Elite Mages’ Academy (Web Novel)
chapter-66

Chapter 66: Victory

Xiao Lin felt like he should be buying a lottery ticket after managing to get two lucky hits. Of course, that was contingent on the Dawn Academy actually having something like the lottery.

Xiao Lin’s Basic Perception was LV2, and the level of one’s perception directly affected the hit rate of spells; that was something they learned in class. Xiao Lin had a new commissioned wand, and the spell that it carried was the Ice Bullet, which had a high requirement for perception. He had never expected that the spell would be on target two times in a row.

As the other spellcaster in the group, Gu Xiaoyue’s expression did not look too great. He glanced over at the tired expression on the girl’s face and had a moment of realization.

They had been running for half a day in high heat, and everyone had already expended most of their energy, which caused quite a big impact on their fighting prowess. He felt like he should have realized it earlier; the attributes that the recruits gave earlier were just a reference, or rather, just a representation of their abilities in normal circumstances. Things like injuries or a drastic decrease in their physical strength would naturally cause some fluctuations in those attributes.

The injured desert iguana once again tried to break out, but no one was willing to let it go just like that. Most of them had been slaving away for a whole month, and this was their very first battle after all that training. They were not willing to lose, especially after Xiao Lin had shot out two very important ice bullets, which also served to bolster their confidence.

Xiao Lin regained his fighting spirit as well, even though everyone was in bad shape, they still had a big advantage in numbers. If they really let the iguana escape, it would make everyone feel very useless. Furthermore, if the iguana really escaped, the b*stard might return to attack them again, so the best solution was still to solve it once and for all right there.

“We can’t retreat! Do not stray too far apart and do not leave enough space for the iguana to jump! Do not be afraid. Surround it! Do you guys want to go back and get laughed at by the others for being cowards?” Xiao Lin commanded. He was appointed as the one in charge, and had saved people with his ice bullets earlier. which caused everyone to believe in him even more, so everyone decided to follow his instructions.

The others he was referring to were the group of people that followed Wang Dalin on reconnaissance. The majority of the people who scored A and B ranks during the admissions test were there, so they had pretty decent skills.

Encouraged by his words, some of them closed the distance between the iguanas, causing the formation to get tighter. The iguana felt a sense of danger, and began to wave around its two black blades, constantly causing its blades to collide and emit an intense noise. The iguana was very nimble, managing to repel most of the blades that were attacking it, but at the same time it was unable to escape.

“It’s so quick with its blades! It must be at least at the Black Iron-rank!”

“I don’t think so. Its strength isn’t that great!”

“You call that not that great? F*ck, look at how deep the wound on my shoulder is!”

“That’s probably because you’re too weak!”

Everyone quickly understood the level the iguana was at. They did not know its general attributes, but could estimate that it was between novice and Black Iron-rank, but still stronger than these novices nonetheless.

Lu Renyi was at the perimeter and itching to pull his bow, but was stopped by Xiao Lin. He may have a LV2 in Basic Archery, but his exhaustion would decrease his hit rate by a good amount. The chances of him accidentally hitting a teammate was higher at the moment.

Xiao Lin also made Gu Xiaoyue stay on the sidelines; he believed that the girl was still able to maintain a high hit rate at the moment, but rather than risking it, it was better to let her rest up first.

Xiao Lin put away his wand and once again took out his dagger; with his current meditation rank and intelligence, the ice bullet, which was a Black Iron-rank spell, was above his current capabilities; that meant that he only had a limited amount of uses.

The spells he flung at the iguana with Gu Xiaoyue earlier had caused quite a few of the hard scales on its body to fall off. Other than the slow effect from the ice bullet, it also had an F-rank damage rating. When facing a monster that was not yet at the Black Iron-rank, the damage was very visible.

Being surrounded and attacked, many wounds started to appear on the iguana, especially because a lot of them were smart enough to focus their attacks on the weak points left behind by the removed scales. They kept attacking those spots and the iguana was now covered in blood.

The iguana had a lot of vitality. Even though it had been hurt to that degree, it did not stop its blades at all. It would even occasionally catch some people who had slowed down, sending a sharp blade toward them. After a bit, around five or six people retreated from varying degrees of injury.

Xiao Lin had recovered some of his strength and joined the fray. His strength was not the highest in the class, and even within this team, there were a few that exceeded him, but facing the onslaught of blades from the desert iguana, his attacks were the most skillful.

Even in the heat of battle, a few curious ones still took the opportunity to observe Xiao Lin. As the monitor of Class Seven and someone who was publicly called out for having the lowest total attribute scores, it was hard for some of them to willingly accept his position. However, the ice bullets he shot out earlier and the swordsmanship he was showing off at that moment caused quite a few of them to look very surprised.

Xiao Lin was very thankful to Cheng Ming, the acting monitor of Class One, who was horrifying when it came to the talent he had in swordsmanship. During the month of Basic Swordsmanship classes, Xiao Lin had been sparring with that maniac. Even though he asked for Cheng Ming to control his strength, it was still hard to match him, and Xiao Lin ended every class full of injuries, unable to stop himself from spending points to treat himself.

His Basic Blocking ability was honed in that environment, and because of that, Xiao Lin did not feel like the iguana’s blades amounted to much; his LV2 Basic Blocking was more than enough to handle it.

After a few minutes, they could feel that the desert iguana was beginning to slow down. It seemed to be on its last reserves of energy. Xiao Lin let the two people beside him hold the iguana off as he retreated two steps. He held his novice sword up high and a cold light began to shine from the tip of the blade.

As if sensing imminent danger, the desert iguana began to get even wilder, causing the blood on its body to splash everywhere as it dashed toward Xiao Lin, but the few people in front of him managed to hold it off.

Slashing!

There were people covering for him this time, so Xiao Lin managed to use quite a few seconds of time to gather his strength for Slashing. The maxed out Slashing skill was very powerful if he got the full charge time; based on his testing during training, it was between F+ to E in power.

The blade fell heavily on the desert iguana’s right shoulder; the scales in that area had long since fallen off, revealing the soft flesh underneath. With the full power of Slashing, the blade went through it like a hot knife through butter.

Half of the iguana’s body was forcefully torn apart by Xiao Lin’s blade, and its organs flowed out with its blood. As it fell on the ground, the iguana cried out in agony and it finally weakly lost consciousness. The thick smell of blood began to spread throughout the ravine.

Success!

Both the uninjured parties and the ones currently treating their wounds let out a joyous cry, everyone was shaking their hands and hugging each other in celebration.