Keli's close-combat prowess was formidable, but against such overwhelming numbers of azure armadillos, he was hard-pressed, especially given their tremendous momentum.
Most of the time, he had to dodge and maneuver constantly; taking a hit from one of those mini-tanks was no small matter.
Cynthia and Qigeli were also having a grueling time keeping them at bay.
Ordinary bullets hitting their scales basically amounted to scratching an itch, unless they struck the gaps between the plates.
While firing their pistols, the two had no choice but to draw their cold weapons to aid in the assault.
Fortunately, the apprentice knights of the Martial Academy possessed ample combat experience.
Cynthia slashed her saber at an azure armadillo, sparks flying in showers.
Using the recoil, she arched her waist and floated four or five meters back, unable to resist complaining, "Did we poke an azure armadillo nest or something?"
"Instructor!" Qigeli shouted loudly. "We're outmatched! How about we fight a retreating battle?"
"Orderly retreat—don't panic!" Keli's figure flickered as he dodged. "These beasts aren't right. Little Wu, your trap..."
"Over here!" Wu Youren called out in a loud voice.
While the three of them were fighting, he had actually pulled back more than fifty meters. "The radius is over twenty meters!"
"Hold on a bit longer!" Keli barked. "Don't speak so plainly—watch out, the azure armadillos might be Guizu-mutated!"
When fighting against Guizu, one could not always openly discuss tactical deployments, because there was a real chance the enemy might understand.
"A Guizu mutation?" Cynthia was stunned to hear that. "I thought they were spirits!"
Azure armadillos could indeed grow into spirits, but such occurrences were exceptionally rare.
Qigeli gave a low grunt. "Azure armadillos aren't pack animals in the first place... What do you think?"
"Then we're in serious trouble," Cynthia murmured under her breath, slashing out with another strike.
Through a momentary lapse, the tip of an azure armadillo's tail clipped Qigeli. He was thrown back more than three meters and stumbled a couple more steps.
"Retreat!" Keli yelled. In a flash, he grabbed Qigeli, and his figure blurred backward.
The direction of his retreat was not straight toward Wu Youren, but angled more than twenty meters to the side.
Cynthia's combat skills were truly remarkable—even slightly superior to Qigeli's. At the command, she bolted back instantly.
Her speed was scarcely slower than the instructor who was hauling another person, though her retreat headed straight toward Wu Youren to rendezvous.
Noticing their prey was fleeing, several azure armadillos accelerated, charging forward like battering rams.
Seeing this, Wu Youren pressed his foot down. Over forty meters ahead of him, the ground detonated with a deafening roar.
These were explosives planted earlier. Since they had to stake out the pass for ten days, laying down some traps was a matter of course.
This kind of material wasn't something he could possess; the instructor had brought it from the Martial Academy.
Before this, Keli hadn't even permitted the fuses to be installed; Wu Youren had only just completed the assembly.
The violent explosion directly sent the three leading azure armadillos hurtling through the air.
Right behind them, several more failed to brake in time and crashed into the massive crater left by the blast.
Amid the flying dirt and rock, Keli suddenly shouted, "Watch out!"
Two azure armadillos burst into a sprint, completely ignoring the shockwave of the explosion, and rocketed toward the four humans with terrifying speed.
They moved so fast that they left a trail of afterimages in the air.
One of them was none other than the first beast that had tumbled down the cliff—the one over three meters long that had taken three armor-piercing bullets!
Its target was Instructor Keli!
"Holy shit..." Keli flashed forward, brandishing his greatsword to meet it head-on.
Qigeli and Cynthia stopped retreating as well, immediately moving to intercept the second one.
Cynthia alertly fired two consecutive shots, both of them ghost-vanquishing bullets!
The reality was right before them: an azure armadillo could never possess such blinding speed; it had definitely undergone a Guizu mutation.
Fortunately, the instructor had already warned them, so she didn't hesitate to spend her ghost-vanquishing bullets.
As the two charged forward, Wu Youren raised his gun and fired again—he had no choice, having no suitable melee weapon on hand.
The ghost-dispelling powder on his small dagger worked fine against ordinary Guizu, but it had no hope of piercing an azure armadillo's defense.
Even while locked in fierce combat with his opponent, Keli kept an eye on the overall battlefield.
Seeing the Jin youth firing shot after shot, the corner of his mouth twitched: Does he have no concept of thrift?
He knew the youth's dagger couldn't breach the creature's defense, but could ghost-vanquishing bullets pierce armor?
Both could deal substantial damage to the Guizu aura leaking from the armadillo's body.
Yet how could the cost of a dagger compare to ghost-vanquishing bullets? As expected... it didn't hurt to spend someone else's money!
Unable to hold back, Keli pulled at the corner of his mouth and called out, "Little Wu, go grab my spare saber and join the fight!"
Keli specialized in the greatsword, but his saber technique was quite good too. More importantly, broadswords and sabers suited different kinds of opponents!
Besides, if someone venturing outdoors could prepare two biguijue, wasn't it only natural for him to carry an extra weapon?
Above all, he simply couldn't bear to watch Wu Youren waste any more ghost-vanquishing bullets!
"Got it!" Wu Youren sprinted off at an angle, dashed into the cave to fetch the saber, and turned right back into the fray!
He hadn't engaged in close-quarters combat until now, but the moment he struck, his two companions felt the full weight of his strength.
Not only was the Jin youth's blade work fierce, but every slash carried immense force.
With a mere two strikes, he drew the creature's aggro, instantly becoming the primary combatant among the three.
Qigeli's thigh had been grazed, impairing his mobility; with this shift in the fight, the pressure on him plummeted.
"Good grief," Qigeli bared his teeth in awe. "With cultivation like this, you aren't far from being a knight!"
"It's just the instructor's saber that's good," Wu Youren answered, delivering two more swift slashes.
His cultivation was impossible to hide, but when it came to saber techniques... he could still conceal his true skill.
In any case, he was holding a knight-grade cold weapon, so he didn't need to worry about damaging the blade.
Without much fuss, the three dispatched this azure armadillo. Wu Youren even followed up with a stab from his small dagger to ensure its Guizu aura wouldn't dissipate into the surroundings.
Then he stepped forward to support the instructor. "You two go finish off the rest of those azure armadillos."
The azure armadillo fighting Keli had mutated severely; its movements were freakishly fast and uncanny. Wounds continued to accumulate across its body, yet none hindered its mobility.
It took the two of them grinding it down for seven or eight minutes before they finally executed the beast.
Similarly, Instructor Keli did not forget to deliver finishing blows—habits forged through bloody lessons.
By then, the other two had essentially finished dispatching the rest; not a single one of the dozen-plus azure armadillos had survived.
Next came clearing the battlefield. While catching his breath, the instructor rummaged around the area, hoping to find some Guizu relics.
Unfortunately, there were none to be found.
He couldn't help muttering, "Damn it all... What a massive loss!"
"Azure armadillo meat is delicious," Qigeli reminded his master. "Not all of them underwent a Guizu mutation, right?"
"If they hadn't mutated, how could they have swarmed together like this?" Keli sighed. "Everyone, run a check... Ah, forget it. Little Wu, you do it!"
The Jin youth's combat strength remained the best preserved, but that wasn't the main point.
The key was that his biguijue was of exceptionally high quality, so even if there was lingering Guizu aura, it wouldn't easily threaten him.
Wu Youren inspected the carcasses and managed to pick out two azure armadillos that were largely untainted. "Instructor, take a look at these two."
Keli reached out and touched them directly, a faint yellow glow visible on his hand—his own battle qi.
"These two... well, they might barely be usable, but they won't fetch much of a price."
The rest of the carcasses had to be burned. However, the largest scales along the spine of the biggest beast could be stripped off and sold.
Watching the flames blaze high, Qigeli began tallying their expenditures and gains from the battle.
He soon arrived at a conclusion: "We took a slight loss in this fight!"
"Surviving is good enough," Cynthia said with an open-minded attitude. "Besides, don't we still have the mission reward?"
The mission reward was primarily for Keli, but the three apprentice knights were also listed on the squad roster.
With merits like these, all three would receive a share; otherwise, why would students bring their own gear and risk their lives?
"I'll report it honestly," Keli declared upfront. "Others might suppress your contributions, but I won't!"
He spoke with... surprising bluntness. Stealing credit was common everywhere; for an instructor to take credit from his students was all too easy.
Yet for him to state it so directly came as quite a surprise to everyone.
However, there was never love without reason in this world.
Right after that, he continued, "Azure armadillos undergoing a Guizu mutation—the issues involved here might be far too significant!"
"Whatever fate ultimately awaits Suotu Town is not something we can decide, nor can we do much to affect it."
Noticing that Keli was looking straight at him while speaking, Wu Youren had no choice but to nod repeatedly, signaling that he agreed completely.
Inwardly, though, he scoffed at the speech, having already guessed what the man was leading up to.
Keli was genuinely blunt. "So starting now, don't send any reports back to the Martial Academy. Keep things under wraps for now.
"Once dawn breaks tomorrow, we'll do another search for Guizu relics... If we're certain there's nothing to find, then we'll report it.
"Little Wu, I know you want Guizu relics too, and I won't shortchange you in the future.
"But I was the main force in this battle, and I bore almost all the costs, so any spoils must go to me first!"
Undoubtedly, he wasn't worried about the two Liang students, but the Jin youth's background was complicated, forcing him to be cautious.
"No problem," Wu Youren agreed crisply, as prompt as could be. "Even without Guizu relics, silver dollars are great too."
The other two felt the same way. Qigeli even added, "Silver dollars are what I need most. I only brought two armor-piercing bullets."
His family background wasn't necessarily much worse than Cynthia's, but having apprenticed under Keli, he had to pay tuition!
As for Cynthia, the Mirage Sea League she belonged to had strong regional ties; she received ample support from fellow townsfolk and had no immediate need to take a master.
"Then let's rest and reorganize," the instructor announced. "Little Wu, you expended the least effort, so take the night watch... I trust you the most anyway!"
"Trust you the most" was probably true enough, but what was even more amusing was that if he stood watch through the night, he wouldn't have much energy left tomorrow to search for Guizu relics.
Wu Youren chuckled inwardly and nodded. "Thank you for the trust, Instructor."
The fire continued to blaze vigorously while the other three crawled into the cave to sleep.
Concealed behind a cluster of bushes, the Jin youth kept watch on their surroundings while his thoughts drifted.
For him, tonight's harvest had been quite substantial. More importantly, there was an unexpected pleasant surprise...
Chapter 53