"Jayna, use your vines and grab at it when something appears again."
I looked at her who was somewhat shaken from seeing that Transformed Spirit Beast be pulled down without any chance to retaliate.
As to whether he's still alive or not, that's hard to gauge. We don't know what's beneath us and even if we did, we wouldn't risk diving into their territory.
"I'm the one who saw the shining object…"
Ah. She's blaming herself. This is not good.
Honestly, since my mind was sober all the time, I could send an Air Bullet to accurately hit that arm. However, I chose not to.
Why? I don't need someone like that, sooner or later he'll need to be saved again because of his attitude.
But yeah, it's probably the result of my dark thoughts surfacing this time. And now, it affected Jayna. I should've at least tried, right?
Ugh. There's no use thinking about something that already happened.
"Don't blame yourself, Jayna. We all agreed to come and see it. Calm yourself down, I'm here with you."
I whispered in her ears which made her look up to me. Though slightly trembling, she nodded and raised her staff, ready to materialize her sparkling green vines to anything that will appear.
"Daisuke. Do you think he managed to use his Escape Bracelet?"
Yumiko called out. From her words, I could feel her concern for that Spirit Beast. She's our supposed leader, even if that guy chose not to listen, she will still blame herself.
Haa. Because of that, she was also affected by it.
These girls...
What would happen if they went here without me? Will they turn back immediately after this mishap?
Alright. Even if I don't like the other guy who refused to listen, I'll at least try to save him if the same thing happened to him.
He'll eventually run out of luck if he continues at his current attitude anyway. However, if he did change his way of thinking then that's for the best.
"Sorry, I didn't feel any surge of Spirit Energy from below so… I'm afraid not. And Yumiko, we need to pull these enemies out."
This Dimension is filled with unknown inherent energy so it will be fairly easy to notice if a different kind of energy surge happened. Not finding any trace of that only means that the Spirit Beast is done for.
"… You're right. Command them for me, Daisuke. I'll channel a Higher Spirit."
Yumiko flashed a trace of self-reproach before she sat down on the ground to start communicating with the Higher Spirits
I wouldn't be able to ease that feeling she just felt. So I stayed silent and nodded at her before I turned back to our wary and currently disorganized group.
"If you don't want to share the same fate as him, listen to me."
Though I said these words to all of us, it is in fact directed to the other Spirit Beast who's currently frowning. He's the other guy who refused to listen. If not for Yumiko, I'll urge him to leave to not endanger everyone.
Seeing my gaze being directed at him, he turned his head sideways.
Really? That poor Spirit Queen, he chose two stubborn individuals. It's on him now if he still wouldn't listen.
"What about Kupa?"
Rane asked. She and Abe were good. They listened without any sort of dissatisfaction. Just that, they both worry too much about their companions.
The other Spirit Beast who's quietly listening is called Jagu. A jaguar-like beast. He still has his fangs and his skin is still a yellowish-brown color with numerous dark spots. If his body build was buffed, he'll probably look like that main antagonist guy in that pirate manga which the main character fought in one of the story arcs.
Compared to the other Spirit Beasts, he's silently complying without any words of dissatisfaction. Also his companions' plight was of no concern for him.
Normally, he's someone I should dislike. However, he's currently the most reliable among them who could follow a command and make a judgement of his own without mixing in his feelings.
"I'm afraid you have to think of yourself first, Rane. Be wary of your surroundings, once you feel them coming, just jump away and the others will handle the rest. Just don't stand too far or you'll be isolated."
Even as I speak, the Flux Energy Conversion of the unknown inherent energy was still running and to my surprise, my Adaptability experience points were steadily increasing. From 1% before we entered, it's now approaching 2%.
Since the Flux Energy State stemmed from my Adaptability, anything concerning it will also earn me experience points
Is it slow? Not really, my three days of cultivating during our travel to the Spirit Beast Capital didn't increase that percentage as much as the progress I accumulated just by being here in less than an hour. However, I already knew that it's still bound to slow down once I reach a higher experience percentage.
Even the combined three paths which were three times as hard to cultivate seemed to be also influenced by it albeit slowly. At least, it's still gaining experience even without me actively cultivating.
This is most likely the result of this unknown inherent energy. One unit of it was being converted to 9 units of Flux Energy. That means I can cultivate here 9 times as fast as when I'm cultivating in the World of Spirits.
Well, since my three paths became three times as hard to fill up, it's only 3 times as fast for it.
However, the current downside is…
I currently don't have the time and place to actively cultivate. With these dangers around us, I couldn't just sit on a corner and quietly cultivate. Maybe later when we find a safe zone.
"A-alright. I hope he's okay."
Rane worriedly muttered.
It's already a miracle if he will survive that. In any case, that guy's not my problem anymore.
With them listening to my command, we started to hunt down these underground enemies.
Yumiko already started her Spirit Channeling. And that made the area surrounding her become some kind of a Sacred Zone where even if she stays seated there, none of the enemies underground couldn't bother her.
"Ren!"
I pointed at the spot where he was currently standing to warn her.
Hearing my shout, he immediately jumped out of it
Jayna followed up with her sparkling green vines. It quickly wrapped around the thick arm that was looking for something to grab.
Willing her vines to move accordingly, Jayna pulled out the enemy and for the first time, we saw its whole body.
It's a two-legged brown-skinned creature whose two arms were long and as thick as a tree trunk.
It looks like a monkey except its arms are twice as thick and it didn't have any fur.
"Eeekk!"
Upon realizing that he was plucked out of the ground, it released a shriek.
We reflexively covered our ears but when I realized it's not as strong as we expected, I sent an Air Bullet towards its neck where its vocal cords are located. Being hit accurately, it immediately stopped shrieking.
The vine that's holding the creature up fell down along with it. Jagu who's the nearest among us immediately pounced on it and using his clawed hands, gutted the creature.
With its stomach open, its black-colored blood spilled on the ground as it fell limp, lifeless.
With that short encounter, I already gauged the creature. Though its limbs were strong that it could burrow freely underneath, that was its only redeeming feature. Its body was so weak that one claw from Jagu broke open its skin.
"Aside from its arms, its whole body is weak. Remember that."
My voice took them out of their trance as they went back to their previous positions.
Using the same strategy, with Jayna pulling them out, we killed three more of the same creature.
However, after that, the number of them emerging at the same time increased.
"Keep a certain distance and away from the holes, that way you won't collide with each other."
My instructions kept on coming while we waited for Yumiko to finish her Spirit Channeling.
I already saw a glimpse of the Spirit who was about to communicate with her.
It's a giant Spirit whose body couldn't be seen properly even at this distance.
That girl, will she stomp her feet later and bring us down to these creature's lair?
Hopefully not. I'm also curious about the shining thing that these creatures are seemingly protecting.
Is it just a bait lure or something that may be useful to one of us here?
Crack! Crack!
I was absorbed in my thoughts when two cracks appeared below my feet.
"Daisuke!"
Jayna worriedly shouted as her vines immediately moved to my rescue.
However, even before the arms of the creatures emerged from the ground, I drew my sword and stabbed it below before activating Energy Explosion.
Among everyone here, I think I'm one of the most aware of what's happening below us. These creatures wouldn't be able to escape my senses as soon as they entered the range of my perception.
Plus there's also the Adaptability that could trigger if a really dangerous threat is approaching.
Boom!
Through the Energy Explosion, the rocks shattered and were blown off revealing two surprised creatures as they were just about to stick their arms out to grab my feet.
I smirked at them and jumped back, before sending an Energy Slash which followed Jayna's vines.
Before they could submerge themselves on the ground again, they're already restricted and cut in half with their shrieks stuck on their throats.
"Everyone. Jump!"
And right after that, a powerful surge of Psyche Energy spread out from Yumiko that captured all our attention to focus on her words.
With the Phantom of the Spirit appearing behind her, Yumiko cupped her fist and punched the ground in front of her.
By that time, we already heeded her voice and jumped as high as possible.
From Yumiko's fist, a shockwave ran through the ground and seeped into it.
A few seconds later numerous shrieks rang out as a countless number of creatures were flung out from wherever they were located and the holes that were made by it were all closed up
That shockwave from the punch of Yumiko flushed out every creature hiding underground, even the seemingly worn-out body of the Spirit Beast from earlier.
I don't know if he's still alive but he's already back to his original form.
"Just remember, avoid their arms!"
As soon as our feet landed back on the ground, I reminded everyone before we all picked our targets.
Well, except Rane. She went to the body of that Spirit Beast and pulled it back to our side.
I couldn't care less about what she wanted to do, our priority right now was to eliminate these Ruin Dwellers. As long as it wouldn't endanger any of us here, she could save that guy anytime she wanted to.
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