Chapter Fourteen: Fall Together with the Stone Bridge

Wang Ling's figure soared over the head of the Koopa King. Though he was leaping, his calm and composed movement, combined with the thirteen-meter height of his jump, gave the impression that he was flying.

At the peak of his ascent, his body began to descend in a parabolic arc, quickly widening the distance between himself and Koopa. At that moment, Koopa was still in the brief moment of stiffness that followed his full-force strike at the ground with the iron hammer. This state lasted less than a second. With a sudden burst, Koopa braced his waist and shoulders, flexed his powerful arms—already bulging with muscle that now swelled even more—and with a sharp exhale, he jerked his wrists and yanked the iron hammer out from the pit in the ground.

By then, Wang Ling was still six meters above the ground, and the gap between him and Koopa had stretched to nine meters. Even with Koopa’s two-meter arm span, fully outstretched, wielding a hammer handle of one and a half meters and a hammerhead a meter in diameter, he could not possibly reach Wang Ling.

Yet, Koopa made his move. Gripping the iron hammer with both hands, his massive, shell-backed body began to spin. Unlike Wang Ling’s technique of winding up and pivoting on his heel when throwing a kitchen knife, Koopa’s method was to lower his center of gravity, spread his legs, squat down, and root himself to the ground like a stone pillar, using the strength of his waist and abdomen to rotate.

This way of generating force was an extraordinary combat instinct of the Koopa King. He became as taut as a twisted bundle of steel cable, all tension and weight. As his waist and abdomen drove his rotation, power surged through his body and into his arms. Koopa’s arms, already as thick as a woman’s waist, bulged even more as veins the size of ropes erupted beneath his skin, making his forearms appear even broader, their surface turning a bluish-gray, as if entwined with the sinews of a dozen oxen.

“Hei—!”

With a roar, the thousand-pound iron hammer was released in a mighty spin. The hammer tore through the air with a fierce sonic boom and a strange buzzing, like a swarm of bees beating their wings. This was the sound of the metal trembling violently—the shockwave of force channeled into the hammer, causing it to quiver in flight.

A thousand-pound hammer hurled by such strength would, if it struck a boulder, shatter it into rubble. But a hammer vibrating with such ferocity would pulverize the very rock it struck into powder.

Koopa was a monster famed for his strength. His hammer strike had just missed Wang Ling, who, in a desperate moment, had leapt out of harm’s way. The empty blow left Koopa furious. Seeing Wang Ling leap overhead, Koopa’s anger only grew, a sense of humiliation burning at being mocked.

He fixed Wang Ling as his target for destruction, mustering every fiber of muscle, tendon, bone, and the explosive force of his innards, unleashing all his power in this one “flying hammer throw.”

Koopa was certain this blow would smash Wang Ling to pieces. Caught mid-air, with nowhere to dodge, Wang Ling would surely die beneath the hammer’s crushing descent.

Indeed, as expected, the hammer, with its humming vibration, struck Wang Ling squarely in the back. A cruel grin curled Koopa’s lips. The thousand-pound hammer, infused with all his strength, should have shattered Wang Ling’s back into pulp, making blood explode from every orifice in fountains of crimson.

Then, the force of the hammer from behind, combined with the resistance of air in front, would crush Wang Ling into a bloody patty, shattering him into chunks—just as Koopa had seen happen to other enemies struck by this very technique.

As the hammer struck Wang Ling, Koopa seemed to see this familiar scene play out again before his eyes.

Wang Ling, falling through the air, was struck by the iron hammer. The force of the blow sent him shooting forward like a baseball hit by a bat.

“Hahahaha... I love this beautiful—”

Koopa's laughter died abruptly, disbelief filling his eyes. Though Wang Ling had been struck and sent flying, his body had not shattered. Instead, a white light surged from him and rebounded the thousand-pound iron hammer, filled with savage force.

Clang!

The iron hammer, repelled by the light, continued hurtling forward for over forty meters before its momentum dissipated and it crashed onto the stone bridge with a thunderous impact.

Meanwhile, Wang Ling, still airborne, shot forward like a missile. At the same time, his body shrank rapidly, from a giant of three and a half meters to a young man of one meter seventy-five—the effect of the growth mushroom had ended.

Yes, the glowing shield that rebuffed the hammer was the invincibility state granted by the growth mushroom upon being attacked.

During that single second of invincibility, it mattered not how heavy the hammer was, how immense the force it bore, or how violent its momentum—none of it could harm him. Or rather, the force was harmless, for the glowing shield absorbed all the damage, and that force only served to propel Wang Ling forward like a rocket, sending him flying over eighty meters before he landed atop the stone bridge.

It was worth noting that the landing spot itself testified to Koopa’s mastery over force—the trajectory was perfectly straight. Had it deviated even slightly, Wang Ling would have landed not on the bridge, but in the scalding river of lava below.

Wang Ling staggered a few steps on the stone bridge upon landing, but quickly regained his balance. Without pausing, he broke into a run, activating his Level 7 acceleration skill, sprinting at full speed toward the far end of the bridge.

Koopa’s expression changed instantly. With a furious roar, he broke into a run after Wang Ling. But as Wang Ling raced ahead, he spun around and threw down a turtle shell the size of a millstone onto the bridge.

This shell was not green, but red.

“Upon use, the shell slides along the ground, automatically homing in on the first enemy in its path, dealing 5–10 points of damage and stunning the target for three seconds.”

A homing shell!

The red shell would seek out and strike an enemy on its own. Koopa paid it little mind—one hammer swing would shatter it. But now, his hammer was nowhere near; it lay over twenty meters away, hurled by his own flying hammer throw.

Thud!

Koopa, running at full tilt, kicked the oncoming shell away. Originally aiming at Wang Ling, his foot lacked the control of his arm, and the shell soared off course, crashing into the corridor wall.

Having kicked aside the homing shell, Koopa prepared to resume the chase, but his body suddenly stiffened.

After all, like the sliding green shell, this item carried a stun effect. Earlier, smashing it with the hammer had saved him from harm, but kicking it with his foot triggered the abnormal state instantly. Although the stun lasted less than a second, it broke Koopa’s momentum, and by the time he resumed his charge, Wang Ling had reached the far side of the bridge, standing before a stone platform.

On the platform was a great metal key.

“No—!”

Koopa roared in despair as Wang Ling leaped high, executing Mario’s signature head-stomp in midair. His feet, trailing fierce wind, landed upon the metal key.

With a crisp clang, the key snapped in two, and at that instant, the stone bridge beneath Koopa shook violently. Blocks of white ashlar stone crumbled and fell away, the entire two-hundred-meter-long, three-meter-wide bridge collapsing in a landslide.

This metal key was the mechanism that controlled the drawbridge; stepping on it triggered the collapse.

The mechanism had been deliberately installed by Koopa. Having kidnapped Princess Peach, if the Mushroom Kingdom’s army ever arrived, no matter how far they advanced, Koopa could simply trigger the collapse, causing the bridge to shatter and drop the invading forces into the lava below, incinerating them and severing access to the palace.

The river of lava below was the ultimate natural barrier against intruders.

But Wang Ling had come alone. For such a weakling, Koopa had never considered using the mechanism—instead, he’d intended to kill him outright. Ironically, this gave Wang Ling his only opportunity to complete his mission. That was why his main quest was to “defeat the Koopa King,” not “kill the Koopa King.” As long as he triggered the collapse, sending Koopa into the lava, victory would be his, even if the fire-breathing turtle survived.

Everything Wang Ling had done was to lure Koopa to the far side of the bridge—for if he simply rushed ahead and triggered the mechanism, Koopa might have escaped in time. By taunting Koopa and baiting him across, then using acceleration and a super jump to vault over his head, Wang Ling was able to reach the key, trigger the trap, and send Koopa and the bridge tumbling into the lava—that was his ultimate goal.