Seven Glass Beetles burst out of the side tunnels with a deafening buzz that made the fossilized wooden walls vibrate.
These weren’t like the outer patrol; they were larger, with shells that reflected Lisa’s firelight like mirrors, making it difficult to focus on a single target.
"Lisa, they’re going to try to surround us! Don’t let them use the walls!" Lohan shouted through the mental link as he stabilized his mass on the fox’s back.
Lisa didn’t wait. She activated [Spectral Step], turning into a white blur to avoid the initial dive of two beetles, but space on the first floor was limited. A third beetle, taking advantage of the verticality, jumped from the ceiling and struck Lisa’s side with its sickle-shaped paws.
-- SLASH!
A deep cut appeared on Lisa’s flank, staining her white fur red. She let out a yelp of pain, which made her spiritual fury shine even brighter.
"I’m fine! Focus on defense, Halon!" Lisa transmitted, turning her body to shoot a burst of white flames.
Lohan felt the vibration of the impact and his partner’s loss of balance.
He knew that if they didn’t act quickly, they would be crushed by the numerical superiority and Level 10.
Activating the [Artificial Magic Core Harmonizer Lv 7], he ignored the massive drain and fired six strands of [Magic Weaving Lv 3] in opposite directions, anchoring Lisa and himself between the curved walls of the trunk.
One of the beetles managed to bite the edge of Lohan’s jelly, piercing his [Obsidian Exoskeleton] for the first time.
The pain was sharp, but it activated what he needed.
[Hemolymphatic Tissue Lv 10 Activated!][Digestion Rate: 780 Bio/h]
’My turn to bite back!’ Lohan thought.
Using [Selective Viscosity], he extended ultra-sticky jelly tentacles through the web threads. When two beetles tried to climb the threads to reach them, thinking they were just ordinary threads, they got stuck. Lohan immediately initiated forced digestion through the filaments, trying to recover as many resources as possible during the battle.
Meanwhile, Lisa, even with her hind leg injured, used Lohan’s thread anchor to perform an impossible acrobatic move. She spun on her own axis, using the threads as a pivot, and delivered [Spirit Fire] kicks to the unprotected bellies of the trapped beetles.
The battle was brutal.
Lisa received another cut to her ear, and Lohan lost almost 15% of his total mass trying to protect the core, but the strategy was working. The passive Mana drain of [Magic Weaving] was replenishing Lohan’s reservoir as he dissolved the attackers’ metal legs.
The fifth beetle’s carapace shattered against the ceiling under the impact of Lisa’s paws, and the creature plummeted motionless, white flames consuming its life energy.
However, the two remaining beetles did not retreat... they dove in a converging angle, taking advantage of the fox still recovering from the effort of the jump.
"Lisa, change your focus, I’m going to overload their perception!" Lohan warned, feeling the vibration in the air through his [Instinctive Perception].
Without hesitation, Lohan activated [Partial Division Lv 7]
Three masses of dark blue jelly detached from his body and fell to the ground like projectiles. Thanks to [Pack Instinct Lv 9], his consciousness expanded, and Lohan began to process the battlefield from four different perspectives without any delay.
The two beetles, confused by the sudden multiplication of targets, hesitated for a split second, and that was all Lohan needed. His three clones activated [Selective Viscosity] at the maximum level, sliding across the metal floor faster than his standard rolling speed with [Viscous Flow] and simultaneously jumping against the monsters’ jointed legs.
Lisa saw the opening and didn’t waste her power. Even with the wound on her flank burning, she activated [Spectral Step] again, appearing as a shadow behind the sixth beetle that was trying to shake off one of the clones.
With a growl, she sank her fangs, wrapped in [Spirit Fire], into the junction of the monster’s thorax.
Meanwhile, Lohan, from the main body on Lisa’s back, fired more strands of [Magic Weaving] that stuck into the walls, consuming a large amount of biomass but creating a containment net around the last beetle.
The clones, acting in perfect sync, climbed the creature’s carapace and began injecting corrosive and poisonous fluids through the cracks in its scales.
The beetle squealed, feeling its Mana and vitality being drained by the clones and the threads of the web. Lohan, on the other hand, felt the opposite, with energy flowing back into his core, stabilizing the integrity of his membrane that had been damaged at the beginning of the confrontation.
"Now, Lisa! Finish it!"
Lisa jumped over the web of threads, using the immobilized beetle’s body as a platform, and fired a concentrated burst of white flames. The heat was so intense that the resistant glassy shell melted, fusing with the ground of the fossilized tree.
Silence finally returned to the first floor, interrupted only by the hissing of biological remains being assimilated by the clones and Lohan’s main body.
[Experience: +1,225] [Experience: 2,319 / 12,800]
Looking at the wreckage of the battles, Lohan, who was still panting, looked at it with his chest burning with an incredible feeling. Even with the pain he felt from the battle, the thrill of being able to do something like this was unimaginable for someone who, just a few days ago, had been confined to a hospital bed.
Lisa sat down exhausted, licking the wound on her paw as she observed the effectiveness of his strategy. Her power was devastating, but the coordination he showed made their combat a much more efficient process.
’Her power increased considerably after Level 07...’ Lohan thought, watching the white bursts still dancing on Lisa’s fur and the burn marks left on the environment and dead insects... now at Level 08 her power was even more intense. ’But these Level 10 monsters are no joke. If we didn’t have the clones to distract the sixth beetle, her situation would have been much worse.’
Being the first time they fought Level 10 monsters, it was much more intense than fighting the Level 09 monsters they faced yesterday.
"Halon, the exit..." Lisa pointed her snout at the hole in the ceiling, where the buzzing coming from the second floor seemed even more aggressive.