403 Underhanded Tactics (1/2)

One hour after the other went bye, and soon enough, it was three in the morning.

Inside the massive illusion in the middle of the square, the students were starting to get nervous. By rotating, they had tried to stop the charmed ones into the illusion for as much as they could, but their immortal essence was starting to run thin.

The consumption of essence was way higher than the amount which the resting ones recovered, and soon enough, they would find themselves not only having to face these sixty cultivators, but do so while having close to no power left.

If that was not bad enough, the difficulty of their feat was high enough for them to be unable to keep an eye on what was happening outside, and instead have to focus on their illusion, or recover as much of their power, in as little time as possible.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

”We can't go on like this.” Said one of the resting students with worry, before adding, ”At this rate we will have no power left to face them. We have to start implementing some killing methods in the illusions. And what happened to the Outcast's followers?”

”They are not back yet, so they probably haven't won.” Responded another resting male student.

The third one to speak was the young woman who had interacted with Nilo and his group, and said, ”The other sixty charmed ones are not coming either, so they must be occupied with them.”

”This is all your fault, Tianna. We should have picked the beasts.” Said the first young man with dejection, implying that they had proposed a similar agreement to the beasts, before going to Nilo's team.

”You have heard what they said! No alliances with the Outcast's followers! We also all agreed that they were much less reliable than Nilo and the others.” Responded the young woman right away. While they were in clear danger, taking the blame for something for which she had no fault, was still something she was not willing to do.

”You know it better than us. After three hours of fighting one against twelve, they must have ran out of immortal essence. They probably hid somewhere. The moment the other half of the charmed ones stops looking for them and comes at us instead, we are done.” Said the second resting young man in response to the young woman's words.

Slightly annoyed by what her two companions were saying, the young woman responded by saying, ”Enough! It doesn't matter what they are doing! Remember what Teacher Romah taught us? The moment you worry about problem number two, problem number one will smack you in the face! Focus on these ones first!”

Suddenly, just as the young woman finished peaking, one of the attacks of the charmed ones moved past the barrier of one of the students, and reached his body, striking him in the stomach, and sending him flying backwards.

While the blow was hardly able to deal any damage to the student, it was enough for him to lose his focus over the illusion, dispelling it completely.

The now free six charmed ones, who had done nothing but curse and attack one another, finally found themselves in a clearer space in the shape of a large dome. Inside this large spatial dome, were more room sized illusions inside which a similar number of their companions were fighting amongst themselves.

In the middle of this dome, was a clear space where ten of the students were sitting in rest.

”Damn it! Don't let them interrupt the other illusions! Attack!” Shouted the young woman before disappearing, and reappearing in front of one of the charmed ones. In her hand, was her flexible sword.

The charmed ones looked at one another for just a moment, then disappear from where they were standing. When they reappeared, they were standing right next to the students who were keeping the illusions up, and trapping the rest of their companions.

As soon as these cultivators approached these focused students, the remaining ten immediately realized that keeping the illusions up was not possible anymore.

”LET GO OF THE ILLUSIONS! We need to regroup and reorganize!” Shouted the young woman promptly.

Just like the young woman, the students were aware that this was their only option. If the charmed ones managed to split their powers into fighting them six on one, it would have been a disaster. At some point one of them would be unable to hold on any longer, and after being defeated, the number of opponents per individual would slowly increase, until finally, the last one standing would have to face sixty people by themselves.

Left with no other choice, the students dispelled the illusions, and backed away with ultrasonic speed. However, instead of dissipating the large dome, while most of the charmed ones were still confused about their situation, the young female student shouted ”IGNITE!!”

While used to hide them from the outside, this spatial formation was still the domain of these students, and while not useful anymore, that did not mean that it was not an advantage. After all, every bit of space within the dome was being controlled by the students, who after heeding the command, turned the space within the dome into extremely flammable gas, and set it ablaze right after stepping out of it.

This time the power of the explosion was not limited by the weak walls of the buildings, but compressed by the spatial dome, which turned it into a blast wave of colossal proportions. The extremely small, and nearly invisible opening in the top of the dome had been placed there to direct the blast upwards, turning it into a column of fire hundreds of meters tall.

The massive shifts of essences came to a great strain for the students, who unfortunately, knew that even this explosion was highly unlikely to kill their opponents. After all, while part of the charmer's brainwashed army, these cultivators were still extremely resourceful, and just like them, they likely had measures that would save their lives in desperate situations.

”Good, now back away, and try to recover as much as possible while the dust settles!” Said the young woman, ordering for her companions to retreat.

However, before long, ”AAAAH!” Screamed one of the female students, causing the other nineteen to immediately turn in her direction.