The beetles ran around frantically in the dust cloud trying to find a trace of Bill again. Soon the dust began to settle and their antennas locked onto Bill once more. As soon as the beetles found Bill's location, he moved further away from the little barrier hut he made to make sure that the beetles won't accidentally discover Mako and Leon's unconscious bodies.
The fight started once more with Bill still not being able to finish off a single beetle. He used his Wind and Earth ability to attack and push back the incoming beetles but they were simply not powerful enough to break through the beetles' tough armor-like skin.
His Sand ability was no good either as he had only learned one skill which was semi-effective but couldn't be used constantly because there just wasn't enough sand that he could use. Once he used the sand spikes, he had to wait 10 seconds before the sand could deform and be used again.
If Bill was in say a beach, he would have limited sand to use and could use multiple spikes one after the other.
For now, Bill had gotten into a rhythm that was blowing back the beetles closest to him using Wind Elemental Control and Wind Wall. The vacuum cutter was useless against such beasts as it bounced off their tough skin. He kept doing this while using his earth ninja stars at the beetles that were charging their lightning attacks.
After every 10 seconds, the previous sand spikes would deform and Bill could use them again. He was slowly chipping away at them as he dealt steady damage. The beetles were definitely getting injured and if Bill could keep this up, he would be able to defeat quite a handful of them.
Sweat dripped down Bill's face as he summoned his third wave of sand spikes. Bill was huffing and panting as he just couldn't continue using the sand spikes in such a free manner since they had a heavy energy cost. Bill had depleted half of his energy pool and it was barely a minute of fighting these beetles.
The beetles on the other hand were also tired of getting injured again and again in the same way so before Bill could even think of changing his strategy, the beetles changed theirs. The weird plastic-like muscles on their limbs that were previously glowing yellow started to change color and turned into a light brown color.
The beetles all let out an ear-piercing screech as their bodies changed color. Once the color change was complete, the beetles jumped into the air and as they did, the earth opened up beneath them and they went inside the holes.
'They must have changed abilities! They were using Lightning earlier and weren't using any moves relating to the Earth ability at all!' Bill quickly put two and two together in his head.
This was the lucky break that Bill needed! The beetles may have thought that by changing abilities and attack patterns, they could catch Bill off guard, but Bill was most in tune with his Earth ability.
He quickly calmed down his breathing and closed his eyes. He concentrated all his focus on his feet which were connected to the earth. The cave began shaking again as the beetles moved underground and through the cave walls as they were aiming to attack from Bill's blind spots.
However, Bill could see everything that each beetle was doing. Bill still wasn't perfect at it but if he focused completely he could sense everything that was happening on and in the ground within a radius of 100 meters.
Bill held Mako's blade firmly in his hands as he still kept his eyes closed and took on a similar stance that Mako does when he fights with his knife. This way, Bill had to make little movements to make sure he got the blade where he wanted to go.
Suddenly, a hole began to appear to Bill's right as a beetle launched itself toward Bill. Using his ability, Bill was able to tell exactly where the beetle launched itself from.
Bill's stance made him keep his weight on one leg while maintaining balance with his other leg. This way even if Bill wanted to turn around a complete 180 degrees, he could so in a flash as he would use the heel of his foot carrying all the weight as a pivot and spin himself around by moving his other leg. Since the other leg wasn't bearing any weight it was fast and since the entire body was on a pivot, the momentum of the foot allowed his whole body to spin and turn toward his desired direction.
Bill used his leg to spin a bit more than 90 degrees so that he wasn't facing the beetle head-on but rather a little bit off to the side. This allowed Bill to hold the blade up diagonally straight in the beetle's line of movement. The beetle could steer himself midway and as it approached Bill, he didn't even swipe the blade.
The beetle's own speed was enough for the blade to cut into and leave a deep wound across its entire abdomen. The beetle landed on the ground, covering the area in blue blood as it screeched in pain from the wound. Yet, it still wasn't enough to kill the beast as it quickly dug itself back into the ground to escape before Bill could finish it off.
A smile cracked on Bill's face as he was so excited to finally deal some real damage to these beasts but he had to contain his excitement quickly. Bill couldn't lose concentration otherwise he won't be able to sense an attack coming and if even one was able to get to him, the others would follow very quickly and he won't be able to defend himself.
He wiped the smile on his face as he retook the same stance and concentrated on all the wriggling beetles moving within the earth, looking for an opportunity to strike Bill. Bill didn't realize this as he was concentrating on the beetles, but he started to glow.
Bill was glowing the same light brownish color as the beetles did before digging into the ground. This was a phenomenon that was rare and Bill didn't even realize it yet, but the patrolling officers watching from the shadows and the officials watching from the headquarters had faced riddled with shock and confusion.
Soon multiple beetles launched themselves from their holes toward Bill and he met their attack by carefully maneuvering around the multiple beasts using the combat knife to strike and deal damage to all the beetles.
Unlike before, the beetles didn't stop after a few had launched their attack. They kept coming one after another as Bill was constantly on the move with him striking every beetle he could. His eyes were still closed and his concentration didn't waver. He didn't know why but it was becoming easier for him to concentrate and he could see the beetles a lot clearer, but from the outside, he was glowing more and more as he continued to fight.
*************
[At the military headquarters]
The officials watching Bill fight had no words as they knew what was happening to Bill but were still shocked to see it happen.
"I can't believe a low-level ability user could increase the level of his ability all by himself without any help or interference!" One of the officials said out loud.
"I agree! It isn't rare for people above that have high-level abilities to increase the level of their abilities by themselves but almost no one can do it while still being a level 3 ability user. Almost all the cadets have to be given a higher-level ability book to increase their existing ability level, but it seemed that this cadet falls into being one of the more talented ones." Another official added.
The main commander watched quietly with interest as he was quite impressed with Bill's performance.
"We have found quite a unique group of young talented boys! I can't wait to meet them in person." The main commander finally said with a smile on his face as the details of Mako, Leon, and Bill appeared in front of his screen.
**************
Bill didn't understand this feeling. He was feeling refreshed as he continued to concentrate and battle the beetles. He had been able to kill several of them now and slowly but surely, their numbers and attacking intensity were starting to decrease.
All traces of fatigue were lifted from his body as he felt light and thought that he could continue fighting forever.
The beetles were adaptive beasts as they finally understood that they won't be able to defeat Bill using their current strategy. The cave stopped shaking as all the beetles stopped moving around. Bill could sense all the beetles staying in their position inside the earth, but couldn't figure out what they were doing.
The Earth ability could only allow Bill to sense the beasts' physical bodies, not what was going on inside their bodies. Right now, every single beetle's muscles were changing color once again as they were reverting back to their original yellow color.
With their abilities switched, They couldn't freely manipulate the earth around them anymore, so they all began to dig out of the earth and resurface once again inside the cave.
Once all the beetles began digging themselves out, Bill understood that beetles were changing tactics again so he quickly opened his eyes and used the few seconds he got while the beetles were coming out to create as much more sand as possible.
Bill didn't really understand why but this time he felt more powerful than ever before as he was sure he would be able to deal with these beasts this time and finish them off for good.
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