-SLASH! -SLASH!

With Lisa and other participants joining in, the three Rank-C Ursoloths were quickly taken care of.

However, just when they thought that the danger had passed, multiple arrows and magic attacks were flying toward them.

"Watch out!"

"Quickly form your shield!" ..

The surprise attack stunned many of them. They were just about to relax after their battle with the Ursoloths.

The attack came out of nowhere, making them panic. There was no time for them to run away nor was there time to deploy their barrier. Moreover, the attacks were powerful, and getting hit by them would certainly cause serious injuries.

[ "Soteria Blessing: Goddess protection" ]

Lisa immediately used her skills and made a protective barrier. Even with the protective barrier deployed, Lisa was still worried. She knew judging by the power of the surprise attack that her shield would not be able to withstand the attack.

Since there was no time to charge her skill, her barriers' defensive power had decreased. Moreover, the attacks that were aimed at them were nothing compared to when they faced Preston and his group's attack.

However, her protective barrier was more than enough to give Ace Academy participants peace of mind. Knowing that there was a barrier had eased their minds, and in addition, knowing that it was Lisa's skill had doubled their confidence. They had seen what her skill could do and was not worried about her barrier not being able to withstand the attack.

However, Hiro was different from them. He could easily see that Lisa's skill would not be able to protect all of them against the attack.

"Magicians quickly use this time to create another barrier inside Lisa's barrier."

Hiro commanded. Unlike others, he knew Lisa's shield would not be able to handle the surprise attack.

Others were a little confused by why Hiro was making them deploy another barrier. They thought that Lisa's barriers were more than enough to protect them. Moreover, they believed that even if the three magicians combined their power and created another shield, their shield would be less powerful than Lisa's.

They would be wasting time and mana doing so. However, Hiro was their leader and they had to listen to him. Moreover, having another barrier to protect them was not a bad idea and would reassure them.

The three magicians immediately began chanting as they were preparing to deploy their barrier.

"Zion, Misha, and Sylvia. Let's work together and try to intercept enemy attacks."

Hiro said.

The three of them nodded. Unlike others, the three could also see that Lisa's barrier would not be able to block all the attacks.

-BOOM! BANG! BOOM!

The enemy's attacks were raining down on Lisa's barrier. Lisa's barrier seemed impenetrable initially, however, soon it began to shake violently and the sound of the barrier cracking could be heard.

-CRACK! -CRACK! -SHATTER!historical

"Now!"

Just as Lisa's barrier broke, Hiro signaled Zion and Misha to release their skills.

[ "Moonlight Radiant Arrows" ]

[ "Imperial Spear Style: Obliterate Strike" ]

[ "StarShatterer Style: Complete Annihilation" ]

The three of them launched their attacks toward enemies attacks. Despite the attack being from three people, the power of the attack seemed as strong as the attacks done by the enemies.

Some of the enemy's attacks were already taken care of by Lisa, thus their power was reduced considerably.

-BOOM!

The two sides' attacks collided with each other. However, due to enemies' attacks being more than Hiro, Zion, and Misha's, some of them had managed to preserve themselves and were making their way toward Ace Academy participants.

[ "Guardian Dome" ]

[ "MegaShield" ]

[ "Colossal Barrier" ]

However, just when the attacks seemed to hit the Ace Academy side, the three magicians released their spell and constructed three barriers surrounding the Ace Academy participants.

It was less powerful than Lisa's barrier, however, due to enemies' attacks being interrupted by Lisa's barrier, it had become weak.

-BANG! -BANG!

The attack hit the barriers but it was unable to make it past them. They sighed in relief knowing they had survived a catastrophe.

The surprise attack that had almost devastated Ace Academy had failed. It had failed to even injure a single person, let alone wipe out Ace Academy.

However, Hiro and the other students were still cautious even after successfully defending themselves against the surprise attack. While they managed to defend themselves against the attacks, they knew that the enemies were still there.

They were looking around, trying to spot the enemy. They assumed that they would make a move.

-CLANG!

Suddenly, the sharp sound of two swords colliding could be heard in Hiro's direction. Everyone present there immediately turned their attention toward the sound.

Then they saw Hiro blocking Landon's sword attack.

"How?"

Landon asked. His face showed surprise written all over his face.

He had used stealth to hide himself and approached Hiro when they were fighting the Ursoloths. However, he still waited as it was still not time to make his move.

After his allies had attacked Ace Academy, he still waited for his chance. If their attack was successful, then he wouldn't need to do anything more. However, he knew that was not possible as Hiro was monstrously strong.

He waited to strike until the last moment when his chance of success was 100%. However, he didn't expect that his strike would be completely blocked by Hiro.

-CLANG! -CLANG! -CLANK!

Landon pushed on trying to defeat Hiro immediately. However, Hiro easily deflected his attacks.

Landon Wright knew that he stood no chance after being seen. Moreover, Hiro's friends were also coming to help him.

[ "Stealth Sprinter" ]

-WHOOSH!

Landon immediately retreated. However, it was only a few meters away. He had escaped to where his allies were waiting.

"The plan failed!"

Landon said solemnly. Neither the surprise attack nor his sneak attack worked. Either plan would have been a huge help in defeating Ace Academy.

His allies were clearly not happy to have such an outcome. They had waited for Ace Academy and also agitated the Ursoloth in order for them to attack Ace Academy. They attacked when Ace Academy least expected them to.

Despite all their efforts, they were still unable to gain the upper hand against Ace Academy. The task of dethroning Ace Academy proved to be much more challenging than they had anticipated.

"Let's continue with Plan A. Though we were not successful with our attacks, we did manage to exhaust Ace Academy. We might have a chance of defeating them if we attack now."

Landon said. The Ursoloth and surprise attacks were planned to reduce the number of participants at Ace Academy, but both failed. Landon also failed to injure Hiro.

However, Landon believed that victory would still be his. Just as he said, Ace Academy was not in their best condition. They had just battled those vicious Ursoloths and were subjected to their surprise attacks.

Just talking about stamina and mana capacity, Landon knew that they were in better shape than Ace Academy. Moreover, they had an advantage in numbers with students from 3 schools.

Landon also knew that it was their best chance of beating Ace Academy right now. They might not have another opportunity like this again in this round. Next round, only a hundred participants would be able to advance and most of their allies would also be eliminated.

It was now when they had an advantage in numbers and stamina that they needed to strike and eliminate Hiro from the tournament.

Landon and his allies prepared themselves for another confrontation. The next battle was going to determine whether they could defeat Ace Academy or not.

Hiro and others were also cautious and prepared for a fight. With the surprise attack and Landon's sneak attack, they knew that they were being targeted by Arcane Academy and other schools.

Lisa and other magicians were also ready to deploy their barrier in case of attacks like earlier. People with keen eyes were searching for traces of enemies.

"Alert! Enemies are attacking again. Their fighters had also appeared!"

One of the participants gave a warning. He saw another wave of attacks and Landon was leading a group of students and making their way toward them.

Unlike last time, Lisa was prepared this time. She along with other magicians cast a barrier spell.

-BANG! -BANG! -BOOM!

The incoming attacks were all stopped by the barrier. Not only was Lisa using her full power but the attack intensity was less than the first wave of attacks.

However, the long-range attack was just the start. The main attackers were fighters that Landon was leading.

"Elijah! Abigail! We three are responsible for defeating Hiro. Others follow Harper, and defeat the rest of Ace Academy."

Landon ordered. He, along with two other Rank-C students, wanted to defeat Hiro. As for the others, Harper, who was another Rank-C student, was to lead other students and defeat Ace Academy.

'Yes!'

'Okay!'

'Leave it to me!' ..

They replied to Landon. Three of them separated from the group and went to confront Hiro.

Hiro saw them coming his way and didn't run away. He could see that three of them were the strongest in their group. Nevertheless, he was ready to fight them alone. It was not that he was overconfident but because he knew that he would win.