The moment her sword slashed at the serpentine Frenzy Beast's body, she failed to receive any feedback, feeling her sword pass through its body like it was an illusion. She then noticed the body of the Frenzy Beast turn green, showcasing its life aura in her eyes.
The Frenzy Beast swiped its tail, impacting Heima, caught unawares. As her body was sent flying, she noticed the direction of her flight aimed towards the Ring Worm. Mentally cursing the Frenzy Beast, she made a black aura congeal around her body, quickly teleporting her.
Appearing atop a nearby rock, Heima clutched her chest, feeling a constricting pain. The momentum of her flight had been absorbed into her body, carried over when she had teleported. Due to the change in inertia her body experienced—going from a state of motion to a state of rest in the fraction of a second—she felt a massive strain on her muscles, damaging her internals.
Taking the chance when she had teleported away, the Frenzy Beast disappeared from everyone's vision, appearing above the head of another lady. The lady was quick to react, thanks to her being an Esper. A chakram—disk-shaped object with sharp ends—flew out of the backpack she carried, raising its rpm (Revolutions per minute) to the maximum, its edges glistening with a deadly hue.
The chakram collided into the body of the Frenzy Beast, passing through it, failing to deal any damage. The moment the chakram passed through its body, Heima noticed the green figure of the Frenzy Beast in her vision turn transparent, lacking any colour, as if it wasn't alive at that instant.
Taking the chance, the Esper lady infused her psychic energy into her armour, pulling her behind, creating a distance from the Frenzy Beast.
The Ring Worm let out a screech, its sounds barely audible, produced from the scrapping of two muscles. Its body hardened, raising sparks as the attacks landed on it, failing to cause significant damage.
The Ring Worm burrowed into the ground, its haphazard digging sending large patches of soil flying into the air, blocking the vision of the team members. It then burrowed out from a different region, lunging at a man, its mouth opened wide.
The man suddenly released a dense green mist, coagulating them into the opened mouth of the Ring Worm. The green mist seeped into its muscles, spreading through its bloodstream, and turning its body sluggish.
He hurriedly retreated, barely escaping from getting devoured. Suddenly, the serpentine Frenzy Beast with a long nose and an ethereal tail appeared behind him, whacking his body with its tail.
The man tried to turn around and defend against the attack, failing to do so under the unexpected ambush and its overwhelming speed. The impact sent him flying into the air, towards the mouth of the Ring Worm. Heima appeared above the Ring Worm's head, plunging her sword into the wound she had inflicted earlier, piercing through the defences.
The Ring Worm wriggled in pain, turning its head, allowing the man to collide into its body. Using the momentum of the collision, the man slashed with his sword, creating a long gash, coughing out blood himself.
The serpentine Frenzy Beast once again appeared behind him, lashing out another vicious attack with its tail, shattering his rib bones, and dislocating the bones in his spine. A chakram attacked it, taking the moment when it lashed out at the man, creating a long gash on its body.
"The length of its ethereal tail shortens every time it does that trick." A voice transmitted the information to the ears of Heima, copying the same information to the other team members within a second.
Heima plunged the sword deep until the hilt, pulling it sideways and widening the wound. She focused her attacks on the head of the Ring Worm. Suddenly, the serpentine Frenzy Beast appeared before her, its senses capable of looking past her Tier 3 Skill. It opened its mouth, intending to bite her head.
Barely managing to reach in time, Heima raised her hands, hurrying to congeal the black aura around her body. The serpentine Frenzy Beast was faster, its unexpected appearance giving her little time, biting into her left arm, crushing it. An instant later, she disappeared, appearing behind it and plunging her sword through its body.
Just when she had plunged the sword part way into its body, the serpentine Frenzy Beast turned phantom, slipping past her blade like an illusion, passing through the body of the Ring Worm and entering the earth. Heima hurriedly tore a piece from the loose clothes she wore, wiping the blood of the serpentine Frenzy beast that had spilled before her, pocketing it.
She then teleported under the Ring Worm, and created a long gash on its body, making use of the wounds created by her teammates. Using the chance when the serpentine Frenzy Beast had yet to make an appearance, she created long gashes along the skin, in the places that led to its vital spots.
The three Espers in her team released their chakrams into a gash, cutting into it like a saw blade. One of the chakrams soon managed to sever a vital part, damaging the Ring Worm. It then led to an accumulation of injuries as the Ring Worm soon died under their assault.
Heima looked around, vigilant of her surroundings. Frenzy Beasts that had the habit of ambushing always attacked the moment after victory, taking their prey by surprise when they were the least guarded. Her teammates hurriedly began to cut up the corpse of the Ring Worm, fishing out an orange Heart Crystal—fist-sized, having spots of black covering its surface— and safeguarded it within a box.
The three Espers, on the other hand, began to treat the man who had suffered the most injuries and was on the verge of death. "He needs to be operated and have the broken bones removed before we can heal him. His spine has also suffered massive damage and created a sharp decrease in his Sync Rate."
"Lets us retreat," Heima commanded, "Take turns to treat him while on the run. All team members will protect the Espers while they recover their energy."
The Esper lady created 3 psychic arms, infusing one into her armour to increase her running speed while infusing the other two into the armour of the injured man, keeping his body afloat. Another Esper created three psychic arms, one holding a sharp blade, one turning into a shade of blue while the remaining one entered his body.
A small section was cut open on his chest by a psychic arm as the other psychic arm brought out a broken bone. The third psychic arm that had turned pale blue healed the damaged parts, serving to keep the man alive.
The final Esper took out a small, rectangular box from his clothes, retrieving a thumb-sized Brain Crystal, white in colour, having three stripes, and lacking any black spots on its surface. He then closed his eyes for a second, allowing tendrils of blood to seep out through the pores on his face and the seven orifices. They immediately converged before him, coagulating into a crimson sphere the size of his fist.
Two parallel lines appeared on its smooth surface, separating to form a fat strip. Numerous tendrils converged below the strip as it gained in mass, forming into what appeared to be legs. The strip slowly morphed into the shape of a caterpillar, equivalent to the length of his palm.
The caterpillar turned its head, taking a glance at the face of the man, snorting once. It then picked up the thumb-sized Brain Crystal, holding it using 2 pairs of its forelegs. It bit into it, taking a small piece, chewing it like it was delicious. The man turned slightly impatient, urging it to eat faster but, the caterpillar ignored him, taking its time to relish the taste.
On her cue, one of her teammates retrieved a bag, packing the body of their headless comrade. He took out a knife and cut open the dead man's body, fishing out a wriggling spine, storing it in another bag. He then secured the bag containing the spine inside a metal box, its walls sealed to prevent heat, light, sound, force, or even energy from leaking out.
He held the box, giving the larger bag to his comrade, making him carry it. Immediately, their team began to retreat, their cleanup spanning less than 20 seconds.
"Be careful of that Frenzy Beast from ambushing us. Espers, be ready to signal us at a moment's notice." Heima reminded, taking the lead once again, feeling sweat trail over her eyelids. Having teleported many times, she was running low on energy.
It would take too much time to recover her energy; moreover, it was almost impossible to do so while on the run. Only Espers who were capable of multitasking with ease were capable of doing that, given they had comrades to protect them from harm.
It was late in the evening, their team was becoming tired, the number of wounded having increased. Just like what she had feared, the serpentine Frenzy Beast attacked them once again. It also pulled some Tier 3 Frenzy Beasts from the surroundings to rush their team, giving it the space to launch numerous sneak attacks, claiming one kill after the other.
The serpentine Frenzy Beast continued to act in such a manner, displaying its cunning nature. The moment they had killed off the lured Frenzy Beasts or if they had managed to inflict wounds to it, the serpentine Frenzy Beast would vanish once again.
Heima made a mental count, her expression turning grim. Including her, there were only 14 people in her team, each suffering from severe injuries. The serpentine Frenzy Beast had already claimed the lives of 6 people, showing no signs of relenting its pursuit.
"How much farther from the City are we?" Heima murmured, feeling her left hand begin to rot. She also experienced a feeling of madness sprouting within her, enriching the entity inside her with euphoria.
After fighting against higher tiered Frenzy Beasts, her right hand had turned numb. She was also running dry on energy, having to expend the energy reserves stored in her fat. Moreover, she was unable to summon out the crimson centipede, the entity inside her showing signs of rebellion.
"We are 85 kilometres from the city," The Esper lady replied, looking drained, her eyes lacking liveliness.
…
8:00 PM, when it was finally his turn to call, Jyorta dialled the number to his home, hearing a ringing sound. As Madam Mary had permitted them to call home once, everyone ensured to make a call. So, he had to act like them despite knowing everything he wanted beforehand. This was to prevent the teachers from suspecting his family members of teaching him classified information before he was qualified to know.
As the call failed to connect, Jyorta frowned, "Is sister not back home yet?"