"He's still alive!"
Rane exclaimed as she started to look for the Spirit Beast's wounds and how hurt it is.
It's really a miracle that this guy's still alive. What is he? An MC with a plot armor?
"Rane. Take out his Escape Bracelet and break it. We have no time to tend to him right now."
I know it sounded cold but because of what she's doing, someone was taking care of her supposed share of trouble.
"B-but."
Maybe thinking it would be a waste for Kupa if he was sent back, Rane hesitated.
She's a good-natured Spirit Beast, I get that. But in this unknown place filled with unknown dangers, she's just pulling everyone down.
"Rane. Listen to Daisuke. In the first place, it's Kupa's fault. We can't afford to bring a seriously injured individual with us. He'll be tended by the Queen and King outside."
Jagu finally opened his mouth. He's the one that's the most sensible among them.
I could actually tend to him by using Spirit and Physique Boost to ease his wounds and someone will surely have brought an item for injuries like a potion. But yeah, he'll just be a drag if he stays.
Hearing what Jagu had said, Rane eventually nodded. She took out the Escape Bracelet of Kupa and broke it in front of him.
A portal was made and it eventually enveloped Kupa's body from head to toe. A few seconds later, he was successfully teleported out of the ruins.
Taking a deep breath and erasing the worry she had on her face, Rane stood up and joined us at killing the currently confused Ruin Dwellers.
Without even an hour into the exploration, we're already down to 9. Though it sounds bad, it's better this way.
We still haven't seen the first landmark and there's still a lot of unknown variables that may appear, dragging along someone like that will just slow us down.
Soon after Kupa's body was teleported out, Yumiko, who after punching the ground to flush out the hiding Ruin Dwellers, stood up.
Like everyone else, she started to make use of the 5-minute duration of her Spirit Channeling to reduce the number of enemies.
The poor Ruin Dwellers couldn't even see what hit them as every punch of Yumiko was making vibrating shockwaves which travelled through the air and straight to them, seeping deeply into their bodies.
With only a little delay, one by one, the Ruin Dwellers hit by it started bursting from inside their bodies.
Seeing that spectacle made everyone eager to do better or at least equal to it.
After getting enough experience to kill these creatures, every one of us was already an expert at dodging their thick and long arms to target their fragile bodies.
Rei transformed into her Golden Pixie form to immobilize a group of them who were after her. Ren, on the other hand, to complement his twin sister's effort, also transformed into his Golden Pixie form to send a barrage of golden dust which gathered together and formed into blades that opened enough holes for those immobilized Ruin Dwellers to drop dead without any chance to retaliate.
Abe transformed back to his original form, a huge gorilla-like beast whose limbs were thicker than the Ruin Dwellers. He's smashing and throwing the creatures to the wall which made most of them back off and be scared for their life.
It was at that moment that an acute sense of danger was picked up by me.
From underground, something bigger was crawling upwards. If I could compare it to the danger I already faced, it is at least at the level of Peak 4-leaf Dark Elf or even above that.
"Everyone. Retreat back. Something more dangerous is coming!"
I shouted at those far from us before I looked towards Yumiko who's still at the forefront, reducing the number of enemies in a manner of someone crushing ants.
Her Spirit Channeling was still activated. From the time she punched the ground to flush them out, it's only a little more than 2 minutes.
"Yumiko! Retreat for now, let me replenish your reserves."
Though her mannerisms were like that Giant Spirit she communicated with, she still has her rationality.
Her head turned towards me and nodded. As if she's carrying something heavy, Yumiko hobbled back to my side.
"What happened?"
Abe asked as everyone's eyes turned their focus on me.
Of course. They're all looking, puzzled as to why I told them to retreat.
I didn't need to answer because a few seconds after Abe uttered his question, from where Yumiko was standing earlier, a huge hole was opened as the thing that I detected emerged from the ground.
"Eeekkk!"
Before we could even see the emerging creature's full form, a deafening shriek rang out from it.
Everyone immediately frowned and covered their ears, unlike the Ruin Dweller's shriek, it's at least 10 times stronger.
Jayna and Rane kneeled from where they are. The shriek also contained some kind of mental attack.
The other Spirit Beasts gritted their teeth while they were trying to endure it.
Ren was holding Rei's hand as they endured the shriek and mental attack together.
Among the group, the only unaffected ones were me and Yumiko.
I could feel it drilling into my brain but somehow, it's not dealing a lot of damage.
I knew that it stemmed from my Adaptability again which could withstand even an emotional shock. However, I'm sure that it will surely hurt a lot if the shriek was a little bit stronger than what the creature could produce.
Yumiko on the other hand only had a frown on her face. She howled like an old man before punching the space in front of her.
The vibrating shockwave generated from the punch created a visual phenomenon which blocked the sound waves from the creature's shriek.
Only when the shriek was completely drowned out by it did we see the giant creature's visage which tumbled back from the shockwave of Yumiko's punch.
Though I would call it a gigantic version of these Ruin Dwellers, it has its own unique trait compared to them.
Is this what they call a Boss-type creature?
With its two arms that are as thick as 4 tree trunks, its body is covered with glittering scales that could blind one's eyes if a light was reflected from it.
Due to that, the Ruin Dwellers weakness was completely covered up.
"What do we do, Daisuke?"
Jayna who recovered from the shriek asked when she saw the towering presence of our new enemy.
The scattered Ruin Dwellers immediately flocked around it as they also started shrieking at us.
"Just calm down and let's reorganize first. Yumiko."
I answered her before calling out to Yumiko.
"Daisuke, buff me. I'll take it on within the last minute of this borrowed power."
She looked back and told me what she planned to do. It's not much of a plan but right now, she's the one who could really take that giant Ruin Dweller on. With her vibrating shockwave punches that can possibly seep through those glittering scales, as long as she's not hit by those menacing arms, she'll come out triumphantly.
"Take care, Yumiko"
I reminded her before throwing her the three boosts and activating the Orb of Enhancement to cover all of us.
I also tried to use the Haste Blessing from my sword but it's restricted to the wielder.
"Un. Watch me."
Yumiko smiled sweetly back at me. It should be a perfect image if not for the way she ran with the Giant Spirit's mannerisms.
When she jumped, her flowing brown hair fluttered as her five Rivers materialized around her. And while in midair, she completely transformed to her Earthly Angel form. If before she's only using the wings for flying, this time, her whole body changed as her shrine maiden outfit was replaced by a silvery-white flowing robe and some sort of Holy Aura appeared behind her.
That aura repelled any of the Ruin Dwellers who were attempting to hinder her to the giant Ruin Dweller.
Looking at her like this, she's like Yuko at that time when she stood before the Smoke Giant.
"Let's go! Let's support Yumiko!"
After shouting that, I drew my sword and ran towards the repelled Ruin Dwellers.
Activating the Haste Blessing on myself and using Flash Step, I appeared to the Ruin Dwellers who were about to get up after being repelled.
With how weak their bodies are, even Air Bullets can drill into it if they were hit at the same spot simultaneously.
Jayna and the twins soon followed behind me.
Jayna transformed into her Nature Nymph form and materialized her 4 Rivers. Just like that time when we managed to kill the 4-leaf Dark Elf, she's supporting me by crowd controlling the Ruin Dwellers, encircling them in the ring of fire, binding the unlucky ones, blocking their visions and whipping them using the dark thorny vines.
The twins went to the other side, complementing each other with Ren as the muscle and Rei as the brains. They also started to efficiently kill the Ruin Dwellers on their side.
As for those 4 Spirit Beasts, since I'm already at the front, I couldn't see what they decided to do. It's on them now whether they would just watch us or not
In any case, apart from hacking down these trapped Ruin Dwellers, my eyes were also focused on Yumiko as she started clashing against the giant creature.
She only has a little more than a minute to defeat it and by now, it's already less than a minute before her borrowed power will run out.
Despite the huge arms of the giant creature, it can move agilely, blocking Yumiko's first punch.
The vibrating shockwave created from it seeped through its thick arms. A second later, it trembled and a fountain of black-colored blood burst out of its arms.
It shrieked again as that was probably the first time its arm was hurt by anything.
Despite her stats being reduced to 80% of what it was originally, Yumiko was still invincible.
With its arm injured like that, it hung limp beside it. Using that opportunity, Yumiko's wings flapped thrice as her body sped up to bypass the other arm that's about to grab her.
The Holy Aura of her Earthly Angel form gathered together and turned into a materialized stake. She threw it at its chest and it immediately embedded itself in the middle. However, due to the scales, it stopped before it could embed further.
However, Yumiko wasn't done yet. With a kick and a punch towards the stake sticking out of the giant's chest, the vibrating shockwaves generated from it seeped through the stake and traveled inside the creature without any of the scales hindering it.
Before the burst of blood could even come, Yumiko already soared high above it to avoid the spray of black-colored blood.
From its chest where Yumiko embedded the stake, a boiling sound rang out before the glittering scales scattered and its innards spluttered out along with its blood.
By the time she stopped soaring and just stayed hovering up there, the Phantom of the Giant Spirit vanished.
"Yumiko is really the best!"
Jayna happily exclaimed as she watched the giant Ruin Dweller fall down like any other Ruin Dweller we killed.
Really… Those Higher Spirits are too overpowered.
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