Chapter 446: The Manipulator

The Tier 3 Lava Turtle paused, flinching every second as it seemed to be hallucinating something at every interval of a second. Its neck trembled as its eyes lost and regained focus constantly. It seemed to be slipping in and out of the hallucination.

Its inherent tremendous aura reserves protected it from the hallucination. But, the auditory sounds—the cries of all the Lava Turtles in the area—it heard caused it to hallucinate on its own.

The mind was a tricky medium. One didn't even need anything special to affect it. Neither some mysterious energy nor something elaborate was needed to affect the mind.

Jyorta recalled a post he had read about in his previous life. It was the story of a rather popular dictator. After capturing a spy, the dictator trapped him in a closed chamber. He was strapped to a chair and fully bound to it.

After piercing his arm with a needle, a tube was attached to it, making its other end hover above an aluminium bucket. From time to time, a droplet of his blood would drip into the aluminium bucket, causing a loud sound.

After four such drops fell, the spy's vision was covered. The dictator stopped his blood flow and had kept a water tank nearby, causing it to drip a droplet of water into the aluminium bucket, at the exact same intervals of the blood outlet.

At every interval, the sound of the blood—in actuality, the water—falling into the aluminium bucket would resound in the silent room. And, every time this happened, the spy would assume it was his blood that was dripping.

In actuality, all he had dripped was the first four drops of blood.

But, as time passed, the emotion would take root in his mind. And, he would begin hallucinating that he was losing blood constantly. After all, he had seen four of his drops drip onto it. The sound it made, and the intervals at which it resounded was the exact same.

Soon, he would make a mental image of himself, hallucinating that his body was shrivelling up. As time passes, the mental image of himself would become more and more gruesome. He would be so much into his hallucination that the brain would cause his body to think it was a reality.

And usually, by the next morning, the spy would have died. His hallucinations were the cause, when in reality, all he had lost was a mere four drops of blood, equivalent to some mosquito bites.

Such was the might of the hallucination. Just a simple sound could cause it. Hallucination wasn't an external factor. It was internally induced. The brain was both the ally that would save us in times of need and betray us at other times.

The mind was a fragile pandora's box.

And now, it was exactly the same that Jyorta was making use of. If he had only used his aura personification of hallucination, he wouldn't have been able to affect the Lava Turtle. After all, just the sheer difference in their aura was too much.

Even though his aura levels were in Tier 3, he had only stepped foot into this realm. As for the Tier 3 Lava Turtle, it was a genuine Developer. It was naturally in such a state. So, no matter what he did, his aura wouldn't be able to affect it.

Even for the Tier 3 Spindle Bee, all the fifteen students had overwhelmed it with their auras. And among them, Ashten Coorg had unleashed his aura beam. And, Jyorta added his tattoo atop his aura beam.

Only combined with all were they able to subdue the Tier 3 Spindle Bee. And despite everything, even after using a tattoo on it, it would only be under his control for an hour. It was thanks to the sheer quantity of aura inside it that was like stopping an ocean with a dam wall. The pressure was too great that the walls would start crumbling eventually.

And now, thanks to the shouts of the Lava Turtles, the only sound that was resounding throughout the Graduation Ceremony Battlefield were their cries. As it was at Tier 3, it could clearly feel the subtle fluctuations in their tone, their distress, their sense of loss, their fears, and their mind-shattering feelings, the Tier 3 Lava Turtle could feel all of them with resounding clarity.

Its superior senses caused it to be affected greatly. There wasn't much its aura could do in such a situation. After all, the one affected was its mind now. And in turn, the mind was affecting its body, invariably influencing its aura.

In a normal situation, all it would need to do was unleash its aura and throw away all such inconceivable notions. This way, it would be able to maintain an optimal state of mind. After all, by erecting its presence, it would maintain that state of body and mind until the presence vaned.

But, because of the cries, even if it didn't wish to, it could understand the content behind it. The contents were devastating to the extent they affected its mental state. So, whether it wanted to or not, its attention was grabbed.

And, before it realised it, the Lava Turtle's entire attention was on the cries. It had long since forgotten about the students that were waiting right at its doorsteps.

In the yellow dome hovering above the Graduation Ceremony Battlefield, the tens of Ground Controllers seated within were currently looking at the faces of each other, feeling a mild chill. They communicated with each other through their psychic arms.

"At what stage were we mentally capable of something like this?"

"I was a Ground Controller by the time I did something like this the first time."

"I was a peak Wave Controller. But the scale of my action was limited to two Frenzy Beasts."

"I have just slaughtered Frenzy Beasts openly all my life. I haven't ever done something like this."

As they exchanged words, they couldn't help but shoot glances at Jyorta, wondering how a student grew up to be that…fearsome.

But, they suddenly felt threatened, afraid even, upon gazing at the sole individual amidst them that was at Tier 5. Upon seeing the radiant smile on her face that was beaming uncontrollably, their minds shuddered.

"A family of madmen."

Jyorta shot a glance inside the dome, watching the Tier 3 Lava Turtle begin to shed tears. For a moment, none of the students spoke anything.

'There is this side of him, again.' Haesha frowned, staring at Jyorta's back, 'He's the kindest all the time, but also comes up with the most vicious ideas.'

Standing in the circular platform situated right next to the end of the path, Rishana shuddered uncontrollably. She shot a glance at her teammates, noticing how they were no different from her. As for Duvic, he was the same too, but also seemed enlightened for some reason. He looked at Jyorta with a gaze of reverence.

Dalna Doppler and George slowly opened the entrance to the Tier 3 Lava Turtle's dome. They pushed in the Battleship first as they hid behind it. At present, only the two of them entered, followed by Jyorta and the Tier 3 Spindle Bee.

The remainder followed suit immediately. It was the staff that were preventing and allowing entry. So, all fifteen of them had to enter. Otherwise, they wouldn't be allowed entry. The faint flickering of the number '15/15' on the entrance was enough of a clue for them.

Once they entered, everyone remained near the entrance while Dalna Doppler and George pushed the Battleship. Jyorta controlled the Tier 3 Spindle Bee and trailed right after them, approaching the Tier 3 Lava Turtle while staying hidden. This way, even if it attacks them, they would have time to react and something to hide behind with.

The remaining 12 students had the Web World to rely on for defence.

Jyorta wrapped the Tier 3 Lava Turtle under his aura personification of hallucination, heaving a sigh after a minute when it was done. As it was already in a hallucination on its own, and since the contents were the same, it fell under his control soon after.

Now that it was done, he slowly modified the contents of the hallucination little by little. The crying sounds outside began to die bit by bit. The Lava Turtles were still affected, and the emotional blow wasn't something they could recover from that soon, even if it was a hallucination.

Jyorta led it out of the dome. Normally, the staff would have prevented any Tier 3 Frenzy Beast from escaping its dome, but since it was currently controlled by a student, they didn't interfere.

Jyorta led the Tier 3 Lava Turtle straight towards the dome with the Floating Spider. At first, its dome was empty, with a small nest at the top. But, upon seeing his actions, the Tier 3 Floating Spider spewed out silk like crazy and almost filled up the entire dome.

It was gearing up for battle upon seeing how it was inevitable. It was just about to spew some silk on the part of the entrance and the dome, intending to attack them together when the Lava Turtle had already arrived. The heat it was emitting caused the silk it haphazardly spewed out to begin melting.

Startled, the Floating Spider began to reinforce the silk protecting it, filling up the dome.

In the hallucination, the human that was slamming white light on their Ancestor looked odd all of a sudden. Then, the Tier 3 Lava Turtle's eyes widened in shock upon realising that all of them had been fooled.

The humans retracted their auras, changing forms into Frenzy Beasts immediately. It was the same for the being it had assumed to be Rhachis Ancestor Light. It swerved and morphed immediately, turning into an unassuming Floating Spider.

Floating Spiders—Warlord Family!