Lohan coordinated the ambush using [Collective Synaptic Synchronization]. He summoned five clones that slid like bluish puddles through the roots, positioning themselves around the eagle group’s makeshift camp.
Justin and Samantha moved to the right flank. Justin set his smoke traps, while Samantha vanished into the shadows of the trees untouched by the fire. Wyrm and Tunder stayed on the left, the druid already preparing the roots to trap anyone who tried to escape. Alice and Dee remained in the center, ready for the frontal assault.
"Now," Lohan commanded.
The battlefield was suddenly saturated by a bluish-gray cloud. Justin fired his smoke charges, but Lohan intensified it, exhaling a dense, opaque mist that obscured the vision of the twelve enemies.
Rick, the human mage, panicked. "I can’t see a thing! Gideon, there’s something in the smoke!"
Gideon drew his emerald sword, but before he could give an order, Lisa appeared like a white-red flash in the center of the mist. Lohan, acting as the Living Armor over her despite being at the front of their group, hardened her surface at the fox’s joints, giving her a stability that allowed for turns at impossible angles.
Lisa didn’t complain about Lohan transforming into her armor at that point; considering they were about to face a group of Players, even though she was confident in the Legendary evolution she had undergone, dealing with unknown factors, it was better to be safe.
Unlike the epic and grueling battle they had just endured, the fight between a Level 11 Legendary Player and Common, Uncommon, and Rare Players was completely lopsided.
Each of Lisa’s strikes knocked down a Player from that group with great ease, while Lohan fired blue web threads that attached themselves to the survivors’ feet, instantly draining their mana and transferring it to keep the guild’s spells active.
Dee and Alice advanced on Gideon’s warriors.
Dee blocked a heavy axe swing, and the fragment of Lohan on his shield expanded, absorbing the impact and trapping the enemy weapon with extreme viscosity. Alice seized the opening, delivering a punch that, thanks to Lohan, exploded against the opponent’s chest with the force of a cannon.
Gideon tried to use a dash ability to escape, but Wyrm blocked his path with thorny vines, reinforced by the mana Lohan was circulating through the ground.
While Lisa’s advantage as a frontline combat power stood out, Lohan stood out as a Buff for every Player, as if he were increasing each one’s Base by at least one Level!
"He’s mine, Lisa!" Lohan transmitted, feeling his predatory hunger reach its peak.
Lisa leaped at Gideon, and in midair, Lohan partially detached himself from her. He projected stiff, black tentacles that wrapped around the elf’s neck and arms, anchoring him to the ground with his [Gravitational Anchor].
Gideon, the elf who had considered himself superior for belonging to a Rare Race, was now pinned to the ground by a blue mass that exuded an overwhelming murderous intent. An expression of horror and disbelief was frozen on his face.
Gideon felt the air forced from his lungs the moment the blue mass collided with his chest, but the pressure that followed defied physics.
What should have been a soft gelatin suddenly weighed as much as a block of rough granite. As he tried to raise his arms to push the creature away, he realized that the black tentacles weren’t just flexible; they possessed a rigidity that locked his joints with the precision of mechanical shackles, anchoring him to the ground with a force that prevented him from moving even a finger.
Disbelief was stronger than the initial pain. Gideon glanced to the side, hoping to see his corporate scouts or Rick’s magic intervening, but the scene the smoke revealed was an absolute massacre.
Silas was being neutralized by Samantha and the Wyrm Vines, and Rick, the mage who was his greatest asset, now lay whimpering on the ground, wrapped in bluish threads that glowed with a neon light, draining his Mana in real time.
The coordination of that attack didn’t have the erratic pattern of AI monsters he was used to; this was clearly a tactical execution carried out by Players!
He couldn’t understand how those humans had tamed monsters as powerful as that White Fox and that Slime!
"This can’t be happening...," Gideon’s thought hadn’t even been formulated into words. He was a Rare Race Elf, the self-proclaimed apex of the pyramid in Thalendor. Was a Slime, the creature they always labeled as worthless trash in their conversations, exerting a Mana pressure that made his own core tremble with dread?
The murderous intent emanating from the mass above him was palpable, an icy aura that seemed to "wash away" his will to resist, transforming his arrogance into a primal terror.
"Fuck, how did you tame monsters like this?! This is UNFAIR!!"
He tried to activate his movement skill to escape, but Lohan’s [Gravitational Anchor] made his body too dense for any explosive reaction.
If he were in perfect condition, Lohan’s Level 10 skill likely wouldn’t be able to control a Rare Race after its first evolution, but in his current state, breaking free would be possible, though it would take a long time.
Gideon was pinned to the damp earth of Mythlorien, watching the trail of destruction he himself had caused close in on him.
The horror reached its peak when the blue mass began to spread over his face, blocking his vision.
Gideon realized, in those final milliseconds, that his entire Rare base and the corporate sponsorship he was so proud of were about to vanish!
"NOOOOOO!!!!!"
Lohan didn’t hesitate. He initiated [Efficient Digestion] at full power.
The elf’s golden "blood" began to be refined, and Lohan felt the flood of memories and the essence of the Rare Race flowing into his core.
[Alert: Predator Title Active. Extracting Rare Race Evolution: High Elf... 100% chance of success!]
While the remaining scouts were finished off by Samantha and Tunder, Lohan vibrated with satisfaction.