Chapter 124: Won? (First Installment)

"Not Shinto! Not Kamar-Taj! And certainly not that!" Madam Gao was indeed an old monster; she was nearly spot on.

Mei Mumu hailed from Kamar-Taj, but with the magic of the *Dungeons & Dragons* series combined with the staff *Song of the Azure Sky*, there was absolutely nothing about him that suggested any connection to Kamar-Taj.

Before Madam Gao could even lock onto Mei Mumu’s position, a rapidly spreading white mist completely enveloped both of them.

"Fog Cloud? Iga? Koga?" Madam Gao was on the verge of madness. At first, he seemed like a mage, but was this how a mage fought? Did mages possess such keen sensory perception? And surely, mages relied more on their vision, didn't they? Furthermore, was a mage's casting speed supposed to be this fast?

Inside the mist, Mei Mumu continued to accurately track her location through the highlighted outline provided by his system. Three or four acid arrows streaked toward her, nearly ending the old woman's life. This was *Melf's Acid Arrow*; once it touched skin, it would melt even the bones.

Just as Madam Gao dodged the conjuration attack, an *Electric Orb* from the evocation school arrived. The crackling sphere of lightning drew everyone’s attention. Sensing the dire situation, Madam Gao extended her withered hands, hooked her thumbs over her cane, and thrust her palms forward.

"Hah!"

With a sharp, piercing shout, the mist Mei Mumu had summoned was instantly shattered by the powerful gust of *chi* expelled from within Madam Gao.

At that exact moment, the next spell, *Earthen Grasp*, took effect.

"You..." Madam Gao, normally light and agile, suddenly felt as if eighteen heavy steel shackles had been clamped onto her body. The loss of her freedom and the crushing sensation of an invisible mountain pressing down on her shoulders nearly drove her insane.

As an old hag who had spent over 400 years meddling in wicked arts, she was no stranger to being hunted by the righteous. The Hand had been confronted by the Order of the Sacred, K'un-Lun, and the Defenders, and in another timeline of the Marvel universe, she had been soundly beaten by heroes like Daredevil and the Hulk. She had seen countless extraordinary individuals, but she had never encountered a mage as violent as Mei Mumu. The casting bonus provided by his "Ambidexterity" was simply overwhelming.

"Hmph!" Madam Gao fired a dozen pitch-black steel needles from her sleeves. They resembled bone-piercing nails, and the ominous glow on their tips indicated they were coated in poison.

"Watch out—" Natalia’s warning had barely left her lips when she was stunned to see the long nails flying back along their original paths.

Mei Mumu had countered with *Arrow Turning*. Capable of casting two spells simultaneously, he achieved a perfect integration of offense and defense. If his mind could handle the strain, he could even use silent casting for a third spell, though he usually avoided this as it placed too heavy a burden on his brain.

While Mei Mumu’s "hoist with one's own petard" tactic was a major problem for any ordinary boss, Madam Gao did not share that concern.

"Heh heh!" A strange, bluish-red flush suddenly appeared on her wrinkled face.

In the blink of an eye, a version of a "muscle queen" with a degraded face appeared before the three of them. Madam Gao’s appearance was profoundly grotesque. Her face remained that of a wrinkled old woman, but her arms and legs had swollen with massive, incredibly thick muscles. Her biceps and thighs were so muscular that even Sylvester Stallone would have paled in comparison, yet her small frame remained completely unchanged.

This was another application of *chi*: by injecting vast amounts into her muscles, she forcibly enhanced her absolute physical strength. Under normal circumstances, this extreme pursuit of force and destruction was ill-advised, as it meant a significant reduction in agility and speed. If you couldn't hit the enemy, what use was raw power? But as a means to counter the restraints of magic, it was a different story entirely.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

In the air, it seemed as if countless invisible shackles were being torn, crushed, and shattered. Confronted with the poison needles reflecting back at her, Madam Gao didn't even bother to dodge; she simply blocked them.

"Ahhhhh!" The steel nails struck her explosive arm muscles, piercing only her sleeves before failing to penetrate her skin.

"A clown playing with parlor tricks! It ends now!" As the three watched, Madam Gao’s bloated form suddenly shrank back down. Simultaneously, the *chi* she had expelled flooded the entire room. Under her manipulation, the energy surged like a mountain-toppling tide toward Mei Mumu. Not only did it crush him with the weight of Mount Tai, but Mei Mumu was shocked to discover that the elements he was familiar with—earth, water, fire, and wind—seemed to shriek and flee under the repulsion of this *chi*.

*Oh? K'un-Lun’s chi can actually interfere with elemental flow? This kind of technique is unheard of!*

Mei Mumu suddenly felt a sense of gratitude for arriving at this point in time. Whether as a mage or a hero facing greater challenges, his combat experience was truly lacking. Experience was vital; it not only trained a powerhouse to find an opponent's weaknesses but also improved their adaptability. Since he began his journey, he had only faced two true bosses: Kaecilius and Dormammu. Kaecilius was manageable, but Dormammu was a forced overtime match that was impossible to win.

Returning to 1942 to bully the weak was satisfying, but if he wanted to survive the future confrontation with Thanos, he needed more experience. Madam Gao, a boss with sufficient strength but not so overwhelming that he couldn't handle her, was the perfect training partner. Seeing Madam Gao sacrifice her agility by using vast amounts of *chi* to force a close-quarters engagement, Mei Mumu couldn't help but smile.

"You can't escape!" Madam Gao’s sharp, thunderous roar shook the highest floor of the castle, causing the suits of Japanese samurai armor in the great hall to clatter. The momentum was so terrifying that both generations of Black Widows couldn't help but break into a cold sweat, secretly gripping their backup weapons.

Madam Gao dared not hold back any longer. Her opponent was clearly a magic user; if a melee fighter like her didn't close the distance, she would inevitably be played to death. She threw a punch—a fist wrapped and reinforced by a massive amount of *chi*.

There was an unverified rumor that Madam Gao was the Crane Mother, one of the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven in K'un-Lun. As a rare powerhouse in K'un-Lun, her full-force strike might not have been earth-shattering, but it was more than enough to blow through the 102mm thick frontal armor of a Tiger tank.

Madam Gao had already anticipated at least 100 ways for Mei Mumu to respond, and every single one of them led to his demise.

*She had won.*