Maria Nearl was indeed having some difficulty, but fortunately, her Stone source art worked. Most of the damage inflicted by the knights who managed to hit her was very limited, and she could recover in just a few breaths. These people had no coordinated attacks, constantly interfering with and hindering each other, which gave Maria Nearl some breathing room in this chaotic battle.
However, it was still one person against many. Maria Nearl had already started fighting and retreating. If this continued, she would soon be forced to the edge of the arena. Once she fell off, she would be eliminated.
So… should she use the light sword?
Maria Nearl still couldn't control the light sword properly. If she used it, she couldn't guarantee that she could maintain her current situation. It would either be worse, or…
Maria Nearl's breathing began to become erratic, and her reaction to attacks became somewhat sluggish. She was indeed good at prolonged attrition warfare, but when surrounded, she couldn't handle everything. If this continued, Maria Nearl would definitely lose.
Being surrounded… was even more arduous than imagined.
At a time like this… first, remember what Uncle said…
Encirclement… what should one do when surrounded…
Footwork… use footwork, yes, use footwork and control of position to prevent enemies from coming from all directions and overwhelming her. The more Maria Nearl fought, the clearer her mind became. Immersed in battle, Maria Nearl always maintained her thoughts. She couldn't be a punching bag. She had to observe carefully, observe the opponent's weaknesses. The opponents were untrained and had many weaknesses. Pay attention to observing them.
Maria Nearl's movements suddenly changed. From being straightforward, they became elusive. The knights surrounding her inexplicably felt uncomfortable… as if they were stuck in a quagmire. Whenever they wanted to attack Xia Guang Knight, they would always be hindered by the positions of others, or even collide with, or accidentally injure their "partners" who were also attacking. Some simply decided to make the most of the mistake and eliminate some of them first.
Anyway, they weren't real teammates; they were also opponents. Accidental injury was accidental injury! Who cared!
Thus, the encirclement began to scatter, even to differentiate, eventually truly turning into a melee. And Maria Nearl, in this, maintained a remarkably excellent state, facing enemy attacks without panic. Shield block, slash, retreat, charge. The encirclement was dismantled, finally turning into a chaotic free-for-all. These people were seeing red and no longer cared about their previous intention to team up against Maria Nearl.
"…Amazing." After Sona dealt with her opponents, she realized that Maria Nearl had successfully resolved the encirclement through movement and guidance.
"How's the battle going?" Noah couldn't see, and the battlefield was too chaotic to hear anything clearly, so she could only ask Viviana next to her.
"Hard to say, but Xia Guang Knight seems to have turned the corner. If this continues, she should be the last one standing." Viviana wasn't too sure either. The battle was too chaotic now. She just felt that the group that was originally siege Maria Nearl suddenly started fighting among themselves. The only ones who probably saw things clearly were the veteran soldiers who had truly seen battlefields, and Manner Lim Kwong, who used to be a mercenary. Although it was the way to deal with encirclement that he taught Maria Nearl… this girl's first use of it was surprisingly good.
This had already exceeded Manner Lim Kwong's expectations…
He couldn't help but re-evaluate Maria Nearl's talent. Compared to Margaret's straightforward power overwhelming, Maria Nearl seemed to have a unique talent for observing battle situations.
Even with his guidance, he had originally thought that with Maria Nearl's experience, it would be difficult to apply… As for creating the current chaotic situation, Maria Nearl's observation played the biggest role.
Maria Nearl herself felt strange, as if she had entered a stage where she was completely insensitive to pain. But to say she was carried away by the fight didn't seem right either; she was frighteningly calm throughout. The more tense the situation, the calmer she seemed to become. The attacks that originally made her flustered now appeared full of openings, easily broken through. In the battle, Maria Nearl had already knocked down five knights.
She didn't even feel tired…
She didn't know if this was normal, but the knights participating in the encirclement were already feeling that something was wrong. Maria Nearl was clearly a conspicuous self-luminous body, but now she was like a ghost in the battle, suddenly appearing from time to time to eliminate a knight, and then blending back into the battle. She seemed to have integrated into the battlefield and was getting stronger with each fight.
"It seems… perhaps I underestimated Maria Nearl." Noah also felt that her backup plan might be useless. However, the moment this thought crossed her mind, the next moment, she felt a malevolence… a malevolence that made her tremble suddenly appeared in the battle. In a place Maria Nearl hadn't noticed, an unknown knight, who had always been on the periphery of the battlefield, appeared like a ghost beside Maria Nearl, then pulled out a dagger from his waist. This dagger looked quite old, with a rough exterior, and seemed… utterly harmless.
…Finally couldn't resist?
?
The black-clad knight's wrist was seized. When he turned his head, a masked person was gripping his arm tightly, making him feel as if his hand bones would be crushed the next second.
…A dagger coated with Originium dust…
Her cold words sent a chill down the black-clad man's spine. This was his last thought, because the next second, Kuro, who was gripping his arm, exerted force with her palm, directly crushing his ulna and radius. The intense pain made him want to cry out, but before he could scream, Kuro kicked him off the stage, sending him crashing into the wall at an extremely fast speed. Although it didn't kill him, this kick was enough to ensure he would never stand again.
"Not Shieldless League…" Kuro shook her head in confusion. However, the incident was sudden, and Noah had already put a lot of effort into just finding a way to get her into the melee, so it was naturally impossible for her to have time to interrogate the assassin.
So Noah's order was merely to stop this guy's harmful actions towards Maria Nearl. As for how to stop him, that was Kuro's decision.
However, this method… was very similar to the method that caused Noah to become an Infected person.
Kuro's expression was solemn, but this guy was already dealt with, and it was about time for her to quietly leave.
—Noah felt the malevolence disappear, and only then did she relax. Kuro must have acted… good thing she added an extra layer of insurance.
Maria Nearl had no idea what had happened, nor that she had almost followed in Noah's footsteps. Until the end of the melee, she maintained her Stone source art, and without using her light sword, she knocked down the last knight who was attacking her.
Without a doubt—Maria Nearl, advanced.
However, this outcome clearly didn't align with certain people's expectations...
When the assassin was eliminated, a group of people quietly left the venue.
Hintleyya noticed that the Shieldless League members within the venue also vanished without a trace. Was their mission over? Or rather... had the person they needed to monitor already left?
As a Platinum Position, she didn't actually know much more than the average grunt. Since she hadn't received any information, it meant this operation was likely organized by Azure, or... perhaps it was even personally directed by the Black Knight?
Hintleyya shook her head, thinking she might be overthinking it. How could that be... it had been so long since the Black Knight had made a move.
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