Chapter 2926: The Whip’s Power |
"The time now belongs to the challengers. As long as you all have discussed it, the challenger can step onto the stage at any time. Lastly, we sincerely hope to see a splendid taming performance!"
After saying this, the host handed back the time to the crowd.
Angel took this opportunity to express his thoughts.
No one found anything wrong with his idea. If it’s feasible, it is indeed a method. After all, a corpse is at least more obedient than a rampaging beast species.
However, this method needs to consider two questions: Can these tamed beasts be killed? And, can Glaipnir kill these tamed beasts?
This question still remains unanswered. Glaipnir just remembered this method in her heart, but whether to use it or not depends on what tamed beasts appear at that time.
Apart from Angel providing an unconventional method, others also shared some strategies on how to deal with different rounds.
However, these strategies only suit Glaipnir.
Under the overarching theme of "Walking with the Beast," it’s not only about Glaipnir passing the challenge. It’s also about the ability of the tamed beasts and their willingness to cooperate with Glaipnir.
After listening to the ideas of the crowd, Glaipnir didn’t say much. She stood up and said, "I’ll go on first. At least I need to see what kind of tamed beasts are deployed and whether Bella’s whip can affect the tamed beasts."
The crowd knew that saying anything now was futile, so they didn’t stop Glaipnir and allowed her to touch the animal statue on the table.
A burst of light surged from the statue, floating around Glaipnir.
As the halo kept becoming intensely dazzling, Glaipnir’s figure slowly disappeared from her seat, ascending to the first obstacle of the fourth track, by the sea pillar’s coast.
"The one appearing is the White Bear challenger. I wonder what kind of surprise the White Bear challenger will bring us?" The host’s voice chimed in at the right time, "Let’s wait and see!"
Host: "Before the White Bear challenger starts, a tamed beast needs to be selected. Does the White Bear challenger have any ideas yet?"
Glaipnir was taken aback for a moment and muttered, "Choosing a tamed beast? Am I the one to choose?"
Although Glaipnir’s voice was small, the host seemed to hear what she was saying and continued in an exaggerated tone, "Of course, as I said before, this time the tamed beasts aren’t random, so naturally, it’s up to you to choose... Or did I not make myself clear enough before?"
Glaipnir: "...Then I choose ants, non-aggressive ones, with a body length not exceeding my pinky fingertip, preferably capable of flight."
The host paused noticeably and responded in a displeased tone, "... There are no ants. The choice of tamed beasts can only be made from your own code name, or from your teammates’ code names. Moreover, no conditions can be set."
In other words, the beast species Glaipnir can choose from now are limited to: Black Rabbit, Silver Fox, Red-tailed Frog, White Bear, and Black Cat.
At least from these five animals, none are considered too ferocious for humans... except the White Bear.
However, Glaipnir had no intention of choosing the White Bear.
Excluding the White Bear, Glaipnir seriously thought about the other kinds of animals.
According to Angel’s method, if the tamed beast is killed and the corpse is brought for the challenge, the Black Rabbit is the most suitable because it’s the most docile.
But if according to regular taming procedures, the Black Rabbit alone would not be enough. The reason is simple: the Black Rabbit has short legs and is not agile in the high air.
Regarding the obstacles, considering the sea pillars and marsh fire rings, as long as the tamed beast is obedient, they can basically pass.
The standout in Gravity Space is the Red-tailed Frog, whose strong jumping ability and mucus-secreting webs make it easy to climb high.
However, the Red-tailed Frog is weaker on later high-altitude swings, similar to the Black Rabbit; it’s hard to maintain balance in the air, not very agile.
After thinking seriously for a moment, Glaipnir slowly said, "I choose... the Black Cat."
The other kinds of animals all have their standout rounds. The Black Cat, as a feline, isn’t the standout in any round, but it’s definitely not weak either.
Overall, it’s the best choice.
Moreover, the cat is among these animals, the one most early tamed by humans... or rather, the one that tamed humans.
Its level of cooperation with humans, along with its intelligence, is adequate.
Most importantly, among these animals, the cat is also petite and easier to kill. So, if its really according to Angel’s corpse-dragging method, then the cat is also suitable.
As Glaipnir thought this, a halo fell from the sky, like a shooting star, crashing down right in front of Glaipnir.
When the true appearance of this creature from the sky became clear, everyone fell into silence...
This... is what they called a cat?!
Standing two meters tall and three and a half meters long, its entire body covered in jet-black fur that gleamed with a shiny light, each hair extremely stiff, looking like inverted porcupine quills.
It’s not a cat at all, it’s a Black Tiger!
Moreover, as the Black Tiger yawned, its massive bloody mouth was enough to swallow the frail Glaipnir whole.
Most critically, the Black Tiger shook its large head, its menacing gaze fixating on Glaipnir.
From its expression it was clear, this was no circus tamed beast.
This was a wild Black Tiger! It’s fair to say it was airlifted straight from the forest, the King of the Forest!
Such a powerful Black Tiger, is that a tamed beast? And to walk alongside it and reach the end together?
Not to mention the crowd, even the audience seats echoed with sighs, perhaps thinking how can a hunched old lady, dressed in a heavy White Bear mascot outfit, possibly win against this wild King of the Forest? This is simply an impossible task!
At this moment, everyone began to worry about Glaipnir.
However, aside from slightly frowning upon first seeing the Black Tiger, Glaipnir remained calm, fixating her clouded gaze on the Black Tiger.
What was surprising was that the Black Tiger’s fierce, round, glaring tiger eyes actually showed a hint of avoidance when meeting Glaipnir’s gaze.
Although Glaipnir’s body was weak, her memories, her experience, and her insight had not vanished. Now, they were all concentrated in her gaze, engaging in a standoff with the Black Tiger.
While the Black Tiger appeared fierce, it was still just a beast, naturally bowing down before the profound gaze.
However, the battle of gazes didn’t mean everything.
The Black Tiger only lost a point in eye contact, but its vitality was high, intelligence low, quickly forgetting any prior fear. Glaipnir was still weak, and if the Black Tiger truly attacked, her fate would still be bleak.
Unexpectedly, Glaipnir didn’t give the Black Tiger time to recover.
At the moment the Black Tiger avoided her gaze, she extended her hand to draw out a long whip from the Void, brandishing it high and slamming it towards the Black Tiger!
Glaipnir wasn’t foolish. The moment the Black Tiger appeared, she knew she had miscalculated.
It’s basically impossible to pass with the corpse of the Black Tiger, because... you can’t beat it.
As for taming the wild Black Tiger, Glaipnir doesn’t think she can succeed in a short time either.
Her only chance now is the Enchanted Land Tool: Bella’s Whip.
So far, she actually only knows that "Bella’s Whip" has strong attack power, but whether it has any other effects, she doesn’t know.
The information on "Bella’s Whip" didn’t mention either.
If it has a special effect that can deal with the Black Tiger, then this relay race can continue. If Bella’s Whip only has offensive capability, with the Black Tiger’s power, it should be able to withstand one or two lashes, while Glaipnir cannot withstand a single blow from the Black Tiger.
So, she only has one shot.
And the moment the Black Tiger avoided her gaze, that was her chance! Glaipnir seized the opportunity, grabbed the whip and swung it down, if it could deal with the Black Tiger, she would continue, if not, Glaipnir would immediately admit defeat.
At least, admitting defeat she could still live.
Glaipnir’s actions of drawing, raising, and swinging the whip seemed smooth and seamless, but after all, she hadn’t practiced; it only looked fluid but actually had many flaws. If it was under normal circumstances, the Black Tiger’s reflexes would be enough to dodge, but Glaipnir chose her timing very well, the Black Tiger was being shocked by her gaze, in the Wizard’s words, its Spirit Sea was unsettled, reducing its emergency responsiveness.
Until the whip hit its body, the Black Tiger reacted fiercely.
But, it was already too late.
On the other side, at the moment Glaipnir swung out the whip on the Black Tiger, she received feedback from the whip.
The information was presented in her mind as usual.
The information was also very brief, only two kinds: one was capture, the other was kill!
Capture was easy to understand, but kill... could this lash actually kill the Black Tiger?
Glaipnir was stunned for a moment, how was this possible? She hadn’t used much strength. Moreover, she had used Bella’s Whip outside the dreamscape, and indeed it had a very strong attack power, but to kill such a huge Black Tiger with just one lash, it shouldn’t be possible.
Perhaps it was because Glaipnir’s thoughts had lingered on the "kill" option, more information came to her mind.
"Return to Original Form: In the Special Dreamland, real damage can be inflicted on some living entities."
"Even if you’re nobility, so what, in my territory, you’ll still have to kneel and beg for mercy after being hit by me."
New updated information on Bella’s Whip!
This was information not included before!
The original information only had a phrase about Bella tormenting Helen, but now there was an added special ability for the whip: Return to Original Form.
This innate special ability seemed insignificant at first glance, but... the term "real" damage was extremely terrifying.
The place they were in now, including the Crystal Origin of Dreams and Sunshine Circus, were all illusory. And real damage, could it be an attack directly beyond these, affecting reality?
If this was the case, Glaipnir understood why one lash could kill the Black Tiger.
Because the Black Tiger itself was illusory, a figment of the Dream Creator’s imagination, and whether the Black Tiger existed in the Dream Creator’s reality was a question. The whip directly caused damage to reality, it’s no wonder the Black Tiger would die.
It’s just slightly unfortunate that "Return to Original Form" has two restrictions, one is "can only be used in Special Dreamland", limiting its usage environment; the second is "causes real damage to some living entities", where "some" isn’t specified, presumably the range isn’t large, otherwise, they wouldn’t use such a conservative term.
But these restrictions don’t affect the current situation much.
After understanding the effect of "Return to Original Form", Glaipnir attempted to sense "capture", perhaps "capture" could correspond to another effect of the whip.
Just like before, when Glaipnir focused her thoughts on "capture", she also received feedback.
Only this time, the feedback wasn’t what she had imagined.
It wasn’t that "Bella’s Whip" had any new effects, rather, it was when the Black Tiger was hit by the whip, it realized the effect of "Return to Original Form".
The Black Tiger didn’t want to die, so it chose to submit.
And the so-called capture was an option given when the Black Tiger voluntarily chose to submit.
Glaipnir felt a slight regret, if "capture" could correspond to a whip ability, that would be even better.
However, having a "Return to Original Form" was already quite good.
At least, Glaipnir no longer felt troubled about the upcoming beast-taming track.
Glaipnir, without hesitation, chose "capture" between "capture" and "kill".
Killing the beast and moving forward with its corpse was Angel’s suggestion, but it was only a temporary solution. No one knew if killing the beast would make the host inconvenient later.
If the Black Tiger could be tamed, achieving genuine Walking with the Beast, the score obtained would definitely be higher than killing the Black Tiger.
Upon confirming capture, the whip wrapped around the Black Tiger’s neck.
In the next second, the Black Tiger slowly shrank and transformed into a real little Black Cat.
The look in the little Black Cat’s eyes now had no defiance, though somewhat afraid when facing Glaipnir, it still wavered and walked to Glaipnir, rubbing against her pant leg, mewing softly.
This clearly showed that the little Black Cat had completely submitted.
Glaipnir didn’t say much, directly leading the little Black Cat to the first checkpoint...
The crowd present, seeing this scene, all froze.
It’s successful just like that?
"Looks like the whip really works," Laplace said softly.
Angel nodded too, "It’s just not known what the whip’s real effect is..."
"We’ll know once Glaipnir comes back later." Laplace finally relaxed her mind.
After her mood relaxed, she finally had time to look at Luigi.
Previously, Luigi received three bouquets of flowers, representing three points. This is known to Laplace, but besides the three bouquets, Luigi also received a white envelope.
According to the host, it was a private gift to Luigi, not exchangeable for points, but representing his sincerity.
What does sincerity mean?
What use does the host’s letter actually have?