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ArabicGenshin Impacti: This Priest is Cringe, But She's Also Unbeatable — Chapter 8
Chapter 8: The Unbreakable Ice and the Unorthodox Priest
The arena matches were in full swing.
Relying on her increasingly fluid spear techniques and a roguish strategy of periodically shielding and healing herself, Celeste had cleanly dispatched two more opponents. A Fire Mage and a Ranger had both tasted bitter defeat, overwhelmed by her bizarre combination of raw power, refined skill, and terrifying sustainability.
“Arena 3, Sector A: Celeste versus Xu Bingbing!”
The referee’s voice echoed across the field.
Hearing the name, Celeste’s stride faltered for a fraction of a second. A knot of apprehension tightened in her stomach.
Xu Bingbing.
A top-tier student from Yi City No. 1 High School, and a Level 23 Ice Mage. She was a well-known figure among the city’s examinees, not for her offensive power, but for her nearly impeccable defense and crowd-control abilities. She was a living, breathing textbook on “How to Construct an Absolute Defense.”
A thorough, frustrating, “iron turtle” mage.
This was going to be a pain.
Celeste didn’t fear opponents with high burst damage or lightning-fast attacks; her own resilience could handle that. What she truly found troublesome were these slow, grinding types—opponents who gave you nowhere to direct your strength, who turned a fight into a war of attrition. It was like punching water.
Her Thousand Rock Spearmanship was powerful and heavy, but the Priest class was fundamentally lacking in armor-piercing skills or instant-kill burst damage. Against a high-defense class like this, her offensive efficiency would be ground down to almost nothing.
And as for the Priest’s innate skill, `Smite`?
That pathetic little flicker of damage wouldn’t even scratch the paint on a target of the same level.
Stepping onto the arena platform, she saw a short-haired girl already waiting. The girl wore black-rimmed glasses and a placid expression, a visible aura of white frost swirling around her that dropped the ambient temperature by several degrees.
Watching Celeste approach empty-handed, Xu Bingbing calmly pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
“Classmate Celeste, I’ve watched the recordings of your matches.”
Her voice was as cool and measured as her magic.
“Your staff techniques are exquisite, and your physical strength far exceeds the normal scope of the Priest class.”
“However, I have completely seen through your weakness.”
Xu Bingbing’s gaze was sharp, piercing through her lenses with the calm certainty of a top student reviewing an incorrectly answered test question.
“Your attack power is insufficient to pierce a true defensive system. Once you encounter an opponent like me, your offense is like waves crashing against an iceberg—seemingly powerful, but ultimately futile. If you cannot break my defense, everything you do is meaningless.”
Celeste arched an eyebrow.
‘Damn, she’s not wrong,’ she thought. The girl’s analysis was spot-on.
A playful smirk tugged at the corner of her lips. With a flicker of her will, the ridiculously girly pink staff materialized in her hand, practically glowing with magical-girl energy.
“Shall we try?”
The referee’s whistle blew, its sharp sound cutting through the air.
The instant the sound faded, Xu Bingbing’s spell was already complete.
A layer of crystal-clear `Ice Armor`, shimmering with complex magical runes, encased her entire body. Simultaneously, she tapped her staff lightly. Several `Ice Shards`, radiating a chilling killing intent, tore through the air and shot straight toward Celeste.
Celeste neither dodged nor retreated. Gripping her staff with both hands, she spun it in a dizzying, defensive arc.
“Clang, clang, clang—!”
A series of crisp, metallic chimes rang out. The high-speed blur of pink and gold precisely intercepted every single `Ice Shard`, shattering them into a harmless flurry of glittering ice crystals.
But the victory was short-lived. A bone-deep chill spread frantically up the staff, seeping into her arms and causing half her body to go numb. Her movements stalled for a crucial moment.
‘Troublesome, indeed!’
Celeste dug her feet into the ground and lunged forward, her body shooting out like an arrow from a bow. The tip of her staff aimed directly for her opponent’s throat, a desperate attempt to force a close-quarters fight.
But Xu Bingbing’s combat experience was terrifyingly seasoned. She simply tapped her staff on the ground again.
Boom!
A wide, thick Ice Wall erupted from the floor, perfectly positioned between them and blocking Celeste’s advance. Trying to go around it would mean surrendering the initiative completely.
Celeste’s pupils constricted. In a fluid motion, she twisted at her waist, channeling every ounce of her strength into the staff in her hands. The weapon whistled through the air like a striking dragon, slamming fiercely into the frozen barrier.
“Bang!”
A shower of crystalline shrapnel exploded from the point of impact. The Ice Wall groaned under the strain, lightning-like cracks spreading across its surface, but it held. It didn’t shatter.
That brief delay was all Xu Bingbing needed. She retreated with practiced calm, once again establishing an absolutely safe distance. Immediately, a second volley of `Ice Shards`, this time mixed with the area-slowing mist of `Frost Breath`, blanketed the space where Celeste stood.
The match had instantly fallen into her opponent’s rhythm.
Celeste couldn’t break through the defense, and for the moment, Xu Bingbing’s attacks couldn’t do any significant damage to her either. But anyone watching could see the truth of the situation. Celeste’s stamina was being heavily consumed. Every parry, every forceful advance, was being relentlessly worn down by the constant barrage of crowd-control skills.
Meanwhile, Xu Bingbing appeared composed and relaxed, as if the entire battle was unfolding exactly as she had calculated.
‘At this rate, I’m gonna lose for sure…’Celeste gritted her teeth, a bead of sweat tracing a path down her temple. A passive battle of attrition would only end with her being ground into dust.’I have to break this stalemate!’
Her gaze locked onto the `Ice Armor` shimmering with cold light on Xu Bingbing’s body, her brain working at an unmatched speed. Priests didn’t have armor-piercing skills, but the very essence of the Thousand Rock Spearmanship was `Precision`—it was about `Breaking the Point`.
Any defensive spell had to have nodes, weak points where the energy flowed. If she could just get close and find one of those nodes, she might be able to shatter the defense in a single strike.
But how could she possibly find it?
She instinctively glanced at the Venti trial card in her system interface but immediately dismissed the idea. It wasn’t worth exposing a trump card of that magnitude for a single arena match.
The crowd below had also begun to buzz with discussion.
“Looks like Xu Bingbing was right. Faced with a total turtle build, Celeste is out of options.”
“Her offensive methods are too one-dimensional. She’s just relying on basic attacks with that pink staff.”
“She’s a Priest, after all. Being able to fight like this is already incredible. You can’t expect her to be a jack-of-all-trades, can you?”
Watching from the stands, Selene’s face was flushed red with anxiety as she stomped her feet. “Sis! Stop letting her wear you down! Find a way to get in close!”
On the stage, Xu Bingbing seemed certain of her victory. While maintaining her harassment with a steady stream of Ice Shards, she began to chant a more powerful spell. The chill surrounding her surged dramatically, and white frost began to gather frantically above her head.
It was the prelude to a large-scale, high-damage skill—`Blizzard`.
She intended to use this move to completely seal off Celeste’s remaining room for maneuver and end the match. A piercing cold wind howled, and the air temperature plummeted toward freezing.
Celeste’s movements were already starting to stiffen. If she didn’t act now, she truly wouldn’t have another chance.
Her path of retreat was cut off.
‘Fine,’she thought, a wild, desperate light igniting in her eyes.’Then I’ll just have to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat!’
She abandoned all pointless parries, allowing several `Ice Shards` to streak toward her. Simultaneously, she raised her hands in front of her chest.
`Power Word: Shield`!
A mass of solid, white-gold light instantly enveloped her, forming a sturdy, translucent barrier.
“Thud, thud!”
The Ice Shards slammed into the shield, causing little more than two faint ripples before fizzling out. She had used the shield’s duration to forcibly buy herself an uninterrupted opportunity to close the distance.
But what would she do once she got there?
Just as everyone assumed she was going to repeat her old trick and try to brute-force the `Ice Armor`, Celeste made a move that no one could have possibly anticipated.
She didn’t charge. Instead, she held the pink staff high, allowing the holy radiance emitted by `Power Word: Shield` to refract through the large pink crystal at its tip.
What happens when pure light passes through a crystal?
Under the astonished gazes of the entire audience, the refracted light shone onto Xu Bingbing’s `Ice Armor`. For a fraction of a second, the complex mana trajectories flowing within the armor became clearly visible, glowing like a circuit board.
Now!
All of Celeste’s mental energy was focused to a razor’s edge. In her eyes, the world seemed to slow to a crawl.
She found it. The single, core mana node that maintained the entire armor’s structure.
In the instant that Xu Bingbing’s pupils dilated in shock at the inconceivable sight, Celeste moved.
There was no wind-up, no grand, telegraphed motion. She simply took a step, twisted her waist, and thrust her staff forward in the most concise and swift manner possible. The pink staff traced a line nearly invisible to the naked eye, its tip piercing accurately toward the glowing weak point she had just exposed.
“Break!”
Her sharp cry echoed throughout the arena.
The tip of the staff and the mana node collided.
There was no world-shaking explosion. There was only a single, sharp crack, like the sound of shattering glass.
The seemingly indestructible `Ice Armor` on Xu Bingbing’s body was instantly webbed with spider-like cracks originating from the point of impact. Then, with a resonant crash, it completely disintegrated into a cloud of flying ice crystals.
One strike, defense broken.
The entire arena fell into a dead, deep silence.
All the mocking and discussion from the crowd below ceased abruptly. Everyone stared, wide-eyed, at the scene before them as if they were witnessing a miracle.
A Priest… used Holy Light as a magical searchlight… to shatter an Ice Mage’s proud iron-wall defense with a staff?
What kind of galaxy-brain, five-head play was that?!
Just as Celeste succeeded and prepared to press her advantage—
Bwom—!
A low, heavy, distorted guitar riff ripped through the entire arena without warning. The melody was wild and unrestrained, charged with a raw determination to break free from all shackles, instantly igniting the stunned atmosphere.
[`Overtones` has begun playing for you!]
The system notification exploded in her mind.
!!!
Celeste froze, her mind going completely blank.
‘No way! Are you serious?!’she screamed internally.’It’s triggering on the very first fight and making this big of a scene?! In the middle of the arena, with everyone watching?!’
Almost at the same instant the BGM started, a soft light enveloped her.
Her plain white priest robe was suddenly consumed by a surge of flowing, inky black light. As the light swirled around her like a living shadow, her entire attire began to transform.