Chapter 108: Mephistopheles: Are You Kidding Me?

Kairi, as a mechanic, actually hadn’t yet reached the defensive level of a combat-class Great Witch. Converted, that puts her roughly on the same level as Virrelt. After all, she specialized in mental magic—this school is versatile, but its offensive and defensive capabilities are somewhat weak.

But as a mechanic, as long as she had the funds and was willing to spend high-grade materials—say, if Kairi pulled out a defensive machine embedded with an 8th-level Ocean Core—Jiang Cha definitely wouldn’t be able to break through her defense.

Of course, she wasn’t doing that now. Even if she had such a machine, she wouldn’t risk using it in a training match.

After smashing Kairi’s mech with a single punch, Jiang Cha instantly froze, but Meisa—quickly switching to a less convenient form, the Wind Spirit Transformation—arrived with incredible speed before Jiang Cha could recover. The worst-case scenario confirmed: Meisa’s combat experience couldn’t be underestimated.

The Wind Spirit form may be inferior to the high-level Great Demon Transformation in spell variety, speed, offense, and defense, but it completely nullified Jiang Cha’s tactical options. Her previous escape relied on the element of surprise and switching tactics; now, with a “firefighter” teammate present, Jiang Cha’s tactical switching was effectively blocked.

In terms of raw power, even if Meisa’s combat strength was partially constrained, their small team still couldn’t match Daisy’s squad.

“Come and fight!”
Meisa’s expression turned more unhinged. Normally, the Wind Spirit form is free and flexible, but she used it like a Demon Hunter transformation, maximizing her offense.

“Senior, switch to Holy Fire Transformation. Try to suppress Senior Daisy. Virrelt, execute Strategy Three.”
As she spoke, Jiang Cha raised her arm, using suddenly hardened bone armor to block Meisa’s slash.

The Wind Spirit Transformation alone wouldn’t have allowed her to survive this strike; otherwise, her wrist would have been cut off.

Even though she blocked it, the force still sent Jiang Cha flying over ten meters. At the moment she stopped, she immediately unleashed a Reinforced Explosive Spell.

Target: Kairi!

“Why me again!?”
Kairi yelled, flustered, while her teammate Meisa didn’t even glance back, closing the distance to Jiang Cha with a dozen rapid slashes.

“Can you at least pay attention to me?”
“You’re not that useless anyway.”
Meisa said coldly as she slashed, giving no time even for a glance at Kairi. That was… teamwork, apparently.

Meanwhile, Jiang Cha remained silent, her mind calculating every slash, but she was still hit by one of Meisa’s unexpected attacks—after all, no one could predict such madness.

Meisa attacked from impossible angles! After one swing, Jiang Cha’s right forearm and upper arm were left connected only by skin layers. As Meisa struck again with magic, the last layer tore, and Jiang Cha’s pale right hand fell onto the yellow sand floor.

At the same time, Kairi’s right hand also fractured, drastically reducing her offensive capability. Losing her main hand, Jiang Cha suffered a huge disadvantage in this exchange.

But… that was exactly her plan.

“Strategy Three, execute.”
Through Divine Will Transmission, action began.

In the next moment, a slight spatial fluctuation appeared. Before Kairi or Jiang Cha could react, Jiang Cha and Virrelt suddenly swapped positions.

While engaged in high-speed combat with Meisa, Jiang Cha had been preparing a mid-level spell!

To Kairi, the small figure filled with death magic looked like a nuclear bomb. She tried to escape but couldn’t put enough distance. Dark light erupted violently. Corruptive death energy ignored everything, instantly taking Kairi out. Even the fastest Meisa was affected, losing much of her combat strength.

Jiang Cha’s tactical principle: Advantage—swap for guaranteed win; even—swap for opportunity; disadvantage—swap and fire a desperate shot.

…And then… Jiang Cha’s team lost.

There was nothing they could do. Virrelt’s nuclear spell, a high-level undead magic Decaying Domain, wiped out one and a half enemy units, but Meisa’s rapid assault returned Jiang Cha to her original position, leaving her without enough power to cast defensive magic.

Relying on Mephist to stop Daisy, the top-tier offensive witch, was too much to expect.

Normally, if this were a normal team, this swap would have been a huge gain: Virrelt holding off Daisy, Mephist quickly dealing with the extremely weakened Meisa—the win rate would be very high.

But this wasn’t a normal team. Once Jiang Cha, the command tower, was knocked out, the other two couldn’t play the “game” anymore. Mephist only knew solo combat, and Virrelt had no battle experience. Against two veteran combat Great Witches who had trained together for years, the result could only be… doomed.

“Last time we spent so little hiring Junior Jiang Cha for missions, it was totally worth it.”
Meisa commented matter-of-factly. They knew the opponents were a first-time team. To go toe-to-toe with them in initial coordination—Jiang Cha’s command skills far exceeded her tactical value as a witch.

“Best investment of the whole match, Jiang Cha really carried this point.”
Even a revived Kairi couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.

“Why didn’t I realize this girl was such a schemer!”

Only Daisy was furious. She had personally felt how slippery Jiang Cha was, especially during the intense exchanges with Meisa. If she hadn’t reacted quickly, even giving Jiang Cha a second to prepare, they probably would have lost this match.

While Daisy’s team reflected on the lessons from the match, Jiang Cha’s team was also reviewing… though not exactly the usual topics.

“Senior, can I ask you a question? Suppose one night your roommate suddenly grabs your hand…?”
“On an empty street, she stands in front of you, saying she wants to invest in you, and says, ‘If you don’t give me something now, I’ll lose my advantage’… what does that even mean?”

“Huh?”
Mephist looked confused, tilting her head, eyes wide. She didn’t expect Jiang Cha to ask about emotions right after such an intense battle.

Seeing Jiang Cha’s troubled expression, she answered gently,
“Maybe she likes you? A girl sensing danger might act like that.”

“Oh!” Jiang Cha slapped her palm in realization.
“Then Lina definitely doesn’t like me!”

“Huh?”
Mephist was even more bewildered.