High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2632: Chapter 853: No One Has Any Choices Left

”Don’t worry about the sandbox’s exterior right now!”

The Fat Wizard interrupted Zheng Qing’s analysis, his voice suddenly becoming tense: ”Those crows are not right! Something is very wrong with them! ... They’re not out of control... They’re being controlled to slaughter each other!”

No further reminder from Xin was necessary, as the other two young wizards within the Array also noticed the anomaly around them.

The multicolored feathers fell from the sky like snowflakes, only to turn into ashes very close to the ground in swirling clusters; the sharp, piercing screeches mingled together, rising and falling, and even through the protective barrier, Zheng Qing still felt a strong discomfort, a suffocating urge to vomit.

That wasn’t even the worst of it.

What made him vaguely uneasy was that the crows fighting each other seemed to be devouring one another. He clearly saw a slightly larger crow grab another smaller crow’s head, pulling it hard before throwing its head back and swallowing it, only for the large crow to flap its wings, its body instantly growing slightly bigger. The red threads embedded in the backs of the dead crows would also transfer onto the back of the new host, becoming thicker.

The number of crows in the air was decreasing rapidly every second, with each one growing larger and their colors deepening, as if the hues of the dead crows were merging into the living ones.

In other words, the originally multicolored crow-like big birds were slowly turning into real crows. They spread their broad wings, issuing strange, hoarse roars, accompanied by chaotic and massive magic power fluctuations, as the shadow above ’Maintaining Rock-like Firmness’ deepened.

”It’s a good thing.”

Xiao Xiao looked up, his tone calm as he watched the bizarre scene: ”You only have a few Special Amulet Bullets, wasting them on ordinary crows would be a shame. If they can gather themselves into one lump, you should thank them... as they say, ’Shoot the bird in the lead’, just shoot the strongest one then...”

Even so.

When the number of crows circling in the sky dwindled to single digits, each one was as big as an elephant. With their wings spread, they blocked out the sky and sun, giving one the impression of a giant roc descending upon the world.

Suddenly, a phrase flashed through Zheng Qing’s mind: ”When the whole body is filled with weaknesses, then the whole body has no weaknesses.”

Even with his eyes closed, he could now easily hit any one of the crows, yet he had no idea where to aim—heart? Skull? Neck? Wing? Or tail?

Who knows if these big birds have a weak spot or where it might be located!

The last time he encountered a similar situation was when dealing with the Black Wizard Walter. At that time, he was surrounded by dozens of elite registered wizards led by three deputy deans, and all the bullets in his clip only needed to aim at one target.

But now.

Beside him were two students who hadn’t graduated yet, and in front of him were not only these big crows but also potentially some hidden black wizards lurking in the shadows. More importantly, no one knew what kind of monster these crows would turn into if left to continue devouring each other!

Building a monstrous creature with uncontrollable power equivalent to a Big Wizard’s destructive ability is not a difficult task for many black wizard organizations. Facing such a creature, however, requires an almost immeasurable amount of effort to subdue or destroy it.

Many times, the Alliance’s wizards would rather face a dozen Fallen Wizards than deal with the cultists under the starry sky, for this reason.

These thoughts flashed through his mind as yet another crow disappeared in the air, this time being torn apart and devoured by the other seven crows.

Yes, by now, Zheng Qing could easily count the number of crows in the sky.

A black feather, comparable in size to Xin Fat Man, slowly descended, hitting the rocky illusion above the three’s heads. The faint yellow light shield flickered subtly, and in that instant, Zheng Qing felt the oppressive, viscous atmosphere beyond the protective barrier.

Beads of sweat began to form on his forehead.

He couldn’t wait any longer.

Even though he knew those cowardly fools dared not show themselves because they wanted to exhaust his Blood Symbol Bullet, he couldn’t wait any longer. As he made this decision, a flash of understanding passed through his heart.

This was their open strategem.

...

...

”The best way to disrupt an opponent’s rhythm is to force them into a dilemma... losing the ability to choose means surrendering the initiative to respond.”

”Just like now, our assistant classmate has only two choices left.”

”Either, at the cost of consuming his powerful and precious Symbol Bullets, he interrupts the process of these crows devouring each other prematurely, and then bravely faces the unknown world that follows.”

”Or, let those crows continue their mutual devouring, watching as this sandbox potentially gives birth to a monster possessing the battle strength of a Big Wizard.”

”If there was a choice, I certainly wouldn’t let him take such a big risk. After all, until now, he’s been our most unique and most successful experimental subject... even we don’t know what kind of monster those crows might ultimately merge into through continuous devouring of each other... but like him, we have no choice now either.”

Gan Ning stood at the narrow attic window, his back to the other four ’crows’ in the room, softly murmuring their long-planned ’main course’.

Unlike the previous languid feeling on the bed, his aura at this moment seemed to be slowly merging with those culling big crows outside, growing increasingly obscure and cold, becoming deeper with every passing second.

Yet another crow was torn apart by its companions.

The mournful screech seemed to make the small world tremble. Shredded black feathers, massive drops of blood, scattered flesh and bones, fell from the sky, burning out just before hitting the ground, leaving a thick layer of ash.

The originally gloomy figure of Gan Ning became even darker at the moment of that crow’s death, his flickering shadow on the ground like a pitch-black, burning flame, scorching every line of sight.

His companions watched him with concern.

Silently observing him.

...

...

Bang!

A streak of crimson rose from beneath the faint yellow rock illusion, striking precisely at the head of a nearby crow.

But there was no expression of joy on Zheng Qing’s face.

Because just as he suspected, as these big crows’ magic power waved and their bodies approached a Big Wizard’s level, his shot only severely injured the target, failing to finish it off with one hit.

One shot wasn’t enough, two shots would be too much.

Watching the crow, missing most of its head, struggling and falling in the air, and seeing those five large figures pounce on it without hesitation to tear it apart, Zheng Qing felt like he was holding his nose and eating filth.

And he couldn’t afford to hesitate, he had to finish off these filthy things as quickly as possible, before the other crows could start devouring each other again!