Leo did not ask how Alice intended to "wipe them out." The encirclement was closing in, and there was no time for him to dither.
Breaking through meant a nine-in-ten chance of dying.
Trusting Alice meant an eight-in-ten chance of dying.
Besides, all the protection Alice had given him made her worthy of his trust.
Life really was unpredictable. Alice had always protected him before, but now their roles had reversed.
Even with disaster upon them, Leo still found the feeling rather extraordinary.
He put away his staff and took his greatsword in hand.
An energy crystal was embedded in it.
Leo had not expected to use up two energy crystals in a single day.
He only had three energy crystals in his entire stock.
It hurt!
He gulped down air without exhaling. All the air drawn into his body kept compressing, forcibly driving his bodily functions to work faster.
His heart pounded violently. Its suddenly accelerated pace demanded more oxygen.
Blood circulated several times faster than normal, and tremendous strength filled his body. His swelling muscles began to bulge. In the next instant, his long, well-fitted wizard robe became skintight, and his entire body grew taller.
Originally only 1.8 meters tall, he now reached two meters.
The shadow beneath his feet twisted constantly, ready to meet the enemy at any moment.
Leo continued taking slow, deep gulps of air, drawing more into his lungs. The feeling of strength filling him was wonderful.
The power of his flesh was awakening, and every cell sent him signals of hunger.
It was as though they were saying they needed more energy, more strength.
His thick hands gripped the sword hilt tightly. Leo had the illusion that this was his normal state, and his previous frail form had been more like being forcibly stuffed into a little box—stifled and shackled.
With his body liberated, every breath felt so comfortable and free!
Behind him, Alice chanted an incantation no one could understand. Her aura rippled, setting the surrounding auras into motion.
All the surrounding elemental auras were drawn toward Alice at once, and she absorbed them furiously like a bottomless pit.
There was no sign of the spell yet, but this prelude alone was enough to show that the witchcraft Alice was about to cast was extraordinary.
Leo did not know what spell Alice intended to cast or how long she needed. She had told him neither.
He only knew that protecting her until she successfully cast it would be enough.
Two hundred apprentices from Soul Death Knell Academy.
Leo had never fought that many before and had little conception of what that number meant. The only comparable sight he had witnessed was the earlier melee involving several hundred wizards.
That time, Leo and Alice had stayed far away. This time, there was no way to avoid it. He could only steel himself and face them.
Watching the approaching wizard apprentices in the distance, now clearly visible, Leo unconsciously tightened his grip on his greatsword.
Two hundred wizard apprentices slowly emerged. Their positions seemed scattered, with dozens of meters between each pair, as though he could easily slip through by fleeing between them.
After all, for a body refinement apprentice like Leo, gaps of dozens of meters were as good as opening the door to let a thief escape.
But a closer look showed it was not that simple.
Each ring of the encirclement contained only twenty wizard apprentices. In other words, they had arranged ten staggered rings.
They looked loosely spaced, but in truth they meshed tightly like gears, interlocking without a single weakness.
This arrangement ensured that any point could come under simultaneous attack from more than twenty wizard apprentices.
It was a highly organized battle formation displaying a deep understanding of warfare. Moreover, the weakest of these two hundred apprentices were advanced wizard apprentices, and peak apprentices were far from rare.
It ensured an even distribution of combat strength while preventing them from being rushed and slaughtered because they were clustered together.
Facing such an encircling formation, Leo estimated that he could force his way through and kill five at most. By the sixth, he would come under concentrated fire.
Even a headlong charge would not get him past the fifth ring!
He had initially thought charging through meant a nine-in-ten chance of death. Looking at it now, death was absolutely certain!
"The icy aura we sensed was right after all. It really is Alice from Purple Flame Academy." Five wizard apprentices stepped out of the encirclement, all giving off the aura of peak apprentices. Besides their academy badges, they actually wore small sailboat emblems on their chests.
"Of course. Among our six academies, Alice is the only top-tier ice wizard apprentice. Who else could it be?"
Their gazes first settled on Alice, whose aura was rippling. Their eyes were fervent and brutal, utterly unconcerned by the powerful spell she was preparing, brimming with confidence.
Because no wizard apprentice could cast a spell capable of breaking through their battle formation, not even a top-tier wizard apprentice.
Their confident gazes shifted from Alice to Leo. Sensing the powerful vitality radiating from his flesh, the wizard apprentice who had just spoken brightened. "A peak body refinement wizard apprentice. Are you from Purple Flame Academy too?"
Leo froze at the question. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out, because he did not know whether he counted as being from Purple Flame Academy either.
"We're the Dead Poets Society Guild of Soul Death Knell Academy. Would you consider joining us?"
"???"
Leo froze again. The fighting spirit he had built up nearly scattered at that single sentence.
They could poach people during the championship?
Did wizard academies allow their apprentices to transfer?
He had never heard of such a thing!
"Our Dead Poets Society is a major guild with a legacy of over two thousand years. We need outstanding body refinement wizard apprentices like you."
"If you join us, we'll resolve all the issues. We can also promise to make you a level one formal wizard within fifty years."
"Of course, all that will have to wait until the championship ends. For now, you only need to come with us."
"Don't worry. We can sign a contract. As the current president of the Dead Poets Society, I can stand by my words."
Leo looked carefully around. All the wizard apprentices surrounding them wore that sailboat emblem on their chests.
They really did belong to the same guild. No wonder they could gather so many people during the championship!
Two hundred wizard apprentices under unified command, working in perfect coordination-this was enough to run rampant through the championship!
No wonder they dared follow the signs of a fierce battle despite having no top-tier apprentices among them!
Wizard academy guilds were equivalent to university clubs on Earth, except guilds at academies in the Wizard World had longer legacies, stronger unity, and more resources.
After all, some of their predecessors had become level one formal wizards, or even level two or level three wizards. Diverting just a little of their resources would keep a guild running for a long time.
The guild's benefits were indeed good, but as for their offer to have him follow them now and transfer academies after the championship, Leo merely listened and let it pass.
How much was true and how much was false did not matter!
"Sorry, I can't go."
Leo could only apologize for declining the Dead Poets Society Guild's invitation. Anyone else could leave, but not him.
If he really dared leave,
He would be tied up and beaten the moment he stepped away!
After all, a melee between level three wizards had already broken out once because of him!
More than one level two wizard and level three slave had died!
"What a pity. You've thrown away my goodwill. Now you'll have to bear our wrath."
A single refusal instantly filled the auras of every Dead Poets Society apprentice with killing intent.
"Kill them."
At the command, two hundred apprentices raised their staffs simultaneously, and different elemental auras began to surge.
The elemental energy in the air was rapidly drawn away, and fierce winds howled.
The ground began to tremble. Pebbles bounced incessantly as though placed on a drumhead, and the tangled vegetation swayed wildly, as if trying to uproot itself and flee the battlefield where a great battle was about to erupt.
The churning earth made Leo feel as if he stood on a raging sea, about to be battered by a storm at any moment.
Even the sky faintly showed strange refractions of light. The once warm, bright sky became a riot of colors, as though some naughty child had overturned a palette and haphazardly pieced together a beautiful rainbow.
A bitter smile tugged at Leo's lips.
Before attacking, these people had actually sealed off both the ground below and the sky above. Whether their opponent excelled at flying or earth-attribute teleportation, every route was firmly blocked. There was no escape even if they wanted to run.
Never mind that Leo could neither fly nor flee through the earth—even someone capable of flight like Abigail would not be able to fly out of here.
These people truly lived up to being members of the same guild. Without rehearsing hundreds of times, they could not have executed this kind of coordinated maneuver so easily.
Individual valor was useless against an attack from such a well-coordinated battle formation!
An outstanding individual performance might instead draw even more concentrated fire!
Leo took a deep breath, suppressing his nervousness.
He held his greatsword horizontally.
His palm brushed across it.
Mana surged out.
The spell formation activated.
Thunder instantly boomed, and blue arcs of electricity flashed across the entire greatsword.
Leo looked at the embedded energy crystal.
Against the combined attack of two hundred wizard apprentices, he had only one chance to strike!
Behind him, Alice's chanting was hurried but rhythmic. The attack of two hundred wizard apprentices had actually failed to make her nervous in the slightest!
Leo could not help admiring her composure. She was so steady!
Boom!
The opposing wizards had struck. At the very instant they acted, Leo wondered whether he had gone deaf.
The tremendous roar carried inaudible ultrasonic and infrasonic waves, instantly making Leo so dizzy that he could not stand steadily.
The world spun. He felt nauseated and wanted to vomit.
The thunderous greatsword shook uncontrollably in his grip. It was not the sword trembling, but his hands.
As a body refinement wizard apprentice renowned for physical strength, Leo had never imagined that one day he would be unable even to hold his sword steady.
Faced with such an attack-or rather, before the attack even arrived, with only its shock waves reaching him-he already could not withstand it.
At that moment, Leo understood. His earlier thought of having one chance to strike had been wishful thinking.
Once the fighting actually began, he did not even have a chance to attack.
The earth erupted with a boom. The chaotic, multicolored sky instantly seemed to be wiped clean by some force. Every color vanished, leaving only the purest white.
Though he could not see it, Leo could sense a terrifying spell pressing down!
It could flatten him and Alice into a pancake in an instant!
It was too late to run. The space here had been locked down, leaving no way to escape!