[Back on the top of the west mountain]
Bill quickly made his way through the dark and gloomy forest and exited from the same place he was launched from. His face had zero emotion as his glowing green eyes scanned the area for the culprit who was responsible for everything.
The Terra Beetle King had made its way over to the lake and Bill could only see its tiny figure in the distance. He noticed that the entire area was completely wet, which checked out with what the female officer had told him: Iris had used all her power to conjure a giant tidal wave to wash away and kill all the High-level regular Terra Beetles.
There was a trail of blue blood that was led straight to the Beetle King and there wasn't a single body of the regular Terra Beetles in sight. The female officer had told him that there were tens of dead Terra Beetles spread near the lake as a result of getting swallowed by the tidal wave and that the Beetle King has its limbs cut off by Iris, rendering it immobile.
However, in front of Bill, there wasn't a single dead body of a beast, and the Terra Beetle King could be seen in the distance completely healed and snacking on something.
Bill decided to use a cautious approach as he glided over the ground using his wind ability to make minimal noise so that he could observe what was happening.
As he approached closer to the Beetle King he was able to see what it was snacking on and it was something that Bill didn't expect.
The patrolling officer had told Mako about the Terra Beetle King's special perk, but since they had escaped from the cave, Mako thought the threat was over and didn't think it was important to share with the group.
The Terra Beetle King had the ability to regenerate if it consumed its own kind, particularly their crystals. This special ability of the Beetle Kings was what made them so difficult to deal with as they could grow their colony rapidly and consume them to rapidly heal and regenerate.
All the damage that had been inflicted on it so far was completely gone as it looked as healthy as it could be and it had even regrown all of its limbs that Iris had cut down after much difficulty.
However, there was a silver lining here as this wasn't a regular beast attack, but rather a horde night wave which meant that there were a limited number of beasts that could attack them.
Both Beetle Kings had shown up with their armies of tens of regular High-tier Terra Beetles, but that was it, there wasn't any backup coming for them and now the Terra Beetle King had consumed its own army just so it could heal itself and recover all of its lost limbs.
The patrolling female officer had also mentioned that the Terra Beetle King had gone berserk and quickly brushed over the details of what going berserk actually means, and just putting the emphasis on that the Terra Beetle King would have exhausted its crystal by now and would be powerless.
After Bill had reached a close enough distance to the Beetle King who was still busy snacking on the dead bodies of its own army, He silently placed his hands onto the ground and activated his sand aura.
Since Iris had displaced a lot of water from the lake, the water level of the remaining lake was much lower which revealed tons of fine sand that lined the bed of the lake. There was more than enough sand here for Bill to do virtually any move, but he stuck with the ones he knew would hurt most.
While the Beetle King was busy enjoying its snack, the ground underneath vibrated a little, but the Beetle King wasn't in its earth mode anymore so it wasn't able to sense it.
Right as it swallowed its last underling, the ground underneath erupted with several giant, sharp, and solidified spikes made of sand, which impaled the Beetle King from a few different locations.
Bill appeared in front of the Beetle King with a giant sledgehammer made of earth that weighed well over 300 pounds. He gripped the handle of the sledgehammer tightly as he fueled his strength with all his rage and anger.
With the help of his wind and earth ability, it was easy to lift and swing the sledgehammer, and he also used his wind ability to increase his speed and momentum so that he could inflict the most amount of damage.
He ran straight for the Beetle King knowing it couldn't do anything to counter-attack and used his wind ability once again to lift him up into the air so that he was on its face level when he swung that massive sledgehammer.
He pulled the sledgehammer as far back as he could and was ready to smash its ugly face right off its body in one swipe, but in the next moment, something completely unexpected happened.
The plastic-like muscles of the Terra Beetle King lit up with the color of an ability that it was currently using, started to glow a bright yellow, and sparks and snakes of yellow electricity started to envelop the body of the Terra Beetle King.
The plastic-like muscles of the Beetle King were previously unlit and it proved to Bill that the Beetle King had indeed become powerless and couldn't use abilities anymore.
This was why Bill was in complete shock as he witnessed the muscles of the Beetle King glowing yellow again and it using the powerful level 7 lightning ability while he was in midair right in front of its face with half swung sledgehammer.
Bill knew that he had missed something because not only did he not know about the Terra Beetles having the ability to regenerate, but also somehow revive their crystal after going berserk.
However, right now he really couldn't do anything except proceed with his initial motion and land the sledgehammer hit regardless of the Beetle King displaying lightning powers.
The Lightning that was enveloping the Beetle King's body started to attack the sand spikes making it unable to move and as the lightning came into contact with sand, it quickly turned into glass and shattered setting it free.
By this time, the sledgehammer was inches away from the Beetle King's face and it could feel the terrifying force behind the attack, but it didn't worry as it simply discharged all the lightning build up on its body like a pulse similar to Mako's Electrical Discharge skill with the main difference being that this move didn't paralyze Bill, but instead just shocked him and pushed him away.
Bill was blasted away several meters from the force of the pulse and was shocked quite heavily charring his hands a bit as they were physically connected with the stone sledgehammer that conducted the current through its entire body.
The shock had messed up with his nervous system a bit as Bill couldn't correctly control his own body, and his body parts were moving in a random direction than what Bill actually wanted them to move.
The pulse that the Beetle King had created didn't paralyze people, but rather inflicted a different status effect called "Distortion".
Distortion made it so that a person wasn't in control of their own body as any command they gave to their body would be reversed, rendering them completely helpless and unable to fight.
The status effect lasted for only a minute but a minute was plenty for the Beetle King to kill and eat a defenseless Bill.
The Beetle King had a few holes in his body from the sand spikes that impaled it, but the Beetle King had plenty of crystals still undigested in its stomach which were actively being digested and were being used to heal the damage that Bill had inflicted on it.
It took around 30 seconds for the wounds to heal as none of them were very deep and the Beetle King had regained all of its mobility again.
As soon as it regained its full mobility, it didn't wait for a single second and rushed toward Bill who had just barely been able to stand up after great difficulty.
Bill saw the Beetle King run toward him at full speed with its mouth wide open hoping to eat Bill in a single bite. Seeing this, Bill tried to run but instead of going forward his body moved backward and he ended up stumbling back down.
Umph!
Bill saw as the Beetle King was upon him and ready to swallow him whole. Bill tried to move but the same result happened with his body going in the exact reverse of where he wanted them to go, making him unable to escape the Beetle King.
The Beetle King opened its jaws wide as the darkness inside was reflected in Bill's glowing green eyes.
*CHOMP!*
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