High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 171: Chapter 132: Overestimating Oneself

However, reality was a cold, hard hammer.

The wolf-headed demon general’s blood-red, vertical pupils caught sight of the charging Ron, and a hint of brutality and mockery flashed in its eyes.

As if swatting a fly, it swung its thick, muscular arm, bringing the terrifying, millstone-sized Wolf Fang Club down on Ron Zaka’s spear with a shriek that tore through the sound barrier.

BOOM—!

The massive clang of metal on metal drowned out the din of the battlefield.

The terrifying strength Ron Zaka prided himself on felt as if it had just crashed into a mountain falling from the heavens.

A violent, overwhelming shockwave surged up the spear, through his arm and shoulder, and into his entire body. The webbing of his hand instantly tore open, splattering blood, and the spear was nearly knocked from his grasp.

He was thrown back as if struck head-on by a battering ram, stumbling seven or eight steps before barely managing to regain his balance.

His vital energy roiled violently, and his organs felt as if they had shifted. The excited flush on his face vanished in an instant, replaced by a deathly pallor and incredulous horror.

”How... how is this possible?!” Ron Zaka cried out in disbelief.

That single strike had not only contained overwhelming power but also a savage, brutal assault on his will, causing fear to rise instinctively in his heart.

Having gained the upper hand with a single blow, the wolf-headed demon general’s ferocity flared. With a wolfish howl, it raised its Wolf Fang Club again, smashing it down with an even heavier shadow of death.

In a panic, Ron Zaka could only struggle to block. Each collision sent a numbing ache through his arms and constricted his chest. He was completely on the defensive, taking a beating, and his earlier bravado had vanished without a trace.

In just over a dozen exchanges, he was already in constant peril, on the brink of defeat at any moment.

”Ridiculous!”

”What an idiot. Did he really think an Elite Level commander is the same as a common demon soldier?”

”What’s the point of placing second in the strength test? In a real battle, he’s just a reckless brute!”

Across the battlefield, many of the talented students, despite being under immense pressure themselves, couldn’t help but shake their heads and scoff when they glimpsed Ron’s ridiculous and pathetic display.

The top ranker on the Blue Star Platinum List? At this moment, he looked more like an overconfident clown.

Inside the main control room.

”Hmph!” The stern-faced female marquis’s eyes flashed with a trace of loathing, and her voice rang out clearly.

”An idiot like that, all brute force but unable to even bring out seventy or eighty percent of it in actual combat... He can’t read the situation, can’t accurately gauge his own strength or the enemy’s. He’s unbelievably foolish! Investing resources in someone like him is a complete waste!”

Marquis Qingyuan stroked his beard and chuckled, attempting to smooth things over.

”Why so angry, Sister? They’re just high school students, after all. None of them have experienced a true life-or-death battle. They haven’t weathered any real storms, so it’s natural for them to be a bit impetuous. After a few years of tempering on the front lines, perhaps he’ll amount to something.”

”High school students?” The female marquis’s tone grew even colder. She pointed to the light screen, at a figure weaving through the tide of demons like a nimble fish. Everywhere he went, flashes of a gray-white blade danced, and demon soldiers fell in droves.

”He’s a high school student, too. Look at Li Wen. Now *that* is what you call true battle instinct and control. To him, the Demon Race’s encirclement is like child’s play.”

On the screen, Li Wen used a Fleeting Shadow technique with pinpoint precision, instantly piercing the throats of three demon soldiers who were trying to surround him. Without the slightest pause, his form slid toward the next target.

The Chuhe King, who had been resting with his eyes closed, opened them slightly. His gaze swept over the pathetic sight of Ron on the light screen before finally settling on Li Wen, a barely perceptible smile touching his lips.

”The system will assign scores impartially. There’s no need for further discussion. Just keep watching.”

...

On the battlefield, as Li Wen swept through the demon soldiers before him like an autumn wind scattering leaves, his Primordial Spirit perception, an invisible spiderweb, instantly caught the intense energy fluctuations on the flank and the aura of Ron’s steady retreat.

His brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

’This Ron Zaka...’ Li Wen’s thoughts raced.

He couldn’t care less if Ron Zaka lived or died.

But for him to grandstand at a time like this, challenging an enemy far beyond his capabilities... If he were to be killed instantly or severely wounded, the defensive line behind him would immediately collapse. The students in that sector would be swallowed by the demon tide, setting off a chain reaction.

’Besides,’ he thought of another possibility, ’cooperation and strategic awareness are probably hidden scoring criteria as well.’

Watching a fellow human in peril and refusing to help—while not explicitly forbidden—would undoubtedly be detrimental to his score. With his mind made up, he no longer hesitated.

”Get back!” A cold, sharp cry exploded like thunder across the chaotic battlefield.

The next moment, a flash of gray-white light from a blade tore through the air. It wasn’t aimed at the wolf-headed demon general, but rather at its Wolf Fang Club, precisely striking it to alter its trajectory just as it was about to crash down on Ron Zaka’s head.

The shockwave from the blade’s impact, though it didn’t sever the heavy weapon, successfully knocked it askew, saving the deathly pale Ron, who had nearly closed his eyes to await his end.

And in that same instant, Li Wen’s figure ghosted between the two of them.

Sensing a new, powerful enemy, the wolf-headed demon general roared and swung its Wolf Fang Club down.

”Defensive Form: Mirror Reversal!” Li Wen’s blade flowed, seemingly deflecting and redirecting the heavy club with casual ease.

The immense force failed to move him in the slightest.

”Fleeting Shadow!” Without giving his opponent a chance to react, in the instant the demon general’s defenses were left wide open from its deflected attack,

Li Wen’s figure seemed to vanish. All that remained was a flash of gray-white light, thin as a cicada’s wing, that precisely slit across the wolf-headed demon general’s thick neck in a fraction of a second.

SHHNK—!

The massive wolf’s head flew into the air as foul-smelling blood erupted high like a fountain.

From the sharp cry to the block, and then to the fatal slash.

The entire process was as smooth as flowing water, so fast that the savage expression hadn’t even faded from the demon general’s face. In Ron Zaka’s eyes, all that remained was the fleeting flash of the blade and the fountain of blood.

Having slain the demon, Li Wen didn’t even spare a glance for the still-reeling, wide-eyed Ron Zaka. With a flourish of his saber,

he shredded several approaching demon soldiers, and his figure once again vanished into the surging demon tide, pressing deeper. It was as if he had just casually brushed away a speck of dust.

His cool, departing silhouette formed a stark contrast to Ron’s earlier pathetic display.

Just then, the vortex of the Stargate churned violently once more.

PLOP! PLOP! PLOP! PLOP—!

Like dumplings being dropped into a pot, more than ten Elite Level commanders of various forms roared and charged out, each one radiating a powerful, malevolent aura.

Upon appearing, they swiftly joined the surviving commanders. Like generals rallying their soldiers, the Demon Race’s formations became more frenzied yet more methodical under their roaring commands.

They began to purposefully concentrate their attacks on several points in the human defensive line.

Under the oppressive aura and direction of their commanders, the common demons’ eyes turned blood-red. They attacked with no fear of death, and their momentum swelled dramatically.

”Hold the line! Hold the line!”

”Help me! A commander is headed this way!”

”The defensive line is about to break!”

Screams, roars, and the clash of energy attacks merged into a cacophony.

Nangong Xue managed to temporarily stabilize the flank she was responsible for with her exquisite Body Technique and Swordsmanship, but her expression was grim.

Chu Feng’s spear struck like a dragon, yet he too was bogged down, surrounded by demon soldiers led by several Elite Level commanders, and unable to break free.

Du Yun, Fang Chenghong, and the others were all struggling to hold on.

The entire human defensive line was like a dike being relentlessly battered by a sledgehammer—alarms were sounding everywhere, and it was on the verge of collapse.

The demon tide was like a boiling tsunami, each wave more ferocious than the last, crashing against the final line of defense held by these human prodigies.

But there was one exception: Li Wen.

With [Absolute Focus LV 9] active, the detection radius of his Primordial Spirit expanded to its hundred-meter limit.

Every minute change in his corner of the battlefield—where demonic energy was strongest, where the defensive line was weakest, which commander’s assault was the most ferocious—was imprinted in his sea of consciousness as clearly as a three-dimensional map.

To him, the attack trajectories of ordinary demon soldiers seemed to move in slow motion. He could even sense the fatal strikes of the Elite Level commanders in advance, allowing him to calmly dodge or parry and neutralize them.

He was completely unlike the others, who were stuck passively defending and blocking; instead, he proactively wove through the demon hordes.

His blade was the epitome of speed and precision.

He executed the ”Flowing Rainbow Five Forms” with casual mastery.

A forward charge, and the light from his blade, ”Stacked Waves: Ninth Layer,” crashed down like a surging tidal wave, shattering rows of demon soldiers ahead of him;

A spin, and the cold light of ”Fleeting Shadow” pierced an ambushing demon guard from an impossible angle;

A powerful blade aura unfolded, and his ”Defensive Form” neutralized a heavy blow from the flank... All the while, his points were skyrocketing, putting him far ahead of everyone else.

However, he wasn’t just focused on his own kill count.

His Primordial Spirit detection gave him a crystal-clear understanding of the entire battlefield’s breaking points.

To the east, a defensive circle of three students was being torn open under the hissing command of two serpentine commanders; they were on the verge of being overrun.

To the south, Du Yun was being hammered by the alternating attacks of two commanders. His long spear danced in a curtain of light, but it was clear he was stretched to his limit.

To the west, though Chu Feng was fighting fiercely, a small breach was rapidly expanding after one student was gravely wounded...

’At this rate, the entire defensive line will collapse any second now,’ Li Wen knew with perfect clarity.

He didn’t hesitate for a second. His figure abruptly changed direction, and a streak of gray-white light from his blade shot toward the crumbling breach in the east like lightning tearing through a storm.

The vast blade energy of the ”Heaven-Dropping Form” descended from above, instantly clearing out the dense pack of demon soldiers clogging the breach and giving the three despairing students a chance to breathe.

He even found a spare moment to add another strike, slicing apart a venomous stinger shot by one of the serpentine commanders.

”Hold your positions,” Li Wen’s calm voice drifted over, but he had already vanished again.

The next instant, he appeared near Du Yun. A masterfully executed ”Guan Yue Form,” combined with his Body Technique, sent a pig-headed demon general preparing to ambush Du Yun’s flank stumbling backward, relieving a huge amount of pressure from him.

With the pressure on him eased, Du Yun’s spear lunged like a sea serpent, taking the opportunity to kill a charging demon soldier. He spared a glance in Li Wen’s direction, his expression complex as he muttered, ”...Thanks!”

Without pausing for a moment, Li Wen’s figure streaked across the battlefield again, heading west.

And so, he became the busiest, most dazzling figure on the battlefield.

One moment he was in the north, slaughtering the main force of charging demon soldiers; the next, he appeared in the south to save students on the brink of death. He had just resolved a crisis in the east, and in the blink of an eye, he was rushing to the west to plug a breach.

He was like a bolt of gray-white lightning that never rested, single-handedly holding up the sky of their hope and maintaining a defensive line on the brink of collapse.

”It’s Li Wen!”

”Hang in there, he’s coming!”

Wherever he went, the exhausted and despairing students let out heartfelt cries of amazement and gratitude.

That figure, tearing a path through the sky-blotting horde of demons, had become their only pillar of support.