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Chapter 1014  Tournament 3, the semi finals (1)

Once their interview was done, the group headed back to their hotel. The semi-finals were to be held tomorrow. So they had the rest of the day to do as they wished.

Caving to Ilmadia and Erik\'s pleading, Eldrian spent most of the day guiding them on using magic. Though not on Earth. Eldrian was too worried something might go awry.

They all logged in via the available cabins. Eldrian was slightly worried about Miracle\'s spying. However, he couldn\'t feel anything strange. Which, given his newly improved sensitivity to mana and lifeforce, meant something significant.

Thus, he concluded that they were at least mostly safe. Besides, the training he had planned for the duo wasn\'t anything outlandish.

Eldrian simply had them try and cast spells within an anti-magic barrier. One he controlled to thin the mana density within and also resist attempts at forming spells.

This mimicked what happened on Earth. True, there was more mana now. But it was still a fifth of the normal mana density found on Gaia.

On top of that, Earth\'s mana was stagnant in comparison to the mana of ANW. To get it to move, one needed to first give the mana some inertia. Or fight its \'static-state\' friction.

This wasn\'t entirely the same as the training they were doing. But the results would help them just the same. This would also make them better mages as a whole.

Naturally, this wasn\'t the first time they had to cast magic within a barrier. Their enhanced stats within the game also allowed them to quickly increase their success rate. To which Eldrian increased his interference.

Once they reached a level where they simply couldn\'t overcome Eldrian\'s interference, they started facing off against one another. One casting and the other attempting to stop them.

This continued for most of the day, and during that time Eldrian\'s thoughts wandered all over the place. His talks with Ziraili. What Miracle was up to? How splintered was the company? What would happen to Earth with the increased mana density? And so forth...

When night came, everyone got an early rest. Except for Eldrian. Who continued to ponder.

—

"Alright, let\'s do this!" Elizabeth\'s battle cry evoked a resounding war cry from the rest.

Like most of their battles, they planned to fight this one without Eldrian. The reason for this was simple. The guild they were facing, Midnight Tea, was of similar strength to them.

This guild was sponsored, but their sponsors weren\'t as excessive as the other two guilds. Sure, they had plenty of gear, but not everyone one of the one hundred players was equipped with full Tier 5 sets.

This meant that Phoenix stood a chance.

Their wish to fight without Eldrian, at least at the start, might be attributed to their pride as a guild.

After yesterday\'s interview, there was plenty of discussion about their guild having an unfair advantage. Of course, there was plenty of backlash stating that any guild with a sponsor had just as large an advantage.

This, however, only held true if Eldrian didn\'t decimate the opposing guild. Naturally, Phoenix wanted to prove that they deserved to be in the semi-finals.

With their morale at max, the guild set out. Like all the maps before, the two guild castles were separated by a forest. Unlike the other maps, however, the distance between castles had been doubled. Since the distance had doubled for the top 16 already, this made the distance now four times what it had been in the preliminaries.

This meant there was now a much larger open field surrounding the castles. Large enough for a third of it to be outside the range of cannons.

This totally changed the strategies that could be used.

To accommodate for this change, and the extra time it took to reach the opposing team\'s side of the map, guilds had to plan things out far more carefully.

A group becoming separated and focused was an all too real possibility. And with the increased size of the arena, help might not arrive in time.

—

From the viewer\'s POV, slightly over 200 angles could be chosen. One could choose to follow a specific player\'s POV in a manner similar to streams, or you could follow an overview angle.

Currently, the focus overview angle was showing a group of players sneaking through the forest. All of the players were covered in shadows, moving low. Not a sound escaped as they walked.

They employed several spells and skills to achieve this. And their group was slowly sneaking up on an unexpected group.

The players in front, a total of five, raised their hands. Signaling for the rest to stop. They then summoned their bows from their inventory. Small, compact weapons. A mix of science and fantasy. The bows looked weird, to say the least. But they were powerful, betraying their small nature.

Taking aim, the five raised their bows and pulled back on the strings. And, as one, they released.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Three arrows deflected from their targets\' armor. While two others went down.

"Ambush!" Nikki shouted, rushing to the direction the arrows had come from. Blocking one and cutting another in half mid-flight. Sadly, another teammate went down.

"Shields to the front!" She shouted, quickly casting a barrier. Cursing as she felt the amount of mana each deflected arrow cost her. Realizing her barrier wouldn\'t last long, she canceled it and instead cast a wind barrier.

This method allowed her to use a set amount of mana over time, instead of losing mana depending on the strength of the attacks. However, it also meant that the arrows weren\'t being deflected, simply redirected.

She had aimed the wind barrier down, and it worked wonderfully against the next volley. However, their attackers quickly noted the drop and aimed higher. Even going so far as to try and arc their arrows over the frontline to hit the healers and mages behind.

Noticing that her spell would be used against them, Nikki changed its direction. About the most she could do in regard to controlling her spells. This change caused the next volley to fly far past their group.

\'Now they should aim straight, low, and above.\' Nikki thought. Knowing that it was also possible they aimed slightly to the sides. Spreading their attacks so at least one would make it to them.

As a result, she again changed the flow direction of her wind barrier. Turning it more into a gust of wind passing past them and into the direction of their attackers. Slowing the next volley and allowing the now-prepared players to easily deal with them.

Meanwhile, a small group had formed to go on the offensive. But Nikki quickly called them back. They didn\'t know how many they were facing. It might be only five, or it might be twenty. If they rushed in, they could all be killed.

"Stay calm! We\'ll focus on defense." Nikki shouted, letting the mages take over the duty of deflecting the arrows as she moved to analyze this attack.

\'It\'s likely their Midnight Guards team.\' This so-called team specialized in assassination and ambushes. A team of skilled mages, rogues, and archers. All of whom were multi-classed.

\'Their normal tactic is...