Hilo turned to Ariana and shouted: "Don't hold us back!"
"Who's holding anyone back!" Ariana retorted.
Anyi didn't even mind her hindering him!
Although she hadn't actually had a chance to attack.
"Okay! Then we're ready!" Hilo shouted towards the four.
"Huh?" Ariana was stunned, "Shouldn't we discuss tactics?"
"Discuss tactics? Will the enemy discuss tactics with you?!" Hilo sneered.
"But we're not enemies!" Ariana couldn't help but retort.
The enemy wouldn't discuss tactics with them, that's true, but to fight a common enemy, it was normal for teammates to discuss tactics.
Ariana raised her staff and shouted to Anyi and the four: "Stop! Stop stop!!
We're not ready yet!!"
Anyi shook his hand, indicating that he had heard.
"Hey!" Hilo was immediately dissatisfied, "I'm the leader, you have no right to interfere with my decisions!"
Ariana frowned: "Leader? I'm also a leader!
Anyi has been planning for me!
Even if you're the leader, you have to listen to your teammates' opinions!"
"You need your teammates to plan for you because you're stupid?!" Hilo shouted.
Ariana's expression froze: "…Ah."
She seemed to realize something?
Then she turned around and ran towards Anyi with a wronged expression.
"Anyi! She called me stupid!"
Anyi: "…"
Don't run over here like a child complaining to their parent!
Wouldn't that make you seem even stupider?!
So Anyi said something objective and helpful, calming Ariana down.
He didn't think the Holy Maiden was stupid, although she did ask him a lot of questions and relied on him a little.
But this wasn't stupidity, but intelligence.
Isn't it smart to ask if you don't know?
Those who don't know but pretend to know are the real fools.
But constantly acting like a child was truly tiring.
Ariana raised her chin, stood proudly in front of Hilo, hands on her hips: "Anyi said I'm very smart!"
Hilo looked like she had lost her fighting spirit: "Fine, fine, you're very smart."
She suddenly regretted arguing with a child.
Eira, acting like a peacemaker, chuckled and waved her hands: "Alright, alright, there's no point in arguing.
Let's discuss tactics as Her Highness the Holy Maiden suggested.
Look, they're still preparing."
Eira pointed towards Anyi and the four.
Hilo looked over. Anyi and Layton were sitting, Sisrine was sitting on the ground in front of them, talking. Miruku was hiding, but she was clearly listening to their conversation.
Although the three of them were at a higher level, they were seriously discussing tactics.
Hilo stared for a while, then scratched her head, sat cross-legged on the ground, and impatiently propped up her chin:
"Whatever!
Since they're not ready, we can't start either."
"Yes, yes, that's right!" Ariana nodded.
"Then, let me talk about our usual battle strategy."
Sephie said:
"Simply put, Hilo is the main attacker, Eira provides cover and some support attacks.
And I usually protect Eira and Sisrine.
If Hilo feels threatened, she can use her high Agility to enter my protection."
"Then, what does Sisrine usually do besides healing you?" Ariana asked.
Sephie continued: "Besides healing, she can also enhance our attributes, recover our stamina, and increase our attack and defense.
As long as she doesn't run out of mana, we can fight for a long time.
If Hilo encounters a situation where she can't win quickly, we'll use attrition tactics."
"I see…" Ariana nodded thoughtfully.
Sisrine was quite different from her.
Sisrine seemed to only have support skills, while Ariana's skills were more diverse.
Whether it was attack, defense, support, or recovery skills, she had them all.
Low EQ: Nothing special.
High EQ: All-rounder.
Then, Ariana shared her skill effects with the three, listening to their skill introductions and planning their cooperation.
Hilo and Eira's skills were unremarkable, typical attack skills.
But [Mountain Hero] Sephie's skills were different from Layton's.
[Skill: Immovable Mountain]
The effect is to make herself immobile, increasing Durability and reducing damage taken.
[Skill: Landslide]
The next attack's damage is converted from Durability, meaning higher Durability results in greater power.
But this attack can only be used once, and the mana consumed is based on Strength and Durability, twice the combined value of the two attributes.
That is, if Sephie has 10 Strength and 30 Durability, [Landslide] would cost 80 mana.
The damage is only slightly higher than Hilo's normal attack, so this skill can only be used with Multiple release to be effective.
And her final key skill.
[Skill: Earth Shaker]
The effect is to cause the ground to tremble within a certain range.
It seems unremarkable, but…
Most monsters use the ground as a base to fight.
In other words, besides undead monsters, almost no other monster could fight without relying on the ground.
"Earth Shaker" could disrupt the enemy's attack rhythm and distract them.
The ground shaking could even cause buildings to collapse, no matter how strong the enemy is, they would have moments of instability.
In other words, Sephie not only had defensive and offensive skills, but also skills to disrupt the enemy.
"Yes! Let's use this to disrupt Miruku's movements!" Ariana already knew how to deal with that troublesome 40 Agility girl!
Besides Miruku, with 40 Agility, both Anyi and Layton would find it difficult to deal real damage to Hilo.
Well… judging from their attributes.
No one knows what methods Anyi would use against Hilo.
After all, even Miruku, with 40 Agility, couldn't gain any advantage against Anyi, let alone Hilo with 30 Agility.
But Ariana knew that Anyi wouldn't end the training so quickly.
Because his training was about finding problems, not just fighting and finishing, he would definitely take his time observing.
So Ariana didn't need to worry about him, she just needed to figure out how to deal with the other three.
The most difficult to deal with was Miruku.
Her base Agility was very high, even if she and Hilo both had 30 Agility, her actual speed was higher than Hilo's.
And Hilo's Durability was very low. If she couldn't hit Miruku, the latter could quickly render her helpless.
Even if Miruku only chose 5 points in Strength.
...
"Their main goal this time is to use their speed to incapacitate Miss Miruku."
Anyi analyzed:
"As long as Miss Miruku, with 40 Agility, is slightly slower, those of us with far lower Agility will lose our ability to counterattack.
But it doesn't matter, just use your skills based on the situation.
When to accelerate, when to stop, when to attack, when to heal.
And who to use these skills on, it's all up to your judgment."
"Um… Okay…" Sisrine replied softly.
She thought…
She probably can't do it?
Because until now, she had always followed orders.
Hilo was in the front, and she did whatever Hilo told her to do.
But Anyi immediately gave her all the decision-making power, abandoning the need for orders.
This left Sisrine at a loss.
Moreover, Anyi gave her another condition.
Buff skills couldn't be activated all the time.
Because in battle, this would consume a large amount of mana.
If you encounter a long battle, not conserving mana would be disastrous.
Moreover, buffing a group of people and buffing a single person consumed different amounts of mana.
For example, buffing one person's strength would consume 1 mana per second.
But buffing three people simultaneously would consume 3 mana per second.
Her skill was to buff teammates, not like Ariana's "aura" skill.
And her base Prana attribute was also average, her maximum mana was lower than Ariana's.
She consumed more mana than Ariana, but her maximum mana was lower.
In short, she needed to "manage her mana" and control her mana carefully.
"Don't worry! We're very strong!"
Layton smiled reassuringly at Sisrine.
"Even if our skills are used faster or slower, we won't die, just judge based on the situation! There's nothing to be nervous about."
Anyi also nodded: "Don't put pressure on yourself."
Sisrine forced a smile: "Okay…"
Miruku: "…"
You guys won't die, but I will!
She had 0 Durability, she'd die with a single scratch!
Anyi didn't give Miruku any instructions, nor did he discuss much strategy with her.
Unlike others, Miruku had her own understanding of combat, so Anyi wouldn't tell her too much.
She would quickly realize any mistakes she made.
Anyi would only intervene when she was completely unaware of her mistakes.
After further discussion, Layton stood up first.
"Okay! We're ready!" He shouted towards Hilo and the four.
Hilo, who had been waiting, stood up with a smile: "We're ready too!"
Waiting for both sides to be in position.
Layton shouted: "Everyone ready?!"
"Ready!!" Hilo replied.
Layton raised his hand and held up his finger:
"Then—
Three, two, one!
Begin!!"
"Following the plan!" Ariana said loudly, raising her staff—
「Holy Judge!」
A golden ball flew out, hundreds of golden light arrows flying from all directions towards Anyi and the four!
But judging from the trajectory of the arrows, her target wasn't Anyi and Layton.
But Sisrine and Miruku!
"Hey hey hey! Where are you aiming?! Don't ignore my shield?!"
Layton laughed and quickly took a few steps back, raising his shield in front of Sisrine and Miruku.
At the same time, Anyi, wielding the [Hero's Sword], charged towards Hilo and the four.
"Just in time!"
Hilo grinned, raising her long sword and attacking Anyi.
Her speed was more than twice Anyi's. She appeared in front of Anyi in a flash!
"Clang!"
Sword and blade clashed!
"Clang clang clang clang clang——!!"
The sound of clashing metal echoed like falling rain, sparks flying from the clashing sword and blade!
The sword was incredibly fast!
This was the unanimous thought of everyone present.
But what was even more surprising was Anyi.
Although the opponent's long sword was like a storm, Anyi's movements were clearly half a beat slower, yet he blocked the opponent's attacks countless times!
It was as if…
He already knew the opponent's movements!
He only needed to place his sword in the designated position to predict the opponent's attack!
"Ah! Not bad!"
Suddenly, Hilo changed her attack, turning her sword and stabbing at Anyi—
A feint!
Anyi suddenly jumped back, narrowly dodging the strike.
Hilo rejoiced inwardly, thinking that the man finally dodged…
But!
The instant Anyi retreated, he spun his sword and threw it at Hilo.
"Clang!"
Hilo reacted extremely quickly. Her 30 Agility allowed her to easily block the attack and deflect the sword.
Suddenly, a white light flashed—
「Not good!」
Hilo instantly retracted her gaze and saw Anyi's sword stabbing towards her!
Unavoidable! Unblockable!
"Clang!"
At this moment, a faint yellow Barrier suddenly appeared in front of Hilo, blocking Anyi's sword.
"Bang!"
The Barrier shattered, but it gave Hilo time to breathe.
"Great Fireball!" Eira thrust his hands forward, and a giant fireball, about the size of a person, struck towards the two.
Anyi was forced to retreat, and Hilo returned to her position.
"Thanks!" She said immediately.
If it weren't for Ariana's Barrier, she would have suffered a fatal injury!
She had initially thought Anyi calling himself the "most talented swordsman" was just a boast.
But after their brief exchange, she realized that despite the clear difference in attributes, he could repeatedly break her attacks, and even gain a slight advantage.
He truly deserved that title!
"Ah, it's over." Ariana suddenly thought of something.
While everyone's attention was focused on Anyi and Hilo, a petite figure behind Layton had disappeared!
In those few seconds, a dark shadow had quietly circled behind Hilo's team.
The shadow revealed itself, Miruku standing between Ariana and Eira, twin daggers raised, one in front and one behind, pointing at the two.
"It's over." She said.
"Hehehe! I knew Miruku would ambush them!" Ariana said triumphantly.
"Rumble——!!"
Suddenly, the ground shook!