Seeing fifty archers taking aim and letting loose their arrows, the crowd suddenly felt that their hearts had taken too much punishment in the past two days. Not only was this move especially cruel, it was nigh impossible to dodge.
As things stood now, Ryu only had about a three meters radius of movement space around him. Even this much was in part a product of his expert use of his glaive, ensuring that his opponents didn't get too close, and in part due to his enemies also using medium ranged weapons.
Ryu's brows furrowed. If he took the time to deal with these arrows, the Qi Refinement experts definitely wouldn't take this lying down. Although Ryu didn't believe restricting such experts in this way was the best use of their abilities, he had to admit that the fact they were bound by military law essentially guaranteed that they would dive head first into this sort of suicidal action. Even if it meant taking several arrows head on, they would continue to charge forward.
At this moment, Ryu regretted not learning any defensive techniques. He had told himself to do so multiple times, but the Natural Order Sect simply didn't have anything that was suitable for him. All such defensive techniques they had were crude ones that involved hardening the skin and bones, but this was completely incompatible with Ryu's bone structure. If he tried to forcibly learn these techniques, he would be lowering his own potential.
Ryu's breathing steadied, the world around him slowing once more as he entered an even deeper state. Breath of Heaven.
Ryu himself knew that although his time limit for Breath of Earth had increased to just over a half an hour, his Breath of Heaven would only last him a few seconds. Because he had already used Breath of Earth for upwards of ten minutes already, this time would be even shorter, not to mention the fact that it would definitely drain him of his Spiritual Qi.
The consequences of such a thing can be imagined. Of them, the most terrible cost would be the impact to his Spiritual Sense. After this, it would be a toss up as to whether he would be able to use it at all.
'Good. This is the sort of pressure I need. If I can't even defeat these people, what right do I have to defeat an enemy my parents couldn't?!'
In the distance, the frail hearted Yaana felt that her world was collapsing. Finally, unable to handle it anymore, a small delicate shout left her lips as she fainted into her grandfather's arms.
Seeing the state of his granddaughter, the old General felt his heart constrict. He remembered all those years ago, him looking down upon Ryu. As a military man, what he praised the most wasn't intelligence, but strength of character and power. When he first met Ryu, all he saw was an arrogant and scrawny little boy that knew nothing of the world.
In the army, arrogance is something you earn by putting your life on the line. There was nothing more important than seniority and hierarchy. So, when the old General saw Ryu's attitude, he immediately felt disdain. What had this little boy done to earn the right to carry such an aura? Him and his brothers shed blood and tears for the right to hold their heads high, he hadn't done a single thing!
This attitude of the old General's didn't begin to change until he saw Ryu withstand a vicious beating with uttering so much as a word. It was at that moment that he felt that maybe his views were partially flawed. Although Ryu had yet to earn his stripes on the battlefield, he had earned his arrogance in another way. Seeing Ryu's actions here, the old General felt that his second conclusion was correct.
"Ha!" A mighty call left Ryu's lips, his white hair flowed widely, not a single speck of dust to be found amidst their flawless strands.
In that moment, a second glaive appeared in Ryu's hand. His arms became akin to reapers of death. With every step he took and with every strike he sent, a shower of blood would rain.
"Dual wielding glaives?!" Those experts of the crowd felt like they had been dropped into a fantasy. Which of them had ever seen something like this? They couldn't decide whether what they were witnessing was ridiculous, or ingenious. But, what they did know was that they felt a certain trembling take root in their hearts. It felt as though Ryu was so close yet so far to something special.
In truth, they could tell that his movements weren't as fluid as when he focused on a single weapon. Those who were sharper realized that Ryu definitely couldn't maintain this sort of state for an extended period of time. It was no wonder he hadn't brought out this trump card until now.
Ryu's glaives flickered with a faint qi, but it was wholly lacking in comparison to when he focused his everything on one weapon. If he had to put a label on his current state, if his properly handling his glaive had entered the Small Success Realm, then as of now, he couldn't even be considered to be within the Entry Realm. He was in some inferior state that didn't have the right to have a moniker of its own.
Still, the trade off in skill and fluidity was made up for by the fact there were two weapons. Ryu could suddenly deal with attacks from all 360 degrees.
The arrows that closed in on Ryu never so much as touched a hair on his head. With a thought, he executed [Skim] repeatedly. With every action, another arrow not only narrowly shot by him, but were redirected toward warriors behind him. Ryu was actually using attacks levied toward him to deal with the elites of the Dragon Corps!
Their dreams of sacrificing themselves to get close to Ryu went up in smoke. As volley after volley of arrows were let loose, the Qi Refinement experts only became more injured. Even with their armor and cultivation, there was only so much punishment they could take.
Still, Ryu was nearing his limit as well. He understood now that the hurdle he faced wasn't just about finding a method to infuse the prowess of a two-handed weapon into one, he also had to enter a strong enough Mental Realm to split his mind two ways. If he couldn't do this, he would never succeed.
Amory could tell that Ryu was nearing his limit. This was why he hadn't ordered his warriors to stop despite the situation. He could only steel his heart. But, it was at that moment that he felt that something was off. He couldn't understand where this uneasy feeling was coming until it was already too late.
"Shit! Squadrons five and six, close off points to the east and west!"
Ryu smiled lightly. His body suddenly became as light as a feather, shooting through a gap he created toward the east. All the time he spent redirecting arrows wasn't wasted, instead, he slowly concentrated his fire on two points, just in case Amory found one. He couldn't help but be slightly impressed that Amory actually found both. But, it was too late.. Ryu shot through, disappearing amid the city buildings.