Chapter 209 – Underestimating and Overestimating
"15 minutes? The scroll can suppress a sixth-rank formation for 300 minutes, are you saying there are 20 formations in this hall alone?" Darma asked in sadistic laughter.
"Oh, you would be surprised," Ken replied. The formations he designed were more powerful than normal, and with his Wasteful Formations, most of which were triple formations, the scroll would run out of power in a matter of minutes.
'If he believes he has a time limit of 15 minutes he should not be hasty and risk a deadly injury to kill us before the last 5 minutes. Unfortunately for him, his scroll will not last more than 7 or 8 minutes,' Ken chuckled inwardly.
"You are not the only alchemist here, Kid. Don't forget I'm also one, and better than you at that," Mr. Darma took out a few jade bottles of pills and uncorked them with a wave of his hand. However, as soon as the pills came out of the containers, he quickly stepped back.
"But I'm not planning to just watch you take them. Everyone, attack alongside me!" Ken appeared where Darma stood a moment ago with his sword in his hand. He dashed using One Step and contaminated the pills with his own Alchemical Qi, making them crumble in the air.
"You all are courting death!"
Darma shouted and dodged an incoming arrow from Oddete by applying his movement technique. His shoes left a trail of fire, a signature of the Fire Qi imbued to his feet.
He dashed toward Ken and attacked with a fist coated in fire, but a saber-holding woman waited for him there. Octavia swung down her long saber, and Metal Qi formed a large blade around it as she brought it down in a heavy hit. Since they were fighting someone a stage above them, they had to use heavy strikes, or else the attacks would not have any impact on him.
Darma's fist met the blade, and instead of cutting off the man's fist, Octavia was pushed back with a groan of pain. Her right leg was still wounded; Ken might have reattached it, but it was not enough to heal her completely. A sharp pain coursed in her wound, and she backed off.
However, it didn't mean that Darma had a rest. That was exactly the power of a group.
'81 in 1.' Ken never used it before. The full potential of his Slash technique, all of it set in one powerful move. Darma didn't retract his fist after colliding with Octavia's saber; the clash only weakened his fist and forced him to pump more Qi into it, but the exchange only took a fraction of a second before his fist continued its way.
"AH!" Darma shouted in pain as he was forced to retreat once again. Before he could take a respite, he had to run again to avoid spikes coming up from the ground and burn an arrow that tried to impale him.
'He's weak!' Ken widened his eyes in surprise when he saw Darma's two fingers hang loosely on a layer of skin, threatening to fall. He used Felix and Vivienne as points of measure to estimate Darma's power, but the man was much weaker than them despite being a sub-stage higher.
'It makes sense, the other two are the top elites of the third-rank sect, and they are completely battle-oriented,' Ken understood the crux of the difference, but he almost lost his desire to participate in the battle now.
'Ah, the other 5 are not strong enough to hold him back on their own, and neither am I,' Ken sighed as he watched. Maria used an Earth-grade spear technique he gifted her the last time they met, Spear into Staff.
Her fifth-grade spear was coated with Earth Qi and she thrust it vigorously, trying to break Darma's ribs. However, the man easily deflected it with his healthy hand and tried to kick her face with a flaring round kick.
Yuri was the next one to pick up the call. He pulled Maria backward and met the kick with his own spear, and a dragon made of water could be seen coiling itself around the shaft with its maw open at the spearhead.
Despite being at a disadvantage element-wise, the alchemist's fist vaporized the water and threatened to burn Yuri alive, but the spearman defended himself by coating himself with a water membrane.
Before Darma could follow up with another strike that would finish off either one of the spear users, he had to duck under a saber swing from Tiffany and roll back to dodge another arrow, leaving a beautiful trail of fire where his feet passed.
"Octavia, Yuri, act in turns, and don't take too much pressure on yourself! Stand back and only hit when you see a good opening or to save one of us!" Tiffany ordered her teammates. She didn't want to worsen their injuries as they still didn't heal from the battle against Ken.
Odette was in a far better condition. Ken only knocked her out without harming her too much, and she didn't have to deal with the heavy momentums of Darma's attacks, thus, she could fight normally as an archer.
Ken didn't step into the battle yet. The group of 5 showcased seamless teamwork, and although Maria was not perfectly synched with them, they managed to cover for her and their cooperation only improved.
'It was a good choice to throw them off their rhythm as soon as the battle began last time,' Ken pondered. It seemed that he underestimated his teammates and overestimated his enemy.
Nonetheless, he didn't believe they can win. They managed to keep up thanks to Darma's injuries and Ken's pills, but if the man manages to find an opening to take out some pills and strengthen himself, they'd definitely lose. Furthermore, the wounded teammates might collapse before the battle was over.
'Well, I can't let so many of you remain alive. You know too much about me…' Ken thought to himself as he looked at the fight with a cold gaze.
'Mind-Poisoning Domain – Frenzy Mode.'
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