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  Team JDT just recently made another report over the communicator. Though Danton had instructed emergency use of the device only, it soon became a helpful tool abused in order to represent the entire situation so far. After managing to defeat two resilient creatures of the dark zone with only minor injuries to his other teammates, the report was in his hopes good news.

  "We've just made it past the larger stone arch." Jane held in the ear com with her finger, allowing herself to hear more clearly should there be any replies. "I passed it on my last run as a big land mark. I believe this puts us at the thirty two percent map marker." Despite her own confidence growing, Jane's demands were constantly pushed back by subtle reminders. Her hair frizzled in the intense heat of the land.

  Just as he expected from Jane's intel, Danny could feel the intense heat growing as they went in deeper. What started as eighty degrees was now closer to one hundred-five, with the highest humidity he had ever encountered inside of Sprawn Valley. He could feel the uncomfortable sweat misting all around his body within his dress sphere. Jane only planned to take a short minute break just to update everybody's status.

  "This is Danton," he replied. "We will continue with the current strategy with the same pace. Jane? It seems that most of your troops decided to bail out, with only a few getting separated from the main force. But a few of them have rejoined with my team, ready to assist you whenever we regroup later on."

  "I got it." Jane knew something simple was more of the explanation to what happened with half of her entire team. They couldn't hack it after all. She didn't really see the soldiers do much fighting with magic. Perhaps they were only trained with those guns. Effective on people, but worthless against Alpha Zero spawns.

  "This is Krysta! We've encountered the enemy in the northwest location. They're everywhere!"

  Danton hadn't heard much of the other team members, but Krysta of all people sounded very distressed by her unknown situation. Did she really run into that many enemies? The density of the monsters has been decreasing after the fighting began in the nearby sectors, but now they were up again? And in that one spot too... "Fall back if you need to. Our team will regroup with yours to assist. JDT will advance forward through a frontal flank, and it will allow us to surround the enemy."

  "Got it! Team Krysta out."

  Jane heard more interference than usual from Krysta's communicator. Perhaps she was further away than she was supposed to be. But northwest was about the direction her team needed to travel from this current position. The road here winds in that direction anyway, and Danton had new orders to march forward.

  "Jane! Heads up!"

  Alert to Taylor's warning, Jane noticed after squinting her eyes in that same direction that there was movement in the distance. With such little light available, it was hard to tell, but dark shadowy lines moved right on the horizon, slowly crawling its way towards them. It didn't take more than six seconds of guessing to realize that all of those small dark hazy spots were enemy creatures.

  Jane had never seen anything like it before. The creatures now close enough to add detail to her observation were much smaller than a human, barely the size of a dog. But there were over fifty of them... No sixty... The numbers of the smaller monsters grew as they crawled on their claws over the hills. It was like seeing a massive army charge at them in formation. The monsters, the behavior, everything about this was suddenly abnormal, and they were coming for her.

  "What the hell are those things?" Danny fussed with the situation growing grim, but prepared to defend his team with his weapon swapped out for the sword this time. He left his left hand open to fire Leray magic as well, but there would be no designated target with so many enemies in sight. Were all of them together going after his team only?

  Chapter Theme Shift:

  This is what Krysta meant. Jane was sure about this, these unknown creatures that are taking the danger level to a new height using numbers to their advantage. Jane specifically specified safety in numbers earlier, but how did the creatures here adapt to that whole situation? She pulled out both of her daggers, the fast running monsters now in range to use magic against them. "Everybody stay put and fight!" With her order final, Jane activated the energy scope on just one of the dozens of creatures attempting to surround them. She added a name automatically to assign its group type to specific data for later analysis.

  "This is Danton to team JDT. Don't engage the enemy. They're weak enough to break through. All other teams reduce average distance apart by 250 meters immediately!"

  Jane was preparing to battle, but Danton was now asking her to run forward. Was it even a good idea? "Mikespurn." That wasn't a bad idea for naming such a small yet dangerous creature. Danny and Taylor prepared themselves next to her just as Jane decided on whether to comply with Danton or stand still in a defensive formation.

  "Nah!" Without announcing the official name of her spell, Jane invoked a Shadow Wave using the magic from her right hand, tossing the energy towards the ground and watching as the advancing wave of energy ran over the approaching creatures. In that slick moment, the wave had a surprisingly strong effect on the Mikespurn it hit, dropping the available energy scope to a red zone with less than half the health. Others caught in the blast were blasted backwards off the floor, though they landed elegantly after taking the damage. Just as she thought, they are weak in defense, but make up for it in numbers. "Use area attacks!"

  Taylor could see the Mikespurn getting closer, though followed Jane's advice with an immediate idea in her head. She held up her bow, infusing an arrow with magic and aiming it towards the red sky. "Volley!" Just as Taylor fired, there was going to be a momentary delay before the spell would trigger its amazing effect of arrow duplication.

  During that moment, Danny went ahead with his own idea for an area attack. "Meteor Strike!" With his invocation taking place, Danny saw Taylor's Volley spell activate well before his own. As the arrows began to blast down from above, he and Taylor were both amazed to see that the speed and magical infusion level of each arrow copied those effects of the weapon attached to Taylor's bow. The arrows drilled into the ground, over sixty of them in total amount. The arrows that managed to penetrate some of the creatures caused severe HP damage to the healthier monsters. The Mikespurn Jane already hit with her Shadow Wave attack were instantly slain by the secondary hit from Volley, and disintegrated rather quickly, but there were still a lot more coming.

  Just as Danny's infusion level was complete, his Meteor Strike spell activated, raining down red glowing meteorites from above as they smashed into the floor with enough shockwave to quake the earth. Mikespurn died in several instances and locations being a more powerful spell, immediately clearing the nearby forward area. But after the dust cleared out of the air, he and the others could see the continuous wave advancing from the west and the north. There were just too many of them!

  Jane clenched her teeth realizing what this meant. Krysta sure wasn't exaggerating one fraction of her statement. Danton's plan seemed better now more than ever. Running towards the objective while attacking only the creatures in the way would be the best strategy to conserve their energy, less they become surrounded by the Mikespurn. "You two! Follow me! We march forward without stopping!" The sound of the screeching monsters all around began to drown out Jane's voice, forcing her to yell her commands louder. As she began dashing for the objective point with her daggers ready to attack the Mikespurn, her focus came into place just as well.

  Danny and Taylor rushed in right behind Jane to follow, and with their weapons drawn, Danny only handled the monsters closer to him with his sword, Taylor using her bow to shoot at any creatures in their harm's way.

  Jane held both of her hands out all charged with Leray energy and glowing jade glyphrings on each wrist. She began firing Lightning Strike attacks through the glyphrings one at a time, aiming at the monsters straight in front of her. The electric shock had a good effect on each monster, but didn't do enough to kill them in one straight shot, and with her continuous electrical discharges, Jane's MP levels dropped over time quickly.

  "Just focus on the closest monsters!" Taylor reinforced the idea to Jane and Danny, but tripped over her leg when a shooting burning sensation of pain flooded the area.

  Hearing Taylor's screech, Jane and Danny turned themselves around to see that one of the Mikespurn from behind was quick enough to latch onto Taylor's leg. The monster had its teeth dug into her flesh, taking a large bite into her frail skin to get a good taste for Taylor's blood.

  Danny immediately reacted by creating a white colored glyphring that didn't need much time to fire a high concentrated beam of Leray energy directly into the creature, separating its jaw from the rest of its charged black body. His quick invocation of Sereing Blast saved Taylor for now, but with their speed reduced momentarily, the other Mikespurn were already surrounding them.

  Taylor had to ignore the pain and rip the teeth out of her bleeding leg immediately. She knew it wasn't safe to bathy herself on the ground in a moment like this, but as she got herself back up and limped over to Danny's protection, she soon realized how many more Mikespurn were about to be on top of them. Resisting the urge to cry out from the continued pain, the doubts of coming here set in swiftly.

  "Crimson Blade!" He rushed the invocation to his sword, infusing fire elemental magic into the sword. Knowing the monsters here like fire elemental magic, his intention was soon going to be the activation of another spell in requisite.

  Jane took in a deep inhaled breath, concentrating on storing up a lot of her MP energy into the metal of her daggers. There was only one spell to try at a time like this, Jane knew of the ability but had yet to experiment with the device until now. With over fifty Mikespurn closing from the north, Jane targeted one single enemy in the center of the cluster of the small creatures. "Shotwhirl!" Throwing both of her daggers in a crisscross formation triggered the same visual effect associated with the Flying Guillotine spell. As the blades reached the target and centered in on her focal point together, a massive blast of colorless radial energy blew away from the center point from all directions, pushing Mikespurn off their feet. In the same instance, well over forty small black photonic energy bolts came flying from the center impact point with the same explosion, blasting the many creatures all around the area and disintegrating them on contact with the high power level of each hit from Jane's new ability.

  Officially known as Shotwhirl, the spell of Flying Guillotine has only one special refinement; which is to create a powerful energy surge at the center with non-elemental magic in the form of a multi-separation explosion. Jane's daggers continued to spin in the air while changing their direction to float back to her with the same design as Flying Guillotine, though the blades each lost their auric color after their energy is expended. By the time it was over, the northern section was entirely clear except for only a couple of injured Mikespurn, screeching with their high pitch voices as they were only hungry for the blood they could smell on the humans. "Let's go!"

  Danny and Taylor realized how powerful Jane's new spell casting was, and how appropriate it helped the situation in whole. Taylor got her running speed back after blocking out some of the pain, which luckily wasn't toxic or venomous to her overall health. Jane rushed forward, slashing her daggers at two of the creatures that literally jumped into the air at her face trying to swipe their claws at her. Unable to compare the Mikespurn to much else, Danny thought of one particular analogy to describe their physical appearance and behavior. An oversized six-legged spider with incredible crawling speed and spikes all around the top of its body. That bug was the closest thing matching in relative shape to these larger monsters.

  "Summon Hell!" Noticing a few more Mikespurn approaching Taylor from the east flank, Danny fired three crimson bolts of powerful energy with his sword skill, the magic blasting the targets with enough force to bump back all three creatures and slay the targets in front immediately. He kept his pace with Jane, making sure to keep Taylor safely in tow. Luckily, her leg didn't look that bad, not as bad as it could have been. Who knew those things could bite and swipe with their claws?

  In just ten more seconds, Jane noticed as they reached the top of one of the hills several hundred more Mikespurn approaching from the front, all clustered around to form a large area. This sight forced her to stop dead in her tracks, leaving them with the only option to temporarily defend themselves. "Everyone next to me!" Jane commanded. Danny and Taylor tried to be quick about scrunching close to Jane, expecting her to use some sort of power shield trick like before. Last time she used Ultima with them in her own shield against the Scarlet Cult. Would that spell work here as well with Jane's MP nearly at half capacity?

  Just when the Mikespurn were about to pounce from all directions, Jane activated her charged Leray spell, another she had yet to use for herself past the experience of fresh training. "Electro-Sheet!" Aiming her glowing hand at the floor below her, Jane created a blue line forming a circle around her team as if to form a border. Shortly after, the ground lit up brightly, creating an electric field on the ground in the form of a radial sheet of electricity spanning out by three whole meters in distance from the base of the line barrier. All of the Mikespurn on the ground were suddenly electrocuted with high attack energy as they entered the range of the spell. There must have been thirty-five of them affected by the same Electro-Sheet spell, just as more were entering the field needlessly.

  Jane knew she couldn't keep it up forever. Electro-Sheet lasts for at most four seconds of time, averaging out to be three seconds on most uses. There were tons of Mikespurn still running up to surround and ambush them. She could already feel the electricity power fading fast. "Keep hitting them!" Jane didn't have any time to think of ideas to help her team use any particular spell. She needed to keep fighting right now, or risk losing everything in the next few seconds. As low damage as one Mikespurn could be, having hundreds jumping on top of a person to eat them alive would be a terrible way to die. She began charging more of her MP energy, but it would take some more time.

  Danny got the sense that Jane couldn't keep it up forever. All she could do is attack what is there right in front of her. Taylor had her shoulder against his facing southeast, while Danny was facing the southwest area. They were surrounded for sure, and could only win by attacking together at this point. Just as Mikespurn closed on his position, Danny quickly infused a spell he knew would help out in the meantime. "Earth Glave!" Immediately creating shockwaves of advancing Earth that burrowed upward, the advancing wave of rock and dirt chunks threw dozens of affected Mikespurn into the air or swallowed them dry. Most of them however didn't even take enough damage for immediate disintegration, despite being interrupted in their attempts to pounce on Danny. His Earth Glave continued downhill, helping to clear much of his flank in short of time. He didn't even have the time to pay attention to how well Taylor was doing.

  "Cold Spin!" Taylor threw her signature Rotation attack at the dozens of Mikespurn in front of her, allowing the small weightless creatures to fly up into the strong vortex of wind. As they did, the sheering cold air from ice elemental magic inside of the same twister quickly caused the monsters to disintegrate within three or four seconds after getting caught in the Cold Spin tornado attack, and just as well, the radius of her advancing Rotation spell was just enough to swallow all of the Mike spurn in her immediate area and twenty meters down. Even after the spell began to fade, Taylor saw more in the distance approaching. The wave seemed to be endless, but at least now she had more time to think about using more area attacks designated to herself.

  "Median Flare!" Jane effortlessly blasted a light screen attack in her particular direction as to not affect her own teammates, but it only cleared a portion of the Mikespurn in the immediate radius, and she quickly transferred to her next attack. "Dark Strike!" Creating a red teleporting aura around her body, Jane transitioned into her signature dark strike attack, speeding up in a dimensional shift with both of her daggers out and ready to strike with their red glowing aura of non-elemental magic. Jane was immediately transported forward on the path to Mikespurn soon to hit Danny from the side. She cut her blades through the monster, causing disintegration on immediate contact. In relation to Danny and Taylor, Jane was moving about as fast as the speed of light, not even realizing what just saved their rears. Jane transitioned again and again to areas where Danny and Taylor weren't as well protected, including the area she momentarily abandoned to perform the same type of strike to more creature than one per hit, her blades and body drilled through the burnt bodies of the bug shaped monsters. On her final strike, Jane fell to the ground from above intentionally, her daggers striking into the dirt with one more magical invocation infused into the blade. On contact with the ground, Jane's daggers created a powerful Shadow Wave attack advancing north and killing dozens of approaching Mikespurn on the spot. The wave eventually died down while Jane was left to recover herself. She invoked an Energy Cycle spell after running low on MP, but continued to assess the situation.

  They did well so far to defend themselves. The waves of approaching Mikespurn seemed to finally become limited with view over the hilltops. Jane still didn't feel as relaxed, but knew she could rely on her team to keep themselves going as well. Danny and Taylor have already become excellent fighters despite her initial estimations of them both.

  "What's happening?" Danny threw his concern in the air, ceasing his attack on the Mikespurn as they suddenly brushed passed him and Taylor. They could have easily attacked them just now, but they crawled around or under his legs instead, all of them were heading for the center of a random position in the field to the east side.

  Jane noticed the shift in their behavior as well. All of the remaining Mikespurn rushed towards a particular zone in the middle of the field a bit of the way from them. At first it seemed like they were retreating, but after reaching their new position, they simply stopped to begin climbing on top of each other. Because of how quickly they moved, it didn't take long for the new cluster of Mikespurn to suddenly form a type of dome shape using multiple live bodies of themselves.

  At the same time it started, Jane heard a report in her communicator coming from Krysta, after filtering out the interference. "Something's up with the tiny monsters! They're all running away in one direction. I think they're retreating."

  Jane was surprised to hear that all Mikespurn in the entire dark zone changed their behavior at the same time, but she gasped after noticing already that the other Mikespurn from afar have already reached a particular distance from her own team. After forming a circular barrier around the area that had its own radius span of fifty meters, the distant creatures ceased movement and locked their position into the ground, forming a barrier. It was then did they realize that Jane and her team were surrounded by the circular formation. The Mikespurn inside continued to collapse around on top of the dome. By the time all were present to the dome shaped cluster of spiders, the field around them began to glow with a white radiant color that lit up the entire field. Jane's heart sank fast, unable to determine what was happening anymore. The dark zone has completely changed since her last arrival to Alpha Zero. Whatever this was, it's vile!

  "What's happening Jane?!" Danny demanded.

  "Get behind me!" Jane didn't know what to do right now. The Mikespurn clustered together were forming or summoning something, and the Mikespurn surrounding them in a circle served as a barrier to trap them all in. By the time the light in front reached a blinding level, it died down again. In its absence and that of hundreds of Mikespurn suddenly vanished, the new appearance of an unidentified monster took form in front of them. Standing at a colossal height of 40 meters tall, and a heavily clumped body of crystal-like armor, Jane recognized a similar pattern to before. It was one of the stone golems she refused to fight from last time, but this was a much larger and more advanced version. Did the monsters here have the ability to evolve into more powerful beings? And if so, what was the purpose of this many Mikespurn?

  The new beast was a giant stone and crystal golem, hands, arms, legs and feet, even a head and face to complete its structure, but it was clearly far from human. Jane knew it was unknown to her, but something about this spawn felt much too dangerous to battle.

  Feeling the same level of defeat, Taylor turned around and shot a single arrow behind them, towards the edge of the remaining Mikespurn barrier. Though she intended to aim for the creatures, the arrow's trajectory went above them instead. As the arrow was about to fly over the creatures, it was suddenly stopped by an unusual force field now visible due to the energy distortion.

  Jane didn't believe her eyes noticing Taylor's arrow failing to escape the area, but her vision was focused on the new giant. One of the crystal pillars on its head lit up brightly in direct sync with the sudden appearance of the force field. It's the monster creating the field, preventing their escape and challenging them all to a battle. Jane didn't want to fight it at all, but the monster seemed to glare at her with its evil eyes, insisting it give her entire life force to its essence. "We have to battle that thing." Jane didn't say it loudly, not proud enough of the idea to will it into her team.

  "You can't be serious!" Danny sure had the energy to complain, but he didn't desist from Jane's command. After rushing to her side for some needed assistance, Taylor did the same, staying back to prepare for a most unusual battle with such an oversized creature.

  Before either side exchanged any magic, the monster's crystals lit up slightly on their own, and it created an energy scope just for itself, complete with an action display center. The neon green holographic box indicated both the stats and name of the massive stone creature, surprising its own prey.

  Chapter Theme Shift:

  Jane took the news surprisingly. What sort of monster in the dark zone would possess the capacity or even the knowledge and willingness to display its own stats? Complete with a name she had not assigned to it, the creature was preparing itself for prolonged combat. Was Atlas code name for one of the experiments, or something of a more sentient beast capable of a sense of challenge? Jane couldn't understand the intention here. Nobody else was around in sight, despite the new monster giving off more than usual lights with its crystals, but Jane knew that something about Atlas seemed far from normal. It has to be some sort of creature capable of being subdued or controlled. It wasn't a Leray summon though, since those creatures have yellow colored energy scopes. If this wasn't the direct control of a person, then what the hell is going on here?

  With its strong stance of rocky defense, Atlas provoked its prey a step further, roaring with its low pitch breath at such an intense volume that it shook the entire ground around everyone. Jane and Taylor covered their ears, but Danny stepped out in front and prepared for his first attack. "You want a challenge? I'll show you why you've just messed with the wrong team. Pillage!" Despite Jane's earlier warning of caution, Danny refused to give the giant any chance of lowering their morale with its size or potential power. A Pillage attack would probably not be nearly enough to kill the creature in one hit, but Danny sure gave it his all to cripple the monster in front of them.

  After Danny created the specialized Shadow Wave carrying grey stones and chunks of rock that practically spawned from the same Leray magical spell, it was only a matter of time before direct impact with the monster calling itself Atlas. Just as the wave of stones and magic crashed into the legs of the towering monster, the health on Atlas went down a notch, but the stance hadn't changed even slightly. Atlas endured the attack during and after the event ended, and it became clear how well defended that tough armor really was.

  Danny tensed his arms, blushing by how ineffective his entire effort was. The attack was a bad ratio in total, expending over 7% of his MP reserves and doing such little damage. Even Jane gave him the same expected look.

  "We'll all have to do better than that," Jane stated. "If we all work as a team, we may have a chance."

  Crush Wave! Jane reacted immediately upon seeing an attack name in the enemy ADC, creating a power shield around her. Atlas was massive, but it transitioned into attacks so quickly that it wasn't even believable. By the time Atlas slammed its stone fist into the ground, Atlas created its own artificial Crush Wave spell, advancing a grounded wave of devastating magic towards all three targets at once. Danny and Taylor gained some distance from Jane, but the wave was three times wider than the average Shadow Wave or Crush Wave spell, and both were caught in the amazing speed and power of the attack. Immediately after, Danny and Taylor both felt the impact of sharp cuts seeping into their legs and feet, while small chunks of stone pillaged the same areas on their body. After the wave passed them with only Jane unharmed, they evaluated their own situation carefully, breathing heavily in fear that Atlas may be too tough to battle.

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  Even if the damage to them both was light, Atlas would be dealing real time damage as well, which makes even the slightest intake that much more deadly and devastating. Danny soon relied on Jane alone to find a quick solution, or to try something that could at least even their odds of winning.

  "Back me up Taylor." With her magic already charging, Jane took a few steps closer to the monster that was capable of causing earthquakes simply by stomping on the ground, and she began to unleash her own harmful magic to the beast, testing all of its resistances and weaknesses for variance testing. "Median-Flare!"

  Taylor froze up for a second. Jane's command was so sudden, and she had not the slightest idea of what to try that could actually assist Jane in fighting the massive sentient monster. She quickly thought of any spells she did not yet test, but there were so few of them she believed she was ready to perfect here and now...

  As Jane blasted a directional light screen attack straight into the enemy while expending less MP than normal, she then quickly transitioned into a second attack, pulling out her daggers and charging auric energy into each blade, forcing them to glow red in color. Jane chanted the name of her next invocation just before throwing her blades at the target, despite the rocky monster being resistant to slashing damage. "Armor Breaker!" Brilliantly executed, Jane's daggers drilled through the air and through the entire body of Atlas while dealing more damage with her daggers than what was expected. Armor Breaker is a spell specifically designed for tackling tough armored enemies resistant to magical attacks, and as the blades drilled right through the solid rocky chest of Atlas, there was a slight roar of pain afterwards. Jane had plenty of time then to check out how well she did as her daggers spun around and shifted direction to return to her hands like boomerangs.

  It has such a high endurance against any attack, but Taylor was now certain that they could win this with Jane helping them out. With a better idea in mind after a few more seconds, she pulled out her own set of daggers, the pair of Glass Blades she picked up in the Leray store in Eldora City for these preparations. With Jane here to inspire her next idea, Taylor let her magic lose with all of her might. "Shadow Copy!" In just a short second, well after much of her MP was drained down, Taylor's body suddenly appeared in various locations surrounding the beast. There were multiple human copies of Taylor, though each copy was half-phased in order to be self-identified. Once it was done, she infused her daggers with magical auras, and threw them at Atlas. Each of her copies were synchronized with her own movements perfectly, so over six copies of Taylor including her original self, managed to throw magically infused blades at Atlas from all sides, the copies fading just after the many impacts to the beast.

  Jane never witnessed a spell like that until now. How many surprises did these two have up their sleeve? Then again, Taylor's efforts should have copied her Armor Breaking technique better, seeing as the damage in the last attack was incredibly light. But when did Taylor pick up a pair of daggers? Her style was cold magic and using a bow, wasn't it?

  Magical Thrust! Jane prepared herself after a new command line entered the action display center of the monster. It was as if Atlas was too proud to even hide which attack it was going to try next, housing confidence in its own abilities to battle the JDT group. The creature's magical red eyes suddenly lit up brighter with more contrast and radiance in them. In less than another second with Jane unable to anticipate the next action, Atlas managed to fire multiple bolts of elemental projectiles towards her team. The three most common elements of magic shot from the eyes of Atlas, including a white colored energy photon of unknown energy.

  Naturally, the Thunderbolt hit first, though Atlas split up each bolt for each person on the field. Even though she saw it coming at this point, Jane didn't have enough time to evade or block the oncoming Fire Bolt attack with a power shield. She held up her small blade to attempt to block the Fire Bolt with her own weapon, but her aim wasn't good enough. Jane ended up taking the fiery pain of damage right to her chest, though she wasn't the only one targeted the same way.

  Danny was hit with the bolt of electricity before Jane or Taylor had their share of pain, since electricity travels at the speed of light even in the format of Leray magic. Feeling the uncomfortable jolt hold of an electrical shock, Danny had to endure the painful burning sensation that left all of his nerves tingling afterwards, and it drained him momentarily just after the Thunderbolt ended.

  Taylor was hit with the Ice Bolt attack, but since she was used to taking cold elemental damage, it hardly affected her even in a sense of pain. It was already really hot in the dark zone, and the Ice Bolt only served to cool her down for a moment. So naturally, Taylor had the best natural defense thus far. But even after all three of them were hit, the attack wasn't over yet.

  The unknown non-elemental bolt of magic was still left, traveling to the center of the field just near where Jane was standing. The energy sphere impacted with the dirt instead of the predicted target, but when the impact was made, a massive light screen explosion occurred, capturing Jane, Taylor, and Danny in a huge magical blast of unusual damage. Left with a slight burning sensation for everyone, the light screen attack was rather unexpected due to its format, and Jane had to make sure her team including herself were okay. That was some powerful magic, hurting even her after the explosive flash of light faded away.

  "We need to try harder," Taylor stressed. Though she sustained a few cuts and wounds that counted as real time damage, Taylor was still good enough to fight, her MP levels in the high zone. "Is everyone ready?" She confirmed with Danny's and Jane's nods to form a more synchronized attack. When they were ready, Taylor used another spell she had been working on. "Ice Glave!" With her magical aura glowing around her arm, Taylor prepared to unleash the powerful format of Ice Glave on Atlas, while Danny went with his own spell.

  "Drain!" He went with the technique to deal damage and recover any lost health while he could, but even when his magical invocation activated on the monster, the auric drain failed to give him any health at all. The energy scope status on Atlas did not even budge. "Drain doesn't work on him!"

  Danny had one thing to panic about, but Taylor's situation became just as bad when after chanting her powerful spell, nothing was able to come of it. The magical glow around her arm and in her eyes faded quickly, showing her that she failed to successfully invoke the great spell known as Ice Glave.

  Jane winced at how poorly their plan was executed. Taylor tried a new spell that backfired on her. Now her MP would be lower with nothing to show for it. Danny's as well with his drain simply activating without affecting the monster because of its ultra-high endurance and power level. This is bad! They all needed more time. Jane glared at the monster, realizing it could try something any second now, and she went with a spell to give herself an easier chance. "Gyrobreak!" With only two percent of her MP expenditure, Jane managed to make the earthquake violently while the orientation for everyone shifted all around. It was hard even for Jane to keep her balance. She had used Gyrobreak so many times now that it was becoming more powerful than ever before, and in the confusion, Jane gave her advice while it would count. She had to shout loudly over all of the noise from the distortion field the Gyrobreak created with the shifting of the entire plane below their feet. "Stick to spells you know for now. Don't experiment with this one!"

  "Tell that to her!" Danny bounced. It was hard enough keeping his own balance. With his inability to attack while affected with Gyrobreak, he watched Jane spring into action instead.

  The action display center was still empty for now, implicating that Atlas might be confused by this as well. Jane quickly charged as much MP as she could, surging it all the way down to create an effective combination spell all by herself. "Blitz!" Her entire body lit up with a radiant green colored aura, and she sprinted towards the colossal stone golem during the ongoing Gyrobreak event. By the time she reached the enemy, Gyrobreak began to wear off, but Jane made it there in time. She unleashed a Knight Dance attack, despite only being tall enough to reach the lower legs of Atlas. Using magically assisted punches and kicks in a close combat style, Jane quickly transitioned from that lower tier spell into a photonic wave attack with her energy from Blitz already there to assist her. She first had to teleport away from the monster, since her next spell would format as an area attack.

  "Photon Burst!" Jane waved her arm up and down with passion, creating a rain of photonic energy bolts that exploded with powerful attack power on impact. Since Atlas was much larger in size, most of the photons hit the monster before ever reaching the ground area around it, but that wasn't the end of her sequence either. Just as Photon Burst was ending, Jane entered her final stage of the Blitz combination, infusing dark energy into her right hand and unleashing it while aiming right at the face of Atlas. "Dark Beam!" Firing a red energy bolt from a dark colorless glyphring around her wrist, Jane's dark magic attack slammed into the face of Atlas, creating a secondary beam of dark energy hitting its head from behind on contact. The damage done to Atlas overall from Blitz was quite impressive coming from Jane, but in the same process, she ended up expending a lot more MP energy than she wanted to.

  Just as Jane said, Danny saw just how effective dark magical energy was against such creatures. Atlas actually had a few chips of its own rock broken off its face, though its eyes still remained energized and glowing with its murderous red luster. As for Jane however, her little stunt threw down her MP into critical levels. She would likely need the time to recover, and he now saw an open opportunity to strike. Pulling out his Dynamon Hammer, Danny charged his energy into the blunt weapon, and changed the design of an existing attack. "Midnight Strike!" As he threw his hammer like a dagger, the force of his toss was assisted by magic since the device was much too heavy to pull off without it; Danny's hammer went flying towards Atlas with magical damage infusion. At the same time, three different glyphrings formed in the air surrounding the summon, preparing their electrical discharge. Just as his hammer hit the target dealing massive blunt type damage, the glyphrings simultaneously activated, electrocuting the monster in place, but the hit from the hammer did the most damage obviously to his witness.

  Jane couldn't believe that after all of that, the monster wasn't even in critical condition yet. Atlas probably had more than enough energy to stay strong and fight to the bitter end, but her own MP reserves were going to make the rest of this battle difficult. Jane wanted to use Energy Cycle now, but wasn't sure about the timing of it. Atlas should be ready to attack any second now.

  Boulder Rain! "Here it comes!" Taylor warned. Atlas was already active again, giving no care in the world for the damage it already took from all of them, and now there were massive pillars of broken rock coming down from the sky. In the form of dark damage, this could outright kill all of them.

  Jane smirked after realizing that Atlas has just made an obvious mistake battling against her in this way. Boulder Rain would strike the entire area in just a few seconds, but that was more than enough time for her to use what magic she still had left to turn the entire attack around. Jane aimed both of her arms and hands open towards the oncoming barrage of raining rock, and with her charged MP ready, she took full control of the situation. "Inversion!" Though it took one extra second to invoke, Jane made it work in time, slowing the rocks falling down to a complete stop. With the rocks now floating in place, Jane simply needed to continue the spell after taking full control of Atlas's area attack. She then pushed the rocks further up into the sky, eventually causing them to disappear into multiple artificial glyphrings, and in just a few more seconds, those same glyphrings reappeared on the ground under Atlas's body. Now the Boulder Rain was traveling in reverse, passing through the physical dimension until ready to strike the new target. Atlas suddenly became pillaged by its own attack spell, a severe blunt attack that chipped away its HP and body armor quickly. The chunks of rock flying upwards carried a lot of momentum, thus creating a real problem for Atlas as its rocky body became severely damaged in its limbs. The force of the entire attack was close to knocking the creature off its own balance, and the roaring pain from Atlas said enough as well.

  "Energy Cycle!" Jane wasted no time in restoring her lost MP reserves. After using Inversion, she would need more energy, else she begin to feel tired and dizzy from the lack of the magical stamina she became used to. It was going to be up to Danny and Taylor for now. Jane knew that if she deliberately took on attacks, it would boost her MP faster, but seeing as that was much too dangerous, this would have to be the preferred method for now, slower MP regeneration. Her entire body was glowing with a purple colored aura while she waited on the next action of her team.

  But Danny and Taylor didn't have the time to follow up. Atlas was already active again despite taking its damage. This time it moved its arms, aiming them both at Jane with magical build up. Jane became the next target of the attack, Atlas likely trying to pick off one at a time now. Rocket Punch!

  Jane gulped, knowing she could not power shield during an Energy Cycle unless she disrupts her own spell, and Energy Cycle was hard enough to invoke every so often as it was. If she did cut it off, her shield would likely fail anyway due to her low energy levels. Rocket Punch could turn out to be anything she had yet to see. Jane didn't notice a way out of this yet.

  During this moment of defeat, Atlas gave Jane its retaliation, using its boulder attached fists as actual rockets that shot off in a high-speed projectile mode with the assistance and guidance of powerful Leray magic. With no defense or time to get out of the way, the speedy flying chunks of rocks from Atlas punched straight into Jane's gut, the second one right to her face, forcing blood to emanate from her mouth and nose on the spot before she could even flop onto the ground helplessly.

  Taylor twitched watching the unbelievable hit Jane just took. Not only did it have to hurt, but the heavy blunt damage likely left Jane with unrepairable bruising and possibly internal bleeding. "Jane!" Taylor charged her MP energy while running towards Jane for assistance. Danny did the same, but had no idea how to defend against such an attack. He saw the flying boulders shift course after their impact, and land on the arms of Atlas to give back a piece of its own body. Jane was lying on the ground, struggling to get up in her weak state. The purple aura around her body was glowing brightly however. The shock to Jane supercharged her MP reserves despite how much damage she took. Danny didn't believe for a second however that Jane did that intentionally; she wouldn't be that stupid.

  While Taylor prepared her next spell, she saw Jane try to get up with Danny's help, and noticed how bruised up her face was from that single hit. Her nose was bleeding badly along with her right ear, with her right eye already bruising around. At the same time, Jane's energy scope registered the damage as real time type predictably. Aiming to protect her own teammate, Taylor unleashed her power, hoping to bring Atlas down, or at least stun the monster. "Fire Blast!" With a fiery glyphring charged around her wrist, Taylor fired five Fire Bolts all closely together, creating a better shockwave upon their impact with the target, and making sure to hit Atlas in the head where its crystal structure was. But with the impact, Taylor remembered a minute too late how ineffective fire magic is against all dark zone spawns.

  Crush! Danny and Taylor saw the next attack coming. He quickly switched his weapon from the hammer to his new sword with better ideas in mind, but Jane was frantic about the next attack. Atlas was dashing towards them in an instant, easily in range now for a physical hit against them.

  "Scatter!" Jane's command was given to her team. Danny and Taylor both saw the left arm of Atlas rising up, preparing to slam its fist into the ground on top of all of them. Danny and Taylor instinctively rushed to get out of the effective area of the attack, making it in time before the arm began to slam downwards. But Jane didn't run with them!

  "Hragh!" Jane put both of her arms above her head, activating the energy aura around her body just as Atlas's fist came crashing down on top of her. Instead of hitting Jane however, she protected herself with another signature power shield. She had to shut down her Energy Cycle aura to make it happen, but figured her last unfortunate accident gave her more than enough MP to deal with the monster for now. The force from Atlas was quite intense despite her shield blocking it out on contact. The small hexagons all formed where the rocky fist was, and Jane was losing her focus on the aura fast. But she didn't give it up for a moment, forcing herself to try even harder to keep the shield up. Finally, Atlas lifted its arm above Jane, giving up its singular attack sequence, and giving Jane the chance to shut down her shield and relax.

  With her shield gone, Taylor could make out the remaining previous damage to Jane from this distance. Her lip had been busted open with a bit of blood. Even her new metal armor had some broken chips missing, damaged by the impact she just took.

  Danny held up his sword, infusing more magical energy into the blade than he was used to using. "This thing's done enough damage. Crimson Blade!"

  Danny's inspiration to protect everyone had inspired Taylor to come up with something as well. Something as simple as Cold Spin wasn't going to cut it. Ice Glave would have been awesome if she could just invoke the spell, but she still had not trained with it enough for activation.

  Before Taylor or Danny tried anything else, Jane decided to even the match in her own way. Charging up over half of the MP energy she had just recovered, Jane aimed her hand up to the sky, releasing the energy slowly and with pure focus. "Massife!"

  Taylor gasped after remembering that call. Massife was a summon spell, the same one that Cass used when training against Jane on Route 787. Jane learned so many amazing spells, but this was her very first attempt to summon a Leray based creature. The large yellow glyphring in the sky where Jane was aiming took form, and lit up brightly to indicate a successful activation so far. In just a few more seconds, the glyphring stabilized, allowing Jane to relax as the creature known as Massife flew out of the glyphring straight into the sky.

  While Danny and Taylor prepared to defend Jane Venn from any imminent attack by Atlas, Jane would now control her own new summon. With the Flare Drake awakened and under Jane's full control, the yellow glyphring faded, giving Massife the full power and sentience it needed to take on Atlas. The large dragon flew blissfully in the sky, and changed its course to avoid collision with the invisible force field created by the surrounding Mikespurn that Jane managed to keep track of. Now the Flare Drake was turned towards Atlas in flight, ready to attack with its energy scope engaged.

  Atlas suddenly shifted its eyes on the creature flying in the sky, perhaps taking on the new challenger because of its awesome power and size set to intimidate the creature. Before giving Atlas the chance to go first, Jane gave her first command to her very first successful summon. "Now summon of the sun, ally to our cause, attack Atlas with a body slam!" The Flare Drake took off immediately, its speed an incredible sight to behold. Atlas quickly made an attempt to grab onto the creature with its hands from the first pass, but the dragon used its feet to deflect and redirect its momentum into an awesome forceful slam that literally caused Atlas to slide back on its own stone feet, the damage dealt to the creature somewhat light yet powerful.

  The Flare Drake was fast in the air, already away from Atlas's effective attack range and ready to turn itself around for another attack. With Jane's eyes turning yellow by magical glow in response to synchronizing with the creature, she gave her summon another command she was sure would to better damage. "Give him a fiery hell with your Flame Beam!"

  The dragon reacted again, turning around and using the magical infusion in its own breath to create a solid beam of powerful fire elemental magic, slamming into Atlas on the spot, but as powerful as it was, Jane forgot to take its resistance to fire into account, realizing that Atlas didn't even take one percent of damage from the attack. Her eyes returned to their original green color, failing to sync so that she could deal with thinking about how to go about attacking Atlas again. Trying to control a creature and have excess thoughts was almost impossible, certainly so for Jane. Now it was too late.

  Crystal Flare! Jane tensed knowing an unidentified attack was coming their way, but the target of this attack was going to be Jane's summoned creature this time. Atlas attacked by shooting a grey colored energy sphere in the sky, on intercept course with the Flare Drake. Before Jane could react to move her summon out of its path, the energy sphere exploded well before impact to anything, and from that blast came dozens of crystal arrows flying in all directions, sharp as a razor.

  While avoiding some of the arrows flying down towards the ground, Jane was powerless to stop their impact into the dragon's skin, the multiple impacts dealt a lot of painful piercing damage to her own summon, making her creature roar and wail in defeat. The health stats dropped so quickly for her summon, which meant Jane needed much more training with that particular spell. The HP and MP endurance of summons rises gradually in the same way it does for humans for each individual creature under a summon spell, thus this Flare Drake would be weak with Jane calling one out for her very first time.

  The Flare Drake faded away in phase, back to the dimension it came from. Jane was now left alone with her team again, who all stared in disbelief that her own summon was defeated so quickly. After all that, Jane's MP reserves were at the end of the tank again. She needed an idea and fast, and went with another attempt to regain lost energy. "Energy Cycle!" Creating another purple aura, she now needed to rely on Danny and Taylor to help her out.

  Danny couldn't believe this. How long and hard could a single monster fight for? He glanced at his blade, covered with magical fire from his last invocation still. His crimson blade was already prepared to deal heavy damage, and he only needed Jane's cue.

  Her eyes squinted when a good idea came to mind. It was certainly a dangerous and destructive plan, but it was their only option now. Jane knew she took a lot of damage already, more than her own team to her surprise. But if she can't win this battle, all three of them will die. Danton likely cannot break through this invisible force field right now. She needs more MP, more energy.

  "Summon Hell!" Danny yelled his spell out as if his life depended on it, swooshing his sword in the air and creating three powerful spurts of crimson colored photons traveling at a high speed towards the large creature. The monster was staring at Jane again with its evil red eyes of murderous intent, but Danny's attack hit first, carrying just enough force to interrupt Atlas's concentration. The impact was quite explosive, but still didn't do enough damage to end the spawn's life at all.

  Taylor shifted her arm around after charging another spell that would likely become her last due to her lowering energy levels, but she knew protecting Jane was just as important as defeating the monster right here and now. "Creshendo!" As she created seven phased pillars all around Atlas, her activation of the attack spell brought all of the pillars smashing into the rocky body of the enemy, forcing it to lose more concentration and take on additional damage, but it still had a fair amount of HP remaining.

  Fire Blast! Using the crystals mounted on its head for magical amplification, Atlas created a fiery glyphring to use while targeting Jane, now ready to release the familiar Leray magic against her. Atlas fired five Fire Bolts in the form of a darker red color, meaning dark magic had been infused to each and every type of Fire Bolt during the sequence. Jane knew she couldn't block the attack, so she jumped backwards instead to try and dodge it at the last second, but forgetting that all Fire Bolt attacks home into the target was her next mistake. The entire attack drilled the flaming molten magic of fire damage straight into her stomach, burning her flesh on the spot and creating an agonizing pain that made Jane want to scream. Even though it was a short and simple spell, Atlas carried it with so much more power than she was used to. Taking Fire Bolt attacks in the form of dark magic means no pain is absorbed in the slightest, and real burns occur at the impact point. The fire burned the side of her arm, a part of her face, and seeped into her chest right through the metal armor around her body leaving behind smoke from the metal.

  Knowing how bad it was that Jane took more damage again that wouldn't be easy to recover from, she still went forward with her plan, now more plausible with her MP far above the halfway mark due to her damage intake level mixed with her ongoing Energy Cycle. Jane decided to shut that aura down again, preparing all of her remaining magic in just one more spell. It took her a long moment to begin the invocation, and she knew she had to warn Danny and Taylor to get out of the way. "Everybody watch out! Redemption!" Draining every ounce of her remaining MP reserves, Jane let loose her most powerful and most dangerous spell she knew, Redemption.

  Creating a wide vertical beam of light that soon split into five vertical beams of light infused with incredible power levels of non-elemental magical damage, Jane's spell of the vertical beams traveled outward in a spiral formation. In just short of time, three of the beams going outward hit Atlas one after the other, immediately draining its HP from fifteen to one percent, then from one to zero percent on the next two impacts, but the advancing beams of light also threatened to hit Danny and Taylor as well.

  Complete with Jane's warning, Danny and Taylor jumped out of the way where they predicted the Redemption waves were going to hit. Though it was a close call, they both narrowly avoided the strong light as it continued all the way down a radial path, spiraling over and over. Just as Atlas was slain, the Redemption attack continued to move forward until impacting the invisible force field, bringing it down in a single strike as well. With Atlas now slain, the shield it generated would have no external support. As the shield collapsed, so did all of the remaining Mikespurn begin to disintegrate along with Atlas simultaneously. With Jane's spell now over, she watched with her team how the amazing Atlas had been defeated in one single hit, its entire body returning back to the ash and crushed minerals it came from.

  Being such a large creature, the disintegration took a rather long time, but Danny and Taylor didn't wait to run back and help Jane. With her MP reserves down to zero and her health further down than the both of them combined, it was expected that Jane probably couldn't stand up anymore. At the very least, she chose to collapse on the ground as a form of resting and relaxing herself. As Jane fell, she used her hands and knees to catch herself, obviously far away from passing out. Danny knew she was still okay and alive, but Jane had done more than enough for the both of them, and would be needing a healing kit immediately.

  Chapter Theme Shift:

  Jane heard Danny and Taylor nervously calling her name. She held up her hand to dissipate their worries. "I'm fine." She knew she didn't even sound fine. Her voice was messed up, combined with the pain in her stomach, which was stronger than the damage done to her entire face. "Healing orb."

  Danny and Taylor both pulled out advanced healing orbs for her, needing only those two words to understand how much she needed them. Despite the waste Jane knew it was, Danny and Taylor both used them on Jane, knowing only one orb would likely have any effect on her. As the orbs quickly lit up and affected Jane's wounded areas, it was a rather lengthy wait while watching the stats on Jane's energy scope go up slowly. Only two of the small visible cuts stained with blood began to glow and fade away shortly after, but the rest of the bruising and burns to her skin remained there from before. Taylor knew she and Danny would be needing healing orbs too, but wondered if they were even necessary. Danny and Taylor took a hard hit with the Magical Thrust attack used against them, but that was the only time they took damage.

  Just after the orbs did what they could for Jane, she recovered much of her energy, but was still in obvious pain as she tried to sit up straight. Her HP wouldn't go any higher than 77%, and even her MP reserves seemed to be capped as well. "I'm still impressed by the two of you. You managed to take less damage than I did."

  Danny scratched the back of his head, knowing the obvious reason for such a thing. "Well that thing seemed to be mostly interested in you instead of us, so..." Danny watched Taylor use her own healing orb for herself, reminding him to do the same. After Jane gave them and herself a moment to recover, it became clear that Danny and Taylor were more than just okay. The dark magical damage they received earlier from Atlas didn't cap their health further. As a result, they were able to slightly heal over the fact in which they were able to keep their health high, past the first initial cap level.

  The MP stats were of course rising even after the orbs lost their luster from the usage, but Jane took heavy comfort in the fact that her friends were both doing really well so far with maintaining their overall health. They all may just make it. Jane wondered if she would be the one going back home again while Danny and Taylor take over for her. The thought nearly made her laugh, how ironic that situation would become!

  "Are you going to be okay to walk?"

  Jane knew Taylor and Danny had reason for concerns, but she was beginning to feel better compared to a few moments ago. The healing orb did manage to help her find her stamina once more. Though she was still in a fair amount of pain, all she had to do was block it out and continue advancing. "Of course I'll be okay." Jane stood up effortlessly, proving to herself that she could still fight. "We need to increase our pace however. If we fight every monster we encounter, nobody will make it." The thought of Danton's overall strategy seemed more effective in theory, but only if exercised with haste. Jane turned around towards the north road, constructing the plan of advance in her mind. "You two get ready for a long jog."

  Danny and Taylor saw Jane preparing her communicator device in her ear. It could have taken damage during that battle, but the time she would take with that gave them a moment to reconnect. "So are we counting Atlas as a team kill?" Danny worded.

  Taylor exhaled a short laugh, remembering their agreement since entering the dark zone. Danny was referring to the kill count between the three of them, not that Jane was interested in that detail. "I think we can give that one to her. As for the Mikespurn count, I'm at sixty-seven."

  "What?!"

  "Hah!" Taylor rubbed it in his face, knowing from that reaction that her kill count was already much higher. "What's yours then?"

  Danny shifted his position slightly, muttering in a lower softer tone when comparing the count. "Fifty-two." He stamped in front of her, his fist in the air with readiness. "But I'll get more soon enough. You'll be the one losing once we reach the objective."

  "Will you two shush?" Jane struggled to get her communicator device to work. Their constant chatter made it hard to concentrate on what was wrong. After pressing the button multiple times, the device powered on again, likely just a power failure from all of that fighting she had to do. As soon as it was on, Jane gave her status report through Danton's constant requests. "This is team JDT to command. We had a minor setback, but we're okay now. I need to suggest we increase our pace and engage in less enemies from now on."

  "This is Danton. Agreed. If we battle every enemy, there will be more setbacks. We've already had to give evacuation authority to team Gains. Our soldiers are having to adapt to magical battles only, since their guns are mostly ineffective against all creatures except for the Mikespurn. How is your team?"

  Jane replied honestly without giving too much of a worry. "We're a little scratched up, but we'll be okay."

  "Alright... I'm changing one detail, effective immediately for all teams on the battlefield. Regroup closer to the main road. Stay only five hundred meters apart instead of one thousand to reduce interference and travel time between teams for emergency assistance protocols. Team Mainne?"

  "Yes Sir Danton? This is Mainne."

  "You will regroup directly with Jane's team, and have your ineffective soldiers rally with Sergeant Gains. Your mission is being reassigned to assist Jane's team directly to reinforce the main assault team."

  "Roger that Danton. I'm on my way now Jane!"

  Jane heard all of the communications, and so did Danny and Taylor with their functioning coms. She turned around, explaining the total change in pace for both of them. "As soon as we regroup with Mainne, it will be a long sprint towards the goal with minimal engagements only. Danny? If you did bring those grenades, you'll be able to make good use of them soon."

  "You bet I did bring those things. Why have grenades if I can't use them?" Answering Jane's rhetorical question, Danny opened his supply sphere to prepare his new weapons, while Taylor remained silent in thought about how she should fight while sprinting.

  The bow is effective, but extremely heavy to carry. The Glass Blade daggers would be more effective to Taylor, especially if she could learn some of Jane's spells with regards to the smaller blades.

  Danny's supply sphere reminded Jane about her own supply sphere, remembering all of the personal items locked inside of the thing. She had Alyssa's pendant, some personal items reminding her of her home, and Iya's promise that she would come back successful and alive. Mainne was going to be a minute, but now Jane had to get all of these things off of her mind, or suffer the consequence of being unable to focus. When Mainne does arrive, it will simply be a sprint to the finish for all of the teams, staying close while increasing the movement speed in order to reach the Den of Purity in record time. Though the purpose of moving faster was also to avoid more damage from the evil monsters in the zone. With 68% more road to travel through, it was definitely going to be a long night.