As he hid behind the tree and peeked his head over, Emery watched the ongoing fight ensue in the middle of the wide grassfield. Right now, in front of his eyes, Emery saw a total of 8 acolytes, two of them from Elite Class. One elite acolyte was currently fighting against four lucky Class acolytes.
Meanwhile, Emery could see the other three people right around the location of the battle. There, another lucky Class acolyte knelt on the ground with wounds on his body while another one was glaring at the second Elite Class acolyte. who stood across the two of them and had not intervened in the fight. The three of them were watching the progress of the battle.
Emery returned his attention back to the fight and was surprised with how the fight went on. Even though the opponent they were facing was only a single Elite Class acolyte, Emery didn't expect the fight to be in the hands of the elite acolyte, instead of the four normal acolytes. After all, all the acolytes who joined the game were those who managed to get into the top 50.
It appeared the elite acolyte who was fighting was a Fire-element acolyte. The [Fireball] spell the acolyte casted managed to suppress the four acolytes' attacks, but wasn't enough to defeat them.
Seeing the stalemate situation, the elite acolyte who observed the fight opened his mouth. "Gerri, what is taking you so long? Can you defeat them or not? We can't waste our time here." the acolyte said with impatience.
"These people are tougher than I thought." the fire acolyte replied. Thinking for a moment, he said, "Alright, then. Nate I am willing to share them with you. Come help me."
Upon hearing that, Nate, the other elite acolyte, grinned, "Alright! Don't mind if I do!"
Looking at the situation turning bad for the other acolytes, Emery decided to stay quiet and didn't interfere. Despite the fact two of them were the members of his alliance, Emery didn't have the obligation to help them whatsoever.
Receiving his teammate's offer, the other elite acolyte named Nate immediately stepped into the fray. Emery could clearly see the acolyte's hand was releasing electric currents, before he launched the spell towards the four acolytes.
[Chain Lightning]
Erratic streams of lightning rapidly shot through the air. But when the spell nearly hit the four acolytes, a stone wall suddenly emerged from the ground and blocked it.
[Stonewall - Tier 4 Earth Spell]
[Stonewall] was a high-level spell that only rank 7 acolytes specializing in Earth element could do. This spell was casted by the Lucky Class acolyte, who glared at the elite acolyte earlier. The acolyte, who had only watched the battle, swiftly joined the battle when he saw the second elite acolyte intervening.
Seeing the infamous [Stonewall], the lightning acolyte face couldn't help but change. "What the hell?! There is a rank 7 among these rubbish? No wonder he was so confident and dared to glare at me earlier."
The rank 7 acolyte immediately darted towards Nate, the Lightning acolyte and proceeded to fight him. Watching the fight between the two acolytes, Emery didn't know what to feel. The battle between the Lightning elite acolyte and the Earth acolyte was quite unique, or should he say unusual?
The Earth acolyte didn't manage to touch the Lightning acolyte due to the difference between speed, while the Lightning acolyte's attacks couldn't injure his opponent because of the [Stone Skin] spell. Emery predicted this 5 on 2 battle could turn into a long battle, but he didn't complain. After all, it was rare for him to be able to spectate a full-magic battle.
Therefore, Emery took advantage of this golden opportunity and paid close attention to their respective actions. Based on the spells they used and the strength they exhibited, Emery could tell that 3 of them were rank 7 acolyte while the other five were rank 6 acolyte.
If the fight kept going on, Emery estimated the battle between the rank 7 Lightning and Earth acolytes would end with the Lightning acolyte's win. Although Emery was quite amazed by the prowess of the [Stone Skin] spell the Earth acolyte used, which was clearly stronger than Julian's; Emery was quite sure sooner or later the Lightning acolyte's attacks would destroy it.
On the other hand, the Fire acolyte was being pushed back by the four rank 6 acolytes. The sheer number of spells the rank 6 acolytes threw at the Fire acolyte slowly put him in a precarious situation. Which meant the battle would tip on the side who managed to hold longer under their opponent's attacks, the Fire acolyte or the Earth acolyte.
Looking at the fragile deadlock, Emery was very tempted to interfere. He believed that, if he helped, this battle would definitely be won by the Lucky Class acolytes.
Weighing his options, the possible pros and cons, Emery finally decided to step in. After all, with the presence of his 2 acolyte allies, Emery didn't need to worry that these acolytes would turn to attack him when they win.
But when he lifted his legs to move, Emery suddenly perceived a signal with his [Nature Sense], heading towards his location, or to be more precise their location. The signal was moving so fast that in a few seconds it had reached the grassfield. A figure was seen and Emery could feel the immense power emanating from that figure.
Looking at his attire, Emery knew the figure was an elite acolyte. The acolyte was a slender man with long black hair and a cold expression. The abrupt appearance of the figure shocked both parties and made them stop fighting.
Emery noticed that, not only the faces of the Lucky Class acolytes changed, but also the expressions on the two elite acolytes. This obviously discouraged him from showing himself.
The man slowly walked forward until he stood in the middle of the two sides, watching them. He then turned his body to the side facing the 6 Lucky Class acolytes. "You, all six of you can attack me together. Don't worry, those two won't bother us." the man said with a smile, pointing his thumb over his shoulder.
"!!!" Everyone was shocked by the bold words they heard.
The rank 7 Earth acolyte turned livid and said, "You elites are so arrogant! I will wipe off that smirk on your face!"
Right after he said that, the Earth acolyte immediately casted a spell. In a split second, rocks emerged from the ground and formed into two stone golems that were nearly 3 meters high. Immediately, the two golems dashed towards the slender man, who was standing in the middle.
Seeing the approaching golems, the slender man remained calm and slowly raised his hand. As soon as his hand was in the air, the two golems suddenly moved slower until they completely stopped one meter away from the man. If one took a closer look, they could see the golems' were enveloped by black smoke-like aura.
The Earth acolyte panicked, when he felt he lost control of his golems. The man then raised his other hand above his head and immediately, a huge black needle about an arm length formed right above his hand.
Glancing towards the Earth acolyte, the man proceeded to hurl the needles towards him. The Earth acolyte reflexively casted his [Stonewall] spell to block the needles. However, to his surprise, the black needles managed to pierce the wall and even pierced his stone-covered body and stabbed into his shoulder. The stone-covered body that was able to withstand multiple attacks was easily pierced by this ordinary-looking needle.
"Arrgghhh!!" the Earth acolyte roared in pain, as he knelt to the ground.
The slender man immediately formed another needle and hovered it above his hand. Seeing how easily that man could cast the same spell, the five acolytes were terrified, as their faces turned pale.
The attack launched by the slender man turned the situation turned into 3 against 6, with the strongest fighter among the Lucky Class acolytes injured, unable to join the battle. In the blink of an eye, as if they had a spiritual connection with each other, the four remaining acolytes simultaneously decided to run and left the two injured acolytes.
Various colors of lights appeared as the spells to increase speed and escape were being casted. However, they only managed to run a few steps before their bodies suddenly felt heavy, as if there was something pressuring them from above. The black aura seen on the golems also appeared on their bodies.
Feeling the effect of this aura, one of the acolytes said, his voice shaking.
"T-T-This is a gravity spell…"
Turning his gaze to the slender man, who was still standing there casually, the acolytes than realize who they were fighting with at the moment
"Lodos!"