Chapter 142: Down
Nolan grinned like a madman in front of the projection, eyes glued to the flickering scene of chaos and brilliance unfolding within the upper floors of the tower. "Yes! That’s it! That’s it! Good job, you lunatic brats!"
His hand shot up as if to high-five someone beside him, only to remember that no one around could share the moment quite like he wanted. His voice was loud, raw with joy and disbelief, "Unbelievable! That really was the bloater!"
Lirazel stood at his side, her crimson eyes narrowing slightly, wings gently shifting as she tilted her head. "Bloater?" she asked. "That word again. You keep saying it. Is that some... kind of human curse word?"
"No," Nolan chuckled breathlessly, hands still half-raised in suspense. "It’s from a game. An old human digital mystic game. A kind of imaginary battle simulation where you kill undead things with very specific weak points."
Lirazel blinked slowly, unimpressed. "So... they’re treating this real monster like an imaginary one from a human toy?"
"It wasn’t a toy," Nolan said, half laughing, half exasperated. "It was training. It was genius! We went over the bloater just yesterday as a joke! I didn’t think—hell, I never thought they’d apply it like this! It was really shocking seeing it in real life! Hahahahaha! These brats’ guts made me admire them for real! Hahaha!"
Lirazel raised one elegant brow. "But that creature isn’t undead. It’s not cursed. It’s some mutated spawn. This logic makes no sense. You told me they are different but now you are so happy that they are the same."
"You’re thinking too rigidly," Nolan muttered, "it doesn’t really matter to me. I’m just worried about them earlier... you know... just being cautious," waving a hand in her direction without looking away from the projection. "Games, real life, dreams, illusions—what matters is pattern recognition, instinct, timing. Strategy. They adapted the mechanics of the bloater to this twisted abomination, and it’s actually working."
She frowned. "Strange creatures, your students."