On the other side of the battlefield, Orn was able to cut loose, thanks to Sorc and Blum providing support. Being a ki practitioner, he used his ki to strengthen his physical prowess rather than using his element. Which along with focusing on his strength, speed, and stamina stats made him a very formidable opponent. Due to this Orn was physically superior to most beasts that he came across. Being able to tank most attacks and deal major damage, ending various same tier fights without even taking damage.
Blum, on the other hand, focused mainly on his strength, speed, and intelligence stats making him very capable at the support role. Keeping his distance, he could change the pace of battles using well-placed skills to disrupt enemy attacks and hinder their mobility. Though he could handle physical confrontations, it was only in short bursts since he had a low stamina stat.
The fighting styles of the two elders complimented each other very well, making them an asset to any tribe they were in.
Unlike most beasts, their patience was a key part of their strength. They had built their foundation on obtaining two perfect evolutions. Aiming for a perfect evolution each time was their goal. This allowed them to match stronger foes with greater ease than their counterparts. Perfect evolutions allowed the body to condense more mana into makeup of the body acting as a multiplier for stats. The multiplier doubled the stats in power per each evolution, meaning a beast with a stat of 12 after evolving would actual be equal to a stat of 24.
This was one of the reasons why Rapt could defeat Troper and the frog despite the tier difference. Since his first evolution was perfect along with having an immensely powerful element that was the bane of the water element. The only element capable of handling its destructive power was the earth element.
Against the tier 2 canines, the gap in strength was massive enough to almost gap the strength of their numerical advantage. By focusing more on containing them and wear down their strength, the canines used their mana-skills to apply continuous pressure on them. Under the instructions of their leader, those of the same element pooled together to launch skills allowing the collective of the same element to create a synergistic effect.
Sorc had to reapply his [Rock Skin] multiple times to defend against their attacks, making him burn through his mana. Orn and Blum used short bursts of speed to dodge the massive attacks, though this slowly wore down Blum. They were gradually being pushed back and had to focus on defense until they received a plan from Rapt.
Understanding what Rapt was trying to do, Orn took the initiative and sped towards to clusters of beasts to draw their attention. As Orn quickly closed the distance, Blum targeted individuals in all the clusters with his skill [shadow control]. A skill that caused the target's shadow to temporarily render them under his control. Using the opportunity granted by this skill, he aimed to cause the beasts to unleash attacks on their allies.
With the focus shifting onto the steadily approaching Orn, Blum succeed in disrupting their joint attacks. Blum had used the different groupings of beasts to decimate those at an elemental disadvantage. All the attacks caused a great of damage when landing on the unsuspecting group of allies. This led to most skills being thrown off course injuring even more of their fellow tribal members.
Though some beasts remained steady even after the chaos, only needing some extra time to regain control over their skills and refocus on their targets. Of those few beasts, most decided that Blum was the biggest threat after the use of [Shadow control].
Orn had just arrived within close combat range by that time and begin to focus on those that were still recovering from Blum's attack. Leaving Blum to deal with the beasts that were unaffected as they began to send their attacks at the three. Blum noticed that for every enemy he attacked more were recovering. Slowly overwhelming him and pushing Orn back, putting Rapt's plan at jeopardy.
Some of the recovering beasts noticed Sorc stand at the rear, dodging the occasional attacks while letting most land on his [Rock Skin]. They then decided to focus on him thinking that his stamina and mana was getting low. He was really trying to focus on his task, paying more attention to the two elder's charging Rapt than the attacks flying his way. Yet, he soon noticed that the attacks were beginning to up pace, disrupting his focus. This forced him to ask for help from Blum and Orn, causing Orn to disregard defense and focus on attacking. While Blum begin to expend more mana without attempting to save any.
Though this did relieve some pressure, the enemy was beginning to regain their group synergy building the pressure again. That's when two [Static Bolts] crashed into two of the groups, using the water on the battlefield as a conductor to affect the entire enemy area. The plan had commenced and ran smoothly from beginning to end. With the fall of the frog making almost the entire battlefield halted as something shocking had happened. A tier 3 beast had been defeated by a tier 1 beast.
Sorc then proceeded to follow Rapt's order pulling him and the frog away from the canine. Following that he regrouped with the others and moved towards Rapt. Keeping a watchful eye on the tribe for any movement as Rapt continued attacking the frog.
Throughout the attack on the unconscious frog, Rapt's behavior had been steadily becoming more vicious and savage. As he was being affected by the mana released from each wound. Failing to notice that the entire enemy tribe had come to a halt, Rapt continued to attack ferociously trying to bring down the delicious morsel right in his grasp.
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Rosi's POV
'Damn you...that idiot....you worthless elder' Rosi thought as his mind was numbed after the fall of the elder. Being the first to recover in the canine tribe was Rosi, their tribal leader, and with his recovery he began to wake up his tribe. He first focused on helping the remaining 3 elders to recover. After their recovery they begin to help Rosi in rousing the rest of the tribe. Slowly as the rest been to come out of the haze, Rozi began to give orders. His intention was to surround this small tribe and kill them all. Then he would use their bodies to nurture his tribe and make up for their losses.
Looking at his unconscious elder he shook his head, disgusted by the weakness shown and the pressure they would face from the other super tribes in the area. In fact, this part of the dead zone contains 4 tribes that enforced their ways on others by patrolling the entrances in their respective territories including his.
These tribes were always at war with each other in order become the undisputed rulers of the section. Those that accomplished this feat would gain title as ruler of the area along with the benefits of receiving resources weaker tribes and the solo beasts for the use their hunting grounds. Yet the greatest benefits of them all was the chance to learn a personal skill from one of the Great Elder Beast.
'I must kill this tribe. This tribe must die.', was becoming a mantra being repeated in Rosi's head when thinking about the consequences to come to fruition due to Rapt and his tribe. His anger quickened the recovery of his tribe as it started to spread over into their minds through the shared connection.
The tribe began to condense into a single-minded entity hell-bent on achieving the desired of their leader. Other beast close by could hear the rumble of the numerous growls and snarl seemingly merging together as a single roar of a single predator.
Like a sea of flaming arrows, they were aimed at Rapt and others ready to be unleashed upon them. When all of his tribe was snapped out of their hazy the command came.
"Crush them"
Following the order, all of the remaining canines rushed towards Rapt's tribe with reckless abandon. Those still capable of using skills moved their mana to preparing to unleash them. The rest sprinted at their top speed bearing down on Rapt and the others, rapidly closing in.
Most of the beasts didn't notice anything weird because of the tribal skill [Berserker] reducing their mental capabilities and raising the physical and elemental prowess. Turning them into mindless cannon fodder meant to overwhelm the enemy with numbers and ferocity. The only ones who weren't affect by mental reduction were those with a higher than usual intellect stat, the elders and Rosi.
This skill was the reason for the current situation since it heightened the bond between the leader, elders, and the tribe with each use. Meaning each time one of them lost in battle bond between tribe was affected. The severity of the effect depended on numerous different factor such as the individuals time spent in the tribe, their strength, and whether they die or not.
The fallen elder had already severely affect the tribe by losing, if he died their trump card would face a permanent 15% reduction. Though this only lasted until another elder filled the rank, it was a staggering blow once the additional loss of regular members was added. To that end, they rushed to prevent such a loss from happening.
"With the mana he has in left in his body, he should be able to hold out until we get there." he said to the tribe. Though most couldn't register it, it didn't matter as they would be of help anyway.
It was time to redeem their standing in the area.