Chapter 447: A King Under Siege
Rindo said nothing, his gaze stayed on Lian for a few moments and then moved back to Rodrick.
His logic was correct.
If the only goal was to defeat the King, there was no reason for them to be the first group to attack his defensive wall.
All of them had thought that getting the Crown meant the end, but it turned out that it was only a trap, a trap that Rodrick had fallen into.
However, thinking about it more deeply, that boy was one of the few people who might actually be able to keep the Crown, he was strong himself and he also had a group.
Having the other students attack them and make them tired was a good idea.
But before that, there was still one problem, the Array around them had not been completely destroyed.
The black walls were still standing on three sides of the field, and Mana lines were moving between them.
Every few seconds, a glowing chain also came out of one of the walls and forced them to change their position.
Kain angrily moved closer to one of the walls and pulled his fist back.
Boom!
The black stone shook under the punch.
A crack appeared on its surface, but almost immediately the Mana lines on it lit up and the crack started closing.
"Damn it." He clenched his teeth and raised his fist again, he even wanted to use his skills.
"You’re wasting time." Lian said, these walls were not simple and were made from the power of several mages between Level 25 and 35.
Breaking them was not as easy as punching them, especially because the walls were an Array, which made it even harder.
Kain stopped his fist in the air and slowly turned his head toward him.
"If you have a better way, I’d really like to see it."
The young Vorhelm lowered his gaze toward the ground, an Array was different from a normal skill.
A skill usually started from a person’s body, Mana, or ability and followed a clear path toward its target.
But an Array was more like a network.
Several stable points, Mana flows, secondary cores, and a coordinating structure gathered the power of several people into one system.
This allowed a proper Array to create an effect much stronger than the power of a single mage.
But a network had one weakness, if the right node was cut, it did not matter how powerful the other parts were, the network would fall apart.
For most people, finding such a point among dozens of Mana paths was not easy.
But Lian did not need to guess.
[True Sequence.]
His eyes narrowed slightly, and the world in front of him changed, Mana flows appeared inside the ground like glowing veins.
One path came from the eastern wall, the second came from behind, and he easily found three secondary cores and seven stable points of the Array.
And finally, all the lines met at a seemingly empty point, about twelve meters to their left.
The coordinating core.
"Arrays only look scary when you don’t know where their heart is." A short smile appeared on his face.
"Over there where there is nothing." Kain followed his gaze.
"Apparently, and that’s exactly what makes them smart, I guess they are using some kind of skill or artifact to hide the coordinating core... besides, now that I think about it, they are very skilled at setting up Arrays."
𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
"Rodrick may have intentionally forced them to become as skilled as possible at setting up Arrays, and during this time he trained them a lot in different situations inside the Ruined Realm."
He had always thought that bastard was an arrogant idiot, and during their high school years he really was like that, but it was clear that he had changed.
Why? Change did not happen without a reason.
If he had changed like this, something had definitely happened to him or he had experienced something that caused it.
Anyway, this was not something that mattered to him for now, and the young Vorhelm raised his right hand and Mana gathered in his palm.
[Cataclysm Pulse.]
BOOOOOM!
The destructive wave hit the ground, the stone exploded within several meters, and a deep hole opened in the ground.
For a fraction of a second, something like a polygon-shaped crystal could be seen under the stones.
Then... crack!
The crystal broke and its effect was almost immediate, all the Mana lines around the field flashed at the same time.
Once.
Twice.
Then they went out, and the chains moving in the air turned into particles of light.
The black walls shook, deep cracks spread across them, and a few seconds later, they collapsed one after another.
Boom!
Dust covered the entire area.
Kain only looked at the ruins for a few moments, then very slowly turned back toward Lian.
"You could have done this from the beginning?"
"Yeah."
"And you let us fight these pieces of trash for several minutes?"
"You looked entertained." He looked at his friend’s unhappy expression for a few moments and burst into laughter.
Kain opened his mouth, but no words came out, and in the end he closed it.
The Student Council President was the same, the whole group was the same, and they all gave him an empty look, but said nothing.
What could they say?
With the Array destroyed, there was nothing else between them and the central path, only the terrified and shocked mages were still there, and they still did not understand how the Array had been destroyed.
And getting rid of those few mages was not very difficult for Kain with the help of Rindo, Cassian, and Seraphina.
After that, the group moved to a high point near the entrance of the path, a place from where they could see a large part of the bridge, the mountain stairs, and even the higher platforms.
In the distance, the first wave of attackers had arrived.
[27:56.]
About thirty students reached the foot of the mountain almost at the same time from three different paths.
The remaining members of Rodrick’s group had also seen them, but what happened next even made Rindo look more serious.
No chaos formed, and no one ran toward the enemy without a purpose.
"First line, forward." Rodrick’s voice came down from the stairs.
Nearly twelve warriors and defenders stepped forward three steps at almost the same time.
They activated their shields, heavy armor, and defensive skills, forming a human wall at the widest part of the path.
"Second line, keep a distance of three meters and no one moves forward without an order."
The mages and long-range attackers spread out behind them.
"Healers inside the third circle, don’t use Mana for surface wounds. Anyone who can still fight does not get immediate healing."
No argument was heard, and the orders were followed.
"He organized them quickly." The Student Council President said quietly.
Kain crossed his arms over his chest.
"They’re Awakened Ones who have followed him for nine months and have hunted and explored the Ruined Realm with him for a long time, what else did you expect?"
"Third group, left side." At the same moment, Rodrick looked down from the high ground, and several people immediately changed their positions.
"Main pressure will come from that side in five seconds. Don’t defend to hold them there, push them toward the center."
Marcus raised an eyebrow.
Four seconds passed and then... five.
A group of seven people came out from behind the rocks on the left and attacked that section at high speed.
But the defenders were already prepared, two shields moved aside, and the attackers thought they had found an opening and entered.
At that moment, three magic attacks from the opposite angle blocked their path.
They were forced to change direction toward the center, and right there, boom!
A heavy wave of Mana hit them, and two people were immediately pulled out by their protective seals.
"He’s good." Rindo stayed silent for a few moments and had to admit that his rival had good observation and battle skills.
This admission was not easy for Rindo, he did not like what Rodrick had built in the academy.
But disagreeing with someone was not a reason to ignore their abilities.
Rodrick was not just a rich person with a large group, he read the battlefield, noticed pressure, and knew his people.
And most importantly, he knew when not to aim for a complete victory.
However, with all of this, his gaze fell on the tall figure of Lian, no matter how good Rodrick was, it did not make him call that monster strong.
But this boy....was not someone whose abilities could be understood with common sense or compared with others.
And that made him curious...when these two faced each other, what would happen?
At the same time, one of the attackers pulled back, and two of Rodrick’s people wanted to chase him.
"Come back, no one moves more than ten meters away from the defensive line, remember, we’re not here for Points, we’re buying time." He said to his people right there.
The two returned without any complaints.
Lian watched in silence, and a very faint smile appeared on his face, at least his final opponent in this test was not going to be an idiot.
[24:51.]
The first wave was almost over, and more than half of the attackers had been eliminated or retreated.
But before Rodrick’s people had a chance to rest, the second group arrived.
This time there were more of them.
From the east, nearly twenty people, from the center, another eleven people, and among them were several upper-year students whose presence was clearly different from the first wave.
The first clash pushed the defensive line back two meters.
Boom!