Chapter 384: Annihilation

There were 48 Rigordiles in total, fear struck, unable to budge, watching the skeletal frames of the River Whales crash on them. They didn't dodge, facing the brunt of the impact, with most of them pinned to the ground.

Only one Rigordile stood unscathed, its trembling limbs rooted to the spot like sturdy pillars. The tailbone of a River Whale slammed on its head, unable to damage it much. Even though it wasn't much damaged, fear overwhelmed its mind, freezing its thoughts. It stood with a vacant gaze, the fear it experienced going beyond what it could handle, short-circuiting its adrenaline.

Jyorta felt his head spin, the thumping of his heart had visibly become feeble while parts of his skin cracked and formed blisters. It was a consequence of overexerting himself. Thankfully, he had destroyed all the aura in the air in his surroundings, saving himself from the trouble. Otherwise, it would seep in through his weakened defences and wreak havoc internally.

The pale blue psychic energy flowed through his body, recovering his presence gradually. Guided by the feedback inbuilt in the Unranked Skill, the healing effect swiftly healed his injuries, returning him to his peak state.

It took less than a couple of minutes for Jyorta to become normal. But, he still needed some time to recover his presence to its peak. A steady stream of psychic energy gushed into his Brain Crystal. Through his domain, he sensed that the energy of Heart Crystals in the River Whale wasn't expended much.

To expend their reservoir, he had to consume a lot more. Jyorta smiled, feeling that his gamble had paid off, gazing at the carcass of the River Whales. 'So, when I unleash my aura in its purest form, it has a mild attribute of corrosion in it. Is it brought about by my identity as a Psychic Parasite? Can that also affect the physical body in some form or the other?'

After thinking for a while, he judged that there was a faint possibility of it being true. His soul was also part of him. So, through some connection shared between them, there was a possibility his corrosion became a part of his presence. He had fired off his Aura Beam thrice till one, and each time, the victim's body showed signs of getting corroded.

'I can disguise this as the effect of the Trait of Corrosion.' Jyorta was thankful for Psychic Ancestor Marble's lie. It saved him a lot of effort and schemes to hide them.

'Though, I am expending and recovering my psychic energy at such a rapid rate now. Why haven't the staff expressed anything? Or did Madam Mary do something about that?' He frowned, unable to conclude.

To probe if such a thing was possible, he tried a similar method in his previous explorations, recovering a bit of psychic energy from the souls of his slain foes. And once he exited the Labyrinth of Frenzy and returned to the counter to give the Heart/Brain Crystals he had harvested, he closely observed the reactions of the staff there.

But, all he noticed was the usual behaviour. It either seemed the staff didn't bother investigating the difference or the staff were only bothered about saving the students in times of need and didn't care about anything else. 

After that, he tried a similar probing whenever the staff at the counter changed to a different person. But every time, it was the same. After that, he was no longer bothered about being subtle in his actions.

'Maybe she is affecting the senses of the Espers maintaining the labyrinth to prevent them from finding anything amiss in my actions.' Jyorta thought, shaking his head as he noticed his presence had recovered to half the level.

He gazed at the Rigordiles that showed signs of recovering, immediately facing them as he unleashed his aura personification. He noticed their expressions through the fluctuation in their aura, noting it down to act accordingly.

Aura Personification—Insignificance!

The Rigordiles lost even the tiniest semblance of fighting spirit they had recovered, feeling a sense of insignificance. They gazed at the River Whale before them that looked like a deity in their eyes, every action they did was seen through, their entire lives insignificant. They lost the will to live, plopping to the ground in a dazed state.

Jyorta panted in exhaustion, having expended the aura he had just recovered. He couldn't hold back against 48 Rigordiles, a significant portion of which were at Tier 2. After he unleashed a tremendous level of aura personification, he added fuel to it through a constant stream of aura, expending everything he recovered every second.

He gazed at the Bundle Flea, giving it an input through his aura. The Bundle Flea jumped into the shallow water and swam towards the Rigordiles, attacking them during their defenceless state. In the meantime, Jyorta gazed at the Rigordile that stood at the front.

Even though its expression was similar to the rest, its body was the least injured. It was at the peak of Tier 2. It was just strong and didn't possess any special features. If it was something like the Steel Porcupine—that had 12 body-length spikes on its back—he had fought before, it wouldn't have been this helpless and would have put up a tough fight.

'It might prove helpful in layer 4.' Jyorta thought, sending a tattoo into its aura. He had prepared five tattoos for emergency purpose. Now, he used the third tattoo. But, he wasn't pressured or felt it was a waste to use it this early. After all, every use granted him a powerful ally, so he wasn't concerned over their expenditure.

The Rigordile instantly fell under his control, turning around as it began killing its brethren. Within a minute, the Rigordile and the Bundle Flea killed all the Rigordiles. The Bundle Flea then used its hair to fish out all the Heart and Brain Crystals from the fallen River Whales and Rigordiles, giving them to Jyorta.

Jyorta cleaned them using his psychic arm, using both hands to hold them. 48 Rigordiles and 17 River Whales, most of which were at Tier 2. Altogether, he had obtained 72 Heart/Brain Crystals from layer 3.

Jyorta placed them all in the cuboidal bag, smiling in return. This was the first time he had such a massive harvest. He had basically wiped out two of the three races in layer 3. He had amassed somewhere between 4000-5000 Credits till now. And, his condition would soon return to its peak once he had rested.

'Rakh Veera must have possessed similar abilities to have amassed almost 6,000 Credits on the last day.' He let out a wry smile, 'It probably wasn't during his last day but the last moment run he did to get a higher score.'

Jyorta shook his head, having zero intention to surpass Rakh Veera's score. First, it was really difficult, and almost impossible, even with his current abilities. Second, even if he did, there wasn't much benefit. He had already obtained the two most important things in the military academy: The Trait of Severability, and the Unranked Skill, Regen.

He had also obtained the other Trait and Relics he needed. He no longer needed anything else for the time being. His only objective was to raise his Sync Rate to 100 percent as soon as possible. And, Frenzy Fruits were too expensive for his use. Since he already possessed the Trait of Severability, Jyorta had other plans.

"But first," Jyorta gazed at the Rigordile, using his Aura Induction on the shallow waters, creating a hallucination to cover its skin with feet all over. He then made the Rigordile lie flat on the floor, fully immersing itself in the water.

'There should be plenty of Shoe Fishes still left in this layer.' Jyorta made the Bundle Flea coil its hair around his hip and lower him from the Rigordile. It swam to the underside of the River Whale while the River Whale lowered itself.

Using the hair like a swing, Jyorta lowered himself until he hovered a metre above the Rigordile. This was to scan the scene and judge everything through his soul domain. Through his soul domain, he noticed many wisps slowly swim towards the Rigordile and attach to its skin, compressing themselves before forming a layer over it.

Jyorta extended the hallucination until it covered the entire layer 3, watching the Shoe Fishes attach on the Rigordile. As he had unleashed his aura beam before, his aura annihilated the aura in the region and replaced it temporarily. So, it was easy to use his aura personification.

'I have the home ground advantage in this layer now.' Jyorta sighed, recalling his previous explorations. He had a hard time before he grasped the aura personification of hallucination. Once he had learnt it, his time became a bit easier. Still, he faced a lot of threats.

But now, possessing Aura Induction, storing some tattoos on him, and having equipped two Relics, his time in the labyrinth was a lot easier. He had a lot of useful methods at his disposal that created the situation to his advantage.

Once the Rigordile was fully covered by the Shoe Fishes, he noticed less than 20 Shoe Fishes linger in the surrounding waters. Jyorta commanded the Bundle Flea while relaying the positions of each Shoe Fish, watching them get killed one by one as time passed.

The Shoe Fishes were passive creatures that were unable to retaliate. So, the Bundle Flea took its time in killing them one by one. Jyorta took in all the experience fragments in their souls and stored them within a soul husk.

After storing their Heart Crystals, Jyorta made the River Whale fly all over layer 3 as he inspected for the presence of any other Shoe Fish. After a full sweep, Jyorta heaved a sigh of relief, looking at the red coloured water in the layer.

He had annihilated all the Frenzy Beasts in layer 3!