NOVEL NEXT Ch. 30
Chapter 30: Close-Combat Brawl — Beating Down the Elites!
A lightning chain struck a squad with pinpoint precision.
The two shield bearers at the front immediately crossed and locked their shields together, forcibly taking most of the damage.
Though their bodies twitched from the electric shock and they staggered backward, they still held their ground and protected their teammates behind them.
At the very instant they were attacked, another squad had already flanked and rushed to the front line of Thunder Hall’s formation!
“Now! ‘Asset Stripping’!”
The member in charge of offense in that squad flashed a fierce glint in his eyes.
With a sharp twist of his wrists, the long metal hook in his hand lashed out at an extremely tricky angle like lightning!
“Swoosh!”
The iron hook didn’t aim for a person’s torso—it went straight for the ankle of a Thunder Hall disciple who was casting a spell!
That disciple was wholly focused on condensing lightning energy and never expected such a move. His ankle was suddenly caught, and his entire body lost balance, falling backward with a scream.
His fall not only interrupted his own spell but also knocked into the two teammates behind him. The originally flawless “Lightning Array” of Thunder Hall instantly showed a gap!
“Nice work!”
“For the Group! Uraaa!”
The three-man squad, having landed a hit, didn’t linger.
The two shield bearers immediately pinned down the fallen disciple and, using every ounce of their strength, shoved him like human bulldozers toward the edge of the arena!
Closer!
Even closer!
The first Thunder Hall disciple was pushed off the stage in the most barbaric and unreasonable way possible!
The entire arena once again fell into dead silence.
One, two, three...
After the first Thunder Hall disciple was thrown off the platform in such an almost humiliating fashion, a chain reaction erupted in an instant!
Ascension Group’s six “three-man combat units” became six sharks that had smelled blood, charging madly into Thunder Hall’s now chaotic formation.
The entire battlefield was completely out of control.
“Damn it! Hold your ground! Everyone, stabilize the formation!”
Lei Qianjun’s eyes were bloodshot with fury.
He frantically gathered lightning energy, hurling thick bolts toward those “mudfish” who were rampaging through his formation.
But—it was useless.
When the battlefield devolved into this kind of close-quarters melee, his wide-range lightning spells became shackles instead of weapons.
He couldn’t unleash his full strength for fear of harming his own teammates.
And his smaller, single-target spells, when hitting Ascension Group members who had taken Diamond Power Pills, did nothing more than make them stagger—they couldn’t inflict any fatal damage.
In contrast, the Ascension Group fought without a shred of restraint.
Their tactical core could be summed up in one word—Chaos!
With the smallest cost, they created the greatest disorder!
The long hooks whipped through the air—hooking legs, necks, even weapons—no trick too underhanded.
Their goal wasn’t to kill, but to disrupt, to make the enemy unable to cast their spells smoothly.
Once a Thunder Hall disciple was hooked or lost balance, the two shield bearers beside him would pounce like vicious dogs, ramming and pushing until the person was forced off the platform.
“Bang!”
Another Thunder Hall disciple, after barely blocking a sneaky hook, was slammed in the waist by two burly men’s shields and screamed as he was flung off the arena.
“What… what the hell is this?! A fight or a wrestling match?!”
“This is so dirty! This fighting style is filthy! There’s no dignity of a cultivator at all!”
“But… look—the number of Thunder Hall’s disciples is shrinking…”
The audience below had gone from shock to numbness.
They felt as though their worldview was being ruthlessly ground into dust today.
The inner sect prodigies they once saw as lofty and ethereal were now being utterly humiliated on stage by a bunch of laborers using the most shameless, rogue tactics imaginable.
Their refined lightning arts couldn’t even unleash thirty percent of their power under such “If I can’t have it easy, neither can you” close-combat brawling.
Li Aotian sat trembling in his seat.
He wasn’t angry—he was stunned, even… afraid.
If he could dismiss the first victory as “luck” or “a surprise attack,”
Then this time, as Ascension Group faced Thunder Hall—an opponent far stronger than Qingfeng Hall, and one that was already on guard—they still pulled out an entirely new, unheard-of yet equally effective tactic!
What did that mean?
It meant that Chu Feng—that so-called good-for-nothing—didn’t just have one “clever plan.”
He possessed something terrifying—an evolving “tactics library,” capable of adapting to every opponent!
That was the most frightening thing!
For the first time, Li Aotian’s firm belief in “absolute power crushing everything” wavered.
He began to realize that the man he was facing might not be some foolish clown… but a monster he could never comprehend!
On the arena, the tide of battle had completely turned in favor of the Ascension Group.
Thunder Hall’s disciples, from the initial twenty, were reduced to just seven or eight, scattered and surrounded in the corners of the platform, struggling desperately to hold on.
While Ascension Group’s members—though all injured and with several already knocked off the stage—still had twelve people remaining!
They maintained an overwhelming numerical advantage!
“Daniu! Execute the final step—‘Core Asset Decapitation’!”
Below the stage, Chu Feng’s calm voice rang clearly in Zhang Daniu’s ears.
“Roger that!”
Zhang Daniu roared, tossed aside his battered shield, and drew out the weapon he had never yet used—
a spiked wolf-tooth mace!
His already hulking frame seemed to expand even larger at that moment.
“Lei Qianjun! Your granddaddy’s coming for you!”
Zhang Daniu’s target was crystal clear—the enemy commander, Lei Qianjun!
At that moment, Lei Qianjun was being tightly entangled by three Ascension Group members.
Though his strength was immense, having already blasted two into serious injuries, his spiritual power was nearly drained, and his breath came in ragged gasps.
When he saw that maniac Zhang Daniu charging toward him with the spiked mace, Lei Qianjun’s pupils contracted sharply.
“Rolling Thunder Flash!”
He roared, lightning bursting from his body as he turned into a flash of blinding light, attempting to retreat.
However—Zhang Daniu had already anticipated this move.
“Running? No chance!”
Instead of dodging, Zhang Daniu surged forward, slamming into the blinding lightning with his flesh and blood body!
“Boom!”
A deafening explosion echoed.
Zhang Daniu’s chest was blasted black, and he stumbled back three steps, coughing up blood.
But—he didn’t fall!
With that single grievous blow, he forcibly halted Lei Qianjun’s lightning movement!
“You—” Lei Qianjun’s face paled in horror.
He never got the chance to say the second word.