The sword struck, barely missing the mark.

The wizard didn't relax a bit, instead becoming even more alert. Most of its attention was directed at this unknown attacker. The sword turned and twisted in the air threateningly before once again shooting towards the Wizard at breakneck speed.

The Wizard flew back several meters before stopping. It moved its hand in a semi-circle clockwise before changing the direction and repeating. A barrier visible to the naked eye surrounded it from top to bottom.

It glowed with a bright blue color in the dark, rainy night. The sword flew straight at the barrier before being pushed back. The barrier looked like an elastic egg from afar. It bent but never broke.

Just as the Wizard had relaxed, another sword joined the fray. And then another and another. In less than 5 seconds more than twelve full-length blood-red swords had surrounded the wizard from all sides, trapping it in mid-air.

No matter how hard the Wizard tried, he couldn't get away. The swords seemed to have eyes of their own as they adjusted their positions each second.

*Shreeee*

It let out an ear-piercing shriek full of anger.

Below them, the battle had already started. The smaller wizard was still breathing life to those monstrous creatures which kept increasing by the second. Some of them were small and fast, zipping through the gaps between the roaches, charging straight towards the cultivators.

Some were several meters tall, hulking over everything else in the valley like emaciated giants. These larger creatures had hunched backs with a blue flame burning on their hands. Every few seconds they cupped their palms, gathered the flames into concentrated fireballs and threw them towards the cultivators.

The fireballs left behind a trail of vapors as raindrops evaporated before even coming close to them and shot towards the cultivators like rockets.

"Disperse!"

Aer shouted while thrusting the towering shield towards the first volley of fireballs. He managed to block over 15 fireballs which exploded right on his body but did little to no damage. His armor vibrated every time a fireball exploded but that was it.

Micha fired one arrow after another but there were too many, and they weren't the only source of danger. The smaller creatures, even though they were pale white, once they moved away from a source of light would become invisible. They waited for an opportunity and sneak attacked with their razor-sharp hooked-blades.

At this point, Dima stepped forward. His legs moved left and right in a strange manner, creating illusions everywhere he went. He punched and kicked into the air, sending a giant imprint with every attack.

Each of these imprints were created from his own secret arts and held deadly power. Wherever they went, everything was turned to dust under their indomitable force.

Qi thrummed along Micha's arms as he fired a giant arrow straight up into the air. The arrow reached a height of 15 meters before curving back down. It split from one to two, two to four until there were a hundred of them and shot towards the incoming creatures.

The other cultivators separated into their respective groups but the valley was too narrow. Only so many of them could fight at once.

And then another wave of creatures attacked. These ones had hardened bodies, their skin thick like stone. Both of their hands were 30% of the total size of their bodies, taking the shape of different weapons like hammers, cudgels, morning stars etc. These creatures attacked head-on like soldiers.

The first Wizard who was trapped by the sword array suddenly let out another shriek as it's barrier was penetrated by one of the blades, cutting a small chunk of flesh off its shoulder.

Blood mixed with the rain and dripped down.

It flew higher up into the air and started spinning while throwing red and orange fireballs all around it. These fireballs shone extremely brightly, lighting up most of the valley for a couple of seconds. The wizard came to an abrupt halt for it had finally found its target.

On a small ledge, 20 meters above the valley stood a handsome young man. He had two similar blood swords embedded in the rocks on each side and was staring right at the Wizard.

The Wizard's mouth opened and closed, showing its sharp fangs as it charged towards Dai Zhi.

Dai Zhi smirked. He gripped the swords and pulled them out. Although visually similar, they were different from the other swords that were chasing after the Wizard.

These ones had glowing runes along the center of the blade, lighting up one by one.

"Let me see your filthy magics," he murmured under his breath.

A red fog came out of his back and formed two bat-like wings. With a single flap of these webbed wings, he flew toward the charging wizard with his swords extended outwards.

***

Ceni and Fulke's group was still a couple of hundred meters away when the sounds of the battle ahead reached them.

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