Chapter 942: TRAINING (V)

LET'S backtrack a few minutes before…

When Shen Ji Yun saw Bai Ze and Eclipse ambushing Su Yuqi and Luo Jin respectively, he knew that waiting for the battle to end and just watching everything from above was a waste of time. So, he decided to go directly and check himself which one of the two crystals was real.

He sent a message to both Su Yuqi and Luo Jin before flying straight towards one of the two crystals. The first one he picked was the one on his two o'clock direction. He didn't bother landing and just strike it with a sword slash. Purple lightning appeared and hit the crystal.

No, 'hit' would not be the right term since it literally passed through the crystal. Just by that, he immediately judged that the crystal was merely an illusion. Whether it was produced by an item or a skill, it didn't matter. What only mattered right now was the fact that it was not the real crystal of the enemy team.

So, Shen Ji Yun didn't waste time and quickly flew towards the remaining crystal.

He attacked it with a more powerful skill this time. He wanted to destroy the crystal with one attack, that's why he didn't mind if he used a lot of his MP for this skill. But to his surprise, his attack, once again, just passed through the crystal!

If he was a cartoon character, there would have been a question mark appearing on his face right about now. His brows furrowed. So, both crystals were fake? Then, where's the real one?

Shen Ji Yun did a quick glance around the forest, but all he could see were the two fake crystals. Even after he did a thorough glance the second time around, it was still the same.

He looked back to where Su Yuqi and Luo Jin were. Both were still fighting with Bai Ze and Eclipse. He couldn't just interrupt them. Also, looking for the real crystal was more important than helping the two with their fight. Everything would be for nothing if they didn't at least find the real crystal.

After a few seconds of his brain working overtime to figure out what he should do next, his gaze finally landed on the area between the two fake crystals. The blade of his sword glowed purple then. Purple sparks also appeared, colliding with the blade and the surroundings.

He activated one of his skills and slashed it towards that area. And just like he thought, a distortion appeared in the space where his attack reached. Then a huge red dragon appeared. His wings were wrapped around something in front of him, so he couldn't do anything to avoid the sword slash that was about to hit him.

But the red dragon – Rowan – opened his maw instead and breathed red flame towards the sword slash. Fire and lightning collided, causing an explosion.

Shen Ji Yun flew backwards to avoid being hit. They were still quite a few distance away from where the two pairs were fighting, so he wasn't worried that what he did would affect his teammates.

Once the smoke subsided, what he saw was the red dragon unfurling his wings and revealing the real crystal inside. The other stepped in front of the crystal, his stance clearly defensive. At the same time as that, two messages appeared in front of him.

[I'm currently incapacitated. It will probably take another minute before this damn rope lose its effectiveness.]

[…I'm on the same situation. But I think I can get out of this… predicament in just a few.]

The first one was from Su Yuqi and the latter was from Luo Jin.

[Where is Bai Ze and Eclipse?] – he sent back.

[Bai Ze has probably ran to our base camp.] – Su Yuqi replied.

[That little fox most likely did so as well.] – Luo Jin.

When Shen Ji Yun read those messages, added to the fake crystals, everything became clear to him.

The opposing team made illusions of two crystals, most likely using some item. And then they used another item to hide Rowan's huge-ass body that was hugging the real crystal.

This was a very simple strategy for a team to buy time so they could go to the enemy base camp. They created illusions of fake crystals and hid the real one, knowing full well the effect it would have on the enemy team. And then, they isolated and immobilized some members of the team so they could go and freely attack the enemy's base camp.

It would have been something that Shen Ji Yun could have easily seen through if he wasn't so out of practice. Well, what's the use of complaining now? It would only make it seem like he was making useless excuses. Which was totally lame, by the way.

[Go straight to our base camp once you got out of your… predicaments.]

He sent that message before turning to the red dragon.

It's better for the two to help Dusk protect their crystal instead of having them here to be his back-up. Since there were more people on that side, he was enough here.

"So, shall we start?" he asked Rowan.

The dragon only let out a menacing grown at him. And then, without a warning, he breathed out scorching red flame. Shen Ji Yun cut through it with his sword. And as he did, he also rushed forward towards Rowan.

As he was nearing the dragon, the other swathed him with his wings. He quickly avoided it by bending to the side and then he slashed it towards Rowan's wing that swathed him.

The red dragon grunted at the pain before angrily breathing out fire to Shen Ji Yun's direction. This time, in order to avoid it, he blitzed to the opposite side. Then, he flew to a higher vantage point.

At this distance, he could properly see the crystal. He was about to attack it directly when he heard a loud explosion from the other side of the forest. He turned his head back and saw that it was on the exact area where their base camp was.