Li Jiye had never seen such a serious expression on the usually smiley Teacher Daphne's face.
"Alice, Li Jiye, you're two students in my class who have reached the Tier 2 intermediate level. I believe you must have heard the rumors in the past few days. At this time, Falling Maple City, the border city just outside Demonic Beast Mountain Range, is under the attack of brutal, bloodthirsty Orcs. Falling Maple City originally lacked a garrison, and their armed strength is basically almost all the border mercenary groups, who are now struggling to hold their ground."
"The generals of the City Defense Army in Falling Maple City have sent people to Polar Star Academy overnight to ask for help. As the premier warrior academy in the mainland, we must lend them a helping hand!"
Daphne's expression was extremely solemn. She took a deep breath and spoke to the students in the class.
"Of course, the strength of the Taurens mustn't be underestimated. Almost all of them are Tier 2 warriors or above. If you aren't in Tier 2 or above, you shouldn't go there."
Looking around, Li Jiye realized that other than Alice whom he knew well, the vast majority of the class led by Daphne were below Tier 2, and most of the students in her class were not qualified for this.
After the selections, only four students from Daphne's class would leave for Falling Maple City with her. Among them were Li Jiye and Alice, who were Tier 2 intermediate-level martial artists, and another two, who were only Tier 2 inferior-grade martial artists who had just broken through to that level.
The four students followed the teachers from Polar Star Academy to retrieve their horses before heading to the Demonic Beast Mountain Range border.
Alice was a woman with light brown short curly hair, who was about Li Jiye's age. She was a martial artist with C-level Fire Element skills. Because they were deskmates, their relationship was better than with the others.
On the road to Falling Maple City, the two of them surveyed their group and found that the other teachers had also brought students from their respective classes. Several so-called genius students were with them.
Among the few Tier 4 people was a tall and thin young man named Selmore. He carried a long serrated knife, its blade exposed and reflecting the cold light of the shining sun. Alice turned to Li Jiye and pursed her lips.
"Hey. Do you see him? He's a genius student of Polar Star Academy. Although he's the same age as us, he has A-level skills. No wonder he's the focus of the academy's cultivation."
Following Alice's finger, Li Jiye turned to look at Selmore. A message automatically appeared in his mind.
Human: Selmore
Skills: A-level Blade Mastery, C-level Earth Element Affinity
Realm: Tier 2 Superior-Grade (Peak)
Martial Arts: Mad Knife Slash (C-level), Wave Decapitation (Uncompleted)
Li Jiye was a little surprised after seeing this information. This guy even possessed skills both A- and C-level. He had read about such skills in books before and about how some martial artists could awaken their second skill naturally or through cultivation. But now that he was seeing it in real life, he couldn't help but feel shocked.
Selmore was deserving of being called a genius student. Besides having an A-level skill, he even had a second skill. No wonder Polar Star Academy wanted to cultivate him.
With the high speed of the horses, the grandiose group of nearly a hundred teachers and students from Polar Star Academy arrived at the border area of Demonic Beast Mountain Range in almost half a day.
As soon as they arrived, everyone immediately smelled the scorching stench that was wafting over from Falling Maple City not far away.
"Oh no! The Orcs have already launched an attack on Falling Maple City! We have to hasten our pace!" The leader of this group of teachers and students was a respected teacher of Polar Star Academy. Although he was only a little more than thirty years old, he was already at Tier 4 superior-grade. When he saw the smoke engulfing the city, he immediately pointed to the front and quickly relayed a message to the teachers and students.
Turning to Li Jiye and the other three, Daphne gave a few instructions to them, "Students, try not to go for brute force when you're fighting with Orcs. They're much stronger than humans. However, their flexibility is slightly lacking. In a while, the mentor team will head into the battlefield and divide the Tauren's battle line into several battle zones. The four of you must look out for one another!"
Right after, she turned back to the battlefield. She then patted the horse under her and galloped over to the instructors.
"Senior Alice, Senior Li… What do we do now?" As they approached the battlefield on their horses, the two lower-leveled students in Daphne's class were already having cold feet.
Li Jiye slowed down and tried to keep his voice steady.
"Don't panic," he comforted. "As the instructor just said, they'll be splitting up the enemy for a while. Since we're relatively weak, we'll fight in a group of four. We'll find Tauren soldiers who have fallen out of formation and kill them…"
As he spoke, he glanced past the other two students in the same class. Along with the emergence of a string of information, he roughly understood their strength.
"John, you have Water Element affinity, so you should have the Ice Frost skill. When the fighting starts, you can first use the Ice Frost to slow down their mobility. Zoltan, you have an Earth Element affinity. If a Tauren has noticed us, create a wall from the earth and prevent the opponent from charging forward. As for the killing of the Tauren soldiers, just leave it to Alice and me!"
The three students nodded almost simultaneously after hearing Li Jiye's orderly combat strategy.
At this moment, several beams of light of different colors suddenly rose from the group of mentors gathered together. The power of various elements converged like a storm, and in the next second, the colorful and powerful auras instantly fell on Falling Maple City like a meteor shower.
"It has begun!"
Li Jiye jumped off the horse and then smacked its behind. The other three students hurriedly followed suit. The moment their feet touched the ground, they felt the flat surface tremble like an earthquake.
Rumbling thunder echoed simultaneously, and several Earth Dragons snaked up from the depths of the earth. Along with the Earth Dragons were solid vines that appeared out of thin air and an almost unbreakable extreme cold air. This extraordinary use of the three elements split the battlefield in front of Falling Maple City into 12 pieces instantly. Li Jiye and the others were still watching from outside of these 12 battlefields.
The tremors under their feet lasted for a few seconds and then gradually calmed down. The four of them looked at the terrain now changed drastically by human power, and Li Jiye exclaimed inwardly.
It had long been rumored that high-ranking martial artists could influence landforms with their powers. It was truly breathtaking to see this rare scene today.