and cover with an ice crust, Luo Song smiled and yanked the chain down, dropping the Bone Vulture to the ground.
With an audible crack even from the stands, many of the bird's bones broke, foretelling lengthy treatment and a heap of money to spend on it. In the near future, Wang Li Ting wouldn't be able to increase his summoned beast's power; instead, his progress would stall for several months.
When Wang Li Ting's mournful howl sounded, I realized my turn was coming soon.