Chapter 78: The Art of Patrick Star

Witness this! This is the true application of Earth magic: the Earthquake spell!

Su Liyue’s wand erupted with a profound, tawny glow, and the ground beneath Zhao Yan’s and Lin Mo’s teams instantly began to tremble violently.

What began as a mere tremor swiftly escalated, transforming in the blink of an eye into a terrifying, earth-shattering upheaval.

The very earth undulated like a living entity, its surface rising and falling with a staggering half-meter variance, while a muffled, thunderous roar echoed from deep within, as though an ancient behemoth were stirring from its slumber.

“What in the world is happening?! The ground is shaking!”

“Bloody hell?!”

Zhao Yan stumbled, crashing onto one knee as a jagged rock spike tore a gaping rip in the hem of his magic robe.

“Is this really the Earthquake spell? The textbooks explicitly stated it was a mere elementary enchantment, designed only to throw opponents off balance!”

“Damn it! I can’t keep my footing! Quick, use Levitation!” Lin Mo shrieked, his voice laced with panic.

“Attempting to flee?” Su Liyue sneered, her wand once more rising with an almost imperceptible flick.

“Next, a lesson in Wind magic: Oxygen Deprivation!”

As Lin Mo began to wave his wand, preparing to cast a levitation spell, he was seized by a horrifying realization: the air he inhaled had abruptly thickened, turning viscous as glue.

A searing, burning pain flared in his lungs, and his magic incantation fractured into desperate gasps, shattered by the sudden deprivation of oxygen.

More terrifying still, the fiery wings his teammate had just summoned flickered and died, extinguished by an unseen force.

Zhao Yan and his companions stared in abject horror, discovering that not only were their incantations impossible to utter coherently, but even the most fundamental act of breathing had become an unattainable luxury.

A tidal wave of dizziness crashed over them, and their faces flushed crimson with alarming speed.

“Ugh…”

“Ah…”

“This…”

“Qingqing, now!” Su Liyue urged, her voice strained. Fine beads of perspiration already glistened on her forehead.

Casting such a demanding Wind magic spell as Oxygen Deprivation on multiple targets simultaneously was an immense drain on her magical reserves.

Given her current strength, she knew she couldn’t sustain it for long, especially since precisely controlling the oxygen concentration in the air was an inherently intricate operation.

“Watch me, Yueyue!” Mu Wanqing, who had been poised and ready, declared as the magic array in her hand burst forth with a dazzling blue luminescence.

“Thousand-Mile Ice Seal!”

A bone-chilling cold swept through the air, and from Zhao Yan’s fingertips, ice crystals visibly began to creep, rapidly encasing their entire bodies.

In a matter of moments, all eight individuals were frozen solid, transformed into immobile statues of ice.

The frost did not merely encase them from the outside; it materialized directly within their very bodies. Zhao Yan watched in terror as his magic wand fused with his palm, becoming a single, frigid entity.

Lin Mo, attempting to use his residual magic to melt the encroaching ice, discovered to his dismay that the cold originated from deep within his arm, spreading outwards, stifling even the flow of his mana.

This was precisely the core secret Su Liyue had imparted to Mu Wanqing.

Given that the human body is composed of at least 60% to 80% water, Su Liyue reasoned, why not exploit this inherent vulnerability to maximize the potency of Water magic by drawing directly from the target’s own composition?

Only when the earthquake subsided and air once again flowed freely did the full weight of their despair truly settle upon them.

Their spellcasting hands were utterly encased in ice, their very legs frozen solid, rendering any movement impossible.

Even Chixiao, observing the spectacle from the sidelines like an impassive NPC, could not help but murmur in admiration:

“Is this the true power of the two genius school beauties? Mu Wanqing’s mastery over Water elemental spirits, I daresay, has already far surpassed the capabilities of an ordinary apprentice mage. To freeze eight individuals simultaneously… even for those with exceptional Water affinity, immobilizing five would likely be their absolute limit, wouldn’t it?”

Meanwhile, the trio huddled in the corner, witnessing the entire battle, were utterly dumbfounded:

“My heavens, this isn’t eight people ganging up on two and a half! This is…”

“It’s clearly two true, formally recognized mages teaching a harsh lesson to eight imposters! Our captain barely even counts as half a combatant in this scenario…”

“Wait! Look quickly, everyone! Ye Xingchen seems to have drawn something! Is he finally going to make his move?!”

Sensing that Su Liyue, in her female form, had just expended a significant amount of mana, launching another attack would prove quite taxing for her now.

Mu Wanqing, meanwhile, was fully occupied with restricting their opponents’ movements and couldn’t free her hands. As for Chixiao? It was best to let him remain a mere spectator—an NPC, if you will—lest he unleash a stray fireball, miss his targets, and inadvertently melt the very ice that held them captive.

After all, this was the opportune moment to secure victory.

Ye Xingchen slowly drew forth his meticulously polished revolver. Despite three years of dedicated research and refinement, the weapon remained a prototype, incapable of channeling spiritual energy.

However, when loaded with his specially crafted alchemical bullets, while they might prove little more than an annoyance to magical beasts, for ordinary mages, the potent paralyzing herbs embedded within these projectiles were more than sufficient to plunge a target into a deep, inescapable slumber.

He advanced with a predatory grace, elegantly rotating the cylinder as he meticulously loaded six paralyzing rounds, one by one. The crisp, melodious click of metal on metal filled the air.

“Next,” Ye Xingchen began, his voice unhurried, “allow me to demonstrate what I call the art of Patrick Star.”

Though Zhao Yan and Lin Mo were ensnared by Mu Wanqing’s ice, Ye Xingchen clearly perceived the toll Su Liyue’s recent exertion had taken, noting her labored breathing.

He also surmised that Mu Wanqing’s simultaneous freezing of so many individuals must have significantly depleted her own magical reserves.

As for Chixiao, his mana would likely be sufficient to handle perhaps one or two opponents at best.

And Ye Xingchen? What conceivable threat could this waste of a man, devoid even of elemental affinity, possibly present?

They merely needed to bide their time until Mu Wanqing’s magical energy was sufficiently depleted; then, their moment for a decisive counterattack would arrive.

“Hahahaha, Ye Xingchen!” Zhao Yan sneered, his voice dripping with derision. “What could a magical cripple like you possibly accomplish with that piece of junk? Don’t tell me it’s some new toy you cobbled together in your alchemy experiments!”

“Exactly!” Lin Mo chimed in, joining the taunts. “He can’t even manage the most rudimentary elemental sensing. Is he perhaps planning to engage us in melee combat with potion bottles?”

Even the six teammates positioned behind Lin Mo and Zhao Yan burst into mocking laughter, one of them echoing with thinly veiled sarcasm:

“Precisely! Just wait until we break free; we’ll beat you so thoroughly you’ll be spitting teeth!”

Even Chixiao, standing nearby, felt compelled to place a hand on Ye Xingchen’s shoulder:

“Student Ye,” Chixiao began, “I still possess some magical energy. Perhaps I should handle the two most troublesome opponents first, and then you can devise a plan for the remaining rabble?”

Ye Xingchen, having already stepped into optimal shooting range, merely observed their self-assured, almost naive expressions.

He found their misplaced confidence rather amusing.

It was always these weak individuals, blinded by their own delusions of grandeur, who were most easily dismissed as true fools, not even worth the effort of serious engagement.

He elegantly spun the pistol in his hand:

“Your current magical reserves would be stretched too thin attempting to deal with both Zhao Yan and Lin Mo simultaneously,” Ye Xingchen explained. “Allow me to resolve these nuisances in one swift stroke.”

These words, however, ignited an explosion of laughter among Zhao Yan and his companions.

“Ha!? Brothers, did you all hear that?” Zhao Yan scoffed, a sneer twisting his lips. “Our ‘top student’ claims he’s going to deal with us? My ears aren’t playing tricks on me, are they?”

“No, you heard correctly,” Lin Mo retorted with a derisive laugh.

“It’s just that someone’s brain has been flooded. Perhaps School Beauty Mu should use her Water magic to cleanse his mind! Does clinging to the school beauty’s coattails truly make him a genius? He’s nothing but a freeloading waste!”

The other team members immediately joined in the jeering.

“Exactly!” one shouted. “Even Chief Su and Goddess Mu couldn’t dispatch all of us in one go, yet this laggard is suddenly full of bluster!”

“Indeed! If he truly possessed any skill, he wouldn’t have consistently held the unenviable position of last in his grade for three consecutive years!”

“…”

Hearing this, Ye Xingchen let out a somewhat helpless sigh. Perhaps, as depicted in countless novels, villains were simply destined to be verbose?