CHAPTER 63
Unlike the powerhouses who were currently having a grand time battling the beasts, the more average members were struggling badly, and one of such individuals was Chloe.
Her ability—Telekinesis was not helping in any significant way due to it being a low grade. It lacked the raw concussive force needed to put these monsters down for good.
Narrowly avoiding a sharp claw slash, she leaped back with her heart hammering against her ribs. She was currently faced against two beasts at once, and the pressure was becoming immense.
One creature bolted for her legs, aiming to pierce into them with its jagged horns, but she immediately swung her hands toward the ground.
Using her mental grip, she forced the loose soil upward, causing dust to billow into the air and momentarily blinding the beast.
This small window gave her enough time to spin around, ducking down low to avoid a lethal claw slash aimed at her head by the second predator.
While in her bent-down posture, Chloe quickly tried spinning so as to regain her composure, but a brutal hoof kick from the beast in front of her collided squarely with her head.
The force lifted her off the ground.
She was sent crashing back down, skidding across the rough terrain for several harrowing seconds.
'Ouch ouch… that hurts,' she cried inwardly, her vision swimming as she weakly tried to rise off from the ground.
But before she could steady herself, the second goatee crossed the distance between them. Its claws lashed downward, aiming to tear through her soft skin and finish the job.
In the very next moment, a small, reinforced wall of earth rose between them, acting as a sturdy shield and blocking the claw from hitting her.
Before the beast could even react to the sudden obstruction, jagged spikes of earth shot out like missiles of destruction, impaling its body continuously until the creature dropped down dead in a heap of mangled fur.
"Huh?" Chloe blinked confusedly, twisting around to find her savior, but she was unable to spot them amidst the chaotic crowd of Aspirants and monsters.
Deciding to push whatever thoughts she had for later, she sprang off from the ground just in time to see the first goatee she had faced reappear in front of her, ready for another round of combat.
….
Meanwhile, Ray was currently in the midst of two beasts of his own after he had successfully killed the first one.
And the battle wasn't pleasant one bit.
It was only now, when faced with double the trouble, that he truly realized how terribly inexperienced he was against these types of foes.
Their movements were erratic and far more predatory than anything he had practiced against.
A pair of claws whipped toward him like blades of death.
Pressing his toes into the ground hard, Ray leaped to the side, narrowly avoiding the swipe from the first beast.
But the second had already positioned itself exactly where he landed.
Its heavy hoof streaked through the air toward him with bone-shattering momentum.
He was only able to lift his hands in front of his face in time to block the incoming strike.
Bam—!
The hoof struck hard, sending him staggering backwards, his heels digging deep trenches into the ground as he fought to stay upright.
The moment he managed to steady himself, one of the goatees leaped toward his head, aiming to strike from above with its full body weight.
"Rending."
He swung his hands in the air four times in rapid succession, sending lines of obsidian energy streaking forward.
Each of them tore through the beast's hide and dug deep into its vitals before causing black blood to splatter down like rain droplets.
[Congratulations; you have killed…]
Luckily, he managed to avoid being drenched in the foul liquid as the goatee crashed to the earth with a dull thud.
Bang—!
The mini sound rang out and caught his attention as the second beast managed to close the distance and appear directly in front of him. Its claws shot forth at blazing speed, hungry for his throat.
Lightning channeled through his feet, aiding him to leap back in order to avoid the sudden attack.
Though the strike didn't catch his flesh, the razor-sharp claws managed to tear a jagged hole into his shirt.
Gaining a six metres distance, Ray ground his teeth in rage as he locked eyes with the snarling beast.
"Here, come at me," he muttered, a frown deepening as he shifted into a disciplined stance with his hands held out.
'Going barehanded against a monster eh? Yup. I'm officially crazy.'
The Goatee gave him no time to scold his own sanity as it lunged forward at top speed.
It emerged in front of him in a blur, its claws slicing from the side in a deadly arc.
Ray managed to sidestep the attack just in time; then, he leaped back again, putting a small bit of breathing room between himself and the creature.
The goatee's red eyes burned with primal fury as it spun on its hooves and decided to bolt forward once more.
Meanwhile, the Aspirant simply lifted his leg slightly above the ground, maintaining a preternaturally calm expression on his face.
'This was supposed to be used on humans, but there's no rule that says it can't…'
The beast appeared in front of him at the perfect moment.
Ray swung his leg from the side with every ounce of his might, channeling his strength into a single point.
A loud, sickening crack resonated through the clearing as his foot connected solidly with the neck of the beast.
'... Be used on beasts.'
Bang—!
The goatee's head flew off in an instant, severed cleanly as his leg tore through the vertebrae and muscle.
[Congratulations; you killed…]
Ray waved the system message off as a wide, triumphant smile flashed across his face.
'... I actually did it. I utilized Trisha's technique against it, and it was even more effective than I initially imagined.'
But that short respite ended abruptly as more beasts lunged at him from the sides, sensing his momentary distraction.
He wasn't ready to back down, however; he would do everything in his power to tear through them until the field was cleared.
****
Meanwhile, Trisha found herself in quite a pickle.
She had just saved a fellow Aspirant, and that act of protection was about to cost her dearly as a beast snuck up on her from behind.
Its horns were outstretched, sharp and ready to impale her through the torso.
But for some reason, even though she was in mortal danger, she didn't flinch one bit.
Her composure remained as frozen as her element.
She simply swung her elbow behind her with fluid precision, ice rapidly encasing the joint in a jagged shard, and then…
Bang—!
The reinforced elbow collided with the goatee's horns with a resounding crash.
The impact chipped off part of the ice covering her limb, but the move succeeded in halting the beast's momentum.
It gave her just enough time to twirl around with her leg outstretched and then—
Bang—!
Her foot drove into the beast's thick side with immense force.
The creature's whole body went blurring through the battlefield, a brown streak that eventually collided with a massive tree, snapping the trunk.
She dropped her leg back down, an icy, detached expression on her face as she swiftly scanned the chaotic battlefield.
She watched as the original hundred beasts were slowly but surely diminishing under their combined assault.
"That's not enough. Pair with an earth user and defeat it," she ordered through her earpiece, her voice cold and commanding.
She didn't wait for a reply, already moving toward her next target.