Chapter 795: Beginning The First Training Session

Chapter 795: Beginning The First Training Session

"Jialou, have your men retreat!" James ordered.

Pintu—the enemy leader—was visibly distraught, so they could use the opportunity to reorganise their formation and charge more effectively, rather than having everyone singled out and eliminated one by one.

"Everyone, fall back!" Jialou shouted.

Everyone immediately disengaged from the enemies they were fighting and returned to formation.

"Refresh!" Zharrissa managed to find the time to cast a Refresh spell, which immediately washed away some of the tiredness weighing on the group.

The Rockarmor Turtle was very strong and could only be held back by Howl’s Avatar and Zharrissa working together.

Leo kept the real Howl from interfering because, if he had, the fight wouldn’t have lasted more than a few minutes.

The few wood-element elves also cast healing magic on the injured, while the elves on the towers, James, Grizzly, Orvik’s Prototype Golem, and a few other backline archers kept the enemy formation occupied.

Interestingly, the elves had taken down all the enemy archers, and only a handful of mages remained. The rest were close-combat fighters wielding swords and spears, along with Beast Masters who fought physically.

"AAAAHHHH!!! THEY EVEN HAVE HEALERS!!!" Pintu shouted, raising both hands towards the group and firing a barrage of earthen bullet spikes.

"This guy seems to have only one skill..." James and the others realised.

That meant the person in front of them had a Common Soul, allowing him to copy only one skill from his beast.

Jialou raised his greatsword to block the attacks. The force made him skid several meters backwards and left his arms feeling weak. Thankfully, Zharrissa managed to erect a barrier once again.

However, her hands were beginning to shake.

"She’ll be out of mana soon. Let’s finish this quickly!" James quietly reminded the others.

He quickly assessed the enemy ranks.

"Those with greatswords and spears, follow Cindriss from the right. The rest, follow Jialou from the left!" James ordered while summoning his second beast, an 18-meter-long Low 3-Star Thundercoil Serpent.

"I’ll charge from the middle."

The elven archers needed no instructions. Their job was to provide covering fire at the right moments, catching the enemy off guard whenever an opportunity presented itself.

At that moment—

"Yes!!" Pintu’s eyes brightened as the Rockarmor Turtle delivered a crushing kick to Howl’s Avatar, causing half of its body to crumble away.

The turtle then stepped on the crumbled body, crushing it completely.

"Now we win!" Pintu exclaimed excitedly, charging straight towards James. He wasn’t afraid in the slightest of tackling both the serpent and the man together.

But the next moment, his steps faltered as Howl’s Avatar reconstructed itself a little away from where it had been crushed.

Its hulking 5-meter body was ready to fight again.

"WHAT THE FUCK?! THIS IS CHEATING!" Pintu shouted in disbelief.

The enemy group’s morale, which had just been boosted, suddenly plummeted.

His face flushed red with rage, and he channelled all of it into his next attack, swinging his greatsword at James while rushing forward at a terrifying speed.

James immediately crossed his arms and took the punch on his gauntlets. However, the force was too great, driving the gauntlets into his chest and throwing him backwards.

Shhhraaakkk!!

Crackle!

The Thundercoil Serpent was enraged and lashed out with a thunder-charged tail strike, whipping it through the air.

Pintu barely raised his arm in time to block the strike from the side, but the impact sent him several feet back. Residual electrical energy left his arm numb, and the tingling made it hard to grip his greatsword for a while.

Jialou seized the opportunity to rush in from the left. He needed to break through the formation because leaving Pintu alone after James was taken out would introduce a disastrous variable into the fight.

When Pintu saw the approaching enemy, he seemed to recall something.

"Do I know you?" he asked, quickly getting back on his feet and using earthen bullet spikes to force the serpent back.

"Nah, it’s my first time seeing you."

"Liar!"

The two clashed their greatswords. Thankfully, Pintu’s arm was temporarily weak, allowing Jialou to handle the force of the clash.

In truth, Pintu was a high-ranking second-term student. It was natural for him to be somewhat familiar with Jialou, who was also in his second term, especially since Jialou was skilled with weapons.

The hairs on Pintu’s scalp stood on end, and he ducked as an arrow whizzed past him.

He turned his head sharply to the side, only to find the elf had already notched another arrow.

"Tsk! This is a losing battle," he realised, quickly deciding to make a ’tactical retreat’ into the forest.

Without a way to distract those powerful archers, his team’s demise was all but certain. They could only escape now.

"Rockarmor! Use Earthquake!"

WOOOO!!

Grrrrrr!

The ground shook violently, throwing everyone off balance as a few weaker individuals fell. The territory members were also affected terribly.

"Everyone! Escape into the forest! We’ll regroup later!" Pintu shouted, then ran to his beast and climbed onto its back.

His men came to their senses and hurriedly began crawling across the shaking ground.

Pintu seemed sensible enough to stay behind until his men had retreated, using earthen spikes, bullet spikes, and walls to block the territory members.

But...

"Howl, rise. Time to continue the walk."

HOOOOOOUUUUUU~

Another earthquake erupted atop the Rockarmor Turtle’s quake, and this time, even crawling was no longer an option.

"WHY IS THE BEAST RISING NOW?! IS THE WORLD AGAINST ME?!"

Pintu would never have imagined in his seven lifetimes that this colossus was tamed. In other words, as far as he was concerned, it was simply a stroke of terrible luck that the beast had decided to rise at that very moment.

When some of the people tried to jump off the rising ground, Leo waved his hand and constructed tall walls.

"This!" Pintu had a bad premonition. He quickly tried to use his Earth Manipulation to break through the walls and let his men escape.

But...

"WHAT?!" His manipulation failed. Leo’s was stronger.

Crack—!

Dhuurrrrrr!

Countless thick vines rose from the ground, wrapped around every surviving enemy, and lifted them high into the air.

Even the enormous turtle beast wasn’t spared. With the help of a rising Earthen Pillar, some extra-thick vines lifted it alongside the others.

"W-what is happening?" Pintu’s voice wavered for the first time as he struggled to breathe, the vines tightening around him and crushing his body.

"Good fight."

Leo finally emerged from the shadows and addressed the new recruits.

"You, you, you, and you." Leo pointed at four people, each wielding a different type of weapon.

"From today onward, you four are being appointed as Company Captains. You will lead the other individuals who use the same types of weapons."

The four immediately saluted.

"Yes!"

Leo waved his hand and healed James, who was struggling to stand due to the sunken wound in his chest.

"Brother James, they still need a lot of training. I’ll entrust this matter to you."

James nodded.

"Leave it to me."

Leo flicked his finger and broke the cocoons, releasing the now-healed people.

"Go, join the formation."

They nodded and swiftly moved behind their respective Company Captains.

"Jialou, as the Battalion Commander, these people are still under your command. But I don’t want any favouritism or any sort of faction whose members are more loyal to you than to the territory. I hope you understand. If not..." Leo paused, leaving the sentence unfinished.

"Lord Leo, I hear you! I’ll make sure nothing like that happens!" Jialou assured him with a respectful bow, still breathing heavily from exhaustion.

"W-what is happening?" At that moment, a voice quieter than a mouse interrupted them.