Unexpectedly, the freakin broadsword-wielding acolyte was apparently a lightning acolyte. The fight against Emery was the first time he had shown his spell and it was such a powerful one.

Thanks to Orycon's action, half of Emery's body was scorched and he stood on the line between life and death.

At the moment, Emery was laying in Klea's lap, his condition unknown.

As Emery didn't show any response to her call, Klea immediately casted on him the tier 4 water spell she recently learned, [Restoration]. The spell was a level higher than [Soothing Mist] and much more effective.

A cyan-colored glow swiftly encompassed Emery's body. The spell's effect was apparent in the eye as Emery's wounds began to heal.

Another girl approached Emery, "Is the fool dead?"

Klea didn't answer and silently cast the spell. It looked like the tier 4 spells needed a lot more energy and concentration to cast. But in return, Emery's charred and peeled skin swiftly healed and returned to its previous healthy condition. However, Emery would still be in pain until his internal injuries were healed.

As his external wounds were getting healed, Emery muttered Thrax's name with difficulty.

When Silva heard that, she couldn't help but rebuke, "Start thinking about yourself, you moron! The guy is in better condition than you!"

"Hey! Be quiet! He's still in shock." Klea said, gesturing with her finger.

"Yeah, right. Let's hope the shock makes him smarter." Silva commented, before turning her head away.

In a minute, Emery finally regained control of his body again. As he opened his eyes, Emery could see Thrax and Silva were covering for him. He could see the arrows and spells that were coming towards them were being blocked by the two of them.

Not far away, Chumo was still in struggle fighting the metal acolyte. Currently, he was being helped by Okoye.

Emery tried to stand up, but he felt his whole body screaming pain as he took a step. Hence, he quickly became paralyzed and fell to the ground again.

"Just stay here and heal your wounds quickly, Emery." Klea whispered "I am sorry about Julian. I should have come sooner..."

Sighing helplessly in the heart, Emery could only watch as he saw his friends protecting him. They were working together, hand in hand, to resist any incoming acolyte. Glancing towards his symbol, Emery noticed they only needed to hold on for a few more minutes. However, the number of dropped acolytes was moving really slow.

It looked like, since only the best acolytes were left in the game at this point, the fights became more stagnant as their strength was almost the same.

Actually, if one did a quick glance through every group in the area, Emery's group at the moment was probably the weakest among them and the best target to get points. Throwing his gaze towards Roran's direction, Emery could see him who played safe at first by hiding behind all his acolytes had finally buckled up his courage and was coming towards Emery's direction with all his lackeys.

To Emery's surprise, a pitch-black hammer suddenly dropped right in front of Roran. If Roran took another step forward, the hammer would have definitely pulverized his head. Roran threw his gaze around, trying to find the culprit. Then, he noticed a group coming towards his direction. It was Anas and his Kaleos group. They quickly intercepted Roran's group. A battle immediately ensued between the two groups.

Receiving Emery's inquisitive gaze, Klea went ahead and explained the matter, while still casting her healing spell, "Yeah... I did send him a message about our situation, and he agreed to help us. Something about him hates them more than us."

When the battle was going on, there were a few of Roran's acolytes who managed to pass through Anas' group blockade. These acolytes were led by Roran's right-hand man, the half-beast acolyte, Lymord.

Silva, who was still in her prime condition, swiftly confronted the group when she saw them coming for Emery. "That guy is on the wrong side!" Silva said, as she released poisonous smokes at the group.

The smokes were able to stop the group's advance and Silva immediately rushed in and wreaked havoc amidst them. After all, who did not want more points?

Hence, the still injured Thrax was the one who was on guard, while Klea healed Emery's wounds. As the fight continued, Emery could only watch without doing anything. Thus, he constantly checked the symbol in his hand.

[Regular acolytes: 36/320]

[Elite acolytes: 20/50]

[56 participant left in the game]

[54 participant left in the game]

Emery heaved a sigh of relief, as he knew they only needed to hold on for a few more minutes.

But then, Emery suddenly heard a familiar voice getting closer him "Where's that Julian? Is he gone already? Ahhh, it's too bad then!"

Turning his head to the source, Emery spotted Micah and the two elites who had retreated earlier. Currently, they were charging towards his direction.

"Watch out!"

The familiar crystal-like ice shards rained down on them. Thrax swiftly moved and tried to defend with the spear in his hand. Fortunately, Thrax was able to crush and parry all of them, albeit barely.

The three elite acolytes were approaching and this could only mean trouble. Ironically, they just had to hold on a little bit more. If they were defeated now, their effort, Julian's sacrifice. They would all be for naught.

"Ahhh... You all are still resisting like disgusting cockroaches!"

Klea decided to join the battle when she saw the two elites ganging up on Thrax. Numerous lightning bolts rapidly streaked across the sky towards the incoming acolytes.

The fight between the two elites against Klea and Thrax had started. At first, Klea and Thrax managed to halt their advance, but slowly yet surely, both of them were struggling to resist the ferocious attacks launched by the two elites.

As he watched the battle, Emery was raging inside due to his inability to do anything.

Even though he could feel his spirit core had become more chaotic and his whole body felt very heavy, Emery forced his injured body to move.

Hands shaking, legs trembling, pain wrecking; but Emery didn't stop. He just had to hold out a little bit more.

Micah casted half a dozen more ice shards trying to hit Klea and Thrax, but, before he could throw them, Emery used [Blink] next to him and [Hidden Blade] again. Unfortunately, the attack was easily stopped by the ice barrier, which instantly formed around Micah.

"Ahhh. I have seen you fighting style from afar. Although it's pretty amazing, it quickly gets predictable and boring."

Much to Emery's surprise, the barrier suddenly crept onto the dagger. It then successfully frosted his hand, still not stopping its progress. Emery couldn't stop it im his current condition, so he could only watch helplessly as the crystal-like ice inched toward him.

A few moments later, the whole ice started to encompass Emery's whole body. In the end, a block of ice formed next to Micah; Emery was trapped inside it, unmoving. However, one could see Emery's eyes were moving, signifying he was still conscious.

"Now, now... As a payback for killing my teammates, you will see me kill yours. Isn't that fair?"

Micah returned his attention to his ice shards and was once again about to throw them towards Klea and Thrax. Seeing that, Emery struggled even more to break out from the ice. Alas, the ice wasn't the general ice used by other acolytes. Especially with his current condition, Emery didn't have the strength to do anything.

That was when Emery saw a few shadow figures appearing next to Micah. Arrows were shot, followed by [Shadow Steps] to get close and accompanied by a night-black bird swooping from above. A perfectly executed pincer attack from air and land.

However, instead of throwing the shards towards the shadow figures, Micah launched his shards towards another side. The ice shards hit and pierced another shadow hidden in that particular side.

Splaattt!!

Blood splattered into the air as the acolyte was hit by the ice shards. With it, both the approaching shadows and the incoming bird were dispersed like smokes. It looked like Micah managed to find the acolyte's real body.

Emery saw Chumo staring at him with several holes in his chest, pierced by the ice shards Micah sent. Then, he swiftly dispersed into light particles.

[52 participant left in the game]

"Nice! Just two more to go! Hmm, which one do you like better, the boy or the girl?"

At the moment, Emery completely forgot it was all just a game. His inability to do anything and the sight of his friend dying in front of him reminded Emery of his deepest regret.

The memory of his father being murdered in front of him was flashing through his mind. The time where he just froze as his father, that he always looked up to, was killed, while he was incapable of doing anything.

That was when something inside of him snapped and shattered into pieces. Emery suddenly felt his entire body turning boiling hot. Something inside him was growing, howling, trying to break out of his body.

While still encased within the ice block, Emery's whole body was miraculously restored, power filled his entire being.

[Fey Bloodline - evolving]

CRACKK!!

Loud sound resounded, attracting Micah's attention. When he turned his head towards the source, he was stunned to see something that shouldn't be possible.

An arm fully covered with grey fur was coming out of the ice.