Book 5, Chapter 87: The Strength of the Sword Servants
Chapter 87: The Strength of the Sword Servants
The twelve Sword Servants were happily welcoming challenges in the sky.
After all, they had managed to kill four Fifth-Ring Harpies in rapid succession just by putting on a little act.
Who said you needed to fight a bitter battle in order to taste the sweetness of victory? That feeling was very good, but wasn’t it even better to easily kill the opponent?
If possible, anyone would want to be able to turn their enemies into ashes with just a wave of their hands.
The twelve Sword Servants hadn’t even used much Origin Energy to deal with the Fifth-Ring Harpies, so their deaths had been totally worthless. The more worthless these deaths were, the happier the Sword Servants felt.
However, this happiness was bound to not last too long.
An instant later, more reinforcements came their way.
Their opponents were still few in number.
There was only three of them.
Three Sixth-Ring Harpies.
Sixth-Ring Harpies were already at the border between Light Shaking and Spirit Burning. The stronger ones could really be considered to be at the Spirit Burning Realm.
If these three Sixth-Ring Arcana Masters had taken to the stage earlier, the shuttles would have collapsed already. It was obvious that the Hunting Wind Bandits had some ulterior motives.
However, though their mission was to probe the enemy’s strength, they had not expected to suffer such serious losses. The humans did have trump cards, but these trump cards were twelve nameless Light Shaking Realm cultivators. No one had matched up against them, and they were also incredibly shameless, relying on underhanded tactics to kill four Fifth-Ring Harpies. They had really died for no reason, so the anger these bandits felt was understandable.
The appearance of these three Sixth-Ring Harpies clearly indicated their intention to destroy the twelve-man squad.
“Hey, another group,” Lin Xiao and the other chuckled.
“Shameless humans!” one of the Sixth-Ring Harpies yelled angrily as he began to utter some archaic chant.
The chant generated strange fluctuations around him. A wave of red light appeared from out of thin air, carrying an aura of extermination with
Fire Halo!
This was a technique that Astin had used a few years ago.
An area-of-effect Sixth-Ring Origin Skill appeared, threatening to swallow up the twelve Sword Servants into a cage of violent energy.
A Fire Halo alone was far from enough to finish off the Sword Servants, but their opponents’ were mostly planning on suppressing them momentarily. At the same time, the other two Sixth-Ring Arcana Masters also attacked. One unleashed a violent thunderstorm, and columns of thick lightning began to peal down from the sky. The other unleashed a wave of deathly light, the strange darkness silently and stealthily encroaching on the sword servants, masked by the brilliant flashes of lightning.
The three Harpies had used three different area-of-effect skills, but their cohesiveness was compatible.
Often, group battles would become incredibly chaotic. Since everyone was drawing power from the environment, and the energy within a certain area was limited, the attacks of the people involved would begin to affect one another.
However, these three attacks didn’t clash with each other in the slightest. This indicated that the three Harpies had great teamwork.
This was real teamwork amongst Origin Qi Scholars. It wasn’t just about following up with an attack at the right moment - there needed to be compatibility even on an energy level so that simultaneously unleashed Origin Skills wouldn’t create chaos. Instead, their effects should be amplified to become more than the sum of its parts.
These three Sixth-Ring Harpies had been fighting together for a long time and possessed a deep understanding of each others’ style of combat, so they only used as much strength as was necessary. They did not disrupt or weaken each others’ attacks in the slightest.
Lin Xiao and the others smiled when they saw the combined attack of these three Sixth-Ring Arcana Masters.
“That’s pretty good teamwork. Brothers, let’s show them our teamwork as well!” Lin Xiao yelled loudly.
As he spoke, the twelve Sword Servants sprang into action.
Their attacks were markedly different from those of the three Harpies.
They swung their swords through the air simultaneously.
Their swinging motions were identical, and they demonstrated an even more shocking unity than their opponents. The three Harpies immediately knew that they were in trouble when they saw this.
Indeed, streaks of ice began to swirl around the twelve Sword Servants’ hands.
Third-Ring Arcana Technique, Icebound Technique!
This was one of the techniques that Su Chen had managed to extract from the Harpy captives and had taught the twelve Sword Servants.
The Icebound Technique could be layered an unlimited number of times. If enough of them were used at the same time, they would even be able to jump tiers.
The twelve Icebound Techniques were simultaneously unleashed at a single target - the Harpy who had unleashed the wave of deathly light.
Even though the wave of deathly light appeared harmless, it was the most dangerous technique out of all three.
As such, the twelve Sword Servants decided to deal with him first.
As the Icebound Techniques collided with their intended target, the Harpy felt the ice energy surround him as even his ability to use Origin Energy became sluggish.
This wasn’t just a feeling, but reality. Icebound Technique could affect a person’s use of Origin Energy. The effect was quite weak normally, but with enough of them used at the same time, the technique was more than enough to affect a Sixth-Ring Arcana Master.
They were not powerful enough to actually freeze a Sixth-Ring Arcana Master, but they could absolutely slow him down, including his reaction time and ability to direct Origin Energy.
That was enough.
A battle between powerful individuals was decided by millimeters.
At the same time that the Icebound Harpy was able to escape, the twelve Sword Servants’ swords descended.
Unlike Icebound Technique, however, the streaks of sword light actually began to merge to form a massive sword!
The sword radiated a piercing aura, as if it could tear a hole in the sky. It arced towards the Harpy who was controlling the thunderstorm.
The three Harpies were extremely shocked.
They discovered that the twelve Sword Servants had even better cooperation than them.
People who lacked proper cooperation would often affect each others’ attacks, diminishing their effectiveness. On the other hand, people with some degree of teamwork would be able to layer their strength without any negative effects.
Truly talented groups of warriors, however, could amplify the effectiveness of their attacks because they were actually melding their attacks together. All of the power would converge on a single person, as if that person had suddenly absorbed the strength of all of his teammates, causing their strength to surge wildly. This kind of a combination was incredibly effective.
Reaching this point was not easy. That not only required long periods of acclimation periods but also demanded similar cultivation paths. In the past, this was only really possible for members from a clan who possessed the same bloodline.
However, the twelve Sword Servants had shattered this rule.
Even though they were not members of a Bloodline Nobility Clan, their cultivation paths were very similar.
They had used Su Chen’s bloodline-less techniques to ascend, they cultivated Su Chen’s Immaculate Cultivation Technique, and they were supported by Su Chen’s Aspects. Their sword technique had been picked out by Su Chen, Li Chongshan, and Shi Kaihuang, and they studied the same techniques. When factoring in the long periods of time they had spent training together, it was only natural that their teamwork had reached such a point.
Even Su Chen wouldn’t have been able to handle this combined sword strike head-on, let alone the three Harpies.
The sword strike cleaved through the air, causing the very ground to tremble. This strike was already on the level of a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator’s attacks.
The Sixth-Ring Arcana Master had no way of resisting this attack. As he watched the sword descend on him, shock and terror filled his eyes.
Even though the thunderstorm and Fire Halo were still damaging his opponents, their human physique and Light Shaking Realm cultivation base allowed them to easily withstand the attacks for some time. The Arcana Master was going to die no matter what.
Just as he was about to die, however, another figure suddenly appeared in the air, unleashing a wave of light towards the towering sword Qi.
Seventh-Ring!
The Hunting Wind Bandits continued to reveal trump cards. A concealed Seventh-Ring Arcana Master had suddenly appeared to try and save that Arcana Master.
But at the same time that he made his move, a contorted figure suddenly appeared and shot at the Seventh-Ring Arcana Master like a flash of lightning.
Cloud Leopard!
He had concealed himself somewhere and didn’t attack until this critical moment. One could only say that he had learned well from Su Chen.
The Seventh-Ring Harpy seemed to have been prepared for this. He sent a vicious wave of Origin Energy careening towards Cloud Leopard, wanting to kill him along with the sword Qi. The best outcome would be trapping Cloud Leopard in this wave of Origin Energy and killing him with its explosive power.
Unexpectedly, however, Cloud Leopard seemed to charge right through his Arcana Technique without being affected at all.
No, he had been affected - the Seventh-Ring Harpy could see that Cloud Leopard was bleeding internally. This attack had wounded him quite seriously.
However, Cloud Leopard was not sent flying; instead, his speed only increased as he closed in on the Seventh-Ring Harpy, aiming a short black dagger at his throat.
Arcana Technique Reversal!
This name suddenly popped up in the Arcana Master’s mind.
He had no time to consider how Cloud Leopard had learned an Arcana Technique because his opponent was much faster than he had anticipated. The black dagger was already glowing with a life-threatening aura. His quick wits told him that, if this black dagger were to slice him, he would most likely die.
The Seventh-Ring Arcana Master’s figure disappeared. He no longer had any attention to spare on other things.
The light resisting the sword disappeared, allowing it to continue sweeping through the air unchallenged as it pursued its target relentlessly.
The Harpy unleashing the thunderstorm had managed to apply a barrier to himself by using the time bought by the Seventh-Ring Harpy and was in the process of furiously retreating. It had to be said that his reactions were quite sharp. However, the sword light continued to pursue him and still ended up colliding into him, instantly shattering his barrier and then proceeding to rip him to shreds.
“Pu!”
The twelve Sword Servants simultaneously spat out a mouthful of blood.
This was the price they had to pay for forcefully enduring the thunderstorm and Fire Halo with their physical bodies.
However, paying such a price to kill a Sixth-Ring Arcana Master was absolutely worth it.
A moment later, the twelve Sword Servants unleashed another sword strike.
How could the two remaining Harpies dare to try and face the attacks head-on? They immediately retreated, but they watched as the sword strike suddenly faded - it was actually an illusion.
This kind of a cooperative ability was not actually easy to pull off. The twelve Sword Servants couldn’t just use it as they pleased.
However, using this technique to scare the two Harpies was more than enough to give the twelve Sword Servants some time to recover. Then, they shamelessly pulled out a vial of medicine and quickly gulped them down - this was the benefit of having a master who was an alchemist.
The wounds they had only just sustained began to rapidly recover.
The two Harpies greatly regretted missing such a critical opportunity.
On the other side of the battle, Cloud Leopard had already begun fighting with the Seventh-Ring Arcana Master.
The black blade he had taken from Chu Huailiang slashed through the air repeatedly, unleashing streaks of black light in all directions.