It was clear that it took a great effort for Rose to do that.
'Thank you Rose you might have saved the mission, now go back home and rest.'
'I'm a little tired, but I'm fine! I can stay here!'
'You already did a lot, it's not because of that honey, you killing Chambers was the hidden mission, and the rewards it's to have your clairvoyance back. As soon as we have the body and get rid of it, you will get it back, and I want you to be in your body laying down when that happens. I don't know if something can happen if you receive it in your astral form and I'm not taking any risks, so the best is for you to go back, I can take Lucy and Paws back later, and you can help us through that connection with Dante's help.'
She nodded with some reluctance as I told her the price for completing the hidden mission. I knew that she didn't want to leave but thanks to the connection with her pets she still can help us scouting around.
I told Dante about it and asked him to send Hope so she can keep an eye on Rose. Once Rose left the place using Astral Portal, I once again focused on the fight, since I used shared thought to talk with her it's not like I wasted time talking with her, while the group was getting ready to leave.
We needed to weaken them. For this, the objective was either the jumper or the pyromancer. The guy with a weird aura that it's checking Chambers body it's in the center, so it's almost impossible to take him down after avoiding the rest of their team, and the one with enhanced senses is not a threat, so it's worthless to take him down.
The Semi-Humans are usually a little harder to deal with, I don't think that we can take down the alligator, probably the most effective way to handle that one was to leave it for Hayley when she arrives. As for the nose-less guy he is also at the center of the formation… also, I got this feeling that he will be able to dodge the attack.
With Milo we didn't waste time, after telling him to get the jumper, I used Time bubble and excluded Milo from its effects, when Hayley and Mark arrive they also will be unaffected by it, choosing that evolution was the right choice. The effect of Slow was better than time bubble, so I used it on our targets, I don't want to give them any chances to react to the attack.
After a quick nod as a signal, we both charged, I went for the pyromancer and Milo for the Jumper.
As we moved I noticed a slight movement on the one with Enhanced Senses, he knows that someone. Milo is going to arrive before me, thanks to his Enhanced Agility he was way faster than me, my Level 3 Chronokinetic combat new ability 'Accelerate' can boost me up more than that but it was too short, so I have to use it in the right time, or it will be wasted.
The Detector was moving his mouth in slow motion, it was a funny sight, but it managed to alert his team screwing our surprise attack. The pyromancer was doomed, but the jumper blinked leaving Milo without a choice but to attack the nearest target, that was how the detector met his end under Milo's Commando knife.
I was ready to take down the pyromancer when someone appeared in front of me. I could feel the temperature rise inside of me at the time I was slashing and being blocked by the jumper.
I couldn't let him off just do that, even if he was able to make short teleports, his reaction time and speed are restricted.
Accelerate…
I wonder how it is being slowed down to 1 /4 of your usual speed and to make things worse the one in front of you now move at three times his normal speed, if it were normal that was a 12x speed difference.
Chronokinetic combat really felt a cheat-like ability.
[ChronoKinectic Combat Lv. 3.: Slow range improved (30 m -> 45 m], slow amount (65% -> 75%), number of targets 1 -> 4. Accelerated Senses (x3 -> x4). Infuse: (stacking slow(7%, 12stack max), Slow regen, Delay, Slowdown*, Accelerate*) New Skill: Accelerate 200% speed increase, last 3 seconds]
He didn't have the chance to block any other attack the kukri slashed his gut and the tomahawk almost completely severed the arm he was using to hold the mace.
Just as I was going to strike the pyromancer an enormous pressure fell on my shoulders, I felt heavy.
I jumped back with the remaining time I had. The temperature kept raising, and I understood that the guy in front of me was like Hayley and could raise my body temperature.
The pressure was annoying, but I was slowly trying to get used to it. Milo had it more difficult but managed to leave while breathing heavily, after going back about 15 meters the effect ended. The temperature also stopped raising and started to go back to normal giving me a refreshing feeling.
"Are you ok?"
The one that stopped the heat from invading my body was Hayley. It made me think of a couple of things about her power, but that will have to be a talk for another time.
"Yes, it just took me by surprise."
When I saw the heat guy, I thought that he was like Pyro, he could throw fireballs and stuff that I could avoid. At least I had Hayley here to prevent the attack.
Even if the plan didn't work as we wanted, we still managed to take two of them down, taking down the jumper was particularly a good thing as he was the biggest menace to Hayley. Unfortunately, now we know that there might be three people who have attacks with a wide area of effect that means that I'm not going to be able to avoid them.
The stove-guy was, hopefully, going to be countered by Hayley. That changes my plan of making Hayley take care of the alligator man.
"Hayley try to freeze that guy."
She seemed to ponder a couple of seconds before shaking her head.
"I don't think I can."
Hayley could feel the temperature changes, so it was natural that she knew that the guy I pointed was the one that tried to burn me alive.
"I don't need you to, focus on him and defend, I need him to be busy so we can take care of the others."
She nodded understanding, Milo recovered a little and Mark got in front of Hayley.
"Milo use long ranged attacks, try to aim a little higher the gravity guy might mess with your aim."
As I gave instruction the others didn't stay idle, I could see the now ex-pyromancer trying to launch sneak attacks that were prevented time and time again by Hayley, her battle already started. The alligator was now slowed and coming in our direction.
"Mark, do you think you can fend him off?"
The alligator was a tricky one he was dangerous but it will take time, and I need that to take care of the other guys… that gravity manipulator was especially annoying, I think I can get now how it feels to fight while debuffed.
Mark thought about it for a second before nodding.
"I can try but don't take too long."
As if a silent signal was given to everyone I dashed forward.
To anyone, it would look like Hayley, and the stove-guy were just standing there pointing at something and moving their hands from time to time, but I could see auras and the clash of cold and hot was a sight to behold. Hayley had the upper hand thanks to the reaction time of the guy being slowed by my time ability.
Milo shot once to try his aim. As expected after getting into the heavy gravity area the bullet dropped faster but not that much. Once he saw the difference, he started to shoot towards the other two.
I avoided the alligator and went straight for them, the alligator was going to follow me but found Mark attacking him the second later.
As I got near, just as we expected the nose-less guy exhaled a green mist that started to spread fast…