Boom—!!!
Swoosh—!!!
Kaboom—!!!
Shockwaves after shockwaves erupted as an unstoppable object collided with an immovable object.
"Gauuuur!"
A young girl, whose entire body seemed to have been made of darkness, jumped up high over Lucas' head before stretching out her right leg and descending down on him like a meteor, performing an axe kick.
Lucas swiftly raised his right arm up to guard his face as he bent his knee and braced for impact.
Thwaaam—!!!!
Boom—!!
Another shockwave erupted when Lucas blocked Shiya's axe kick. Crevices appeared on the ground beneath Lucas' feet.
"Arghhh!" he gritted his teeth as a slight sharp pain shot through his arm.
Even though he had his armor on and all the physical attacks directed at him rendered to one-tenth of their original strength, Lucas still felt a slight pain.
This made him think, just how strong was Shiya? Well, after all, she was turned by a high-ranked vampire, so her power didn't come off as a surprise.
Besides, Lucas also knew the full extent of Shiya's capabilities from reading about it in the novel.
However, even then, going against such a monster, in reality, was much harder than he had thought.
"Tsk!"
However, right here and right now, with his nigh-impenetrable defense, Lucas was unstoppable.
Gripping the nanometal spear with his left hand, Lucas quickly initiated his weapon art.
[6-Movement Lance Style: Blossom Shattering Blast]
[First form: Meihua Zuan]
Mana seeped out of Lucas' figure and violently spiraled around the spear in his hand.
He then quickly shot his left hand forward, thrusting his spear at the girl whose leg he was still blocking at breakneck speed.
Thack—!
THWACK—!!!
As soon as his spear came in contact with Shiya's shadow body, a gaping hole was drilled open in her abdomen.
Swoosh—!
Quickly, Shiya jumped back and secured a safe distance between herself and Lucas before the hole in her abdomen started filling. She was regenerating.
But as her wound healed, Quinn's face grew pale by the second.
It was taking everything he had in him to supply Shiya with enough mana to heal her wound.
"Fuuu!"
Lucas let out a short breath and pointed the head of his spear forward in Shiya's direction before taking a low attacking stance.
Yes, if the battle goes on like this then Lucas will come out on top.
His tactic was simple: Attack head-on. He knew that with his armor, no physical or magical attack could harm him.
So all that was left was to slowly wear out Quinn until he fell, securing an easy victory.
However, as it's been established many times before, simple didn't mean easy.
The problem here was Lucas' own mana pool was depleting fast since he didn't have a high-ranked mana core to begin with.
This meant that he couldn't drag this fight for too long or he wouldn't be able to defeat Quinn before the end of the Mock War.
And he really needed to do that here.
"Haaa," Lucas sighed before readying himself to attack once more.
Swoosh—!
He willed mana into his legs and dashed forward at speed incomprehensible to the human eye.
But Shiya was quick to react. She met Lucas' charge head-on by rushing at him on her own.
As soon as he stepped into the striking range, she swung her claw at his neck, intending to sever her head off.
Cling—!
But Lucas parried the attack with his spear before quickly taking a step back and unleashing a fury of spear thrusts at her.
Fwoosh, Swoosh, Swoosh—!!
But the young girl nimbly dodged every thrust of his spear by either tilting her head, sidestepping, or ducking out of the way.
After a few seconds, Shiya finally saw an opening in Lucas' form.
To exploit it, she dropped her knees and used the momentum she gained from it to spin her body and perform a leg sweep.
Thwack—!
Her kick landed at the side of Lucas' ankle.
However, an attack that should've been powerful enough to break a thick metal wall did nothing.
But Shiya didn't stop there. She spun her body back and quickly got on her feet before performing a reverse roundhouse kick.
Thawck—!
Again, nothing happened.
"Pathetic," Lucas mocked, a smirk forming on his face.
Realizing her attacks were not getting through, Shiya jumped back to get some distance from the invincible monster in front of her.
Swoosh—!
But Lucas was fast to follow. He dashed straight and thrust his spear at the young girl again.
Cling—!
This time, however, Shiya caught the spear in her hand and applied strength to her grip, intending to break it and render her opponent weaponless.
"Heh"
As if waiting for this chance, Lucas invoked his spear art once again.
[6-Movement Lance Style: Blossom Shattering Blast]
[Second form: Meihua Silie]
Lucas channeled mana into his spear, causing it to swirl around before he twisted his grip and twirled the weapon with all his strength.
Thaaawk—!
The mana surrounding the spear spun like a tornado, and in an instant, Shiya's hand that held the spear in place was shredded to pieces.
The sound of tearing flesh filled the air before Shiya quickly jumped back and appeared beside Quinn.
The necromancer was down on his knees, panting and gasping heavily. His face was as pale as snow and it looked like he would drop dead any moment now.
"Just give it up," Lucas said while looking at Quinn without a speck of emotion in his eyes. "You can't hope to win against me."
"Fuck off!" as if he had found some hidden source of strength within himself, Quinn roared before forcing himself onto his feet. "Shiya, come!"
At that command, the shadow minion approached Quinn before Shiya started enveloping his body, merging with her master.
In just under a second, Quinn's hands, torso, and legs were covered in pure purplish darkness like gauntlets, chest protection, and foot armor.
"Oh, come on, dude!" Lucas rolled his eyes as he witnessed Quinn going through yet another power-up. This had made it the third time already. "This is your last struggle, huh?"
This was Quinn's strongest skill in his arsenal– Shadow Reign.
Quinn had used his shadow minion to augment his own body, buffing his strength and defense.
†
Meanwhile, the battle between Class 1-A-1 and 1-C-8 underwent.
–[C squad, continue your advance!]
"Roger!"
–[Nero, rush straight up while Anastasia and her archer squad will clear your path for you!]
"Okay!"
–[Amelia, retreat fifty meters back and watch for any potential backstab!]
"...."
Although Amelia was given an order, she was too engrossed in thoughts to act on it while all around her, a bloody battle waged on.
Screams of agony and pain filled the air while gore and blood were all that one could see around them.
Occasionally, Amelia would react and shoot an arrow or two at the enemy troops, effortlessly decreasing their number.
"Amelia!" right then, a blue-haired elven girl called out her name. "You're asked to retreat!"
It was Aster Aquahart, a friend of hers.
Her voice shook Amelia out of her thoughts. A frown appeared on her face as she asked, "What?"
A look of concern became visible on Aster's face after hearing the question. "Are you alright?" she asked.
"Ahh, yes, I'm fine." Amelia quickly waved her hand to dismiss any concern Aster had for her whatsoever.
"Okay," Aster hesitantly nodded. "Lucas has asked you to retreat fifty meters back and watch out for any potential backstab."
"I see," Amelia nodded. "You can go to your position, Aster. I'm fine."
"Mmm!"
Aster hummed before quickly joining her comrades in the battle. As Amelia watched her friend's receding figure, her mind once again wandered into her thoughts.
And then, almost as if she had come to a conclusion, her eyes widened in realization.
Beep—!
She quickly tapped on her smart bracelet a few times before connecting a call to someone.
"HQ, do you copy?" she asked. However, no reply came from the other side.
"Lucas, do you copy?" she repeated her words again. "Is Quinn there? Are you with him? Lucas!"
However, once again, no reply came.
"Tsk!" in frustration, Amelia couldn't help but click her tongue. "Why is he not replying?!"
He was clearly barking instructions at them through radio transmission so she knew he was safe and alive.
But then why wasn't he replying?
Touching her chin, Amelia looked around to survey the state of the ongoing battle.
Following Lucas' instructions, their class had quickly broken through the enemy formation with ease. Now all that was left was to pick them apart one by one.
So that's what they were doing now.
William and Ella were about to press the enemy from two sides. Anastasia was providing cover to Nero as he charged forward at Alberto, who was alone with all his comrades either dead or cornered.
In conclusion, the battle was already in the endgame phase. Amelia's participation wasn't necessary from here on out.
She nodded and stashed her bow into the dimensional storage of her smart bracelet before she started sprinting back toward their base.
