**This chapter ran a little long today, so it will be the only one. Wednesdays and Sundays tend to be rough on me since I have a prior engagement on those two days.**
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[[Scratch that, we move together. Since I've already shown that I can handle Tier-4 creatures to everyone, it won't be that big of a deal if the three of us work together and take it down.]] Tossing one last glance back at the sled, Brance removed his shields from their mounted position on his back and merged them as quietly as possible into their greatsword form.
Hearing his reply, Selene rolled her eyes and smiled. Brance's indecisiveness was nothing new to her, but since he had been chosen as the head of B-Squad, she went along with his orders and signaled Benny that they would be attacking together before creeping up on the most prominent village hut.
Drawing his Estoc and pointing it forward using his forearm to brace it level, Benny nodded in understanding and crept forward behind Selene, eventually meeting up with Brance outside of the Hut.
[[On three, we rush in; the Gray Yeti is located 25 meters to the back and center of the Hut and lying on its back. If what Cyn said about their Mana Shield skill applies to the Gray one, we can expect the shield to be stronger and almost instantaneously built. So the thing needs to die on the first attack.]] Adjusting his greatsword on his right shoulder, Brance stepped into the large doorway, followed by Benny and Selene.
Inside the primitive Hut, there wasn't much to see. To the left was a strange stone altar housing the incredibly large Mana Gem, but that didn't get much attention from anyone since they already knew it was there.
The center of the Hut was a firepit, while the right and back sides had piles of pelts, one of which the Gray Yeti was sleeping on top of while taking slow, deep breaths.
Shooting the others a nod, Brance took the right side of the primitive bed, Benny the left, and Selene the middle, then with weapons drawn and at the ready, they suddenly launched a tri-pronged attack.
Although done in three separate moves, the attacks all came down simultaneously with perfect accuracy. Selene stabbed the creature's chest, where its heart was located, with her spear. However, unseen to anyone, even Brance, since he had deactivated [Mana Sight] the moment the tip of her spear penetrated the creature's chest, it oozed Abyss Mana into the Yeti's heart and Codex, effectively shutting down its ability to use Mana.
At the same time as Selene's attack stabbed into flesh, Benny stabbed the Gray in the temple with his Estoc, and Brance swung with all his might, bringing down his greatsword from the Yeti's crotch to head.
The impact of all three attacks was meaty, loud, and with a loud squish, the Initial Tier-4 Yeti died without having any idea what had happened to it.
-You have killed a Level 15 Initial-Tier-4 Mutant Artic Mountain Primape.-
-You have killed a being more than ten times your primary level and a Full Tier above your own; rewards will be multiplied by the Maximum Multiplier, a sextuple.-
-You have received 180 SPN-XP.-
The members of B-Squad stood in stunned silence as the gory sight of the Gray Yeti shattered into Mana particles before disappearing into nothing.
[[That's…that's it?]] Selene asked in confusion.
[[Uh…well, it was old…maybe it had performance issues.]] Unsure himself, Brance stored his greatsword on the back mounting meant for the shields and walked over to the large Mana Gem sitting on its alter.
[[You aren't alone in being confused. After Cyn hyped up those Mana shields, I thought for sure the big guy would throw it up at the last second, and we would enter a huge battle. Instead, it fell like every other being when you get the drop on it.]] Shrugging his shoulders, Brance crouched before the Alter and examined it carefully for any hidden traps.
[[Well, that's a bigger letdown than the finale of GoT...]] Selene complained with a pout as she tapped the stunned Benny's shoulder and followed Brance.
[[Did you seriously just make a vague yet nerdy reference to a show from Earth, tsk, you truly are Cyn's soulmate.]Shaking his head, Brance sighed before waving her over.
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While Selene and Brance searched for any traps, back in the studio, Cesar's eyes were ready to pop out of his head as he watched the replay of B-Squad killing the Initial Tier-4.
Cesar: "This makes no sense to me; it's ludicrous. The Village Chief Artic Mountain Primate has an HP stat of over 600k, yet with a tri-pronged tag-team attack, they wiped it out in one go…how is that even possible?" Looking to Roni on his right, Ceaser gave her a pleading look with his eyes begging for help.
Roni: "Honestly, I have no idea either… typically, in this situation, I would blame the lack of awareness of their enemy, but even then, the Gray AMP should have been able to sense the three intruders approaching."
Tapping several times on the desk's touchpad, Roni brought up the survey chart for the Boss of this event on screen and showed off just how devastatingly strong the creature was supposed to be.
Roni: "High STR, High INT, and High VIT; not only does this creature's stats rival that of a Mid-Tier, since it is a mutant, but between the four Water-based Affinities loaded on the creature, it should have easily been able to put up a fight at least when caught unaware."
Pausing for a second, Roni clipped the less-than-a-second-long fight and played it in slow motion for everyone to watch. But when she did, Roni nearly swore aloud because of what she saw.
Cesar: "Okay…now that is an absolute first for me, Roni. Have you ever pulled off a multi-pronged attack with such synchronicity that all three attacks land at the EXACT same time?"
Roni: "I'm afraid I can't say I have. When attacking as a team, there will always be a minute amount of deviation, no matter how good or close you and your companions are…but those three moved as one. All three of their attacks landed precisely at the same time. Even without seeing their notifications, I can assure you that it was a Massive Critical hit, which is why the creature wasn't woken up and was unable to fight back.
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While Roni and Cesar were stunned by how perfectly executed the B-Squad attack was, Brance and Selene figured out the Gem wasn't rigged to explode. With that information in hand, Selene stepped back, Benny stepped up, and with him on one side and Brance on the other, the two got a good grip on the boulder-sized Gem, flexed their muscles, and lifted with their knees, picking it up off the alter.
The muscles on their arms bulged due to the incredible weight, but after holding the Gem for a second or two, they realized it was doable, and the shuffle out of the Hut began, with Selene leading the way to the sled.
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Meanwhile, topside, Cynrik and the rest of C-Squad were amidst an intense and fast-paced battle that saw the well over 140 remaining Yeti on the losing end.
In the beginning, Cynrik had one goal: lure out as many of the creatures as possible into open terrain and bomb them to kingdom come. But when the creatures showed off they had a Mana Shield skill, he was forced into changing the plan on the fly.
Passing down the order to split up, Cynrik had Milo enter the battle as a war mount, enabling Gabby to be in peak form as a moving sniper. At the same time, Melody and Kurza held the back line and unleashed wave after wave of attacks or, in the case of the War Bishop, debuffs and team buffs.
Being his first battle under Cynrik's command, Kurza was astounded at how easily he could execute his combat role. Nearly every team he had been a part of in the past had looked down on his abilities; however, Cynrik was different.
When dishing out roles, Cynrik had a plan and job for everyone, even the Cat, Milo had a role to play in battle, and at first, Kurza assumed all he would be doing was healing the group's Resource stats like a machine.
But contrary to that thought, here he was, shining on the battlefield and having the time of his life. Between casting Buff skills on friendly targets and debuffs on the enemies, he found himself manifesting multiple Light Affinity Constructs and finally using some of the Water Affinity skills he rarely got a chance to use.
Standing beside Melody, the former new hire of MyrkLys, he had slotted in as the perfect secret weapon for the team, and this didn't go unnoticed by Cynrik either.
Even in the heat of battle, he kept tabs on everyone. Although initially hesitant about giving Kurza a more prominent role to play, after seeing the new hire's performance, he felt that maybe this guy could do well with a bit of added "Conditioning."
Still, overall, Cynrik had no complaints about Kurza as he reduced the burden on himself and Gabby allowing the two DEX/AGI-based fighters to move freely on the battlefield bringing with them Death and Destruction.
Working as a team, C-Squad was seeing steady but clear results as the number of enemies began dwindling from the high 160s to the low 100s as Cynrik carefully pushed them back toward the cave system.
'Bump up; we've thinned them out enough; it's time for the final push.' Cynrik said while running up the back of a Yeti, spinning mid-air and bisecting it in half with both Kodachi.
[[Brance, we are beginning our push toward the Caves; status report on the situation below.]] Landing back on the ground, Cynrik kept in motion as he flowed from one enemy to the next, either killing them in one dual strike or pushing it into the line of fire of his teammates.
[[The package is secure, beginning transport.]] A few seconds later, Cynrik received word from Brance and smirked before unleashing a flurry of attacks on a group of weakened Yeti's shattering their Mana Shields and allowing them to turn into pincushions due to the joint effort of Gabby and Kurza.
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