Psychic Parasite

The memories related to the Crust-Mantles jumped out of the soul husk they were stored within. Even though the murkiness in them had been vaporized, the white layer—the ego—over the memory fragments still existed.

And, the moment Jyorta felt sympathetic towards the Crust-Mantles, it acted as the catalyst that caused them to jump out. After all, his emotions were controlled by his feelings. And, his emotions induced a change in his thoughts. And a change in his thoughts was accompanied by an adjustment in his blue soul.

And this was what had sparked their reaction. To obtain details of the grand plan the four major Frenzy Beast races—Floating Spiders, Spindle Bees, River Whales, and the Lava Turtles—surrounding Marble City had planned, Jyorta stored the memory fragments of the Crust-Mantles.

After all, the Crust-Mantles were the prime workforce involved in the making of this grand scheme. So, there were higher chances for him to obtain information from them than from the Floating Spider or others.

After all, Tier 1 and Tier 2 Floating Spiders weren't privy about the details; they weren't involved in it. Only their higher-ups knew about it. 

And, every month, Jyorta comprehended some of the details and relayed it to Psychic Ancestor Marble. So, every time he did this, his understanding of the Crust-Mantles increased. Even though he destroyed all their influence on him, the memories remained. 

And, these memories laid a fact before him: The Crust-Mantles were as humane as humans themselves. And, if established, the Crust-Mantles could live in peace with the humans. The Crust-Mantles were averagely intelligent, but the astonishing fact was their frenzy-state was the least among all the Frenzy Beasts, and this was including Frenzy Beast races like the Two-Faced Fireflies that weren't able to fight.

So, that showed how peace-oriented they were. And, despite being so, they were cruelly abused by every Frenzy Beast race just because their flesh was beneficial to their growth. So, such memories made him develop sympathy towards them.

Therefore, the moment he developed second thoughts about making the Crust-Mantles suffer, Jyorta directly made use of the face mask. This was no longer something he could resist on his own. After all, this was an effect on the mind path. So, he had to resist accordingly.

A Soul Cornea shot forward and coiled around all the Crust-Mantle memory fragments that had flown out, tightening as it applied pressure on them, condensing them into a sphere. It then dumped them back into a soul husk and sealed them tightly.

The moment it did so was Jyorta able to heave a sigh of relief. Thankfully, the blue soul had promptly acted on it, nipping the problem in the bud. Otherwise, the situation would have deteriorated. 

If he hadn't used the face mask, then he would have hesitated to act on the Crust-Mantle memory fragments, causing him to counter his actions in reality as he might even proceed to intervene in the war and help the Crust-Mantles. 

'The more I know and understand, the greater the problem I face.' Jyorta sighed, feeling conflicted. With each action he took, he felt regret. And, as the Battleship continued to fly forward, the screams from the Crust-Mantle resounded in his ears, generating in him an impulse to just dash out to their rescue.

Somewhere along the line, the value to their lives he placed was increasing, slowly approaching humans. It was pretty dangerous.

And, even though they were on the sixth—the one with the Rigordiles—coil, Jyorta could clearly hear the sounds of the war. After all, it was happening just twenty metres below them. 

Jyorta opened the shaft, peeking his head out as he felt the wind brush past his face. It allowed him to cool off his head a little. And thanks to the false persona, he could maintain his calm. 

'I'm being too passive. That's the issue.' Jyorta took in a deep breath as he noticed a nest of the Floating Spiders. It was only two metres in size and contained at most twenty Floating Spiders within, all at Tier 1.

Therefore, the moment the Battleship neared them, the Floating Spiders reacted, beginning to fly out of their nest when Jyorta aimed his palms towards them; his eyes shone with faint killing intent.

Aura Beam!

Using a third of his aura, Jyorta unleashed an aura beam. It wasn't anything impressive like before, but it still packed a powerful punch, slamming into the Floating Spiders as it crushed their presence. 

It immediately caused their organs to fail one after another as the ability of corrosion imbued in them caused their flesh to melt while the blood turned into a different substance. The corroded blood then acted as a poison that further damaged their internals. 

As the Battleship passed by the nest, the Floating Spiders dropped to the ground one after another as the silk forming the nest melted and gave way. The Rigordiles on the ground pounced on the Floating Spiders and killed them.

But, they dared not devour them for the time being. For, the Rigordile that hurriedly ate a Floating Spider screamed in pain as it lost its voice before a section of its throat and mouth melted, causing the wriggly flesh behind to become visible. 

Jyorta came across two more nests along the way, this time belonging to the Spindle Bees. He slammed them too with his aura beams, using the slaughter of Frenzy Beasts to counter his feelings of sympathy and compassion to the Crust-Mantles. 

'It's better now. Still, I have to address this issue once this ceremony is completed. Comprehending the memories of Frenzy Beasts still affect me even after erasing their ego and influence on me.' Jyorta closed the shaft and took in a deep breath, acting as if what he had done had been for a reason, "It would trouble us more if they chased us to the next coil. I always have trouble against the Lava Turtles."

Duvic raised his hands, implying he didn't ask for an explanation and was just willing to follow his orders. 

"50 metres to the territory of the Lava Turtles," Sreshta shouted at this time as she peered through the hole at the front, having activated her Tier 1 Skill—Focus Vision—to sense the positions of the Lava Turtles.

The seventh coil had a thin layer of boiling water, at least a metre in depth. And, floating among them were the Lava Turtles. And, as long as the water wasn't emptied, they had free ammo to shoot forth.

"Isn't that George?" Sreshta said in wonder, "How did he climb up so fast?"

Jyorta then focused on the pointed place, noticing George's team moving through the boiling waters by using the shell of a Lava Turtle as a boat. And, even though the Lava Turtles blasted their hot geysers at him, he used another Lava Turtle shell to defend against their attacks.

George was pretty calm during the entire journey, a sharp contrast from his teammates who were trembling in fear upon every single sound from their enemies. George's arrangements weren't much, but it was enough, considering he had enough strength to carry them using that alone.

After all, whenever a Lava Turtle's geysers failed to damage them and one of them approached closer to attack him, he slammed the turtle shell in his hands onto them. The force caused the Lava Turtles to float backward as the defending arms of the Hunter Clams on their backs trembled upon enduring every hit. 

The knockback from the attacks did cause his boat—the Lava Turtle shell—to move backward, hindering his journey forward, but they were still making some progress. Even though they were delayed by this, it seemed like they would eventually reach the top.

"Let's step up our game too," Jyorta smiled as he looked at his teammates, "I'll be activating their Tier 2 Skills now. The speed of the Battleship would increase even further while the Spindle Bees would shoot at least two spindles per second. Be ready to relay the position of our enemies to me accordingly."

"Alright!" As all of them nodded and firmed their positions, energy riled up in their bodies, activating their Tier 1 Skills to the limit. Jyorta then took in a deep breath as he unleashed his domain, expanding it to its maximum radius.

It had crossed four metres by now. His domain created a massive sphere around him, something only he and fellow Espers could sense. This allowed him to know the positions of the Frenzy Beasts that approach closer to the Battleship, allowing him to react accordingly.

The Battleship whirred into life as the presence it exuded spiked up all of a sudden. Jyorta infused some of his aura into the Battleship using his psychic arms he seeped into them. This way, he would be able to turn them accordingly. After all, its weight was balanced by its lift. So, his psychic arm was able to affect it somewhat, unless it had generated too much momentum.

His second psychic arm expanded like a balloon, enveloping everyone within it. The psychic energy worked together to negate as much of the inertia that would build up next. This way, the internal damage they would sustain would be less.

"I'll count down now…3…2…1…" Jyorta took in a deep breath as his aura caused all the nine Tier 2 Frenzy Beasts in the Battleship to become ready, unleashing the brunt of their aura each. Controlled by his psychic arms and the tattoos he had imbued, all the nine Tier 2 Frenzy Beasts shaped their auras into a massive cocoon surrounding the battleship.

The aura began to spin and mixed with each other, directed by his own aura as Jyorta controlled the entire mass, finally causing the mass to spike further as all nine Tier 2 Frenzy Beasts activated their Tier 2 Skills simultaneously.

"Go!"