Chapter 425: A Zagged Star
The Battleship was a construct created using Floating Spider silk. So, it was capable of levitating in the air automatically. And, if it wasn't chained down, it would float into the skies until the limit of its levitation was reached.
This was why all the web-worlds created by the Floating Spiders had a sturdy central rope that trailed from it and was attached to the ground. This was to prevent it from flying into the space, leading to the death of all the Floating Spiders that lived within.
The Floating Spider silk had incredible uses. Therefore, when Jyorta used it to create the Battleship, he obtained a mobile fortress that was capable of carrying the weight of him and his teammates without trouble.
He also placed five Floating Spiders in them to control the direction of travel, using their speeds to his advantage. This way, the manoeuvrability of the Battleship was on par with Tier 1 Floating Spiders. He hadn't increased the speed because it was hard to control such a big construct.
After all, a Floating Spider wasn't heavy, even the Tier 2 version. But, on the other hand, their construct was heavy. Just considering the weight of him and his teammates, they added a lot of momentum to the Battleship, the momentum they had to negate and divert for every turn.
So, if they moved any faster, they would face a lot of difficulties in turning. Still, Jyorta was using his abilities to the best and exploited the Floating Spiders, ensuring the Battleship could keep up pace with the Floating Spiders.
'But, this situation…I didn't account for it.' Jyorta frowned, looking around as he saw the Floating Spiders and Spindle Bees that surrounded the Battleship. They numbered more than 60; even more were coming.
This was despite the fact his four teammates were shooting forth the spindles and killing a Frenzy Beast with every shot. Their Frenzy Beast blood that splattered onto the Battleship further drew in more of their enraged brethren.
Jyorta didn't wish to waste his aura to create an aura personification to throw them off. That worked counterproductive to his plans. He created the Battleship to rely on it until the goal. It made no sense if he had to use his aura to protect it from harm.
"Duvic, are there any students near us?" Jyorta shouted as his stronger psychic arm grabbed hold of the item hovering above a black circle. His psychic arm slowly moved it towards the hatch as he unleashed his aura personification of hallucination for a couple of seconds, keeping it up in a short radius until he brought the item within the Battleship through the hatch.
He then closed the hatch and locked it, gazing at the item in his hands to note it looked like a can. A liquid of sorts seemed to have been contained within it, judging by the inertial forces he felt in it as he shook it. But, there was no lid to it. It seemed like a whole object that has existed as such since the start.
As it was yellow in colour, Jyorta knew that no matter what he did, it wouldn't open. Thankfully, it seemed the staff had made considerations to this. Madam Mila had probably been the one to make them. She had ensured the can's resistance to psychic energy was zero. Moreover, it weighed less than 200 grams. That was why Jyorta was able to instantly lift it using his psychic arm.
"We passed by two teams just now. They are considerably strong since they just annihilated a team of Tier 1 Steel Porcupines without suffering a loss." Duvic relayed.
"Alright," Jyorta gazed at Sreshta, "When we approach their area, relay this message to them."
"Okay," Sreshta nodded. If she shouted using all her might, she was confident in the reach of her voice. After all, she was a Warrior. Her physique was stronger than Jyorta, including the volume her voice could reach.
The Battleship took a turn in the air by doing a backflip. It crashed into five Floating Spiders along the way, skewering them using the spindles that poked out all over its form. The Battleship reoriented itself as it zoomed towards the two boulders that were close to one another. It was where the team of two students was in hiding.
To ensure they wouldn't lose balance when the Battleship made abrupt turns in the air, Jyorta had also installed seatbelts within. Moreover, he took great measures in their design, following an efficient seatbelt model's design that he had researched in the Portal.
This was a belt design that was efficient to be strapped over at a variety of spots on the body. Moreover, removing it was the simplest and quickest of the lot. It was to the extent he could do it using his psychic arms with a single click and free all of them.
That way, in the event they had to leave the Battleship, they could do so in an instant. The moment they closed in on the two boulders, Sreshta took in a deep breath and positioned her mouth in the hole she used to see, shouting at the top of her lungs, "The two hiding teams, please collect the Heart Crystals of all the Frenzy Beasts we had slain. In return, we'll make a path for you until you reach a black circle and a green circle. We are team 6!"
"Team 6…so that's Jyorta Bone's team. No wonder they are outrageous," The student with the shield commented, looking at the student with the sword as they made eye contact. They were the team leaders of their respective teams; their decisions affected their entire team's progress and performance.
"It…doesn't seem like a bad deal," The student with the sword said as he pointed at the Battleship. "All the Floating Spiders and Spindle Bees are lured over by them. There are no Lava Turtles in this place, and the River Whales are only staying at the top. We only have to face the Steel Porcupines, One-Horned Rhinos, and Crust-Mantles."
"If they make a path for us, we can replenish ourselves." The student with the shield nodded as he shouted towards the Battleship, "We accept."
The Battleship then flew over their hiding positions as a small pouch fell out from it. The student with the sword grabbed hold of it, smirking as he commented, "They even gave us a pouch to store the Heart Crystals. Let's move out."
"Wow, is this made from Floating Spider silk?"
"Indeed."
Their two teams moved out and rushed through the path the Battleship had flown through. They had seen it in action, so they remembered the way it had traversed through. Besides, it was hard not to miss the path lain with the carcasses of Floating Spiders and Spindle Bees.
The ones that had died, and the ones there were twitching on the verge of death, they swiftly killed them all, reaping out their Heart and Brain Crystals. The Esper on their team cleaned them before putting them in the pouch.
"Just how many did they kill?" The man with the shield spoke in shock after putting the 40th Heart Crystal in the pouch.
"I feel like this is just the beginning," The student with the sword sighed as he chuckled, "I feel like we have been made into their porters. Still, this saves us some effort. We can conserve our stamina to when we reach the end."
They trailed 30 metres behind the Battleship that swerved through numerous ways, looping through the same spot at least 5-6 times as the number of carcasses on the ground increased. Sreshta, Duvic, and Rishana were focused on attacking the flying Frenzy Beasts.
Bilena, on the other hand, slowly aimed at the Frenzy Beast on the ground as the Battleship flew past them. Her line of sight gave her better aim with a greater duration of focus on her targets, allowing her to pick off the Frenzy Beasts on the ground with greater ease.
She primarily targeted the Steel Porcupines. For, as long as she aimed correctly, it only took her one spindle to kill one. But, a One-Horned Rhino needed at least three spindles. As for the Crust-Mantles, after aiming at one, she refrained from attacking another ever again.
It took 10 spindles before Crust-Mantle died. It was because it was too big, making the sharp and deadly, but small spindles fail to damage it critically. This was not to mention its touch chitin armour that caused most of the launched spindles to bounce off with a scratch.
"Give us that pouch," After 30 minutes passed in such a fashion, Sreshta's voice resounded as another empty pouch dropped to the ground. The student with the shield tied a knot to the pouch using its extra length, aiming once before throwing it towards the Battleship, "Here!"
He knew Jyorta was an Esper and was able to catch it. As he had expected, just when it was about to slam into the Battleship, a psychic arm grabbed hold of the pouch.
Sreshta's voice resounded once again, "There's a black circle and a yellow circle to the front. Follow our lead."
"Well, that makes our work simple," The student with the sword chuckled as he brought his sword down, piercing it through a gap in the chitin armour, causing blood to gush out from a Crust-Mantle. They weren't simply collecting the Heart Crystals. They too were actively fighting against the foes they met. Only four from their teams were actively collecting the Heart Crystals. The rest were busy fighting.
After all, they too had to display their strengths and expertise. Soon, the Battleship danced through the air as the teams reached a black circle. The student with the shield picked up the can floating on it. After that, they replenished their stock of weapons through the yellow circles.
Unlike the green circles, the yellow circles were temporary and spawned at random places. It was just the staff moving them at speeds beyond the students' ability to perceive, so it looked like they just spawned at various locations.
"A wriggly star?" The student with the shield frowned, for that was the only shape on the can. "Do we have to search for this shape among the white circles?"
"A zagged star?" Jyorta frowned, feeling suspicious at the choice of design used by the military academy, getting an inkling that their plot ran deep this time.