Both sides fell into formation, activating skills as they began a brutal brawl.

  Edge stood frontline center. He infused his naginata with Elemental Blade as frost billowed into the air—Double Slashing in a frenzy while using his glove to retrieve his chakram for Foebinder to throw.

  Jumo was guarding one flank, and Sasha took the other, lowering their spears to engage the beasts from beyond the range of their mandibles.

  Jumo fired Javelins to keep the swarm off-balance while Sasha set bugs ablaze with her burning spear and plumes of Fire Breathing. Trapper let loose with explosive bolts before drawing her sword, using Manipulate Air to knock projectiles out of the way.

  Lilly was in the middle. She preferred to battle with her boltcaster, even in close-quarters combat. The shadowkiller alternated between Scattershot and Assassin’s Vortex, using her skills and devices to protect herself and reposition as needed.

  Some of Edge’s attacks were deflected by skill-bolstered chitin, but every time his blade broke through, it infused his target with subzero mana, congealing their ichor and slowing them down. While the arctic energy was powerful, it wasn’t the only source of elemental damage bolstering his blows.

  Sparks flew with every strike as Storm’s Blessing shocked the beasts.

  Unlike Elemental Blade, Ann’s aura worked with any weapon—even arrows and bolts if they stayed within its radius—and didn’t require a direct hit to take full effect. Her magic wasn’t a lightning attack, which expended their energy in an instant. Instead, the elemental mana invaded an enemy’s body, building up as the battle dragged on.

  Once the magic overwhelmed their Disruption, which took a while against creatures above her stage, the energy accumulated at a rapid rate, conducting along their nerves to interfere with their muscular control. If enough mana reached their brain, Blessing created a long-lasting stun—a death sentence under the circumstances.

  All in all, Storm’s Blessing was a fantastic skill that combined a defensive attribute bonus with offensive support. When Ann put more points into Amplification and ranked the power up a time or two, it would become one of the most potent auras Edge had ever seen.

  This should be a relatively short fight, so he wasn’t too worried about running out of mana. He fired off a few Vacuum Blasts to see how the swarm would respond.

  He targeted the matriarch and centurions, but the soldiers were remarkably agile, flinging themselves in front of the spell to protect their strongest members. The detonations rattled his bones and sent cascades of petals raining from the trees.

  This isn’t efficient. I’ll save Blast for wiping out the grunts and finishing off the elites.

  As Edge thrust and Slashed in a flurry, he analyzed the swarm, engaging the enemies before him while evaluating their behavior as a whole.

  The matriarch’s tactics made intuitive sense. While the beast’s primary objective was to defend itself and defeat its opponents, it was trying to overwhelm its prey without incurring unnecessary losses.

  The centurions were too valuable to send in the first wave—where they might succumb to unknown skills and clever tricks. The stage-zero grunts, on the other hand, were completely expendable. However, they were fragile enough that if the matriarch sent them charging right in, most would be slaughtered before they had time to fulfill their role.

  Thus, swarm’s stage-one soldiers were its frontline fighters. While they engaged the crew, the grunts would circle around, attack from the flanks, slip through the gaps, and detonate, inflicting serious damage and collapsing the hunters’ defense.

  The centurions and the matriarch were holding back for now. He was certain they would join the fight the moment an opening appeared, eliminating any opponents that were vulnerable or split off from the rest of the group.

  At the moment, both sides seemed evenly matched. The beasts were tough, and their attributes were bolstered by Vigor. The crew was boosted by Storm’s Blessing, Travelers’ Boon, and Warlord’s Mantle, along with an occasional potion to enhance their attributes in a pinch.

  While Edge’s aura wasn’t as highly ranked as the matriarch’s, it offered a potent layer of protection on top of its offensive component—especially since he had enough Generation to flare it for most of the fight.

  The hunters’ new gear was making a difference too. Everyone had picked up better weapons, upgraded their implants, and purchased magitech devices.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Sasha and Jumo had spears made from the fossil Edge found. They were insanely sharp and durable, even though Ander’s people weren’t skilled enough to modify such a high-grade material.

  Riller had bought a bow that was suitable for a hunter in the middle of stage one. Trapper had upgraded her crossbow to run on golden aether instead of silver, increasing the power of her elemental bolts. She was happy with her sword for now. The weapon was a gift from a friend who had fallen while exploring the frontier and could handle stage-three opponents.

  The hunters traded blows with the soldiers over the next adrenaline-charged minute, which were surprisingly tough for their stage. Violet, Ann, and Riller were hanging back, taking out any bugs that headed their way while backing up the rest of the team.

  The crew managed to eliminate several bugs, taking some minor wounds in exchange. Whenever an opening appeared, they turned their skills on the legion of grunts that was headed their way.

  Some were waiting behind the line, getting ready to skitter underneath the soldiers and attack from the front. The rest were circumventing the patches of acidic glue, delaying their advance for a few critical seconds and creating a clear line of fire.

  “The grunts are exposed!” the crew’s leader yelled. “Use area-of-effect attacks and kill them before they arrive.”

  Sasha started slaughtering the stage-zeros with Fire Breathing. Lilly switched to Scattershot, and Trapper fired explosive bolts to wipe out several grunts at once.

  Jumo didn’t have any wide-area attacks. He held the line while launching Javelins at the matriarch, dividing its attention and impeding its control over the swarm.

  Before the war with the Claws, Edge would have been in the same boat. But now he had two skills that could dish out damage to multiple foes at once—Repel Water and Vacuum Blast. For this fight, Blast was the better choice, so he ignited his core and got ready to let loose.

  He hadn’t been able to use the explosive wind power during the battle with the shadowreaver or on the hunts he’d engaged in since. Blast was too powerful to use on anything he wanted to steal skills or harvest materials from. But the beetles’ shells didn’t need to be intact to retain their value, and this fight was tough enough that he would have been willing to sacrifice some of their remains regardless.

  Wind stirred his hair as the vacuum fields created a high-pressure wedge of air. He skewered a soldier while picking out his target, then sent the spell streaking for a pack of grunts.

  Blast flew fast as an arrow, biting into two bugs at once. The fields dematerialized along the cutting edge, creating a shaped explosion. It blew the insects to bits, damaging several more in the process.

  The spell was a mana hog, but it was perfect for the task at hand. It was hard for low-stage beasts to track the translucent magic, and they died without realizing they were under attack.

  Edge could sense Blast’s avatar was pleased that it was finally getting some action. He hoped it would make the temperamental manifestation easier to deal with, but he couldn’t worry about that now.

  The crew killed dozens of insects within a matter of seconds. Even still, it wasn’t possible to defeat every stage-zero beetle before it reached their position.

  Violet was watching the matriarch and called out when the beast ignited its core. “It’s using the bomb skill. Watch out!”

  A bare second after the words left her lips, the closest grunts started shining with an ominous amber light. Edge had just enough time to Harden his body before the insects exploded.

  The impact rattled his teeth and forced him back. Even from several feet away, the bomb bugs packed a considerable punch. If they manage to grab on before exploding, it’s going to be a lot worse, especially if they reach a vital area.

  He went flying back several feet when a pair darted between his boots before blowing up. By this point, more grunts were exploding every few seconds. It forced the crew on the defensive, giving the bigger bugs a chance to press the attack.

  If they didn’t turn this around, the hunters were going to take a direct hit from the bombs, and the matriarch and its centuries would make their move any moment.

  Area-of-effect attacks weren’t thinning their numbers fast enough. If Edge wanted to win this fight and protect his friends, he needed to shut the grunts’ assault down completely. It’s time for Maelstrom and Repel Water to shine.

  He let loose with pulses of Repel, shoving the swarm back as he prepared a more potent defense. While he infused the air with wind mana, he put Foebinder on guard duty, intercepting any grunts that slipped through. He pulled the scapula shield out of his vault and gave it to the chain, asking it to defend his friends even if he took some damage in exchange.

  The instant there was enough elemental energy in the air, he activated Maelstrom.

  Fear’s autumn domain let him control the wind. The gusts didn’t do much against bulky beasts, but they were a perfect counter for the hand-sized insects swarming across the petal-covered ground.

  Maelstrom sent the grunts flying, keeping them far enough away that their explosions didn’t threaten the crew.

  The domain was expensive, but it didn’t count as a combo while using other skills, letting him supplement his efforts with Repel without draining his reservoir dry. With both powers combined, he held the bombers back. He tossed a dozen into the glue traps in the process for the solvent to finish off.

  In the end, the matriarch came charging in and dispelled his domain with a Disruption surge, but Maelstrom had bought the crew enough time to deal considerable damage.

  After failing to blow the hunters to smithereens, the matriarch changed tactics, joining the fight along with her stage-two guards.

  Edge engaged the stage-three beast, while Trapper and Jumo battled the centurions. Lilly and Sasha focused on wiping out the grunts before they drew close enough to detonate. The big bug began blowing them up from further out, using the expendable troops to distract and disrupt instead of dealing damage.

  Meanwhile, a mixed group of soldiers and grunts skittered past the main melee, targeting the stage-one hunters firing arrows from the periphery of the battlefield.