Back with Rapt and the others, Sorc watched Rapt furiously attacking the frog completely obvious to the approaching enemies.
"Rapt, we have to leave. Forget the frog, his tribe is coming. Their planning on swarming us." Sorc said approaching Rapt from the side. Yet the only answer he had gotten was meaningless growls and snarls.
"Rapt snap out of it. We need to move!!!!!!!" Sorc shouted with building urgency.
"Blum…Orn... things might get pretty hectic, if we can't get Rapt to move. We're going to have try and force Rapt to leave the Frog." They both understand the problem as they knew the Tribe rules.
'How were they to force their Leader physically?' was the question on their mind.
"Sorc shift Rapt and the frog as close to the forest barrier as possible. Orn protect me so I can gather enough mana to use [shadow lock] again." Blum said, seeming to have come up with a plan.
Glancing at the enemies closing in for a second, Sorc shifted the four of them to the front of the barrier. Blum stood on the shadow of Orn to recover mana faster as Sorc continued to try and break Rapt out of his trance. Orn stood still to resting since if the
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Rapt's POV
"RaPt...We HaVE...…tO lEaVe...…..fOrGeT...tHe...…FrOg,....hIs...tRiBe....iS cOmInG....ThEiR.....pLaNnInG....oN.....sWaRmInG.....uS."" I heard, though the sound was muffled as if I had stuck my head in water. My body was moving on its own as my mind reacted to the information coming in.
"Ra….pt.....snap....o.u.t...….Of.....it...We.....NeEd....To.....MovE." I heard again, though it seemed slowed and discombobulated. The overwhelming amount of information processed from my immediate area was being registered based on whether it involved his current situation or not. Anything unrelated was delayed, such as Sorc, Blum, and Orn presence, their words, and the slightly tumbling that was steadily increasing.
In this space only the frog and me seemed to truly exist. When enough mana to use [discharge] was reached, when the frog was close to becoming conscious, and where to attack to cause the most damage was some of the things that were deemed as important.
The entire time consisted of attacking wounds that had begun to heal, using [discharge] to delay his recovery and the wait for mana to build again. There in those moments, I gradually gained enlightenment on matters that I knew of but had yet to fully grasp.
'Mana that is stored after eating another beast is used to by the body to heal. So, with the mana that can actually be utilized acting as the energy that activated healing process. The stored mana is used as the healing agent. It could practically be used to heal most wounds sustain in battle, from healing small flesh wounds to reconstructing the tissue.' With the realization of this information pertaining to mana, I came to the conclusion that I would have to deplete his mana to Truly end his life.
Suddenly I felt the ground shift underneath me, moving me in the direction of the barrier. Understanding what this was implying along with the pressure to finish what I had started. I could feel my body reacting as it pushed itself further and further towards my limits.
Attacking faster and more precise, using discharge more efficiently, and killing the enemy better.
I could feel it. Both me and this frog were reaching the end of the finish line. The consequences of the assault had started to disrupt my instinctive state. My bones had begun to ache, muscles began to tear, joints started fail, and finally my mind began to waiver.
'Pain...exhaustion...hunger...' were the first of thoughts as connection between the physical and mental begin to return. Luckily my control of motor functions had remained instinctual because the intensity of pain was mind numbing.
In a gradually intensifying pace, the edges of my vision were darkening, and the rest of my senses were dulling. Unlike before my mana immersion, I could stay conscious and endure the stress being placed on my body and mind. Yet I still had limits, my vision only contained specks of lights with the rest is my senses being in an equal position.
Knowing this would most likely be my last attack, I hoped with all my might that this finished it. In the same fashion of how this event had begun was how it ended with me stabbing my claw deep in his eye and using [Discharge]. Draining the last of its active mana effectively preventing its recovery.
The strenuous act of constant attacks had placed a heavy toll on me as well. I fainted after the death of the frog, due to the buildup of pain, exhaustion, hunger, and more crashed down on my mind like a tsunami. Yet with my consciousness processing built-up stress so slow that the few seconds that I was conscious felt like hours.
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Rosi's POV
'My tribe is closing in and ready to tear into our enemy. I can see them bidding for time as they move closer to the trees. I can feel through my connection to Cae that we should make in time to safe him from deaths door.'
'Suddenly I can feel his health and mana decreasing at a alarming rate. I push forward pushing my way through my members rushing to the forefront of the charges. On my sides, i can see my elders trailing slightly behind.'
'Without warning a jolt crashed through all of us. Our elder had died.'
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Due to the effects of the [berserker] skill, the whole tribe plunged deeper into the mindless rage. This included overtaking the remaining elders and even the tribal leader as they were affected, though at a lesser extent.
Blum had finally recovered enough mana to use [shadow lock]. Yet when he turned towards Rapt to force him to stop, he had already stop and had falling unconscious.
Orn seeing Rapt fall unconscious, ran and scooped him up before rushing into to tree barrier leaving the zone.
Blum turned back towards the approaching tribe and used [shadow lock] on as many beasts as he could. He simultaneously told Sorc raise two slanted walls with no space in-between.
Sorc followed his instructions as Blum activated his skill bringing the some of the beasts to a full stop. Those behind the front runner crashed into them trampling over their body's. While those that were unaffected by the skill ran into the walls Sorc created.
Some like Rosi and the elders possessed the physical strength to continue through the wall, though most didn't. Like the others they were trampled by their fellow beasts.
Those that burst through the wall reached the other side only found an empty area. But under the skills effects they continue running until crashing into the barrier trees. Yet due to the skills influence, they miss took the trees resistance as an attack causing them to attack.
This allowed Rapt's and the gang to escape to safety, making their way back to Ny.
"Ny, is there a healing tree nearby Rapt needs to be healed?" Sorc said dropping the corpse of the frog.
"Yes, the closet is two trees to the north of this one"
Orn simply nodded and carried Rapt off in that direction, leaving Blum and Sorc to explain what happened to Ny. Afterwards they left to meet up with Orn and rest around the tree that Rapt was in. This left Ny to explain the situation to Gol when he checked in.
The entire event in the zone had lasted no more than two hours as Rosi's tribe had been trying to wear down Rapt's tribe. The had underestimated them leading to the loss of an elder to a small tribe, which would be a huge hit to their pride as a dominant tribe in the area.
After they had come down from the rush, they realized that they had just ran into the new blessed. Holding a grudge for the humiliation, they reached out to the beast sent by Petra as a way of paying back Rapt. Rosi was planning to use them as a way to tire out Rapt before taking the kill for himself.
While Rosi was preparing for Rapt's downfall, Rapt was oblivious to what was in store for him as he sat under the roots of the healing tree. Just outside of the tree in a triangle of sort sat Sorc, Blum, and Orn patiently waiting for their leader's recovery. They spent the time talking about the happenings of today battle and the other options they could have taken.
When the status screen suddenly appeared before them showing a countdown starting from ten. They leaped up on their paws anticipating the new changes they would see as the seconds continued to pass. Hitting zero, an abundant amount of information about the new system entered their minds giving them a basic understanding of the new changes.
Rapt slowly awakened to the sound of Bados's voice saying," here's a gift use it to gather your strength for in the future. You're going to need it. Just after the voice end the information steeped into his mind as the status screen.