Psychic Parasite

Chapter 180: Graduation Ceremony (4)

"Retreat to the centre," Rakh Veera shouted, hurriedly pacing back, confusing the Floating Spiders that had prepared themselves for a confrontation. "Don't give them what they need. Always keep the initiative with us."

His team kept pace with him, retreating without a commotion, pacing his footsteps with synchronised coordination. They soon arrived at a wide place, one that they had arrived at first. It was currently vacant, with everyone having headed somewhere, possibly fighting their way towards a goal.

Rakh Veera curled his thumb and index finger, placing them in his mouth, and puffing his cheek. A whistling sound echoed, coursing through the rocky terrain. The sound echoed off the hard surfaces, its momentum unhindered for a while before dispersing to the extent inaudible to the ears.

Within twenty seconds, a team walked through the gap between two rock pillars, their conditions pristine, having not faced a single battle as of yet. Walking at the front was a girl, holding a couple of daggers in her hands.

Carried on her back was a large circular pack, solid in nature. It had a semicircular opening at the top, allowing two chakrams to peak out. They were held in place by a hidden mechanism beneath, preventing them from falling off while on the run.

Strapped around her hips was a belt, held in them were numerous spindles, sharp at the two ends and aerodynamically shaped. Their lengths were only about 10 centimetres, spanning a maximum of a centimetre in diameter at the centre that thinned along the edges.

The girl waved her hands, "We were hiding nearby, waiting for your signal."

Rakh Veera nodded, glancing around to notice three other teams arriving upon his signal. "Is this all?"

"The others are trying their luck," The girl from before nodded, "Many seemed to have formed their own strategies. Also, some are just incapable of following orders."

Rakh Veera relaxed the hold on his spear, "With two Area Controllers, we have enough cover for stealth. We will be proceeding through the territory of the Floating Spiders. Their individual strength is inferior at Tier 1 and 2 while traps are their speciality. But, with two Area Controllers here, we can safely manoeuvre through without alerting them."

Two Area Controllers, both girls and also the leaders of their respective teams stood at the centre, unleashing their domains. Of the three Amplifiers, Rakh Veera stood at the front while the remaining took positions on the left and right. Among the 25 Cadets, five were at Tier 2.

The remaining 20 Cadets were split between the back and the inner circle around the two Area Controllers, acting as both a line of defence and offence. Of them, some treaded a couple of steps forward, activating their Tier 1 Skills. They acted as the senses of the five teams.

Rakh Veera turned around, rearranging their positions in accordance with their Skills, making their formation more solid and efficient. Once he finalised everything, he turned to the two girls standing at their centre, "Let us begin now."

"I will give us optical shielding," One of the two Area Controllers said, "Just doing this consumes most of my concentration."

"I will shield our smell and the sound we make and try to reduce the vibration from our waking as much as possible." The other Area Controller said, giving everyone a word of warning, "But, the effect we can deliver is limited. There might be some Tier 1 Skills that can see through our shielding. Also, we will limit the range of our Domains to compactly surround us to conserve our psychic energy expenditure."

"That will be more than enough, thank you." Rakh Veera turned around, looking at the people standing a step behind the three Amplifiers, "Inform us of the positions of each Floating Spider as and when they arrive. Our objective is to proceed with stealth."

"Yes," They replied with a nod of their heads, their voice as muffled as possible.

After this was done, the two Area Controllers unleashed their two psychic arms respectively, forming a dome around everyone.

Seated atop the walls, Jyorta had his gaze focused on Rakh Veera and the Cadets surrounding him from the beginning. He then rubbed his eyes, noticing their figures disappearing from view. Soon, there wasn't even a trace of their existence in the area.

Jyorta turned around, looking at Hrita Bone, "Can you sense them?"

"One second, let me check," Hrita Bone replied, turning her eyes a shade of red, having activated her Tier 1 Skill. Her eyes then reverted to their previous selves, "The two Area Controllers are impressive. There are barely any traces even when I gazed with my Tier 1 Skill."

"Unless there exists a Tier 2 Frenzy Beast that possesses an amplified version of its Tier 1 Skill, it would be difficult for even the other Tier 2 Frenzy Beasts to spot them." Hrita Bone concluded, heaving a sigh at the skill level displayed.

"But, I feel like they would pose a problem." Haesha pointed at the sky, watching the River Whales stir up. A couple of Spindle Bees had arrived before the column of water, buzzing in the air as they flew around one another.

Of the two, one Spindle Bee positioned itself stably in the air, pointing its stinger towards a River Whale swimming through the water. With a buzz, it shot forth its stinger, flying back a metre due to the recoil.

The stinger pierced through the column of water, its momentum slowed down by the resistance offered. But, it still had retained sufficient speed, thanks to the River Whale positioned along the edges of the column of water.

The stinger pierced the skin of the River Whale, drawing forth some blood. The wound wasn't deep enough to be a threat to the River Whale, thanks to its large size and the toughness of its skin. But, it still served to irritate the other party.

The River Whale branched out from the column of water, covering its body with a thin layer of water, forming a water trail attached to the source. It chased after the Spindle Bee that hurt it, producing sounds inaudible to the other party.

But, the sounds it produced, though inaudible was visually apparent, thanks to the wave patterns forming in the layer of water surrounding it. The River Whale flew more than 30 metres from the column of water, chasing after the escaping Spindle Bee in fury.

The speed of flight of the Spindle Bee was equal to the chasing speed of the River whale, preventing the distance between them from being reduced. Only when it had flown 50 metres from the water column did it realise its mistake, one blinded by fury.

It swerved its body in the water, trying to retreat, watching itself surrounded by more than 20 Spindle Bees, two of which were at Tier 2. One of the two Tier 2 Spindle Beean Area Controllerunleashed two psychic arms, slapping them on the layer of water, splashing them to the sides.

The River Whale increased the force of attraction it exerted on the water, trying to pull back the displaced water while trying to return to the column of water.

The other Spindle Beean Amplifierflashed around, arriving before the area where the water had been displaced, pointing its stinger at the skin of the River Whale undefended by the layer of water. Its stinger shot forth like a bullet, piercing through the skin of the River Whale, drawing out copious amounts of blood.

Within a few seconds, its stinger regrew. The Amplifier Spindle Bee flashed around, arriving at a different side, coordinating with the Area Controller Spindle Bee that used its psychic arms to disperse the layer of water in the attacking location.

The two of them coordinated and wounded the River Whale, killing it in the span of 10 seconds. At the moment of its death, the layer of water surrounding it lost its cohesiveness, falling down like rain.

The 20 Spindle bees pierced their stingers into the flesh of the dead River Whale, using them as the anchors as they flew around, carrying the carcass while heading towards their nest.

Treading through the gaps between two successive rock pillars, one that allowed three people to walk side-by-side was Rakh Veera and group, numbering 25 in total. The sides of the rock pillars were covered by spider silk, as a means to detect any organism that treaded through their territory, also to act as a warning mechanism.

In occasional places, attached to outgrowths in the rock pillars were a thick strand of silk, forming a rope that stood vertically, stretched taut. Attached to their other end, and floating in the air were spheres, made of spider silk, one per each rope.

They were structures resembling a Spider World, but weren't one to be exact. Spider Worlds were created from an Unranked Skill while the ones currently were an imitation, built using their natural ability to weave a web.

Their sizes spanned between a radius of 2 metres and 5 metres. Housed within them were Floating Spiders, safe within their defensive structure, and also keeping a vigilant eye on their surroundings.

"Water incoming," A Cadet pointed at the top, having noticed the battle between the River Whale and the Spindle Bees.

"Brace for battle," Rakh Veera commanded everyone, having noticed the situation, and at their plight of being unable to rush forth through all the coiling spider threads that were sprawled over the terrain. They didn't have any spots to take cover, leaving them in the open.

"I'll try to negate as much of the commotion as possible," One of the two Area Controllers said, changing the shape of her psychic arm, shaping it into a wedge whose sharp side faced up.

The water droplets fell on the wedge, not making much sound as they slid over the surface. But, this process still outlined the shape of the psychic energy barrier, also preventing the other Area controller from perfectly directing the incident light, allowing their figures to be visible as patches from time to time.

"They have spotted us; shake off the water droplets before re-enacting out our invisibility." Rakh Veera held his spear, pointing the tip towards the ground, making an inclined angle.