Team Battle

The priest wore an expression of extreme anguish, her eyes practically blazing with fury.

A cold smile curled Jialan's lips. With a flick of his hand, he scattered a handful of seeds at the feet of the three warriors. He muttered an incantation, and the seeds grew in the wind, transforming in the blink of an eye into thorny vines as thick as a baby's arm, their sharp barbs binding all three men tightly.

The three warriors instantly became trapped beasts. The more they struggled, the tighter the vines coiled around them.

Though Thorn Bind was merely a Tier 1 Spell, it left the three warriors unable to break free for the moment.

Katerina and the other two were greatly encouraged. A sharp gleam flashed through the tall knight's eyes as dazzling white light suddenly erupted around him. Holy runes flowed across his silver armor—he was actually a Light Knight who had concealed his strength! His spear shot forth like a silver dragon emerging from the sea, carrying purifying power straight at the trapped warriors.

The attack came too quickly. The three warriors had nowhere to dodge and could only raise their shields to withstand it. With a crack, the shields shattered. The spear pierced through their defenses and viciously stabbed into one warrior's left chest. Holy battle aura erupted in an instant. The warrior screamed and fell, one entire arm reduced to a bloody mess.

After delivering that blow, the tall knight leaned on his spear and gasped for breath, clearly having exhausted himself greatly. Katerina exchanged a glance and a nod with the wounded female warrior, and their figures flickered before vanishing into the shadows.

The archer immediately changed targets, firing three arrows in rapid succession at Jialan's face. Clang! Clang! Clang! John's sword flashed like a curtain, precisely knocking down the arrows. He held his shield before Jialan and swept his sharp gaze across the battlefield.

Jialan had just recovered from the casting delay and was about to press the advantage when alarm bells suddenly blared in his sea of consciousness. A blurry figure had somehow crept to within three meters behind him before he noticed.

Before he could cast any spell, a pale blue scroll suddenly appeared in Jialan's hand. He crushed it, and the scroll turned into a thick ice shield behind him. At the same time, the blurry figure pounced, its black-glinting dagger stabbing viciously into the ice shield. The shield lasted only three or four seconds before exploding into shards of ice.

John reacted as well, slamming his shield fiercely toward the blurry figure. The figure did not linger in battle, instead using the momentum to flip backward. After several twists in midair, it had landed more than ten meters away. The instant it touched the ground, it rolled forward and entered stealth once more. So there had been six enemies all along; this assassin had been lurking until now.

"Tch, he runs fast." Jialan stared in the direction where the assassin had vanished, cold sweat beading on his forehead. If not for the Frost Shield scroll, he would have been a corpse by now.

At the same time, another beam of holy light appeared above Jialan's head. He sighed inwardly. A low-level mage had far too few ways to respond in a crisis, and he was the enemy's primary target.

He lightly raised his staff, and a round mirror as tall as a person appeared above his head. This was the Mirror Light Technique attached to the staff Jialan had spent more than half his savings to purchase.

The holy light struck the round mirror without making a sound, then refracted and shot back at the white-robed priest. Startled, she frantically pulled out another scroll, which transformed into a light shield protecting her entire body. The holy light and the shield dissolved each other upon contact. Priests truly were the richest profession, using scroll after scroll.

The white-robed priest let out a long breath and slightly raised her scepter, intending to cast a spell to free the two warriors first. Suddenly, her eyes widened. At some point, Katerina had appeared beside her. "You seem quite wealthy, Priest." A cold female voice sounded beside her ear. The priest turned her head in horror, only to see Katerina's dagger already pressed against her throat.

Blood spurted out like a fountain, staining the pure white holy robe red.

The archer behind her had been focused on targeting Jialan all along, keeping John from daring to leave Jialan's side. Seeing the white-robed priest killed, he was so frightened that he nearly dropped his bow. He turned and fled, moving with astonishing speed. After a few flashes, he was already dozens of meters away.

Just as he thought he had escaped with his life, a dagger sliced across his throat. Against an assassin with such terrifying single-target killing power, he had no ability to fight back.

The remaining two warriors had barely broken free from the thorns when they fell into a desperate situation. Facing the Light Knight's holy spear, the warrior's longsword, the mage's battlefield control, and the elusive assassin, they ultimately fell with resentment. The warrior who had fallen first was finished off as well. From beginning to end, the assassin who had ambushed Jialan never appeared again. Seeing no opportunity, he had likely fled far away.

"Argyle Cape thanks you both for your assistance!" The tall knight walked toward Jialan and John, removed his helmet, and gave them a standard knight's salute.

Jialan and John hurriedly returned the salute. As a spellcaster, studying history was also a required course. Jialan asked with some surprise, "Cape? Could you be from the Marquis Mansion?"

"The current marquis is my father." The knight added with a bitter smile, "But I am only a Traveling Knight now."

The Capet Family, one of the Empire's eight marquis houses, was unlike those newly risen nobles. It was a truly entrenched old aristocratic house, holding a position of immense importance within the Empire.

"This is the famous Baron Cape, the youngest son of the current Marquis Cape. His Majesty the Emperor's Former Empress was his aunt." Katerina appeared from nowhere and spoke in a mocking tone. Argyle wore a helplessly bitter smile and offered no defense.

After teasing Argyle for a few more remarks, Katerina walked over and helped the wounded female warrior to her feet. "This is Kaisalin, my best friend. She also graduated from the Imperial Magic Academy and was in the same class as me."

Kaisalin had beautiful blonde hair and looked around twenty-five or twenty-six. She radiated an intellectual beauty and did not look like a female warrior at all. She resembled a female scholar more.

"Kaisalin Xiwen thanks you both for your help. Without you two, the consequences today would have been unthinkable!" Kaisalin saluted them, using the etiquette of a noblewoman. The two hurriedly returned the salute once more.

Seeing her listless expression, Jialan knew her injuries were severe and offered to examine her wound. A faint blush appeared on Kaisalin's pale face. Her injury was on her back, and it was somewhat inappropriate to have a strange man inspect it.

Katerina knew Jialan was an ice-element Junior Mage and could also cast Tier 1 Spells of the Water Element. Although water-element spells were not as effective at healing as light-element spells, their healing effects were second to none among the other elements. She immediately whispered in Kaisalin's ear for a while, and only then did Kaisalin nod with a flushed face.

Katerina forcefully made the three men turn around and forbade them from peeking. Only then did she carefully help Kaisalin remove her armor and undo her inner clothes. Once everything was ready, she allowed Jialan alone to turn around.

The sight of the wound gave Jialan a fright as well. The wound on her back was over a foot long, and the blood had already dried. The surrounding flesh was swollen, with obvious signs of inflammation.

He dared not delay. Raising his staff, he rapidly chanted a low, obscure incantation. After more than ten seconds of chanting, a mist rich in Water Element formed in Jialan's left hand, first slowly, then rapidly. He gradually guided it into Kaisalin's injured back. The wound visibly healed, while the redness and swelling slowly receded.

After finishing the spell, Jialan was not satisfied with the result. He cast it once more before nodding in satisfaction. After signaling Katerina, he turned around.