High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2033: Chapter 254: Selection Tournament Ends

Time rewinds three minutes.

With less than seven minutes until the end of the Hunting Competition, the massive shadow, like a demon, had not fully descended upon the arena yet but had already outlined its terrifying form.

Thump, thump, thump.

A sudden burst of hurried footsteps broke the tranquility in the lounge beneath the stands.

Li Meng, gasping for breath, burst in, waving a Brass Telescope: ”Something big, something big... There’s a huge creature outside! Zheng Qing is doomed!”

”Oh?”

Su Daxu hummed lazily, putting down the ”Near-Death Experience,” and tilted her head to glance at the Little Witch: ”Don’t rush, speak slowly.”

The expression on Li Meng’s classmate was immediately ensnared by her killing glance.

”Zheng, Zheng Qing, there’s a big, a huge monster...”, stammered the Little Witch, her face flushed, before straightening her tongue: ”There’s a super huge monster outside, capable of swallowing half the arena in one bite... Zheng Qing’s small Hunting Team isn’t even enough to fill its teeth!”

As she spoke, Li Meng felt a blur in front of her eyes.

Once she regained her senses, she found herself standing at the edge of the stands, next to Su Shijun—if it had been any other time, Su Daxu’s presence in such an occasion would have undoubtedly caused a stir, but now, the eerie and massive presence beneath the stands had captivated everyone’s attention, leaving no one minding this new figure in the corner.

At the top of the stands, the puppet was reporting the real-time combat situation, its voice full of schadenfreude: ”...We have a piece of good news and a piece of bad news... The good news is, there are six minutes and thirty-four seconds left until the end of the Hunting Competition, and the Absolution Hunting Team has only one last Ghoul to deal with... The bad news is, this Ghoul is slightly big!”

”It’s considered a Ghoul?!”

Li Meng immediately captured the key words from the commentary, her eyes wide with disbelief as she watched the rolling mass of deep darkness in the arena, completely unable to comprehend what connection this form had with a Ghoul.

Su Shijun squinted slightly, examining the gradually clearer image of the dark Giant in the field, and softly replied: ”Mordicana... An ancient presence residing in the crypt of Zul·Baha·Sal, the God of Ghoulish Bones, King of Ghouls... Calling it the final Ghoul isn’t exactly incorrect.”

As if providing footnotes for the Witch’s explanation.

Inside the Hunting Ground.

The limbless demon-like Giant was waving its shadowy tentacles, wantonly spreading the darkness belonging to the Void and the chill belonging to Death, roaring phrases incomprehensible to most students in the Hunting Ground:

”Zul·Baha·Sal!”

...

...

”Mordicana...”

The soft yet scorching name echoed in Zheng Qing’s mind, making him feel like he was beside a warm stove, causing the bone-chilling cold around him to retreat silently, and his frozen thoughts to flow again.

Coming to his senses, the young cost student instinctively pressed the button on the Pocket Watch case.

Click.

The case opened, revealing the transparent glass shell, with the slender second hand ticking away steadily, as it had since its creation.

Two minutes and fifty-five seconds remained until the end of the Hunting Competition.

Zheng Qing remembers clearly that the last time he looked at the dial, there were precisely three minutes until midnight, then they began to flee. In other words, from the moment they started running to the point of total annihilation, it took less than five seconds?!

He let out a sigh of despair, spread his arms wide, and lay face up in the thick dust of the Hunting Ground, looking at the rolling heavy clouds overhead and the indistinct flickering lights on the surrounding stands, not wanting to move at all.

But after lying there for just a second, he realized that something seemed off.

Darkness had not fully left the Hunting Ground.

The puppet hadn’t announced the end of the selection yet.

Above, a patch of flashy spell light flickered across, like explosive fireworks, or the radiant glory volatilizing after magic was cast.

But no one around was casting spells?

Puzzled, Zheng Qing sat up, looking around, only to see thick black tentacles dancing vigorously around him, as if engaged in battle with a powerful opponent. Occasionally, some tentacles bent at bizarre angles, exploding fireworks near those angles.

The Young Wizard slowly arched his eyebrows, as if realizing something.

He cautiously raised the Law book.

Before he could open his mouth, a spell eagerly bolted from the book page, striking those enormous black tentacles—Zheng Qing swore on his teacher’s red paper position, he hadn’t yet summoned any magic power within him, and his Law book only had a few auxiliary-type spells left—but the look of those black tentacles, as if hit by a Forbidden Curse, turned instantly ragged in the spell light, with even one tentacle broken mid-air, falling to the ground, writhing like a dying worm, and then silently sank into the earth.

The Warlock’s mouth twitched.

”This is too much.”

He felt his face heat up somewhat—rooted in the conscience of a proper person—he murmured: ”My book only has a few Binding Spells... it can’t possibly have such power...”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Responding to him were the increasing brilliance of spell light in the air and the intensified fluctuations of magic power around, encouraging Zheng Qing to doubt there was any reason to believe there existed a clueless young person amidst such intense ’combat’.

The reproach of ’conscience’ was awkward and lengthy.

The combat, however, seemed exceedingly brief.

”Duang!”

As the pointer struck midnight, the deafening bell resonated over the arena, freezing the looming darkness over the Hunting Ground and the immense, terrifying figure as if struck by an immobilization spell.

In the next second, the giant shadow was erased as if by an eraser, fading away at visible speed.

Along with it vanished the barrier shrouding the hunting ground, and the thunderous clamor from the stands poured in with fresh air, prompting nearly everyone to scream, cheer, and applaud.

”Unbelievable!”

The puppet’s strange yet sharp voice reappeared in the young cost student’s ear: ”An unbelievable conclusion! The Absolution Hunting Team actually managed to last until the final second!... Although only one Hunter remains... in the eyes of any observer, this was almost a mission impossible!”

Soon, its voice was overwhelmed by an even greater wave of sound.

Because as the Hunting Competition ended and the dark shadow retreated from the Hunting Ground, the young Wizards in the stands finally noticed Su Shijun silently watching the battle in the corner.

”Su Shijun!”

”Su Shijun!”

”Su Shijun!”

In the blink of an eye, the spectators previously cheering for the Absolution victory decisively switched to shouting Su Daxu’s name in unison and rhythm, making Zheng Qing momentarily confused into thinking the event held tonight was not the Hunting Competition, but Su Shijun’s personal show.