78 Chapter 78: Team Battle (1/2)
The moment Teacher Fielding swung his hand down, the arena immediately turned into chaos.
”Go!”
Lin Zhan Long sent out an order, and his four other teammates spread out on either side of him. Two on his right, and two on his left. One of them darted ahead in front, charging toward me.
Pushing up my glasses, I smirked as I watched him approach. Just as I expected, they planned to take me out as soon as the match began, to ensure I didn't summon anything dangerous.
”Cody Crosby,” the guy introduced himself with a smile as he readied his twin daggers. ”I would like to challenge your representative from the Assassin Clan!”
”...”
The five members of my team just exchanged puzzled glances. What was this guy babbling about? And who the hell went and introduced himself in the middle of a fight?
”…what Assassin clan?” Dong Fang Yue Chu asked with a frown.
Cody almost braked. ”Eh? Where's Amelia? Isn't she from the Assassin Clan? The whole reason why I participated was to get a chance to fight against her.”
”WHO THE HELL IS AMELIA?!” I yelled. ”Are you sure you're in the right place and the right story?! You do realize we're not having a series of one-against-one battles, right? This is a bloody free for all!”
”He probably read too much Battle Frenzy before the match,” Wang Fei muttered from the sidelines.
”What the fuck are you doing, Cody!?” Lin Zhan Long roared from behind. ”Stick to the plan! Take out their trash vice-president before he summons anything!”
”Oh…right.” Blinking, Cody nodded, and then he charged toward me, his figure disappearing into a blur.
Before the match, we had already taken note of who our opponents were, having done our research and strategized accordingly. Cody Crosby was the number one assassin of Jing Tian Academy. That might sound impressive, and it was…if you only restricted it to our school. Nonetheless, his speed was formidable, and his skills were topnotch. Even if he lacked firepower, he could easily take down his target with a single strike to a weak point.
That was why assassins were so terrifying.
Cody surged through the spaces between us and reappeared behind me, swinging his dagger down to stab the back of my neck. With the boundary field active, it wouldn't kill me, but it would definitely incapacitate me.
Bang!
Before Cody could deliver the killing blow and effectively decapitate me or the team, a bullet whizzed through the space where his head was. Cody clicked his tongue and pulled back, jumping to safety as a barrage of magical bullets streaked after him.
”You're mine!” Stan Lee growled as he continued bombarding the assassin with his twin pistols. The muzzles barked and flashes of silver light sped from the barrels, blasting toward the evading Cody like twin meteors.
”We'll leave him to you, Stan,” I said, and my junior nodded.
”I'll do my best to distract him for as long as possible.” Then he grinned. ”And you don't mind if I take him out, right?”
”If you can, do it,” I told him with a smile. Stan grinned and broke off from the group to pursue the fleet-footed Cody. Despite his fearsome speed and attack, Cody was basically a paper cannon. His defenses were thin – most assassins eschewed armor and defensive enchantments because they would weigh them down and slow their movements. They preferred to rely on their speed and lightning reflexes to avoid attacks.
On the other hand, this meant they couldn't afford to get hit.
Now…the main threat. While the high-speed battle between assassin and marksman (too bad Stan wasn't a sniper, or that would be cool) was going on, the main force of Holy Saints had closed in our positions.
Heavy Knights. The next group composed entirely of heavy knights. Equipped with shields, swords or armor, they were pretty…well, heavy. Only Terence Taylor wasn't equipped with anything, instead trusting in his defensive enchantment to protect him. No, he was not the Black Bear, I have no idea where you got that from. He was known as…the Tank, because of the amount of punishment he could take. Very little people could break through his insane defenses. He didn't need armor or weapons because he was that sturdy.
He was pretty much a lite version of Chang Cheng from Crowley's Academy.
The other three, Adam Freeman, was clad in full body armor and armed with a broadsword. Lily Liam was known as the White Valkyrie, what with her long, golden flowing hair and elegant fighting style. Unlike the others, she was armed with a lance instead of a sword, but also sported a shield for defense. If I recalled correctly, she could summon a horse eventually – she had taken the same summoning class as I did, so I knew her relatively well. Unlike me, however, summoning was her tertiary, or secondary magic at best. Something to supplement her already formidable fighting skills, rather than her specialization. Just like Cody, she was part of the core lineup of Holy Saints, and the two of them usually fought under President Harrison Reed instead of Vice-President Lin Zhan Long.
The only reason why they were fighting today was because they saw a chance to test their skills. More likely they were more interested in testing the skills of the Black Roses members in our lineup, but already that wasn't going according to plan, not with Stan distracting Cody.
And now…
”I'll take care of the White Valkyrie.”
Stepping forward Dong Fang Yue Chu raised a hand, and a curtain of fire blazed through the ranks of the approaching Holy Saints. They were forced to split up and dodge the wall of flames, only to realize that Lily had been split off from the rest. Dong Fang Yue Chu approached her, spreading out his blazing hands.
”It seems that you've upgraded your magic,” Lily commented as she watched him with narrowed eyes. ”I don't remember your fire spells being this powerful.”
Dong Fang Yue Chu shrugged. ”It's all thanks to Richard's Dad giving me special training.” He then smiled and extended a hand toward her. ”Shall we dance?”