Chapter 772: Flame Detonation

“Switch!” Qiao Sang shouted.

“Xun xun!” Little Treasure instantly vanished from his original position.

Boom!

With a loud explosion, flames erupted where Little Treasure had just been, the shockwave engulfing fire and sweeping through the surrounding air.

Bimo Fox extended its claw.

A coin shot downward from the middle of the explosion.

“Xun xun~”

Just as the coin was about to land in Bimo Fox’s paw, Little Treasure appeared dozens of meters away in mid-air and gave Bimo Fox a wide grin.

“Bimo…”

Bimo Fox’s gaze was instantly drawn toward him.

Not because Little Treasure's smile was particularly charming, but because in its line of sight, all it could see was a silver helmet, chest plate, and two arm guards seemingly floating in the air, worn on someone.

In the next second, Little Treasure's full body materialized inside the armor. This time, however, its eyes were glowing blue.

At that moment, the item reached Bimo Fox’s claw.

Almost the instant it touched its hand, Bimo Fox sensed something was wrong.

It looked down and saw that the item wasn’t its Fire Coin, but a silver piece of equipment.

“Bimo!”

Bimo Fox suddenly realized what had happened and looked up.

It saw that one of Ghost Ring King’s arm guards was missing, and its own Fire Coin was now in its opponent’s hand!

“Xun xun~”

Little Treasure was now picking his nose with one paw, while tossing the Fire Coin up and down with the other, looking incredibly smug.

“Bimo!”

Bimo Fox’s fur stood on end, its expression turning fierce as it glared at Little Treasure.

“Oh! Bimo Fox’s Fire Coin is now in Ghost Ring King’s hand, and the item that should have appeared in Bimo Fox’s hand is actually one of Ghost Ring King’s armor pieces!” The commentator explained excitedly and professionally:

“Trick! That’s a Psychic-type skill! Ghost Ring King used Trick to swap items with Bimo Fox!”

The entire venue buzzed with discussion: “Ghost Ring King knows Trick too?! It knows so many Psychic-type moves!”

“Without the Fire Coin, Bimo Fox’s combat power must’ve dropped by half, right?”

“Ghost Ring King didn’t use any items in the earlier matches. Could it be that the gear was saved just to swap with this opponent?”

“That makes sense! Ghost Ring King’s armor can be used for defense, but also for trading parts. And the size is clearly custom-made, even if the opponent gets it, they can’t use it! Qiao Sang is too clever!”

“I think it’s just coincidence. Among Apollon’s pets, only Bimo Fox consistently uses items. Qiao Sang couldn’t have known Ghost Ring King would go up against Bimo Fox.”

“Apollon should’ve sent out the Youyou Sea Beast…”

---

“Go!” Apollon’s expression was serious.

“Bimo!”

Hearing its Beast master’s voice, Bimo Fox instantly calmed down. Its angry expression shifted into a focused one.

It stomped its foot, and fierce flames surged from beneath it.

The blazing fire ignited around its legs.

Next, Bimo Fox turned into a red afterimage, running from the outer edge of the field inward in a shrinking circle, like a burning vortex.

Its speed was so fast that fire was left trailing everywhere it ran.

But that wasn’t all. The fiery vortex wasn’t limited to the ground. From the second ring onwards, the flames spiraled upward into the air! And they kept climbing higher and higher!

Damn, what kind of skill is this? It actually lets a Fire-type pet run through the air using fire…

Qiao Sang was stunned for a moment.

To be honest, it had been a long time since she’d encountered a skill she didn’t recognize.

“Bimo Fox has used Blaze Step!” The commentator shouted.

Blaze Step?

The two words echoed in Qiao Sang’s mind just as she noticed the vortex of fire was about to reach Xiaoxunbao’s location.

No need to issue a command, Little Treasure should be able to dodge it…

As the thought flashed by, Little Treasure vanished from his original spot and reappeared in a fire-free zone below.

In the wide-angle view, Ghost Ring King stood in an open space, but it was surrounded by the vortex.

“Detonate!” Apollon suddenly shouted.

BOOM!!!

The moment he spoke, all the lingering fire trails from the vortex exploded at once!

The arena was filled with thunderous explosions!

Flames and heat waves surged violently.

The shockwave, carrying crimson fire, ravaged everything in all directions.

Layer upon layer of fiery light obliterated the ground!

Because Bimo Fox had initially run around nearly the entire arena, and the explosion covered all those paths-

“This is- Flame Detonation!” The commentator jumped up with excitement as he shouted:

“Bimo Fox used Blaze Step to blanket the entire arena and even the skies with fire, then followed up with Flame Detonation to ignite everything! With this, no matter where Ghost Ring King teleports to, it’ll be caught in the blast! What a terrifying combo move!”

The audience went wild.

“AHHH! I knew Apollon wouldn’t lose that easily!”

“Crazy strong! This combo between Blaze Step and Flame Detonation is insane! No wonder Bimo Fox hasn’t been in many matches lately, it’s been training this move!”

“Blaze Step that lets it run in the air? That’s gotta be a Perfected or Ultimate-level skill! Apollon’s been holding back something huge!”

“Ghost Ring King’s got low defense. That combo must’ve taken it down!”

“Definitely! Even a Steel Iron Dragon would probably be seriously injured!”

Qiao Sang… Little Treasure…

Liu Yao watched the ongoing shockwaves with a heavy heart.

“Xian xian…” the Sky Bat beside him looked worried.

---

Contestant Zone.

That combo of Blaze Step and Flame Detonation

… Pirite's gaze unintentionally drifted toward Qiao Sang.

He’d read some reports about her before.

In her first year of high school, she entered the national campus Beast Mastering tournament for seniors and nearly won every match.

Ever since becoming a Beast master, she’d only ever faced older and more experienced opponents, and still remained undefeated.

For a monster like her who hasn’t fully matured yet, sometimes losing a match is more valuable than winning.

---

When the shockwaves finally settled, the imagined scene of Ghost Ring King lying unconscious on the ground…

didn’t happen

.

Ghost Ring King reappeared high in the air, its armor glowing with lines of purple light flowing across the surface. Its left claw, lacking an arm guard, was completely charred black.

Pirite froze for a moment, then smiled.

He’d almost forgotten, Ghost Ring King knows Substitute

.

The arena burst into noise again.

“Ghost Ring King is fine?! That’s unreal!”

“Damn! Whose gear is that armor from? That’s OP!”

“The item definitely helped, but I doubt it could block all the damage alone. If I remember right, this Ghost Ring King can use Substitute.”

---

“Xun xun…”

Little Treasure floated in the sky, panting, for once showing a rare serious expression.

“Bimo.”

Bimo Fox looked up at Little Treasure in the sky, curled its lip into a smirk, took a couple of steps forward, and bent down to pick up the Fire Coin it had dropped.