The Beetle king charged toward them at top speed, wrecking the floor beneath it as it raced across the cave floor at full power. The bloodthirst of the Beetle King was reflected in the patterns it was covered with as it glowed with increasing intensity. Snakes of electricity wrapped around its body as it prepared to deal a massive blow and deal with Bill quickly.
"Bill, its weakness is fire! You know what that means..." Mako said as he actually had a smile on his face while still continuing to bleed out from his abdomen.
Mako had even received concerning prompts from the system but he choose to ignore them at the moment.
[-60 HP]
[User has been dealt a laceration on the abdomen]
[User is bleeding!]
[User will continue to lose 1 HP per minute until the bleeding is stopped]
Bill understood what Mako was referring to and a smile appeared on his face as well as he was very excited to do it in a battle again.
As the Beetle King approached them, Bill firmly struck the ground with one of his feet causing a flat earth spike to erupt from under Mako's feet.
Mako was launched into the air as a result and was a couple of feet high up in the air. While suspended in mid-air, Mako began to spin and each of Mako's hands erupted in flames once again. It was quite stupid for Mako to believe that if he could just repeat the same move, it would have a different result.
However, even though Mako's execution was exactly the same as before and the only thing different was that he conjured two flame wheels instead of one, this time his attack wasn't just finished with him launching his flame wheels.
[Flame wheel has been activated]
[Flame wheel has been activated]
The two blades of fire went forth and were on course to collide with the charging Beetle King. The king knew the level of power of its opponent and the level of damage they could do, so even when racing head-first into the fire blades it didn't change course or stop.
However, this time the fire blades were not alone as they were accompanied by two wind blades of equal size.
While Bill had launched Mako up in the air, he himself had also swiped his hands at the exact same time as Mako and conjured two vacuum cutters alongside Mako's flame wheels.
The four blades traveled together toward the giant beetle and as the blades and the target approached each other, the individual blades got closer and closer.
The Beetle King had no idea what was about to happen as it allowed the visible fire blades to collide with its body. It expected the fire to hit it and disperse, dealing some damage but it was bearable.
However, the total opposite happened as the fire came into contact with the Beetle King. Just before impact, the wind blades had gotten too close to the fire blades and wrapped around them, increasing the intensity of the fire.
*Sizzle!*
The fire multiplied in strength and ferocity just as it collided with the Beetle King dealing massive damage. The flames continue to grow bigger as they almost enveloped the giant beetle and continued to burn it alive.
*Ding!*
[Collaborative Skill: Scorching Blade has been activated]
[The power of the Flame Wheel has been increased by 500%]
Mako and Bill had performed the same skill that had dealt massive damage to Rhino during the Dark Raven tournament. They had discovered it by accident and was the only thing that helped them secure a victory in that battle.
After they had completed the mission of saving the prisoners from the warehouses, Mako and Bill spent several training sessions together just trying to perfect this move which could deal massive damage to very tough enemies.
From the look of how the Terra Beetle King was screeching in pain from being burned alive, it was safe to say Mako and Bill had successfully perfected this move and it would be their ace in the hole against this advanced-tier beast.
Using the time they had earned by lighting the Beetle king on fire, Bill first and foremost handed Mako his combat knife and arm guards back. Even though the arm guards provided protection on just the arms they still gave a fortitude boost to Mako which was very much needed.
Mako also rubbed both of his arm guards against his bleeding wound which made the arm guards glow a little.
[Passive Skill: Blood Boost has been activated]
[All stats of the user are boosted by 5%]
Mako could physically feel his body become stronger as the effects of the arm guards took effect.
Wasting no time, Mako and Bill sprinted around the giant beetle that was still on fire to reach Leon who had finally broken free from the paralysis and had also jumped off the cave wall and onto the ground. Bill kept throwing more vacuum cutters at the beast as they ran past it to entice the flames even more.
The additional vacuum cutters couldn't multiply the damage anymore but it did make the flames rage more on the body of the Beetle King.
They quickly approached Leon and after making sure that he was okay too, they moved as far away from the Beetle King as they could to create as much space between them as possible. This way, the giant beetle won't be able to lash out at them immediately and they would have time to conjure another scorching blade.
The Beetle King was undoubtedly smart and it won't run straight into another scorching blade. Mako instructed Leon to use a skill that allowed him to move the fastest he could and maneuver the Beetle King around in such a way that it head straight into another scorching blade.
The fire on the Beetle had finally been extinguished but the beetle king still standing, showing no sign of admitting defeat just yet. The black body hid a lot of the burn damage that had been inflicted on its body, with the only sign that showed burn damage the that the patterns on its body had also turned black.
A blackish exterior had formed over the plastic-like patterns and was hiding the glow that it emitted. However, there were still some gaps where the light still shone through as it let out a light brown color instead of the bright gold.
At first glance, Mako thought that some areas were less affected by the flames and the gold color still shone through but mixed with the black to give out that weird brown color. However, he was proven wrong the next instant as the Terra Beetle King screeched at a completely different frequency than before.
Several regular Terra beetles started to pour out from the hole in response to their king's cry for help. After releasing the special screech, the Terra Beetle King's body glowed with shearing intensity as it released all of its power, completely disintegrating the blackish exterior that had formed on its body.
Even with the blackish exterior gone, the patterns still glowed with a brown light. The king made another screech before jumping in the air and diving into the ground and burying itself inside. The tens of regular Terra beetles understood their king's order as they started marching toward the three boys who had reached the turn just before the cave entrance.
They couldn't leave the safety of the cave as then they would have to face the beetles in the middle of the jungle where other beasts might also show up and cause problems, plus all of their stuff was still inside the barrier hut, they couldn't leave without it otherwise it would be very difficult to survive. The only option left was to fight these beasts and now they were confident that they could win.
The Beetle King had thrown them a huge curve ball as it not only changed tactics by utilizing the Earth ability to go underground and could now give them a surprise attack at any moment, from anywhere, but now they had to deal with the small army of Terra beetles who were also approaching them at their king's command.
The boys prepared themselves for the massive fight that was about to ensue by taking their respective fight stances. Mako had quickly come up with a strategy to deal with all of this and the best thing he could do now was to fight on his own.
'If Bill was able to deal with these things alone, then so can I,' Mako thought as he explained the plan to the boys.
Mako instructed Bill and Leon to just use their Earth ability and try to keep the Beetle King busy underground by manipulating the earth around it.
"If that giant beast is about to resurface, let me know so I can move out of the way. Once that thing is on the surface again, you guys would have to take over again while I damage it from afar using my fire ability." Mako instructed Bill and Leon.
Bill was shocked to learn that Leon was also an Earth ability user, but they didn't have time to talk about it yet. They agreed with Mako's plan as they activated their Earth ability and tried to search for the Beetle King.
Mako conjured two fireballs in his hands as he charged forward to deal with the regular Terra beetles.
"Let's do this!" Mako screamed as ran forward.
