Astral Pet Store (WN)
chapter-281

Chapter 281 Sneak Attack

“My turn.”

Su Lingyue stood up, looking nervous.

“One pass will be enough. Save some chances for other people,” Su Ping told her. Su Lingyue wore a forced smile. It seemed that Su Ping was even more confident in her than she was.

“I know.”

“Use your Phantom Flame Beast and do not engage with your other pets if you can avoid it,” Su Ping added.

Su Lingyue nodded. She understood that she couldn’t show all her cards just yet.

Fei Yanbo heard this conversation. He could not help but give another look at the girl. He had a feeling that Su Ping thought it was a sure thing that his sister could pass the test when she was only at the fourth rank.

Even if she had a powerful battle pet of the sixth rank, it wouldn’t be 100% certain that she could pass. There was a huge crowd of Phantom Bees on the stage as well as other participants. Someone could target her from behind her back.

Luo Fengtian, who had been trying to refresh his spirit by closing his eyes, began to look Su Ping’s sister up and down.

People said that a wise goose never laid a tame egg. He wondered how well the younger sister would perform when her brother was such an outstanding man.

The girl with the pony-tail sitting next to Luo Fengtian frowned as she noticed how Luo Fengtian had paid extra attention to that girl. Her anger appeared but vanished in a second. She still kept a straight face, though the coldness in her eyes was deepened.

“Good luck!”

Fei Yanbo smiled.

The other students encouraged Su Lingyue as well, for Su Ping’s sake.

Su Lingyue took a deep breath, said her thanks to them all, and headed toward the stage.

Su Ping looked past her to the other areas of the venue, trying to figure out if there were people from those major families. That was the only source of concern for him. Otherwise, he would have gone back to his store to sleep.

Soon, Su Lingyue arrived at the stage and gradually, more came down and joined her. As the test time arrived, everyone had stepped into the bounds of the shield.

Su Lingyue looked around. Only when she stood on the stage did she have a full sense of how vast the stage was. She felt she was like an insignificant grain of sand compared to the large space across the stage.

As the others began to summon their pets, Su Lingyue did so as well and called the Phantom Flame Beast.

When the Phantom Flame Beast hopped out, it seemed to be scared of the huge crowds. Its hair stood on end as the Phantom Flame Beast grabbed Su Lingyue’s shoulder with its four paws and looked around, highly alerted.

Su Lingyue moved to a place with fewer people while she kept an eye out for the participants around her.

“Is she Su Lingyue?”

“Hmm, yes, she is. Like we saw on her file, she is weak.”

“Look at her. She is inexperienced. Let’s go. Later, when the colony of bees creates enough of a disturbance, we will finish her.”

Among the participants, three remarkable-looking young men stayed together. They searched the crowd and had found out where Su Lingyue was. Immediately, they stole their way toward her.

“Let’s see how that sorry little store can compete with our store when we take her out. After we go back to our family, Uncle Liu Yuan will thank us and the family head will remember us. We will have done our family a great deed.”

“Those people from the shantytown are garbage. Look at them. They are all losers. Coming here for the primary match was the right decision.”

“Hush. Do not let her hear you.”

The three stayed together at all times and their pets provided them with cover. Slowly, they moved through the crowd, as they headed toward the girl that was standing closer to the edge of the stage.

The other participants inwardly cursed and stepped further away as they noticed that the three were a team. In this test, if someone and their friends were on stage together, they could partner up and their chances of winning the passes would increase by a large margin.

Since the names had been picked up randomly, they had to be extremely lucky to have met a friend on stage.

Those three, naturally, could not be more fortunate.

That was what everything was thinking.

Soon, the test began.

Bzzz!

The Phantom Bees hovering above suddenly generated a shrill, unpleasant noise as they dashed down. They hurled out poisonous stings like flying arrows that rained down on the many participants on stage. Many participants immediately built up astral shields or made use of their pets’ defensive skills.

“Use SpellFire!” Su Lingyue instructed Phantom Flame Beast. At the same time, she cast an astral shield over herself to protect against any possible sneak attacks.

The dark, chubby Phantom Flame Beast jumped up from her shoulder and its size grew in the air. Behind its back were two short and barely visible wings that were flapping. They only appeared as the Phantom Flame Beast grew larger. The Phantom Flame Beast’s belly blew up as it inhaled air and then breathed it out against the countless poisonous stings.

A flame darted off. It was called Spellfire, a skill of pets of the demon family. Compared to the usual flames, Spellfire was more aggressive.

The poisonous stings that were coming toward Su Lingyue were burnt and the poison evaporated as the tip of the stings dried up. The poisonous stings landed on the Phantom Flame Beast’s fur but all fell before they could inflict any harm.

Su Lingyue was relieved.

She told the Phantom Flame Beast to stand in front of her and capture the Phantom Bees when they were close.

Those Phantom Bees moved exceptionally fast. She could not tell which ones carried the pass so she had to grab several to find one.

At the spectator’s seats.

“Your sister is doing well. I’m surprised to see that she can easily control this fifth-rank pet of the demon family,” Fei Yanbo said to Su Ping with a smile after Su Lingyue had easily fended off the first round of assaults. He had good eyes. He had been quickly able to tell what rank the Phantom Flame Beast was.

Su Ping smiled but offered no comment.

That piece of charcoal was a violent-natured pet of the demon family but Su Lingyue had raised it since it was an infant. They shared a deep bond. Su Lingyue would be able to control it even when it reached the sixth rank.

At the same time, on the stage, the Phantom Bees had charged into the crowd. The Wind Blades injured many participants.

Su Lingyue had her eyes fixed on several Phantom Bees. When they were near enough and she was about to tell the Phantom Flame Beast to take action, but to her shock, she felt chills running down her spine.

Boom!

Her astral shield was crushed all of a sudden.

She looked around, only to see a hideous claw reaching her rapidly. Having no time to run, with a loud noise, Su Lingyue was thrown away, bumping against the shield over the stage.

This sudden shift of events stunned the Phantom Flame Beast that was about to attack the Phantom Bees. When it saw that it was Su Lingyue that was being attacked, the Phantom Flame Beast’s clear eyes turned blood red in an instant!

Roar!

The Phantom Flame Beast grew up again, revealing its true size. Spellfire was burning across its body. The evil spirit exuding from the Phantom Flame Beast scared away the several Phantom Bees that were about to reach them.

“What?”

Standing behind the ferocious pet that attacked Su Lingyue were the three young men. All of them were astounded to see this Phantom Flame Beast displaying such a violent rage. They could have never imagined that they could see this strong power coming from a Phantom Flame Beast at merely the fifth-rank.

“The would-be champion is just so-so. Let’s get rid of this thing as wel,” the young man standing in the middle said coldly.

The two standing next to him nodded in agreement. They all summoned their pets to attack at the Phantom Flame Beast.

Soon, they witnessed how the Phantom Flame Beast just stood on the spot, with an idiotic-looking stance, and was torn apart by their pets within a second.

“Why was I worried? It looked so scary when it was actually this weak…” The young man in the middle grinned. And yet, halfway through his grin, cold sweat burst out. He remembered the Phantom Flame Beast’s innate skill, Incubus!

Bang!

He felt a dull and strong pain in his chest. It was so clear that even his soul could sense the

pain!

The Phantom Flame Beast that should have been torn into pieces had re-emerged right in front of him before he knew it. Those blood-red eyes terrified him out of his wits! The Phantom Flame Beast was in for the kill!

Bang!

Blood oozed out from the young man’s shoulders as the Phantom Flame Beast ripped off his arms.

The other two young men were sent flying almost at the same time. The Phantom Flame Beast was moving at a speed that should not be found in a fifth-rank peer. It was madly attacking at the three young men and their pets.

None of them could return a blow!

The Phantom Flame Beast had overpowered them!

Back to the audience.

Fei Yanbo and his students could not believe what they were seeing. They never expected that someone would sneak up on Su Lingyue, or the fact that the ordinary-looking Phantom Flame Beast could turn out to be so horrifying. That was not a pet at the fifth rank. It should be at the peak of the sixth-rank!

Su Ping cast his sight at the three people attacking Su Lingyue. Coldness rose in his eyes. Around Su Lingyue, there were better choices if they wished to bully someone but they had targeted Su Lingyue without hesitation and they attacked her heartlessly. They were clearly going to end her life. Their actions could not be explained by the competition.

Killing intent was surging strongly in Su Ping. He could not wait to find out which family those three were from.

As for Su Lingyue, Su Ping took one look to know that she was fine. She was still wearing the Water Barrier he gave her. That barrier could protect her against any physical and element-related attacks below the eighth-rank.

Su Ling found out right away that the three young men were at the fifth-rank and their pets were at the sixth-rank. If they were from some major family, then they had never been valued in the family.

In a frenzy, the Phantom Flame Beast had almost beaten the life out of the three young men’s pets. Some of them lost their limbs and some were so badly mauled that healing them would be at an enormous expense.

As for the Phantom Flame Beast, Su Ping did not worry. After all, he was the one who had trained it in his own store.