Start With Contracting Sprites - Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Mad Wood Mantis

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

Battles were the best way to examine a sprite’s ability!

The two youths had only been in the training class for more than a year.

Although they had to attend to their day jobs for a living and couldn’t focus solely on cultivating sprites, they still put in a lot of effort.

They saw themselves as being considerably strong. They were seniors in the training class.

Beside them, their friend, who wasn’t a Sprite Trainer, was worried. “There won’t be any problems, right?”

“Rest assured!”

“Neither of those two wanted criminals is a Sprite Trainer with a professional background.”

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“Besides, their sprites are not even at entry-level, they can’t be too strong!”

1

This was the key reason they dared going to stop them.

The two youths dashed rapidly, following their sprites without looking back. “Just help us call the police.”

…

The short man had yet to get into the woods before the Long-Armed Gibbon, and the Little Clay Chunk leaped onto him from the side.

The Long-Armed Gibbon was faster. It closed its hands into fists and waved them.

The Little Ground Wolf’s body suddenly lowered, while its four limbs exerted force and bumped right onto the Long-Armed Gibbon.

The Long-Armed Gibbon retreated, stumbling.

“Careful on the left side!” reminded the short man.

The Little Ground Wolf’s fierce, harsh eyes looked toward the left.

The Little Clay Chunk looked like a yellowish-brown jelly ball about the height of the human knee. From its clay-like body, two long arms suddenly appeared, stretched out, and grabbed the Little Ground Wolf, which couldn’t dodge in time.

“Long-Armed Gibbon, now!” shouted its Sprite Trainer.

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The Long-Armed Gibbon made a single fist, used the spiritual force usage method from the training class to shift its spiritual force onto its fist, and a large fist suddenly and forcefully discharged.

Bang!

The Little Ground Wolf was forcefully knocked over to the ground, and then it was bumped upward. It couldn’t help crying out in pain.

The Little Clay Chunk and the Long-Armed Gibbon took this opportunity to continue attacking.

A green shadow flashed past.

The Little Clay Chunk’s two stretched arms almost broke off. Under the shock, the arms rapidly retreated back.

The Long-Armed Gibbon knelt on the ground with a single knee, its hands pressing on its legs.

The green shadow slowed down not far away.

It was the other wanted criminal’s sprite—a Wood Mantis!

“How can it be so fast!”

“So strong!”

The Wood Mantis’ whole body was dark green, and its cold and ruthless eyes fixed on Long-Armed Gibbon and Little Clay Chunk.

It was like a killer who showed his blade.

The two youths were stunned. They could neither advance nor retreat.

“How can this be? I just examined my Long-Armed Gibbon last week. Its spiritual force is more than 80!”

“Yeah! According to the level demarcation by the training class coach, our Long-Armed Gibbon and Little Clay Chunk are both high-level beginners. They are by right, very close to entry-level!”

They couldn’t believe that the Wood Mantis defeated them at their first encounter.

Especially given that there was no spiritual force halo around the Wood Mantis’ body. It was a beginner, just like their sprites!

The tall man coldly ordered, “Kill both sprites!”

“Brother, since we’ve already fought, let’s fill our bellies in the very least so that we can run faster later.”

The tall man didn’t refuse.

The short man fixed his eyes on the barbecue stove closest to them.

The Little Ground Wolf, which got up from the ground, walked toward it slowly. The injury further provoked its cruel and fierce nature.

The short man’s gaze swept across the boys and girls near the barbecue stove. He said with a stern voice, “F*ck off, or die!”

A few classmates ran toward the distance immediately.

However, some classmates were frozen in shock, their legs trembled, and they were unable to move their feet.

“Little Charcoal Tortoise, burn it!”

A fire several meters long suddenly emerged.

The Little Ground Wolf was shocked, but it ran to the side very deftly. It leaped at Little Charcoal Tortoise, which made a fire in vain and was just panting.

At that moment, Silkworm Baby, which had gotten Su Hao’s hint long ago and was hiding behind the stove secretly preparing, suddenly pounced.

The light yellow figure flew up like a cannonball and accurately hit the Little Ground Wolf’s face.

A flesh cannonball in the face!

With a flash, the Little Ground Wolf flew out, knocked over the chairs in its way, and then collided with the stone barbecue stove.

The barbecue rack fell, along with several pieces of coal that were still burning red, hitting the Little Ground Wolf. It kept crying in pain.

The Little Ground Wolf dug at the ground a little, attempting to stand up, but with continuous injuries, sharp pain overwhelmed its body. It swayed a little and still collapsed onto the ground.

Su Hao and Liu Ren had only just heaved a sigh of relief before their hearts were nervous again.

Not far away, the Long-Armed Gibbon and Little Clay Chunk, two rather strong sprites, were in a rather bad situation.

Against the Wood Mantis, they had no power to resist at all. They were completely passive in the fight against the green figure, and wounds kept appearing on their bodies.

They had fallen down long ago, and their injuries were much more serious than even that of the Little Ground Wolf. The life force of sprites entirely sustained them.

“This Wood Mantis is so much stronger than the Little Ground Wolf, those front legs have clearly gotten special training…”

According to Old Chen’s categorization of pre-entry-level sprites, the Wood Mantis, the Long-Armed Gibbon, and the Little Clay Chunk were theoretically supposed to be at the same level.

Yet their battle power was vastly different.

No, one should say that Little Clay Chunk’s and Long-Armed Gibbon’s Sprite Trainers only focused on increasing the sprites’ spiritual force, but didn’t train their battle abilities.

This was normal. The period between a sprite’s growing stage and adulthood stage was at most three to five years, and the majority of those sprites that couldn’t break through into entry-level during this period was wasted.

For many Sprite Trainers who took part in training classes out of schools, their aim was to cultivate the sprites until entry-level first, before learning battle abilities or unique skills.

This was the most cost-effective way!

Besides, so long as the sprite reached entry-level, the contractor could register at the Union of Sprite Trainers to become an official Sprite Trainer and get subsidies from the Union.

Su Hao remembered that entry-level Sprite Trainers got more than 3,000 yuan per month!

The college entrance examination a few years ago similarly examined the sprite’s level of spiritual force. However, later on, it was reformed to include the subject of sprite battles, and it had high weightage.

The college entrance examination for Sprite stream was academic exams, sprite spiritual force examination, and sprite battles.

They would battle against other students of the same cohort. The examination officers themselves even examined the outstanding ones.

Su Hao heard that this year’s college entrance examination was going to be reformed yet again.

Crack! Crack!

The Wood Mantis’s eyes locked on them.

“Old Su, what do we do?” Liu Ren was very nervous.

Su Hao dared not move his eyes away, but simply said, “Fight it right on.”

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The Wood Mantis dashed at them.

Liu Ren had no time to make orders, and Little Charcoal Tortoise breathed out hot fire right at it.

Slash!

The Wood Mantis’s scimitar-like front arms moved up and easily blocked out the fire coming toward it with a slash, and then its sharp blades slashed down with no force lost.

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Little Charcoal Tortoise was so scared that it retreated into its shell right away, and the blade-like forelimbs scratched on the tortoiseshell, producing sparks.

The Wood Mantis’ slash carried great force and sent the whole tortoiseshell flying out, crashing into things all the way.

The crash made Little Charcoal Tortoise dizzy.

“Now, Little Stone Elephant, hit it!” shouted Chen Qi.

Little Stone Elephant started running rapidly and slammed at it directly.

The Wood Mantis dodged deftly again. Its forelimbs left two wounds on the Little Stone Elephant.

They were not on the same level at all.

Ma Ruomei and Zhou Yuze still wanted to make their sprites join the battle.

However, Su Hao stopped them as they would sacrifice their sprites in vain.

Currently, only Liu Ren’s Little Charcoal Tortoise could pose some level of threat to the Wood Mantis.

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Fire countered Wood. If the flame could hit it, it would do significant damage to the Wood Mantis. Unfortunately, the Wood Mantis was too fast, so the Little Charcoal Tortoise had no opportunity to attack.

Other sprites were just a target in front of the Wood Mantis—a fragile target no less.

Silkworm Baby made two calls as its big round eyes looked into those of the Wood Mantis.

It was ready for its move!