Chapter 109: Battle for Camp White (part 15)

n the distance Candice had been watching the entire fight play out and to say that she had been not been worried would be a lie.

Still she buried those feelings and concentrated on what her role would be in all this. She was the final attack. The cannon that would be the deciding factor in all this.

That meant she had to trust Jordan and Lydia to come through. There was a small feeling of discomfort in the back of her mind when she came to this conclusion.

'The kids are fighting on the frontlines and I, the adult, is stuck in the back lines just so I can land the final blow' she thought bitterly.

Candice was 31 years old so as an adult shouldn't she have been the one to act as the pillar of support for these two kids and not the other way around? From what she could tell these kids weren't even 16 years old and yet they were already shouldering a burden that was much above them.

It was the same for Huey. The boy was doing too much. In fact sometimes it was easy to overlook the fact that Huey was 14 years old and yet look at all the things that he was able to do for them.

She spared a second to glance back at the boy who was sitting just two meters behind her. His eyes were closed as his mind focused on something else- Candice could only guess that it was the Spirit Record.

As she looked at him shut himself out from the world. She felt a soft wave of delight in her heart.

That boy who always shouldered everything was willing to trust them to take care of the Second Star Order Bone Ape. How many people could claim to trust their friends and teammates to handle a task as big as that?

Huey was basically entrusting his life and safety into their hands.

If they fell then he would fall too. That's what it meant.

So…

'Lets not fall'

The thought acted like a spark. A soft white glow shining in her eyes as she pulled on her mana. She didn't spare even a single drop as she brought her hands closer together in front of her, leaving a small gap between her hands where a soft light gathered.

At first, the light was soft and gentle, almost like a gentle candle flame but soon it grew hotter as she poured more and more of her mana into it. The orb of light grew hotter and more intense with every point of mana that was poured into it.

The energy gathering between her palms began to turn unstable. It became wild like a beast yanking at its chain, struggling to be released but Candice held on. She had to keep her mind focused. If she had even a lapse of concentration then she would lose the energy gathering here.

And once that happened everything would have been pointless to this point.

'No pressure then' although she thought that, the pressure was immense.

A bead of sweat fell between her brows.

The energy was now beginning to cause slight burns on her palms. But Candice endured. She gritted her teeth and held on with all her might.

She had to hold on. She had to wait for the opening and strike with everything she got.

Her sight was fixed on the fight before her but her mind was fixed on keeping the energy between her palms tame. She watched as Jordan was beaten down by the Bone Ape's bone club, she almost lost control of her energy when she thought he was going to die but she managed to hold on.

She watched with a relieved heart as Lydia attacked the Bone Ape from behind and she watched with a bleeding heart as Jordan attacked in a frenzy only to be beaten back again and again. His injuries grew every time he was thrown back and yet his attacks didn't lose any momentum at all.

In fact they seemed stronger?

Candice couldn't make sense of it and she didn't have the luxury to afford her mind to wander in her current state. All she could do was watch and wait for the opportune moment.

She didn't have to wait long.

The sound of bone breaking and shattering almost resembled the sound of broken glass.

"CANDICE NOW!" Jordan took a step of the Bone Apes' way which- whether by coincidence or by the intervention of a higher being, was kneeling in a straight line of sight just six meters away from her. The Bone Ape no longer looked as imposing as it had seemed.

The ominous bone armor that had covered its chest was broken and burnt off by Jordan's [Lightning Bolts], its bone mask was broken on one side to reveal intelligent but tired eyes and beneath it, lied a pool of its own blood. It was out of mana, lost its weapon and weak from blood loss.

Regardless Candice was thankful she didn't have to move while carrying this lump of energy, that would have been disastrous.

If things were like this however…

An intense light shone within her eyes as she directed the excess energy gathered between her palms. The burden on her mind was lessened considerably as the Spirit Record took over, refining the wild energy and taming it so that it could easily be controlled.

With a thought she called onto her skill as she shot her hands forward.

"[Light Ray][1]!"

The energy in her hands became solid and rose in temperature by more than 500 degrees Celsius. It became even hotter and felt far more destructive than it had been when she was gathering it in the beginning. The energy gathered for a bit before concentrating in a solid beam of light that shot forward as though it were a drill with the explosive force of a low caliber missile.

The beam of light shot forward in a solid pillar of white. It travelled through the air at the speed of a bullet but the effects its had on the air were long lasting. As the pillar of light travelled the ground below it actually melted, leaving it scarred and scotching red.

The Bone Ape saw the pillar of light careening towards it. Panic set in and in an effort to block it brought it hands in front of itself after all its arms were still covered with some bone. It just hoped that it would be enough to offset the attack.

It wasn't.

The pillar of light struck against its arms and the Bone Ape actually managed to hold out. The bones covering its arms taking the full blunt of the attack. And for a few seconds, the Bone Ape held a confident sneer on its half exposed mouth. But its triumph didn't last long.

The bones in its forearm begun to melt at a rapid pace and by the time the Bone Ape could even register that the layers of bone covering its arms couldn't hold, the pillar of light was already eating through its arms.

A pained roar escaped the Bone Ape's mouth as the pillar of light melted its arms off and burrowed through the pink flesh at the center of its chest. The beam of light incinerated the flesh and muscle before melting through the bones of its sternum and began eating at its lungs, heart and part of its stomach.

By the time the pillar of light drilled all the way through and burst out from the back of the Bone Ape before winking out of existence, a clean round hole took the place of where the respective organs had been incinerated and because the beam of light was so hot the edges around the wound had been cauterized and closed so there was no blood.

From the distance it looked as though someone had used an eraser to remove part of a drawing. Surgical, clean and precise. The body slumped to the side only to remain still. The Bone Ape was dead and the Spirit Record confirmed it was so.

[You have acquired the soul essence of Level 39 Second Star Order Bone Ape]

Everyone felt a weight lift from their hearts when the Spirit Record flashed in their retinas.

Tension left Jordan's body as he collapsed on his knees. He gasped for breaths as though he were a fish that had been taken out the water for a long time and was finally put back in. The weight of his injuries finally settled.

Cough. Cough.

Blood fell from his mouth to the ground but that didn't keep the smile from his face.

Lydia allowed herself to fall the ground. She down and used her hands to hold her body up. She was exhausted but there was no denying the happiness and relief she was feeling at this moment.

Candice lower her hands, her pale face already regaining its color. Her palms may have been burnt but she didn't mind it. Not right now.

They had done it.

They had fought against that terrifying beast and against all odds they had managed to survive and grow stronger.

[1] [Light ray (level 2 First star order)- shoots a concentrated beam of pure light energy. Consumes a minimum 10 mana points. Cooldown: 20 seconds.

Note: Its strength is dependent on the amount of mana put into the skill]