After Shi Feng spread open the summoning scroll, Anna and Keith, his two direct bodyguards, appeared almost immediately.
Having not been summoned for a while, both of their levels had risen somewhat, though not by much. Anna had only reached Level 76, while Keith had reached Level 75.
"Go take out those Earth Spirits!" Shi Feng ordered immediately.
Although Anna and Keith were only second-tier Class holders, one was an Epic bodyguard and the other a Dark-Gold bodyguard — each more than capable of soloing a Grand Lord of the same level.
The Earth Spirits were High Grand Lords, but with the Nine Star Pinnacle Domain and World Projection suppressing them, their strength had been reduced to roughly that of ordinary Grand Lords. Taking on four of them was far from impossible.
Anna began chanting her incantation while Keith charged straight at the nearest Earth Spirit.
Within the Nine Star Pinnacle Domain, the four Earth Spirits had no way to leave. They could only keep attacking the magical barrier, but the domain had been reinforced to the point that even a Titan War General would struggle to break through — let alone the Earth Spirits.
Keith, at Level 75, rushed behind one of the Earth Spirits and swept his longsword upward. Instantly, countless wind blades materialized around the target, each one stripping away thirty or forty thousand HP. Dozens of blades struck in rapid succession, and in the blink of an eye the Earth Spirit had lost more than a tenth of its health.
That single strike drew all four Earth Spirits' attention away from the magical barrier. They converged on Keith simultaneously. Though his combat skill far surpassed theirs, the Earth Spirits' stat advantage and sheer numbers forced him into a relentless defensive stance.
As Keith was driven back step after step, Anna finished her incantation. A third-tier Gold Giant and ten second-tier Stone Guardians materialized beside him, drawing away two of the Earth Spirits and drastically reducing the pressure on Keith.
For a time, Anna and Keith fought in tandem, gradually gaining the upper hand. Eliminating the four Earth Spirits was only a matter of time.
"What level are those two direct bodyguards? They're actually suppressing four High Grand Lords!"
"How are their levels so high?"
"Who exactly is the guild leader?"
The onlookers, who moments ago had been drowning in despair, stood there dumbstruck.
It wasn't as though Cold Wind City had never seen direct bodyguards before, but those had offered very limited help to players — nothing remotely as powerful as Anna and Keith.
"Focus on killing the Earth Spirits first, then deal with the Titan War General!" Shi Feng swept a glance over the suppressed Earth Spirits and issued rapid-fire orders. "Wuming, you few — use combination skills from the side to assist!"
Their combat strength was stretched thin at the moment. Using only players' first-tier skills posed little threat to the Earth Spirits or the Titan War General, but combination skills were different. With three people coordinating, they could unleash the power of a third-tier spell, which could still deal meaningful damage even to the weakened Titan War General.
Ten small ballista turrets immediately shifted their targets, firing explosive arrows directly at the four Earth Spirits. Each hit dealt over two hundred thousand damage, and a single volley slashed away more than a fifth of an Earth Spirit's HP.
Jing Wuming, Gu Jiuji, and Anye Kuangxiang charged in alongside three healers.
Combination skills demanded strict positioning from all three participants. The better their coordination, the greater the skill's power.
Jing Wuming and his two companions were among Cold Wind City's top players. The three of them formed a triangle around the Earth Spirit and unleashed Frost Moon Triple Kill in perfect sync.
Three crescent arcs of silver light slashed outward from their blades and converged on the Earth Spirit's body.
Boom!
As the three crescents fused together, they formed a towering pillar of white-silver light that shot skyward, engulfing the Earth Spirit completely. With less than a quarter of its HP remaining, the creature dissolved into motes of starlight and vanished.
The sheer power of the attack startled even the three who had used it.
Only Shi Feng, watching from a distance, found it perfectly normal. Combination skills were exceedingly rare, and having even one person in a team who could execute them could elevate the entire group's output by an entire tier. Against an Earth Spirit whose strength had been suppressed to Grand Lord level, the results were naturally spectacular.
The power of combination skills came with a drawback, however — their cooldown times were long, typically a minute or more.
The Earth Spirit's death caused everyone's experience bars to surge forward significantly, though no items had dropped. Still, with one Earth Spirit eliminated, dealing with the remaining three became far more manageable.