In the Pinhurst Mansion, it was surprisingly quiet, unlike before, where Cinyah was screaming; now, she and everyone in the room stared wide-eyed at the HoloTv in awe of Cynrik and Brance's actions.
It was one thing to fight against 22 creatures with levels higher than your own, but it was another to destroy them stylishly. And Stylishly beating the Chimeras was precisely what the brothers had done.
"Honey, did you know they could fight like that?" Rikard asked as he loosened the grip around his wife's waist and tugged her into his lap on the couch.
"N..no, I didn't, but if we didn't teach them that, where did they learn it? VSFA isn't a physical combat school, so they shouldn't have learned it there." Leaning back on her husband's broad chest, Cinyah watched with amazement as her boys sat down and recovered in silence, while in the background, the twenty-one dead Chimeras shattered into particles.
"When your oldest son called me and told me what expectations and specifications he wanted on the new gear, I quizzed him about it." Taking a sip of his beer, Jessup broke the silence, causing everyone's heads to swivel in his direction.
"Every group member has to create their fighting style from scratch, per Cynrik's orders. From there, he studies, analyzes, and breaks it down for digestion before improving it and fixing any flaws he finds. If you think it's just the brothers who fight like High Ranked Reavers, wait till you see Gabby and Benny."
Acknowledging the man had nothing further to say, everyone turned back to the HoloTv, where Roni and Cesar tried their best to make sense of what had just happened. However, that was when something drastic occurred on the Romeoville stream.
Cesar: "OH, NO! PAUL IS TRAPPED!" Cesar dramatically yelled, shifting gears and attention away from the unmoving image of Cynrik and Brance.
Roni: "This doesn't look good. They've made it to Wave Seven and are in quite a predicament; let's rewind the tape a few seconds…as you can see here, Paul mistimed his attack and ended up fumbling into the line of sight of two Chimeras. Although he could deal with the first, the second caught him off guard and snatched him by the arm with its teeth."
Cesar: "Those watching from home, if you are faint of heart, please look away."
Half a second later, there was a loud tearing sound followed by Paul's screams as he was flung around like a chew toy by the Chimera until the muscle and bone connecting his arm to the shoulder tore and shredded to pieces.
Eventually, after one final shake, Paul's arm gave, and he was thrown several meters away while the Chimera devoured the severed appendage.
Unfortunately for Paul, the spot he landed was in the middle of the pack of hungry creatures. Even though the young man made a valiant effort, he was soon overcome and killed, causing him to shatter into particles.
Roni: "Romeoville is now down one team member, and there are still eight Chimera left, OH?"
Roni's eyebrows raised as she began commentating the actions of Derrik, who exploded in Aqua-colored light, a sign he was unleashing his Space Aura.
Cesar: "Sigh, it seems Derrik is going all out now; it's a shame that it won't matter now that he is alone, and the number of enemies will continue increasing; if he burns his Mana now, there is no way he will have enough left in the tank by the time he reaches the first boss, this is disastrous for Romeoville, as VSFA is one kill away from completing Wave 11." Shaking his head and peeking over at the resting brothers, Cesar let out a sad and dramatic sigh, making it seem as if he genuinely felt sorry for Romeoville's predicament.
Two minutes later, after activating multiple skills and unleashing a heavy amount of firepower, Derrik cleared Wave Eight and jumped right into Wave Nine. However, the young man was fighting an uphill battle and was starting to tire with each kill he made.
Partway through the Ninth Wave, just when Derrik was about to score another kill, Cynrik and Brance's eyes snapped open, and they stood up, drawing Roni and Cesar's attention away from Romeoville.
Cesar: "It looks like VSFA's break time has ended, and the two Jetlensr brothers are moving to finish the final Chimera of Wave Eleven."
Roni: "Take note that after their short break, the two appear fresh and fully healed. Since external recovery items such as potions are banned, they either have an extremely high Regeneration Rate or a rare recovery skill."
Considering how the two brothers were calm and collected, free of sweat, and their breathing wasn't labored, Roni brought attention to this fact. Her commentary generated a lot of questions in the online forums, which could be seen in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen as a chat box.
In the Swarm Event, Cynrik raised his arms over his head and stretched his back.
[You ready for this? Wave Twelve starts the High-Tier-3 Chimera. We will have to start trying from here on out.] He said while walking up to the whimpering and bloody Chimera to kick it in the head lightly, startling the creature.
[Stop torturing it and put it out of its misery Cyn.] Running up to his brother's side and stopping him from kicking the creature a second time, Brance scolded Cynrik before answering his question.
[And yes, I will be fine; I am back in the 90% range on everything after the recovery session.]
[Tsk, you are too fucking soft.] Responding by clicking his tongue, Cynrik unsheathed his hip Kodachi and sliced off the Chimera's head, triggering the usual batch of notifications.
-You have Killed 11 Level 39 Mid-Tier-3 Chimera (Wolf/Avian).-
-You have received 8,580,000 XP.-
-Your Faction Member Brance Jetlensr has Killed 11 Level 39 Mid-Tier-3 Chimeras (Wolf/Avian).-
-You have received 8,580,000 XP.-
-You have completed Wave Eleven of the Egress Break.-
-Wave Twelve is now beginning; Twenty-Four High-Tier-3 Chimera (Wolf/Avian) have breached the Egress Barrier.-
Snapping their heads in the direction of the Egress Gate, Cynrik and Brance readied their weapons and began channeling Mana out of their Codexes.
Dealing with Mid-Tier-3 creatures wasn't too difficult for them, mainly because the only difference between themselves and the creatures was the number of Stat points. But upon reaching the High-Tier-3 range, beings usually began converting all of their XP into SPN-XP. In doing so, they would start blazing through levels and consolidating their Tier-3 foundation in preparation for Evolution.
With this consolidation came a rapid purification of Mana, making the stat points carry more weight. (Think Effort Value/EV points in PKMN, the higher the EV points, the more value stat points have. If you don't understand, there are billions of references online.)
[Hey, Cyn, I've been meaning to ask, what is the record we are chasing? I'd be willing to bet those two from Romeoville already got eliminated, so technically, we've already won.] Brance asked while keeping a sharp eye on the first batch of two Chimeras stepping through the Egress Gate.
[Ok, for starters, we haven't gotten the pause notification stating we won yet. Did you not pay attention to the referee? And the record we are chasing is 3 hours 42 minutes, Round 19. The group that beat the record died instantly upon starting the wave. It isn't a surprise considering that's 38 Peak Tier-3 enemies.]
Gripping his Kodachis, Cynrik was about to move when he felt his body get sluggish, and everything around him turned grey.
-Congratulations!! You're Team is Victorious in the Round One Event: Swarm.-
-Both of the members of your competitor team have been eliminated.-
-Would you like to conclude your Event as Victors or take a shot at the National Record.-