Popularity is everything; I play a super genius

However, second-tier Void Beasts have strong resistance to firearms, so students who have not awakened Echo are at a great disadvantage when facing second-tier Void Beasts.

The sixteen Tier 1 Rock Armor Poison Scorpions quickly found opponents, but two Tier 2 Lower-level Poison Scorpions remained unassigned.

"I... can probably hold one off."

After a moment of silence, a girl with a chic short haircut and a sharp demeanor stepped forward and spoke first.

In that instant, besides Ruri, she was the only student in Class 8 who had awakened the Echo.

"Ten minutes should be enough." Qi Ji stretched his muscles and did some warm-up exercises, his tone relaxed.

"Ten minutes... I'll try my best." She took a deep breath, her expression serious.

"There's also a second-tier void beast..."

Qi Ji's gaze swept across the crowd, and when he looked at Liu Li, he deliberately paused for half a second.

The smile on Liuli's face immediately froze.

If she were to use [Mind Echo], she could indeed handle a lower-tier second-order Void Beast on her own, but that would inevitably expose her identity.

Fortunately, Saki was just teasing her.

The next moment, he shifted his gaze away and turned to Huomu.

"Huomu, that's up to you."

"Huh? Me?" Huo Mu pointed at himself, thinking he had misheard.

As the only "F" grade talent in the class, his strength is generally considered to be at the bottom.

Give him a second-tier void beast?

real or fake?

"Don't worry, you can do it."

He was grateful that Saki trusted him so much.

But Huo Mu himself knew his own limitations.

He wasn't afraid, but he was worried that if he lost too quickly, it would create a gap in the defense and affect the entire battle.

"That scorpion has an old wound on its left leg; attack there."

Huo Mu was stunned: "How did you know?"

“Look closely, the carapace color at the joint of its left hind leg is abnormal, and the point of impact when it landed was also biased to the right. See the claw marks on the ground? The left one is lighter and the right one is darker. Attack there, and you will win.”

After saying that, Qi Ji patted Huo Mu on the shoulder: "Alright, time to go."

The moment the words left his mouth, Saki moved.

Without a running start or any preparation, he simply took a single step, and his figure instantly blurred.

Like a ghost, it crashed directly into the center of the scorpion swarm with astonishing speed, its target the largest scorpion king!

"Roar--!"

Enraged by this blatant provocation, the Scorpion King let out a piercing screech and brought its massive pincers crashing down with a fierce gust of wind!

At the same time, the dark purple venomous stinger at the tail shot out from the side like lightning, blocking all of Qi Ji's evasive maneuvers.

The battle erupted instantly!

The other members of Class 8 dared not slack off and immediately rushed toward their assigned targets, shouting as they did so.

Gunshots, the clash of weapons, and the roars of the virtual beasts suddenly filled the air.

The most disheveled were undoubtedly Setsuna and Koki, who were facing a second-tier scorpion alone.

Setsuna completely abandoned the offensive; her Echo [Flash Shadow] has only been developed to enhance speed.

She poured all her inner energy into the circuits she had built within her body, her movements so fast that she left afterimages in the air as she swam and dodged around the second-tier venomous scorpion.

The scorpion's attacks always missed their target, and the screeching sound of its carapace and stinger scraping the ground was terrifying.

Her face turned pale instantly. The high-intensity burst of speed put an enormous strain on her body. She was dancing on the edge of a knife, just to buy time.

On the other side, Huomu faced an even more perilous situation.

He doesn't have absolute speed like Mo Mo; he can only rely on basic tactical rolls and sudden changes of direction to evade attacks.

The scorpion's pincers grazed his scalp, and its stinger narrowly pierced the ground beside him, corroding small pits.

He rolled around on the ground, covered in dirt, looking like he could be hit at any moment.

But gradually, under the pressure of life and death, Huomu's inherent resilience was brought to the fore.

He forced himself to calm down and began to observe the scorpion's attack rhythm, especially the weak point on its left hind leg.

Firearms handling was the subject that Huo Mu excelled at and practiced most diligently during his preparatory phase.

Finally, after a thrilling side roll, he caught the scorpion's slight stiffness caused by its inability to exert force with its left hind leg!

Without hesitation, he knelt on one knee, raised his hand, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

The movements were executed in one smooth motion!

"boom!"

……

……

Chapter Thirteen: Wasn't he quite capable?

The specially designed armor-piercing projectile traced a scorching trajectory and accurately struck the slightly lighter-colored gap in the carapace at the joint of the scorpion's left hind leg!

"Snap! Hiss—!"

The sound of shells shattering and the painful howls of the phantom beasts rang out at the same time!

The scorpion's left hind leg visibly buckled, and its massive body immediately lost its balance, tilting to one side.

opportunity!

Huo Mu's eyes lit up, and his adrenaline surged.

Instead of retreating, he charged forward.

As the scorpion struggles to steady itself with its other limbs, aim for the wound again!

"Bang bang bang!"

Three shots in a row, all hitting the target!

The bullet exploded inside the wound, destroying the flesh and blood inside.

The scorpion let out a mournful howl, its struggles growing weaker and weaker.

Huo Mu gritted his teeth, dodged its final, frenzied tail spiking attack, and charged to extremely close range.

The gun barrel was almost shoved into Scorpion's eye before he pulled the trigger!

"Bang! Bang bang bang—!"

Only after the magazine was emptied, and the second-tier scorpion collapsed completely to the ground, its eerie light fading, did Huo Mu, panting heavily, shakily put down the scalding hot barrel and slide down to the ground, leaning against a jagged rock.

He did it...

He actually... single-handedly killed a second-tier void beast?!

Overwhelmed by exhaustion and unbelievable elation, he was momentarily exhausted.

"Aren't you quite capable?"

Just then, a familiar voice, tinged with approval, came from above and to the side.

Huo Mu suddenly turned his head and looked in the direction of the sound.

There sat Qi Ji leisurely on the mountain-sized corpse of the scorpion king, one leg bent, elbow resting on his knee, tilting his head to look in his direction.

The Scorpion King's indestructible rock armor was covered with terrible dents and cracks, especially its head, which was almost completely flattened, with dark purple venom and unidentified tissue flowing all over the ground.

As for Qi Ji, there was hardly any dust on his body, let alone his wounds.

"?!!"

Fire and Wood Pupils Earthquake.

When did this guy... take down that most terrifying scorpion king?!

Although the battle on his side was intense, it only lasted for less than seven minutes in total!

In just seven minutes, he took down a Tier 2 Upper-level Rock Armored Scorpion leader, known for its tough carapace, with his bare hands?!

Seeing that Saki had made a move, he hurriedly asked for help as well.

"Hey! Come quick, help me!!"

She had been cornered by the second-tier venomous scorpion, her speed had slowed down significantly, and she was in grave danger.

However, Saki didn't move, but glanced at the time and said indifferently, "There's still a little bit left until ten minutes are up."

"But didn't you already kill that leader?!" In the blink of an eye, he was almost struck by the Void Beast's claws. He lunged forward and then rolled tactically, barely dodging the attack.

"Oh, you mean this?"

As if just remembering something, Qi Ji slowly explained,

"The ten minutes I mentioned refers to the time you need to persist to achieve an A grade. If you can hold your own against a second-tier void beast for ten minutes without being defeated, that's enough to get an A grade in the assessment."

"What...?!" Setsuna almost choked on her breath. "Ten minutes... so it didn't refer to the time it took you to kill that leader?!"

“Of course.” Qi Ji patted the Scorpion King’s corpse beneath him and said in a calm tone, “It won’t take that long.”

"Alright! We know you're good! Please stop watching from the sidelines and come help! The rating doesn't matter anymore!!"

"Do you really not care? You are clearly capable of doing this. Your potential is much greater than this."

When faced with Saki's question, Setsuna wanted to say something, but a certain image flashed through her mind, which made her fall silent.

The next moment, a resolute glint flashed in her eyes.

He stopped speaking and stopped looking at Qi Ji, instead focusing all his energy back on the virtual beast in front of him.

Nine minutes, ten minutes... eleven minutes...

Her movements became slower and slower, and she accumulated more and more abrasions, but her eyes showed no sign of discouragement.

Thirteen minutes!

As she finally reached her limit, she stumbled, and just as the scorpion's massive pincers were about to snap her in two at the waist—

A figure appeared in front of her as if by teleportation.

Qi Ji put one hand in his pocket, casually stretched out the other, bent his index finger, and flicked it lightly at the scorpion claw, which was thicker than an adult's thigh and was hurtling towards him with a fierce wind.

"Boom!!"

A deep, guttural bang!

The massive claw that had come at such a ferocious speed crashed back even faster than it had come!

The scorpion's massive body was dragged back several steps, its carapace creaking under the strain.

"Congratulations, Setsuna, your rating is A+."

Looking at the tall figure of the person before him, and then at the scorpion that had been repelled by the blow, he let out a long sigh of relief, forcing a weary yet relieved smile:

"The rest... I'll leave it to you."

Before she could finish speaking, she collapsed to the ground, unable to hold on any longer.

The continuous, extreme stimulation and echoing for thirteen minutes had long exceeded the limits that her body could bear.

The second-tier venomous scorpion shook its head, seemingly enraged. It hissed and charged forward again, unleashing its stinger and venomous pincers, its attack even more ferocious than before!

Qi Ji remained with his hands in his pockets, but just as the scorpion charged in front of him, he twisted his waist and delivered a simple, direct, yet so fast that it was just a blur. The kick landed on the scorpion's relatively vulnerable chest and abdominal carapace.

"Bang—!!!"

With a huge thud, the second-tier scorpion was hit head-on as if by a speeding truck. Its body was folded into an exaggerated "<" shape, and it flew more than ten meters off the ground before crashing heavily into the rock wall.

Its shell shattered and became embedded in the rock wall. It twitched twice and then stopped moving.