Chapter 615: Chapter 455: Being Runner-Up Doesn’t Seem So Bad (Part 2)

As a newbie, there was no way he could know these little unwritten rules.

He only knew that the card Li Pu rubbed out just now seemed to have helped him show off again.

Anyway, the plan now was to fake it hard—don’t understand? Just act like you do.

To be fair, Ah Yajun really did have the capital to flex this round.

The combo of [Chaotic Elements] + [Holy Light Entangling Vine] punched out, and he instantly seized the initiative.

The Dragon Soldiers on the other side weren’t exactly smart either; once they were [Entangled] and couldn’t attack, they all popped their 2-turn skill [Dragon Soldier Battle Technique] (ATK/HP +100%).

But for the following 2 turns, Ji Jiao’s trio used a group [Defend] tactic to hold the line.

The four [Dragon Soldier] cards with a full 60 ATK each under BUFF got debuffed by 20%, leaving 48 ATK, and once that hit [Defend], it was cut in half again to just 24.

Even so, with four cards focus-firing under BUFF for two turns, they still managed to kill Ah Yajun’s middle frontline card—the [Holy Light Stone Man] that was protecting [Chaotic Elements].

Even the shield he put on [Holy Light Stone Man] didn’t save it.

But the scariest part of [Dragon Soldiers] is exactly those two axes of buffed burst.

Facing four [Dragon Soldiers] and getting through it at the mere cost of your first card? Totally worth it.

In the end, the three of them sailed through and finished the fight.

Only Ah Yajun had to leave the board early and become a spectator because his ace [Chaotic Elements] got knocked out—couldn’t be helped, that card was just way too good at attracting Dragon Soldier aggro.

Vmm...

As the battle ended, the blue light barrier faded.

"Bro, you okay?"

Ji Jiao walked up with concern and checked on Ah Yajun.

They’d won the match, sure, but losing your ace card and being forced out of the game still took a pretty heavy toll on Spiritual Power.

"I’m fine."

Ah Yajun pressed a hand to his chest and gave a calm smile.

"Sis, he’s seriously strong."

"His ace got blasted and he still doesn’t even flinch."

"Don’t tell me his Spiritual Power is bottomless."

Ji Jiao lowered his voice as he observed all this.

"Of course it is. Otherwise, how would he dare to charge into Coiling Dragon Valley alone?"

Hu Wei expressed her agreement.

However, at this moment, only Ah Yajun suddenly realized that ever since he met Li Pu, his tolerance seemed to have improved.

And this "improvement" wasn’t his Spiritual Power pool getting deeper, but rather... his resistance to mental damage.

To put it in a more accurate way, his little mental avatar might not have much HP, but its armor was insanely high!

Can’t be helped—getting mentally beaten up all day long was bound to toughen you up eventually.

After a short rest, the three of them moved on.

"Weird."

But right as they were about to reach the end of the narrow path, Ji Jiao noticed they hadn’t run into any more enemies.

According to what the previous adventuring party said, there should’ve been at least two or three waves of Dragon Soldiers here.

"Looks like that Dragon Soldier earlier might’ve been too strong—one of it probably counted as two or three waves."

Hu Wei couldn’t really explain it either, so she just forced out a weak justification.

"..."

Only Ah Yajun knew it wasn’t like that.

The two of them were so focused on the match just now that they completely missed the limping figure that slipped past them a few seconds before he intervened.

"Sigh..."

He let out a sigh.

Clearly he’d come to a new world, but some things still hadn’t changed.

Whatever, he’d already had his fun back there.

Now... 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Time to switch to a different mode of enjoyment.

"Ahem, actually, I didn’t come alone this time. I’ve got a friend with me."

Ah Yajun cleared his throat twice.

The classic "my buddy is strong so that means I’m strong too" mode activated.

"Bro, so he’s waiting for you outside?"

Ji Jiao asked as they walked.

"Is he worried he’s not strong enough to come in?"

"Now that we’ve got four people, we can form a full team."

"We’re not that far from the valley entrance; should we go pick him up and bring him in?"

Hu Wei felt that one more person meant one more source of strength.

"No, he’s ahead of us."

Ah Yajun shook his head.

"Huh? Alone?"

Hu Wei stopped in her tracks, stunned.

But she relaxed a second later. If Ah Yajun was this strong, his friend was definitely not far off.

Although Ah Yajun came in late in that match and was clearly playing support for the two of them, the fact that his support play alone was that scary meant his main deck had to be even more monstrous—no doubt about that.

"Sis, wait, no, sis!"

Right then, Hu Wei suddenly heard the young master shout.

At this moment, Ji Jiao had already taken the lead and stepped out of the bend at the end of the narrow path.

What appeared in front of him was a scene Hu Wei absolutely wouldn’t have imagined.

In the gourd-shaped stretch of the valley, fifteen Dragon Soldiers were sprawled all over the place, some of them already turning into blue light and slowly dissipating—meaning they’d been dead for a while.

And above the farthest Dragon Soldier, a [Dragon Soldier] card still hovered.

A limping figure was walking over to collect that last remaining card.

Seeing Ji Jiao’s reaction from behind, Ah Yajun could more or less guess what had happened.

He quickened his pace and stepped out of the bend as well.

At the same time, he replied to Hu Wei in a casual tone, voice tinged with a smile.

"His strength is, you know, more or less on par with mine, uh..."

Only at the end of the sentence did he falter for half a beat under the impact of the scene, almost blowing his cover.

Cursing "pervert" in his heart, Ah Yajun desperately maintained his smile.

"Ah, what the—!"

Hu Wei, who came out last, froze just like Ji Jiao, completely dumbfounded.

What the hell was this? The guy had soloed this many [Dragon Soldiers]?

Even if he’d been going 3+1 vs 3+1 nonstop, people still get tired, right?!

If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she would never have believed that someone could kill that many Dragon Soldiers in a row.

The only reasonable explanation she could think of was that not only could this man solo Dragon Soldiers, but he was finishing each match extremely fast!

Because the fewer turns a match took, the less Spiritual Power was consumed.

And from the way these Dragon Soldier corpses were scattered, it was obvious they hadn’t had time to provide effective support to each other.

"Support" here meant something like what Ah Yajun did earlier, where the enemy sacrificed one action turn to bring an ally into the fight.

Only when battles ended quickly would this kind of situation happen.

You had to admit, Hu Wei really was experienced.

Just from the aftermath of the battlefield, she’d managed to infer that much.

But right now, she was also looking at Ah Yajun with burning eyes.

He’d mentioned earlier that his strength was about the same as this friend’s (?).

Which meant that such a terrifying expert—someone capable of quickly soloing more than ten Dragon Soldiers—had just now been willing to stoop to playing support for them?

That was practically an honor from the heavens!

Ji Jiao at the side was reacting in much the same way.

In fact, he was far more excited than Hu Wei.

Because if he could cling to these two big thighs, wouldn’t his plan to get Dragon Horn Grass today have a 100% success rate?!

He felt like he and Sis Hu Wei basically just needed to stand on the side and cheer, and these two powerhouses could bulldoze the entire Coiling Dragon Valley for them!

Maybe then, his father would never have to worry about the safety hazards here again.

Especially now that Ah Yajun had joined their party—he absolutely had to find a way to keep this guy from leaving the team!

Out of the corner of his eye, Ah Yajun could already feel the two of them staring at him in awe.

But he neither spoke nor looked their way.

Because it’s in moments like these that facial expression management mattered most.

Another round of acting cool. Felt good.

"Hey, what are you spacing out for?"

Just then, Li Pu looked over at him.

"Oh! Coming, coming!"

Ah Yajun’s act collapsed in an instant as he scampered over like a bootlicking underling.

Ji Jiao: "..."

Hu Wei: "..."

Wait a second, why did it suddenly feel like the relationship between these two wasn’t quite what either of them had just described?

Look at that groveling posture—how was that "friends"?

He was clearly just a tagalong, right?

...

...