How Do We Play If This Boss Isn't Nerfed?-Chapter 40: A Lad from Class Seven Has Come, His Staff Flies in the Sky
Before Sun Qian could call for a suitable candidate, a cold snort, sharp as striking metal, cut through the silence below the stage.
"I’ll take him on!"
All eyes turned toward the voice.
A lithe, sharp-eyed male student pushed his way through the crowd.
He carried a long, narrow saber. Though it was unsharpened for safety, Lin Ye could still feel a sharp aura emanating from it.
"Go, Hao! You’re the man!"
"Cut him down, Hao! Beat him black and blue!"
Some in the crowd began to fan the flames.
They were all hot-blooded young men, seventeen or eighteen years old, so it was only natural that some were starting to get annoyed with Lin Ye.
Shen Junhao, from Class One of the third years, ranked 28th in the grade!
Amidst the shouting and instigation, Shen Junhao himself seemed to be basking in the attention.
In a single, fluid motion, he leaped and landed gracefully on the platform. His movements were crisp and efficient, with no wasted motion.
Lin Ye’s gaze fell on him, and the level indicator above his opponent’s head came into sharp focus.
[LV8]
The same level.
Sun Qian was extremely satisfied to see Shen Junhao volunteer. He had been planning to pick him or another top student with a similar ranking anyway.
Stepping up voluntarily naturally gave him an edge in morale.
"Chen Meng, I admit, I underestimated your student."
"But it ends here!"
Chen Meng didn’t even bother to glance at him.
His gaze remained fixed on Lin Ye on the platform as he spoke in a flat tone.
"Go all out."
"If you injure him, I’ll cover the medical expenses."
"But..."
Chen Meng paused, then his lips split into a vicious grin that would put any villain to shame. He added, "Don’t kill him."
This exchange was like pouring oil on a fire, utterly infuriating Shen Junhao on the platform!
"You’re courting death!"
Shen Junhao let out a low roar as the Qi and Blood within him erupted!
Sun Qian said no more. He knew words were useless; only a victory on the platform could wash away this humiliation!
He waved his hand!
"Begin!"
Freed from the [Overwhelm] effect, Shen Junhao was no longer cowering before the fight even began.
He surged forward, intending to engage Lin Ye in close-quarters combat.
The family Cultivation Technique Shen Junhao practiced, the Wind Formulas, specialized in speed and Body Technique.
Although he wielded a saber—a weapon seemingly reliant on powerful, sweeping strikes—he had perfectly integrated his Cultivation Technique with his saber skills.
His bladework was deceptive, overwhelming slowness with sheer speed, often settling the fight before his opponent could even react!
However, this speed—so extreme in the eyes of others that it was difficult to even track—was a disappointment to Lin Ye.
’Not fast enough.’
’It’s not even as fast as the agile mutated beasts in the ruined city.’
Boosted by his skyrocketing Spirit attribute, Lin Ye’s dynamic vision and neural reaction speed had risen accordingly.
In Lin Ye’s vision, Shen Junhao’s every move was perfectly clear.
WHOOSH!
Shen Junhao closed the distance, his saber transforming into a blinding flash of cold light. With a shriek that tore through the air, it shot straight for Lin Ye’s neck!
This strike, fueled by his rage, was the pinnacle of his skill!
Faced with this explosive attack, Lin Ye’s response was simplicity itself.
He merely took a slight step to the side.
The lightning-fast blade grazed past the tip of his nose, missing by a razor’s edge.
As his strike missed, Shen Junhao’s pupils contracted. Alarm bells screamed in his mind!
’Such fast reflexes!’
Acting on pure instinct, he wrenched his body around, redirecting his blade in a horizontal slash at Lin Ye’s waist!
However, Lin Ye’s counterattack had begun.
His footing shifted, and the alloy staff in his hands suddenly trembled.
[Twirling Staff Form]!
In that instant, the plain, unadorned staff seemed to come alive, exploding into a sky-full of afterimages—an impenetrable storm of metal that instantly enveloped Shen Junhao!
DING! DING! DING! DING!
A series of metallic clashes, so rapid it made one’s scalp tingle, rang out from the center of the platform.
Shen Junhao’s swift and deceptive bladework was utterly broken. He felt as if he had been plunged into a sea of afterimages, with attacks raining down from every direction!
The individual strikes might not have been powerful, but they were faster than his own quick blade.
He could only parry desperately, thrown completely onto the defensive!
Down below, the other students from Class One watched in stunned silence.
A moment ago, they were marveling at Shen Junhao’s speed.
The next, they saw him utterly suppressed by a storm of staff-work so fast they couldn’t even track its movements!
He was being overwhelmed by sheer speed!
Shen Junhao’s rhythm began to falter.
Already poor at defense, he had taken several solid hits from Lin Ye’s staff.
But in the next moment, the storm of afterimages before him vanished.
Just as Shen Junhao thought Lin Ye had tired, giving him a moment to catch his breath,
Lin Ye’s technique changed in an instant.
The air around the long staff coalesced, and it came smashing down from above with an unstoppable, crushing force!
From Twirling Staff to Heavy Staff.
Lin Ye could now switch between them seamlessly, smooth as silk.
A shadow fell over him. A terrifying pressure, like a mountain crashing down, made Shen Junhao’s blood run cold!
He could only roar, pouring all his Qi and Blood into his arms as he raised his saber to block overhead!
CLANG—!!!
Shen Junhao felt an irresistible, terrifying force travel up the blade.
He stumbled back several steps, his stance completely broken.
The fight wasn’t over.
Lin Ye would never miss an opportunity to beat a dog while it’s down. He stuck with the heavy strikes, each one devastating!
THUD!
THUD!
THUD!
The dull thuds of the staff striking flesh replaced the crisp clang of it being parried by the blade.
Accompanying them were Shen Junhao’s muffled grunts of pain.
Lin Ye remembered Chen Meng’s instructions.
Hit hard, but don’t kill.
So the next three or four heavy strikes all landed on his torso and limbs.
None of them struck a vital point.
Once Shen Junhao had been reduced to a punching bag, Lin Ye slowed his assault.
He drew back his staff, gathered his strength, and then viciously jabbed its tip into Shen Junhao’s abdomen!
Shen Junhao’s body flew backward like a kite with a snapped string. A crimson arc of blood sketched through the air before he crashed heavily onto the edge of the platform, completely incapacitated.
The fight was over.
Lin Ye brought his staff to rest and stood tall, his expression calm. He wasn’t even out of breath.
If they could attribute his first-round, one-shot victory over Wang Hao to a massive gap in Qi and Blood—a simple case of being crushed by superior stats—
then this match was different. This time, Lin Ye had displayed a dazzling level of martial skill that left them reeling.
The web of afterimages, the fluid, effortless movements, the sheer mastery over the fight’s tempo—it was all too smooth!
’So the Staff Skill they had always considered unremarkable, the most basic of the basics, could be used like *that*?’
Seeing Lin Ye achieve another swift victory, Chen Meng had no intention of being humble.
Without waiting for Sun Qian, the teacher in charge, to speak, he looked to the rest of Class One.
"Next?"
Sun Qian shuddered violently.
This was blatant, in-your-face humiliation.
The top students in the crowd, who had been eager to fight just moments before, were now dead silent, not even daring to meet Chen Meng’s gaze.
A series of notifications sounded in Lin Ye’s mind.
[Ding! Collected from Shen Junhao: Anger, Fear, Pain. Total Negative Emotion Value: 640 points!]
[Ding! Collected from Sun Qian: Anger, Shame, Jealousy, Hatred. Total Negative Emotion Value: 1,160 points!]
[Ding! Collected from Onlookers: Fear. Total Negative Emotion Value: 1,630 points!]
