The Tier 3 Relic finished spewing out all the mist generated by the energy he inserted. Jyorta immediately commanded the River Whale to fly back, nudging the Rigordile and the Bundle Flea through his aura.

The Bundle Flea wrapped its hair around a couple of Lava Turtles it had killed and dragged them while moving towards the exit. The Rigordile used its tremendous strength to pull three Lava Turtles using their tails.

The party swiftly moved towards the exit as the mist spread through the region. The Hunter Clams on the killed Lava Turtles barely managed to get up when the Bundle Flea swatted them into the mist.

The mist condensed through the region, getting inhaled by the Lava Turtles and the Hunter Clams living on their backs. The aura in the air interfered with it, eating away it slowly, decreasing its potency.

Jyorta sensed his Brain Crystal be half refilled with psychic energy in the short duration, activating the Relic once again, creating another batch of mist that flew forward like a cloud. As he had calculated the path and direction of emission, he managed to ensure the mist wasn't inhaled by his allies.

The mist was inhaled by the Lava Turtles, with part of it directly seeping into their bodies through the skin, with some of them attaching to the surface, etc. The effect wasn't something solely relying on consumption—through breathing—to take effect. It used a myriad of senses, stacking the effect through each, amplifying the potency to a terrifying level.

A Lava Turtle at the front was just about to shoot a geyser towards the River Whale when it felt something amiss. It turned its head, gazing at its brethren floating on the water beside. For some reason, it looked…delicious.

More than delicious, it wished to spend time with the other party, internally. The Lava Turtle moved towards its brethren, coiling its neck on the other party. Its brethren also seemed to feel the same, nudging the necks of each other, expressing their companionship through touch.

Simultaneously, both the Lava Turtles opened their mouths and bit on the other party's neck, tearing off a piece of flesh. The pain from the action alerted them back to their senses, entering a state of frenzy as they glared at their brethren with hatred.

The two Lava Turtles slammed their heads into each other like whips, attacking relentlessly. They hit, swatted, bit, and pushed each other, inflicting harm as time passed. The Hunter Clams on their backs were engaged in a war.

The Hunter Clams on the first Lava Turtle began attacking the Hunter Clams of the second, creating a war where two troops fought to the death. Even in such a situation, the Hunter Clams fought to protect their homes. It seemed it was an instinct that made their genetic makeup, unable to be altered by temporary effective abilities.

The Lava Turtle collided, absorbing water from its tail before spewing forth from its mouth. It increased the temperature using its Trait, the water gushing out turning into high pressured steam.

The force and the heat created a powerful thrust that pushed the attacked Lava Turtle. The resultant force from its ejection created a thrust that propelled it backward. The Lava Turtle seethed with rage, feeling pain all over its body. Large parts of its neck had been torn off, the structure barely holding its head in place.

If it was any more injured, it wouldn't be able to stay alive. Steam leaked out through the gaps in the neck as the Lava Turtle controlled itself, wriggling its muscles to constrict the areas, blocking the steam from escaping. Warriors had immense control over each muscle in their bodies. The Lava Turtle used this advantage to prevent its injuries from worsening.

Its Trait was pushed to the limit as the water it absorbed churned within its body. Numerous acids mixed into it as it travelled through its neck before ejected from the mouth. The steam was compressed, containing tremendous heat that created a powerful thrust. The Lava Turtle's aura spiked as it wished to make the attack more deadly.

Tier 2 Skill—Heat Burst!

It was a skill that amplified the effects of its Trait. The moment it was activated, sparks were generated within the mist, causing the acidic substances to turn volatile before combusting. The steam instantly turned into a flaming vortex of thrust that slammed into the opponent Lava Turtle, the heat causing its skin to burn.

The attacked Lava Turtle plunged into the water and avoided facing the brunt of the flame while unleashing a geyser from within. The geyser collided into the fire stream, causing numerous explosions as the substances in it combusted one after another.

Bubble explosion, steam explosion, chemical explosion, etc. all sorts of explosions were created that blasted the water in the area everywhere. The mist was affected, pushed back and forth as a result. When its concentration was beginning to decrease, Jyorta activated the Relic once again, causing the situation of the Lava Turtles to take a turn for the worse.

The Lava Turtles battled with greater intensities, unleashing attacks one after the other. Jyorta gazed at the Rigordile and the Bundle Flea, giving them a command. The two Frenzy Beasts dragged the carcasses of the Lava Turtles and Hunter Clams they had killed towards the connecting pathway before proceeding to layer 3.

They piled up everything in the shallow waters there before returning to drag the remainder. The Bundle Flea fished out their Heart Crystals along its way back and gave them to Jyorta. Jyorta cleaned them before storing, activating the Relic at regular intervals.

He was expending a tremendous reserve of psychic energy. If not for the River Whale and Rigordile acting as his energy reserve, he wouldn't have even been able to activate the Relic the first time. Whenever two Lava Turtles were on the verge of death, he sent the mist flying their way, aggravating the situation.

The Lava Turtles then tore into each other, mostly resulting in mutual deaths. The Rigordile and the Bundle Flea would then drag their corpses towards layer 3. As some time had passed, Jyorta pocketed his Relic and commanded the River Whale to retreat.

The Rigordile and Bundle Flea followed suit. While retreating, he gazed at the mist still swirling about in the area, with a significant portion of it flying high up in the air, proceeding beyond the reach of the Lava Turtles, "If this had been my Skill, I would have been able to manipulate the mist into targeting the Lava Turtles. Now, a significant portion of it has been wasted."

Jyorta sighed, such was the flaw in using Relics. Relics were objects, the Skills in which couldn't be controlled by the user. So, it wasn't possible to display the same expertise as a Warrior possessing the Skill could do.

"Still, this is a good outcome indeed. As long as the mist hasn't disappeared, I can use it." Jyorta thought of a way as he retreated, watching the fight between the Lava Turtles slowly come to a halt. Most of them had been significantly injured, so it would be easier for him in the second round.

Jyorta returned to layer 3, watching steam rise from the carcass of the Lava Turtles as their blood mixed into the water. Their bodies were maintained at very high temperatures, just the touch of which generated steam in the water.

As steam rose from all over, the temperature of the Lava Turtle carcasses steadily dropped. The shallow waters turned warm, becoming slightly hotter as time passed. Eventually, it no longer increased further, achieving an equilibrium of sorts.

"Eat and recover." Jyorta motioned at the three Frenzy Beasts, pointing at the pile of carcasses. The Bundle Flea had already fished out all their Heart Crystals and had handed them over to Jyorta. The Hunter Clams were a race that couldn't produce any Espers while Espers were incredibly rare among the Lava Turtles. So, Jyorta only obtained Heart Crystals from this batch.

Just when the three Frenzy Beast were about to pounce on the carcasses, a Frenzy Parasite drilled out, wriggling weakly.

"Hmm," Jyorta frowned, thinking for a couple of seconds as he unleashed his aura personification of hallucination on it, controlling its actions. The Frenzy Parasite moved its dying body and burrowed into the nearby Lava Turtle, pulling out the Frenzy Parasite within.

The two fought each other, biting and tearing apart until one of them remained. The victor swallowed the defeated party, swiftly healing its injuries before facing another Frenzy Parasite that had drilled out. Jyorta observed the changes in their auras, collecting the data as he tried to perceive their functionality.

He wished to understand the Frenzy Parasites more. After all, he was brought into this world to face the being that created the Frenzy Parasites. The Frenzy Parasites slithered out the carcasses one after another and fought against the Frenzy Parasite under Jyorta's control.

Every time it killed and devoured one of its own, its injuries healed while its strength faintly increased. But, Jyorta could see its vanning presence. It was just prolonging its life through the battle. And, the duration it bought using it was less than a couple of minutes.

But, Jyorta was curious as to why it did something like that. As it kept fighting, Jyorta created the embryonic form of a tattoo on his back, focusing his Aura Induction on the Frenzy Parasite. The moment the Frenzy Parasite devoured the last of its kind in the area, it slumped on the floor, no longer having the strength to move.

Its presence began to fall at an alarming pace when the effect of Aura Induction enveloped it. The Frenzy Parasite's presence was linked with Jyorta's, pulled into his hallucination, and stored within the embryonic tattoo he had created.

The hallucination wasn't much, the Frenzy Parasite found itself within a blank space. At this time, its body died, allowing Jyorta to extract all its presence into the tattoo he made. This was the prime usage of Aura Induction; he could induce the presence of a foreign being into his tattoo. And when the body of the owner died, the presence had nowhere to return to.

But, if he took the presence out of the tattoo, it would instantly dissipate. Jyorta thought, 'I think I got some idea as to the direction I should progress towards.'

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I made a website to host all my novels, comics, and other projects I would be doing in the future.

www.overlordtales.com

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