"Okay, okay," said Samantha. "I’ll handle the girl, and you guys take care of the rest."

She said this as the two creatures began to move toward the group. It seemed those creatures weren’t that strong. Together, they were as strong as the converted pastor. Plus, Samantha and Pointy had already noticed the girl was attacking Mat with pressure—he seemed to be suffering from some sort of depressurization, and it appeared she could do this by targeting her victim, though that was just a hypothesis.

Samantha was the one to fight because if Mat attacked, he’d only harm her if he hit her from the inside, something he thought about because of what had happened with the man that night. Samantha, on the other hand, had managed to hurt Christopher, who was stronger, and since she could measure her strength and attack from a distance, she was the best choice.

"Okay!"

"Agh... I-I'll support from here with PSI creations," said Mat. "From this perspective, I can see if you’re about to be attacked from a blind spot, and help you evade it with my PSI Creations. And maybe... attack from a distance, if I’m able to..."

"Got it. Ah, Aelin, stay here with Mat, okay? And take care of the orb, please."

"S-sure," said Aelin.

"Agh... By the way, my range is about 40 meters," Mat added.

"I see," said Blocky.

"You’re talking about helping us avoid attacks, right?" TRX asked.

"Y-yeah... Agh!" Mat coughed up blood, and a vein burst in his head.

"Mat!"

Roundy quickly healed him again.

"W-well then, let's go—Ah!" Samantha screamed.

"Watch out!" yelled TRX.

Everyone ducked quickly. The ice barrier had been sliced in half.

As soon as that happened, the group split up, leaving Mathias and Aelin behind the remains of the ice barrier.

"They came out..." Jackeline thought. "I know the abilities of the young one and the triangle guy, but I don’t know about the rest... I’ll let the mutants attack first to see how they react."

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She started to move away to watch from a safe distance.

"S-she’s retreating," said Mat, lying down and observing from behind the barrier.

"I’m going now," Samantha said.

"We’re going too," TRX added.

Samantha ran towards the girl. Exercising with Mat had gotten her in shape, making her more agile now, and she had good stamina.

"Huh? She’s running straight at her? Is she crazy? Ah... I would’ve done the same..." Mat thought.

As she ran, she was getting ready to shoot.

"Ah!" Aelin gasped.

Moments after Sam ran out, the orb Aelin was holding was suddenly pushed by a gust of wind. The wind also injured Aelin.

"Aelin!"

The orb was being carried by the wind, straight towards Jackeline.

"Ah!"

Sam saw the orb too—it was moving fast.

Meanwhile, the mutants, or artificial monsters, encountered TRX and the others, who had already moved towards them moments earlier.

"Sam, the orb!" Mat shouted. Aelin was still hiding beside Mat and Roundy, who healed her.

"I know!" Sam yelled.

But... she started to feel a bit dizzy, out of nowhere. Mat noticed this.

"Sam!" Mat yelled, pushing her quickly with a green PSI wall.

"Ugh!"

Samantha fell to the ground, rolling a bit. She wasn’t hurt.

"B-but she didn’t target me..." Sam thought.

The orb reached Jackeline’s hands, who seemed ready to leave.

So this is... she thought.

Seeing this, Samantha fired without a second thought. It was a level 2 shot. Her hand glowed bright blue, like energy, again.

"What?!" Jackeline exclaimed, seeing the shot, but...

She deflected it with wind.

The shot hit a tree, shattering it and setting it on fire. The wind that deflected the shot also cut through several trees and bushes, and the same wind was about to hit Samantha.

Even though the wind was invisible, Mathias sensed it and moved Samantha, who was 45 meters away, to avoid it, though it was harder due to the distance between them.

The wind was still coming at her, and not just one gust—now there were three. Jackeline started to move away again.

"I don’t really want to kill them, but..." Jackeline thought as she left.

Mat tried to predict where the gusts would come from, helping Samantha dodge them, though she still got some cuts.

Suddenly, a couple of trees were thrown at Samantha. They had been cut into pieces, but they were still large and heavy. At the speed they were coming, they could kill someone.

Even so, Samantha managed to dodge them all, with Mat’s help. She also avoided the other pieces that came afterward. She even shattered an entire tree with two level 1 shots.

Now, she was getting closer and closer to Jackeline, but...

"Ack!"

Samantha fell to the ground.

"S-SAM!"

The wind had amputated her right leg and cut part of her left. This happened because the other fight had escalated.

"T-this... should be enough," Jackeline thought.

But... despite the injury, Samantha aimed at her and fired again.

"Again?" Jackeline thought. If it didn’t work before, why was she doing it again? It would be easy to deflect.

But... nothing came out of the shot.

"Huh?"

Samantha’s hand turned to stone or rock now.

"What the?" Jackeline exclaimed, seeing a large stone coming at her.

She deflected it with the wind again. Samantha kept dodging the gusts with Mat’s help (he was also keeping her standing), but she was still taking damage. She was also bleeding heavily, almost crying from the pain.

"She doesn’t know Makt, so... how is this possible? Having more natural abilities..."

Then, more stones appeared out of nowhere, all aimed at Jackeline, who was now frightened.

"Ah!" she cried out.

Samantha now shot three rocks with five level 2 shots. They shattered into pieces, creating a small cloud of dust, and some fragments were shot out at high speed as well. She fired one more at Jackeline.

Jackeline tried to deflect it all with wind but could only clear the dust cloud, the shot aimed at her, and several fragments. Then, she tried to cut the other rocks with wind, slicing them into several pieces.

At that moment, Samantha took advantage of the brief distraction, moved in another direction with Mat’s help, and fired again with her stone ability.

By the time Jackeline realized it, the new rocks crushed her.

"Ah... Ah... I’m okay now," Mat said. "Roundy, quick!"

"Yes!"

Roundy quickly went to Samantha, who now lay on the ground, her leg a few meters away from her.

Jackeline was just unconscious but had several broken bones, bruises, and her arm was somewhat mangled, bleeding.

"T-thanks, Roundy... Agh..." Samantha said, now healed. Despite that, she still felt the pain in her leg.

"You’re welcome," Roundy replied.

"Agh... Ah! Agh!" Jackeline groaned.

Suddenly, her body began to mutate.