NOVPUBBack in the Northeast sector of the wall, another battle had commenced. Not including the common fighters and the slaves, there were hundreds of level 20s here—mostly mercenaries and a few elementalists—so the Alterran elites like Gill and the others had their hands full with at least two enemies each.
It was a proper battle royale again, with weapons and elements flying about on the ground, and arrows flying down from above. However, the arrows in Alterra's side soon became limited to the sentries and the ballista bolts shielded with metallic roofs.
This was because the enemy started raining down arrows on the battlements again.
Killic, when he went to replenish potions before the bombing, ordered the archers to resume their arrow rain.
They stopped before because they thought they'd enter soon. How could their people safely get through the wall if there were arrows raining on the battlement?
Now that it was clear they had to clear these obstacles first, they no longer had qualms in showering arrows over the battlements anymore. Still, even if most of Alterra's archers had to go in hiding, it wasn't like the sentries or the ballista bolts weren't serious trouble by themselves.
They still shot incessantly, injuring—or distracting, at least—a few enemies every couple of seconds.
"Use the C Formation!" Garan yelled while his battle was ongoing and the others followed.
The C formation was done when they had their backs covered (by the walls, this time), and they had to constantly change from attacking to defensive positions at the front.
The injection of dozens of people from Pol's team, as well as the hundred mercenaries' all-out attack, temporarily pushed the Alterrans on the defensive. However, they knew that as long as they prolonged the battle a bit, the tide would turn in their direction, so there was no need for needless sacrifice.
Slow and steady, this was what this order was.
Even if Garan wanted this fight to end as soon as possible, letting his men get injured by doing an all-out attack—when it wasn't necessary—was not the way to do so.
After yelling out a few more orders—specifically prohibiting them from going to him, considering how stretched thin they were—Garan stepped back, barely avoiding a blade that aimed to make a deep gash on his face.
"You're really arrogant to still be bellowing orders while going against me."
Garan narrowed his eyes as he countered with a skillful set of attacks, though the other man made up for his less sophisticated techniques with his higher level.
Before, Killic didn't really attack as much because his plan was to cause chaos inside the walls, not get consumed outside. But now that he was pushed to do his best, Garan was definitely feeling the pressure.
He was now going against both Killic and Pol—two team leads—and since they teamed up against him some minutes ago, Garan had already consumed most of his mana and a protection charm, which was quite dangerous.
Unfortunately, he couldn't assign a helper among Gill and the others because the rest of the enemies weren't weak either. All of them were needed where they were now, so—until reinforcement arrived—he'd have to deal with these two by himself somehow.
Garan attempted to create a zone of ice again, at least to weaken the enemies in some way, but Pol consistently burned his own mana to melt most of what Garan created.
While the fire user couldn't completely melt Garan's ice at all, Garan couldn't afford to consume too much mana to recover his field each time, either.
The [Ice Field] was a skill he recently inherited that allowed an area to freeze enemies upon contact.
The catch was that it required a huge amount of mana to initiate. While the mana consumption to maintain the field was moderate, it needed a lot of power to reach the temperature needed to have instantaneous freezing effects.
It was why he set it up as soon as he could earlier, luring the enemies to enter it to maximize its effects and advantages, taking down a few enemies at a time while it was active.
Sadly, the enemies were too cowardly to approach after seeing its effects so he wasn't able to take any more lives.
Now, with a strong fire elementalist hindering the smooth flow of power, it was no longer worth creating one.
That said, his metallic ice spikes were still useful because they were very dynamic, fast-moving, and not made purely of ice.
It was unlikely for him to defeat two enemies several levels higher than he was—especially not when one was an expert elementalist and the other was a seasoned fighter. However, he should be able to hold out long enough until reinforcements arrive.
Drinking a mana potion every few minutes, he controlled a large number of ice spikes, rotating them around his body at an intimidating pace.
They would occasionally hit the enemy, slowly reducing their equipment's durability and their bodies' spirits. Garan inflicted wound after wound, but their levels were ultimately much higher than his so the damage was limited. Not to mention, they could avoid or defend against most of his attacks.
Garan even tried to pit them against each other (a favorite strategy among the soldiers). He tried to make them bump into each other, ideally causing one to slice the other up with his sword.
However, considering they obviously disliked each other, they cooperated very well against him.
Apparently, their hate for Garan greatly triumphed over all the dislike they had with each other.
While Pol controlled a flamethrower directed at his feet—forcing Garan to move in certain directions—Killic greeted him on the other side, using a skill to send a barrage of heavy attacks on him. 𝒏𝙤𝙫𝒑𝙪𝙗.𝙘𝒐𝙢
[BLADE'S TEMPEST]
CLANK! CLANK! CLANK! SLASH!
Garan had a superior Class C weapon from Oslo, and as long as he was fast enough, he managed to defend against some of them.
However, a man ten levels higher was still faster and he still landed several instantaneous hits on Garan.
Crack!
Garan's eyes twitched when he realized another protection charm had broken… and the enemy's skill [Blade Tempest] had not yet ended.
STAB!
