Psychic Parasite

"Battleship…?" Jyorta thought, chuckling as he replied, "That sounds cool enough, haha. Let's go with that."

"Che, I was about to say a better name." Sreshta was just about to turn around and comment on their choice when she noticed a One-Horned Rhino charge towards them. "Enemy incoming! 20 metres to our front!"

"Accelerate!" Jyorta shouted, making the four Tier 2 Floating Spiders on the sides push forward. The Floating Spider on the base moved up, increasing the altitude of the Battleship.

The One-Horned Rhino increased its speed as it wished to ram into the construct flying straight at it, only to break its momentum as it slid on the ground, watching the Battleship fly above its head. It roared, unable to attack the Battleship that was beyond the range of its reach.

"That was really cool. We have the power of flight now." Duvic laughed, tracking the entire scene using his Tier 1 Skill, Thermal Vision.

Currently, the seating arrangement started with Sreshta at the front, followed by Duvic, Jyorta, Rishana, and Bilena at the back. Once the Battleship began to move, Jyorta relayed the instructions to his team.

He spoke to Sreshta, "I won't be able to coordinate with you every time since I am already focusing on manipulating the five Tier 2 Floating Spiders. I will solely focus on moving this Battleship."

He pointed at the entrance to the cylinder—within which the Tier 2 Spindle Bee was wrapped around by floating spider silk. As Sreshta looked at the Spindle Bee, Jyorta spoke, "According to the hallucination I subjected it into, every time you tap its head, it would shoot a spindle. Don't tap it too hard and wound it."

Seeing her nod in response, Jyorta then pointed at the handle extending from the cylinder that constricted the Spindle Bee, "It can move to a fair variety of angles. So, use it as a turret to aim at the enemies. And, when you tap the head of the Spindle Bee, it would shoot a spindle at the foes. Since it is at Tier 2, its spindle should be powerful."

"It's basically a gun," Sreshta tapped once on the Spindle Bee's head, seeing it shoot a spindle. The stinger had been poking out of the hole in the cylinder. So, when Sreshta aimed the cylinder at a Frenzy Beast and tapped the Spindle Bee's head, the spindle slammed into the Frenzy Beast, causing a fountain of blood to gush out of the point of impact.

"This is an addicting feeling," Sreshta commented as her face flushed red. This was the first time she inflicted an injury on a Frenzy Beast so easily.

"But don't let it get to your head. Be steady, and don't waste the spindles. When the Spindle Bee runs out of energy to create another spindle, tell me. I'll replenish it using the Heart Crystals I have collected." Jyorta said, showing the small pouch in his hand.

"You can cause it to summon its Caterpillar?" Sreshta spoke with widened eyes, staring at Jyorta with shock.

"Of course," Jyorta nodded, controlling the Battleship to rise even higher as it flew.

"In my plans, I made four cylinders. One on the front, one on the back, and one on either side. So, all four of you would be controlling a Spindle Bee to shoot at our enemies." Jyorta looked at Bilena, "Focus on finding the Spindle Bees first. Once we equip three more, our Battleship would be complete."

"Then what about these weapons we made? And," Duvic tugged the armour he was wearing, "Is there any use for this since we are safe within this Battleship?"

"It's better to be safe than sorry. And," Jyorta looked at Duvic, "Don't forget the fact that we have to face against a Tier 3 Frenzy Beast at the end. So, these silk armours would prove to be helpful then. The weapons exist just in case our Battleship is destroyed and we have to move on foot."

"I see," Duvic nodded, etching in his mind the factors Jyorta considered in his decisions.

"So, I no longer need to look for a yellow circle, right?" Rishana spoke while gazing through the hole, keeping watch on their front.

"Yes," Jyorta nodded, controlling the Battleship, "Our priority is a black circle now. In the meantime, we'll look for the Spindle Bees."

"I hear them," Bilena shouted, "They are approaching us from our 4'o clock. They are 30 metres away."

"How many of them are there? And, what are their strengths?" Jyorta frowned.

"Around…20…not 28. Judging by the frequency of their flapping, there are six Spindle Bees at Tier 2." Bilena concentrated, replying after a while.

Tattoo—Aura Personification!

The moment they came close, Jyorta spotted their positions by peering through the holes in the cylindrical extension, latching onto three Tier 2 Spindle Bees that he felt were the strongest of the group.

Without any hesitation, he sent his tattoos on them, also adding a layer of hallucination to make the job easier. The tattoos acted as a medium for him to transmit his hallucination directly into their presence, making them fall under his control immediately.

Jyorta made them perceive varying scenarios, causing them to react accordingly. This way, he controlled their actions, making them fly faster and zoom towards the Battleship. Without a second's delay, they entered the remaining three cylinders.

As Jyorta had already briefed them on the method of usage, Duvic, Rishana, and Bilena grabbed hold of the levers attached to the cylinders immediately. They also positioned themselves accordingly to the direction their respective cylinder pointed towards.

Bilena turned around, facing the back while Duvic and Rishana turned around to face the left and right respectively. They used their Tier 1 Skills to relay everything they sensed, using the data to perceive their enemies accordingly.

That was what Jyorta used to react on time and manoeuvre the Battleship accordingly. After all, he was only able to see in one direction at a time. Rishana kept tabs on their altitude, telling immediately whenever any Frenzy Beast moved below the Battleship.

Duvic was able to see the heat signatures of every Frenzy beast that flew, determining their positions accurately. Bilena played the most important role of sensing the sounds produced by the Frenzy Beasts, relaying their positions.

Finally, Sreshta kept track of their route, focusing on key aspects that lay on their route, also keeping watch for their targets.

"I see a black circle!" She shouted, "It's on a boulder, 60 metres away."

Fighting in a path were two teams that had joined hands. They were fighting against a group of Tier 1 Steel Porcupines. It was an even battle, considering the students were already equipped with weapons.

"Hah!" A student bellowed as he brought down his sword, severing the body of a Steel Porcupine into two. Another Steel Porcupine showed him its back and unleashed a hail of spikes, planning to impale him to death. One of his teammates rushed in, defending against the hail of spikes using his shield.

He turned around, shouting as he resisted the attacks, watching some of the spikes poke out of the shield a little, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am fine." The student replied and leaped out from the cover of the shield the moment the hail of spikes ended, closing in on the Steel Porcupine as he severed its head with a strike. Similarly, he lunged towards a nearby Steel Porcupine before stabbing the sword into its head.

"Haah…haah…" He panted, kneeling on the ground as the last of the Steel Porcupines were killed. He then lifted his sword, seeing that more than half its blade had melted from the Essence of Frenzy, "Dammit, these weapons don't even last through a single battle."

"Thankfully, we came across three yellow circles and obtained enough equipment." His teammate with the shield replied, grunting as he helped the rest. Suddenly, his Tier 1 Skill perceived something as his expression collapsed, shouting, "Hide! There's a massive Frenzy Beast group approaching us!"

Without further ado, they all vacated the place, entering the gap within two boulders as they blocked all the open sides with their shields. The two Espers in their combined team used their psychic arms to block out the gaps, also allowing them to witness their surroundings from inside while preventing the Frenzy Beast from detecting their presence to a certain extent.

"What the…?" The student with the shield was dumbfounded as he watched a massive cloud of Frenzy Beasts, formed by Floating Spiders and Spindle Bees alike swarm around something big that moved through the air.

It was a boat-shaped structure, made from Floating Spider silk. Peaking out along its sides were the spindles of Spindle Bees, acting as blades that scrapped and injured any Frenzy Beast that drew close.

Every time the Floating Spiders tried to latch onto the boat-shaped structure, it moved in response, using the spindles poking out of it to shred the Floating Spiders. As for the Spindle Bees, before they could shoot, spindles flew out from the boat-shaped structure and slammed into them, puncturing through their bodies.

Spindle Bees and Floating Spiders dropped to the ground like flies from the unceasing spindle attacks. But, the damage and slaughter pulled in more Floating Spiders and Frenzy Beasts towards the boat-shaped construct. After all, its surface was already covered by their blood to a fair extent.

From time to time, there would be a short emission of psychic energy that threw off all the blood from the boat-shaped structure. It was the Battleship Jyorta made.

The Battleship flew past their hiding position, causing a strong wind along their wake. The student with the shield saw a psychic arm extend from the Battleship as it moved over a black circle and grab hold of the item hovering over it. It then zoomed past, moving behind a large boulder as it disappeared from view.

"…What the heck was that?" The student with the sword stared agape, muttering the words that were in the minds of everyone in their team.