253 Diviner (1/2)

They were doing hit and run tactics. As soon as their attack had landed, they rushed away again.

Usually, Lin Xiao would be using his staff, but today he was using a sword. He had both sword and staff at his disposal, but he preferred using the staff. Unfortunately, the hide of the boar was too thick and it was impossible to cause serious injuries with the staff, making him switch to a sword this time.

Lin Xiao was not as skillful with the sword as he was with the staff, but honestly, the current tactics did not require any elaborate skills.

He threw a single attack at the boar before he retreated faster than the eye could see.

By the time the boar turned around, ready to chase the two troublesome individuals that had appeared, he was stopped by a massive dog that had jumped on his back; sharp teeth sunk into its neck and sharp claws dug into its sides.

Blood flowed ceaselessly from the boar's body. It was impossible for him to stop the blood from flowing, and he started thrashing about, running into walls and throwing himself on the floor in an attempt to make Hei Gou release him.

After a bit of time, he managed to succeed. Hei Gou released him and retreated slightly, but the boar dared not show his back to Hei Gou again, causing yet another round of attacks from Lin Xiao and Bai Tianyi to land on his body.

This time, he did not turn around but kept facing Hei Gou. He glanced around looking for a place to fight where he would not be flanked from all sides and found that not far away was a corner of the hall. Most would not prefer being stuck to a corner like this in a battle against many opponents, as a corner meant he would have no avenues of retreat, but the bandit leader felt that it was more secure than the current situation where everyone was ganging up against him.

Xue Wei was observing the actions of the boar. He was not so eager to join the battle right away. His plan was to assist when they needed it, but looking at how the battle was panning out, no one needed his assistance right now.

Still, he could not just stand there doing nothing, so he moved forward.

Forbidden Rush!

Inner Might: Qi Zither Style!

Xue Wei used the Forbidden Rush to move to a place where there were almost no people. It was far away from the scene of battle, but he was still in range of them should they need his help.

Sitting at his position he sent out one melody infused with Qi after another, either assisting some students that were in a bind or further injuring the boar that was fighting for its life against his three comrades.

The sound waves were invisible but contained so much Qi that they could cause some severe damage – especially to the spiritual energy cultivators whose body cultivation was still at the Heavenly Warrior rank.

Although Xue Wei was not interested in stealing points from others, he was sometimes able to kill a few weaker cultivators, but no one really minded him stealing the points, as each and every one of his attacks saved lives and made things much easier for the rest of the students.

Xue Wei was curious, as his eyes gazed over the entire inside of the fortress. Everywhere he looked, painful and desperate battles were being fought.

The bandits still held the advantage of sheer numbers, but even so, they did not seem to have what it took to face off against the experts from the Garden of Shadows academy who had managed to raise their Qi levels to the Ordinary Knight rank.

Although this was the case, many of them were still fighting one against two, and although their bodies were harder to injure, they still felt that their advance had been slowed.

That was when Xue Wei noticed something odd. At the start, all of them had been allowed into the fortress easily and to advance as far as they wanted, but now it was as if the battlefield had been separated into two battlefields, one where Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, and Bai Tianyi were fighting against the boar and one where the rest were fighting against the students.

At the start, Xue Wei had been perfectly in reach of both battlefields, but now it felt as if he could barely reach both sides to support them as needed.

Had the bandits planned something for Hei Gou and the others? Xue Wei suddenly got worried.

He was not too caring about the academy students; it was not his job to look after them or help them increase their fighting prowess. He had already done more than what could be expected from him by helping them upgrade their Qi realms.

Since this was the case, he immediately dismissed the Qi zither from Inner Might. He rushed towards the boar and saw that the entire back of the beast was filled with wounds and cuts. Blood flowed from the wounds in the hide, dying the skin and even the ground beneath the boar bloody red.

”Finish it!” Xue Wei called out, sensing an ill premonition. ”We need to finish this battle fast!”

Lin Xiao and the others were unaware of what might be the cause of Xue Wei's sudden rush, but they understood that he would not say something to trick them. Lin Xiao's face became serious.

The sword was replaced with another staff—a staff that Xue Wei had not seen before.