191 Chapter 191 – The Transformed Heavy Soldier

"Come."

Grai steadily raised his sword into a defensive posture. Although he had to face Cecil's focused assault along with Elena behind him and Simon in the distance, Grai's expression stayed calm and relaxed. It made the audience watching give a sigh of admiration. Even Headmaster Bradley showed an appreciative look. How good would it have been if such outstanding people came to my academy…

Suddenly, Grai's eyes contracted as he suddenly thought, Not good!

Simon had suddenly turned his cannon to another target while Cecil changed directions to rush toward Barran in the center. Grai had noticed in the first second that something was wrong and quickly tried to provide support, but behind him Elena's sword was already wounding around and heading toward him. It was ruthless, swift, and directly aimed to cause harm. He couldn't disregard the strike!

Bang!

Qi Lian Shan had smashed violently against Barran!

As the substitute heavy soldier of Adolf, Qi Lian Shan's overall strength was just slightly below Rosenberg's, the main issue being the disparity in offensive might. As such, he was placed as the main substitute heavy soldier of the squadron, a position he obtained through his near-perfect defensive techniques rather than his social connections.

Relying solely on defense, he wasn't inferior to Rosenberg at all. A qualified meat shield was more necessary to a squadron within group battles than heavy soldiers that focused more on superior attacks!

Therefore, although he was going up against an opponent that managed to deal with Rosenberg, there wasn't much fluster or cowardice in Qi Lian Shan's heart. He felt just a bit of nervousness which had already been dispelled with Cecil's encouragement before the group battle began.

Qi Lian Shan clenched his teeth and locked his jaw, his face quickly turning the same shade as pig's liver. He didn't have many requests for himself, but this was his virgin-breaking fight as a member of the Adolf Squadron!

Withstand! I just need to hold off his blow and block him for three seconds!

Just three seconds! Then Captain Cecil and Vice-captain Simon will welcome him with a wave of attacks and cannon fire. I'm just facing another heavy soldier while he'll have to face swords and cannons! Regardless of who this guy is, he'll definitely fall before the combined might of those two experts!

Right now, the support that could be provided by his opponent's two long-ranged fighters was extremely limited. This would be the turning point between victory and defeat!

Just when he grew close to Barran, Qi Lian Shan prepared himself and changed his dash into a block. He planted his feet into the ground like anchors and threw all of his soul power into his legs and arms. It was a completely defensive stance!

Withstand!

Bang!

The opposing heavy soldier's terrifyingly enormous strength arrived without missing a beat!

How did he feel? To be frank, Qi Lian Shan felt it wasn't as heavy as what Rosenberg could output when he had assisted the latter during training. But what he did feel was a sort of sluggishness, as though his defense suddenly didn't exist. The entire force of that charge instantly passed through his body.

Then, the entire world stopped. But this was merely his interpretation of the world.

Qi Lian Shan felt as though all of the nerves in his body suddenly turned numb and shut off in that instant. His hands became rigid and numb, and he suddenly lost control of his body. Even when he thought of turning around, he found his body didn't register the command!

This… what kind of move was this?

Before his rigid mental state could follow what was happening, the shield in his hands suddenly slid down and smashed into his feet. But even his feet felt numb, his senses seemingly vanished. After all that happened, he only noticed the arrow when it had appeared a couple of feet away from his head.

It's over…

Those two words had barely registered in Qi Lian Shan's mind before they struck home, smashing against the center of his forehead. An intense vibration shook his brain and instantly shattered the protective soul power around him. Before he had a chance to react, a second arrow struck his chest. He couldn't even catch his breath before he lost consciousness, his head smashing against the ground.

"Fuck!" Cecil's eyes and teeth seemed about to split apart. As a soldier of high caliber and eyesight, he was naturally able to see the abnormal response that Qi Lian Shan showed during that instant of contact. It definitely wasn't just a laughable mistake when his shield slid down. That collision with Barran somehow made him dizzy or numb. Wang Zhong seemed to have predicted this result and grabbed that window of opportunity to land successive shots to heavily injure Qi Lian Shan.

What the fuck was that heavy soldier? How could such a strong freak appear in such a weak academy!?

But this clearly wasn't the time to ponder such a matter. They had to destroy their opponent's heavy soldier first! As long as they exchanged losses, then it wouldn't impair them.

Wang Zhong didn't wait for his plan to succeed. With a few 'whooshing' sounds, white streaks of light came rushing over from afar, aiming to do harm to him and his surroundings. The strength of those arrows wasn't high, but as they were rune arrows they possessed sufficient penetrating might. Using one's body to block them was just courting death, so he had no choice but to stop his assault to deal with them.

Cecil was both shocked and furious. The reaction of this archer is just too fast. Did he really have such a clear understanding of our tactics from the start? Or did he just make a split-second decision to finish off Qi Lian Shan in order to end their assault?

At the same time, Simon's cannon fire rang out!

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

It was a succession of accumulated cannon fire! Each cannon shot was the size of soccer balls as they slammed violently against Barran's shield, forcing him into a repeated retreat.

The might behind this accumulated cannon fire was just too strong. Even though he hid behind his shield, Barran could still feel the terrifying impact that smashed into his shield.

The first shot made him retreat one step, the second shot—three steps. He spurted blood from the third shot while the fourth made his entire body tense and shake, his arms, legs, and muscles swelling to their limits. He was bleeding from all over and looked close to exploding!

But in the end, he successfully received all of the attacks.

Barran endured the barrage and managed to stay standing. White energy currents crackled as they traveled endlessly through his shield.

This was a charged attack, so Cecil knew Simon would have to hold off before launching another attack. He didn't want to give Barran the chance to recover, so he launched his body forward and began spinning like a top! Pateroff's Spiral Dash!

I'll be taking your life when you're this ill!

However, those damnable arrows are back…

Other than ending Qi Lian Shan and knocking him unconscious, Wang Zhong's sole target for his arrows was Cecil. His arrows weren't strong, but exceptional accuracy and homing characteristics backed them up. While he couldn't hurt or finish off Cecil, and couldn't even stop him from attacking Barran, he was still able to disrupt the flow of his actions.

Cecil was naturally able to block and avoid the damned arrows. He even had a hidden and yet-to-be-displayed special ability held back as a finishing move that could grant him immunity from the ranged assault!

But regardless of whether he blocked or used that special ability, he would have to take the initiative and make his move. Doing so means his assault on Barran would naturally be broken. Trying to attack Wei to rescue Zhao wasn't very easy to accomplish.(1)

Naturally, he could choose to endure the arrows or ignore them. A pity that…

"Pateroff's Spiral Dash!"

Cecil had ignored the arrow that was shot over, but in that instant it actually struck the exact center of his axis of rotation, causing his dashing speed to drop. At the same time, Scarlet's frost pistols aimed and fired in his direction. At this distance, those bullets would really pose a threat to him, disrupting his assault rhythm.

"Spiral Steel Slash!"

When another arrow came over, Cecil chose to ignore it once more. Again, it struck exactly against the handle of his sword as it slashed downward. Cecil's attack was still unleashed, but its path deviated from its target. The rotation of his soul power became sluggish as well, causing its power to be reduced by half.

Another arrow came shooting over. Ignored. A gunshot rang out and…

Cecil felt like vomiting up a mouthful of blood. Those arrows and pistol shots hadn't been powerful enough to threaten him. If this were a solo match then the best they could have done was delay him for a moment at most before he moved to chop the head off the arrow-shooting bastard!

Nevertheless, this wasn't a solo match.

The obstruction caused by those frost pistols and arrows resulted in a weakening of the killing momentum of Cecil's assault on Barran.