Even if Kael wanted to protest because he was given the easiest task to complete, he couldn't as he was already low on aura reserve. Using his powers like so, to enhance his sword, was not ideal at all for preservation purposes.
So, he waited for Drake and Thorne to face off the two other beasts that had broken free from their earthen cage.
With the necessary opening, he rushed towards the immobilized Slythwyrm, baring at him with its rows of razor-sharp teeth.
Gathering all his might, he focused his aura towards the sword's tip before swinging it at the beast. Being well aware of the beast's impervious scales, he needed all the energy and speed he could muster to kill it as soon as possible.
One hit was not enough. But he kept at it. Two, three and four strikes… were what it took him to finally finish it off before the spear vanished.
Completely exhausted, Kael slumped, looking down at his index finger, 'Even with the power of the Infernal crystal I absorbed… I'm still far from what those two can do. I guess they're done with their tasks too.' He lamented.
Yeah! absorption of Infernal Crystals leads to a momentarily boost in power, but then takes its toll on the absorber after being used.
Kael looked in their direction. Just the absence of shrieks and fighting were enough to indicate that they'd finished killing the other two beasts. He just wanted to see it personally.
Drake and Thorne were already carving out the beast cores from the dead Slythwyrms when Kael looked their way.
He bit down on his lips with the veins of his temples popping out. Still, he pushed himself up to carve out his own beast's core. The last thing he wanted was to seem vulnerable or be a liability to Thorne and Drake.
….
Definitely, Thorne's ambush plan worked just perfectly as he had explained to Kael and Drake.
The plan was a simple one. To strike from the shadows and deal the most devastating blow to those five beasts, one capable of finishing them off without much struggle.
Therefore, to achieve that, they'd concealed themselves from the detection of the beasts, by the wall of the tunnels. This was made possible with Thorne's terraforming abilities.
When the beasts had emerged, they gave their defense a dry run first, employing Drake's aura-forged spears imbued with wind attributes for enhanced speed. This was to cover up their hideout from the marauding beasts.
With that done, Kael was used as a decoy to lure them all into their snare.
Kael was chosen for a reason, despite his initial reluctance against the idea. Since he wasn't as skilled as Drake in aura control, nor could he replace Thorne's role. Not to mention, his unique aura-sword skill fits the bait role like a glove. With Thorne and Drake upgrading its destructive power with aura coating and wind enhancement behind the scenes.
Therefore, with two beasts down and one crippled, Thorne and Drake emerged from their camouflage. Together, the trio swiftly dispatched the remaining beasts.
That concluded the ambush plan.
….
When they were done obtaining the beast cores, tending to Kael and replenishing their lost energy. Drake used his Aura Scan again to anticipate their next move.
With a smile plastered on his face, he said, "I think we are close to reuniting with two of our comrades. We need to hurry though, because some aura entities resembling that of beasts are heading in their direction."
"Which tunnel?" Thorne asked.
"The one to our left."
With that the three of them went ahead with hope of meeting their comrades.
••••
Still within the cavern tunnels, this time in a different region. A silvered haired guy wielding a sword could be seen making his way through one of the tunnels. His mind seemed preoccupied as he was keenly gazing at the ring on his finger.
Just then, he abruptly stood still, no longer moving but turning his head. His stance too had changed to that of alertness. Also, a frown was visible on his face as he was not putting on his telescope mask at that moment.
This young man was none other than Alvan. Due to his heightened senses, he was able to pick up some wave disturbances in the atmosphere. To an average human with normal senses, they would miss the subtle infrasound waves that he had captured, even in that state of reverie.
His heart beat began to pound even harder against his ribcage. That gut feeling… that instinct, was making him frantically turn his head around, even though he could clearly see everything in this dimly lit place. His grip on the hilt of the sword tightened as he was calmly waiting, whatever it was, while taking slow, shallow breaths.
The nerve-wracking sound wave that seemed to be approaching him suddenly faded. At that instant, he could feel his heart rate receding back to normal. However, he did not let down his guards. Deep within, Alvan knew that whatever it was, still lurks around. That is because of his special inherent senses that enables his intuition to detect disruptions from ordinariness around him.
Once again, not long after the sound had stopped, he picked up the sound waves. This time it was high-pitched and distinctive. It was a screeching, ear-perforating cry that seemed to reverberate off the tunnel wall. His heartbeat was not left out either. This time, it was too fast as if he had tachycardia.
'What is this feeling? My heart is racing abnormally, and I feel my senses are dulling' Alvan struggled in his mind. With his enhanced sight, he was finding it difficult to clearly distinguish things that he could normally in that enhanced state of his senses.
His noses too… Few minutes ago his smell perception could differentiate between the earthy odor and the pungent scent of the bioluminescent fungi on the walls. But not anymore though.
Every of his senses seemed to have lost their ultimate acuity already except his olfactory perception. That one too wasn't entirely spared. His face is already scrunched up with both hands trying to cover it from the source of the torment. Right now, the cells that make up the tissues of his ossicles were tiring out from the quick successive jamming occurring inside his ears.
Alvan was about to reach out to his telescope mask, when the culprit emerged. The perpetrator of his excruciating internal pain.
It was a flying creature, not yet distinct to him as his eyesight currently has deteriorated, nothing compared to being in its good condition. He squinted hard trying to make out what creature or beast was before him as it was directly flying towards him. The infrasonic screeches it was emitting were becoming even more denser and high-pitched, causing more damage to his eardrums.
"You damn essence of immortality," he cursed out loud. Blood was beginning to ooze out of his ears. He tried to step away, maybe run from the creature, maybe hide from it. But his body wouldn't bulge, his muscles have stiffened up, they have lost their ability to get excited, the ability to contract and relax.
"What's the use of this power, if it cannot even protect me?" At that moment a hundred and thousand thoughts were flooding his mind, trying to block off the slice of sanity still left to him. He almost thought that was the end of him, if not for his mother's words that were continuously ringing in his mind.
However, at that moment as soon as his heart was about to hammer out of its cage and his breaths were overworking his lungs. He was feeling something deep within kindling. It was different from the pain from his ears, the burning sensation in his stomach, the numbness of his muscles and the tingling sensation of his eyes, his mother's voice replaying in his mind… it was more than the feeling of helplessness… It was a feeling he had never felt in his entire life.
It was something different, within his core. At that fleeting moment as the flying creature was about to pounce on his paralyzed body… his power came to him in the most vitalized form ever…