Chapter 244: Crust-Mantle

The killing intent had mixed with his aura, turning it into a weapon with a focus. Earlier, it was just a formless force, lacking any intent, only causing physical suppression. Now, it had intent, also serving a purpose. Thanks to it, the Spiked Lizard fainted, its mental capacity no longer able to endure.

Jyorta maintained his distance, unwilling to come into range of the Spiked Lizard's tongue. His spindle flashed, drilling into the Spiked Lizard through its eyes. The Spiked Lizard woke up with a start, letting out shrieking noises. But, its legs were unable to gather strength, same for its body. Only its internal organs were able to move, thanks to them being shielded by the surrounding muscles. But, except for faint vibrations, they couldn't do anything else.

As the spindle continued to drill into its body, the resistance against his psychic energy decreased. The Spiked Lizard's aura was suppressed by his aura, leaving it unable to resist the seepage of his psychic energy. This was a valuable experience, giving him a couple of ideas to implement in the future.

Soon, the spindle had drilled deeper into its body, managing to kill it. Jyorta placed its Heart Crystal in the pouch, intending to continue with his killing spree. He had already killed five Frenzy Beasts in such a short duration.

Based on what he sensed as his aura affected their bodies, he could guess their Sync Rates, deriving the number of Credits he had amassed through them. "6, 7, 6, 6, 6; that makes a total of 31 Credits. Not bad, but not good enough either. Do I proceed deeper until I face Tier 2 Frenzy Beasts?"

Killing even a single Tier 2 Frenzy Beast would have netted him twice his current gain. It was efficient to kill them. But, after a moment of thought, Jyorta decided against it. 'I am having trouble with just these Tier 1 Frenzy Beasts. It will be difficult to face opponents that won't be much affected by my aura.'

"I'll head in deeper later after I have enough confidence." Deciding on his choice, Jyorta walked forth, finding three Spiked Lizards that were on the verge of death. They had fallen on a boulder that was half his height. One was on the top while the other two were slowly sliding towards the ground. There was a small pool of blood on the ground, with thin streams seeping out from their bodies.

Just when Jyorta planned to put them out of their misery, he heard a loud crunching sound to his back. It was frighteningly loud, as if a carnivorous beast was gnawing on a bone, its jaw force breaking them into pieces upon each bite.

Jyorta felt alarmed, deciding to investigate it first. He didn't wish for whatever creature it was to spring upon him while he battled against another Frenzy Beast. Holding his sword before him, Jyorta tiptoed, unwilling to make any noise.

His chakram hovered before his chest, ready to intercept attacks from any angle. His heart beat faster, thumping in increasing intensities. Blood rushed to his head; his adrenaline kicked into overdrive.

The crunching sounds were loud, akin to a pipe of steel broken into two. Followed by faint screeching sounds, the surroundings began to brighten. It was a sudden influx; the Two-Faced Fireflies were returning. Jyorta didn't why they were returning but all he knew was that it didn't bode well for him.

The change in ambient light was too fast for him to adjust. His figure was dimly outlined in the area. As the Two-Faced Fireflies came in the range of his aura, they plopped to the ground, their wings twitching. But, they continued to emit light.

Jyorta finally managed to witness the creature that was the source of the crunching sounds. It was a large Frenzy Beast, spanning a height of 200 centimetres. Its body was long, spanning at least four metres, segmented into 12, with each segment possessing a pair of legs, shaped into a hook, sharp like spikes.

Its body thinned along its tail, ending with two feelers, each around 20 centimetres in length, and possessing a radius of five centimetres. Small appendages grew over it, wriggling every second in search of something.

A hard exoskeleton covered its body, outlining each segment. In the gaps where each segment joined, the exoskeleton was replaced by a gelatinous membrane. At the front of the segmented region was a cylindrical part, fully covered by the exoskeleton—forming strips. The strips seemed to have been riveted, judging by their sliding over each other to facilitate the Frenzy Beast's movement.

Four pincers were on its front, two big, situated at the top, and two small, situated underneath it. The pair of small pincers was positioned right underneath the mandibles. The mandibles were fixed upon tough muscles, each of whose movements seemed filled with power. Lodged on its head were three pairs of eyes: one pair facing the front, and the remaining two facing either side. Finally, hoisted up by an appendage was an eye, underneath of which was a valve connected to a tube-like mechanism.

"Crust-Mantle," Jyorta muttered. Thankfully, the barrier shielding him negated the sound, preventing the Frenzy Beast from sensing his location. Seeing its appearance, Jyorta was alert.

Crust-Mantles were a Frenzy Beast race that had been discovered in the past decade. Their overall strength and their base of operations were unknown. They lived underground, coming up to the land in search of prey.

They were solitary creatures, lacking both wisdom and a Trait of their own. So, they weren't classified as a threat. Due to their low intelligence, hardly any Crust-Mantle managed to break into Tier 4, not to mention higher Tiers.

Also, the Skills they Nurtured were really weak as compared to other Frenzy Beasts. Their Tier 3 and Tier 4 Skills were useless and served no practical value. Based on what he had browsed through the Portal and the classes he had attended, Crust-Mantles were weak.

They possessed tough but rigid bodies. Despite their brute power, due to a lack of flexibility, they were prey to other Frenzy Beasts. Their senses were also dull. But, since they primarily lived underground, they managed to survive. While on their topic, the teacher in charge of the class warned that many things about the Crust-Mantles were still a mystery. So, it wasn't wise to underestimate them.

'But, the Crust-Mantles are a new Frenzy Beast race. That means they had evolved due to the Frenzy Parasite to become a stronger race. I wonder what secrets it possesses.' Jyorta thought, seeing the hole near its tail. It had emerged from the ground by burrowing through the path.

Jyorta inched towards it, unwilling to alert it. As he had been in the same area for a considerable time, his aura had permeated through the entire place, making his foes unable to pinpoint the source. That was why he was still safe.

The ambient light faintly flickered, thanks to the trembling of the Two-Faced Fireflies. Jyorta tiptoed around the boulders, taking measures to not fall into its line of sight. Despite possessing three pairs of eyes, the Crust-Mantle had a lot of blind spots. It was due to its eye's limited sight and its inability to see most of the visible light spectrum. As for the spectrum beyond the visible light, it couldn't see them either.

Jyorta arrived within four metres of it, deciding to stop. He watched it eat the carcass of the Spiked Lizard he had killed first, noticing the spindle lodged in its jaws be crushed easily. Bone and flesh were both crushed the same, displaying its immense jaw strength.

He first wanted to find out the limits of his Esper capabilities, planning to use his powers of the soul later. But, curiosity got the better of him now. The Crust-Mantle before him was at the peak of Tier 2, possessing a staggering Sync Rate of 86 percent. He dared not imagine how much it possessed at Tier 1.

Just the fact of its high Sync Rate alone made it a good target, not to mention it belonging to a new Frenzy Beast race, about which very little was known. Without any commotion, Jyorta took in the view of his blue soul, watching his surroundings turn dark.

There was his blue soul, the same as always. Hovering next to it was his subsoul, within which a perpetual battle between two egos continued. There were two souls in his range, to his front, conforming to the Crust-Mantle.

He noticed the embers of a soul dissipate in its mouth. Judging by what he felt, he determined it to be the soul of the Spiked Lizard's Frenzy Parasite. There were the emotions of hunger washing over to his blue soul, accompanied by gas-like murkiness.

The soul of the Crust-Mantle was abnormally large for an Amplifier. It was almost half his blue soul's size. Considering its lack of wisdom, it shouldn't have had such a size. As he pondered, Jyorta glanced at the soul of its Frenzy Parasite, which hovered somewhere around the middle of its 8th segment.

It was a tiny wisp, surrounded by faint murkiness. His two Soul Corneas flashed around it, converting it into his subsoul within a second. After exerting its influence, it vaporised the murkiness surrounding the wisp, also extracting the memory fragments within.

As the blue soul absorbed the memory fragments, it sent a couple of memories to his brain, allowing them to be processed. At the next moment, Jyorta frowned, his expression morphing into one of shock.

His eyes widened, experiencing a scare. Within the blue soul, the Hoberman sphere was stirred into activity. His two Soul Corneas pierced through the murkiness of the Crust-Mantle's soul, exerting their influence, starting to vaporise all the murkiness.

One Soul Cornea enlarged in size, allowing the Hoberman sphere to travel through it. Finally, when it arrived at its end, the Soul Cornea shot it into the depth of the murkiness, aiming at the soul hidden within.

Jyorta wiped the sweat covering his forehead, anticipating its effects, all the while frowning, his expression was solemn.