Fabio frowned, still unable to understand. "Wait, what? What are you talking about, kid? Why would the Spider Horde come for you and...?"
But he stopped mid-sentence as things finally clicked into his brain; he stared at the weakened Hydra in disbelief and asked, "That roar? It was from this... this thing?"
Kale put his hand on Fabio's shoulder and said in a serious tone, "There's no time; I need all of you to reach within the Guild Base."
The Team leader was a smart man; even though he was somewhat overwhelmed by the direness of the situation for a few seconds, he could still make sense of everything after calming down a bit.
Wearing a grave expression, the man asked Kale, "What are you going to do?"
The Cursed Tamer replied instantly, smiling, "I will draw the entire Spider Horde into the Southern side and make them clash against one another."
Fabio's eyes flashed with understanding; without Kale needing to say it explicitly, he realised why Kale needed him and the mercenary team inside the Greenroot Guild base.
The man nodded towards Kale and, with his mercenary team, dashed towards the northeastern side at a roundabout angle.
While Kale sped south towards the army of Vine Beasts. On the path, he immediately retrieved a few Ravager-rank Beast cores from the system storage space and fed them to Neo.
With that, Neo instantly recovered from the slight weakness.
He gulped down another potion to restore his depleted mana reserves.
He was truly running at top speed, but despite that, he could feel the harrowing army of Black Thorn Spiders almost impending upon him. Their screams filled with violence and the desire to tear their enemy apart.
But what truly shocked Kale was the entire Spider Beast Horde's speed; these creatures were known to be very slow and unagile, yet somehow, for some strange reason, as a collective horde, their speed of march was frightening; the forest floor trembled more and more.
Neo turned its head, looking and growled in a panicked voice, "Gruuuuh, Gruh, Gruuuuuhhhh!"
Kale cursed, "Fuck, fuck, fuck."
Gritting his teeth, he began channelling the Beast force through his veins, thereby increasing his speed once more.
And he was not merely running, but each of his steps was powerful enough to propel him ten more steps forward.
Suddenly, he sensed an attack coming from behind right at his head; he narrowly dodged a spiked thorn, then a trail of spider silk was shot towards his feet, which he also dodged.
Not too far away, he saw the Vine Beasts Horde.
Now, that was another disturbing sight; it was like an entangled swamp of green vines, each beast barely distinguishable from the collective.
Suddenly, among that mass of vines, a few of the powerful ones stirred, separating from the collective entanglement, making threatening, unnerving sounds. Of course, they could all see the tiny human coming at them, but more than that, to them, the Horde of Black Thorn Spiders was a much greater issue.
So their threatening echoes were directed more at the encroaching army of insect-like Blackness.
Kale shouted, "Neo, NOW….."
The instant he said those words, the three-headed Hydra atop his shoulders flapped its wings and dashed forward at an inconceivable speed, and in that very moment, Kale stomped his feet and shot left.
Both hordes of Vine Beasts and Black Thorn Spiders continued on their predestined path of conflict, as the Spider army targeted Neo rather than Kale himself.
One of the powerful Alpha-rank Black Spiders dashed ahead of the complete horde, determined to kill the small three-headed Hydra before it escaped into the entanglement of the Vine Beasts.
But not a single Spider went to chase Kale.
Unfortunately for Neo, while the Hydra's instantaneous burst of speed was excellent, Neo could not sustain it for more than a minute. Eventually, the Alpha-rank spider caught up to Neo's fleeting figure.
The monstrous spider opened its titanic maw to devour the small Hydra, which almost smelled of Dragon.
Yet, in that very instant, Neo's figure turned abstract, almost like a shadow; the creature disappeared abruptly, now right back onto Kale's shadow.
The Alpha-rank Black Thorn Spider howled in fury as its gaze snapped toward Kale, who had already created a considerable gap between himself and the two Beast Hordes; in fact, he was mere 50 meters away from the Greenroot Guild Base.
At the same time, just as he intended, the two masses of Vine Beasts and Black Thorn Spiders clashed, sending a cacophonic echo of savagery through the air.
Despite the great intelligence of the more powerful Alpha Beasts, they were not so organised or controlled in their instincts as to avoid losing themselves in that grand clash.
***
15 minutes ago…
Grandmaster Echidna and Grandmaster David were situated in the north-eastern segment of the Guild Base; behind them stood a team of a dozen master-rank individuals, among them Rando also remained.
It had been more than a week since they had left Kale on the border of the swamp hatchery.
Echidna didn't mind the matter much, while David already expected the Cursed Tamer to die, and Rando felt it was such a pity, feeling sad for the young and talented Artificer.
While the two Grandmasters at the front were commanding their own Beasts to hold off a larger number of enemy Black Thorn spiders, some of the spiders still slipped through their clutches and were handled by the team of Master-rank individuals.
And there were numerous groups like this spread throughout the borders of the Base, each defending from all sides.
But suddenly, a great change occurred: a terrifying frequency swept through the entire forest, a roar that disturbed humans and their Tamed Beasts; but for the Black Thorn Spiders Horde, the effects were devastating.
The momentary paralysis of the entire Horde gave the Human forces a great opportunity to launch a vicious counterattack, an opportunity the Tamers of the Greenroot Guild did not let slip.
But no one knew why or how this was happening, and something even more bizarre occurred in the next seconds, as the Spider Horde left the place immediately.
Towards the direction where the roar had come from.
But forces stationed in the Northern section still did not move, as everyone was unsure of what was happening; regardless, everyone on that side took the opportunity to rest and recover.
Because it was extremely unlikely for the battle to be over just like that.
Yet, not long after this, a group of Apprentice-rank Tamers rushed out of the deeper trenches of the Tigerwood forest, running nonstop.
Grandmaster Echidna was the one who met them first as she asked a grown, "Who are you, people? How did a group of weaklings like even survive in the forest at times like this?"
The mercenary Team leader, Fabio, quickly explained his situation; the man did not mention Kale's name, so Echidna naturally could not guess who this enigmatic green-haired Tamer was or how he had managed to lure away an entire army of the Black Thorn Spiders.
She asked after some thought, "So, you're saying that this mysterious kid will lead the Spider Horde to clash with the Vine Beasts Horde?"
Fabio nodded with a solemn expression.
Echidna turned to David, as she stated, "In that case, whoever this boy may be, we need to save him. We have to make preparations; I can already feel the Spider Horde approaching back."
Yet, the moment she finished her sentence, the Horde of Blackness was already in sight, and she could barely discern a figure running at the tip of it with inconceivable speed.
However, she was not ready for the sheer spectacle Kale would pull just moments later: he fooled two massive Hordes into clashing against one another, using his Beast as bait, then used the summoning function to retract the creature.
Grandmaster David mumbled in disbelief, "Magnificent, what a brilliant mind. What ingenious strategy."
Echidna summoned one of her fast-paced Beasts, and sitting atop it, the Beast dashed forward towards the running Kale, kicking up a storm of dust.
As she drew even closer, she could finally see the figure's face clearly, and she was shocked to the core, mumbling, "Kale!!!!"
As there were only 10 meters between them, Echidna extended her hand, which the Cursed Tamer grabbed tightly. Jumping a bit high, the female Grandmaster pulled him onto the Beast, with Kale sitting right behind her.
The creature hurriedly turned around and dashed back towards the Base; Echidna summoned her strengthened Stone Rhino to fight off the many other powerful Alpha-rank Beasts that had been ready to attack and kill Kale just moments ago.
Kale breathed in and out loudly, catching his breath; he said sincerely, "Thank you so much, Miss Echidna."
The Female Grandmaster looked back for a moment, scrutinising Kale; she eventually asked, after some hesitation, "Kid, is that really you?"
The Cursed Tamer blinked for a few moments before saying, with a bitter expression, "Miss Echidna, yes, it's me; you should already know."
Kale said those words because Grandmaster-rank individuals naturally possessed greater insight into individual energy signatures. However, Kale had completely changed from before; he should still carry a part of his previous presence.
The woman scowled, "What the hell happened to you that you changed so much, and how did you even leave alive out of the Swamp Hatchery?"
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