Psychic Parasite

The Battleship was indeed high profile with its actions. But, none dared to hinder its progress, getting stunned by the sheer quantity of aura swirling around it. Jyorta's aura, mixed with the aura from nine Tier 2 Frenzy Beasts who had activated their Tier 2 Skills, causing a spike in the overall aura, the resulting amount created a swirling cluster that had an imposing presence.

For a moment, the students in the Battleship felt as if they were still. It seemed as if time had frozen around them, for their senses had reached a new high, absorbing enough information from around them that they perceived time slower.

It was a concept of their relative perceptions and the heightening of their senses for a moment.

"Ugh!" Jyorta grunted as the Battleship moved out of the path and shot straight up with the fastest speed it could muster. It was tremendously fast, reaching speeds of twenty metres per second. The acceleration caused their bodies to mildly jerk to the back. Thanks to the psychic energy helping them negate the inertia built up in every point in their internals, they didn't take any damage as the Battleship flashed past.

The Lava Turtles in the proximity had been busy fending off George and his team, so they hadn't managed to react fast enough. The Battleship had flown above their coil by the time they turned their heads.

After all, the distance of twenty metres—from one coil to another—only took it one second to traverse.

"What the…?" George frowned as he looked at the Battleship move out of the path and proceed vertically up. The Lava Turtles hadn't been able to react fast enough, missing it.

And, thanks to the imposing momentum built up by it, the River Whales on the final coil hesitated for a second, undecided whether or not to attack the Battleship. By the time they could react, it crossed them and arrived at the end of the path, slowing down to a stop.

"Huff…" Jyorta exhaled a deep breath as he relaxed, noticing how the River Whales didn't come up. They stayed within the limits of their coil, or more like they couldn't cross the end of the path.

He looked around, watching how the end of the path was a circular platform, spanning a radius of 10 metres. And, branching out from it were twelve paths, each a metre wide. Each path connected to a dome housing a Tier 3 Frenzy Beast.

Jyorta looked behind him, watching a couple of River Whales hovering five metres away. They were situated right behind the line where the path ended, unable to cross it as they bumped into a formless barrier installed in place.

"Thankfully, this is a safe zone. The Frenzy Beasts from below won't come up to fight us anymore." The moment he said his piece, everyone relaxed.

"But," Upon his change in tone, they frowned, becoming serious, "We will be facing our greatest foe next."

"Let's rest and recover." Jyorta exited the Battleship and walked on a path, approaching a dome as he saw noticed he was forbidden entry. There was a door installed into the dome. And, inscribed onto it was a number.

1/15!

'So, the entrance would only open once 15 teams have gathered here. This is a troubling concern indeed.' Jyorta frowned, quickly making the dots as he understood the situation, feeling that it would be difficult to do achieve it. A lot of teams had already been pulled out by the staff. He didn't know how many were remaining, nor if they would be able to reach the top before the time ends.

'Should I take action to help them?' Jyorta thought, frowning as he looked around, unable to sense any green circles in the place.

"This is troubling. Without being able to heal, we won't be able to battle against the Tier 3 Frenzy Beasts." Jyorta frowned, "Or I guess that's what they wish to see."

He recalled how they sent everyone into the battlefield without a wisp of energy remaining in their Heart/Brain Crystals. So, there was no guarantee they wouldn't do so for this.

'If I rush to help other teams, I would run out of psychic energy. But, if I don't, there is no guarantee we will assemble 15 teams before the day ends. This is a conflicting choice. So, they are probably seeing as to how we would react when presented with such choices.' Jyorta thought as he arrived before the other domes, checking the Tier 3 Frenzy Beasts inside.

"All of them are more or less similar to each other in strength. But, they all have the terrain advantage too. Dammit.' Jyorta cursed mentally as he arrived at the Battleship, frowning as he took a seat on its top.

He wished to think about his plan of action and decide what he would be doing next. After a moment of thought, he opened the shaft, "Sreshta, come out and look around. Relay the positions of every team on the path."

"Alright," Sreshta climbed out and sat on the top of the Battleship as she used her Tier 1 Skill to look around, "Dalna Doppler's team is in the eighth coil, fighting against the River Whales. George's team is in the seventh coil, facing the Lava Turtles. Esina and Haesha's teams are in the fifth ring, facing the One-Horned Rhino…"

She then relayed the positions of all the teams until the first coil, where the Ring Worms were plenty. In total, she iterated about 21 teams. Upon calculating the number, Jyorta frowned, "There are too few teams climbing up."

"See if you can spot other teams in the battlefield," saying his piece, Jyorta closed his eyes, ensuring nothing unexpected happened in his blue soul as he slowly removed the face mask—the false persona of calm, optimism, and filled with focus.

"Alright," Sreshta looked around, spending twenty minutes before relaying what she had seen, "I could spot a total of 43 teams, including the ones already on the path."

"That's too low," Jyorta sighed, realising how the only teams that were left were those led by a Tier 2 being. All the Tier 1 teams have been pulled out by the staff. It just showed how dangerous the battlefield was.

Even considering himself, if he hadn't come across a green circle twice, he wouldn't have been able to reach the top. And, he had numerous methods to make the Frenzy Beasts do his work. So, it showed the number of foes they had to face before they reached the top.

And even then, they had to face the worst of them all, a genuine Tier 3 Frenzy Beast that had already Nurtured its Tier 3 Skill. Jyorta gazed at the dome where the Developer Floating Spider was resting, 'I hope it doesn't also have its Unranked Skill. Winning against it would be impossible then.'

Even if he were to send a large group of Tier 2 Frenzy Beasts at a Developer, all it would need is a couple of blows to kill them all. After all, Unranked Skills were literally cheats in the current situation.

"Whether it is the Unranked Skill, Web World or the Unranked Skill, Greater Warlord, both are risky." Jyorta massaged his forehead. The former Unranked Skill would be able to siphon energy from them from touch. And, the latter allowed one to turn humanoid and use a Tier 3 Skill of humanity.

And, Jyorta knew how scary the Tier 3 Skills of humanity were. Just the Relics alone had proved to be tremendously powerful. And, Relics were inferior to the actual Skill. Suppose the Floating Spider's Greater Warlord possessed the Tier 3 Skill, Brethren Bait.

Then, irrespective of the number of people he rallied, they would end up hurting each other the moment this Skill was activated. Even though he could use his false personas to resist the effect, he couldn't stop the others from trying to eat him.

That was all it needed to defeat them.

"Haah," Jyorta sighed as he lay on the top of the Battleship, closing his eyes, "tell the others to rest for the time being. If anyone wants to get some sleep, do it now."

"How are we going to face the Tier 3 Frenzy Beasts?" Rishana peeked out of the shaft and looked around, flinching as she made eye contact with one of the Frenzy Beasts resting within the domes.

"We'll think about it once we have 15 teams. We can't even enter the dome before then." Jyorta sighed.

"That's great," Followed by a laugh, Rishana retreated into the Battleship, followed by sighs of relief.

A couple of seconds later, Duvic exited from the hatch, motioning with his eyes towards Sreshta that the other two girls were calling for her. As Sreshta entered the Battleship, he took her spot, looking around as he saw the droves of Frenzy Beast groups moving about. "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have even reached the path."

"It's called teamwork," Jyorta opened his eyes as he looked at the sky. He could faintly hear the sounds of the hustle and bustle of the city from beyond the academy. He was at an impasse, unable to fight on a battlefield, but unwilling to make a move in order to conserve his remaining psychic energy reserves.

So, he was stuck in place, having to look at the battlefield from above and watch the ongoing fights between the students and the Frenzy Beasts. To not arouse any suspicion, since he was unsure if Madam Mary was erasing his tracks, Jyorta didn't try to siphon energy from the Floating Spiders under his control.

He could easily replenish their reserves with the Heart Crystals in his possession. That way, he could recover to his peak combat strength. But now, Jyorta could only restrict himself.

'When will the day come where I can stop hiding and suppressing myself? Probably never, as long as I live in Marble City.' He chuckled helplessly, closing his eyes to sleep.