"Here I come!"
Victor quickly moved to cover the short distance to his targets. However, it wasn't going to be easy and he expected as much. Two archers were among the group and had already taken aim at him. As soon as he moved, they released their arrows.
They zoomed through the air, fast approaching Victor. Seeing the approaching arrows, he did not slow down and moved forward. His faith was in his skill, a good one too, considering a Class S hunter also had something similar.
Barrier Magic!
CLANG! CLANG!
As if crushing into a very dense material, the arrows bounced off of him, not doing anything to slow him down either. When he reached the halfway point, he jumped and with a clenched fist, slammed into the ground before the others.
BOOM!
The impact created a massive crater 5 metres deep and 23 metres wide. The shockwave uprooted the trees nearby and sent some of the unprepared students flying. The others were able to leap out of the way before his fist impacted.
Of course, Victor's plan was to simply break their formation and pick them off one at a time. The plan seemed to work as he quickly jumped out of the crater and went after the students who lost their footing from the impact of his punch.
In a burst of speed, he was already before one of them, his right fist falling with the force of a mountain. His imposing stature and height created a denser shadow in addition to the one created by the towering trees.
This visual impact and the savage grin froze the student. He couldn't think of anything or even try to evade. The punch was already on him.
"Haa…!"
BOOOM!
The blow landed on the face of the student, and instantly planted him into the ground making another crater, the shockwave from the attack already spreading out amongst the trees, disrupting their peaceful and sturdy form, some being uprooted. The commotion was bound to attract some students to the area, but Victor didn't seem to care.
The student lost consciousness immediately after, the blow was too much for him. However, his sacrifice wasn't in vain.
All five sword users were already on him, three lunged at him from the front, side and back. One was coming from above with a thrust, and the last slashed at him from his remaining side. He was locked in and there seemed to be no way out… Or so it seemed.
CLANG!!
Once again, the weapons encountered a hard barrier that refused them passage. But this time, there were various cracks in the barrier. This gave them a glimpse of victory, but that too was taken away from them.
"You'll have to try harder than that!" Victor exclaimed and grabbed the sword of the student in front of him, temporarily ignoring the rest by reinforcing his barrier and pushing the student whose sword was in his grasp. Briefly breaking out of the encirclement, he moved a few metres away from the others.
Since there was no need to kill in order to eliminate a student, Victor attempted to grab the badge to crush it. But it was easier said than done. Sure, the badges couldn't be moved around or even removed from their chest, but that didn't mean they would just sit and watch someone grab them.
Because he was no longer surrounded, he was an open shot for the two archers, and they didn't hesitate to fire their arrows at him. While a good attempt, they forgot that one of their companions was in his hand.
WHOOSH!
He heard the approaching arrows and decided to use his opponent as a shield. His hand that was in motion to grab the badge turned to hold his opponent's vest and lifted him in the direction of the incoming arrows.
"NO!"
Of course, it was too late to change the trajectory once it was in motion. However, the person who was lifted to be used as a shield has not yet been done. He activated his ability and suddenly, the arrows slowed down, losing momentum.
"Tch" Victor snorted when his plan failed. The others were already closing in again and he needed to eliminate more of them to relieve the pressure.
Yes, he realized he had rushed in too quickly. With his physical strength and barrier magic, he believed he could breeze through the weaklings he encountered, but it was proving to be more than he could handle.
He tried to slam the person in his hold into the ground and crash his badge, but one of the dagger wielders was already behind him, her dual blades aiming for his back. In a flash of speed, she was behind him.
CLANG!
The blades made contact with the barrier and cracks appeared once again. Two more arrows followed and added to the damage. While the barrier was not completely broken, the force behind the attacks pushed him around. Having no other choice, he had to let go of his opponent and back off a little.
But the group of twelve, now eleven realized their advantage and pushed, not giving him a chance to retaliate.
"We can win! Don't let up!" One of the sword users exclaimed to invigorate her allies. Victor was then forced on the defensive, having to now parry the attacks of multiple people as well as maintain his barrier.
While the others relied on their weapons and physicals, they had no worry about depleting their reserves. Victor on the other hand had to consider his draining mana.
'Fuck… I did not think this through.' He realized his blunder and made plans to escape his encirclement.
...…..
Alex watched the poor display of the one-horned and shook his head in disappointment. 'I had high hopes for him too. No matter, you all would do just fine.' Alex thought as he began to make his move.
He had already noticed the presence of others in the vicinity. Naturally, with the commotion and explosions happening due to the impact of that person's punches, the brave ones would be drawn here, hoping to reap the benefits without doing anything.
There was now a clearing where the fight was ongoing, providing a wide view to whoever was around.
"Here goes nothing," Alex muttered and in a burst of speed disappeared from the branch he was perching on.