The unfamiliar explosion took Ender off guard.
Not only did he lose many health points, but he also suffered a blow to his right wing.
The attack was centered around his wing, meaning the opposite side's mage was skilled and shrewd!
With that one move, he took Ender out of the equation!
It didn't mean whether Ender played a massive role in Jake's strength—one of the enemies was done.
Had Ender been a player, he would have lost an arm or leg.
Losing a limb in the immersive virtual reality was worse than dying. Losing the dominant hand often turned players into a dead weight.
Imagine typing with your right hand for a whole life, then being forced to write an entire essay with your left hand—it was so terrible, and yet, losing a dominant hand in the virtual reality game world was an even worse experience.
Shaw growled, "Someone has the same plan as us!"
SWalker, "We're lucky to have Jake's pets on our side. He'll return in an hour, but I reckon even Sin can't restore an arm or leg."
Sin nodded. "I'm not on this level yet."
Prince mused aloud. "Yet another team playing around the laws absolute to everyone." His hands danced as he sang about his determination to overcome the said laws. "Love it!" He shifted his eyes to Last Coin and asked in a soft, low, and intriguing voice, "Any idea, Golden Coin?"
Last Coin said, "I only felt a wave of unfamiliar mana going through Ender, then all of it latching onto his right wing. I couldn't even tell it'd explode. I just knew it was an attack."
Jake's team knew precisely what Ender had suffered because of his connection with Jake. Ender told him that he could no longer fly and was pretty much useless, even in his dark nest.
Therefore, Jake told him to rest in the form of a tattoo. He thanked him for the help so far and reassured him, as Jake understood it took Ender a lot of pride to confirm that he was out of the game for now.
Prince said, "I couldn't see what it was."
Sin asked, "You were keeping an eye on Ender? Are you stupid?"
"Ah, this little one flies with so much pride that I love to observe him," Prince didn't find any fault.
Sin smacked his helmet and rebuked him, "You're supposed to look out for enemies, you moron!"
She apologized to everyone.
Jake calmed her down. "It's fine. We know that this concept is invisible to the eye. Only Coin can see through it, which makes our new opponents trickier than we thought."
Perhaps they were too naive to think that the next opponents would simply enter the open area to snatch the consumables. The other side was also hiding under the forest's canopy, with their fingers on the triggers.
It was a stalemate, but not for too long.
Before Jake and his team could think of their next move, the other side had already made its move.
BANG!
The ground beneath one of the packages shivered and cracked. What came out from the hole was soil animated into a hand big enough to squeeze Prince and everyone else from his team.
On its palm was the package.
Worse, the hand stretched toward other packages, scooping all of them up in a swift motion!
Last Coin commented while others stood in awe. "It's level thirty earth skill... it's one of the first skills that allows mages to freely control an earth in the shape of a hand. But I heard the range is really low..."
Shaw whispered, "So they have two mages."
The explosion caused El's vision to be swarmed with system messages.
She was also thrown back.
"Keep running!" Jake and Prince shouted. It was merciless, but the entire team couldn't suffer just because of one teammate.
El Boss Queen did a good job, though. These two told her so.
Their instant reaction and the fact that they didn't forget to mention her had stirred feelings El Boss Queen couldn't properly understand.
She knew she wanted to help them more and that being a teammate was fun.
It was too early for her to be thrown out.
With the additional strength drawn from the accessories, El crawled back to the team.
The second wave of explosive magic weaved around the middle of the row.
El once again took it.
Her right gauntlet and vambraces were cracked.
Sin commented as she passed her healing magic to her, "Those explosions are too strong! She's losing health points even while her armor takes the brunt of it!"
It meant that her hand and forearm would have been blown away had it not been for the armor!
The third wave went past her...
El Boss Queen gritted her teeth. She'd be thrown out again, this time.
To her surprise, however, once the explosion ensued, Shaw left the row and caught her in his arms before she could leave their side.
She curtly looked at him.
He shouted, "That about you I can respect!"
El widened her eyes at him.
These two quickly rejoined the team.
The forest's threshold was just before them.
The other opponents had also given up on hurting them.
"They're running away!" Prince shouted. "Lil Queen, good work on saving Golden Coin! You too, my mini rival!"
"Thanks!"
"Go to hell, bastard!"
Jake narrowed his eyes, "It must be their land that they're running away to! If they got another team, they can—"
Before Jake could finish his words, the earth rumbled.
A second later, a significant piece of land was elevated to the skies.
Jake's new opponents were much more clever and decisive than expected. They were ready to steal consumables and upgrade their Territory Sphere to begin the conquest of the skies!
That made everything so much more difficult!
Casual Clowns soon stood in the floating island's shadow, looking up like ants that could only dream of getting up there.