CHAPTER 51: LEVELING UP: UNSEALING THE GHOST PATH (1)
Those whom were blown away from the formation got up in confusion.
Upon seeing that they were outside the formation, with beasts hovering around them, their hearts shuddered with terror.
Run! Run! Run! Run! Run!
They dashed with all of their might to re-enter the formation before the beasts make use of the chance. After all, the distance wasn't far. Unfortunately… with the excited hovering beasts above, them living beyond this night was not meant to be.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
"Compound leader, save us!"
"Heeeelp!"
The two teams that were closest to them moved outside of the formation. They tried to shield the unlucky individuals from the swooping down beasts. Unfortunately, the beasts' attack was even faster.
Hearts shrouded with terror, those standing in the formation watched the massacre unfold only several meters away from them.
The two teams retreated back into the formation, to avoid falling to a similar fate.
Aside from the compound leader, that was now facing the tier-2 beast; no one else had the ability to save the blown off men. Hence, the others could only swallow their emotions and hold their position.
Afterward, the beast swooped at the formation and the battle started.
…
Every once a while, a tragic cry of unwillingness would sound out, signifying the death of someone within the formation.
Just like the other teams, Ramie's group too, the fifth team, was engaged in a heated battle with five flaying beasts on the same time.
The two warriors were the main fighters in his team, with everyone else acting as support for them.
Each one of the two warriors was engaged in a battle with one flying beasts, where the warrior tries to stab the beast and land a killing blow with his spear, while the beast is evading and defending using his claw, and trying to claw or beak at the warrior's head.
As for the other 8 men in his team, 6 of them where trying to fend off 3 beast by thrusting their spears at them, trying to keep them away until the warriors finish their fights and help out.
Of course, even though these 6 men weren't actively trying to kill these beasts, but just keeping them away, still, one of the men was severely injured, and was in dire need for a medical attention.
This didn't mean that those 6 were completely useless, as every once a while, one of them would successfully land a hit on one of these attacking beasts. In fact, the injured man had landed a killing blow on one beast's; its corpse was several meters away from the formation.
As per the compound rules, if this man survived this night, that beast's core would be his, and he would get the chance to awaken his life energy.
The battle between the fighters that held spears and the beasts was quite systematic. Just avoid the incoming claw or beak and then thrust out the spear, the same went to the beasts. There were no flashy attacks or fancy moves at all, simply dodge and attack.
In the center of the fifth team, ramie stood with two green vines projected from his back. He was using these vines to support his team against the five beasts that they were fighting against. The two vines were moving none-stop, they were whipping at the five beasts to prevent them from taking advantage of the opening and land a killing attack, while on the same time, preventing other beasts from ganging up on his team and overwhelm them with numbers.
The green vine spell was supportive in nature. Hence, and being surrounded by his team, and not having to worry about defense, Ramie's green vine spell started showing its worth in this fight.
The beasts his team was fighting kept screeching in irritation all the time. Every time they get a chance to claw at their respective opponents, the slithering vine would pop out of nowhere and slap these beasts away, denying them from catching their prey.
The green vine spell wasn't like the other magicians' spells, point and shoot. Instead, it was continuously activated, giving Ramie the chance to interfere in the fights of his team all the time.
To him, killing an attacking beast wasn't difficult. All he had to do was to coil the vine around a beast, crush it to death, strangle its neck and deny it air, or break the beast's neck. However, if he actually does it, then it would expand great deal of magic energy on each beast. His energy then would run out against few beasts. After all, it wasn't as if the beast wouldn't struggle to free itself and just allow Ramie to kill him.
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If the enemy was just one beast, then it wouldn't be a problem. However, they were now facing an entire flock. So, he had to be careful not to waste his magic energy.
For that reason, ramie opted to adopt the role that was most suited for his spell, supportive magician.
Outside the formation and just few meters away from the team, Ramie used his green vines to stab 4 spears into the ground with their heads facing upward. He had prepared these spears for the magical beasts among the flock.
The reason he did so was to kill these beasts by grabbing them and smashing them at these spears, hence, killing them without expending much magic energy.
Sensing the aura of the beasts, ramie detected at least eight magical beasts among the flock. He was keeping small portion of his attention on these beasts, waiting for them to come close to his team, to make his move.
His aptitude for the soul path meant that unsealing the ghost path would provide him with the spells that he can cast with the most efficiency. Hence, he felt a great urgency to get some magical cores.
In each and every one of the teams, there was someone responsible for lighting up and throwing out Molotov bombs few meters away from his respective team. The purpose was to create a rising fire to limit the movement options of the beasts, to prevent too many beasts from gathering on one team.
Sadly, the number of these ignition bottles was quite limited, as the fuel was of utmost important to bring food and water to the compound. Thus, they couldn't wantonly make these Molotov bottles without any consideration.
Ramie didn't initiate any confrontation on his own, but instead, he used his vines to seal off any opening in the team's formation, and also prevent any other beast from sneak attacking and joining the fray on his team.
His abilities to sense the aura of the surrounding beasts allowed him to monitor the situation of the battle with great precision, like radar, which prevented any beast from launching a sneak attack on any member of his team. It also allowed him to better support his team, as it permitted him to judge the levels of attacking beast whether low, mid, high or beak, allowing him to make a correct judge on who needs supports against his opponent among his team and when.
It was like a 3D map in his mind projecting the overall situation of the battle without having to observe with his eyes.
This quality made his team the only team to not lose any members till the moment, even despite the chaotic and savage battle.
"Ahhhh!"
"ARGHHHH!!"
Screech!
Screech!
SCREECH!
As the battle went on, various human and inhuman cries mixed together, ranging here and there every so often.
The pile of fighters and beasts corpses was enlarging with time, as the stench of blood and smoke reeked throughout the battlefield, creating an atmosphere of death and war.
Using his ability to sense the aura, ramie kept an eye on the battle between the compound leader and his team against the tier-2 beast.
The compound leader's team was now down to 17, the leader included. His shield was cracked and scratched in many places, making it obvious that it was on the verge of crumpling apart under any attack now.
Apparently, that was not an easy fight at all. But it wasn't as if the leading beast was not struggling as well.
An occasional glances over at that confrontation showed ramie that the beast had actually sustained additional injuries, which gave ramie a bit of hope in the outcome of this battle.
Other than the compound leader and the 4 warriors pining the beast in its place, the magicians kept launching occasional spells at the beast, while another 2 men kept throwing Molotov bombs every once a while.
Charred feathers could be seen on the beast's body. Also, two javelins were sticking out from its body.
These injuries seemed very severe. However, the vitality of the beast was so great that even such serious wounds were incapable of impacting his battle performance or deterring his relentless attacks. Instead of making the thing weaker, these injuries actually served to make him angrier and fiercer, which fueled his battle powers even further!
The battle went on…
Suddenly, ramie's expression went dark.
He felt a concentrated killing intent locking onto him for a certain direction above.
Without looking, and using his ability to sense the aura, he matched the location of the killing intent with specific aura of a beast that was flaying in a large circle above the battlefield, in a relatively higher altitude than other beasts.
Ramie divided his attention between supporting his group and on keeping track of the lurking beast.
As he and his group engaged in their fight, he could perceive the beast flying above them, and locking its killing intent on him. The thing was probably looking for an opening to make its move on him.
"Arghhhhh!"
A cry of pain came from one of the 6 men in his team.
Apparently, as ramie divided his attention to focus on the lurking magical beast above, he didn't notice the mistake this man had made. Thus, he wasn't able to cover up for him in time, which resulted in the beast that this man was facing clawing at his hand, and creating a long wound on it.
Screech!!
The beast got excited, and followed up on his attack with another claw at the man's head. If this attack was to land, then this man would be the first casualty in ramie's team.
Hearing the shout, ramie reacted instantly. He whipped with his vine at the beast, to push it away, and save the man.
Bam!
Screech!
The vine whipped at the beast's body, creating a slapping sound, and sending it smashing backward, narrowly saving the man's life.
Screech!
Ramie grew tenser.
A bestial cry came from above. However, among the tenths of cries, it was insignificant. But to ramie, this cry meant something else entirely.
The moment this cry sounded, he felt the killing intent that was locked on him intensifies by an entire notch.
The lurking magical beast above had seen this opening, and finally decided that this was the perfect opportunity for the attack.
"Come to your father…"
Ramie did not lose his cool.
Through his ability to sense the aura, he perceived the movement of that beast.
Instead of fearing the tension of the confrontation, Ramie felt the excitement of the battle, which was an effect of his bloodline.
The attacking beast's aura threw him under the category of low tier-1 beast, which was probably why this beast resorted to a sneak attack and not a direct confrontation.
Anyway, this was a magical beast, which meant that it has a spell, a one that ramie had yet to have idea of its features. So, being extra careful was in order.
Taking advantage of the fact that the swooping down beast had no idea that he was aware of him, ramie waited until the beast approaches a bit closer, so as when he launches his attack, the beast won't have the chance to counteract or even react.
"Finally… another magical core is coming!"
"Now…!"
Like a leaping snake, and upon Ramie's command, the vine shot upward toward the swooping beast with great speed.
To push the vine to its absolute limits, ramie went generous with the magic energy expenditure, which made the vine moves in a greet speed.
Rip!
Screech!!
The beast was utterly shocked, as it saw something slither at him like an agile snake, swiftly evading other beasts and shooting up at him with astonishing speed …
It wanted to evade, but its momentum was at its max, making it extremely difficult to make any turns. It was too late…
The vine slithered toward the beast and coiled up around its body and wings, completely sealing its movement. Then and making use of the beast's momentum, it pulled him downward.
Ramie's group was already in way over their heads, and needed his support at all times, to cover for their openings. So, ramie didn't want to complicate things for them any further. As such, he needed to kill this beast not only without asking for their help, but to kill it as fast as possible, and with the least expended magic energy.
How to pull this off…? It was something that he had accounted for the moment he saw that the attacking beasts were of the flying type.
Thus, following his will, and using the beast's momentum, the vine pulled down with all of its power.
As for the destination, it wasn't in front of his team, but was the pre-planted spears that were stabbed in the ground few meters outside of the formation.
Bang!
The beast smashed into the ground with great momentum, causing a shockwave of dust to be blown off outwardly from the site of crash.
Many teams were startled due to the heavy impact, but giving the heated situation they were in, no one had the luxury to spare a glance at this direction.
Feeling a slight vibration of his artifact, ramie was overjoyed.
Finally, he had acquired magical core!
In no time, a small object was shot out of the dust barrier, and flew directly toward Ramie's hand.
…