Those within the VIP room weren't the only ones who could see the situation unfolding on the stage. The 10 on the arena stage also had a considerable understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of both squadrons.
A wave of cold sweat covered Lily's forehead, as she forcefully shook the gigantic heavy shield in her hand. Frankly speaking, her understanding of the heavy soldier occupation had only skimmed the surface. Originally, she wasn't a genuine heavy soldier. What's more, her strength was miles apart from her current opponents.
The 5 man Torres group lined up in a row. Before the competition bell rang, a serene killing intent had already wafted over to the Tianjing side. Faced against them were not only 5 experts, but 5 experts who understood how to collaborate well with one another. Just a single look at how relaxed they were as they stood together, was already enough to give people the impression of them coming together to form one cohesive unit.
Tianjing had also undergone training to accomplish something similar, which was what Wang Zhong had forced them to practice repeatedly during the holidays. However, compared to the "match made in heaven" feeling one would get from seeing Torres, they were genuinely outclassed by several grades.
Genuine strength was not something that could be rushed. If not for her blind trust in Wang Zhong, Lily's legs would have been trembling like crazy. The 5 people standing in front of her appeared exceedingly small, though they felt akin to dark clouds that would hide the skies and cover the earth.
Competition start!
In the first moment, Barran, Lily and Wang Zhong immediately formed a defensive wall, completely shielding Scarlet and Emily behind them. At the same time, their entire formation proceeded to rapidly advance forward.
Since their opponent had chosen to use 3 ranged soldiers in their formation, Tianjing needed to push forward as though their lives depended on it.
Bang Bang Bang...
Torres's ranged soldiers started firing, The lethality of a ranged soldier referred to their ability to unleash lethal shots from a distance.
Wang Zhong could feel himself being targeted, causing him to immediately block the incoming shots. Similarly excelling in ranged combat, he could tell with a single look how accomplished his opponents were at the fundamentals of shooting.
That was a Gauss rifle shot!
All of a sudden, he had an uneasy feeling; in Torres' current formation, the killing move was Alasi's Mogren's Guns!
Screech...
A hole was instantly punctured through Lily's heavy shield! Although the runic heavy shield provided a powerful defence, Tianjing had truly underestimated the might behind Alasi's shot. They were really too naive to use a mere third class heavy soldier to block a top class ranged soldier ranked on the Mo's List!
The penetrative shot instantly shredded through Lily's defences, smashing right into her chest.
1st shot!
A serious expression was present on Alasi's face, as though everything was under his control. Group battles were the type of combat most suitable for him to showcase his capabilities. The powerful defence provided by his group mates ensured that he was able to safely unleash his lethal shots with greater efficiency. He really loved the feeling that this brought to him, as it was like bringing the nail down, one by one, onto his opponents!
Directly strike at Wang Zhong? Alasi wasn't about to make such a low-level mistake in this group battle. Even Grai was able to defend against his 4 bullets, so there was no need to test, to know that Wang Zhong would definitely be able to do it too. Instead of focusing his most optimum firepower on Wang Zhong, which would probably accomplish nothing useful, why not just target his group mates?
When his first shot struck Lily's chest, Alasi did not bother to spare even a second glance at her, as this substitute girl was utterly unqualified to block him! At this moment, Alasi's gaze had already homed into his 2nd target, Barran.
2nd shot!
The barrel of his guns had already changed targets. At the same time, the loud explosions of gun and cannon fire rang out, as the other 2 Torres ranged soldiers had unleashed an all-out barrage of fire!
The high-temperature cannon shots flew through the air. Although they were far slower than the powerful shots unleashed by the Mogren's guns and the Gauss rifle, if a certain amount of power were sacrificed, their speed would be considerably faster. Following the 2 shots from Alasi, they smashed straight towards the ground right before the Tianjing formation.
This attack was clearly a tactical move; focusing on speed naturally meant giving up the explosive might of those cannonballs. However, directly targeting the ground had increased the effect of the smokescreen.
Rock chips instantly scattered all over the place. Mixed with the smoke produced by the cannonballs, the whole area was instantly covered with smoke and dust.
The Gauss rifle shot had completely restricted Wang Zhong, preventing him from attending to his squadron members.
For ranged hot weapons, the Gauss rifle was definitely formidable in terms of firepower. It was known to be able to pierce 20cm of steel from over 5 hundred meters! Wang Zhong was definitely aware of the threat from a bullet with such frightening power behind it.
Their opponents had made their intentions extremely clear, which was to use the Gauss rifle shots to obstruct Wang Zhong from saving his other squadron members. Wang Zhong was very clear about this. In fact, he could even sense Alasi aiming his gun barrels at Barran.
This was a complete suppression, in both formation and strategy. It wasn't that Wang Zhong didn't expect this; he simply had no way to deal with it.
The only option he had was to increase the speed of his advance to create pressure on his opponents. They were definitely still wary about him. Scarlet had also noticed this, and acknowledged the need to increase their speed.
Although the fight had just started, the fans in the arena and Skylink who were originally shouting excitedly about the sure-fire win of All Mouthy King and Tianjing instantly turned dumbfounded and speechless.
Having seen Tianjing destroy other squadron's formations, everyone had felt how weak and amusing those supposed S rank squadrons were. If they were so easily dismantled by their opponents, how could they be so shameless to continue calling themselves S ranked? Those Tianjing fans who had admonished people in the previous matches seemed to have forgotten about those thoughts.
However, at this moment, Torres had taught them all a lesson in life.
There were many reasons why the formations employed in group battles got sliced apart and dismantled, and it wasn't as simple as it appeared to be. It was even far less likely that those squadrons made low-level mistakes. Many instances of formations breaking apart weren't resulting from their own actions.
Bang!
Just as Tianjing seemed to have changed their formation, Alasi's second shot had already arrived, with Barran as its target!
The runic heavy shield Barran was wielding had already been filled with his Soul Power, causing the dark golden runes engraved on its surface to sparkle with a faint radiance. He had entered a completely defensive state!
However, despite preemptively raising his defences, or his earlier mental preparation, the might of the incoming bullet left Barran thoroughly shocked.
The might of the bullet far exceeded any attack that Barran had ever encountered!
Bang!
He first felt the bullet's spiral tearing through his Soul Power.
The dark golden runes on the runic heavy shield instantly blossomed with radiance. Filled with 200 Grassos of Soul Power, the peak of the Casted Soul Stage, it should have possessed extremely powerful defensive capabilities. However, it had been instantly penetrated, with all of Barran's Soul power being wasted down the drain!
At the same time, an arcing cannonball brimming with energy came hurtling over.
Bang...
The powerful impact instantly sent Barran into a concussion. Not anyone could just pick up a cannon and start using it, as it required a terrifying amount of Soul Power to sustain its level of consumption. As for storage type cannons, the requirements were even higher. Furthermore, Barran's body had yet to fully recover from the damage he had sustained in his earlier duel. Unlike Torres, Tianjing only had Hymin covering healing and recovery.
Alasi's life-ending 3rd bullet had arrived!
An even faster bullet, an even stronger attack, an even more penetrative spiral! Its target? Barran. Already exhausted, devoid of energy, and unable to catch his breath.
Bang!
Alasi did not conserve any Soul Power when unleashing this bullet. With Grai not present in this group battle, Barran was definitely the second greatest threat Tianjing possessed. Using two bullets to deal with him? Worth it!
The terrifying bullet directly penetrated through the heavy shield, which had lost all the Soul Power channeled into it, and pierced directly into Barran's left chest, shattering 4 to 5 ribs in the process. Coupled with the terrifying power it contained, it sent him flipping 3 to 4 times in the air before he landed on the ground, completely motionless.