Chapter 266 A Ser (1/2)

”A wager?” Arran eyed Brightblade suspiciously When she ser added, he knew there could only be trouble ahead

”First, take a look,” she replied ”After that, you can decide if you're interested”

Without any further words, she turned to the large group of novices standing nearby Arran's arrival had interrupted their training, and they were now standing idly, staring at hihtblade called out

The novices set into motion at once In a few short es each, with two paces' distance between each line

Arran was surprised at the speed and precision hich they moved It was obvious that they had practiced this extensively, and even if he did not understand their purpose, just the sight of it was enough to irin before turning back to the novices, clearly pleased with their performance

”Attack!” she shouted

An instant barrage of attacks burst forth froe wall several hundreds of paces away And even before the attacks struck their target, the second rank of novices had stepped forward and launched attacks of their own

It didn't stop there A ain, a volley ofat the wall in the distance They were followed by the fourth rank, and even as the fourth rank stepped back again, the first rank once more took the head

Arran watched in wonder as the novices spent a good two et, never more than a moment between attacks

Now, he understood the tactic With time to recover after each attack, the novices would last far longer than they could otherwise And while that would be of little value in a brief fight, in a prolonged battle it would be invaluable

Moreover, although these were just novices, Arran could already i in this manner While novices' Essence reserves would eventually run dry, adepts should be able to maintain a pace like this for hours on end

”Halt!” Brightblade called out The novices stopped their attacks at once and quickly turned to their original positions, and Brightblade turned back to Arran, pride clear in her expression

”Io on for ages”

”That's an advantage, but not the est up close, and a single one who reaches our lines can kill dozens oflike this…”

”There won't be any gaps for theetting at

His own preferred tactic against htblade described — to close the distance as quickly as possible, then overwhel thehtblade's was designed exactly to counter that Against a constant barrage of attacks, there would be little chance to close the distance without getting hit

Brightblade gave hile cohort A full legion can cover an area of er you ht theotten her earlier words, and after seeing the cohort in action, he had a good idea of what she intended With a tactic created exactly to counter his fighting style, she would naturally want to try it

”Well-guessed,” she said ”And if you can defeat theive you a thousand Essence Crystals”

”Without getting hit?” The task seeht, Arran responded with a nod Not because of the crystals, but because he was curious to see hoould fare against such tactics ”Agreed Where do I start?”

Brightblade seemed surprised — and reed, but she pointed at the wall in the distance ”Start at the wall If any attack gets past your shi+elds, you lose”

Although starting at a distance of three hundred paces would put hie, Arran did not object, and he quickly headed over to the wall

As he took position, Brightblade turned to face the novices ”Cohort!” she called out ”Today, you will face Lord Ghostblade! Do not disappoint er looks, already gathering Essence for the attacks they were about to launch at Arran With his status, defeating hi despite their e in numbers

Yet Arran wasn't concerned, and he faced his opponents calin

Finally, Brightblade's voice thundered across the training grounds

”Begin!”

In an instant, Arran formed a Shadowcloak and rushed to the side When several attacks slammed into the wall a moment later, he was already fifty paces away

The furious assault on the wall continued relentlessly, but there was no need for Arran to worry about it None of the novices would be able to detect hiht would cover a dozen paces, atto attack

He approached the group at a casual jog, co the continuous streah the air dozens of paces to his left

When he was alroup, he burst into a sudden sprint, sword drawn as he rushed into the novices' midst A few detected his approach at the last moment, but it was already too late — before they could launch any attacks, Arran was already a down his opponents as quickly as he could move his sword

Faced with this ferocious assault, the group collapsed into chaos almost instantly Some of the novices drew their weapons while others lashed out with Essence, but their panicked attacks only added to the chaos in their ranks

In just a few breaths of time, half the novices had already fallen, and the others offered little in the way of resistance None of theainst an invisible opponent who outclassed theth and skill, they were all but defenseless

Arran took care not to injure them, of course These were mere novices, and not particularly skilled ones, either Instead, he hit the only a sh to cause them painful bruises, but not so much as to seriously harhtblade's voice finally sounded