Bill released his wind aura and cast the vacuum cutter skill. It wasn't as strong as when he used it against the Beetle King while his mutant gene was still active but it was still quite strong for what Bill wanted to achieve.
The unstable fireball was already on the point of breaking down and exploding midair, before even reaching the Terra Beetles, but the vacuum cutter blade reached it just in the nick of time.
Boosted by the wind aura, the fireball quickly broke down and covered the blade completely, taking on the shape of the vacuum cutter blade itself.
It was very similar to Mako's Flame Wheel skill when he used it only have a way to create a blade of fire instead of the whole wheel, but it was stronger as the fire was boosted by the wind.
Since Mako's Flame Wheel skill had gone up in levels several times, it was still the superior skill as compared to the Fire Vacuum Cutter which only used a level 1 fire aura, so the best it could be compared to is a Level 2 Flame Wheel.
However, it was still strong enough to reach the desired effect Erin had wanted. The blade of fire crashed into the group of Terra Beetles in earth mode who were constantly replenishing the walls, and keeping Erin caged.
The Wind aided the fire to spread very quickly, and the majority of the Terra Beetles were on fire.
Just like Erin had predicted, even though the Terra Beetles were mindless monsters and followed the will of their king, their loyalty still fell short when they sensed a genuine danger to their own life.
A small stab from a medium-tier shiv wasn't enough for them to go against their king's orders and focus on Leon, but the fire was their weakness and right now they were getting burned alive and if they couldn't put out the fire in time, the damage will continue to add up until they die.
The Terra Beetles quickly dispersed and switched over to earth mode as they dug themselves underground to put out the fire.
Erin was finally able to break free from the wall as she quickly punched a hole through the remaining walls.
Leon and Bill quickly joined up with her and Bill asked the both of them about what the situation was like.
Leon briefly narrated the summary of what had been going up to this point and that currently Mako was being engaged by the Terra Beetle King in a one-on-one fight alone.
After hearing this, Bill wanted to quickly move towards Mako and give him a hand. He wouldn't forgive himself if Mako were to get eliminated as he had made a promise to him that he would pay him back for the generosity and mercy he had shown him in his time of need, and now it was his turn to hold up to his promise.
However, before he could start sprinting over to where Bill could see wisps of fire moves being cast, Erin grabbed him by the shoulder as she had a few questions of her own that she wanted to know about.
"Hold on! What about that second giant beetle that you and Iris were fighting? And where is Iris? Is she resting somewhere?" Erin asked.
A sudden look of guilt appeared on Bill's face as he couldn't figure out how to break the news of Iris' disqualification to her closest friend.
Bill remained silent for a couple of seconds as he thought of a way to tell Erin, while Erin stared at Bill with an anxious look, waiting for an answer.
Before she could ask again, a bolt of lightning erupted from the ground right next to their feet and almost zapped Leon if it wasn't for his quick reflexes.
All three of them quickly put up their guards as soon after the first lightning bolts, and several more followed, targeting all three of them.
Since Bill and Leon had the earth ability, they could sense the incoming lightning bolts and dodge them with ease, but Erin was having trouble as she was dodging them purely on instinct alone which wasn't the most accurate, and this led her to get shocked two-three times.
Erin had her mutant gene activated so her physical body stats were much higher than her regular self which made it possible for her to take minimal damage from the lightning bolts that could deal massive damage to regular Level 3 ability users.
Half of the original Terra Beetles who dug themselves underground resurfaced in earth mode and began focusing on targeting Erin again while the remaining Terra Beetles remained underground in lightning mode keeping Bill and Leon busy.
The sounds of heavy clashing could be heard coming from a distance, and the fact that the fight was still going on, told Bill that Mako was indeed struggling against the Advanced-tier beast.
This was an achievement in itself as Mako had no sudden boost in power from mutant genes like Bill, Iris, and Erin. The only reason Bill and Iris were even able to match up and defeat the other Beetle King was because of the significant boost in ability, strength, and skill that the mutant genes provided.
To be able to match the power of an Advanced-tier beast without a mutant gene really showed that Mako was still much stronger than the rest of them, but still, he alone can't take down the Advanced-tier beast, and sooner than later, he would exhaust himself first and get disqualified for being unable to fight anymore.
Bill understood that it was crucial for someone to make their way over to Mako straight and out of the three of them, the best option was Erin.
She still had her mutant gene activated and could offer the most help against the giant beast unlike him who was mostly out of energy or Leon who didn't really have the skill set to fight the Terra Beetle King.
Since most of the Terra Beetles were targeting her specifically, it told Bill that his guess was indeed correct and that they deem Erin as the most dangerous among the three of them.
Erin was already struggling as her skills and abilities didn't really suit her in her current predicament. While she was dodging another lightning bolt from the ground, a group of Terra Beetles launched several earth spikes toward her back, but before they could connect, an earth wall was raised right behind her, blocking all of the incoming projectiles.
Erin turned around in shock to see the earth wall protect her, and before she could even understand what just happened, Bill grabbed her by her waist and released all of his wind aura at once, propelling them both high up into the air.
They weren't propelled as high as when Bill used this move with his mutant gene but it was still high enough for them to escape the Terra Beetles who broke the earth wall with their strong mandibles, a moment later.
After they reached the max height possible, Bill instructed Erin to release her own Wind aura as well so that they would slowly glide back down instead of freefalling.
They both steadily released streams of wind from under their feet which gave them enough updraft that they would smoothly glide down. They weren't at the point of floating yet and were even far off from flying, but at least this would give them a short window to converse.
"Erin, Listen we don't have much time so I am going to get straight to the point," Bill said with a determined look.
Erin was confused a bit but decided to just listen through what Bill had to say.
"Iris has been disqualified. She was already weak from fighting that giant beetle alone, but then she used some forbidden skill which left her on the brink of death as she healed back to full health." Bill explained with a heavy heart.
Erin's expression changed quickly, and it was one full of anger, sadness, and shock.
"WHAT! HOW COULD YOU LET THAT HAPPEN!? WHERE IS SHE?! IS SHE DEAD!?" Erin yelled with tears in her eyes.
"Yes, she is alive, the medic reached us just in time and took her off the island somewhere to get treated," Bill replied.
Erin was just in so much shock that she couldn't even form any more words as she just started crying. Bill was very emotional about his to and his eyes also became watery as he saw Erin crying, but he knew he had to be tough and explain to her the plan if he wanted to at least save Mako.
"Listen! We don't have much time. I will tell you all about it after all of this is over, but right now Mako needs help and you are the strongest out of the three of us. Please! We can't do anything about Iris but we can still save Mako, so please listen to what I have to say!" Bill said loudly with a bit of determination.
Even though Erin was heartbroken at this point, she understood what Bill was saying and decided to suppress her emotions so that she could focus on the mission at hand.
"I'm listening..." Erin said with a quivery voice as she wiped away her tears and listened to Bill's plan.
