Chapter Thirteen: That Flirtatious Leap

At first glance, the monster appeared as a gigantic, upright tortoise. Yet, upon closer inspection, one would notice its draconic head, adorned with a mane of crimson hair, from which two white, curving bone horns jutted, their tips sharp and menacing. Its gaping maw was filled with rows of razor-sharp fangs.

A spiked, emerald-green shell encased the creature’s body, while its exposed arms and legs, slightly bent, bulged with slabs of ashen muscle that resembled steel or hewn stone. Around its wrists, the monster wore two spiked metal shackles, their dark hue betraying their origin—wrought from iron dredged from the depths of magma, wide and weighty. Each shackle was studded with long, silvery spikes, each as thick as a thumb and over a foot in length.

Standing on the stone bridge, the monster’s immense form, heavy shell, bulging muscles, savage fangs, and the coiled, pitch-black shackles exuded an overwhelming sense of explosive power, even as it remained motionless.

“Roar! Who are you to dare trespass in my castle? I’ll kill you! Roar!”

King Koopa’s words were translated by the Dream Emblem. What shocked Wang Ling was not that Koopa could speak, but the way his voice boomed like muffled thunder, the very air before his maw rippling visibly like a miniature whirlwind.

Wang Ling’s heart sank. From the monstrous aura radiating from Koopa, he could already tell—this was not an opponent he could handle, not even with all of Mario’s skills. The difference in level between them was simply too vast.

Who, after all, was Koopa? Not only the final boss of the first Mario, but the ultimate adversary in several ensuing titles—a demon king of Mario’s world, a being so powerful that even falling into magma would not mean his end.

And Wang Ling? He was nothing more than an ordinary high school student from Earth—a seventeen-year-old boy, facing his very first novice quest. His reckless charge into the final stage had forced the Dream Space to upgrade this world’s difficulty from E to D.

The final boss of a D-level challenge was even more formidable than the average boss of a C-level world. Even with all of Mario’s skills, even after consuming the growth mushroom and the fire flower, Wang Ling’s basic attributes remained that of a normal human—how could he possibly stand against King Koopa?

Thus, when he entered the eighth castle, the Dream Space, out of consideration for novices, had even offered the privilege of ending the quest early, retaining all items and currency. But at the time, Wang Ling had resolutely refused.

“No. I am already the weaker side; if I lose even my courage, then death is the only outcome! I mustn’t lose heart!”

Forcing down the fear rising within him, Wang Ling lifted his wrist, firing off two fireballs that bounced forward. Koopa, however, did not bother to dodge, letting the fireballs explode against his body in a small display of sparks. Unlike in the game, he feared not even magma—how could he be harmed by fireballs weaker than molten rock?

“Your flames are too weak! Now watch mine—roar!”

With a bellow, Koopa bent down, exhaling a stream of golden-red magma from his fearsome jaws. This jet, not unlike the straight-firing cannonballs from earlier, was vastly more powerful and much faster!

Wang Ling twisted aside in a desperate dodge. The magma stream grazed him, and the mere heat scorched a large swath of his clothing, blackening it until it crumbled away in brittle, ashen fragments.

Watching the charred scraps drift away, Wang Ling was stunned. This magma breath possessed at least ten times the power of a fireball!

“Fireballs are useless at a distance! Koopa has two sharp horns on his brow—Mario’s head-stomp won’t work either! There’s only one way: make him fall into the river of magma to defeat him. But Koopa’s true form is a tortoise—he’s heavy, his center of gravity low. Even though the stone bridge is only three meters wide, with his strength and mass, he could halt his charge at any time and stabilize himself. He won’t fall by accident.”

“What’s more, even after my growth, my strength is only sixteen points. Do I expect to fight and knock this muscle-bound beast off the bridge? Clearly, there’s only one way... But to use it, I must lure Koopa over. I can’t let him stay on the far side of the bridge...”

Seeing Koopa lower his head, inhaling deeply, smoke and flickers of flame streaming from his nostrils, Wang Ling realized he was about to spew magma again. He shouted, “You call yourself the Demon King of the Koopa Kingdom, yet you sneak attack from afar with magma! Don’t you have the courage to face me in direct combat? I despise you!”

With the Dream Emblem, Wang Ling’s words instantly transformed into a language Koopa could understand.

Koopa’s only real weakness was his lack of intelligence—perhaps a natural result of being a turtle monster. Hearing Wang Ling’s taunt, he roared in rage, “I, King Koopa, am the strongest and the bravest! You dare insult me? I’ll crush you into a pulp!”

With that, Koopa moved. His massive legs thundered across the stone bridge, his five-meter-tall body like a moving mountain, a runaway locomotive, sweeping forward on a suffocating gale.

Before Wang Ling, a giant green turtle shell appeared, half as tall as a man and as broad as a millstone. With a light push, it slid forward in a straight line.

Koopa charged from the bridge’s far end. The span was narrow and his bulk immense; he could not dodge the incoming shell.

“Given Koopa’s level, the shell’s three-second stun will likely only last a second...”

But reality was even harsher than Wang Ling expected. Koopa didn’t dodge or flinch; as he saw the shell coming, a hint of disdain lit his eyes. A massive iron hammer appeared in his right hand, its spherical head over a meter wide, gleaming silver, weighing more than a thousand jin.

“Shatter for me!”

With a thunderous roar, Koopa raised his arm high, muscles bulging like boulders, and brought the iron hammer crashing down on the approaching shell. His movement was wild, brimming with explosive force—under such a blow, the shell emitted a tortured crack before exploding into countless fragments.

A shell the size of a millstone, shattered with a single blow!

With Koopa’s immense strength, wielding a thousand-jin hammer, this was power at its purest—like the legendary hammer of Li Yuanba, smashing all before it, invincible and unstoppable.

Amidst the storm of shell fragments, Koopa strode forward. The sharp shards struck his muscles, leaving only faint white marks that vanished instantly. Such an aura of invincibility would have driven any ordinary soul to despair.

But Wang Ling’s eyes remained icy and clear. Still under the effects of the growth mushroom, his strength surpassed that of any ordinary man at sixteen points. Seeing Koopa only sixty meters away, he gripped his heavy, black cleaver in both hands, spun on his heel like a discus thrower, and hurled the half-meter blade with all his might.

He threw with such force that his muscles screamed in protest, the pain in his arm signaling a strain from overexertion.

The cleaver spun through the air towards Koopa’s head. But Koopa raised his iron hammer, and with a sharp whistle, brought it down from above. The cleaver struck the hammer’s surface, and before it could rebound, the descending force twisted the blade, sending it flying, where it embedded itself in the stone bridge below.

The half-meter blade sank deep into the white granite, leaving only the handle exposed.

Wang Ling drew a deep breath to steady himself. He knew he had but a single chance. If he failed, death would be absolute, with not even the hope of escape. The three extra-life mushrooms he had painstakingly saved would become meaningless.

What use are anti-erasure items if you are already dead?

This was truly a case of “succeed or perish.”

Koopa’s massive, oppressive form hurtled toward him, closing from sixty to fifty, then forty meters...

Wang Ling knew it was time to act.

He crouched, then sprang forward in a full sprint toward King Koopa. When just twenty meters remained between them, he triggered his acceleration skill, sacrificing seventy percent agility for a burst of speed, as if preparing to crash headlong into Koopa’s five-meter-tall, steel-clad frame.

Koopa’s nostrils spewed black smoke, a cruel smile twisting his draconic face. Lifting his hammer, he brought it down upon the onrushing Wang Ling. The iron head tore through the air, trailing a wild, shrieking wind and sharp sonic booms.

As if a mountain collapsed or a landslide swept down, Wang Ling planted his legs, bending his knees—

“Now! Super Jump!”

His body leaped, light as a swallow, soaring upward. The iron hammer missed his feet by a hair’s breadth, smashing into the bridge below.

The entire bridge shook violently. Where the hammer struck, stone shattered with spiderweb cracks, a pit a meter deep forming in the floor, fine fragments and white dust whirling upward, forming a tiny grey tornado in the swirling air.

Wang Ling floated over the tornado, his movement graceful and agile, as if he rode the very wind—a sight both ethereal and dazzling.

Super Jump Level 8 granted a maximum leap of four meters in height and distance. Basic Footwork Level 5 added fifty percent more jumping power. With acceleration active, Level 7 bestowed an extra seventy percent leap. Combining all these, plus every ounce of strength and potential in his legs, Wang Ling’s jump soared to an astonishing thirteen meters, clearing the five-meter-tall Koopa’s head with ease.

That leap was nothing short of perfect.