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Chapter 85: Red-Lotus Serpent King

The countless crimson eyes staring at them from the dense forest made everyone shiver, and no one doubted Ashura’s earlier warning now.

Had Ashura not told them to prepare here, they would have suffered terrible casualties if they had met this swarm of serpentine Beasts inside the woods.

Even so, they still had no confidence in defeating the serpents before them, and the dread radiating from the Beast swarm blanketed the students.

Instructor Enge raised his massive axe and roared battle slogans to rally their spirits.

After all, the students were young elites of King’s Continent; once the initial terror passed they gripped their weapons, fought the trembling in their legs, summoned every ounce of courage, and understood that a life-or-death battle awaited them.

Sensing the oppressive mood, Ashura did not mock them, for he had been just as terrified the year he encountered the tier-5 Beast, the Earthquake Berserk Bear.

The Red-Lotus Serpents slithered out of the trees, and the Red-Lotus Serpent King with lantern-sized slit pupils showed itself; Ashura glanced at the red-lotus pattern on its head and secretly breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Feeling slightly eased, he shouted to everyone, “Good news, this Red-Lotus Serpent King is only peak tier-6, not tier-7!”

The crowd turned as one and looked at him as though he were an idiot, and Ashura immediately felt awkward about his announcement.

Yet several Instructors secretly exhaled in relief; a peak tier-6 Beast was within their combined abilities, but with students behind them they still feared the devastation a berserk Serpent King could cause.

Before anyone could plan a breakthrough, the Serpent King reared its head, its trunk as thick as three men’s arms joined, delivering a powerful visual shock.

The Serpent King seemed to gather power, then spat a foul crimson mist at the formation, and with a hiss thousands of Red-Lotus Serpents charged the students.

Instructor Enge bellowed, swung his great axe, and rushed the Serpent King with two other Warrior Instructors, hoping to keep it outside the battle line and leaving the tier-3, 4, and 5 serpents to the others.

Combat erupted; the crimson mist was the Serpent King’s innate skill, and the students grew dizzy and sluggish, able to use barely half their strength.

As the serpent horde closed in and the students stood helpless, pale blue ripples suddenly spread outward from within the ranks.

When the ripples passed through them, the mist’s debuffs were washed away, and the students regained their full power.

Instructor Ella had raised her magic staff and cast the yellow-tier spell Blessing of the Water God, purging the debuffs and restoring their combat strength.

Spirits soared; they shot grateful looks toward Ella at the center, then swung their weapons and met the serpent tide head-on.

Fortunately most foes were tier-3 or 4 serpents and the tier-5s were few, while up front Instructor Anthony used his silver spear to pick off every tier-5 serpent that appeared.

After the initial panic, the group gradually stabilized their formation and blocked the serpent onslaught in an orderly manner.

The Magic students in the middle looked particularly miserable; the Lightning spells summoned by the lightning-element students rarely managed to hit the lightning-fast serpents.

Several magicians were so nervous they botched their incantations and failed to cast a single spell.

The surrounding Warrior students guarded them with some annoyance, preventing the snakes that slipped through from attacking.

Only Clara’s Lightning was fast, accurate, and devastating; in moments she slew a tier-5 serpent, leaving Ashura beside her astonished.

It was his first time seeing Clara cast Magic, and lightning-element spells truly had the highest damage; Ashura wondered if he should train his own lightning magic more.

With that thought he began brandishing his Twin Swords like a staff, every slash unleashing a streak of Lightning.

Thanks to his special constitution he had stockpiled huge amounts of lightning element through meditation, so he ignored mana cost and focused solely on proficiency and lethality.

Instructor Ella, watching from behind, was dumbfounded that this was one of her students.

Magicians were supposed to be synonymous with elegance and wisdom, yet a student leaping about with Twin Swords, hacking one moment and casting Lightning the next, was anything but elegant.

With the Serpent King pinned by Enge and the other two Warrior Instructors, Anthony… at Magic-Warrior level… was sniping tier-5 serpents up front, while Ella and Slade, both Magic Scholars, used spells in the center to hold the line.

The few serpents that slipped through were quickly cut down by Magina and other outstanding students, and the red mist released at their deaths lingered over the clearing.

Some students were injured now and then, but fortunately none had been killed.

Suddenly a furious roar rang out, “You beast, how dare you!”

The peak tier-6 Serpent King lashed its huge tail with full force, sent the three Warrior Instructors flying, and charged the student line with murderous eyes.

At the very front Anthony saw the raging Serpent King rushing in, cold sweat pouring from his brow, while Enge and the other two shouted “Stop it!” and sprinted to help.

But fear seized the young Instructor; he dared not thrust his spear, sidestepped and retreated, and left the students behind him square in the Serpent King’s path.

Horrified screams sounded as more than 10 students were hurled away by the Serpent King’s immense impact, their fate unknown when they hit the ground.

The defensive line collapsed at once, and several students even thought of fleeing.

As expected, higher rank meant higher intellect; the peak tier-6 Serpent King clearly knew to strike the weak spots, rampaging through the formation and dealing heavy damage.

Instructor Enge shot a furious glare at the sweating Anthony, then leapt toward the Serpent King.

At that moment an explosive fireball slammed into the Serpent King’s head; it hissed in pain and its scarlet eyes locked onto Instructor Slade, who held a staff in the arena.

Under that emotionless, icy gaze, Slade felt a chill across his body, and the staff in his hands suddenly weighed a thousand pounds.

The Serpent King opened its bloody maw and lunged to swallow Slade whole, but at the last second Enge sprinted over, grabbed Slade, and dove forward together.

Slade was nearly knocked unconscious by the fall, but it was still better than being swallowed alive.

Wounded students now lay everywhere, and Enge’s group fought cautiously for fear of hitting them, while the surviving Red-Lotus Serpents counterattacked alongside the Serpent King.

Ashura was about to pull Lan Yu and Magina back, but the two girls grabbed their weapons without hesitation and charged the Serpent King, unleashing their Martial Techniques to wound it in concert with the Instructors.

Ashura frowned repeatedly; he tried to tug Clara back, yet the silver-haired girl stubbornly refused and, gritting her teeth, spent her remaining mana to kill the other serpents.

He was somewhat unhappy, then turned to see Instructor Ella continuously casting Blessing of the Water God; her face was now ashen.

Clearly the yellow-tier spell was draining her, but she could not stop; she had to counter the Serpent King’s poisonous red mist.

Seeing this, Ashura sighed softly and then shouted, “Students of Magic Class 13, follow my command! Ignore the tier-3, 4, and 5 serpents… unleash Lightning with all you have and help the Instructors kill the Serpent King!”

“All other Warrior students protect the mages, tighten the formation, and focus on defense!”

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