Chapter 338 - Retaliation

Just as Jacob is nearing Angus and the Explosion bug battlefield, he keeps hearing the continuous sound of a small explosion. Jacob immediately fastens his speed and finally arrives at their battlefield.

*Bom* *Bom* *Ting* *Bom* From above, Jacob could see a massive wasteland along with continued sparks from the explosion and clash. Sometimes, there is even an intense clashing across the area.

Using his enhanced perception, Jacob instantly pinpoints the explosion bug and Angus location despite their fast movement. Jacob feels relief after finding Angus still unharmed beside his tattered armor and clothes.

'What an absurd speed!! I could barely keep track of their position.' thought Jacob before casting a spell while flying in the air.

"[2nd Circle - Telepathy] Angus, did you hear me?" said Jacob through the spell.

"Father, you are finally here." replied Angus while letting Jacob stabilize their telepathy connection in his mind.

After stabilizing the telepathy spell, "How long can you hold on?" asked Jacob.

"Around an hour or so." replied Angus shortly.

'An Hour?!! Even I couldn't even keep moving at high speed like this in an hour. Forget it. Let's focus on this monster first.' thought Angus.

"Angus, Could you move even faster and escape yourself from that monster?" asked Jacob.

"I could, but it will immediately search for another target." replied Angus.

"Don't worry. I will blast this monster using my spell. When I give you a signal, you will immediately get away from the area." said Jacob.

"Attacking it? Are you sure? It is currently very durable and almost invincible, if I say." said Angus as he remembered the explosion bug strength during their last clash.

"That's the more reason to do it. Based on my observation, it will take a few hours before it comes out from the enraged state." said Jacob.

"Few hours?!!" exclaimed Angus.

"Yeah, the only way to snap it out from the enraged state faster is by making it consume more miasma. Since it needs miasma to cover the whole body and keep the enraged state, it will deplete more miasma after receiving an attack to maintain its state." explained Jacob.

"I see.. Alright, let's do it. Just give the sign later." said Angus while running.

"Alright, hold on." said Jacob before focusing on casting a high circle spell.

Suddenly, Angus and the enraged explosion bug feel a significant mana fluctuation from Jacob in the sky. Not wanting the enraged monster to target his father, Angus shot another Firebolt and exploded it in its face. *Bom*

"Where are you looking at? I am here, stupid bug." mocked Angus.

This action immediately attracted the enraged monster's attention to Angus and once again charged at him. Seeing that the enraged monster once again pursues him, Angus directly runs away while chugging another bottle of mana potion.

Since attacking the monster could shorten its enraged state duration, Angus planned to make some follow-up attacks in case his father's attack could not be killed or snapped it out.

As this is the third mana potion he drank, its effectiveness has diminished significantly. Although Angus mana potion is a high-grade mana potion with less side effects, it is still reduced after drinking it in a short period.

His high-grade mana potion will have 35% less potency with its continued drink. Fortunately, this reduction effect only happened around twelve hours after the last use of the mana potion. Otherwise, the mana potion will be useless to most veteran combatants.

After another few minutes of a high-speed game of cat and mouse with the explosion bug, "Angus, now!!" signaled Jacob.

Hearing this, Angus immediately uses his maximum speed to get away from his current location [Beast Walk]. Like a beast who suddenly accelerates while hunting its prey, Angus moves faster than before and arrives dozens of meters away.

As soon as Angus gets away from the area, Jacob immediately throws the small ball of fire in his hand towards the explosion bug from the sky. The small fireball travels in the blink of an eye and hits it [6th Circle - Flash Fire]. 

*BOOOOMM* As soon as it hit the explosion bug, everything became silent, and in the next moment, a massive explosion occurred from it. A tremendous amount of heat and shock waves instantly release and destroy anything in the surrounding area.

Even Angus, who is already far away from the explosion bug, is still getting knocked back by its sudden shockwave.

'No matter how many times I see it, I will never get used to it. The fifth circle and above spells are really like mass destruction weapons.'  thought Angus while bracing himself from the shockwave.

After the explosion recedes, Angus uses [Great Mana Echolocation] to track the explosion bug. To his surprise, the explosion bug is still alive under this horrible spell. 

Sensing that a potent miasma still covers its whole body, Angus knows it still has not snapped out of its enraged state yet. Without wasting any moment, Angus dashed towards the explosion bug while manipulating all the fire mana in the air.

As soon as Angus arrived at its location, "Burn to hell!! [Nature Firecast - Fire Wyrm]." yelled Angus.

Because of the rich fire mana in the surrounding, the nature Fire Wyrm is bigger and more potent than before. The massive Fire Wyrm immediately gripped the explosion bug, which was targeting the exhausted Jacob in the sky.

Like before, the burning Fire Wyrm also slowly roasted the explosion alive. The enraged explosion bug also struggled with all of its might and continuously hit the Fire Wyrm. Under its powerful attack, the Fire Wyrm couldn't help but dissipate.

However, Angus didn't let it go easily and used the nearby rich fire mana to recreate the Fire Wyrm. As it was getting slowly roasted under high temperature, the enraged explosion bug's miasma consumed at a fast rate.

*PIIIKK* The explosion bug keeps struggling while punching and kicking the Fire Wyrm. At the same time, Angus also keeps repairing the Fire Wyrm to hold it.

While Angus and the explosion bug are having a battle of attrition, Jacob drinks a mana potion to regenerate his low mana. At this moment, he noticed the arrival of Anne and a few of her team.

"Anne, attack that bug using your fire-ranged attack." command Jacob.

Hearing this, Anne and his team immediately launched their attack.

[Sword Art - Crimson Slash]

[Spear Art - Hundred Star]

[2nd Circle - Flame Bomb]

[2nd Circle - Flame Wave]

[2nd Circle - Flame Spear]

*BOOMM* *BOOMM* *BOOMM* The attacks directly hit the explosion bug and the Fire Wyrm. On the contrary to their expectation, their attack was unable to scratch the fifth-grade monster exoskeleton. 

However, the Fire Wyrm seems to be getting a massive boost and becoming stronger than before. At the same time, Angus smiles at this incoming support. Previously, he lacked fire mana after repairing the Fire Wyrm a few times.

But getting Anne and the others' support feels like getting fresh water while in the middle of the hot desert. Noticing this, Anne and the others immediately send various kinds of rich fire mana-based attacks to the explosion bug.

During Angus's stay in the explosion squad for a few months, they also know the basic principle of Angus's Firecast that becomes the base of explosion skill. Although they don't know its details, they know that with more fire mana, it will become stronger like the current situation.

*Boom* *Boom* *Boom* More fire-based mana keeps launching the restrained explosion bug. Even Jacob also sent a few lower grade fire spells despite still being on the low mana.

Jacob's current condition is even worse than Angus's. He already depleted a lot of mana during the fight with fifth-grade Steel Broodmother. Moreover, he also already drunk a few mana potions before. Currently, the mana potions barely have any effect on him.

On the other hand, Angus's condition is also not better than him. Continued use of nature Firecast is very tasking on his mind and mana. 

If it is not because of his monstrous regeneration and the help of the mana potion from before, he will have already exhausted all his mana long ago.

While keeping the nature Fire Wyrm in shape, 'Shit!! This is not enough!!' thought Angus as he felt the fire mana in the air depletes at a fast rate.

The fire mana consumption in the surrounding area to repair the Fire Wyrm is still faster than everyone could supply. Moreover, the explosion bug keeps struggling like a mad beast.

'At this rate, it will come out of it. Better use a strong attack for the last time.' thought Angus.

"Everyone, I am going to detonate it. Get out of here!!" said Angus.

Hearing Angus's warning, Anne and his team immediately get out of the area. Then, Angus imbues the Fire Wyrm with all the surrounding fire mana available in the air.

A moment later, "[Firecast - Explode]!!" yelled Angus as he detonated all the fire mana inside Fire Wyrm.

*Whoooshh* a bright light shone from the Fire Wyrm and enveloped the surrounding area. *BOOOM* In a split second, a booming sound was heard along with the massive shockwave towards the surrounding area.

Another intense heat wave radiated and scorched the surrounding wasteland.. Fortunately, because of Angus's previous warning, everyone was already quite in the distance and escaped from the explosion range.