Chapter 20: The Battle Begins (2)
While Su Yu was thinking, a shout rang out from outside the cafeteria, "All students, gather up. Those unable to make it, hide where you are."
"The enemies are here. The Myriad Race Cult bastards are attacking!"
"Stay calm and listen to your instructors. Activate the formations and protect yourself."
"Keep your classroom doors shut. Instructors, engage the enemies."
"Guards, gather up."
"City guards, Windcatcher Department, move out!"
"Kill!"
With that final roar, the entire Nanyuan Secondary School was mobilized.
At that moment, Su Yu felt no fear. He only felt a little nervous and excited at the same time. He was confident in his teachers. He even had the urge to rush out and witness the sight of his teachers slaughtering the enemies.
His father, Su Long, would frequently speak of his time in the army, talking about battles where tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of soldiers charged forward, creating fields of corpses, leaving rivers of blood behind, and causing the very heavens to tremble. In these stories, humanity was always able to sweep everything before their eyes.
"I really wish I can go take a look."
At the other side of the cafeteria, Chen Hao was feeling very excited as well. He tightened his grip on his saber and had to force himself to calm down instead of running outside. The only reason he hadn’t rushed out yet was because he was afraid that he would get Su Yu killed.
"Kill!"
Sounds of battles echoed all over the school. And apart from the word "kill", no other words could be heard. During battles, no other words were required.
...
Outside the Teacher's Office.
Two groups of several hundred people each started fighting the moment they encountered each other. No words were exchanged. The squad of ten from Martial Dragon Guards instantly surrounded the fourth-stage Skysoar Realm old man from the cult under the lead of their squad leader, Xia Bing.
Xia Bing was a second-stage Skysoar cultivator clad in golden armor and golden helmet. With a long saber in hand, he roared fearlessly, "Into our formation. Kill!"
At his command, ten sabers started swinging and the fight began. Mayor Wu Wenhai, who was supposed to be in the mayor's manor, suddenly appeared from above the building. With a saber in hand, he charged the woman from the cult.
"Wu Wenhai, you're courting death!"
So the mayor was actually waiting in the school as well. The woman was relieved that they had prepared for this possibility. The middle-aged man called Wu Hen was overjoyed when he saw that the two Skysoar cultivators of Nanyuan were being kept busy. Even the Martial Dragon Guards were occupied. Ignoring everyone, he dashed straight toward the distant Liu Wenyan.
"I'm your opponent!"
"There's me as well!"
Abruptly, two men jumped out. One held a saber while the other held a sword.
"Zhang Yun, Zeng Hua!"
The middle-aged man snorted coldly. He knew these two. One was the 1000-man commander of the city guards and the other was the head of Nanyuan's Windcatcher Department. Both were ninth-stage Infinite Strength cultivators. How would they be a match for a Skysoar cultivator like him?
"Kill!"
The two did not waste any time speaking. They had nothing to say to a Myriad Race Cult member. They only needed to kill him.
Clang!
Sounds of weapon clashing rang out everywhere. Wu Hen wasted no time and rose into the air before flying over the two. He went straight toward Liu Wenyan. There were a decent number of Great Strength Realm instructors around Liu Wenyan as well.
Wu Hen’s target was not the mayor, the Skysoar cultivators, or the two high-ranked military officials behind him. Instead, it was the genius students and Liu Wenyan, the man known as the spark of civilization. These were the ones worth killing.
Several Great Strength Realm instructors raised their sabers and stood before Liu Wenyan in preparation for a fight. The two Infinite Strength cultivators left behind also reacted quickly and chased after Wu Hen. After a long jump, Zhang Yun swung his blade at Wu Hen.
"Over our dead bodies!"
Once again, Wu Hen was forced into combat with the two.
"Damn it!" Wu Hen was only a second-stage Skysoar cultivator. He couldn't fly high enough and was forced to land and face the two. If he remained in the sky, he would be a sitting duck.
...
"Instructor Liu, leave!" The Great Strength cultivators in charge of guarding Liu Wenyan hurriedly pulled him away. However, he refused to leave.
Looking around at the fights breaking out everywhere, he scolded, "They really have a lot of confidence in us. Those bastards from the capital must have been aware that there will be a lot of Skysoar Realm enemies participating in this, but they still skipped our city when sending reinforcements."
The others were confused at what the old man was talking about. However, now wasn't the time to ask.
The old man continued scolding, "Are they really so confident that I can do it? What if I fail? They're gambling with human lives here! Don't let me find out who this order came from or I'll give him hell!"
Clearly, some people in the capital believed that he would be able to achieve willpower materialization today. But what if he failed? Liu Wenyan unleashed a string of profanities, completely destroying the image of a scholar he had before.
"I'm the most useless of the bunch. How can I do it? They have too much confidence in me. I'm worthless. It's not like you guys don't know that. Why would I have been expelled otherwise?"
As Liu Wenyan muttered to himself, grief slowly appeared in his voice. If he wasn't so useless, how would his cultivation remain stuck at such an old age? He wanted to break through as well, but it was really very hard.
"You bastards! Damn you all for forcing me with all these lives...I have always known you guys are a bunch of ruthless assholes. I'll be sure to give you guys hell right after I break through!"
As Liu Wenyan grumbled, golden light erupted from the top of his head. His body shook as his feet slowly left the ground.
The expressions of the people around him changed. Not far away, the principal smiled as he said, "This old man really needs to be pushed, after all. From today onward, humanity will have one more Skysoar cultivator."
"Infinite Strength cultivators, stop what you're doing. To me!" Wu Hen roared. He had also noticed what was happening. A nervous expression covered his face as he roared, "To me! Kill these two!"
At his command, several Infinite Strength cultivators rushed over. Wu Hen took the chance to break free from the two and rush toward Liu Wenyan. He couldn't allow the old man to complete the willpower materialization and enter the Skysoar Realm. Otherwise, they would receive a much lower evaluation for their mission today even if they were really able to kill all the students here.
…
Sounds of fighting echoed all over the school.
Inside the cafeteria.
Su Yu and Chen Hao could hear the sounds of weapons clashing against each other, painful roars, and fearful shouts of students outside. However, they did not dare to move out and get a look. Was the school winning or losing? Even Su Yu, who was confident in their teachers, was wondering if they were really winning.
"Yu..." At the corner, Chen Hao was gripping the handle of his saber tightly. His face was both pale and flushed at the same time. He wanted to ask Su Yu if they should go out.
Su Yu ignored him. His left ear kept moving as he listened to their surroundings. The fourth-stage Source Opening Realm had not granted him much strength, but he did obtain a much sharper hearing.
"Shh!"
Su Yu silenced Chen Hao with a gesture. A short while later, heavy footsteps sounded outside the cafeteria.
"Come out! The school is arranging a withdrawal. Gather at the southern gate." The voice spoke anxiously.
A short while later, a man in his thirties walked into the cafeteria with a saber in hand. He shouted, "Are there any students here? Move faster. We can't hold on much longer. The cult members are too strong. We need to withdraw from the school!"
Heavy footsteps accompanied that anxious voice. Chen Hao looked at Su Yu anxiously, seeking Su Yu's opinion as to whether they should leave. Su Yu narrowed his eyes as he looked at the incoming silhouette. That wasn't someone he was familiar with, but there were over two hundred instructors and teachers in the school. It wasn't possible for him to know everyone. Was that really an instructor?
"Is anyone here? Our defenses can’t hold much longer. We need to withdraw immediately!"
The newcomer sounded worried. The cafeteria was big. At a glance, it was thousands of square meters in size. It would waste too much of his time to search the cafeteria.
At the corner.
Hearing the instructor's anxious voice, Chen Hao could no longer hold back. Without first checking with Su Yu, he stood up and said, "Instructor, how is the situation?"
When the man saw Chen Hao, his eyes flashed with joy. A student was still a student, after all. This kid was too naive. Even the constant lessons on survival given by the school wouldn't be able to make up for the lack of experience.
In fact, he had used these same words on two hiding students a short while ago. He had spent only ten seconds luring the two out of a building with numerous rooms, a building that would waste at least two minutes of his time if he had to manually search it. These children had not suffered any setbacks in life nor had they experienced the battlefield before. Words were enough to mislead them.
"Things are very bad. Come with me. We don't have much time..."
The man started rushing toward Chen Hao. This was the third student! The man's face was covered with joy. Three hundred of them had attacked, with two hundred of them being sent to deal with the instructors, school guards, city guards, and the Windcatcher Department.
Even with the lower number of people, they still held the upper hand as a lot of them were middle-stage Great Strength cultivators. The rest of them were sent to attack the classrooms and search the school for lone students.
They had to face the instructors when attacking the classrooms. On the other hand, lone students were fewer in number and harder to find, but they were defenseless and much easier to kill. There were thousands of students in the school. Even if all the students were killed, each attacker would be able to kill no more than ten. And he had gotten three of them so far. Perhaps he might gain even more next.
"Come on, we need to leave..."
The man moved quickly and did not stop when speaking. For the man, ending a student was as simple as swinging his blade. The only thing making it difficult was the fact that these students were dispersed and hidden. The moment these students were found, they were as good as free contribution points. Chen Hao moved out of his hiding space to leave with the fake instructor and instinctively glanced in Su Yu's direction while doing so.
Su Yu was attentively observing the instructor. At the beginning, he had believed that this was an instructor as well. But soon, he sensed something wrong. He wasn't someone with a rich practical experience. But he had been hunted too many times in his dreams. The impatient tone of that man was very similar to the monsters that had been chasing after him in his dreams.
It was as though they were saying, "Come get killed! I can't wait to kill you!"
Sure, those weren't the exact words, but the tone behind the voice felt similar. That eagerness to kill was very familiar. Thus, Su Yu focused even more on the newcomer. He immediately broke out in cold sweat.
Fake!
Instructors might not have a uniform, but all of them would have their work badge on them. This person had no such item on his body. Did he drop it because of the intense battle?
"No..."
Su Yu could see it. From how the man was holding his blade, the man was preparing to swing it.
"Damn it! Hao is such an idiot!"
After cursing to himself, Su Yu acted immediately. He didn't have the time to even feel regret for being careless. Both he and Chen Hao were only secondary school students. They had never encountered something like this. They had thought that all enemies would be fierce opponents that would charge right into you. How would they have guessed that the enemy could also be a weakling relying on lies.
"Instructor!" With a shout, Su Yu jumped out. His heart was thumping crazily.
The man turned slightly sluggish as even more joy seeped into his heart.
One more! Four in total!
Su Yu's palms were sweaty as he was nervous, afraid, and uneasy. However, he was able to withstand the stress and move calmly. He had been killed too many times in his dreams. He was only afraid because this was his first taste of danger in real life. However, he was able to adapt quickly.
"Instructor, are we really losing? There are still more than ten students around here. Should I get them as well?" Su Yu said anxiously while turning his head to look at an area deeper in the cafeteria. He added, "They won't be able to escape otherwise."
More than ten? The man was wild with joy. He was going to get rich! He would get to kill more than ten students today! He might even earn more contribution points than what an Infinite Strength cultivator could from this mission. He wanted to laugh loudly. Ten Source Opening cultivators were the same as ten commoners. He could kill one per slash. They wouldn't even be able to outrun him.
He had planned to quickly end Chen Hao quickly, but he changed his mind and hastily said, "Quick! Call them out! We need to leave immediately!"
Su Yu's heart was still thumping heavily. He did not say anything and turned around. One swing of that man's sword and it would all be over for him. With his back to the man, he swallowed a drop of blood essence before walking deeper into the cafeteria.
He asked with a worried tone, "Instructor, can we take more people with us? I know there are more students hiding somewhere else. I don't know if the other instructors can find them..."
"More?"
There were more? The man followed Su Yu, completely disregarding Chen Hao. That was a lone student that he could handle anytime he wanted. He did not notice that Chen Hao had turned completely pale and was sweating all over.