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The tension between the two sides rose with each second of the standoff. And then, Micah gave the signal to start the battle. All the elite acolytes swiftly spreaded out and found their own opponent or, more accurately, 'prey'.

Emery could see one of the regular acolytes instantly turned into light particles when a zap of lightning passed by him. It appeared one of the elites was using some kind of spell that allowed him to move extremely fast, as if using the [Blink] spell. While the regular was still shocked by the sudden movement, the elite already burnt the poor acolyte into a crisp with his lightning element spells.

As for Emery himself, a female elite acolyte rapidly approaching him. Looking at the swirls of wind around her, he could infer she was a wind element acolyte. The female acolyte moved so fast, Emery was barely able to dodge her strike at the last second. If it was not because of the battle art stage three he had preemptively activated before, Emery was sure he would have been hit by her and sustained an injury.

As a rank 7 acolyte, one would have better overall power whether it was in casting speed, spell power, stamina or physical strength and defense. A wind element acolyte in particular had the best spell to increase its user's speed by a massive amount, the [Windwalk] spell. The spell itself was already a great spell to have but, when it casted by a rank 7 acolyte, the enhancement the spell gave were truly on another level.

The female acolyte didn't give up when she realized her first strike was unsuccessful. She proceeded to move across the grass at high speed, leaving a blur behind her. Emery found it was quite difficult to follow her with his eyesight alone. She continued moving around Emery, as she tried to find an opening she could take advantage of.

*swish* *swish*

The faint sound of something moving through the air resounded, causing the expression of the female acolyte to change. Suddenly, two arrows were shot from the sides, as they flew towards the moving girl. It was Chumo's [spirit missile]

Unfortunately, the arrows were easily avoided by the girl, as she ducked and slid on the ground. Before Chumo could take another shot, the female acolyte was already two meters away from him with her weapon swinging down on him.

Chumo, who was shocked by the speed of the girl, swiftly took out his weapons and tried to block the attack. Scoffing at the futile attempt, the girl subtly adjusted the angle of her slash, so the attack would land decisively on the Chumo's body.

But then, she was surprised to see the figure she hit was dispersing into a shadow, leaving nothing before her.

Meanwhile, an identical shadow of Chumo was seen moving closer to Emery. "I will back you, Emery." It appeared the girl figure killed by the girl was Chumo's clone, the result of his [Shadow Self] spell.

Seeing his best buddy, Emery flashed a confident smile, "Alright, Chumo! Back to back!"

The two of them then swiftly put their backs against each other. With this, even though their line of sight would be restricted to just what was in front of them, they would also be able to react decisively and did not need to worry about attack coming from behind. This was a good method one could choose when fighting against this type of opponents that relied on speed.

Emery and Chumo immediately casted each of their long range spells, but none were able to graze the girl's clothes let alone hit her. Meanwhile, the girl also didn't remain still, as she counterattacked by hurling blades of wind towards the two of them. Even though Emery and Chumo had dodged the wind blades thrown at them, the sharp winds generated by the spell still managed to scratch their arms and legs.

"This is really annoying!" Emery loudly said, as he stepped to the side, dodging a wind blade coming at him.

Emery truly wished to capture the girl with his [Shadow Root Binding] spell. Alas, the feat was not that easy, since the girl moved too fast for Emery's spells. The spells only hit the empty air, as their target was already a few meters away, while the spells were still on the way.

Suddenly, the girl stoppen on her speedy tracks and jumped back in a hurry. Bullets of air landed on the place where the female acolyte was heading to, causing dirt to fly into the air. If she didn't retreat and kept advancing, there was one hundred percent she would be injured by the air bullets.

Apparently, another acolyte had come to help Emery and Chumo fight this female elite. He was a regular acolyte, but he was one of the few rank 7 acolytes among the group. Moreover, he was a wind element acolyte, which was perfect for Emery and Chumo's current situation.

Seeing the situation she was in, the female acolyte immediately charged towards the new acolyte, as she knew he was the greatest threat between them. Unfortunately, the young man was able to dodge her attacks and even counterattack. Hence, a battle of speed was unfolding in front of Emery and Chumo in this instant.

Looking at the fight before them, Chumo opened his mouth, "E-Emery, should we join them?"

Putting his hand under his chin, Emery replied, "Hmm, it depends… Can you follow their speed?"

"Ahh.. Not really..."

At an opportunity like this where the opponent was snatched away, Emery took a moment to look at the situation on the battlefield. In the distance, Thrax was still fighting against the stone acolyte and Emery could see a rare sight, where Thrax and Julian were fighting together helping each other. He thought for a split second the sky and earth must be upside down because of that.

On the other hand, Klea was having a group battle where three elite acolytes were fighting against 7 regulars. It looked like another regular acolyte had just been defeated. Nudging his arm to Chumo, Emery said, "Chumo, I think you should help Klea. I will defeat this wind girl here and quickly back you up soon."

Realizing there was no need for the two of them in this fight, Chumo nodded his head, "Alright, sure." Immediately after, Chumo turned into shadow and moved towards the group battle.

Emery then returned his attention toward the two wind acolytes.

Splat!

Blood splattered in the air as a deep bloody wound could be seen on the arm of one of them. Surprisingly, it was the female acolyte who got injured. Thanks to that, the fight came to an abrupt stop, as the two figures stood a few meters away from each other.

"Huh?! You elite acolyte is nothing, huh? Without your family backing you all are the same with us!"

As she listened to the acolyte bragging about himself, the female acolyte only flashed a smile, while holding her injured arm.

"Be careful. Don't lose sight of her." Emery warned the acolyte, as he saw him turning his gaze away for him, courtesy to his bragging.

"Don't worry friend, our speed is roughly the same, but I have this advantage." the acolyte said while showing, what he had in his hand.

There, a knife was seen with its surface covered with blood. Evidently, the knife was his weapon of choice, received from the center building. While the girl needed time to cast offensive spells as means to attack, the boy only had to slash his knife around to attack. That was why he was able to injure her.

"Don't be too cocky, you will regret it."

"Hah?! Come at me! I'm not afraid."

This time, the girl casted the same spell again, [Windwalk]. But then, the confident expression on the boy's face suddenly changed.

"How is this possible!? Where are you?! How fast are you?!"

Emery was also alarmed, as the girl suddenly went missing from sight. And then, the next thing he heard was a loud scream. Turning his eye towards the source of the scream, Emery saw blood bursting out from the boy's neck. He fell down to the ground with a shocked expression still etched on his face. Swiftly after, he turned into light particles.

Seeing the female acolyte was nowhere in sight, Emery immediately used [Nature Sense]. He perceived a signal moving fast at him. Realizing that, Emery hurriedly blinked away lest he died like the arrogant acolyte.

The girl stopped in the place where Emery previously was, "Wow!! You have space magic! That's a very handy spell. However, as long as you can't see me, you will not win." The girl casually said and then disappeared again.

Thanks to [Nature Spell], Emery could tell she was coming to him. Fast and invisible, that's a cheat, isn't it?

To be continued