Manny was fully focused on his surroundings as the Energy of his Complex Law weaved through reality.
Swamp Dragon was busy firing arrows at a dying whale.
As Kyle saw them, he saw their problem.
There were nine whales fighting each other around them.
The only reason they were still alive was Manny's Complex Law.
Manny was using his Complex Law to make the whales fight each other.
However, Manny wasn't all-powerful, and his Complex Law had its limits.
For example, its range was limited.
'If they retreat, the effects of his Complex Law will vanish, and some of the whales will realize what happened. At that point, they will attack the two of them from a distance.'
'Funny. We only exchanged one member of our team, and our strengths and weaknesses have been flipped. With Warp Space, ranged beasts were our strength while melee beasts were our weakness. With Manny, it's the other way around.'
"I'm here!" Kyle transmitted to the two of them as he appeared in front of them.
Swamp Dragon finished off the whale, and a moment later, a huge Beast Core flew out of its decaying body.
"We have to leave!" Swamp Dragon said urgently. "A Dimensional Collapse is approaching!"
Kyle felt the Energy in his surroundings.
He wasn't very familiar with Space and Time Energy, but even he could tell that it had become much more unstable.
A Dimensional Collapse happened when too much Energy moved. This could happen when something very powerful appeared or…
When a bunch of powerful beasts were fighting.
"Retreat!" Kyle transmitted. "I will be the rearguard!"
Swamp Dragon quickly grabbed Manny's arm and flew into the distance.
"Manny, focus on the beasts in front of us!" Swamp Dragon transmitted.
At that moment, Manny threw a glance at Kyle, who was flying after them.
Manny could manipulate beasts in a certain radius around them, but he could also focus his Complex Law in one direction.
Yet, he couldn't do both at the same time.
"He will die if I do that," Manny said, a rare tone of seriousness in his voice.
"If anyone's going to die, it's going to be the two of us," Swamp Dragon said. "You have to protect us!"
Manny became nervous.
"Do it!" Swamp Dragon transmitted as he noticed another whale in their path. "I gave the order! You are not breaking your promise!"
Manny's eyes narrowed as the whales behind them stopped being influenced by his Complex Law.
At the same time, the whale in front of them was suddenly frantically charging to the side.
Their path was free.
Meanwhile, Kyle noticed that many of the whales around him regained their bearings as he passed by them.
While beasts were not super intelligent, they also weren't stupid.
When a bunch of dogs saw feathers lying around, they were smart enough to know that the feathers didn't originate from one of them.
The whales felt the dispersing Energy fluctuations of Manny's Complex Law and knew that these had not come from the other whales…
Which only left the three humans.
Some of the whales kept fighting, but over five of them focused on the three humans.
Almost immediately, they chased after them.
Several of the whales opened their mouths, and Yin-Lightning gathered in them.
BOOOOM!
One of the whales launched a powerful bolt of Yin-Lightning, but Kyle had already been prepared.
BOOOM!
Kyle was struck by the intense bolt of Yin-Lightning, and his body weakened.
However, Kyle had also used his Element Absorption to consume a big chunk of the Yin-Lightning.
If he hadn't done that, he would have been severely injured.
Another bolt of lightning followed.
BANG!
Kyle's body recovered and weakened again.
BANG! BANG!
Two more bolts hit him.
At that moment, Kyle's Energy Pathways were starting to strain.
Yin-Lightning stole Energy, which meant a big chunk of Energy was pulled out of his Energy Pathways.
But at the same time, he was also absorbing a ton of Energy.
This meant that the speed at which Energy moved through Kyle's body had multiplied, and his body was not made to handle this much Energy transportation.
He was like a human with a heart rate of 190 and a blood-pressure level of 180/120.
Kyle shoved more Biological Energy into his pathways to stabilize them, but his Biological Energy was dropping quickly.
As they passed more whales, more whales joined the assault.
By now, there were over ten flying after them from a distance.
Kyle was under a constant stream of Yin-Lightning by now.
CRK! CRK!
His Energy Pathways broke all over his body, which allowed the Yin-Lightning to absorb even more Energy.
By now, the Energy in Kyle's Center was dropping more and more.
He was already using all the abilities of his Complex Laws. If he hadn't, the first bolt would have killed him.
Kyle's skin cracked all over his body as he started to bleed profusely.
He couldn't waste his precious Biological Energy on his skin. His Energy Equilibrium was growing unstable.
He was just a moment away from collapsing into different forms of Energy.
But then, the world behind the group turned colorless.
Kyle had activated his Momentum.
No more bolts of Yin-Lightning arrived, and Kyle managed to recover his Energy Equilibrium while also fixing his Energy Pathways.
For a second, no Yin-Lightning bolts arrived.
Yet, he knew that it wouldn't stay like this.
Kyle's Momentum had shocked the whales due to its abrupt appearance, but that only worked once.
Sure enough, the whales quickly started attacking again.
Five of them attacked at the same time, and Kyle's appendages turned into dried twigs, which quickly scattered across the surroundings.
Kyle calculated their chances of survival.
'We need five more seconds to escape the outer parts of the storms. Each whale launches an attack twice per second. I can, at most, survive twenty more strikes.'
Kyle's mind went wild.
No matter how he calculated it, it was impossible to survive.
Breakthrough? Impossible. His Clusters were nowhere near done, and even if he could unlock another one, he would still die.
Comprehending a Law? What Law could possibly help? Even more, he only had insights into the Fragment of Higher Primal Materials. Comprehending that wouldn't help.
He had already used his Momentum.
He was already using his Complex Law to its full potential.
There were still more whales in front of them, and Manny needed to deal with them.
Swamp Dragon could maybe deal with five bolts, but that didn't count for anything.
BANG!
More bolts reached Kyle, and his pathways broke again.
A possible solution entered Kyle's head.
If Manny used his Complex Law on the whales attacking Kyle, he might be able to survive.
However, the constant attacks attracted more whales from the surroundings, and new ones kept appearing in front of them.
These things were not stupid, and when they saw other whales attacking this group of humans, they would join in.
This meant that Manny and Swamp Dragon would be attacked by the whales.
Their Element Absorption wasn't as strong as Kyle's, and their bodies were also weaker.
He also couldn't use the Lightning Elemental since its body would collapse just like Kyle's.
The pieces of ore could deal with some of the bolts, but not nearly enough.
At that moment, one last possibility entered Kyle's mind.
He was faster than Manny and Swamp Dragon.
If he were alone, he could escape.
'Pfft, nah,' Kyle thought as a helpless smile appeared on his face. 'I might be a rat, but I'm not that kind of rat.'
Kyle threw the contained Lightning Elemental to Swamp Dragon.
"Keep running," Kyle transmitted. "It's time for me to do my job."
Before Swamp Dragon knew what Kyle meant…
Kyle's trajectory changed.
Instead of running away, he was flying right towards the whales.
By attracting all the attacks, he would also attract all the whales in the surroundings.
Manny and Swamp Dragon would be able to escape.
But Kyle?
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