Having to fight waves of Terra knights was certainly not an easy matter for Emery and the others. All of them were not merely strong, they were also highly trained and very organized.
Previously, Emery and the others had to taste defeat two times consecutively when they faced three companies of Terra Knights.
From their seemingly unstoppable spear vanguard formation that could transition into a sword and shield formations, to the pinpoint accuracy and relentless barrage of arrows the archers positioned at the backline showcased.
Added with the captains and their gold armored warriors, the Earth acolytes could do nothing but accept another loss.
After the second battle, Emery and the others decided to take a longer break to heal their light wounds and bruises, as well as recharge the protective barrier of their suits.
"Five yellow spirit stones and three hours to fully recharge these tier 3 artifacts…" Julian said as he counted the spirit stones that still remain in their pouch. He was completely dumbfounded when he finished his calculation. "We have spent a total of five thousand spirit stones just for these practices!"
Hearing that, Thrax let out a cheeky smile. "Maybe we should ask for some spirit stones for this training too..."
Emery, Klea, Julian, and Chumo swiftly turned their heads to Thrax and stared at him with flat expression on their faces. It was Chumo who spoke out the thoughts the four of them had.
"Shameless."
Thrax scratched his head playfully while the smile on his face widened. "Hahaha, there is no harm in asking, is it?"
The Terra Kingdom had been supporting them with many things ever since last year. Therefore, it would certainly be extremely inappropriate for them to ask anything else.
While resting their exhausted bodies, the group quickly discussed how they should tackle the problem they currently faced called Terra Knights. They desperately needed a strategy to win the battle in the next training session.
The discussion was mostly done by Klea and Julian, who were talking about a variety of tactics and debating which one of them was the best for their current situation. As for Emery, he chose to sideline himself, as he wasn't as knowledgeable as them about this topic.
Emery however didn't just sit idling around. He decided to focus his thoughts on the position he was currently in charge of, the middle position of the group.
Currently, his strong point that the group took advantage of was still the versatility of the spells he had in his repertoire. However, this style of fighting he adopted would always end with him running out of spirit energy. Hence, he was trying to think about ways to improve his efficiency in the fight.
On their third try, Emery decided to incorporate his battle art [Weeping Phantom] into his combination of attacks, to ease the consumption of his spirit energy. Alas, he soon found out the power the battle art had was not comparable to that of his spells.
Therefore, he began trying his newly learned [Shadow Edge] and integrating the skill into his attacks. The end result was satisfactory in Emery's eyes.
The blade skill that unleashed energy able to cut through anything within the ten meter radius in front of him. It was more than enough to break enemy formation and strike fear in their vanguard.
"What the hell?!! Why are you just showing this to us now?!" Thrax shouted, who was nearly injured from being in the trajectory of the attack.
Julian quickly added, "This is great, Emery! I'm sure we can win with this! Let's go!!"
The group who was pumped by Emery's display quickly returned to the arena and challenged the Terra Knights again.
[Shadow Edge]
A jet-black crescent-shaped energy shot through the air and hit the Terra knights advancing toward Emery and the others. The wave of Terra knights were prepared to receive the attack, but they didn't expect the skill to contain such momentum.
The violent blast created by the skill managed to instantly destroy the protective barrier of a dozen Terra knights. Furthermore, they were sent flying backwards even faster than when they came.
Seeing that the skill had eliminated a significant portion of the enemy, Emery immediately took advantage of the momentum it had built up. He quickly channeled another [Shadow Edge], while his eyes scanned around trying to find any opening.
The moment it was ready to be unleashed, Emery immediately cast [Blink] and appeared right in front of the still disorganized Terra knights. Launching the skill forward, this time even one of the captains was flung away with their protective barrier shattered apart.
"Hahahah!! Did you feel that?!!" shouted Thrax excitedly, when he saw Emery's feat. "That's my man, Emery!!"
Seeing Emery wreaking havoc across the enemy ranks, Thrax became so excited he advanced further to the enemy line, moving away from Julian and the others.
Seeing Thrax getting further and further away, Julian quickly shouted. "Stop, Thrax!! You are going too far ahead!! Come back!!"
Alas, the Thracian didn't seem to want to hear the command as he continued to charge forward.
"Huh! No! Let's pushed them backk!!"
The gladiator champion's combat sense was literally on fire, as he jumped to the air and lunged towards the rows of Terra knights directly, brewing even more chaos amidst their ranks.
Unfortunately, Thrax quickly found himself surrounded within a minute he entered the enemy formation. The teamwork and discipline of the Terra knights were clearly displayed.
"I told you, you simple-minded barbarian!!" shouted Julian in a frustrated voice, when he saw the Terra knights had cut off all paths of Thrax's retreat.
Thrax, however, glanced in Emery's direction. His gaze told the latter he had pulled all the enemy's attention to him and it was time for Emery to deliver his decisive strike. This was a gamble on Thrax's side. The only reason he was willing to do this was because of his deep trust toward Emery.
However, as Emery leaped to the air and swung his tier 4 sword for the activation of the skill, cracks abruptly appeared on its blade surface. The next instant, the sword shattered apart leaving him with only its hilt.
This unexpected incident also left Thrax in disbelief. His mouth was wide open, as he watched the falling pieces of the sword and in the end, he had to accept spear thrusts coming from all sides.
"Emery!!!!!!"
The consequence was the advantage they had before quickly disappeared like a puff of smoke with Thrax out of the fight. Ultimately, the team's eventual failure followed after.
"...."
The group looked at each other, or rather, in the direction where the remnants of the former tier 4 sword were scattered. Emery's [Shadow Edge] was indeed powerful. It was so powerful it even broke a tier 4 weapon with just a dozen usage.
Emery can't help to think his master was trying to make him broke teaching him this new skill.
Apparently, this tactic was still not feasible for the training, let alone for the high-stake Magus Game.
Not only just because Emery still hadn't completely mastered the skill yet, but also because [Shadow Edge] consumed a considerable amount of spirit energy. Hence it wasn't exactly the ideal solution he was looking for.
During the next break, Emery decided to approach the combat puppet panel and access the system.
[You are rewarded one battle art technique]
[Please choose one of the battle art techniques]
There were two main categories of battle arts. One could enhance its caster's weapon, while the other was utilized to enhance its caster's body.
[- Weapon Techniques -]
[Sword - Spinning Blade]
[Sword - Rending Strike]
[Dagger - Lunging Stab]
[Dagger - Piercing Strike]
[Dual - Cross Slash]
[...]
[- Body Techniques -]
[Strength up]
[Speed up]
[Defense up]
Those battle art techniques were something Emery had seen before, so he just skimmed through them to make sure he did not miss anything. However, as he continued to browse the list and reach the bottom part, he realized there was actually a new section.
[- Advanced Weapon Techniques -]
[Sword - Sonic Leap]
A charge type skill that allows the user to charge toward the enemy at up to three times the user's speed.
[Dual - Soulless Stream]
A series of combo attacks that consists of four stages: 4 strikes, 8 strikes, 16 strikes. and 32 strikes.
[Sword/Dagger - Chain Strike]
A strike type of skill that allowed the user to jump from one target to another in succession.
Emery couldn't help but roll his eyes as he read through this new section of battle art techniques. With this, who would be stupid enough to choose the basic version over the advanced ones.
However, he later found out that these options were only available when he had reached a certain requirement in his stats and weapon proficiency. Some might receive different skills or none of the advanced skills at all.
Now, he just needed to ignore the basic ones and choose one of the three.
The question was which one should he choose?
----------------------------------
Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,