“What do you mean you want to step out of this next wave?” Artem asked as they all stared at Roman.
“I mean, if it is true that I was that close to a Mystical Trance and it affected my senses during the fight then I want to stay where I won’t be a burden to anyone if it happens again,” Roman explained. “If I am close to understanding something then I want to try and understand it. I don’t want to miss an opportunity because I don’t know when I’ll get it again.”
Liam saw the resolve in Roman’s eyes as he listened. While he understood why that others were concerned he also didn’t want him to miss this chance to gain something even if his chances of actually gaining anything was low. Mercer did say he was at the beginning of entering one and didn’t know the whole process of going through a full one or if it was possible to do so after the source of the trance was gone.
He looked at Mercer who turned to look at him at the same time. They both nodded their heads in understanding. As they both looked back at Roman Mercer stated, “Alright. That should be fine, however, if any issues arise then we are going to need your help. Even if you are in a full state of Mystical Trance. Alright?”
Roman nodded. He understood that he still had an obligation as a member of the team to help when they really needed it. He then smiled and said, “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank us,” Ariyana stated. “You are a member of this team and if you grow from this then it will only help us in the long run.”
“It’s true,” Avery nodded in agreement. “So don’t waste it and gain something useful.”
Roman slammed a fist into an open palm and grinned as he said, “I won’t.”
“Alright, now that that is settled. Is everyone ready?” Mercer asked.
The rest of the group nodded. Their manga and stamina had fully replenished, and they were raring to go. Artem and Blair took the front. Before they stepped onto the sand everyone activated their Mana Sight. As soon as their feet touched the sand it started shaking all around them. The dead bodies that rested on the surface of the sand started to sink into it, disappearing from sight.
After the bodies disappeared, they focused their sight to the sand to see where the next wave of creatures would surface from. Their brows furrowed as confusion settled on their faces. Dozens balls of Earth Mana started to swim from both sides and make their way towards the middle of the sandy area underground.
The movements of the Sand Flea Crabs confused them as they watched the creatures swimming not upwards towards the surface, but rather in a circle that tightened slowly with each new Sand Flea Crab that joined in. The circle of Sand Flea Crabs kept getting tighter and tighter until they finally looked like one mass of Earth Mana.
Moments after that the giant mass of Earth Mana surged upwards not too far away from them. The moment the top of the Earth Mana touched the surface, Sand exploded upwards into the sky causing debris of sand and dust to cover the entire area. After it finally settled their eyes widened as they took in what had happened underneath the ground.
Ariyana blanched as she watched a swarm of Sand Flea Crabs swarming over each other. Their bodies wriggled and squirmed over each other going in, out, and around. They looked like a nest of snakes or worms that formed together to make a ball of themselves, but instead of a giant ball, they looked like a giant version of themselves without skin holding them together.
“What the fuck?” Avery questioned as she stared at it.
“Ho…how are they doing that?” Artem asked, uncertainty forming in his voice.
“They are using Earth Mana to hold themselves together,” Roman shouted, amazed by what he was seeing.
Liam snuck a glance at him for a moment and noticed a slight shine to his eyes. It flicked a couple of times before softening. The Mystical Trance must be starting. Liam thought before looking back at the swarm of creatures before them. He assessed them to see if he could get anything and was surprised at what he saw.
[Sand Flea Swarm. 6,000/6,000 HP. 4,580/4,600 MP. Level – 14.]
“I think this is the second Wave Boss,” Liam called out.
“How the hell are we supposed to fight and kill that? Are we supposed to separate them or try to kill it while it’s in this form?” Avery inquired as she gripped her weapon tightly, unsure what to do.
“I…I’m not sure,” Mercer said, wavering at the sight of the conglomerate of creatures.
Liam could see their bodies tense as confusion filled them. It wasn’t at a level where they felt despair, but if their confusion and uncertainty continued to grow, Liam felt it would reach it.
Mercer turned to look at Roman and was about to call out to him, but Liam stopped him as he said, “We can do this! We need to figure out what its capable of first. Don’t let your guard down. Roman will join us when we need him.”
Mercer looked back at Liam. He saw the resolve in his eyes and gripped his hands into fists tightly. He realized he was letting his uncertainty cloud his mind after seeing the creature. They had no experience fighting a monster or monsters that did this before. He knew that fighting in the sand was wearing on them and they were starting to get tired even after the time they took to take a break in between fights. The sun beating down on them and making them sweat so much wasn’t helping either. He needed to harden his resolve on taking charge. Liam agreed to let him do this, so he needed to get a better at not letting the unknown get the better of him.
Understanding his mistake, Mercer swiftly asked, “Liam, do you have any Chemicalized Creations on hand?”
Liam looked back at him before looking at his inventory. After looking over what he had he replied, “I don’t have much, but I do have a couple.”
“Want to start this fight off with one then?” Mercer asked. Mercer thought it was a good idea, but after seeing Liam’s hesitation he thought differently. He quickly asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know if it’s a good idea,” Liam replied quickly. “They were fast when they were separated and could dive into the sand. I’m not sure I can get one off on them fast enough. Maybe if we can restrict their movement then maybe, but unless we can get a for sure thing, I don’t think it is wise to waste one as a test.”
Mercer nodded understanding what he meant. He felt stupid for not thinking about that. He was right. They didn’t know how fast the creatures would be when they were like this. They could be fast or slow, but adding in the fact they could dive into the sand was also a factor they needed to take in.
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“Ariyana try using Entangled Roots on it. Blair, try landing a Gravity Well as well. Artem, protect Blair if it tries to attack her,” Mercer called out.
“On it!” the three responded.
Liam watched as Ariyana and Blair started chanting. The Sand Flea Swarm’s wriggling and squirming body rippled as in unison they turned to look at Blair. It was only for a moment, but after they locked onto Blair, their massive, swarmed body moved towards her. The tightly curled bodies that acted like the legs skittered swiftly across the sand as the ones that formed one of the pincers reached out to strike at her.
The swarm of Sand Flea Crabs that acted like the pincer were stopped as Artem quickly stepped in front of Blair with his shield raised. He had sent mana through his shield, activating the wooden spikes. Liam heard a few snaps and shrieks as the spikes dove into the swarm and snapped off as the bodies that had taken the spikes head on swam back inside the body.
Liam saw Artem’s legs get pushed into the sand as he slid backwards a bit from the force of the strike. He then saw as the creatures acting as the other pincer started to move towards Blair, but suddenly stopped as the whole body began to move away. As the body began to move away roots suddenly erupted from the sand around the middle of the body and tried to wrap around it. However since the body was made of several creatures moving around, the roots only sank into the body.
Ariyana scowled as the body swiftly maneuvered away from the roots, not a single one trapped. “Entangled Roots is a no go!” Ariyana shouted with frustration.
“They are moving too fast for me to set this Gravity Well down to catch it!” Blair called out as the swarm of bodies got out of range.
“We need to lure it into a place where she can use the ability,” Liam suggested to Mercer.
Mercer nodded. He then asked, “How long can you hold that spell for before you have to use it, or it disappears?”
“Half a minute,” Blair stated.
“Let’s get to it then!” Avery shouted before racing towards the swarm.
Liam followed her, pulling out his hammer and getting ready to engage. Both he and Avery approached the swarm from both sides, trying to get behind it. Ariyana and Artem tried running as well to help them out. Their movements were slowed due to the sand sloshing around and causing them to push harder than on solid ground.
As soon as Artem got within distance he tried to slam a foot down and let out a taunting roar, but as his foot slammed on the sand, dust was kicked up and flew into his open mouth. He let out a cough cancelling his taunt. Ariyana ordered Tabby to shoot Air Pockets at the creature as soon as they got within distance. While the pockets of air was successful on hitting, the amount of damage done was miniscule. A couple points of damage was received from the attack. However, the one Sand Flea Crab it did hit was pushed into the swarm, disappearing from sight.
Liam reached a spot he felt was right to try and attack the creature. He pushed off his back leg, but as he did he felt the sand underneath him slide causing him to almost fall face first into the sand. At the same time Avery tried to attack as well from the other side. Her burst through the sand wasn’t as bad as Liam’s, but when she drove her Raiper into the swarm, the blade missed. The creatures opened a hole big enough for the blade to enter and swam around it.
After successfully dodging attacks from all sides, the Sand Flea Swarm’s attention fell back on Blair who had thrown the Gravity Well at it after taking a few steps forward. The massive creature dove into the sand and disappeared from the surface right before the ball of gravity landed where Blair threw it at.
Annoyed, Blair shouted, “Is it me or did they seem wary of my gravity spell and ran from it?”
“You noticed that too huh?” Liam said as he made his way back to Blair and joined the others while watching the massive ball of Earth Mana swimming around underneath them.
“I don’t think physical attacks will do much,” Mercer called out while watching the swarm underneath as well. “We might have to use magical attacks to damage it. Ariyana, even though Tabby’s attack didn’t do a lot of damage maybe you can try and have her use that attack to knock one out?”
“I can try,” Ariyana stated as she waited for the creature to resurface.
“Liam see if you can time one of your Chemicalized Creations right when it surfaces,” Mercer suggested before looking at the others. “Blair, if you can find a way to use a Gravity spell on it try to. Artem, either use your Water magic to try and attack of shoot some of the creatures out or your barrier magic to shield us before they attack. Avery, use either Fire Blast or Waves of Ignition when you have a chance.”
Everyone nodded and tried to get ready as they noticed the swarm of creatures start to make their wave back up to the surface right after Blair’s Gravity Well dispersed. Liam quickly grabbed one of his Chemicalized Creations he had left. He didn’t think to check which one he had before watching where the creatures were going to jump out at.
He tried to match the speed they were swimming at and threw the vial right at the spot. His heart sank right as the vial landed into the sand and didn’t break. He was about to panic and question why it hadn’t until he realized that the sand wasn’t as hard of a surface as the ground. The sand had cushioned the vial’s landing causing it to just lay there until the creature’s reemerged. The vial then went flying into the air along with chunks of sand.
Liam didn’t have time to worry about his Chemicalized Creation vial as an icicle flew past him, right for the swarm of creatures. A hole was created as the Sand Flea Crabs separated enough to allow it to fly through their body and out the other end.
As they did this another hole was created as a jet of water shot through one of the sides of the swarm’s body. Avery had already positioned herself on the other side of the swarm and had chanted a wave of ignition spell. She ignored the jet of water that flew past her just inches away from her shoulder. After she released a wave of flames, a bunch of the Sand Flea Crabs on her side stopped and shook their bodies.
Before the flames could connect with them, a wall of sand shot up into the air, guiding the flames up before the sand moved like a way on top of her trying to crush her. Avery cut the spell off and began sprinting away from the wave of sand. She barely made it out of the way right before the massive pile fell down.
Breathing heavily, Avery cursed. However, that curse was cut short as a single Sand Flea Crab flew through the air and rolled a couple of times in her direction off to her left. Confused, she looked at the direction it had come from and saw Ariyana grinning as Tabby took in another breath and shot an Air Pocket at the bodies that made up the right pincer. Another Sand Flea Crab flew out, scrambling its legs and clacking its pincers in frustration.
Blair took the opportunity to swing her Axe up and through the creature’s body, severing it in half and killing it before it could land back onto the sand. Avery’s attention went back to the Sand Flea Crab that had landed near her and saw it was on its back. She swiftly ran through the sand, legs starting to tense with each movement, raised her rapier in the air and stabbed down into its underbelly. She guessed she had pierced the heart as a loud screech escaped its razored mouth before ceasing all movement.
The swarm of Sand Flea Crabs all let out a loud ear piercing shriek in unison causing everyone on the battlefield to cover their ears. They then spun around and stared at Ariyana who had her eyes closed from the sudden noise and raced towards her. However, before they could attack, a solid translucent shield suddenly appeared right in front of her and took the brunt of the attack.
Tabby slapped a webbed foot on Ariyana’s cheek, causing her to open her eyes and gasp at the scene before her. The shield Artem had gotten up right in time was starting to crack. But that wasn’t the thing that made her stomach drop. The Swarm of Sand Flea Crabs started to swallow the shield and make its way around it and towards her. Without needing any motivation to run, she started sprinting as fast as she could away from them.
With their focus on Ariyana, Mercer chanted another Icicle Lance spell and threw the small spear of ice right at the creature’s side. This time the spell landed and hit one of the creatures. A blue sheen engulfed the monster and caused it to start to slow down, but as that happened it was pulled back within the body being replaced with different ones as they moved in out and around each other.
The Sand Flea Swarm didn’t remove its eyes on Ariyana as another Air Pocket was shot from Tabby, causing another Sand Flea Crab to be dislodged from the swarm body. Liam swung his hammer upwards as hard as he could, causing a lot of damage, but not enough to kill the creature. Avery, finished the kill as she sliced her sword down its underbelly, opening it up and allowing blood and guts to gush out of it.
The Sand Flea Swarm, angry at Ariyana and Tabby for knocking its fellow creatures out, raised its right pincer, causing a wave of sand to rise up in a wave like fashion high above Ariyana’s head. It swam up to the top before it reached its peak height and followed the sand down right over Ariyana.
Everyone yelled out as they watched the sand wave tumble on top of her and grew worried. That worry dissolved as a voice called out, “Looks like we can say we’re even now on you saving my butt from earlier.”