Chapter 27: The Three‑Person Team Takes Shape

On the battlefield, the blonde little dragon girl had completely transformed. Her expression was wild with frenzy, her entire body engulfed in scorching flames as she soared high in the sky, continuously launching massive fireballs comparable to missiles like an infinite-firepower bomber.

Below her, a beautiful girl with black hair and red eyes watched the battlefield coldly. She hovered inside a protective shield that emitted a faint blue glow. Her hands moved swiftly, casting spell after spell. The small standard-issue short staff in her hand was wielded with the effect of a top-tier magical staff—like a conductor’s baton. Every swing released multiple spells at once.

[Lightning Arrow] [Empower Spell] [Mana Link] [Disruption]

All were basic first or second-level spells, but under her precise calculations, each spell achieved miraculous effects, always hitting the enemy at just the right moment to cause maximum trouble.

At the very bottom, a girl with a huge bun hairstyle smiled gently. Around her, ten massive mechanical magical puppets formed a battle formation, and she continuously issued orders.

Three bombers stood in place under the protection of three guardians, relentlessly pouring out firepower. Three raiders waited for the right moment to strike, coordinating with Lina, who occasionally swooped down with her dragon claws trying to tear through the enemy’s shield, delivering lethal blows.

Beside her stood a mechanical puppet that Jiang Cha had never seen before. It never unfolded but emitted faint psychic waves assisting her commands.

The core puppet—The Calculator.

The coordination of the three girls was flawless. On the surface, Lina and He Qin seemed to execute their own tactics separately, but with Jiang Cha, the strongest brain, directing and coordinating from the center, even Casey on the stands couldn’t help but marvel that these three troublemakers were a perfect match.

“This is disgusting.”

Yes, disgusting.

He Qin defended, Lina attacked, Jiang Cha patched holes—this system wasn’t anything special. Everyone knew how to fight this style. But under Jiang Cha’s coordinated command, no one of the same skill level could compete.

This was the ultimate tactic for a witch squad, and once mastered, the hardest to break.

Usually, first-year students wouldn’t be able to play this tactic well, but… Jiang Cha’s calculation power had evolved once again, reaching truly inhuman levels.

Not only did she only need to coordinate Lina and He Qin, but even if the environment doubled in complexity, she could still handle the calculations.

“What would you do if you faced this?”

Casey looked back at her teammates. They were old partners, having faced many opponents, but such a bizarre coordination was rare.

“Just throw a big Ivan spell and end it all. Carol the mentor is amazing for being patient enough to keep grinding against them.”

The blue-haired gentle witch rolled her eyes and said irritably.

“It’s mainly because Lina and He Qin’s tactical system is so perfect. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have this playstyle. Carol probably just wants to see their limits.”

He Qin sighed softly.

If it were her on the field, she would do the same as her teammates: against this system, either break the defense with strong offense—if you break through, you win; if not, next round.

Or set a trap to ambush the offense—bury Lina and end it.

But Jiang Cha and the others’ nastiness was exactly here. Carol, despite her experience, tried several times to break through one side.

But Jiang Cha, with her ability to read magical energy info—which was practically superhuman—instantly saw through the hidden spells and traps aimed at Lina.

She even counterattacked with a combo of [Empower Spell], [Giant Strength], [Magic Shield], and [Mana Link], boosting the little dragon’s offense by more than half, making Carol look embarrassed.

Carol tried to build up magical energy to break He Qin’s puppet shield, but three raiders blocked her.

Jiang Cha just waved her wand and cast a series of spells: [Empower Spell], [Magic Shield], [Mana Link], [Sharpness], [Fireball].

Compared to the time she defended Lina’s trap, she only changed the casting order and still had the energy to throw two empowered fireballs for greater damage.

If Carol weren’t a veteran archwitch whose natural power surpassed the three first-year rookies even with suppressed output, she would have lost long ago.

After all, three heroes of equal strength versus one, with experience advantage neutralized and similar skill, no one can win easily.

“Damn, mentor, you’re so dirty!”

Lina spat out blood and cursed. For the little dragon who was tough on both offense and defense to say this, one can imagine how hard it was to break Carol’s defense.

This woman was obviously a transmutation specialist archwitch, but half her traits were defensive enhancements.

Especially the [Rock Solid Guardian]—ridiculous!

Physical attacks hardly affected her.

“I haven’t even started the three-on-one yet.”

Carol said calmly with a light taunt: “Kid, are you even any good? So weak at your age, what will you do in the future?”

She shook her chest teasingly, mocking fully loaded.

“Damn!”

Lina pulled out her flaming greatsword: “I’ll cut your dirty ass later!”

“Hmph~”

Carol just sneered, no response. The flames on the little dragon girl flared higher in anger.

The veteran battle witch knew how to talk trash. The blonde little girl had been beaten many times at the same level, and trash talk was at least a third of Carol’s victories.

Carol had often bullied Lina to relax.

But today was different.

The blonde’s red dragon traits meant she had a short temper in battle, but next to her stood a calm external thinking circuit!

Jiang Cha was running at full power, not caring about trash talk. To her, the whole battle was streams of information; once her brain’s computing power kicked in, she only calculated the gains and losses of offense and defense.

Emotions?

What use were those?

“Eight o’clock, coordinates 082, fire.”

The terse command came out. Immediately, one of the three bombers behind He Qin shifted fire.

“Lina, recharge shield, gather magic with dragon breath.”

Carol’s carefully prepared hidden spell [Explosive Flame] was thus cracked, only causing more chaos in the magic field.

“Damn, no honor, you old woman!”

Lina immediately cursed when she saw the hidden placement of the Explosive Flame—it was aimed at her.

“You little brat, you play dirty too!”

Carol dodged a fireball hidden behind Jiang Cha’s Lightning Arrow controlled by Lina, her hair singed.

Witches didn’t get elemental resistances based on magic type unless transformed like Lina’s red dragon form. Otherwise, a fireball hit meant burning to ashes.

Though called a fireball, witch fireballs differed from magical creatures’ ones that just converted mana into flame. These were ionized plasma, as powerful as missiles, with a core explosion radius of at least ten meters.

“We need a stronger offensive.”

Jiang Cha immediately assessed what was needed.

Lina did have stronger magic.

[Red Dragon Trait Additional Magic: Dragon Breath]

“Not enough time!”

The problem was this required ten seconds of charging, and ten seconds without offense was enough for Carol—the aggressive witch—to shatter He Qin’s defense.

“I can’t hold on.”

He Qin admitted, without shame. After all, the opponent was a genuine top-tier battle witch.

What’s a top-tier battle witch?

Among all witches, only higher-level sages could beat them; even weaker scholarly sages might fail.

They were the top combat tier under sages, either fighting daily or heading to fights. Their magic systems had been optimized for decades, near-perfect, adjusted only to counter opponents, with endless magical tools and perfectly adapted gear.

Even with Carol limiting her output and sealing magic above sixth-level, her fierce offense was too much for a first-year rookie like He Qin.

The only reason they lasted so long was sheer numbers advantage.

Ten seconds! Enough for Jiang Cha to cast dozens of spells! Lina could charge a thousand chain fireballs!

“The only flaw in Lina and He Qin’s system is probably Jiang Cha. After all, she’s a transfer student with a weak magic library.”

Though Jiang Cha’s role in battle was indispensable, without her command and patching, Lina and He Qin wouldn’t last more than three minutes under Carol.

But her inherently weak power was the system’s flaw.

Fragile, low output—pure support!

“But she’s cautious, always in safe positions. Carol tried to lure her but never succeeded… This info-reading is so unfair, it’s like playing with God’s view.”

Reading and analyzing magic energy information to make tactical decisions was a mandatory skill for every battle witch, but Jiang Cha skipped class and graduated directly.

Meaning?

Cheating!

Who doesn’t cheat to become a top witch? Jiang Cha’s cheat, combined with Lina and He Qin, just made it look extremely broken.

It’s like in an LOL match the opposing support and commander sees through the fog of war. How would you even play?

How to play?

Carol’s got the answer.

Five-second true woman! Skull splitting!

The cool black leather-clad hottie took a deep breath, put up a flame shield, and tanked Lina’s fireball explosion. In a blink, she charged in front of Jiang Cha!

“Hehe~ Let the mentor teach you how to hide your tactical intentions.”

Looking at the beautiful girl’s delicate face, still doll-like and emotionless, Carol’s mouth curled into a smug smile.

Even under the barrage of chain fireballs, her three layers of magical shields were nearly broken. Even if Lina and He Qin’s rescue arrived 0.01 seconds earlier…

That 0.01 seconds was enough for her to kill Jiang Cha ten times.

This battle

Did she win?

Boom!!!!