It screeched, widening its complex, overlapping mouthparts.
One of its white, hairy legs slammed down to crush Jin, but when it lifted the limb, Jin was gone, he already a few meters away.
With its red-lensed compound eyes, feathery antennae, furry body, and ice-blue elytra, it turned toward him irritably.
Blue goo splurted from its mouth, which Jin narrowly avoided. The moment it touched the ground, a corrosive hiss filled the air—the stone began eroding in real time.
Jin’s face paled at the corrosive power of the liquid spray.
The beetle charged swiftly, opening its complex mouthparts to crush him.
But Jin was already airborne above it.
His teeth clenched. His fists tightened.
The beetle’s defense was extremely tough, his cutting wind was doing almost nothing.
However, its exterior might have been solid, but its interior was not. And the best entry point was its mouth.
The beetle’s 360-degree compound vision spotted him, but before it could react, visible spirals of cutting wind formed around Jin’s arms and slammed into its eyes.
It screeched, its maws spreading wide.
Wind filled with invisible cutting arcs shot directly into the beetle’s mouth.
It froze for a second
Then crashed heavily to the ground.
Blue fluid oozed from its jaws.
Jin exhaled sharply, but his senses flared. He turned to block an incoming strike and was violently knocked backward.
He landed hard on his back. Another blue beetle loomed over him, screeching.
Suddenly, violent orange arcs swept through the air, knocking the creature away.
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“You alright, buddy?” Wolfton asked.
“…Yeah. Thanks.”
Wolfton nodded, then roared as he charged the beetle horde, his sword pointed forward.
Jin surveyed the battlefield.
Edric laughed maniacally as swirling red water drilled through a beetle’s eye.
Lysandra used her three-eyed monster gate to redirect beetles into each other, forcing brutal head-on collisions.
Aurelia repeatedly punched a trapped beetle held inside a pink gravitational ring.
Jin sighed.
A near-invisible dash that left a slicing pressure trail in his wake.
.....
Hours later,
The five of them were exhausted.
Their celestial energy was nearly depleted after fighting the thick-armored beetle hordes without pause.
Their bodies were ragged and bleeding. Limbs trembled from fatigue.
Edric, Lysandra, Aurelia, and Jin stood back-to-back, panting.
Wolfton conjured lightning-fire in his hands and hurled it into a beetle’s maw, killing it instantly.
His sword was gone, it had shattered long ago against the creatures’ carapaces.
The battlefield was littered with corpses, blue blood, and scattered chitin.
Despite the carnage, hundreds of beetles still remained ready to tear their bodies limb by limbs with their ravenous mouths.
Their deep red eyes locked onto the group... Or so it seems.
Then—
Unexpectedly, the beetles began fighting each other.
They clashed violently over the dead, gouging eyes with furry limbs, flipping rivals onto their backs where they flailed helplessly.
Their screeching filled the cavern.
Yet several ignored the infighting.
They advanced straight toward the five, maws open.
The group froze.
For a moment, it felt like their lives were flashing before their eyes.
Edric, however, wore a disturbing grin. With what little energy remained, swirling water formed around his arms like a drill.
Wolfton clenched his fists.
If he had been stronger, they wouldn’t be here.
If Raven were present, things would never have spiraled this far.
Anger surged.
He still had a long way to go, and he was going to die before surpassing Raven?
Never.
His teeth ground together.
His eyes burned with fury.
He refused to fall before kicking Raven's butt at least once.
Inside him, an ember within his core shard flared.
Orange energy leaked from his purple body uncontrollably.
Unaware of the transformation, he attempted the technique he once taught Raven, drawing essence fragments without relying on the core shard.
Normally, such a method required calm environment to focus, to borrow essence from the surroundings or collect essence from dead bodies.
But he had no such luxury.
He filtered out the battlefield noise, concentrating on the faint sparks lingering in the corpses.
His energy surged at an unprecedented rate.
Eventually, he noticed the orange aura pouring from his body.
His teammates stared, mesmerized.
“What’s Wolfton doing?” Aurelia whispered.
“Is that what I think it is?” Lysandra asked.
“He’s awakened Aura,” Jin said quietly. “He’s reached the Aura Stage.”
Wolfton glanced at his glowing body and smirked.
He remembered something Raven often did.
With the Spark Essence he had gathered, he fused his lightning-fire with his Aura.
As the beetles closed in, he unleashed bolts of lightning-fire infused with Aura, targeting their eyes and maws.
A savage smile spread across his face.
“Die, you vile abominations. Be purged by the cleansing light of fire and lightning.”
“I’ll be damned,” Edric muttered with a grin. “Look at that smile, he’s enjoying this.”