Chapter 710: An Unfair Showdown for the Teaching Assistant
When I stood at one end of the planned arena for the showdown, the crowd around me consciously stepped back to the marked lines.
This left me with plenty of space to fight.
On the opposite side, several figures stepped into the arena… it was a four-member team.
In a showdown, a teaching assistant’s opponents can be a lone wanderer or a team of multiple members.
After repeated “hunts” targeting the teaching assistants, they were well aware that the combat power of a teaching assistant couldn’t be matched by a single individual.
Thus, team cooperation became a reasonable choice.
Among the first team to enter, I didn’t recognize any of the four individuals.
Moreover, they were not students of the Witch Academy.
With their robust physiques and some beast-like features, there was no doubt that this team consisted of candidates from the Beast Academy.
And it was likely a combination of four berserkers.
Did they plan to exhaust my stamina right from the start?
To this, I was indifferent; my physical fitness was quite strong, and even if it went on like this, it wouldn’t be much of an issue.
Instead, at such a tense moment, I was thinking of other things.
If this was a trap set against me, what would their “one-hit k*ll” trump card be within this trap?
What means could completely k*ll me, such that even the Resurrection Spell wouldn’t work?
How would they bypass the instructors’ reactions and strike first before the Extraordinary Witches?
A series of questions troubled me at this moment, but it did not hinder the battles at hand.
After some pre-match exchanges between both sides, the battle officially began with a signal.
The four beastmen advanced toward me with great synergy.
Their heavy fists, enhanced with the added skill of “Fist Edge,” turned their fist wraps into the most ferocious weapons to violently suppress me.
I took a more conservative stance, creating distance and using the spellcasting method I, as a mage, was most adept at for magical suppression.
The Fireball Spell was much stronger than the beastmen’s skills, but it required a casting time to build up power, while the beastmen’s attacks did not have such a “slow” preparation time; their bodies were their strongest and most convenient weapons.
Currently, the spells I could use were likely limited to just the Fireball Spell and Ice Shield Spell, the two basic spell skills as my fundamental combat responses.
The Gale Spell, employed under the pressure of the four beastmen, was crucial to maintain distance and avoid close-quarters entanglement.
Additionally, this distance advantage needed to work in conjunction with Plant Entanglement control to achieve a significant edge.
However, due to the combination of skill coordination and the rigid casting times, this rule amplified the advantages of multi-person teams immensely.
Once a skill was unleashed, it targeted one person, but there were three more individuals needing to defend.
Thus, to gain an advantage, I needed to seize it from somewhere outside the skill framework.
Reaction, prediction, rhythm control…
And… the moment of the opponent’s mistake.
When the ceiling of a battle has been set, then in the face of a evenly matched fight, it is better to hope for the opponent to reveal a flaw than to pray for extraordinary performance from oneself.
No one can achieve perfection, myself included.
I could be pierced through by an arrow due to carelessness, while the opponent could also be thrown off as their frantic fighting led to their brains unable to keep up with their bodies’ reactions.
So as I faced these four beastmen, my strategy was to wait for the opponent to make a mistake.
After all, all four of them were melee beastmen, a group that maximized their advantage.
Naturally, I could not forcefully face off against them head-on.
Such flashy bravado would yield no benefits.
So after a prolonged exchange, I finally seized on a flaw in their collaboration and forcibly took out one beastman with my Stone Skin, enduring the damage.
After killing this beastman, my k*ll count qualified me for unlocking the eighth skill tree.
However, the eighth skill was an area effect skill.
Hailstorm.
In such a defined venue combat scenario, without the cooperation of teammates, it would be hard to unleash.
Upon seeing its casting time, I decisively gave up on this skill.
Thus, I concentrated on countering the remaining three beastmen.
With one less companion, the remaining three beastmen’s pressure on me greatly decreased as they struggled with the change in combat rhythm.
More importantly, the reduction in their numbers affected their morale, which was somewhat unexpected.
It seemed that, even if they were not quadruplets, they likely referred to each other as brothers frequently.
Seeing them so emotional, I felt relieved.
However, after I eliminated another of their comrades and only two remained, I noticed that their coordination seemed to have become even more cohesive, and in fact, they barely seemed more troublesome than when they had three.
Yet, two would ultimately still not match the pressure brought on by four.
Especially when there was no significant numerical advantage for them, my speed and close combat skills came into play.
The previous rhythm of keeping distance transformed into a furious counterattack as they tried to close in.
This shift in battle style caught the opponent off guard.
Moreover, after the two joined forces, I found that injuring one was more advantageous than directly killing one.
The injured individual could become a burden to the other, impacting their attention, coordination, mistakes, etc., all of which reduced the stress on me during this fight.
So, unsurprisingly, I swiftly dispatched the last two.
With my victory in this battle, the crowd on the sidelines erupted into cheers!
After all, it was one against four!
Before this battle, the other teaching assistants had similarly gone through about the same kind of fight, though most had won, some appeared rather disheveled, some were at ease, and others became entrenched in protracted battles…
However, for the spectators, a visually engaging battle was what they most wanted to see!
Although this showdown was not formal, its excitement was undeniable.
Only those with powerful abilities were qualified to stand on the sidelines enjoying the best viewpoints, while the weaker were even pushed away, unable to see so much as the hem of their opponents’ clothes.
And the ones most confident in their strength… were disdainful of being spectators; they aimed to be the ones adored by all!
As the first to eat the crab, most of the teaching assistants typically lost their first rounds; this was a pattern summed up by prior matchups.
As the number of battles increased, more eager players stepped up to try and score easy points; after all, directly killing a teaching assistant was the best method for gaining points and glory!
However, for me…
As the most unique among the teaching assistants, lacking the undying trait, the first battle was filled with challengers, all of whom were confident and strong.
This was also the reason behind the applause after my first battle victory.
For them, given my strength, even if I lost in the second round of rotations, as long as it wasn’t a particularly disgraceful loss, not many would speak ill of it.
Because I had a title that many were beginning to overlook; if stripped of my identity as a teaching assistant, I too was merely a low-level student like them!
Now, all of my abilities were sealed, including the often mentioned number of magic sources, powerful spellbooks, super-volume spellbooks, and even the Great Spellbook… all of that was gone.
Using the same power to defeat equals in multi-person combat, what could be more inspiring than this?
With my victory, other teaching assistants in other arenas or those rotating through the matches stiffened.
After all, many of the teaching assistants had participated in the previous attempts to hunt me down.
They had validated my strength.
But I didn’t know what they thought at that moment, as their tense expressions relaxed.
After all… this was a showdown against teaching assistants.
d*ath was the inevitable fate every teaching assistant had to face; it was just a question of who would fall first.
At this moment, the “bodies” of the four beastmen I had killed were carried away by the crowd.
Though they were the defeated, they were also to be respected for having the courage to battle against a teaching assistant as low-level candidates.
So their bodies were taken away instead of dragged off.
This rudimentary showdown, while a bit irregular and absurd, along with the resurrection of the instructors coinciding with this match, was enough to serve as a promotional gimmick.
The instructors, who normally resurrected candidates on-site, were now waiting at another dedicated location for the bodies to be brought.
I looked at the bl**d stains scattered across the arena and the lingering scent of bl**d in the air, which only added a touch of brutality to the battle.
Perhaps… this was what those enthusiasts referred to, what they eagerly anticipated—rivers of bl**d.
This kind of fight could be uncomfortable both physiologically and psychologically for ordinary people; it stemmed from a natural fear and disgust of life ‘toying with d*ath.’
And now, I had no time to mourn the four lives lost moments ago because my rotation battle was far from over.
Before me, a new group of enemies appeared!
This time, my opponents increased from four to five.
A five-person combat team!
They weren’t leaving me any breathing room at all.
I chuckled softly, scanning the five before me, confirming they were my opponents for the second round.
In the first battle, I fully utilized my Body Cultivation Five Senses advantage.
That battle also brought me a different insight, or rather each preceding battle imparted a unique lesson, but those insights crystallized into an understanding during the previous fight.
Any system of extraordinary power has its corresponding framework and support from extraordinary forces.
Body cultivation is no exception; without extraordinary forces to back it, body cultivation merely strengthens the body.
However, my journey started with Self-Awakened Body Cultivation.
So what is body cultivation without extraordinary forces?
It is simply the most basic physical strength and five-sense perception, which is the power I have been training in.
My training in Body Cultivation has been rather fragmented because I did not follow the conventional path with body techniques; thus, there’s been little physical training. Instead, I followed Sister Bai’s suggestion to focus on refining my five senses.
The training of the five senses itself does not involve the intervention of extraordinary forces; this method essentially accumulates gradually so that upon advancing to extraordinary status, the infusion of extraordinary energy impacts the attainment of higher levels in an instant.
Sister Bai followed a similar form; upon advancing to extraordinary, she self-generated Heart Sense and developed the Heart Realm Field, advancing into the Holy Realm.
However, my sixth sense, Heart Sense, comprehended its significance ahead of time and, by chance, linked with two Great Spellbooks, prematurely integrating with the energy of the Great Spellbook’s Void Rifts to develop the Heart Realm Field.
Now, all my extraordinary powers are sealed, and my sixth sense Heart Sense has reverted to its original state without extraordinary powers.
There’s a peculiar sense of returning to essence.
This is a rather novel experience.
Just like d*ath, some experiences cannot be truly understood unless one undergoes them firsthand.
Suddenly… I started to understand why there exists a bizarre spell like “Self-Sealing Technique” in the world. When I initially learned this sealing technique from Sister Natalie, I had studied the consciousness-sealing technique for constructing the firewall of the Great Knowledge Tree.
Now it seems that if the opportunity arises, I should delve into learning more about this Self-Sealing Technique.
At that time, Sister Natalie mentioned that this category of self-sealing technique was promoted and perfected by a Truth Witch; indeed… the treasures that Truth Witches hold are numerous.
Without reaching a certain level or understanding certain principles, one cannot grasp their intent.
And now… I looked at the five individuals before me; even without starting a battle, through Heart Sense, I could still feel their intense fighting spirit and a hint of eager greed.
It was as if they were confident they had me figured out, envisioning the wonderful scenario of the five of them splitting one hundred points.
With a simple signal of battle commencing, the five each assumed their combat stances.
The five were not of the same profession; rather, they formed a hunting party with clearly defined roles working together.
This type of collaboration was starkly different from the previous battle.
While one cannot necessarily describe a superiority between the two, it was evident that in the second round, the **confidence of these five individuals greatly enhanced their combat power.
Moreover, unlike the beastmen, their fighting style wasn’t mindless, and the impact of errors in combat wasn’t enough for me to gain an advantage; this was the benefit of complementary setup, greatly enhancing the minimum combat effectiveness of a group.
In the previous battle, their extreme coordination elevated their power ceiling.
Thus, the pressure the second battle placed upon me far exceeded the first!
Waiting passively for them to make a mistake was unwise, nor would it reduce my stamina consumption. If I made any mistakes, it could lead to irreversible consequences!
Thus, the strategy for this battle had to change from passively waiting for the opponent to show a flaw to actively guiding them into revealing one.
This was an extremely dangerous decision, but it was worth a try.
As for how to lead the opponent into exposing a flaw…
Naturally, it would be by revealing a flaw from a perspective that was most unfavorable to them. I would trigger them to grow overzealous; once they are too eager, the chances of revealing a flaw would increase.
Of course, this would also multiply my own danger.
Just as I guided the opponent into a strong offense by revealing a flaw, the opposing Holy Angel’s “healing support position” became exposed and vulnerable due to the urgency of the main attacker.
Originally charged Fireball shifted its aim under the guise of needing to charge, bypassing the main attacker to meet instead the triggering Plant Entanglement that bought me a precious moment.
After relying on my Stone Skin and Body Cultivation to repel the hindrance, I readied to severely injure the backline Holy Angel according to my rhythm.
“Um? A wizard?”
Just as I was wary of the wizard in the backline cursing me, the opponent proactively chose self-protection, allowing me to assault the Holy Angel.
A personal grudge?
Or… a trap?
Just in the blink of an eye, I got my answer.
It was a trap.
The opponent sacrificed the Holy Angel as bait to forcefully attack me. Apart from the repelled main attacker and the Holy Angel used as bait, two others surged forward at that moment as if they had found an opportunity.
However, my focus had shifted away from the current encirclement because I noticed something was wrong with the wizard, who had been low-profile and thus unnoticed!
