568 Chapter 568: Lava Golem

"…what are you talking about?" Zheng Ying Shou asked me. Apparently they were unaware that they were mimicking the characters in Versatile Mage. This stupid story had turned into a damned fanfiction and the others didn't even know it.

"Nothing," I replied, realizing the futility of it all. I guess this was a scenario of what would happen if I was the one doing the test instead of Mo Fan. Not very original, but fun to think about. Unlike Mo Fan, I had 88 Constellation spirits and 5 Celestial Guardians, so I wasn't going to do the one wolf against 150 or so students thing.

I wasn't a Mary Sue with plot armor and God Mode, after all.

"Sorry…" Kanon Fodder strolled back into the place, looking battered and bruised. He looked sheepish as he rubbed his head. "I…I will do my best and improve in future."

"Hmph." Wang Chui Niu snorted. "It wasn't as if we were expecting anything from you in the first place."

Whoa…how harsh.

"Don't worry." Zheng Ying Shou assured Kanon kindly and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You can leave the rest to us. We'll do our best to make up for it. I'll go next!"

"Class representive!" Kanon cried, touched by the show of support. Zheng Ying Shou stepped into the arena and addressed the professor in the white coat.

"Professor Zhang, I'm next."

He then ascended the stage where the previous group awaited. Seeing his scholarly disposition and because he also wore glasses, one of the opponents began to snicker.

"Bro, this guy also looks very weak!"

Zheng Ying Shou didn't look offended at all. Instead, he simply smiled.

"Let's exchange a few pointers. I look forward to learning from you guys." he then raised a hand, and a crimson magic circle appeared behind him. A colossal giant made out of red and black magma materialized in reality, its huge feet leaving smoldering craters on the ground from the sheer hear. "I'll be counting on you, Lava Golem."

The entire group of students, including the girl who had defeated the last two summoned beasts with her fire spells, could only gape in astonishment.

It wasn't even a match. Even though the girl unleashed her inferno strike once more, the flames had no effect on the Lava Golem. If anything, it made the fire type soul beast even stronger and it rampaged through their lines, knocking out five of them in a single blow.

"Oh…" Zheng Ying Shou shrugged. "And here I thought I was going to learn something from you guys."

"Damn it! That Lava Golem is immune to fire spells! How do we fight against something like that?!"

"With water and ice spells, of course! Maybe lightning would work! How about earth spells?"

"The fire mages will have to sit this one out!"

"Don't worry. Its weakness is its speed. See how slow it is? If we work together, we'll be able to exploit its weakness and defeat it!"

While they discussed, the professor in the white coat, Zhang, waved them on impatiently.

"Next group. Hurry up! We don't have all day."

"Yes, sir…"

While the students hurried into the battle cage at Zhang's prodding, one of the other professors above watched thoughtfully. Simmons smiled as he stroked his chin.

"This new batch of students aren't bad at all," he remarked with a nod of approval. "Their teamwork is decent. It's just that their strategy isn't up to par yet. They should plan more carefully when facing a summoner. Also, it seems that most of them haven't done their research on what their opponents can summon. What an amateurish mistake. Or is it due to overconfidence?"

Watching from the sidelines, I couldn't help but feel a twinge of assurance. With such an imposing display, Zheng Ying Shou appeared capable of leveling the remaining eighty-five students by himself. That would be amazing.

Then I didn't have to do a single thing. I would prefer that, especially since I wanted to keep a low profile and not summon all my strongest Constellation spirits. I would have to if I had no choice, especially since the resources allocated to the summoning department were at stake here, so I wasn't going to hold back, but if I could get other people to do my share of work for me, then why should I complain?

Glancing up at the holographic screen projected above, I saw that Zheng Ying Shou had defeated five people. The total number of students defeated by the summoning department so far had accumulated to twenty. Eighty more to go.

"Next group." Zhang gestured for them to go in.

The Lava Golem continued to rampage as group after group of mages hurled spells at it, their concerted efforts finally beginning to take a toll on the black and red humanoid goliath. I saw Zheng Ying Shou begin to tire as he continually infused his Lava Golem with more mana.

The guy had been casting big spells, with his Lava Golem hammering its hands into the ground and conjuring volcanic eruptions to incinerate or wash away the poor students in tides of molten rock. He did it twice in a row, knocking out twelve students – six per group this time. By the time he had defeated the third wave, his tally had gone up to seventeen.

"Huff…huff…"

He panted as he rested a hand on one knee. He looked up, wiping the perspiration from his face, looking a bit pale.

Right now, his Lava Golem was encrusted in ice. He raised a hand and conjured a basic fire spell to heat up and melt the frosty restraints, freeing his soul beast from what would otherwise be an icy tomb. Given the advanced level of the ice spell, he was required to expend a lot more mana than normal. By the time he finished melting the ice, he was heaving from exhaustion.

"I shouldn't be surprised…the quality of the students here in Vermillion University is nothing short of impressive. Their spells are much more formidable than I had expected. And they are much stronger and more skilled than my previous opponents from other places."

He glanced at his soul beast, a flicker of concern on his face.

"My Lava Golem is also getting worn down bit by bit. I'm not sure how much longer we'll be able to last…"

"Next group," Zhang ordered. I glanced up at the holographic screen, noting that the total had now accumulated to thirty-two. There were still quite a few more to go. Over half, in fact.

This was not looking good.

To his credit, Zheng Ying Shou fought to the very last. A wood mage struggled to entangle the Lava Golem in vines, but he had his soul beast cast Volcanic Eruption once more, burning the plants and sending the poor wood mage screaming into the air. She crashed down, her body charred. Her teammates scattered, but another two were caught by the flames.

Three ice mages finally worked together to bring the Lava Golem down, freezing it just as it smashed into their lines. The berserk soul beast ensured mutual destruction, knocking out the three mages as its frozen frame finally toppled down on them.

"Ugh…that was messier than I thought." Zhang complained as he used his telekinesis spells to levitate the massive Lava Golem into the air so that he could extricate the poor students underneath with his telekinesis spells. He then floated them over to hovering stretchers before sending them to Yi Ya. "They are all yours."

"This is getting out of hand," she muttered with a shake of her head before she began the healing process all over again.

"You should bring this up with Dean Xiao or Director Porter if you don't like this," Zhang informed her coolly. She sighed and shook her head.

"That's not what I mean…and these students will be sent to fight monsters in the wilderness in future anyway, so having this kind of combat experience is good for them. But…I don't know how much longer I can keep this up."

"Hah! I know you can heal five hundred people in a day. I wouldn't be worried about you."

While the two professors bantered, I glanced up at the holographic screen above. Zheng Ying Shou had defeated twenty-five peope, which brought our total to forty people. Still less than half. This wasn't looking good.

There were four of us left. Assuming we defeated fifteen people each, we might just make the remainin sixty and reach the target of a hundred. Just barely.

We were cutting it really close.

Wang Chui Niu was also keeping his eye on the holographic screen. He grinned and waved dismissively at the returning Zheng Ying Shou, who looked exhausted. Smiling mockingly, he stuck his chest out arrogantly.

"Class representative, you have already done your best." Fine words, but he said those in such a condescending manner that I wanted to hammer his face in. "Don't worry…leave the rest to me. I'll handle everything by myself!"

"We are counting on you!"

"You've got this!"

The other two remaining summoning students cheered him on, and he grinned before throwing his jacket at Kanon Fodder. I grabbed Kanon and pulled him out of the way, leaving the jacket to fall onto the ground.

"I'll ensure that we'll defeat a hundred students! The summoning department will definitely fulfil its target of defeating a hundred students! Even if I have to fight and defeat all one hundred by myself, I will definitely do it!"

"You think you'll be able to defeat sixty students by yourself?" I asked, astonished. Even I didn't think I would last that long. Certainly, I had eighty-eight Constellation spirits and five Celestial Guardians, but obviously I didn't have the stamina to summon every single one of them. I estimated that I would only be able to summon like twenty-five percent of my forces before I ran out of mana.

"Watch and learn, loser," he replied snidely. I shook my head in disbelief. Was there something wrong with this guy?

"What happens if you can't even defeat ten people?" I asked irritably. I could already see what would happen because I had read the exact same thing happen in Versatile Mage, and this guy was a dead ringer for the arrogant character in there.

"Hah! You'll be kowtowing to me and begging for forgiveness, and pleading that I be your older brother once I defeat all the remaining sixty students!" Wang Chui Niu declared arrogantly. He raised his hand as he stepped into the stage. A black and purple magic circle appeared above him before a Skeletal Vulture burst to life, flapping its wings and sending decaying feathers down. With a hand in his pocket, Wang Chui Nui cast his haughty gaze at the spectators and issued a provocative challenge. "Is there anyone who dares to fight me?"