Chapter 220: Attacking The Hill
Xiao Lin had actually been quite worried something like that would happen, but he did not expect that the problems would pop up before they even beat their foes on the beach.
This examination involved all twelve cla.s.ses, which would obviously create a lot of problems. It would be hard to get all the cla.s.ses to work together, since everyone was just an acting cla.s.s monitor. Without a clear hierarchy, no one wanted to be commanded by another.
He was not the only one with those thoughts, as he quickly saw Cheng Ming rushing toward those at the helm. The two sides seemed to be engaged in discussions, and it was clear that Cheng Ming saw how problematic the situation was.
Cheng Ming was quite suited to handle any negotiation, since he was quite popular among the first years. Xiao Lin decided to ignore what was happening in front, turning around and saying, “Gu Xiaoyue, Zhou Feng, go check out the status of your groups.”
Xiao Lin and Qin Chuan were on the lookout just in case any merfolk decided to rush at them. He gave the instructor a good look, and noticed Qin Chuan’s armor was just as bloodstained as his, but not from Qin Chuan’s own blood. It was obvious he was not injured from the earlier battle, and looked to be quite relaxed. Xiao Lin’s expectations of the older student were spot on; his battle capabilities were definitely a few notches higher than most of them.
Xiao Lin quickly received his reports, which caused him to scowl. Only four of them had died, but there were 28 injured, which was practically half of them. Of those 28, around seven or eight of them were heavily injured. Two of them even had their legs turned into mush, which was quite a cruel sight to see.
That was only from fighting the merfolk. If they were to face the stronger orcs, their casualties might be much higher. Even though they were no strangers to battle, it was still the first time any of them had a proper taste of war.
“Did you all get some potions with your redemption points?” Qin Chuan asked.
A few of them with lighter injuries just had some flesh wounds, so their problems were not too bad. Some of them shook their heads while the others nodded; they either did not use their points to buy any potions or were not willing to use them just yet.
Xiao Lin was quite frustrated, as recovery potions were not that expensive. Qin Chuan or himself could afford a lot of them, but the rest of them were different. However, there was no way he would allow the uninjured to offer up their own potions, so he could only sigh and say, “Bandage your injuries first. Hopefully, there will be some recovery potions at the supply depot.
The bandaging was left to Qin Chuan, as the rest of them were not too experienced with it. He then left Zhou Feng to keep watch while he brought Gu Xiaoyue and a few other capable students to help with the other cla.s.ses.
“Gu Xiaoyue, I recall you have Elementary Speed Boost and Elementary Protection among your support magics?” Xiao Lin asked as they walked.
“I have Elementary Projectile Shield as well,” Gu Xiaoyue said, her tone cold as usual.
Xiao Lin paused, asking curiously, “I definitely did not see that under your information the last time I checked.”
Gu Xiaoyue shot him a look, probably unhappy that he was looking at her information. “I learnt it one day before the examination.”
Xiao Lin’s lips twitched. It was quite a blow to his ego talking to a magical genius.
“How much can your Elementary Speed Boost increase my speed by?”
“With my current mastery, at most 20%.” Gu Xiaoyue calmly gave the numbers. Xiao Lin did not doubt her at all, but he could not resist cursing her talent. He knew Elementary Speed Boost as well, but the skill only increased speed by 10%. Achieving 20% required completely mastering the spell.
“Increase my speed and use Ice Bullets to slow down the enemies. Everyone else, follow me!” Xiao Lin gave out a few simple commands. Everyone who came, aside from Gu Xiaoyue, was a melee specialist. That was because Xiao Lin felt that bows were ill-suited for the chaos of this particular battle, but the main reason was actually because he lacked faith in the accuracy of the archers in their cla.s.s.
Gu Xiaoyue did not waste time speaking as well. She waved her wand as a faint green light fell on his body alongside a dark yellow one, which was indicative of the Elementary Protection spell. It could reduce the impact of physical damage that did not have the piercing trait, equal to half a grade of defense.
The merfolk all used blunt objects as their weapons, so the Protection spell was especially effective, reducing the damage from those weapons greatly. With Gu Xiaoyue’s intelligence, she had more than enough to cast a dozen Elementary Protection spells.
She cast that spell on everyone with great precision and speed. By the time they reached the merfolk, everyone had a layer of protection on them.
Even though Xiao Lin’s Miracle was already on cooldown, this damage output did not decrease. Holy Soul Sword’s swordsmanship enhancing ability was way too useful. He was able to clearly feel the benefits of having Basic Swordsmanship as he sliced through the weak points in the merfolks’ armor like b.u.t.ter.
As far as defense went, the speed boost greatly covered for the fact that Xiao Lin could not move his attributes around. With the 20% increase in speed, Xiao Lin’s actions felt like the wind, and Phantom Steps were not limited to just defense. As he attacked, he was able to maintain his dazzling speed, essentially toying with the merfolk.
Gradually, more and more areas were cleaned up and the beach started to become quiet.
The sun had already risen high in the sky, and the vibrant sunlight shone on the beach full of merfolk carca.s.ses. The smell of blood filled the air.
Cheng Ming’s negotiations finally bore fruit, his popularity proving useful. Under his advice, the other cla.s.s monitors decided to temporarily gather at the foot of the hill to conduct a short meeting. The instructors accompanied them as well. No matter what their feelings were toward the instructors, the battle at the beach served as an eye-opener to how useful their combat abilities would be in this examination.
As for everyone else, they were all resting and preparing nearby. What allowed them to relax for a bit was the destroyed archer towers littered on the hill thanks to the support fire from the warships. It seemed like there were no magic-users atop the hill either, so they managed to earn themselves a period of respite.
There were actually still people landing on the beach. Other than the twelve cla.s.ses, there were four other warships with the fleet. It was only then that Xiao Lin and the others found out the other ships had carried engineers and potion masters. They were all the NPCs for that particular examination.