บท 40: Chapter 40. Close fight.

After that big massacre, the teachers went out to recovers all the beast cores. The battleship kept advancing on the now silent tunnel. They continued for a while and near the end of the cloud tunnel, people excitedly look forwards.

What they saw when they passed the tunnel was a mainly white world. The white landscape seemed to extend indefinitely and at the distance, some white mountains could be seen.

To the right, they could see some white pillars in the distance resembling trees that were made from this cloud material. But this wasn't all! There also were normal trees, flowers, rocks, animals, and more, giving color to the white landscape. Above them, in the clear blue sky, there were some more greyish clouds floating around. A truly magical place.

Mason said, "The clouds above are normal, but in some of them there are tunnels. If you pass one of them, you can reach the second layer of the cloud layers. In this area though, it just stops at the second layer. To go to the third and the fourth you have to travel very far away."

Mason continued "The strangest thing is that… These cloud layers can't be seen from below, you only can reach them from the various tunnels that some clouds have. Moreover, because these tunnel clouds are constantly moving, it is hard to secure them. This tunnel cloud just moves above the whole Rita state, and thus it can be said to be under our Rita state."

Mason looked at all the students and said, "You will be in this cloud layer for one week, we will give each group of six a teleportation jade. If you use it, it will teleport you and your nearby teammates here to the battleship. The teachers and disciples from the medical hall will attend to you if you reach with injuries so don't worry. After you report the gains and reasons for using the jade, you will be qualified. If you do exceptionally well, this is one chance for entering the violet class… or otherwise, falling off it."

Mason said "We won't prohibit killing… But the reason must be clear. Believe us that none of you can fool any of the teachers here if we want to know something. To end my tirade, I hope to see at least half of the students here return alive. Good luck."

Then the jades lit up and all of the teams disappeared. Yasenia's group appeared in the cloud forest. When they were about to speak, one fish-like cloud beast jumped towards Evelyn's back with an opened mouth!

Yasenia's instincts flared up and, in a flash, she moved while using all the reinforcements she had. She used [sunrise] with her tail in the blunt form. The cloud beast that jumped at Angel was hit and *Bang!* The beast exploded outwards in flesh-bits.

To everyone else, it was something that happened in less than two seconds! They were about to speak when Yasenia's aura exploded, followed by a *Bang! * and an explosion of flesh and gore.

Angel and the rest turned and looked at Yasenia who had her [Celestial coat] on and then towards the splashed blood in front of her and swallowed.

Yasenia relaxed and said, "Be careful, these cloud beasts' concealment is stronger than we thought, that was just a middle-level second-ranked beast, and until it started its jump from the cloud I couldn't sense it at all." All of them nodded seriously.

Cecile spoke, "Use the previously prepared appraisal formation, however, don't be too tense. Remember that we can't get mentally exhausted before a battle occurs. Yasenia and Evelyn had a spiritual breakthrough so their sensing capabilities should be better. Yasenia stays on the back, Evelyn on the front, the rest between them."

Oliver picked up the beast core, and then the team moved. The levels of the team right now were, Oliver sixth, Gustav eighth, Yasenia eighth, Evelyn ninth, Angel half-step, and Cecile half-step. This is why, every time a second-level cloud beast or a third-level normal beast attacked, they could deal with them without any problems.

The group weapons were the following ones. Yasenia as we already know used her tail and her giant sword. Evelyn had a white-golden two-meter-long spear. Oliver and Gustav carried a blue war hammer and black daggers respectively.

On the other side, Cecile didn't carry a weapon because she could create hers with one skill, it was a blue and green longbow.

Angel carried a strange weapon, a big circular mirror shield! It had green adorned edges while the rest of the shield was mirror-like. She could use her glass attribute to change its properties making it stronger than any metal of the same level. Moreover, using the reflecting part of the shield, she could fire concentrated light beams or lasers with her light attribute.

Cloud beast appearance was similar to aquatic beasts, but they also had normal limbs. A lot of them also had an amphibian appearance.

It was already sunset when they were reaching the first area where some resources should appear, Evelyn saw the cloud on their right side move slightly and at the same time the formation lit up, "RIGHT!"

All of them turned right quickly and the cloud parted revealing a giant reptile maw with some layers of serrated teeth on the outside of it. All of them dodged, and Gustav who was the closest almost got caught.

Gustav cursed, "Crap, this is like walking on an opaque sea! There are fishes that jump from the clouds all of the time!"

They looked at the beast, and it was a very big crocodile. It was 2.5 meters tall and eighteen meters from head to tail. Its black scales and red slit eyes gave it a malevolent aura. Angel shouted "Be careful! It is darkness attributed!"

Cecile said quickly, "Yasenia, Angel, and Evelyn will be main attackers, use your light and sun energies! Oliver, use your ice with me to prevent it from going inside the clouds. Gustav, use your death energy to erode it little by little! This is a middle-level rank three cloud beast, stay alert!"

All nodded and Yasenia activated her [Starry sky]. Cecile chanted "[Space Freezing gale Bow]"

A beautiful blue and green longbow appeared on her hand. "[Ice shard tornado]!" *Whoosh*

The dark beast's head got engulfed by a five meters wide uprising tornado! However, with its thick hide, this attack didn't do anything. The dark beast shook its head and destroyed the tornado. But, that attack was a distraction!

The next thing it saw was two girls approaching from each side. A giant sword aimed at its right side and a white spear towards the left one! The beast calmly used the protector membrane in the left eye *Clang!* and dodged the falling sword. While it was distracted by the frontal attacks, Oliver appeared on its side doing a raising strike with his hammer "[Rising river]!" *Bang! *

It didn't do much damage but he was able to lift its side-belly. This was enough for Cecile and Gustav to aim at his soft underbelly! An ice-arrow with green gales around it and two black daggers spreading black fumes pierced his underbelly! "Roar!"

The dark beast responded with a tail attack aiming at Gustav and Oliver who were retreating and a bite attack on Evelyn. Yasenia charged towards its tail doing a powerful vertical attack "[Sunset]!" Because the time was right it did its special exploding effect! *Boom!* Yasenia took four steps back, but the tail was repelled.

Meanwhile, Evelyn used a skill called [Light charge] and using the abrupt acceleration dodged its chomp easily. Angel who was running around setting glass marks, aimed at the opened mouth and fired a powerful light beam!

The beast felt its tail repelled and its throat being burned by a light beam. Enraged, the beast used its powerful body and tackled Yasenia. Yasenia used the [Celestial coat] full strength on her legs and tail and jumped upwards.

Yasenia managed to avoid the tackle, but the beast wouldn't let this chance escape. It turned its head towards the airborne Yasenia and opened its mouth. A black breath attack fired quickly towards her! Yasenia put her sword and tail before her and *BANG!* She was sent flying!

While this was happening, Cecile aimed a [Space arrow] toward the beast's right eye and hit it! However, this space arrow wasn't meant to do damage. From now on, every arrow Cecile fires will have seeking properties towards that point! Angel finished her formation at the same time that the breath attack hit Yasenia sending her flying.

Angel shouted "[Light prison formation]!" A light dome with a 50m radius surrounded the beast weakening it. The dark beast sensed danger and charged towards the border, but it heard a freezing voice to its right. "[Freezing Gale Arrow rain]"

Cecile fired Tens of arrows with blinding speed and all of them went towards its eye with abnormal accuracy!

Oliver has already gone towards Yasenia. She had bruises on her arms and some of her tail scales were damaged. "Help me stand big-bro the battle hasn't finished yet." Oliver helped her and guided her towards the battlefield again.

Gustav used the chance that Cecile created and attacked its underbelly again with his daggers! "[Deadly darkness coating]" *SlashSlashSlashSlash* four deep cuts appeared. The energy spread and started rotting its insides! 'Even if you are darkness attributed, death attribute is still effective!'

The barrage of arrows created by Cecile finally managed to destroy its eye-protective membrane destroying the left eye! The beasts roared angrily and feeling no more arrows coming, it charged towards Gustav who was retreating after getting some damage in.

Gustav saw the beast aiming at him so he used his movement technique and moved into the shadows appearing at a safe distance outside the light dome. It turned towards Angel that was the nearest enemy and continued its charge. The beast covered its body with a dark aura and its speed soared.

Angel saw it coming towards her but she didn't move. Using the laid [Glass nodes] she used her light attribute and created another formation "[Glass prison formation] and fusing them, here you go! [Laser prison formation]!" The light dome was covered in glass and after fusing them it started firing a barrage of laser beams!

The beast was assaulted heavily creating a lot of wounds on its giant body. However, it didn't stop and opened its mouth 10 meters away from the laser wall. "ROAR!" a stronger than before breath attack was fired! The dark beam collied with the walls of the formation and after holding up for a while *Crash!* The prison was destroyed by the rank 3 beast!

The enhanced breath attack continued in Angel's direction. When the breath was about to hit Angel, Yasenia appeared fully wrapped in her [Celestial coat]! With her sword pointing forwards, she was surrounded by spinning stars leaving a white trail behind her. "[Star charge]!" The white and black lights collided *BOOM!* Yasenia moved three steps back and she almost lost the grip of her sword!

She was about to move, but the beast was already in front of her! It opened its mouth with the intention of swallowing her. Angel and Evelyn weren't going to let it happen. Angel fired a concentrated laserbeam into its mouth again, and Evelyn used her [Flash lightning steps] tackling Yasenia out of danger!

Oliver arrived at this moment but he and Gustav couldn't do anything right now. The beast was already starting to feel tired, and his belly was eroding faster and faster. He focused his remaining eye on Yasenia, 'Kill that one, and the rest are dead' Is normal that he thinks that because Yasenia is the one always blocking his attacks!

Evelyn has already moved from Yasenia's side and was going to its blindside, Cecile was trying to aim her [Space arrow] to his other eye, but the beast was evading them!

Yasenia thought that they must finish this quickly or other beasts or people might appear! "I'm going all out! Cover me!" *ROAR!* Her aura exploded like a dragon roar and her [Celestial coat] Lit up!

The beast charged at her and Yasenia pointed towards the sky and shouted "[STARRY SKY]!" All her 50+ stars flew towards the sky and ballooned from firefly-like lights to a ten centimeters radius ball! Then she pointed her sword to the dark beast and roared, "[STARFALL]!"

Like a goddess commanding the stars, each star fell at blinding speeds and impacted on its back making craters on it! *BangBangBangBang!* The beast was flung backward and a painful Roar escaped the beast's mouth.

They looked at it inside the cloud crater a mangled beast was revealed. It didn't kill it, but it was completely weakened, Cecile and Oliver covered the cloud with ice so that it couldn't escape. Evelyn, who was in the blind spot, charged forwards, and while jumping atop of it, electric currents surrounded her. "[Thunder Light Thrust]"

She pierced downwards. The attack passed the mangled skin and charred its insides with the light and thunder attributes. After that, she jumped off it and they entered a defensive fight. Evelyn's and Angel's attacks that previously destroyed its insides, the corrosion from Gustav, and the heavy injuries from the [Starfall] were enough for the beast to die one minute later.

When they confirmed the kill, they cheered! Oliver said "That was intense! His hide was so tough that almost none of our attacks worked!"

Angel nodded "When it charged towards me, I was truly scared, it even managed to break my combination defensive formation easily."

Cecile spoke, "I had to use a whole arrow barrage to destroy one eye, and that having target seeking arrows."

Evelyn nodded, "If it wasn't for Gustav's corrosion and Yasenia's absurd strength, we would have been in a lot more trouble."

Angel looked at Yasenia and said with a lovestruck expression, "Yasenia~ when you appeared coated with the stars against that breath attack you looked fantastic~!"

Yasenia approached chuckling and hugged her, "You and Evelyn saved me nicely from that chomp!" Angel buried herself almost purring in comfort.

Gustav looked at the sky and said "Is almost night, we should find a place to rest and set up the formations."

Now that she has the beast's scent remembered, Yasenia sniffed the air and pointed southeast. "That way is this beast lair. Should we try our luck? There are some treasures in that direction too…"