Chapter 460: Retreating

"Kill that side." Auric pointed to the right side.

Katarina supported him by launching a series of attacks to slow down the advance. Auric then suppressed them with his attacks, stabilizing the situation.

Even though their strength was superior, they were at a disadvantage. There were actually two Rank 5 beasts—one aiming at Maya while the other stopped Stella.

Without both of them functioning properly as a wall, the beasts would have an easier time breaking through.

In addition, the overwhelming number of beasts even gave Song Xue a hard time.

Some beasts had started climbing her building, so she had to focus on defeating them first before supporting the rest of the group.

More importantly, Mathias was restricted. He single-handedly took care of one side, including the Rank 6 beast that tried to take a look at the newly formed ruin, but he couldn’t utilize all his power in this place.

The ruin usually reinforced everything inside it, but this one was a newly formed ruin. The energy had yet to spread and strengthen their toughness.

It would be troublesome if he ended up causing elemental turbulence. That was why he had to not only restrict his own power but also suppress the Rank 6 beast so that neither of them would destroy too many buildings and cause elemental turbulence.

If that happened, they might really die.

Of course, there was a slim chance that Auric knew what he was doing, but nothing about this was normal, so he didn’t want to take any chances.

Roar!

Roar!

Roar!

Another series of roars echoed from the outside.

Katarina couldn’t help but furrow her brows. "It’s a third wave. They’re still coming."

"How much time have we spent here?"

"We’ve fought them for eighteen minutes. We don’t know how long it will take for the reinforcements to arrive. Considering the distance, they should arrive in thirty minutes."

"All right. We’ll set the time limit to thirty minutes. If no reinforcements arrive within the next twelve minutes, we will exit this ruin forcefully." Auric nodded with a serious expression.

"Can we even hold out?"

"For now, we can. Although the beasts look like they’re overwhelming us, we are still holding them back in this place. Once the time comes, we will move back two blocks from here to set up another defense line and confuse them."

"..." Katarina thought for a moment before nodding. "Understood."

"In that case, we—" Auric wanted to give another instruction, but he suddenly stopped because Lindwurm warned him.

"Auric, watch out!"

Auric immediately turned around and saw a massive fluctuation of energy coming from the third wave that had just entered the ruin.

"Incoming attack!" Auric shouted, warning Katarina. From the way the magical energy flowed, it was clear that the beast was aiming at him and Katarina.

It was a Rank 5 beast.

Katarina rushed to the front and fused with her avatar. "Sanctuary!"

She formed multiple shields with her adamantine element.

The beast released a powerful beam and struck her shields. It broke the first one in an instant but gradually slowed down as it struck the subsequent shields.

However, it didn’t look like Katarina would be able to withstand this power.

Even though she aimed to reach Rank 5 before graduation, she would need at least a few more months. She would be in her fourth year at that time.

In other words, she wasn’t even halfway to Rank 5.

That was why it was going to be impossible for her to stop a Rank 5 beast by herself.

"Khh..." Katarina gritted her teeth.

Auric took a deep breath and released his gray energy. This time, he didn’t plan to use the chaos element or the space element.

Knowing that they had been pushed back this far, Auric decided it was better to start releasing his other elements.

Auric came to her side and extended his hand before lifting up his finger.

This was the element he hadn’t used yet despite having acquired it for quite some time.

The beam suddenly reversed its trajectory and hit the beasts instead.

Boom!

The explosion killed a few beasts and severely injured a few others.

"It still packed a lot of punch even though your shield withstood it quite a bit." Auric narrowed his eyes.

"That element..."

"Vector element. I did acquire it when I was Rank 2, but I never used it since I was hiding my unique element."

The world already knew that Auric had a unique element, so he might as well utilize it to a certain extent. Even with this kind of power, it would be hard to discern Auric’s element, especially since people thought he only had one unique element.

They needed to figure out which element had the properties of a chaos element and a vector element, which made it impossible to guess.

"Hit that building. Let me use it." Auric pointed to the building in front of them.

Katarina nodded and used the explosive bullet, causing the building to start crumbling.

Auric waved his hand, enveloping the building with his vector element. Then, he changed the trajectory of the fall, causing the rubble to start falling toward the beasts instead.

Not only did it kill beasts, but it also created a wall that wouldn’t be easy for beasts to pass through. Only those powerful beasts could do it, but it also meant Auric and Katarina only needed to focus on those beasts.

Still, no matter how confident they were in stopping the Rank 5 beast, it would be hard even if they combined their strengths.

Auric knew this as well.

That was why he took out another thing.

...

On the other side, Song Xue couldn’t help but widen her eyes when the beam struck Auric and Katarina.

However, it was even more confusing to find it getting deflected.

’What? Katarina blocked it, but Auric actually made that attack turn away? What is the identity of his unique element? It’s so versatile.’

She was startled when Katarina hit a building.

’What the hell are they doing? If they destroy a building, it might cause elemental turbulence... No, wait. Will that happen? It’s a newly formed ruin, but Auric might know more about it. I can’t exactly replicate it without consulting him. More importantly, why are the rubble falling on top of the beasts? Magnet? Gravity?’

No matter how hard she tried to figure out Auric’s element, she simply couldn’t find one element that could define everything he did.

However, Auric gave one more surprise.

Auric actually tossed an item toward Maya while shouting, "Maya, use them! Give them back to me later."

Maya was startled at first and jumped back to see what Auric tossed, but the moment she caught those gloves, she grinned. "Now we’re talking!"

Maya became excited. She immediately put on those gloves while her avatar held back the beasts for a few seconds.

She then recast her demonic arms, finding both demonic arms flaring up more than usual.

"!!!" Song Xue widened her eyes in shock.

’What are those? Gloves? I’m pretty sure they’re gloves, but did I just see Maya Relesha using her abilities stronger than usual after wearing these gloves? How? Artifacts? Magic items?

’They look like magic items, but I have never seen magic items that can amplify someone’s power. Don’t tell me, he can even create that kind of magic item?’

As someone who used guns to fight, she knew that if Auric could actually make her stronger by reinforcing her weapons, she would be unstoppable.

No, the fact that he could do it meant that his value simply skyrocketed. It was no wonder Auric wouldn’t be enticed by some money or influence.

If he ever released a magic item that could amplify someone’s power, he would become the most sought-after artisan. Even Rank 7 humans would like to have magic items like this. Anyone who had Auric would get more than just him being an evolution master.

When Maya charged at them again, she took down beasts at a higher speed as if nothing was strong enough to stand in her path anymore.

When the Rank 5 beast came at her, Maya struck it and overwhelmed it. As a result, she could actually attack the second Rank 5 beast herself.

She was usually good at fighting multiple opponents as she fought like a madman who ignored her own pain. Most enemies fell to her tenacity and died that way.

The beasts weren’t so different. They fought as beasts, showing their ferocity, but it turned out that Maya was even more ferocious than them.

Auric watched Maya from above and muttered, "Maybe I can add a magic item with a healing attribute... Will that..."

The reason Maya was scary was that she ignored the damage to her body and fought to the very last breath. If Maya gained the healing ability that could constantly heal her injuries, Auric could imagine what kind of being Maya would become.

She might change her title from a dark witch to a demoness. She would literally fight for some sort of immortality.

Of course, this also meant he needed to figure out a way to apply that kind of power to the artifact first. Even his father could only create a magic item that could be used three times. If he could create a permanent item like this, he would really change the world.

Still, it didn’t change the fact that they were in a perilous situation. Even Maya wouldn’t be enough to stop all these beasts. If more beasts were coming, they might still die.

Auric narrowed his eyes and said, "Katarina, go to Sir Mathias and tell him we’re pulling back."

"We’re still in good condition." Katarina frowned. "We can at least hold out for another five minutes."

"No. We need to conserve our energy."

"Ah. There’s a chance something might happen when the reinforcement comes. You’re thinking that they might attack us because of this ruin?"

"Pretty much."

"Understood."