While Mao and Fargo were fighting, the others were busy with the rest of the enemies, with the Alterans at an obvious advantage. The Alterans may be outnumbered, but Fargo's men were not only weakened from the war, most of them also lacked the technical skills the Alterans had honed.
On average, Fargo's team had a higher level and numbers, but the Terrans had superior techniques, equipment, and momentum.
Garan, at this time, was taking care of four level 12s and a level 14 who was nearby him, keeping them from troubling the team and allowing them to fight one-on-one or one-on-two at most.
These were just a few curses the five men yelled as they tried to pummel the ebony-haired soldier.
Although the mercenaries were inherently selfish, their superiority in numbers gave them some confidence to battle him relentlessly head-on.
They knew how much they needed a win after all the horrible losses they experienced today!
With a fierce war cry, they yelled, attacking him together with their various weapons. Garan kept his cool under the barrage, deflecting blow after blow with grace and power.
He shifted to the side as he avoided the spear of a level 12, immediately followed by the avoidance of another blade stabbed by level 14.
Because it was close, his body was hit by the blade, and he heard the scratching sound it made against his defensive armor. Garan raised his sword to retaliate, pushing the level 14 back and the attacks from the others with one swift move.
The men looked at him, a little shocked as to how effortless he was dealing with them. However, it was not enough for them to push their pride away again to escape. This time, they believed they had a chance! It was one-versus-five, for elf's sakes!
The five immediately lunged at the same time, not holding anything back. When Garan was forced to take a step back, they were energized, sending barrage after barrage of attacks, not caring about grace or technique at all.
At some point, some metallic spikes appeared around him, moving to capture the attacks as well. Even if he was alone against the five people, the sound of clashing metal was intense and many, making it seem like a large battlefield if one wasn't looking.
His eyes hadn't left Fargo while he did so, however, and he saw the man escaping Mao's attacks, slowly learning more from him despite everything.
Still as slippery as a loach.
Avoiding another attack, Garan decided to use his ability to immobilize his enemies. The air around them cooled with Ice expanding from his feet, radiating outwards.
It captured the enemies' feet one by one. They immediately struggled as they realized what was happening, stabbing the ice to get out. However, the creeping of the ice was not slow and the weaker ones were trapped to the knee a few seconds later.
The level 14 though managed to escape early on, running to attack him. In his mind, distracting Garan now could make him stop using his troublesome ability. But he was very wrong.
While the level 14 was swinging his sword at him, Garan raised his hand and the ice crept further upward until it was to their hips. Soon, no amount of stabbing would be able to break the ice fast enough. At some point, some internal spikes even stabbed into them, making them bleed through the ice.
It was a gruesome sight.
"SO STRONG!" The level 14 yelled, realizing his companions were useless. Like a typical Fargo guard, he immediately stepped back, leaving them be.
But how could Garan let this happen?
"Take care of them," he ordered the nearby Alterans, who seemed to be finishing off their enemies.
Anyway, they would barely be able to move. He opted to let the others get the experience from the kill since he would gain nothing from killing these people.
The Alterans didn't hesitate to attack them—their enemies were getting weak, anyway—and one even used the semi-frozen mercenary as a shield!
"DON'T!" the frozen mercenary yelled, seeing as his own teammate's sword about to reach him and helplessly unable to avoid it. The man was unable to stop his momentum even after realizing the Alteran had escaped, stabbing at his teammate's head in the end.
"AH!!" he yelled, and he would be finished off by a stab in the neck, adding experience to his killer.
The other three were also dealt with a couple of moments later before resuming to their actual fights. Someone even reached level 10 thanks to the kill, making him very happy, and his current enemy aghast.
Seeing this, the other people battling also paled, and their distraction made it easy for the rest of the Alterans to take care of them!
Garan was headed to Fargo and Mao's fight when he turned to see Rowan and Okra's fight at its peak.
Okra was relatively undamaged except for a few burns, while Rowan had many slashes on his body, particularly in the areas without the armor.
Obviously, the relatively big level difference was still there. However, for his situation, Rowan had done really well, and he held on long enough. If any other aborigine was in his position, even if he was an elementalist, would've already been killed.
At some point though, Okra managed to hit Rowan's hand, making Rowan let go of his weapon. He immediately shifted his attack to a stabbing motion, targeting the redhead's unguarded eyes.
This was an attack that would've injured, if not kill, Rowan.
Fortunately, Garan appeared next to Rowan at this time, using the tip of his sword to deflect Okra's attack. The blade slid against his and he bent his arms, making Garan's elbow point at the man's neck. With a flash in his eyes, a metal spike extended from his elbow heading straight to the man's neck.
However, Okra's instincts as a fighter and mercenary were still very good and he barely managed to avoid the abnormal attack!
The close call shook him though, and he could only stand a few meters away with his weapons out, glaring at them to save himself.
Rowan looked at the ebony-haired man in front of him, a little ashamed at how little damage he had done despite his equipment and the element he had been training for so long.
"I'll handle this," Garan told him and for a moment Rowan thought he was just too slow and disappointed the man. However, Garan turned his head to face him at an angle.
"You did well," Garan said. "Go help the others."
Rowan looked at him with slightly wide eyes, just before doing the standard salute to show his respect.