Looking at the large field, you could see that the remaining students had backed away from Lake who stood with his head lowered and arms limping down.
A low growl could be heard every time he breathed in from the vibration in his throat.
After Lake’s howl, a few people had collapsed, unable to resist the Nightmare’s Fear. They were quickly dragged off of the field by Alec and Bane who deemed them unable to continue the fight.
At this point, a crowd had gathered outside the arena. It was already in the evening and most people had finished all of their classes today so they headed to the field after learning about the excitement on the forum.
Even some second and third years came here after learning about the match. Among them, Gwen was watching the match with interest.
Lake fought against fifty students all at once which was almost half his year, which was something even she wouldn’t be confident in doing in her first year when everyone’s starting position was more or less the same.
Zeke was also there. He came after learning that Kate was participating in the match as he wanted to cheer her on.
Looking at the group of students who were surrounding Lake without approaching, the other students who came here to spectate were dissatisfied with the lack of action they were seeing.
"What the hell are you doing?! He’s alone and you have him surrounded, why aren’t you rushing in?!"
"Yeah! We came here to see a fight, not a standoff!"
"They’re first years, give them a break. I’m sure they’re just overthinking on how to approach."
"I guess you’re right. I was also like that back in my first few weeks at the academy."
"Hey, don’t think too much about it! Your strengths are similar to your opponent and you have him outnumbered! Just attack and you’ll be fine!"
People started shouting out towards the group of students. Among them, some of the students from the higher years were giving some advice on what to do in the current situation.
However, right now the group of students on the field wanted to shout back at them.
"Similar strength?! Are you fucking blind?! One of our men was disabled with just a light grab!"
Right now, no one dared to approach Lake after he had demonstrated his overwhelming physical strength.
It was only after the archers had recovered from the effects of the Nightmare’s Fear did they start to move.
Only after the archers got up and aimed their bows were the group of students ready to engage again.
This time the archers had surrounded him and were aiming at him from several different angles. It would be impossible for Lake to punch and offset the arrows again.
Lake, who had been standing limply, suddenly looked up as if he sensed something. His deep blue eyes were dulled, looking lifeless and completely devoid of emotion.
As the archers were about to fire, Lake moved as he released another loud howl.
Suddenly, the archers who had previously steadied their aim found that their hands were shaking as a mind shattering headache left them groaning in pain, a familiar fear already building up within them.
The arrows were released but their trajectory was slightly off causing them to fly past Lake. Only a few arrows managed to stay on course but they were easily dodged and blocked by Lake who proceeded to dash towards the nearest archer.
At this point, the group had already learned their lesson and quickly used their mana to defend against the Nightmare’s Fear before rushing up to attack Lake.
However, as soon as Lake stood in front of them, he roared out again causing the group to freeze on the spot as he waved his arm forward.
Grabbing the closest student by the throat, Lake threw him towards a group of students on his left before attacking the ones on his right with expert efficiency.
The sound of ribs breaking echoed out as Lake punched a student in the chest, sending him flying backwards more than ten feet!
As the student flew across the field Kate shouted out to the rest, "You have to use your mana to continuously defend your mind! Otherwise whenever he roars you will be frozen and vulnerable!"
Immediately, everyone moved a portion of their mana to defend their brain. Using mana caused their already small mana capacity to be continuously diminished.
Everyone could roughly sense their own internal situation and they could at most hold out for another half an hour under the current consumption rate.
Thinking of this, their originally grim expression turned even darker.
"Come on! We haven’t even landed an attack on him yet! Aim to hit him and keep attacking!"
Many people clench their teeth upon hearing this but still gripped their weapons tightly and rushed forward.
With a loud battle scream, everyone rushed forward like a mad mob at Lake who had turned into a raid boss in their eyes.
In an instant, tens of swords and spears were swung at Lake causing him to react.
With another howl, Lake lunged towards the approaching group. Using his superior physique, he quickly suppressed and disabled anyone who dared to approach him head on.
His attacks were ferocious and ruthless. He didn’t aim for any vital spots but each of his attacks carried such a heavy force behind them, whether it was a punch or a kick, it left each student either groaning in pain or knocked unconscious!
However, two hands were always better than one.
Even though Lake was able to defeat each student with ease, they had him surrounded with attacks coming from all directions. He simply couldn’t react to all of them in time with his current speed.
A loud snapping sound echoed out as a spear snapped in two upon being swung down on Lake’s back. The student who wielded the spear had used all his strength but only received a painful backlash in return!
Feeling the pain in his arms, his face turned pale but before he could react, a kick landed in his stomach, sending him flying back!
At this point, Lake’s attacks went up another level as he started to claw at the surrounding students.
His gauntlets had claw-like ends on each of his fingertips but they were dulled for the purpose of safety practice. However, with the force that Lake was attacking with and the difference between the two groups’ physiques and defense, Lake managed to leave deep bloody claw marks on each students’ body!
Seeing that the situation was only getting worse and worse, Kate decided to abandon her bow as she unsheathed her sword and rushed forward.
At first she didn’t dare to engage first because of the lingering fear from her previous match but this time the situation was too dire.
Lake roared as he sensed the fast approaching Kate, a deep sense of danger flaring from his instincts causing him to jump back.
Kate swung her sword forward as brilliant star light flashed into the surrounding.
Although Lake had dodged the blade, a long sword light filled with astral mana flew forward, slashing him across the chest.
Blood spurted as Lake felt a long slash mark printed itself across his chest.
This was a clear demonstration of the difference between a Martial Warrior and a Martial Apprentice, the ability to release mana from the body!
Feeling the searing pain, some clarity briefly came back to Lake’s mind, however, Kate lunged forward and attacked again, giving him no time to think.
This time Lake learned his lesson and instead of dodging back, he moved to the side, directly avoiding the blade and the sword light that followed soon after.
Unfortunately, Lake didn’t have the speed nor strength to face Kate in a direct confrontation and could only focus on dodging, relying heavily on his sixth sense to warn him ahead of time of the incoming attack.
As time went on, more and more clarity returned to Lake’s mind as he was suppressed under Kate’s brilliant sword light.
After his senses had almost fully returned, Lake had already realized the current situation as he used his body to dodge a powerful attack coming from Kate that left a deep line forming on the ground.
Kate also noticed the subtle change in Lake as she stood still with her sword still raised. After that exchange of attacks, Kate felt that her previous situation of Lake being in the dominating position and her being the one suppressed had been reversed!
She was currently feeling ecstatic after realizing this but she still kept a cool front on the outside.
Breathing out, Lake relaxed his tense nerves. Taking off the battle suit that covered his chest, he saw a long bloody slash mark on his chest.
Thankfully it wasn’t too deep as Kate had greatly held back on her attacks. Otherwise, with the current difference between their Fitness Index, Lake would have been cleaved in two by the sword light if she had gone all out.
This also helped Lake to realize the difference between him and a True Martial Warrior.
Although Lake had fought with Rank Two Beasts before, they were all weak among their ranks and Lake had used various tactics to suppress them both physically and psychologically which allowed him to fight above his level and win.
With a thought, Lake moved his mana through his body as he cast a simple low level healing spell.
To the amazement of Kate and the others, Lake’s wound miraculously started to heal and slowly sealed up.
Within a minute, the wound that could normally leave any Martial Apprentice temporarily out of commission was completely sealed leaving only a light scar behind!
Lake sighed upon feeling his internal condition. Although the spell had sealed the wound, it hadn’t fully healed the damage or recovered the lost blood, that was the limit of a low grade spell.
If it was an intermediate spell, the wound would have been fully healed and a high level spell would have completely recovered the lost blood. However, if Lake wanted to cast those higher leveled spells, he was either going to have to practice spellcasting for a few years or upgrade his spellcasting skill with RP points.
Looking up, Lake observed Kate before turning to see the bloody and disabled students who had been dragged to one side of the field.
The nurses from the training hall had already come out and were giving them emergency treatment. Later they would transfer the injured students to the infirmary for their full recovery to take place but they were in no serious danger now.
After that, Lake looked at the remaining students on the field.
After his rampage, less than half of the original fifty students remained and most of them had sustained light injuries from the aftermath of Lake’s attack on the other students.
The crowd of students to the side were already completely shocked. They were also in range of the Nightmare’s Fear so they were affected by Lake’s constant howls leaving them constantly on edge.
Lake walked to the side and picked up a sword from the ground as he turned to look at the remaining students. They hadn’t engaged Lake as the fight between him and Kate was far too intense for them to interfere with.
Lake didn’t say anything. In his mind he had already decided that Howling Roar was a last resort skill because the side effects were too severe.
Unless his physical prowess increased again and he was only surrounded by enemies, he didn’t dare to use that skill in the future.
Sighing, Lake murmured to himself as his presence slowly faded from the senses of the world, "It’s time to end this."