Karon Karman was indeed a little surprised.

He thought Mingxi would send out Abyss’s Fierce Feather or Luo Xu Jingtian, not only because these two pets were publicly seen as Mingxi’s strongest, but also because their attributes and skills were more effective against his Noctis.

“...Nansara, huh?”

As Mingxi's latest contracted pet, Nansara was also the one with the least information.

Coupled with it being a type of collective pet never before seen in the world, the outside world knew very little about its skills and characteristics.

“...Thankfully, we did conduct targeted combat simulations.”

Even if the proud Grand Duke was unwilling to admit it from the bottom of his heart, due to his apprehension of Mingxi, he and his team simulated all possible combat scenarios, which naturally included Noctis vs. Nansara.

“Mist Field.”

Perhaps because Karon Karman was distracted, this time it was Mingxi who first signaled an attack.

A flash of light, and as soon as the dreamlike purple-pink Snow Azure appeared, it elegantly flapped its wings, and a glowing Mist Field instantly spread out.

At the same time, countless shimmering, hallucinogenic scale powders silently permeated the entire field.

The characteristic 【Dream Insect Domain】 also activated silently.

Snow Azure was different from the Golden Yuanbao Seven; it was already a mature combat-type Transcendent creature when Mingxi contracted it.

After all, given the harsh survival environment in the secret realm, its combat experience was far richer than Mingxi's.

In a full-power state, it was even more ruthless than Emerald Green, which had suffered a great deal.

If only combat prowess were considered, Snow Azure was undoubtedly the first among the Eight Treasures.

Therefore, when commanding it in battle, Mingxi leaned more towards directional and tactical guidance rather than detailed instructions.

“Shadow Sneak, followed by Curse.”

Karon ordered in a hoarse voice; in this round, he would end the match with the fastest and most ruthless method!

“North!”

Noctis let out a silent shriek, its form instantly merging into the shadow beneath its feet, disappearing like a phantom.

However, Snow Azure seemed to have anticipated this, quickly switching states.

It instantly shrunk to a miniature size, no larger than a mosquito, almost impossible to catch with the naked eye.

At the same time, it scattered a large amount of tough pollen to envelop itself, forming a layer of protection.

“Pay attention to the fluctuations of all shadows around!” Mingxi reminded.

Snow Azure’s complex recovery structure allowed its special eye crystals to rapidly scan the shadows in every corner of the field!

“Good heavens! One is invisible, one is shrunken, are we watching nothing?”

“They will show themselves eventually.”

Indeed they would.

Noctis's figure suddenly lunged out from the shadow beneath where Snow Azure had shrunk!

Its sharp claws tore through the air, but only grasped emptiness!

Although in miniature form, Snow Azure’s Flight speed remained consistent with its normal form; it wasn't that its movement speed was unchanged, but rather that it maintained the speed of its original size with its current body size.

Meaning, the displacement distance was exactly the same within the same amount of time.

This made the miniature Snow Azure's Flight speed extraordinarily fast; whether it was supersonic or not was hard to say, but it definitely exceeded subsonic speed.

It was like teleportation.

Thus, Noctis’s certain-hit attack completely missed!

“What?!” Karon was stunned.

And just as Noctis’s attack missed and its figure appeared, Mingxi’s command was as swift as lightning: “Dazzling Gleam.”

The miniature Snow Azure suddenly burst forth with incredibly dazzling Fairy-type light in the air.

At such close range, Dazzling Gleam's power was maximized, hitting Noctis squarely!

“North—!”

Noctis let out a painful shriek, its Ghost-type body burning and emitting plumes of green smoke!

“Damn it! Shadow Ball barrage! Shoot it down for me!”

Karon Karman hurriedly tried to remedy the situation.

Noctis endured the pain and retreated, its claws condensing countless pitch-black Shadow Balls, which it fired like a machine gun at the miniature Snow Azure in the air.

Snow Azure reacted extremely quickly.

Spirit Wings shuttle for absolute Flight.

Dodge.

After shrinking, Snow Azure’s maneuverability surged!

It performed various dreamlike maneuvers in the air that defied physical laws, its form sometimes solid, sometimes transforming into a sky full of illusory scale powder insect shadows at the moment of impact, perfectly evading most of the Shadow Balls.

Occasionally, a stray one would be greatly weakened by the pollen defense and the scale powder barrier released by 【Dream Insect Domain】, /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ failing to cause effective damage.

“Don’t rush, don’t rush.”

Karon Karman gave himself a psychological pep talk, taking deep breaths to ease his tense emotions.

“Grudge, Misfortune.”

Grudge, a mental attack skill, upon hitting, causes the pet to transfer its hatred target for a short period and severely interferes with the mental connection between the pet and the trainer by inducing negative emotions, making it difficult to effectively execute commands.

Misfortune, on the other hand, is a branch of the Curse skill, whose main effect is to make two skills the opponent is currently releasing or about to release lose some of their striking, controlling, or auxiliary capabilities.

It is a direct, potent skill to weaken the opponent's strength.

Noctis’s crimson pupils instantly locked onto Snow Azure in the air, and an invisible energy fluctuation crossed space, striking directly at Snow Azure’s mental sea.

At the same time, the Curse that incites misfortune and disaster also brewed, ready to be unleashed!

However, at this critical moment, before Mingxi could issue any command, Snow Azure had already reacted autonomously!

Absolute calmness flashed in its glassy compound eyes.

The effect of 【Dream Insect Domain】 was instantly activated to its extreme!

The dreamlike scale powder permeating the field was no longer a gentle interference, but rather boiled like living creatures, forming a dense barrier that constantly distorted light and mental perception, actively meeting the invisible Grudge attack.

“Hiss—!”

As if cold water dropped into hot oil, after the energy crashed into the Dream Insect Domain, it was rapidly decomposed, neutralized, and absorbed by the countless scale powders containing mental interference power.

Even the parts that the Dream Insect Domain could not neutralize and absorb were distributed due to the large number of sub-insects within its body.

Noctis’s Grudge was like a mud ox entering the sea, with less than one-tenth of its effect remaining.

It merely caused an extremely subtle ripple in Snow Azure’s mental fluctuations, which instantly subsided.

It could be said that due to his lack of understanding of Snow Azure, Karon Karman made a bad move.

Mental skills were almost useless against Snow Azure.

And at the same time, Snow Azure’s wings vibrated rapidly, not using a skill, but at a unique frequency.

It contained the power of insect chirps within the sound of its flapping wings, but it was not an attack, but interference and coverage!

High-frequency, restless insect chirping sound waves precisely enveloped Noctis.