The swarm of smaller insects were currently having difficulty staying in the air, because Owari had no long-range capability, this was good news for him. He prepared his sword and whenever one came in range he would swing at it. In truth he could easily just bisect these things and be done with it, the problem was that he used some energy every time he used that sword technique of his. It would drain him pretty quickly to use it for every little enemy. So instead he took this chance to practice his accuracy by aiming for their weak points. He managed to do just enough damage to them to get their attention and Noel quickly retreated after. She still needed rest and couldn't afford to waste all her mana on stalling the enemy.

The swarm didn't dissipate however, and they instead all seemed to focus on Owari. Not just the ones who had broken off just now, but almost every one of the free support types flying around the area started to come together to attack him. The hive mind seemed to have discovered his weakness and fully intended to exploit it. However it still had to be careful, whenever the swarm tried to sneak by and swoop from above they would be hit with a larger scale mystic art from one of the front liners and lose a lot of their forces. It was a lesson learned through a lot of losses so the hive mind didn't dare forget it. So it merely focused on trying to overrun Owari with the large numbers of weaker enemies.

This didn't go as well as it probably had hoped. Owari no longer had the extra weight on so he was much lighter with his step than before so he was able to dodge and weave whenever an insect swooped at him. On top of his newfound mobility, he kept turning his body back and forth to maintain as wide a vision as possible to avoid being taken off guard. He continued to practice his aim by striking any of the insects he could, slowly improving each time. Whenever it seemed like he was sure to be caught he would twist his wrist and intercept the attacker with his sword before swinging it and sending the insect flying off.

As he fought he also practiced his footwork and body placement. Being surrounded on all sides and needing to stay aware of his entire surroundings and be prepared to dodge or block attacks coming from multiple angles caused a lot of pressure to be placed on Owari. However like how coal becomes diamond, Owari didn't panic and instead thrived under this pressure. He calmly adjusted his breathing and carefully measured his steps. He kept his feet closer together and shrunk his body to make himself a smaller target. When he needed to dodge it was as simple as lightly pushing the ground, with his leg strength and how light he was in comparison to before it was a breeze to move half a meter with a light kick to the side. Unfortunately he couldn't let himself get distracted by this feeling of lightness. He did his best to stay within his sphere of responsibility, ensuring he could reach any point within it in a moment's notice.

As he continued to knock aside insects both his swordsmanship and footwork improved greatly. His sword swings became less jerky and more fluid as he found his rhythm, and he became better at measuring distances as he sidestepped attacks allowing him to make the margin of error smaller and smaller. The speed he could maneuver his sword into the positions he wanted also increased as he got used to intercepting attacks. After nearly 20 minutes of this a change occurred, he swung his sword at one of the oncoming insects and took its head off just like that. Although he had already weakened it after a few hits, it was still a sign of his improvement.

Owari didn't let that feeling go as he immediately started to adapt his movements based on the way he moved that time. Soon one success turned into two, which turned into three, and eventually five, ten, and even twenty insect corpses lay around him dead, melting into puddles. His accuracy only improved, and it did so exponentially as he got more and more used to controlling his body. The part he was most happy about was that the more his accuracy increased the better his minute control became which allowed him to also increase his control over his new technique despite not having used it. The entire body was a working system, and by mastering this system you can improve everything relating to it.

Even seemingly unrelated things had some level of overlap in the applicable knowledge. In fact, Owari had managed to improve his minute control so much he even started to apply a weaker version of his moth wing strike into each attack which increased his damage output a whole level. The best part was that the more control he got the more he could divert the backlash, Owari wondered just how much he could push this.

For now though he merely reaped the rewards of his effort and continued to kill the swarm insects as they swooped down. Unfortunately they eventually got the message and stopped attacking, though they did stick around in the air. At this point a group of three dog-sized insects came over. It seemed that the hive mind wanted to test his ability a bit more. If Owari was a normal person it may have already overwhelmed him with its probing and found his vulnerabilities. Unfortunately for it, all it managed to do with its probes was give him chances to grow and improve. Because of this his speed of growth outpaced the speed the hive mind could calculate his ability and so it could only uselessly keep trying.

Although it seemed to pay a bit closer attention to him, it extended a similar reaction to both Lance and Rebecca, so the hive mind couldn't put all its attention on him. It was too busy calculating the total capability of every front liner and so it was natural it would miss Owari's anomalous growth speed. For his part he just continued to train himself and get better, this was why he came out here to be a hunter in the first place anyway. Of course he also wanted to protect the people in the train car so he didn't go overboard, and he simply stuck to his spot and kept working to keep the enemies held off.

The three dog-sized insects rushed at him full speed from the get-go, obviously giving up on trying to catch him off guard. Owari waited for them to get close before carefully stepping to the left and setting himself just in between two of them. As they passed by he swung his sword upwards to the right without using his technique and managed to hit the spot between the head and torso nearly taking its head off without even needing to go full strength, this was the benefit of having good aim, he could now hit weak spots more reliably and doesn't need to always brute force it. Before he celebrated however he twisted his body and swung with the full strength of his technique, as the other insect rammed into Owari's sword head-on due to it being swung in a wide arc it shuddered for a moment. It lost a ton of speed in an instant, however what little speed it did have was doing it no favors as Owari accurately controlled the recoil and strength of his blade to cut it all the way from front to back horizontally.

Both the half decapitated insect and horizontally split insect slumped over and rolled across the ground. The half decapitated one hadn't been dead yet, but after the injuries it got from its heavy crash it certainly would be dead. As for the third, it surprisingly didn't turn around to attack Owari and instead rushed into the encirclement towards the backliners. It seemed the hive mind had realized it couldn't kill him with these three and had decided to cause havoc in the back first. However how could Owari let it do as it pleased?

Owari crouched down and lowered his center of gravity before kicking the ground and launching himself at the trespasser. With his lighter weight and powerful legs, he easily surpassed his previous speed which was comparable to this insect type. As if floating across the ground he only lightly kicked it a few times to catch up, and with a light tap he shot over the insect and swung his sword as he passed over it, cleanly decapitating it. He reoriented himself mid-air, stabbed the ground and killed his momentum allowing him to stop before he retreated too far. To the few people who had been paying attention when he did this, his movements were quite graceful, however nobody would believe he hadn't used a mystic art to achieve it.

After all could the human body really be that powerful and light without the use of magic? In reality the answer is no, in a world without magic moments like that were indeed impossible. However that didn't mean he had used magic to do it. Mana regardless of if it is used or not passively increases the strength of the body, so even though he couldn't make direct use of the mana inside him it still enhanced his body. Not to mention Owari had trained his body ever since he was little to be able to perform superhuman acts, along with his newfound control over his muscles and his ability to redirect his force and momentum, this much was pretty par for the course. Although she wasn't here to see it, Noel would say the same. While he may be a bit extreme, this was still within acceptable parameters. In reality it was his moth wing strike that would make even Noel stumped.

Owari didn't dawdle and after confirming the three insects were dead he ran back into position. This time the hive mind didn't bother sending any larger force and it went back to poking and prodding with the occasional strike force. However the numbers never exceeded two or three of any kind, and usually the dog-sized ones were alone or accompanied by smaller ones. However Owari had noticed that the enemy numbers weren't going down, this either meant it had a very large amount of reserves, or the hive mind was only using about as many forces as it could create allowing it to keep its numbers even. Some people might wonder why it would go through so much trouble and waste so many forces on this group of humans, but it was quite easy to figure out. Even though it would lose some mana, the black sludge that the insects turned into could still be partially salvaged and recreated. Because of this if it succeeded it actually wouldn't necessarily be a net loss.

On top of that the various frontliners here all likely had some good magical beasts for the hive mind to eat to get stronger, not to mention humans themselves also serve as good food for magical beasts. In reality most people already accept that humans are in a way just a variant of magical beasts, so this was common sense. Even a human can digest magical beast meat to increase their mana reserves. Sometimes you can even develop natural affinities by doing it which is seen as a form of evolution.

Because of this, magical beasts tend to find humans to be a delicacy. In fact each one of the front-liners here could be considered a decent grab for a magical beast let alone all of them. Especially Owari who has above average mana reserves, since he hasn't used any mana during the fight he would be especially good eating for the hive mind. It obviously couldn't detect mana though, being able to detect mana was actually a fairly rare trait. Even the ghost eye moth who is known as a good sensory type magical beast can only see mana within its range of sight. On top of that if the enemy is good at concealing their mana it would be impossible to forcefully view it.

This obviously meant that someone like Owari who could now slightly feel the mana around him on a subconscious level was quite odd. However in reality most high-level hunters and tamers could probably do the same considering the prerequisite is merely a lot of meditation. Owari was merely a bit ahead of the curve in some respects, however as an independent hunter he also wouldn't be handed all of this information and would have to find it out on his own. Luckily when it came to these types of things not only did he have some talent, but his personality and interests made him well suited for his current lifestyle choice.

The fight continued for a short period, the time for rescue was coming shortly. Somehow they had managed to make it this far with only some injuries, though some people were quite badly injured, nobody had received fatal wounds. This was a testament to everyone's tenacity and Lance's leadership skills. After all by this point it wouldn't be odd for people to start to lose morale due to how exhausted they were, however Lance was able to keep everyone focused by reminding them of how reinforcements were coming.

However it was a statistical impossibility for nothing to ever go wrong, and soon enough things did indeed go wrong. Suddenly a shout rang out catching everyone's attention. Unfortunately it was more like a scream of pain than anything. Before Owari got the chance to see what happened Lance's voice rang out. "We need to close the circle, everyone retreat back a bit!" Owari didn't delay and cut down a cat-sized insect that rushed him in a poor attempt to delay, and jumped back a meter or two. He then slowly backed up as the gentleman beside him also did the same.

As Owari retreated he looked over the rest of the people and saw what happened. One of the frontliners had been killed. A bit into the territory of the insects was one of the cow-sized insects chewing on a corpse. Looking at the person, Owari actually recognized him as the rapier wielding guy he had run past a while ago. He didn't dwell on this however and quickly focused back on the situation at hand. If one of the bigger insects made a move then the hive mind was likely about to do something big. As if to confirm his thoughts, something really did happen. In this time when everyone was scrambling to make up for the newly opened gap in the defensive line, a group of insects rushed in. Among them were five cat-sized ones, three dog-sized ones, and a swarm of a dozen or so support sized ones.

This kind of group would make mincemeat out of the backliners, and in the same moment a few groups also laid siege to Lance, Owari, the gentleman to his side, and Rebecca who had only just switched back in for the final leg. The hive mind seemed to finally have a grasp on the main targets. Among the distractions, Lance was facing a group of four dog-sized insects and two cat-sized ones, Rebecca had a swarm that spread out and refused to group up, the older gentleman had a cow-sized insect shooting its tongue at him and a dozen cat-sized insects running interference, and Owari had eight cat-sized insects and a dozen support insects. This was the largest force to attack yet and it was likely the hive minds hail mary, if this failed it would probably be the end of the most dangerous part of the fight. If they survived this then the hive mind would either retreat or become a token threat.

Owari didn't think of himself as someone who could change fate on a dime. He may have helped to salvage the situation earlier, but that was because he had been a hidden card of sorts. He no longer had the element of surprise and was even one of the main threats to be identified. Because of this he knew the only thing he had any right to focus on was his enemy. He could only hope someone else took the initiative and saved the day. He turned to face the coming threat and calmly faced them. With a final glance at the train car his expression eased a bit and he abandoned all thought of the fight behind him. Soon three of the cat-sized insects had reached him, and only a moment behind them were six support insects. The three bigger ones came from the front, while three of the fliers swooped around and came from behind, and two shot at him from his sides, and the final came from right above his head. They seemed to be trying to limit his movement in fear of his dodging ability. Owari gave a wide smile as he suddenly felt the pressure mount, he felt the feeling of death approaching creeping in. At the same moment though he also felt his potential bursting and felt like he could achieve anything.

He twisted his body while taking the same stance he had when he first unleashed the moth wing strike. As he spun he carefully confirmed the location of the insects around him before unleashing his attack at full strength without holding back at all. In this life or death moment when the fight was reaching its climax, he couldn't afford to worry about preserving his strength. His sword traced an arc through the air and before they could even reach halfway past his sword reach all of the five insects coming in from his left, right, and from behind were separated into two pieces.

Owari made use of the leftover force from his spin to jump back causing the insect above him to shoot straight into the ground and bounce off as it missed. The three cat-sized insects all neared him, not stopping despite his display of strength as if they didn't fear death at all. By the time they had caught up after his short boost of backward movement they were all very close to one another. Owari placed his foot on the ground causing his last bit of momentum to cease and allowing the three enemies to close in on him, however he immediately pushed the ground and jumped over them. However he didn't just let them pass, he positioned his katana into a sword draw position and accurately and without holding back sliced through all three of their necks with one swing causing them to tumble forward as he gently landed behind them unharmed.

Before he got caught up in the moment he stepped forward a few times with purpose as he raised his sword and stabbed it straight through the insect that had tried to get him from above. After that he swung his sword forcefully cutting it wide open and ensuring its death. His arm was in a decent amount of pain and he had drained himself in those few moments, but he wasn't worried. Once he finished this group and everyone else did their part they would have ample opportunity to recuperate.

As Owari was facing his enemy, so was everyone else. But there was still the problem of the group that slipped past the front lines. Before anyone could panic and before Lance even needed to say anything, Noel suddenly stepped out from the train car with her gloves humming with energy. She was a bit paler than usual and hadn't rested fully, but she was quite capable and knew how important this moment was. She didn't hesitate as she threw herself at the enemy, starting with a small shockwave which she emitted from her foot to send her barreling towards the group before it got the chance to get too far into their backlines. When she got close the insects tried to scatter and go around her hoping her speed would make it impossible to stop them.

However she stopped dead in her tracks as if her movement a moment ago was a lie, in the same moment she pushed her palm out towards the swarm in the air. A wave of pressure seemed to emit from her hand and battered the insects aside and sent them flying back. Like this about half of the support insects had been knocked out of the fight for now. As soon as she stopped she had noticed the movements of the insects who tried to go around her. She placed her feet on the ground and took a wide stance before slamming her fists together, a wave of pressure emitted in a dome shape causing all of the insects to lose balance and stumble or crash to the ground. Like this she successfully stopped them from getting past. Now she just needed to delay and kill as many as possible to allow everyone to regroup.

Without skipping a beat she shot towards a nearby dog-sized insect who had fallen close to her. Using a shock wave to increase her speed she reached it before one could even blink. She extended all her fingers into a spear shape and stabbed it into the eye of the insect shoving her arm in one side and out the other of its head. She placed her foot on its head and ripped her arm out in one smooth motion before glancing around to get a read on the situation. The various insects seemed disoriented but were quickly recovering, so she needed to work fast to make the most out of this situation.

She used another shockwave to suddenly increase her speed inadvertently turning the head she was standing on into paste. She reached a cat-sized insect near her and pressed her left palm into it pushing it along her path and slamming it into a dog-sized insect that was a bit behind it. The next moment she clutched her left hand sending vibrations into the insect before punching it with a haymaker. Shockingly her fist smashed straight through its exoskeleton and out the other side slamming into the bigger insect behind it. Instead of continuing her punch, Noel extended her fingers and placed her palm gently on the bigger insect. However it shuddered and was sent tumbling away as if it was smashed by a train and slammed into some of the insects out of the encirclement. While it was still alive, it was very injured and could barely move. Noel removed her hand from the cat-sized insect and tossed it's corpse to the side. She was now in between the rest of the group of insects and the train car. They'd have to go past her to reach their target.

Although her display was quite impressive, she had used a decent chunk of mana. She knew she'd have to play it safe now that she had taken control of the situation so Noel quickly entered a defensive stance and waited to respond to the enemy. Soon enough the remaining dog-sized insects recovered and charged at her head-on. While it did this the four remaining cat-sized ones tried to veer around her, it seemed the hive mind was going all-in on breaking through this time. Noel didn't intend to let this happen though, when the dog-sized insect got in range of her she jumped to the side and then shot a shockwave off to approach it from the side. She pulled her fist back as it began to make loud humming noises before throwing a haymaker into the insect's side.

A wet crunch sounded out as it's exoskeleton cracked open and it was sent flying. It crossed paths with the two cat-sized insects on that side and all three went tumbling back and slightly away from the train car. As soon as she finished her punch Noel turned and sent a palm strike out with her left hand and a ripple was sent out that slammed the other two insects away as well. Meanwhile the swarm above her head didn't dare approach the car personally and instead rushed to attack her. She crossed her gloves and caused a low drone to sound out causing them to lose control and crash to the ground. As soon as they had fallen from the air she lightly tapped her gloves together and a high-pitched ringing sounded out and all of the support insects started to struggle violently on the ground before their heads popped. After that move Noel was much more drained, however she reached down and pulled out a water bottle on her hip to take a swig. As soon as she got a mouthful of the liquid inside she seemed to regain some energy and she put away the bottle.

In this manner everyone on the frontlines did their part to hold back and defeat the enemy in the hopes of giving aid to the rest. Lance was in the worst of it, he had yet to rest and had faced the most enemies out of everyone. He had expended a lot of mana and had started to run out of mana recovering medicine. On top of that his physical stamina was exhausted and no amount of mana could make up for the drain on his mind. He was teetering on the edge of a tightrope, but he was also unprecedentedly focused. He knew this was the final push and afterward he'd be able to rest, he was sure nobody would complain by that point.

At least he hoped so as he used such thoughts to motivate himself. At the same time Rebecca was both lucky and unlucky. She had the easiest time due to her recent rest and the lack of attacks against her. But she couldn't help anyone else or defeat her enemy. Whenever she fired an arrow out to help someone else the swarm would converge and take the hit. Meanwhile she couldn't use her large-scale ice attacks to kill them since they had learned her maximum radius and were just spread out enough to keep her from getting a good shot. She also couldn't afford to waste arrows or mana on attacking them one at a time. Because of this she was very frustrated. The older gentleman was a bit stuck as well, he was much better off then Lance since he hadn't fought as many enemies and had more mana and experience in combat.

Unfortunately two things he didn't account for occurred, one was Noel charging in and joining the fight. He had not really shown his full ability so far and his only real goal here was to make her safe. Thus his first instinct had been to rush over and aid her. However that had been a mistake and he had received a large cut across his side from the spear-like tongue of the cow-sized insect. On top of that he was now encircled by the dozen cat-sized insects who were guarding all his exits. Honestly, they could have snuck by him and wreaked havoc on the backline, but the hive mind wanted to ensure he was stuck in place. It had determined he was too big a threat to leave free in this pivotal moment.

Each person could only fight as best as they could and slowly the tide shifted between one side and another. Although the insects had more numbers, the humans had mystical arts and a fear of death to motivate them. Unfortunately humans also have flaws, and soon those flaws started to show. Unlike the insects that could fight with machine-like efficiency, humans make mistakes. This could be seen in how occasionally some still got through even while they were at their best, let alone now when tensions were at their peak. Suddenly a few things happened in succession, a loud thundercrack rang out causing a small localized quake with Lance at the center. Glancing over he held his spear forward with electricity crackling all around him and the charred corpses of a dozen insects nearby. However he was pale as a ghost and had already fallen to one knee, he was definitely spent at this point.

The next thing that happened was a cry from nearby Owari and the gentleman as the quake interrupted the movements of one of the frontliners and caused them to make a mistake. A man in his early twenties wielding a pair of shortsword had his left arm torn off by a pair of cat-sized insects and was about to be pounced on by a dog-sized insect. At the same time on the opposite side of the frontlines from Owari a woman yelled out. "My mystic art! My magical beast di-" followed by screams and wet crunching. All of this happened in an instant and suddenly the tides of battle shifted heavily out of the human's favor.