Chapter 468 Bodyguards

Chapter 468 Bodyguards

The outcome of the first match was set from the start. After only a few minutes of fighting in the fog, Dana managed to hit the Moor Cat with a barrage of magic missiles, breaking its barrier and ending the match.

Dana ended her spells, and the cat transformed back to human form to pout.

"Mages are too dangerous in a fair fight." She complained.

Another beast, some sort of chimera with a mostly feline body, but tentacles on the sides and six legs, stepped up to challenge Dana.

They started off easy enough, with probing attacks. Then the beast seemed to split into three, and a surge of understanding flowed through Karl's mind. That skill was a solid illusion, but it was the same as the essence of the Bodyguards. Now he understood how they were supposed to be formed. But on the battlefield, Dana was having trouble. The clones seemed to shimmer in and out of existence, vanishing only to reappear, and under the effects of the skill, she couldn't tell which was the real one.

Even using wide area blade attacks wasn't having luck, and the beast had landed multiple hits on her shield already.

But Dana wasn't always missing. It only looked like it to her, thanks to the beast's illusion. So when Dana sent a flurry of attacks out at where she predicted the beast to be, then jumped to avoid its retribution, she was as surprised as everyone else when the match was called.

The illusions vanished, and the cat was revealed in a different spot than anyone had been seeing it, other than Karl, who could still see it with thermal imaging. Though, that might not be right. A few of the other beasts were looking smug, including one young dragon. Not many beasts saw heat, but those who did were much harder to fool with illusions.

If the cat was at Karl's level, it might have known how to hide fully, but this one was still young and mastering its skills.

"Monster Man, how would you deal with that?" The Wolf asked. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Karl smiled. "I can see her through the illusion."

The cat motioned for Karl to come prove it. She wasn't ready to accept that he could evade her skill.

Dana left the sparring ring, and Karl stepped in to take her place. He didn't take out a weapon, only nodded at his opponent. There was a split second of lag in her short range teleport when she attacked, and it telegraphed her movements perfectly.

Of course, there was no such thing as a male Lamia, but some of them were large and muscular.

They were Commanders, which was startling to Karl. Remi's was Royal Rank, but for some reason his was a Rank weaker. He was sure he did the skill correctly, but the bodyguards weren't at the same standard.

But when the match started, Karl realized that they were an entirely different beast than the warriors. On their own, they activated a Royal Rank [Flaming Body] and attacked with [Rend], though they did cut the power of the attack.

[You screwed it up.] Remi complained.

[I have no idea how. I was certain that it was right, but it summoned Lamia instead of Naga.] Karl replied as he watched them fight the students.

[Maybe because he's human and it's a Naga skill? He got halfway in between.] Hawk suggested.

[You're just smug because they can use fire.] Remi informed him.

[Very much so, yes.]

The Lamia swayed on their lower body, enabling them to attack from rapidly changing angles. That mobility was offsetting both the damage of the stronger opponent and the faster one.

"Get closer. You're giving them too much room to evade. If you're nearly chest to chest, they can't sway far enough before your strikes land." Karl offered.

He could sense them rolling their eyes at him. If it were that easy, they would have already done it. The Lamia had swords covered in fire, and almost all beasts were instinctively afraid of fire. It made them want to shy away, not get closer.

But after some consideration, the trainees both came to the same conclusion. The body of a Lamia was more vulnerable than the chest. That was how they landed their first strikes. Just behind the ground contact point, where most of the bodyguard's weight was balanced.

Of course, they didn't make it out unscathed. But they did manage to land a strike, which was better than anyone before them.

The teacher stepped into the ring as they were about to retreat. "Try again. You've almost understood the concept."