"I'm first!"
Ning Xin looked at the large wolfman who carried a halberd, the mere sight of that weapon caused something within her to pop. She could see how large weapons were more effective against their giant invaders. Many wield large war axes and similar-sized weapons.
She could hear the few Dwarfs around commenting on the 'poor' shape of her beloved twin longswords. They were of unwieldy length to dual wield. Excuses.
Everyone here was capable of some form of enhancement, she was pretty sure she didn't have to pull her punches by much. The crowd backed off to give her and her opponent space.
'Weak…' Her intuition told her that she was wrong about the average strength of the people here. However, there were more than a couple that she couldn't beat.
She put her hands on Scorchie and Scorchy and widened her stance a little. The wolfman who she didn't get the name of charged towards her. She speeds drew both of her blades and performed Precise Perforation aimed at his right shoulder and left thigh, sheathing both of them just as quickly but gently.
A loud burstbow shot rang in the surroundings, no one present was able to hear that it was two shots not one.
The wolfman didn't even cross a gir before he was sent flying into the water barrier.
'Interesting barrier.' She thought. Her opponent had half his body stuck into the water barrier while the other half remained. There was some kind of softening effect. There were 2 unlucky fellows that didn't dodge in time and were sent flying back along with the wolfman but they didn't get injured, just pissed.
"Ah ha, I forgot to mention. Our little miss general assigned them directly to our very own first assault squad." The scrawny commander Wil laughed a little.
Ning Xin's intuition already told her that this man was inwardly surprised when the female general put them into the first assault squad. She didn't understand what it would really mean but it just showed her how much clout Koawe had. The reactions of the crowd and how taken aback some of them were told her enough.
The wolfman was angered, he popped himself free and shook his fur off on all fours before turning towards her. His body wasn't pierced through but his tough body made things more gruesome. The impact rammed into his armour and smashed two dents in them including his flesh and bones. Lightning raised his fur to stand but he wasn't that bothered by it, the burns seemed to hurt him more.
Ning Xin fired off another two shots and sent him right out of the barrier this time. It hit accurately and with even greater speed, he wasn't even able to see it coming.
"Who's next?" She continued to gather life force in her heart. A few people only got excited instead of stepping back when they heard the old man's casual remark
❅❅❅
Ebony watched over the excitable girl fight challenger after challenger. There were many people unfazed by her initial display, letting him think that the first guy wasn't that strong or perhaps not many people knew him.
He was more curious about the disparity of the equipment quality when compared with the main army. In a word, they were mostly horrible. Only some of the Grandmasters had more decent equipment and even then, they were not in the best condition.
'I guess that shouldn't be surprising with the ongoing war.'
Only two more challengers that couldn't even react to her speed came up before Commander Wil was annoyed enough to boo them and call up people from different squads. He only called those from the assault squads and vanguards though.
It took another 3 quick finishes till they started calling people from the first assault squad too. Ebony guessed that the commander was using this show as entertainment to give his men some outlet to destress otherwise it should have been clear to the man who he should be calling out if he wanted to force them to show him their skills.
"Ayla!" Commander Wil hollered.
It was someone he identified question marks again. The woman was covered in black, she popped out from the crowd and showed herself. Ebony wasn't able to see how she moved but he knew she was resting on top of a huge human's shoulder not too far from him.
The slender woman Ayla was wielding a curved dagger almost the length of her forearm together with a short sword in her other hand.
Ebony could sense Ning Xin's strong desire to fight.
"What'cha waiting for!"
"Hurry up and fight!"
"Show some skin!"
He didn't have to turn but the one who shouted for skin was a woman, he was confused.
The two dual wielders moved at the same time. One was a red flash and the other was pure black.
'That black wisps covering her body, is it darkness or shadow magic?' Ebony wasn't that surprised that there were people that could keep up with his travelling partner. He was more surprised that the twin longswords were getting swallowed up by darkness.
It changed quickly, Ayla flinched when Ning Xin broke the darkness with the overwhelming power of her flames. That moment when she flinched from mental pain was not a chance that Ning Xin would let go. The black-clad woman was supposed to ram into some random guy from defending a strike too powerful to hold her ground but she 'poofed' into a shade of black before impact.
Ebony was very sure she was still present but even her gravitational waves were not in his senses anymore. She reappeared close to Ning Xin.
'She climbed up from the ground. Shadows maybe? There are too many people here, their shadows converge.' Ebony wasn't sure since he never fought anyone with shadow magic but he thought there was a pretty good chance he was right. Ning Xin's reflexes were dastardly fast; she probably sensed the attacker's heat signature in time as well.
Ayla used her disappearing act a lot more to handle Ning Xin's fierce attacks. It didn't take half a minute for Ning Xin to find a way to chase her opponent all of a sudden.
'She attached some blood onto that rogue's shirt.' She was getting more and more clear-headed during fights.
Ning Xin pulled her blood halo out and the crowd started running back, forcing the water mages to expand their barrier. Ebony took note of everyone that stayed where they were, including Commander Wil, his kidnapper standing further away, the people in the commander's tent and a few dozen more.
The surroundings got a bit darker but it only urged the fire mage to turn things up a notch, dissipating the darkness with uncomfortably hot flames.
'Poor mages.' Ebony pitied the water mages when the barrier was bubbling and evaporating, they were forced to let the barrier down because too many people wanted to get out before they suffocated to death or got burnt alive.
He also had to spend mana to keep his robe from getting burned.
"Ayla!" The giant human stepped in to take the blow with his equally massive shield.
He might be huge for a human but he is only a tiny bit bigger than the first wolfman that Ning Xin fought. The man withstood the flaming strike.
"Hey! You didn't have to go so far!" The giant had a fitting rough voice but his words weren't antagonistic.
"Aren't you people supposed to make me show what I could do? Hurry up and make me." Ning Xin clearly wanted to pick a fight.
She succeeded in doing so.
A few others that weren't perturbed by her outward show of power jumped into the melee.
Ebony simply stood there and watched. The dozen or so people who didn't run back to camp, retreat far enough or attack the lone swordswoman were probably all Grandmasters with some of them he Identified as close to level 300 Masters. They were also Grandmasters attacking Ning Xin but only about 3 of them.
He sensed the pat on his shoulder from Commander Wil, he didn't repel the tap with his repulsion membrane.
"She's in a pickle, aren't you going to join in?"
"Let her have her fun. It's not often for us to meet people who can push her back so much." Ebony replied.
"Haha, you sure have a lot of faith in her. But we don't have much time, I gotta see what you can do as well."
Commander Wil stepped aside for a Warhammer to smash right into Ebony's head.
Only Stalwart Endowment required a second or two to kick up in effect, the rest were almost instantaneous as long as he reacted or 'Willed' their cast reflexively. The attacker was another wolfman who coughed blood when the impact on his head rebounded mana vibrations amplified by Sonic Intrusion.
The Warhammer was obviously protected in some manner, but Ebony didn't sense much mana in it. A normal weapon even of Rare quality would shatter if someone were to hit him hard. He could break them easily with Sonic Intrusion unless it was enchanted, reinforced with mana or some other energy.
Ebony gave the attacker a casual pushing kick to the man's belly with Guided Path and Sonic Intrusion. His target's belly was pulled to his feet and vice versa but he was nice enough to let his target get repelled instead of forcing him to stay in contact with his feet.
'Oh crap, that's more blood than I expected. I hope he's not dead.' The wolfman's flesh bloomed open and the shock wave from his kick could practically be 'seen' as a pulse of air coming through his back. Sonic Intrusion at its current level was terrifying if he used it properly.
Luckily, he didn't get a kill notification.
Ebony sensed a weird feeling of uneasiness but he wasn't actually sure what it was. He took a moment to force Everlasting Tranquility to dial down but it snapped back in shortly.
'Ah, annoyed.' He caught on, he simply wanted to watch Ning Xin's battle and these people just had to interrupt him. Couldn't they be patient?
His perception of these people seems to disappear as he acted as if he didn't notice their attacks coming towards him. A throne was conjured and he took a seat, continuing to watch Ning Xin's growing power.
A [Swordmaster Lvl 300] and [Master Warrior Lvl 289] were planted to the ground with a few Glacial Model's arms and oppressive weight. Sonic Intrusion was sent through these arms when they attempted to move, it only caused a tiny crack in the ground. 'Impressive floor' was the only thing that pulled Ebony's attention for a moment.
They stopped struggling when they felt a hand pushing their heads down to the ground.
He could hear and feel the vibrations in the air, there were people talking but Ebony couldn't hear them. The vibrations and words didn't register.
Noise. Clutter. Everlasting Tranquillity removed white noise but the next intruders into his domain were more than white noise.
"How elling exciting!"
Ebony saw that most people weren't able to stay near Ning Xin as their armour and clothes were combusting just by being near her. Mr Kidnapper was forced to step in as her only opponent. He was still surprised to see the man send Ning Xin crashing into the ground with a single swing even though he heard how he beat her twice.
Something or someone smashed all his Glacial Models apart and the arms, gravity and physical shock didn't stop his invader.
Claws swept at his face but his backrest was made of Imperishable Frost Scales and slid around to protect him in time. They were further strengthened by runes and his domain.
Ebony stood up, his mana consumption skyrocketed due to the number of invaders that were actively resisting. They had some good resistances and enhancements but the strength of gravity in his domain affected them all.
"Stop staring at your bitch, we're your opponents."
Icicle had never been drawn as quickly, it flew out of its sheath with a string of gravity mana. The one who spoke had been a beast woman, one which scales over her arm up till her neck but a human face, unlike Top. Invading his tiny domain, she was within reach of his greatsword even without taking a step.
She barely managed to raise her scimitar in time to block Icicle's overhead strike. Her eyes widened when her weapon didn't offer any resistance as her arms numbed and her palms tore open. She could only watch the heavy sword slice through her scimitar and continue on halfway into her shoulder. The piercing cold hit her but she couldn't scream.
Ebony looked at the metal club behind the lizard woman placed there to stop Icicle from slicing her arm off completely. He wasn't sawing through the metal club, nor was Guided Path that connected the edge and tip of Icicle to the floor working hard enough to push the club. He didn't use Frostblaze Cladding since these were friendlies but he heard that lizardfolk were weak to cold so Icicle's natural temperature was enough to hurt her when it was touching her flesh and bones.
"Now now, I can't have you taking the arm of one of your squad members even though she can regenerate an arm or two." Commander Wil chuckled before pushing his greatsword out without much effort.
The lizard lady who was freed still had fight in her and drew either her spare scimitar or she actually dual wielded them. "Don't barge in old man!"
She was also level 300 but unevolved. The other two invaders already stepped in to lay on attacks. Ranged fireballs from outside his domain were defended by Imperishable Frost Scales and arrows shatter on impact against his scales.
He would not have enough mana to conjure a relatively compressed Model so he was pushed to battle.
His main trouble was a Dwarf who used a short sword and round shield who he was unable to Identify any information. The man was a seasoned warrior that slapped Icicle aside even with Ebony focusing his attacks on him. The shocking thing was that after the third or fourth Sonic induced kick that he blocked, the man rebounded his Sonic Intrusion with a pulse of mana that washed away the vibrations. He didn't even use a lot of mana if Ebony's senses were accurate, the man timed his rebound of mana perfectly and with just enough mana in just a few tries.
Similarly, he was doing the same with his short sword and Icicle couldn't slice through it. Sonic Intrusion was washed away precisely with every exchange.
The lizard woman and the other human attacker weren't able to keep up as soon as he dipped into his mana pool and used his Stock Mana for his maximum compression of Frostblaze Augmentation.
Even so, the Dwarf met his enhancement with his own vigour and chuckle.
"Leave us alone!" The Dwarf called out.
The ranged attacks stopped and the lizardwoman clicked her tongue before she dragged the Swordmaster and Master Warrior away.
Commander Wil received a call on his callstone, Ebony noticed even in his focus since the thread of vibration was in his range of senses. The caller was General Impes, asking if the Militia was under attack.
'So short-range communication is still possible but the shocks and mana fluctuations causes the link to be unstable.' Ebony had been a little worried about it, the callstone was a link that he could use to buff Ning Xin or his allies that had much further range than his natural capabilities.
The scales that were summoned over his robe were slashed open with relative ease. He had been more easily distracted than usual but that inattentiveness was gone immediately.
The Dwarf redirected his greatsword down to the ground and earth rose to lock it down before he shield bashed Ebony with an immaculately timed mana rebound to counter his mana reflection of physical impact. He held tightly so Icicle was pulled out from its earthen lock together with him.
The blue flames on the Dwarf weren't digging into his earth-covered armour and skin much. The Dwarf chased Ebony's flying body even before he grounded himself. The piercing cold flames were completely ignored.
Ebony tried his best to pull away the Dwarf's attacks with Guided Path while leading his own attacks to increase in speed, power and accuracy with the same spell. Yet, the expert fighter put more strength to counter the redirection and also bring his shield back in to guard himself despite the pushing and pulling of gravity. His reaction speed was great and his judgement hasn't failed him.
Ebony continued with a greater variety of tricks but the Dwarf would find a counter in moments. The ice mage's greatest hand was his domain which he needed to keep up in a tiny radius to even keep up with the Dwarf. Neither was tiring out any time soon.
There was a lack of earth magic thrown at him but he wasn't thinking so he didn't notice.
"That's enough, two of you can finish up." Commander Wil's voice registered in his mind.
His opponent stopped for a moment and hunkered down behind his round shield that covered his short but muscular body. Ebony took the chance to attack his opponent's legs but the Dwarf just took it. He only managed to cut through the earthen layer and not the metal armour beneath.
He only managed to take another swing before the Dwarf who had his short sword pointing by the shield's side rammed into him at full speed. The earth swelled beneath his opponent's feet and the head of a giant beast formed to augment his shield charge.
Ebony couldn't dodge as his feet were swallowed up. Then, the earthen snake face took a large bite that attempted to crush the right side of his body while it domineeringly drove his remaining body against the ground.
He couldn't muster enough strength to resist the immense power behind the Dwarf's continuous charge. His bones creaked but they didn't snap. No amount of Sonic Intrusion or freezing flames strengthened by the most compressed domain he could bring forth were enough to destroy his bindings.
The intense exchange substantially increased the drain of his mana and he was bone dry in the next few seconds. The giant earthen serpent's head slowed down when his resistance weakened drastically and spit him out into the air.
Ebony landed into a gash on the tough ground, home to another body laying there.
"Are you hurt?" He asked the panting Swordswoman while lying down beside her. Their heads were beside each other with their bodies facing opposing directions.
"Mmm. He wasn't taking me seriously…"
It was a crushing defeat for her now that Mr. Kidnapper wasn't fooling around as much.
"We'll beat them soon."